Le problème avec Paris
"The Problem with Paris"
In the mortal world, Paris is called the "City of Lights". This is as it should be. But, after the fall of the dark, it is called something different: "The City of Lies." The quote is from a former player who found Paris not at all to his taste. But even then, when Paris was barely formed and shrouded in the mists of player ignorance and misconception, it still bore a distinctly dark side. That darkness comes from the vampires who inhabit one of the most beautiful cities in western Europe.
Of course, you say, every western city has the same problem: "all the damned vampires!", as Grandpa in the "Lost Boys" movie said. Because Paris isn't just like every other western city, even the great ones. One thing separates it from those other capital cities, Paris is to the Camarilla what Mexico City is to the Sabbat. It is an unofficial capital to an entire sect of vampires and as such, it has two significant problems: over crowding and a tyrant sits upon the throne.
The problem of overcrowding is obvious, the city plays host to at least 200 hundred plus vampires and boasts a maximum population of 12.5 million mortals. The preferred Camarilla ratio is one vampire for every hundred thousand mortals. So ideally, Paris should have about 125 Kindred. But conservative estimates suggests that there are at least 200 vampires, which means the city is at about 150% of the ideal norms required to maintain the Masquerade (even the name sounds better in French), which means the illusory veil that separates mortals from the reality of blood drinking immortals stalking their streets is dangerously thin.
Which brings us to problem two: the tyrant. Francois Villon has ruled the city since before the "Terror", if one gets down to the fine details, a great deal longer. Francois and his anarch cronies destroyed the Ventrue prince of Paris Alexander and his childe behind the throne, Saviarre in 1481. Those were the heady days of the Anarch Revolt and from the ashes of Paris rose another Elder prince or should I say Princess? Beatrix was one of the last remaining Toreador elders in Paris and it wasn't difficult for her to seize the throne. But to keep it, she knew she had to strike a deal with the leader of the Anarchs, the poet extraordinaire, Francois Villon. In a private setting we can only imagine, the two childer of Helena met and worked out a lasting peace for Paris and in so doing set the stage for the Toreador Hegemony, first in Paris and then over the coming years, all of France. Some say that there was more than simple agreement between the two siblings, likely flirtation, probably romance and perhaps genuine affection -- although, only Villon would know. Regardless, in 1493, the ink on the peace treaty between the nascent Camarilla and the Anarchs was barely dry with the conclusion of the "Convention of Thorns" when Villon stepped out of the shadows to join Beatrix as her advisor. Still Francois would not reign fully until 1789, when French society entered a series of convulsions called the "Terror" or to foreigners - the "French Revolution."
None of this means Francois Villon is a tyrant, of course. But, he is a tyrant, for who but a tyrant would need not one, but two distinct sets of secret police. The more mundane of these two secret societies are the Masques, who exist for just two purposes, one to ensure the secrecy of the blood and two, to protect Villon's position as prince. While the masques had existed as a small coterie of personal enforcers to Villon since the later years of the 17th century, the death of Beatrix changed everything for Villon, whose first unofficial action after gaining the throne was to breathed life into the Masques as agents of terror.
Prince Villon's second unofficial action was to create a secret society of blood magicians to protect his city from all things unknown, be it werewolf wars, the intrigues of mages, wraithly hauntings or just the occasional proverbial fairy at the bottom of the garden. Of course it was understood that anything that threatened the power of Villon as prince or threated his Grand Court and couldn't be handled by the Masques became the bailiwick of the Veilleurs (night watchmen). It wasn't long before a clash of secret societies occurred when the occult world of Paris became a battle ground between Villon's Veilleurs and Clan Tremere. If it were not for Francois Villon, his pet sorcerers would likely have been crushed by the Warlocks, but then the prince forbid blood magic to the Kindred. Naturally, the Kindred of the city found ways around this by plotting with the other supernaturals, specifically, the mages of France. This too was forbidden by the prince upon pain of death.
So now we know that Paris is vastly over populated by the Kindred and ruled by a tyrant. Naturally, a tyrant would need just cause to excuse such political avarice and the danger presented to the Masquerade by the surplus population of vampires is quite real. Thus, one hand feeds the other and the evil that is Paris grows, for tyranny creates strange bedfellows and secret societies multiply in a hothouse atmosphere of Byzantine machinations. If these two evils were the only dangers present in Paris, it would be enough, but they are not, for a festering illness seeps from the earth of Paris itself and slowly corrupts her Cainite denizens over time.
Still the true problem of Paris for the Storyteller and player alike is simply this: Paris is the unofficial capital of the Camarilla and it belongs, heart and soul to the vampires. While there are many supernatural influences in Paris, none are so great in numbers, raw power or influence as the Children of Caine. While the vampires of Paris could and have waged outright war upon the other supernaturals of the City of Lights, they have learned a valuable lesson from past endeavors, they have time and numbers on their side. In the short term, the other assembled supernaturals could and have banded together to win the day, these occasional successes are however unlikely to guarantee certain and lasting victory against a foe that can create nearly endless canon-fodder.
The most logical question at this point, is why does any of this matter? A good question. And one easily answered. No city since Chicago has suffered from such over-crowding or such tyranny. There is more than a passing resemblance between Lodin of the Ventrue and Villon of the Toreador. The collective members of both great clans would die of apoplexy rather than admit this were so, but the reflection never lies. For a certainty, Francois Villon is more elegant, cultured and likely more handsome and charming than Lodin. Villon is a stylish and devil-may-care tyrant that makes you admire him even as you hate him, but when you strip away veneer of culture and sophistication, there is an iron fist well hidden in the fine velvet glove. And of course, it makes sense, old anarchs make the best or worst princes. Still, why all the discussion? Its simple really, there are just two reasons for discussing these matters at such length. The first is utterly obvious, Paris is ripe for a reckoning such as found in "Under a Blood Red Moon". The second reason is more complicated and it is this, when a city like Paris is so completely defined by vampires as Paris is, playing anything but a vampire in Paris is to miss the best that Paris has to offer in terms of roleplaying and storytelling.
