Princes and Hounds

If you were to ask the average kindred of Khallam, “who is the prince” you would probably get the reply, Byron, at least from those vampires familiar with the tradition of a Prince.  Khallam has no such position.  Instead it is ruled by three stewards, each of whom could make a claim to being the prince on some level.  Byron is the head of the Ordo Dracul of Khallam and it is he that the social life and politicking revolve around.  He absolutely does have clout as it is he who provides the muscle to the Invictus that allows them to run the city and the Sworn of the Axe could probably establish martial law if they wished to.  However, it is the Invictus who run the day to day administrative affairs of the city and it is the hounds that enforce the Traditions, answering to Tegen.

Tegen’s hounds are a range of brawn and brains whose only exceptional traits are their ability to work as a team and their dedication to interpreting the Tradition of the Masquerade broadly enough that they feel compelled to quiet any supernatural occurrence as that all too often leads to uncomfortable questions.  After all once the kine accept magic how long is it until they start asking about all the other old stories and could vampires be real too?  However, relics, tomes, wyrm nests, these are handed over to the Ordo Dracul.  Usually.  A few may … well, fall through the cracks of being handed over.  Since they aren’t claimed by the Sworn of the Axe in battle Byron is not obligated to give the Sworn first pick as is tradition among the Ordo Dracul.  All of this arrangement keeps both Tegen and Byron firmly centered as those capable of giving out substantial gifts.

Then, what of Istavan?  Istavan is a powerful figure among the Sworn of the Ordo Dracul in Khallam and has considerable influence among several factions but his official power has no Sworn of the Axe or Hounds.  Instead Istavan’s real power comes from two sources.  One, many truly admire him, even love him.  And that is a dangerous thing.  Secondly, often overlooked is that Istavan has been entrusted with the authority to break rules.  He can allow murder by diablerie for example or siring based on moral justifications.  Istavan is the least likely to be called prince but yet the one the least rules apply to.