Species
The world of Blood Secrets contains humans, vampires, lycanthropes and sorcerors, all coexisting, often unaware of the true nature of their neighbours. There is no great war between the mundane and supernatural; this is a world of secrets constantly threatening to break the surface, where each of the species spends more time and energy on intrigues against other factions of the same rather than fighting others. A rough outline of the nature of each species is given below; see also the Societies page for details of the various factions of each.
Every character in Blood Secrets begins as a human. The world of the Vampires, Lycanthropes and Sorcerors lies below the surface of the human world; exploration will bring the character into contact with the supernatural forces at work, and eventually allow the character to join them.
Human conflict in Blood Secrets mostly involves the tension between forces of law and order and those of public threat and organised crime. Sometimes, however, the enemy will be something more deadly. Against a supernatural foe, the limitations of the human put them at a significant disadvantage; of course, this challenge can make a high-level human character particularly rewarding.
Leaving the world of the human behind is done by making contact with a supernatural Society, and performing well enough with them to be initiated to Rank 1 with them. The first time this is done, they will be taken through the transformative process and become a Lycanthrope, Vampire or Sorceror. This is a one-time decision, and cannot ever be reversed.
According to their mythology, the lycanthropes are the children borne by Lilith, the first women, with the beasts of the Earth. All lycanthropes have the ability to take on the form of a Werewolf, Wereboar, Wererat, Werecat or Wereraven; in these forms they have enhanced physical capabilities, natural armour and weapons, the ability to regenerate, and may call on supernatural powers to aid them or harm their enemies. However, their equipment is subsumed into this form, and cannot be accessed until the character returns to human form.
Of these, the Werewolf and Wereboar are the front-line fighters; the former specialising in offence and cooperation, the latter on defense and the ability to stand alone. Wererats are naturally sneaky, excelling at theft and assassination. Werecat agility also makes them effective rogues, as well as having supernaturally enhanced powers of personality. Finally, Wereravens are the scientists and philosophers of the lycanthropes, generally relying on the supernatural powers over physical attacks in combat. The supernatural powers that can be mastered by a lycanthrope is determined by the form they choose to take on being initiated into their first Lodge.
Lycanthope society is based around these Lodges. Each Lodge has a certain outlook and agenda, from the saintly to the perverse, and the missions their members will be asked to perform is determined by these goals. A character may belong to more than one Lodge, but in that case runs the risk of being asked to perform conflicting missions.
Vampires are, so they believe, the children of Lilith and the human descendants of the first times. Biologically, they are significantly different from Lycanthropes. There is only one Vampire form, which provides enhanced capabilities, regeneration, and access to supernatural powers just as the Lycanthropic forms do. However, the Vampire form is still human-like; no natural armour or weapons arise, but the Vampire's normal equipment remains accessible. While Lycanthrope Powers are dependent on the form they take, Vampires learn their powers from the House to which they belong.
These Houses have each been in existence for centuries, locked together in a complex and shifting interplay of alliances, rivalries and hostilities. Unlike the Lodges, a Vampire may belong to only one House, and learn from them a given set of Powers. However, the Vampire can leave their House, and switch allegiance to another; in this case, they may learn the Powers of the new House, and while they may not progress with old Powers, they do not lose access to them. Thus, over time, the Vampire of wavering loyalty can accumulate a wide array of Powers.
One word of warning when switching Houses, however; the Vampire is a fundamentally social creatures. Whereas the strength of Lycanthrope forms advances naturally with their character level, the Vampire form power is directly linked to their current social standing; that is, their rank within their current House. Thus leaving a high-ranking position in one House to begin on the bottom rung of another will leave the character weak until they regain their former standing.
Sorcerors have not yet been implemented in-game, and so I will keep my comments on them short for the time being. Unlike the other supernatural species, Sorcerors do not link themselves by lineage from Lilith; they gained their supernatural powers by studying, processing, and emulating the forces channeled by Vampires and Lycanthropes. Consequently they do not have any supernatural Form, and lack the innate power such a Form would bring. However, Sorcerors are free to maintain association with multiple Sorceror Colleges at once, learning powers from all simultaneously. Thus they may gain access to a wider range of Powers than either of the hereditary supernatural species.