As I’m waiting for the edits for the Houses main book, I’ve already started working on the first supplement.
This is pre-writing. Just me with full-on stream of consciousness going. And I’m having a blast.
Unblooded and the Law
At this time in ven history, the streets run rampant with crime. Street gangs control nearly every aspect of city life. They provide protection from other street gangs in exchange for almost free reign wherever they go. Streets are divided into warring neighborhoods ruled over by warlords. And above them all are the Fallen Blooded.
The unblooded are not protected by the Law. No Revenge. No ownership. An object can’t own other objects. As far as the Blooded are concerned, stealing from a peasant isn’t a crime unless it upsets the Blooded who owns the peasant. Then, you’ve caused Insult.
Without the Law, the unblooded had to find a way to protect themselves. This lead to the formation of street gangs: the shuvalay (an individual member of the gang is a shuval). Unblooded with enough muscle to protect entire neighborhoods. Emulating the system the Blooded created themselves, the peasantry turned to the strong for protection, trading goods and services for iron and muscle.
Any act on the street must be put into the context of “who am I willing to insult?” Steal from a merchant and you insult the street gang that protects him. Dine and ditch on a tavern and you insult the street gang that protects it.
In exchange, of course, the gang can take any kind of liberty it wants with the merchant and the tavern. They can take merchandise, eat and drink for free, stay there all night, beat up the staff. Anything they want.
Anything they want.
What is the owner going to do? Complain to the street gang that protects him?
The gangs own neighborhoods. A small gang will protect a single neighborhood while larger and more powerful gangs expand their influence. If a gang gets strong enough, it can take over a neighborhood owned by another gang. Either the usurped gang now pays tribute to the usurpers or they get wiped out. Their choice. Although, sometimes, there is no choice. Only blood.
And above the shuvalay there is another tier. A shadow tier. A kind of criminal few know about. They rule the gangs quietly. No-one even dares whisper their names.
The futha’sen. The Fallen Blooded.
Fallen Blooded
Fallen Blooded find their way to the City where they rule like little gods. Their Blooded status gives them the protection of Law and their relationships with the suaven give them supernatural backup.
The Fallen Blooded (futha’sen or simply f’sen) “adopt” nephews and nieces to justify claiming Revenge. The unblooded come to them hoping the f’sen will “adopt” their children, adding the child to the Blooded’s “family.”
Fallen Blooded do not, as a rule, perform the Blooding ritual on just anyone. Filling the streets with uncouth, Unclean Blooded (ugtva’sen: ven who have been Blooded illegally or improperly) will get you killed. Like everything in ven culture, it is kept quiet. Unlawfully Blooding a peasant is cause for injury and insult. Any of the Blooded can make a lawful claim.
Because the Blooded don’t really give two squirts about the unblooded, they’ve found ways to gain Revenge on their own. It is illegal for the unblooded to claim Revenge—a right held only by their superiors.
Adopted into a street Blooded family, the members can claim protection. Mess with me, you mess with my Blooded uncle. The fallen blooded wear black, and they wear it proud. Remember: as far as the Blooded are concerned, under the Black, you have no legal protections. So, while you enforce the Law, you are not protected by it. Most Blooded ignore what the fallen blooded do as long as they don’t mess with their unshamed cousins. They can beat up peasants all day long.
It should also be said that actively fucking with someone under the Black is considered Bad Form… unless the fallen Blooded can’t testify, of course.
A few nobles have gone native, rejecting their colors in favor of living on the streets. They punish anyone for wearing the Black—a distinction held by their own status.