Gentle Enthrallment
1 or 3 Point Merit
While most vampires engender slavish devotion in their ghouls through the "gift" of their blood, creating spiritually ruined and singularly wretched creatures to serve them, your blood reacts somewhat differently when bestowed upon the Children of Seth. At the 1=point variation of this Merit, while you do create the blood oath and you empower your thralls normally, the psychological reaction of the ghoul allows for a great deal more free will. Your ghouls regard you with a fierce loyalty and a powerful sense of affection (more befitting a beloved friend than an unholy master), but they do not, as a rule, adopt the posture of pathetic, groveling toadies. Not only is this more humane form of enthrallment more morally acceptable for and among Prodigals, it also allows your ghouls to pass more easily as ordinary mortals (for instance, they are less likely to fly into a rage when someone dares to malign you).
The 3-point version of the Merit, in addition to the benefits above, also results in regular uses of Dominate having few permanent deleterious effects on mortals. Thus, even those conditioned as perfect servants possess the spark of intelligence and initiative necessary to function as reasonably normal human beings.
