Prestation is not a mortal concept, and is not used by humans, such as ourselves. 

 

It is more than just bartering favors, and is a highly developed social aspect of Kindred Society. To screw up prestation is to humiliate yourself and eventually become a complete pariah in the undead community. In this Contest of Will, you can't afford to have that occur. Better get it right. 

 

What is Prestation, really? 

 

Vampires are a selfish, greedy lot. They have to earn everything they have, often, in hard won wars that sometimes take centuries to move an inch forward. So in actuality, this attitude is the correct one. Why give something, anything away to a potential rival who, fifty years down the road, might use that advantage to rob you of something you have now? So Kindred guard every scrap of information, every edge they have from their resources and influence, to their knowledge of disciplines and the greater lores with great passion. This is expected and not frowned on at all. 

 

But how to get past that and get anything done? Kindred society evolved to form an accepted social attitude called Prestation. It is, on the surface, a trading of one boon for, eventually, another. It is, on the surface, a form of barter between Kindred that allows them to accept giving something away, with the knowledge that they will eventually get equal or perhaps even greater value back eventually. 

 

But if this were just a system of barter, it wouldn't be quite as intriguing to the Harpies as it clearly is. And this is because when you place another Kindred in your debt, you also raise your status and lower theirs. They needed a favor from you, so therefore, you are the more useful member of the society at large. Kindred who owe a boon to another must act in a deferential way towards them in the public eye of other Kindred. This can be humiliating, especially if an Elder is forced to act this way towards a neonate who helped him with some task.

 

And so there is always an accounting, and this is important because if you attack the wrong Kindred, and he calls in all his favors with other Kindred specifically to assault your holdings, you could easily lose everything in a hurry. Let's say you cross paths with a Toreador who you refuse to back for the seat of Prince, despite her demands otherwise. Now she doesn't like you, but this doesn't mean war yet. But then you go and back another Kindred, and she knows she has lost your support. Now she decides, out of sheer spite, to destroy your holdings to weaken your resolve to resist her, prove to everyone that she is the better choice for Prince, and to destroy important support from you for her competitor for the big chair.

 

Unknown to you previous to your decision, six other Kindred owe her boons of different levels. She decides to go to all out war against you and calls in all of her favors. Now you are up against seven Kindred with all of their resources at once. You will likely survive this as you won't likely be physically attacked personally. But your assets will be assaulted and your retainers may be terminated as an example of what happens to those who disappoint the Toreador clan.  

 

So learning who is owed what by whom will have a huge effect on the game and your decisions within it. You only want to attack Kindred that are isolated and without allies. You also want to put as many Kindred in your debt as possible. If the reverse is true, and you start owing lots of Kindred favors, not only will you be perceived as someone who is not self-sufficient and your Prestige rating will go down, but also you will likely be called upon to do favors right and left by the people you owe them to. In a game of this nature, there will be a lot of back and forth between you and the NPC's, and sometimes you just have to roll the dice and go for it. Often their boon requests from you will be doable, either in live rp sessions or through the use of Roleplaying Strategy e-mails, and you can get yourself back to even footing. 

 

But sometimes Kindred will intentionally not allow you to repay them, and they will keep their foot on your neck to reduce your influence in the court. In order to repay them, you have to have something they genuinely need. This is where you building your own spheres of influence become very important in the game. The more influence you wield, the more likely Kindred will need to come to you to get a favor done. And that's what you want. 

 

Prestation Between Players

 

This is not a player vs. NPC system, it is a vampire vs vampire system. In other words, you also should use Prestation among the other players. Be stingy with your knowledge and resources and make sure you can put as many of your fellow players in your debt during game sessions or through the use of strategy emails as you possibly can. If you want to learn one of their disciplines or skills, the best way to do so is to force them to mentor you as repayment for a boon you did for them. 

 

You can also drag them into your messes, and force them to help you complete quests that you are assigned by your clan or other NPC's. Giving anything away for free is never done intentionally by Kindred, especially Elders. And this is an Elder campaign. 

 

It will be expected that during roleplaying sessions, players should act deferentially towards players that they owe Prestation to. This can be a very humorous part of the game for everybody. Anyone who refuses to acknowledge their debts should be treated badly by all of the rest of the players on the team. Prestation is a societal norm in Kindred society. And you should all do your part to maintain that. You are not friends. You are competitors in the Contest of Will.