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New Factions, Bloodlines, Disciplines, Cruac Rituals, and other mechanical goodies are included along with a very interesting discussion of an unusual Covenant. This product has fewer game mechanics additions than any other Covenant book, but the mechanics that are presented are extremely flavorful and appropriate. As a Covenant book this product is much broader than other Covenant books, offering a lot more interesting takes on the Circle (especially through the wonderful Factions) and less discussion of how the Circle relates to each Covenant and Clan. I think this makes for a stronger product that leaves the reader with dozens of fun ideas as to how to implement the Circle in their games.
The Physical Thing
This 224 page black and white hardcover showcases average production values. The text is dense and formatted so as to be easy to read. The art is good and very atmospheric, showcasing a variety of women engaged in a host of ritualistic activities. No index is provided but one is not needed as most of the content is not meant for in-game reference. The paper stock is somewhat papery but sturdy.The Ideas
The Circle of the Crone, like other Covenants, is not a large organized power but a series of smaller groups that go about vampiric life as they see fit. In general, Circles observe many pagan traditions, such as celebrating solstices and equinox, while adapting the views of local members and organizers towards their worship. Unlike other Covenants, this results in a lot of friction between Circles as they may be observing starkly different traditions and worshipping completely different entities – sometimes leading to outright war between Circles. A given Circle may worship an old god like Morrigan or they may direct their prayers to a strange spirit or even a powerful vampire who appears to wield incredible power.The Circle of the Crone is, with the possible exception of the Carthians, easily the most varied and complicated of all the Covenants. Each Circle is unique in almost every aspect of their existence, which is both a treat and a burden. Storytellers who invest the time in deciding what the local Circle is like are sure to be rewarded with fun and immersive roleplay, but those who don’t may have difficulty saying exactly what the local Circle is about.
Under the Cover
This product begins with an appropriate piece of setting fiction followed by an Introduction that explains the Circle broadly and presents errata on the Cruac rituals found in the Vampire: the Requiem core book.Chapter 1 A History of the Circle of the Crone 12 pages.
This History chapter is unusual in the way it goes about discussing the Covenant. Instead of one big history story, perhaps with a few maybes and rumors here and there, the history of the Circle of the Crone begins with a few general origin myths and then an elaborate discussion of how individual Circles form and fade away. One option, for example, is that the current Circle is a Revival of an older Circle that failed due to some sort of problem years ago (perhaps Sanctified inquisitors). This chapter does not give the reader a true history of the Circle of the Crone, but instead arms them with excellent suggestions as to how a given Circle forms and dies over the years. This further emphasizes the product’s focus on how every Circle is a unique entity that shares little in common with other Circles.
The chapter wraps up with a discussion on how Circles are typically represented in a city and notes that where there are multiple Circles it is common to have some degree of conflict between them. I consider this chapter to be an excellent tool for any Storyteller who wants to add some detail and spice to the local Circle, as it stimulates the imagination and forces the Storyteller to start asking “Why?” Why is there only one Circle here? Why did they thrive here when other Circles failed?
Chapter 2 Unlife in the Circle of the Crone 60 pages.
This chapter presents a reader with the major roles of the Circle, common traditions, and other similar information meant to provide the Storyteller with dozens of ideas and otherwise flesh the Covenant out. The chapter begins with a discussion of the Circle’s view on vampires in the world, with one of the more common beliefs being that vampires are a part of the natural order and are simply at the top of the food chain. Discussions of individual vampire abilities and conditions – from Disciplines to Vinculum to Golconda – are presented as well and each discussion offers several different ideas as to how a local Circle reacts to them. A lot of varied information is introduced here, including the idea that shared havens are common among the Acolytes (Circle members).
Covenant roles take up a large chunk of this chapter, discussing the Chorus (new members not fully a part of the Circle), the Skald (a poet and storyteller who always gives an honest opinion), the Maiden (a vampire who has not killed and who is uncorrupted), and the Fool (a male role which causes chaos among the Circle’s enemies) among many others. These are extremely cool, very flavorful, and a welcome addition to the Circle of the Crone. While many of them are Status based (as in Status: Circle of the Crone X is a prerequisite for the position) many are not and are roles available to any member who meets the general prerequisites (such as not having killed for a Maiden). The roles are even backed up with examples from mythology, which is a fantastic choice.
Spirits often play a major role with the Circle of the Crone, often because a Circle will worship one or more spirits as gods. Some Circles even open themselves up to ritualized possession by spirits in order to commune more closely with their gods, believing that they become the divine servant of their god when they do so. The book stresses that most Acolytes do not know the true nature of spirits, and that many Circles form worshipping something that the informed reader knows to be nothing more than a mischief spirit or elder vampire.
Holy times for the Covenant are presented, those being primarily the Solstices and Equinox but also including marriages and birthdays (counting the Embrace as birth). Many excellent ideas are presented that a Storyteller may weave into a major Circle celebration, adding a lot of flavor to their game. Pilgrimages and worship rituals round out most of the rest of the chapter. They’re extremely varied in their approach while presenting a host of flavorful options for any game. Interestingly, while there are some disturbing and clearly inhuman rituals many of the practices of the Circle of the Crone are more humanizing than those of other Covenants.
Chapter 3 Circle of the Crone and the Danse Macabre 34 pages.
This chapter begins by discussion how a vampire joins the Circle. For those embraced by Circle members it is understandably easy, but vampires born outside the Circle often face a tough time joining. The Circle of the Crone often isn’t interested in actively recruiting other vampires (they tend to be passive in their ambition) so those that come to them and wish to join face rigorous tests. This is in large part due to the Circle’s control of Cruac, which it does not want to share with the outside world. The most inhuman rituals the Circle practices tend to involve screening would be members.
Politics and the Circle of the Crone is a strange issue. The Circle typically has little political ambition and often wants nothing more than to be left alone. However, just being left alone often takes some political maneuvering and so the wise Circle selects a few members to enter the realm of Kindred politics and protect the Circle’s interests. Those vampires who choose to serve in this manner walk a perilous line. On the one hand they must give themselves over to the political process, but on the other they must maintain their faith and dedication to the Circle. It is not an uncommon thing for a vampire to become ostracized by the Circle he protects due the distance from their beliefs and presence he has developed due to frequenting Elysium and other political functions. As an overall group the Circle tends to deal with their enemies indirectly – by strengthening allies or discreetly sabotaging their enemies’ interests.
Warfare, how the Circle spreads the faith, the role of art in the Circle (art is prized and respected), breeding programs (eugenics as art), and arranging an embrace in an artistic manner are all discussed. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion on Circle Coteries, Factions, and life in the underworld for those Circles that exist primarily underground (for security and privacy).
Chapter 4 Factions and Bloodlines 62 pages.
The Factions and Bloodlines detailed here are well developed and interesting, providing a host of ideas for any player or Storyteller as to what the Circle is about. They also serve as an excellent model for Storytellers building their own, unique local circle while providing those who don’t have the time with a ready to use Circle. The Bloodlines are a mixed back, and unfortunately few unique Disciplines are presented. The heavy emphasis on the Gangrel, while understandable, is unfortunate as the Circle seems like a Covenant that would appeal to all Clans.
Factions
The People of the Land are nomadic hunter gatherers who eschew civilization and embrace their role as predators. Hunting for the sake of hunting alone is the ultimate goal of these vampires. While they are cold killers, the People exercise mercy in the same way a hunter exercises mercy in a clean kill. The People accept the animal aspect of their nature (the Beast) and consider themselves the ultimate pairing of the best that humanity and animals have to offer, thereby placing them firmly at the top of the food chain. With a pack structure of 5-10 vampires, the People are always an extremely local group with little to no contact with other Circle’s that share their values.
The Second Descent is a Circle group that believes the Requiem is the mythical Underworld and thus the first step towards a greater existence. For them there are three Descents. The First was the soul coalescing in a body from the heavens, the Second is the Requiem where the soul moves through the world without being a true part of it, and the Third is the Descent to divinity – becoming something greater still. Members only worship gods that are associated with the Underworld (such as Hades or Loki). Unlike other Circle groups, who revere creation (especially artistic creation), these vampires believe creation goes against their state in the Underworld and eschew such values. They also reject mortal allies, ghouls, and other practices that go against the idea of their being removed from the living world.
The Hag is particularly interesting to me. You, kind reader, may be familiar with a concept called a “hag attack” – it’s a sort of frightening dream event where the dreamer believes someone (or something, often horrible) is looming over them while they are paralyzed. The writers take this concept and turn it into interesting vampiric lore. Many vampires have terrible visions while asleep or in torpor – typically of a horrible hag visiting them – and these visions create strong fear in the vampire. They also create devotion among some, as the hag seems like a distant and dark god touching the vampire’s dreaming mind. The worship and practices of Hag cults is varied and strange, but these vampires tend to take on a sinister and extreme demeanor – becoming frightening envoys of the Hag.
The Disciples of Silence believe that the universe was born from the Crone and that the only way to bring about her return is through the destruction of the universe. Others believe the universe lacks all purpose. Either way, these silent vampires live in an eternal state of hopelessness and despair. They work to bring about the destruction of the world around them and speed entropy, a part of understanding the Void and the nature of existence.
The Sipan is a South American group of vampires that originally existed as rulers over a large community of humans, leading them in raids against other tribes in order to obtain sacrifices for the Decapitator – a dark and terrible god of the ocean. Through unfortunate accidents and, ultimately, the invasion of the Spanish the Sipan left their original role but maintained their worship to the Decapitator and today give worship through mass sacrifice (via decapitation).
The Amanot Sukai is a Japanese Faction which believes vampires are the servants of Amaterasu-o-mi-kami, a sun goddess who imperfectly created the vampires to serve her. Over time they have somehow fallen out of her grace and now suffer from her divine touch. These vampires believe their role is to purge impurity from the world by destroying those who are unclean. What constitutes the unclean is somewhat uncertain, and most vampires specialize in a certain type of impurity – slaying only criminals, for example. The faction stresses creation, especially in the maintenance of shrines and gardens.
The Daughters of the Goddess is exactly what most folk think of when they imagine the Circle – a matriarchal group of pagans who believe that men are only suited to simple, physical tasks and that the root of most evil is patriarchy. Many members of the group also strongly dislike the Masquerade and work to insert themselves into Wiccan covens and other similar groups in order to cultivate a more open relationship between vampires and mortals.
The Semioticians are skeptics in that they don’t believe in the Crone or any sort of god, but acknowledge the power of Cruac and generally believe that there must be some sort of great force out there. They are the most scholarly active of all the Circle Factions, as they seek to piece together truth from the beliefs of different Circles and mortal philosophies alike. Historians and philosophers, members of this Faction are at the same time reviled by others (for doubting the Truth) and accepted (as historians who will preserve the beliefs of other groups).
Ghoul Families
The Bellsmeade are devoted servants, treated like pigs, who worship the vampire Bellsmeade and his friends. There’s nothing about this ghoul family that makes it truly unique or interesting, just a flavorful creation story that makes the group feel alive. This would be an easy group to insert into just about any campaign.
Bloodlines
The Asnam is an Arab Bloodline of slave traders who developed a unique discipline – Ralab – in order to get the most out of the humans they trafficked in. The Bloodline worships Palden Lhamo, a Tibetan goddess with a strong vampiric aspect (perhaps actually an ancient vampire). This Daeva Bloodline gains access to Ralab in return for being an egomaniac. Twice per session the Storyteller may lie to the Asnam’s player about how difficult a task is, painting a difficult task as being easy for them.
The Carnon are a strange modern Bloodline born of neopaganism, LSD, and rock and roll. They are a rough and tumble group that take on many of the characteristics of Satyrs – including horns, goat-like eyes, yellowed teeth, and other signs as their Blood Potency increases. This Gangrel Bloodline gains the Nightmare Discipline in return for strange mutants as their Blood Potency increases.
The Childer of the Morrigan are the military arm of most Circles, the most powerful warriors who dedicate themselves to protecting the Circle and its ideals. This Gangrel Bloodline gains the Vigor Discipline in return for suffering from a permanent case of Depression which is often triggered by losing a conflict.
The Gorgons are descended from the Medusa of legend and involve snakes in their supernatural activities. This Ventrue Bloodline gains access to the unique Discipline of Amphivena in return for an obsession with snakes (-3 die to all Disciplines when not in contact with a serpent) and a compulsion to use the highest level of Amphivena, once they acquire it, to turn into a giant snake-like creature when no one else is around. As described below, Amphivena is a very nifty Discipline and makes the weakness almost non-existent. By simply not taking the last level of it a character could have no more than a mild roleplay consideration in return for a potent unique Discipline (which, to my eyes, makes this an extremely flavorful but easily exploited Bloodline).
The Mara are similar to Morlocks in that they live underground, have little in the way of human interests and habits, and otherwise tend to be bestial and uncivilized. This Gangrel Bloodline gains Obfuscate in return for only being able to feed if they are completely (head to toe) submerged in water. I consider this to be a hideous drawback for the most part, but this is an unlikely Bloodline for most players to begin with.
Chapter 5 Rules and Systems 28 pages.
Disciplines
Amphivena is a serpent-focused Discipline that gives the vampire a host of nice abilities. At the low end the Vampire can swallow a serpent, which then lives inside of her, and gain a host of bonus dice for various actions from extra dice for perception tasks to extra powerful snake ghouls. By level 3 a vampire may grow snake fangs on her hands, at level four she may create and use poison (through these fangs or on a weapon), and at level 5 she may transform into a large snake-like monstrosity (similar to a Naga).
Ralab allows a vampire to “sell” beauty, entering into a pact with mortals whereby they may use the Ralab’s Presence instead of their own (and for a slightly higher initial XP cost gain Striking Looks **). At level 2 the vampire may live inside her ghouls as if she were a spirit along for the ride. At level 3 she may freely transfer Blood Points between herself and her ghoul, and at level 4 she may do the same thing with Willpower. At level 5 the Ralab can perform a ritual on a human infant whereby if she ever dies she will take over the infant’s (or however old the human is at the time) body (which becomes a vampire) and go on about her existence. This makes any vampire who knows Ralab an excellent long term antagonist.
Four new Devotions are introduced as well, each of which is quite flavorful though two focus on using Amphivena with other Disciplines.
Cruac
The rest of the chapter discusses Cruac, both metaphysically and how to go about creating new Cruac rituals. In general Cruac seems to be divinely inspired, and those vampires who discover new ways to use it seem to gain such knowledge though visions and other unusual insight. While only 8 new pages of Cruac rituals are presented, the new rituals are flavorful and wholly appropriate. From classics like conjuring a Roving Hut to new and interesting applications such as learning a subjects thoughts while feeding from them.
Appendix 12 pages.
These 12 pages contain a variety of Circle of the Crone NPCs, each occupying a specific archetype so that they can be easily dropped into a Chronicle.
My Take
This is a fantastic supplement. When I went in I wasn’t expecting much. The Circle of the Crone wasn’t my favorite faction, and I felt like they were a little out of place in the modern nights. This product provides so many ideas and example Circles that it stimulates the imagination at every turn and creates an interesting, believable Covenant. I especially enjoyed the traditional roles of the Circle, as many of them are interesting and the positions are ripe for conflict with the outside world (and thus assist in driving a game forward).There are some weak points here. There are few new powers and abilities, which will turn off some fans. Readers who want to be told exactly what the Circle of the Crone is, instead of being given many tools and ideas for building their own local Circle, will be disappointed as well. However, if you can get past these two potential problems you’re sure to enjoy a well thought out discussion of the least understood Covenant.
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