Blood Oaths

Some Storytellers may decide that the legends of the Annunaku are true. Thus, the Storyteller might open up the Discipline of Tenure to all Kindred, not just those of Annunaku blood. In chronicles using that option, the Tenure Discipline may be substituted for Auspex when fulfilling the prerequisites for the Blood Oaths described below.

The most common Blood Oaths in the covenant are the symbolic Blood Oaths, in which nothing more potent than the honor of the Kindred involved enforces the terms. In most cases, the Kindred who are swearing write the text of their oath in their own blood, and give the text to the person to whom they are swearing. In one French city, the oath is written on parchment made from human skin, in the presence of at least four witnesses, in the last hour of the night. In a city in the United States Midwest, those who break their oaths are made to swear again on parchment made from their own skin, using a pen made from their finger bones and an inkwell made from their ribs. If the Prince is feeling generous, the oathbreaker is allowed to heal the injuries before swearing.
In a Canadian domain, one Priscus has the texts of oaths written and illuminated in gold leaf on parchment, and the completed text is then dipped in the oath-taker’s blood. One Central-American Prince, on the other hand, refuses to acknowledge written records of oaths, requiring those Kindred who swear to him to fill cups with their blood and then cast the cups into a fire. The size of the cup varies depending on the Prince’s feelings about that particular Kindred.
These Blood Oaths can be of any of the general types described below, but they have no supernatural effects. If a Kindred breaks such an oath, he suffers only the mundane — yet formidable — penalties imposed by a disgruntled superior.

In most domains, and through most of Invictus history, Blood Oaths have been more common than practitioners of Blood Oaths. The mystic properties of Blood Oaths are peculiar in that the Kindred supplying the arcane know-how to activate a Blood Oath Devotion does not have to be a party to the contract ensorcelled by the Devotion. Thus, the costs of such Devotions are often paid by the participants in the contract, rather than the invoker of the Blood’s power.
Blood Oaths, then, are specialized knowledge. Most domains have just one or two mystic Notaries who oversee all the covenant’s supernatural contracts. Even then, the truth of their supernatural power is often kept secret from all but the most powerful Society Kindred.