Op Ed 11/30 - Madsen Needs a Court

[The Mouth]

Why Madsen Needs a Court

By Francis

Okay, this one goes out to my friends above the King/Pierce Line and below it:

We need to be able to trade stuff.

Favors, goods, services, access to prime feeding, influence, retainers, all the goodies we all trade among each other. We need stuff, you need stuff, everyone needs stuff on occaison. Perhaps we might be able to walk away from naked 'Bend-Thee-To-My-Will' grudge-fuckery that we as a community seem so hell bent on... But I doubt it.

The Cam being, well, this huge monolith with raging badasses littered through the Seattle branch can't be forced to the table. No guys, I've seen the direct path. You know. Directly? It was fire, blood, and opportunistic Giovanni everywhere, Tremere asses to elbows anywhere they weren't.

So, we need, as a crew, to think about how committed we are to this Bowsely doctrine. I mean, it is a Cam thing that got dropped on us, right?

Wrong.

The Bowsely Doctrine marks a radical shift in the Camarilla. The Camarilla is an entity wholly based on one thing: Not the Masquerade.

I know, weird answer, and a tad touch of heresy while I am at it. In the beginning it might have been about the Masquerade. Over time and especially since the Sabbat got rolling as a truly inimical political and military entity the Cam shifted. The Masquerade, yeah. That's awesome, first Tradition and all that...

The other 5? Wow. Common theme on ALL the other 5? Domain.

Domain, Progeny, Accounting, Hospitality, and Destruction - All of which are in essence Domain. If you have the Domain you control who eats, who starves, and breeds, what they breed with, and whether or not everyone survives. By a whim.

So, why the Bowsely Doctrine?

Oh, this is soooo easy. The Justicariat has stated that they need such a thing in order to ensure that regional co-ordination and control can occur on larger breaches of the Masquerade. FYI, I was around for this one too, those crazy Thin Bloods who posted their shit on the Internet and it went viral.

There were, at last count, some 5,000 responses from the Kindred community. Uncoordinated responses - This doctrine leaves a new layer or hierarchy over larger regions to ensure the Masquerade is upheld.

True. Sort of.

Now look at it from the back 5 on the Traditions playlist.

With a car I can incapacitate my foe, drive to the edge of the Domain and commit murder breaking the 6th.

I can be in town and out within hours on a private plane. This breaking Rules 2 & 5. I can sire 4 Childer in that time frame, and leave them behind to break Rule 1 and Rules 3 & 4.

The entire idea of Domain has been eroded. Travel is safer now that ever before for our retainers. It increases in safety for us as well given that nearly every death in transit is the result of shitty planning or enemies who planned better with more than you had.

Do you have any idea how much bull shit I've seen get avoided by a quick 'I hop on a plane, off to my Sire'? The assumption was that previous Elders and Princes could control the movements of their Childer. Now, all that 'patience lessons' and lack of investment for us young'uns is translating into a highly mobile population.

And I'm pretty sure every pre-Industrial society can tell you that once the kids get feet they walk at the drop of, well, anything. Hell, I did.

Given modern communications I don't even have to be out of contact with my allies. I can email, facebook, text, of god forbid phone my pals and keep sticking it to who ever I want.

ANY of us can do this. Exile is no longer the absolute death sentence it was, now it is merely an inconvenience.

So... Back to my trade point: If Domain is like buying a condo development in 2007 then the Masquerade is still just as important, right?

More so than ever!

And we need to be able to see, coordinate, and cooperate with each other and the Cam to make this happen. Which means trade.

And in order for trade to happen we have to have a court system to resolve Disputes. You know, like the mortals have had kicking around for several thousand years.

And a willing harpy, can't deny that.

Because, hell, I want to sell stuff to the Cammies. I want them to owe me oodles. I want to be able to one day say 'Man, that all started in Tacoma and Seattle'.

So, King Madsen, I know you have a war happening. But add this to the puzzle wrapped in riddles wrapped in an enigma wrapped in bacon that is your mind: courts. Things to regularize the interactions between all your fiefs.

Just sayin.

[Just Evan]

See, this is why I left the Cause, chums.

These are some fantastic points AND wrapped in them is opportunity for younguns like Francis or myself to make a name and tidy profit - elders don't want to run around between courts relaying messages and delivering adult diapers to all those quivering sacks of human flesh they've dominated into fauceting the media and police responses of the human populations. Little guys can do that and we can do it for tiny favors or even simple cash; which I assure you these guys have in Scrooge McDuck-style spades.

But Francis here is running his mouth about all these great ideas to the choir. You think anything said down here is going to get heard by the muckity mucks in Olympia? That anyone is going to have the cajones to whisper to Madsen "Did you hear that an Anarch member of your own clan is suggesting a course of action to you?"

Hell no. Whoever was that stupid would get pimp slapped from here to Normandy in a heartbeat. Before you can go around asking to have the Big Man set up a court so you can petition him, you need official Camarilla liasons and diplomatic agreements and all the other shit you folks generally don't want to bother with because it's the way the Camarilla does business.

Man, it's too bad you folks don't know a savvy, friendly Cammie who has some ears in the board rooms right now. A guy like that could start the ball rolling on a thing like this.

(OOC: If this board isn't for other folks to respond to, I'll totally take this down! But please, consider the awesome of IC political arguments in anarch space before you do so! - Evan))

[The Mouth]

(Totally cool, you have an authenticator, and if you didn't, you do now!)

Heh.

Been waitin for a cynic.

And he's absolutely right. Everyone, just keep that in mind, Fitz is right. Love the guy, despite his skewer of my argument.

Yeah, Madsen wan't nothing doin with me. But others with more clout might think on it, appropriate a good idea (Fancy talk for 'Take the Credit') and if it works great if not then it was clearly from a flawed source (Fancy talk for Blame Francis).

But no one is going to come down and pimp slap me to Normandy. Seattle's strategic importance wanes with every victory of Madsen's against the Sabbat. Tacoma, as quasi-loyal citizens to his rule, is good. With Oregon and the Anarchs keeping a watchful on the Eastern Devils there is little reason for Tacoma to not keep on trucking and Seattle to be a solid fief in Madsen's Territories. We may not be thrilled to be in Madsen's AO, but frankly it has been a light touch and a good deal all around.

But for a group of folks who claim to think long term I offer these points: Get to figuring out how you want this social contract to go down. Bring violence, sure, see how that has worked at elminating the 'Anarch Threat' for the last 500 years. You think that if there was a military victory possible it would have been made by now...

Nah. Instead do something different. Hell, Seattle, show Madsen the way towards figuring it all out and get some status from it.

FYI, I know there are some folks on the north who are listening to me. I don't expect my fellow Southrons to see where this is going; burned hands and all. Damn sure isn't going to be more political and economic dominance over Tacoma; just the opposite.

I'm not asking for full blown World Trade Organization. I'm asking for a Caravanserai, places we can invest in mutually, as an experiment. See what happens.

And if I wake up in Normandy feeling like some elder has Pimp Slapped me to Europe, we will all know how it happened. In reply to Fitz, look at this as more a call to a highly fissile social experiment.

[Styx]

Well I for one can't WAIT to see how this all turns out..