Editing Blood in the Water (section)

=Issues=

'''A Land Of Strife (current)'''

Few can claim to have been unaffected by the constant disputes that march back and forth across the land. Levies and drafts, tithes and taxes, war and disorder, the hand of conflict touches everyone and everything, driven by the constant scheming of the Vampire Monarchs and fuelled by blood.

This Aspect may be invoked to establish a rapport by playing on stories of camaraderie, to find a weapon at hand no matter the location, possibly even to stir civilians in short-lived but violent defiance. It may also be invoked to indicate the pervasive atmosphere of corruption, allowing a character to mislead others by claiming membership of one faction or another.

When compelled, it may represent nearby military forces restricting travel, requisitioning goods and supplies, conducting searches for rebels and suspicious persons and the like, or to unveil a betrayal or other complication caused by an official figure acting against your interests.

'''The Darkness Rising (impending)'''

The land has been sick for many years, enough that most consider it a simple fact of life. It wasn't always this way. The Vampire Monarchs attain their longevity by theft, and simple blood tithes are insufficient to keep them satisfied as the years pass. Famine, drought, blight, these can all be passed off as natural occurrences. Bandit clans formed of deserters and unpaid mercenaries, these are to be expected in times of war. The creatures that rise from dark lairs to stalk the unwary, the plagues that corrupt and twist their victims in mind as well as body, the ground-quakes, the flaming hailstorms...these are not natural.

It is whispered among some that the Great Game of the Monarchs is coming to a head, that these strange happenings are omens of a future event. They say that plans are being laid to establish one alone as ruler over the land and have their enemies swept from the land like game pieces from a board. Even among those who would dare to speak of such things, few wish to speculate what would happen to the pawns.

This Aspect may be compelled to announce an impending threat of an unnatural nature, or invoked to gain advantage at a moment where the event would be beneficial.