Activity Log, December 26, 2000 Jan has held his first Court, which went rather well in my professional opinion. There was certainly a great deal to be learned; only some was of immediate interest, but understanding the politics and alliances of the court is invaluable in comprehending the larger schemes of these so-called Kindred. Court was held at the Battery, of course. Jan could hardly do otherwise, since he bases his claim at least partly on his heritage. He did well at invoking the atmosphere of his sire's court before him, despite the damage wreaked by the Sabbat on the building in vengeance for Jan's escape. The glass had been restored to the high windows, and new hangings seem to have been procured -- I can only assume he has had them in readiness for some time. The only difference was which symbol hung over the throne at the front of the room: Jan's personal insignia, a claw pierced by a sword, was picked out in gold against purple cloth. Unsubtle, that, but necessary. While the Battery looked raw and grand, with the elaborate tapestries and candelabra against the brick, I do wonder how they will deal with the roof being open to the air in this era of helicopters and long-range cameras. I would not be surprised if Jan tried to move his court before long, but I cannot imagine what fitter location he could choose, and how he will save face while doing it. Three of the subjects arrived before the beginning of court and spent some time talking with the other attendees. Nathaniel and Parker arrived alone, while the Toreador came in on the arm of his 'lover'. There was a bit of the standard social interplay, naturally, in the interval before the dignitaries arrived (though Isabella was already standing at the throne's left hand). I noted that Alice was present -- I suppose I was a bit premature in declaring her dead -- but missing her right arm and her sword. Von Brauer was speakingw with her, but abandoned Alice mid-conversation to pursue a lovely young woman who entered (the servant of someone important, perhaps?). The Malkavian seemed to entertain Alice with his japing after his departure. Ethan escaped his sire and spoke with a young woman he referred to as Christine, and with a slightly older woman he called Elena who was accompanied by a young man named Cliff. I assume they are of little import, as I recognized Elena as one of the other fledglings from the Catskills site. The Tremere entered the room in a group, and a ripple of laughter passed through the crowd. I must admit that even I let out quite a snicker before regaining my objectivity. Instead of the traditional robes and hoods, the Tremere were universally dressed in leather jackets with an elaborate T on the arm, multicolored hair, and elaborate piercings. Within moments the illusion dissolved, of course, but by this point most of those present were having a good laugh at the Tremere's expense. The leader of the Tremere gazed about furiously, quelling the worst of the laughter, but I am certain they will be a topic of discussion for quite a while, and at the very least their intimidating entrance was ruined. This does not bode well for whoever created this illusion, when they are found, and I am certain that the Tremere will spare no effort to look for them. Fortunately for the general tenor of the court, at this point, the other dignitaries entered. (Though I am curious as to why Isabella was present before the rest of them came in. She is clearly extremely powerful and in good favor with the Prince, so disfavor cannot be it. I wonder.) They arrayed themselves about the throne in three major groups. One group stood facing the crowd, beside the throne. The second group consisted of the Tremere and stood by the wall to the Prince's left; the third group stood against the wall to the Prince's right. Dr. Chinta and Pitt also came forward from the crowd. Chinta stood to the right, while Pitt stood to the left. I doubt there is significance to their placement: as Elizabeth put it, "Only a Malkavian would be willing to stand so near the Tremere." Jan entered, with the three Archons behind him. He truly was an impressive sight as he strode from the great doors at the back of the circular hall, to the throne at the front of the hall. He turned to face the assembled group -- of well over a hundred individuals, though I imagine more than half were servants -- and laid claim to New York City as his domain, under his title as Prince of New York. He recited the Traditions of the Kindred and promised to uphold each of them (though he was using the 1741 variant, which I found most interesting). After asking if any would challenge his claim -- none did -- he sat on the throne. One by one the elders at the front of the room paid him homage, accepted him as Prince, and claimed domain under him. I wonder whether their use of the word "domain" rather than simply asking for land is significant. Under the second Tradition, if Jan truly grants them domain, they have a great deal of power in their territory, as long as they do not anger him and force him to revoke their privileges. This may be the first show of weakness I have seen from him, and it is well-disguised. As I am sure the order and placement of the elders is important, I will add further notes on them here, in the order in which they spoke, though I have also had Elizabeth fill out dossiers for each of them: Julia D'Anjou: She stood at the Prince's right hand, and was the first to kneel and claim domain. She claimed land for the Brujah clan as well as for herself. Isabella Alberti: She stood at the Prince's left hand. She claimed land for herself and for the Toreador clan. Stavros Byzantios: He stood beside Julia with Anastasia, who he introduced as his childe. He claimed a small amount of land for the Nosferatu and for himself, as well as all the tunnels below the surface of the city. Winter: She stood against the left wall of the room with the other Tremere. She spoke for all the Tremere except Ari -- curious! -- and claimed land for the Tremere. She claimed nothing for herself. Friedrich Hoffenberg: He stood against the right wall of the room, and claimed land only for himself, not for a clan. Oliver Blackwell: He stood against the right wall, and claimed land only for himself. Jack Grady: He stood against the right wall, and claimed land for himself and for the Ventrue. Roberto Giovanni: He claimed land for his clan, who I presume to be the Giovanni, but did not beg permission to enter the city. He and the Prince have likely discussed the matter already, and I would be curious to see how Jan deals with the Giovanni in the city. Likely they have been here for some time, and I wonder how many of them there are in the coven. Dr. Raymond Chinta: He claimed land for himself and for the Gangrel clan. There was quite an outburst from Clarence at this, though I cannot tell why. Clarence was actively restrained by Jacob and Alice, and the Prince spoke quite harshly with him. I do wonder what repercussions this will have. William Pitt: He claimed land for himself and for the Malkavians. He seems to have some favor with Jan, who not only smiled at him, but said, "How could I refuse the Right Honorable William Pitt?" Hmmm. At this point all the elders had spoken and there was a brief pause. Nathaniel managed to embarrass himself quite thoroughly by attempting to present himself out of turn. He must not realize how unimportant he and his companions are in the larger scheme of things -- except as my research subjects, of course. Through my work, I will give them a truer immortality than they now possess. The next group to speak were those in the audience who stood near the front of the group. Each of them requested, rather than claimed, domain over a certain territory, but the Prince agreed to all their requests. I assume it was all set up in advance, and this was merely the formalization. There certainly seemed to be a prearranged order among them, likely having to do with status. I was surprised to see that Alice spoke last of this group; I had thought her to have far higher status and age, given the responsibility she had during the war. Of course, her recent wounding may have something to do with it. I am surprised that her arm has not regenerated yet; I know that the vampires can regenerate nearly any lost body part, so long as their head still meets their heart. Perhaps it is a more recent injury than the ones she received fighting Radu? The Prince did give her back her sword -- it seems he took it from Radu's lair when he defeated him -- and conferred honor on her for her 'great sacrifice' for the Camarilla. I am not certain what he refers to, however. The other notable member of this middle group -- who I hesitate to call ancillae, as I have no evidence of their age or power, only that they are neither acknowledged as elders nor treated with disrespect -- was a certain Gabriela Prieto. I admit I had no idea that she was Kindred, though this is my field of study! I did greatly enjoy her last novel, and I was quite disappointed when she was not nominated for the Nobel Prize. Ah well, they give it to so many foreigners these days, perhaps she will be awarded it next year. I list the members of this middle group, in the order they spoke: Klaus Von Brauer Melanie Caldwell Margot Lavallier Molly Kirk Jacob Mills June Cox Sophia Gagnon Gabriela Prieto Xu Chen Alice Haverford After another brief pause the third group was introduced. These were the vampires in the main part of the crowd, and they were simply asked if they accepted the Traditions and petitioned for acceptance into the city. I have noted all these individuals in their dossiers. Only a few behaved in any unusual manner. A number of Nosferatu brought forward a tank with a hideously deformed aquatic creature in it, that thrashed about and attacked one of its brethren. It was presented as 'Fish'. A bit of an understatement, that. An older woman named Adriana was allowed to enter only on probation, as she seems to have a history of speaking against the Camarilla hierarchy; she must present herself before the Prince in a month's time. Vassily, the mad priest, argued that he serves no man but God, though the Prince forced him to acknowledge his authority. And Clarence of the unfortunate outburst claimed he would "kneel to no man", but also agreed to obey the Traditions while in the city. He must have some power that I am not yet aware of, or else he would not have the temerity to dare the Prince's wrath as he did. I shall have to investigate him. At this point the fledglings had not yet been accepted into the city. Before speaking to them, Jan asked whether any had committed "diablerie". I have heard this term in several contexts, but unfortunately this one was little more of an illumination. Jan asked if any had committed this greatest sin, and Winter brought Ari forward. The Prince asked if there were any others, and claimed that they could not hide from him. I wonder what the external marks of this "diablerie" are. Perhaps the black-streaked aura? At this point Nathaniel stepped forward. Isabella peered at him -- examining his aura? -- and indicated in the negative to the Prince. Sure enough, Nathaniel's aura was clear of the black streaks it had exhibited before. Strange that Ari's remained and Nathaniel's did not; perhaps it is some Tremere magic? In any case, Nathaniel was laughed back to his place. Winter, Shrike and Jan moved into a private room where, I assume, they discussed the matter and came to some satisfactory conclusion. Upon the Prince's return, each fledgling was released from their sire on condition that they accept the Traditions and obey the Prince's law; their sins would be on their own heads. Ari was accepted provisionally, as Adriana was, I assume as a consequence of his sin. The Prince announced that one Brad Sheffield had committed diablerie without throwing himself on the Prince's mercy, and so would be sentenced to death according to the law. Sure enough, his aura exhibited the black streaks I saw on Ari's, and he was swiftly executed by Alice, who dealt with him quite efficiently, even lacking an arm. Watching the death of this vampire would have been a great coup even weeks ago, but this war has given me sufficient data on how the Kindred die that this will be good for little more than an interesting historical gloss. Ah well. While the servants were still cleaning the ash from the floor, a hush fell over the room and Mobea strode in. She demanded the leadership of clan Gangrel and recognition by the Prince, which he was loath to grant. She asked that the clan stand with her, but only two stepped forward: her childe Parker and the one named Xu. In anger, she snapped at the Prince that there were more of her clan in the city than he knew, and the Prince promised to investigate the reports of illegal immigrants that she had so kindly brought to his attention. For a moment I feared that she would snap and court would devolve into a brawl, but she gained control of herself. Jan handled her quite well by ignoring her comments, announcing that Court would be held every Thursday, and then sweeping out of the room followed by his Archons. Mobea flung taunts of cowardice after him, but he ignored her and departed, as did she moments later. There was a great deal of conversation after Court, much of which has not been processed yet. I did make certain to process the conversations of the subjects, though there was little of import. Nathaniel punched Pitt -- rather hard, too! -- to prove that he was not bound to him. Molly Kirk invited Parker to one of her clubs. Both Parker and Nathaniel talked to Alice; she seemed rather withdrawn. When Ethan taunted her about the loss of her arm, she stalked away. Stanislaw told Parker that his sire had just doomed two people I have not yet seen, Stephen and Jamie. After some further inconsequential conversation, the group left the building, along with the stranger Cliff. (From their conversation, I gather he is of Julia's blood; perhaps that is why they find him useful.) Outside, Vassily was waiting, clearly wanting to speak with Nathaniel. Nathaniel refused to listen, and Vassily attempted to restrain him. The subjects attacked Vassily quite successfully, but were interrupted by Julia who broke up the fight. I believe it is fortunate for the subjects that in his rage, Vassily attacked Julia, or they would certainly have been proved in the wrong and punished for their temerity in attacking one of their elders. The subjects repaired to a restaurant known to Ari, where they discussed their current and future situation, mostly focusing on the problem of Vassily. Several proposals for handling him were suggested, including staking him, tricking him into breaking the Masquerade, or goading him into breaking the law of Elysium. Parker gave some of his blood to the Tremere for 'testing', and Vassily's blood was also scraped off Parker's claws, perhaps to be used more offensively. I do hope that I will be able to witness some of those rituals. Cliff seems quite a bit more humane than the others, claiming that he didn't want to hurt anyone; perhaps this is because he has not experienced the crucible of the war against the Sabbat. While there were no lasting plans made at this meeting, the subjects agreed to help each other in the future (to the point where Parker nearly suggested the Vaulderie -- perhaps he is a Sabbat spy for Mobea?). I can only believe that this is a side effect of the rituals I have used, and I am most grateful for it. Transcribed and maintained Elizabeth Kent