1  # Introduction
 2  
 3  ## Vampires
 4  
 5  You are barely one of them. You were bitten, fed the blood of your maker and killed…but you, unlike many vampires before you, did not wake to a welcoming committee. You woke up with a hangover you couldn’t shake and blurry memories at best. No one to tell you why, exactly, the sunlight hurt; no one to mention why you’d start wanting to kill your best friend, roommate, boyfriend...and when you did find out? When you ran into one of them, one the "real" ones? They made it very clear that you weren't welcome. You’d be doing yourself and your maker a favor by offing yourself right then and there; save you and them the embarrassment.
 6  
 7  What kind of fucked up attitude is that?
 8  
 9  Not that it would matter if you did, older vampires have all but locked you out of their ivory tower as it is. That's the Establishment: they have rules, a bunch of them, that hold their society together. On the other hand, the Reformists aren't nearly as bad…everything you know, a Reformist or another duskborn has taught you. But the Reformists still play by the rules. Those rules, by the way? No one will tell you what they are, exactly. Do they change from place to place? Clan to clan? The Reformists seem to have their own rules and sometimes it seems like the Establishment is fine with that. Other times? Not so much. The only rule that’s crystal fucking clear is that no one can know. Period. Vampires don't exist; like you had always thought, they're a myth. It makes getting blood really hard. 
10  
11  Older vampires can just...make people forget, but you have to be even more careful. And the Establishment loves when you mess it up. When they kill another vampire has a lot of special rules, but one is very clear: if you mess up and you’re found out? You die. I guess that’s two rules you know.
12  
13  The last thing that both the Establishment and Reformists let you know is that you don’t own anything. Maybe a Reformist baron or whatever is fine with you keeping your apartment, but a prince or something of the Establishment? That’s their territory and you don’t belong. You're always trespassing somewhere.
14  
15  Keep your head down and maybe you’ll get through the night.
16  
17  ## Modern Nights
18  
19  * You’ve got the name "duskborn" because most vampires view you as in between. Not quite vampire, but not quite human, and somehow closer to each (depending on which side you’re looking on).
20  * There are two factions: the Establishment and the Reformists. It seems like everyone falls on one side or the other (except you; neither side wants you).
21  * Both factions are in constant fights over who controls what parts of whichever city. Hunting grounds, property rights and protection constantly change hands.
22  * Duskborn get none of it, unless they live under a particularly sympathetic Reformist.
23  * Older vampires belong to clans, something like lineages or found families depending on who you ask. There are a bunch of them, but it’s never clear who belongs to which.
24  * These clans are more important than who falls on which line of the factions. 
25  * These clans favor particular resonances, which is one way to tell which clan a vampire is part of.
26  * Establishment and Reformist society goes way, way back. Millennia. Some duskborn think that’s why so many of the rules don’t make sense to newer vampires.
27  * Aside from the Establishment, you know you are being hunted. The Reformists say that’s why there are rules.
28  * These hunters are not other vampires.
29  * There is a rumor—nearly a legend, now—that you can become fully a vampire or return to your fully human self. Both involve the death of your maker.
30  
31  # Player Principles
32  
33  These principles aren’t hard rules, but they can be helpful guides to keep in mind or reference when you are thinking of how to position your character in a story. 
34  
35  - Revel in the dark; turn off the lights.
36  - Address yourself in-character to the other characters, not the players.
37  - Put your character in the crosshairs.
38  - Say how your character feels.
39  - Share the spotlight with the other characters.
40  - Call other characters into scenes; ask before you insert your character.
41  - Think offscreen too.