Get Ready For Honor's Fall

Photo by Ian Havens

It’s time for our game of the year. Tickets go on sale tomorrow for Honor’s Fall. We have a couple of things we want you to know… so read on for more information about August’s game.

What Is Honor’s Fall?

Honor’s Fall is the annual event that defines Requiem. For one night, from sunset to sunrise, all laws are suspended, and this town of outcasts, criminals, and killers has a chance to settle all the scores from the previous year. What’s more important, it’s a chance for political change, as Families can rise and fall, and even the authority of the High Lord Executioner can change. We’ll announce more details as we approach the event, but the bottom line is this: all night long, killers will roam the streets, and violence will determine the future of Requiem.

But it’s not just a night of violence… this is the most important weekend of the year. So it starts with a party, and on Friday night, we invite you to the Bacchanal. From game on until after midnight, we’ll host you in the Great Hall with music, food, and vendors. We’ll be putting out an all-call for people who want to sell food and wares next week and are working on the night’s entertainment. However, we would like to invite all players to host an After Party… pre-planned events of drinking and debauchery as those about to die the next night celebrate. The High Lord Executioner purposely goes to bed early, so that faiths (particularly the Light of Hedon) can organize parties as long as they’re indoors and not in the Great Hall. So if you want to have a faith-themed party early Saturday morning, this is your chance. 

The Festering Crystal Lottery

This year, we find ourselves with some leftover Festering Crystals and national currency from our premiere event. We also find ourselves in need of player support for this event, so we’ve decided to hold a lottery for these items (and more) on Sunday. This is an out-of-character lottery to thank you for your support and encourage you to get engaged in Honor’s Fall. We’ll give out details on the prizes and logistics closer to the event, but here are some ways you can get tickets:

• Volunteering for extra NPC shifts Saturday night beyond what’s in the database (we’ll do a sign-up after the Early Bird) - one ticket per two hours (plus the normal CAPs).

• Being a food or item vendor for the Bacchanal.

• Organizing a room party.

Getting tickets will require coordination with staff prior to the event… watch our announcements to learn more. 

Consequences

You all did an amazing job of taking care of business at Dogs of War and focused on eliminating immediate hazards through intelligence and crafting. However, everything’s a trade-off, and there will be some consequences of focusing on the battle at hand, and not long-term political consequences. Here are some of the “special effects” you can look forward to at Honor’s Fall, and perhaps throughout the Fall…

• The Zodiac diverted resources they’d normally use to keep their experiments in check. In the coming months, the Gravemind will be “clogged” again. As a result, our “No Room In Hell” mechanic will return at Honor’s Fall and last through the Feast of Flesh. 

• The Boone-Helm took heavy casualties and now can’t keep the local Raider population under control during Thrill Kill season. As a result, all Warpath and Thrill Kill raiders gain the Raider Rush ability through October. This ability does not affect Warband Tainted in any way. 

• The Tarrarians built many tunnels for this war and can’t keep tabs on them all. Undead have a tendency to come out of the tunnels. As a result, through October, room augments and gizmos that lock doors will not keep out undead that come through the tunnels.

A LARP Conundrum: Skill Calls and You

Hello Readers! We are back with another blog post, and this one serves a couple of purposes; transparency and bringing attention to collaborative play.

The Ground Work

At DR:NY, we have been lucky enough to enjoy some bigger games over the past few months but as we push into the colder seasons we expect to see some of our warm weather friends take a bit of a break which leads to some more intimate games. As you might imagine, as a game runner, large and small games present their own types of challenges. One of the biggest challenges is smaller NPC groups, because we love to push you to that ‘oh shit’ moment, and that is a lot harder to do when we have 3 people rather than 10.

Here’s the Scene

So, I want you to imagine for a moment - you’re out playing your character. Things have been pretty quiet… and then HARK! Are these the harmonious groans of zed? Or perhaps the grunting rumblings of some raiders!? You can feel your adrenaline start to rush as you reach for your weapons. You can see them now - only 4 of them. They engage with a group of people who had advanced to intercept them. “Mangle, mangle, break weapon, mangle, break weapon, mangle, break weapon…” One by one, the raiders are quickly dispatched. You didn’t get a chance to swing on them. Maybe they’ll respawn?  There! From the treeline- more raiders! “Break weapon, breakmanglebreakweapon mangle…” dead again. They don’t respawn. There weren’t enough of them, you never even got close enough to swing. You watch the NPCs march away into the night, because after all, there are other players that also haven’t seen any action for a while and they need to be entertained as well.

The Dilemma

There are two major points to this blog. The first is really to point out that we (your game runners, your Ops guides) want to send you that threat, we want you to have fun engaging it, it’s literally what we are here for. We all have these skills, all this mind, brews, meals, all this build and time we have spent acquiring the aforementioned skills/items but when it comes to some of those smaller NPC groups, some of those lower threat baddies, the player may want to think about how using those skills could negatively impact the scene. We’re not saying don’t use your stuff - that’s kinda the whole point of playing. That being said, skill spamming can really suck from both sides of the aisle for a multitude of reasons. You’ve all been on the NPC side of things and heard the whole ‘don’t skill spam - it’s no fun for the players who have waited for something to fight and want to get in there and feel cool. You aren’t the hero, they are.’ We don’t think about how it is for the people on NPC shift and the guides when we try to bring a low to moderate threat out and it gets steamrolled in thirty seconds. It unfortunately ends up being not that much fun for most parties involved - the NPCs don’t enjoy being immediately potatoed and not being able to engage their friends, the guide has to try to figure out if there is something they can do that would be fair but more engaging for the players that are there, and the players that are not the ones who immediately engage in the fight don’t get in on any of the action.

What We Don’t Want

“Okay, well, why don’t you just up the stats of the NPCs?” Good question. A lot of the time we do. Being able to adapt on the fly is an important tool out in the field. If I know I am hitting a bunch of veteran players, you better believe those NPCs will be above threshold. But there are also variables ( weather, temperature, how much combat that group of NPCs has already done etc.) that impact us being able to respawn for long periods of time, and just making a threat immune to skills or having ‘yes’ body is something we avoid, or don’t do at all at DR:NY. There are also the cases where the groups of players we see are mixed build levels. If we want to send something out the low to mid build characters can engage with and they happen to be hanging out with a couple players that have high build, it is very difficult if not impossible to balance appropriately. You can see how all of this can be quite a challenge.

What It Boils Down To

So what is the moral of this ramble? I guess it boil down to three things:

• Spamming skills has a time and place, and that is with a larger or higher threat group of NPCs

• Be mindful of the people you are around, they want to get in on that combat too. If one or two players engage the threat and beat it down in 30 seconds, that’s not nearly as much fun.

• The people you are fighting against, the NPCs, those people are your friends too. And sometimes they just wanna play wacky bats and steal your bucket…

Emotional Damage

It’s clear to us that our players have enjoyed the “Fuck Around And Find Out” mentality and ability to opt in that came with Red Line. While thats still very much on going, we would like to offer another opt in for “Fuck Around And Find Out” that’s a bit more in theme for the spooky season.

How do you get involved?

Once during game a cabin may register with Ops a negative emotion in the form of an “I feel _____.” statement. This could be I feel aggressive, lonely, melancholy, hatred, etc etc. This is done for the entire cabin, so please make sure to discuss with your bunk mates before registering. Once a cabin has registered with Ops, we will (at some point during either night) find a way to represent, create or embody that emotion in the cabin at our discretion. This could be a scene, a threat, some fresh new trauma for your characters to bond over or other various things that come with the season. The sooner a cabin registers the more time we will have to plan a fun encounter for all those who are staying there so feel free to start those conversations before game !

Unfinished Business

Photo by London Belli

Sure was a lot going on during Honor's Fall. Time to wrap up some loose ends as we roll on into SEASON TWO.

False Idol

Tired of seeing all your faithful friends murder each other? Hunt down the False Idol, put an end to it and maybe find out what or who it was in the process.

Red Line

Everybody loves Redline, but has anyone managed to figure out what it all does? Compare notes, get high off your ass, experience insane side effects, but hey where is it coming from anyway?

Meet The Families

Now that the dust has settled check out and rub shoulders with your new family heads and see the faces that will be wielding power in a newly reshaped Requiem.

Honor's Fall Recap

Photos by Shawn Smith

Over two hundred survivors descended upon the town of Requiem, as the Families observed their annual tradition of Honor’s Fall. While murder and death cast a shadow on the event, there were also fortunes found in the Hot Zone, revelry at the Bacchanal, and a very special concert. Here’s what you encountered this past weekend.

Food, Merch and Music

Honor’s Fall kicked off with the Bacchanal, where residents and visitors alike saw the best entertainment Requiem had to offer. Vendors filled tables with weapons, gear, and mementos, as others sold food as varied as pho and pizza. The entertainment for the night included an original dance, “The Honor’s Fall Le Ballet,” followed by burlesque dancing from our own Asriel Graves. Then, the electric guitar duo Asmodeus and Rev put on a five song set of metal and hard rock to set the mood and prep us for the main event. Finally, at the end of the Bacchanal, The Mary Lous played a full set of original and cover songs, capped off by a fireworks display. Of course, the fireworks drew a giant horde, but six or seven deaths were a small price to pay for such fine entertainment.

The Hot Zone

Throughout the weekend, survivors climbed to the far reaches of the Fold to explore the Hot Zone, a nuclear, chemical, and biological hazard site under the auspices of the SLOSHA - Slaghound Occupational Safety and Health Agency. In truth, the “agency” was actually Slaghound Salvage, an opportunistic group of scavengers, who took over the site from a group of actual scientists and were grifting visitors into doing the dangerous salvage for them. Despite the unsavory situation, those who entered the Hot Zone found all sorts of valuable items, ranging from cooking components to radioactive metal to all sorts of usable poisons. However, by far the most valuable were the festering crystals that brave and sharp-eyed survivors managed to take home.  

Careful investigations revealed someone had deliberately caused the spill by setting up explosives and sabotaging containment doors at an NBC disposal site. Some of the survivors engaged in a late night mission to disarm more bombs and fix the control panel at the site, and researchers managed to find a cure for the disease caused by exposure to the wastes. However, research into who made the bombs is inconclusive so far…

WARPATH LIVE!

Saturday morning, those attending Honor’s Fall received a surprise concert hosted by a raider clan who somehow learned to thrash. WARPATH LIVE continued their tour through the Fold with a return to Requiem. Fans subsequently lost their figurative minds (while seven lost their literal heads) and the band promises it will return one day.

Honor’s Fall

Of course, the most important event was Honor’s Fall itself, from sunset on Saturday to sunrise on Sunday. The violence began in earnest, and the Boone-Helm were quickly repulsed by the Devils, who took Polaris’ head as the first trophy of the night. The death peaked when the Zodiac Order made their way through town, turning half of the population into the undead and controlling them to take part in their necromantic experimentation. After that, Family heads rolled throughout the night, until there was but one left: Anton Anastasia. As the Families gathered in the Wilted Rose at sunrise, they affirmed the Patron Family status of the Devils and Lonely Streetz, and welcomed four new into their number: the Anderson-Ambrosios, the Blood Wraiths, the Stevensons and the Tarrarians. However, Honor’s Fall was not complete, as just when it seemed to be over, Anton Anastasia surrendered his own head to his second, Essex, who then claimed the title of High Lord Executioner.

For the record, as per Essex Anastasia, here are the Thirteen Families of Requiem:

• The Anastasia Dynasty

• The Anderson-Ambrosios Family

• The Blood Wraiths

• The Boone-Helm Collective

• The Brokentooth Clan

• The Devils

• The Lonely Streetz

• The Molon Collective

• The Stevenson Family

• The Tarrarian Party

• The Volkov

• The Warren Collective

• The Zodiac Order

Aim to Misbehave

Photo by London Belli

Requiem doesn’t really have laws… it has rules. The Treaty of the Fold binds the Families of Requiem together under the rule of the High Lord Executioner, but historically, people ended up here because they got run out of somewhere else. The Families more resemble a crime syndicate than traditional government, and the setting encourages sketchy activities like drugs, theft and murder (as long as you don’t get caught). While the staff talks a lot about Character versus Character (CvC) conflict quite a bit, there’s actually not much more CvC in Requiem than in other chapters. Most of the conflict remains CvE, which poses a question: if we’re not harming each other, how do we misbehave in a setting appropriate manner? Here are some ideas for both locals and travelers as we approach Honor’s Fall.

Rule 0: Consequences, not laws

Requiem is governed by a treaty, not a constitution or a charter. In most governments, there’s an authority figure who has “legitimate” power over everyone who lives there. In a treaty, various groups agree to abide by the same rule and suffer consequences enforced by their peers. There’s not a whole lot that the High Lord Executioner can do to go after Seraphis Volkov if she kills someone in the streets of Requiem… except that the other Families would back him up, and possibly destroy the Seraphis’ entire family if she didn’t submit to his judgment. The threat of war (as seen during our last plot arc, the Reckoning) keeps the peace.

While all the Families care about the Treaty, it’s out of self-interest, not a sense of justice. If someone disrupts the peace, they’ll be dealt with quickly, but there’s not a police force investigating crimes in Requiem. Therefore, you have an unspoken rule that exists in many places, but is even more true here: don’t get caught. 

Vice Is Part Of the Setting

We’ve just introduced a new drug, Redline. The local bar, the Wilted Rose, is a brothel. We have heavy metal raiders. Sex, drugs and rock-and-roll are integral to the setting, and we encourage players to indulge their character’s vices. While we have to be respectful to real-world addictions and player boundaries, vice is one of the best ways to role-play Requiem’s lawless nature. It’s not that Requiem has vices you can’t find anywhere else, it’s that in Requiem, locals focus on vice as an enterprise. It’s not a Hedon paradise, because in Requiem, vice is a business.

How do you get involved in vice? Buy intoxication brews (and then role-play the effects). Do Redline. Frequent the brothel (just don’t expect actual sexual contact with the players!) Or start your own rackets: maybe you can learn three-card monte (and run it as an actual grift with a partner). Do some gambling and lose some bets. Cheat at cards. Find something that feels good, then charge characters in-game money to indulge.

Criminal Conspiracies

Requiem has a strong emphasis on Criminal Influence, as well as societies such as Murder Inc. We typically have our meetings early in the gathering, to provide guidance to players throughout the event. Our Criminal Influence meeting usually has over half the event in attendance (we currently have 110 players checked in with at least basic Criminal Influence), while our Murder Inc meeting usually meets in a smaller group that requires more effort to attend. These groups have a strong presence in the Families of Requiem, and typically offer an opportunity to get involved with plot in a setting-appropriate manner.

Remember, Criminal Influence is not a rare skill in Requiem. While it still values secrecy, when most of the game has the skill, it’s not an exclusive club. When you go to the Criminal Influence meeting, expect to see high-ranking Family members (both player and NPC) expressing political opinions, a couple of job offerings, and probably people fencing some sketchy items. Murder Inc, however, generally requires more commitment: you’ll be asked to use proficient Stealth to make a disguise, and then meet at ops to be escorted to the meeting location. There are often in-depth discussions of what the organization will do over the course of the gathering, and if there’s to be an assassination, this is where it’ll be decided.

Honor Amongst Thieves

The single best way to engage in Requiem’s setting is to embrace the idea of “honor amongst thieves.” The people of Requiem have various codes they live by. For example, they don’t rat people out (or at least try not to get caught doing it). If they shake on an agreement, they expect it to be honored; this isn’t a “Rover deal” but rather a realization that the other person might do violence if they welch. And they value loyalty… loyalty to their family, in particular… above all else. 

At Honor’s Fall, we’ll bring in a new item to focus on this theme, as we introduce special challenge coins. Extremely rare, these coins were inspired by the gold coins in the John Wick movies: they represent a favor more important than life itself. We’ll explain more about them in an announcement, but realize that they’re only given out to players on rare occasions, and if you have one, you can return it to an NPC to call in just about any favor you can think of from them.  

But I’m Not A Crook

Not everyone plays a criminal, but everyone in Requiem is playing in a town built by crooks, con artists and scoundrels. While, we don’t create plots that focus exclusively on these scoundrels, apart from a couple of Criminal Influence mods, realize that to a majority of players, the criminal aspect of Requiem is an important part of the game. If you’re playing a character who doesn’t have Criminal Influence, who doesn’t indulge in vice, or even plays law enforcement… cool. That’s also part of the setting, but we do expect you to interact with others with the knowledge that all the rackets, grifts and conspiracies that are going on around you, are important to other players. There are ways to get involved indirectly, with many criminal organizations maintaining strong ties to people otherwise on the up-and-up. We’re committed to not gate-keeping our plots and modules behind Criminal Influence or that sort of role-play, but realize that many of our plots are going to have that sort of aesthetic. By engaging with it, even in an antagonistic manner, you can get involved in a uniquely Requiem way - by indulging your vices, acknowledging the sense of honor amongst thieves, or even by refusing to give up your sense of law and order.

The Contenders

If you pay attention to the politics of Requiem, you’ve probably heard someone mention “the Thirteen Families.” The problem: there aren’t Thirteen Families. The number shifts, and depends on how you count them… so we’ll just talk about Patron Families that exist right now. As of the summer of 2022, we have nine Patron Families - six Families with NPC Heads (Anastasia, Boonhelm, Molon, Volkov, Warren and Zodiac) and three with players leading them (Brokentooth, Devils and Lonely Streetz).  So with only nine Patron Families, what happened to the other four, and where do we go from here?

Why Are There Not 13?

The short answer: there were 13, and then things changed. Families die, vie for power, lose their position and evolve over time. Often, they meet bloody ends (like the Jones Collective at our last event). We also want to make sure there is room for player-created Families, and make sure there are significant stakes at Honor’s Fall. 

When we returned from the Pandemic in August of 2021, we re-evaluated every Family, and ended up with eight: seven NPC-led Families and Brokentooth. Over the last year, we added two player-led families, and saw the demise of Jones, which lands us at our current number. During this Honor’s Fall, we’ll see the number grow to 13 again, as the players help decide which groups will enter the ranks of the Patron Families.

Who Are the Contenders?

During Honor’s Fall, the Families will vie for power in Requiem, and try to ensure their own survival as a Patron Family.  While they do, a number of contenders will jockey for power, hoping to be elevated to the their status. If you’ve played in Requiem this year, you might have met many of these groups, but here’s a refresher:

• The Anderson-Ambrosias - A player-led Ward Family, the Anderson-Ambrosias are led by the Faithful of both the Sainthood of Ashes and the Nuclear Family. After the fall of the Jones Collective, they seek to position themselves as the “tenders of the Faithful” in Requiem.

• The Bloodwraiths - A mercenary company who made it a practice to pursue “big game”; they entered the Fold tracking the undead creations of Zodiac. They believe that the “weak can become strong” and seek to help people defend themselves, but as a mercenary company, they’re also known to be more than a bit greedy.

• The Dioscuri Bloodline - A family of psions who deal in a strange sort of “crystal-tech” that they manufacture with their abherrent powers. While little is known of them, rumor has it that they seek to protect the “Gifted” from the “Unworthy,” although it’s not entirely sure what that means.

• The Doctorium - At their core, a group of well-guarded Doctors, this faction seeks to develop a panacea for all diseases. In Requiem, they offer medical treatment in exchange for compensation. However, beneath such noble goals, there are rumors that they’ll perform less-than-ethical experiments on “volunteers” - individuals who failed to pay their contracts.

• The Knite Council - Newcomers to Requiem, most people of the Fold haven’t had much interaction with this group except with their pig-faced leader (prophet? god?) Argor. Concerned primarily with cleaning the corruption they find blighting the land, Argor’s followers have begun to reach out to the Families, seeking to join them. 

• The Stevensons - A collection of Landsmen… heavily influenced by faith the Nuclear Family… the Stevensons have a long history in the Fold but have avoided entanglements with the politics of Requiem until the Reckoning. Farmers by trade and soldiers by necessity, they want to assert themselves as the voice of the common folk.

• The Tarrarian - This faction believes in self-control and rehabilitation; they dwell in the tunnels beneath Requiem, and are actively attempting to make their living space accessible and hospitable. Of course, a clan of gorgers has some obvious… conflicts of interests cohabitating with those who could also be their food supply.

Other contenders might still emerge, including player-led Families who meet our requirements (if you’re interested in contending for Family status at Honor’s Fall and have the appropriate number of people, make sure you give us at least 30 days notice with an action request).

What Happens Next

With Honor’s Fall coming up, there will be openings for new Patron Families… but not enough room for all the aspiring and current powers-that-be. Player actions will determine which families remain after Honor’s Fall, and who gets to take their place.

Requiem Realpolitick

The High Lord Executioner. Photo by London Belli. Pictured - Tom Kelly

The town of Requiem and the settlements of the Fold are said to be “balanced on the edge of a razor” (there’s a reason we have one in our logo). We’ve talked before about the Families of Requiem and the Treaty of the Fold, but the setting we design only matters if the players know how to engage with it. Requiem offers a distinct perspective on politics and powers, with a tremendous gulf between what is said and what is done. When playing in Requiem, remember that the setting favors “Realpolitik” versus the “Rule of Law.”

Forget the Rule of Law

Some people stop at stop signs when no one is looking. They don’t rip tags off of the mattresses. They follow the law. Further, when we’re playing a game with rules, we expect people to follow them - when you’re playing Dystopia Rising, we trust you to spend mind when you use a skill and rip up the item card when you drink a brew. However, when it comes to setting… the rule of law breaks down. Just as in the real world, the powerful people of Requiem say one thing and do another. This is because the people of Requiem… particularly the powerful… are corrupt. 

There’s a difference between our local mechanics (which are rules the players must follow) and the local setting documents, such as the Treaty of the Fold (which our NPCs… and Leading Characters… sometimes ignore). So while you still have to follow the game rules, you can kind of forget about the rule of law in Requiem: it’s more “what can I get away with?”

Realpolitik

Instead of the Rule of Law, realpolitik is the norm in Requiem. Realpolitick emphasizes amoral pragmatism over principles or ideals - think Machiavelli. What matters in Requiem isn’t so much the “law,” it’s the people who enforce it. And while they say their rules are absolute, the truth is much less clear-cut.

The best example of this is Anton Anastasia, the High Lord Executioner. Tom, who plays him, does an excellent job of presenting someone confident of his absolute power. However, as you interact with the NPC, you realize that he’s balancing his relationship with the family heads, and needs to make a number of deals and concessions to maintain his position. For example, the Treaty of the Fold changes over time - and those changes aren’t always announced. If you and your character remember there being different rules in regards to Honor’s Fall, you’re not wrong: they were changed as part of a back-room deal.

So What?

So what does this mean if you’re a Requiem player? It means that in-character institutions such as the Treaty of the Fold or the office of the High Lord Executioner are not absolute - they change over time, and respond to the pressure your characters put on them. If you want things to change, you can interact directly with the NPCs - Anton, the family heads - and other players to make things happen. What’s important is leverage - what can you do to pressure these NPCs to get them to do what you want.

This month at Requiem, you’ll begin to see some consequences of player characters applying this leverage. Anton has made some questionable decisions in the past year, and people have noticed. Don’t like the current political system in Requiem? The next few months will give you the power to change it. Just be careful what you wish for.

REQUIEM 101 - REQUIEM AND THE FAMILIES

Newcomers to Dystopia Rising New York may hear a number of new words - “Family,” “Fold,” “High Lord Executioner.” Requiem features a host of persistent non-player characters and unique customs that let players immerse themselves in the setting. To help you with these features, we’ve put together this primer: Requiem 101.

Sir Isaac surveys Requiem. Photo: Allana Marie. Pictured: Kc Lofold

What Is Requiem?

Requiem is the trade town in the heart of the Fold - a territory that corresponds to what was once upstate New York. The Fold was a place for people to go when they’d been run out of other places, usually for criminal activities. These expats formed small groups that controlled small territories in the Fold; because they were (mostly) a bunch of criminals, they called these groups Families.

To coexist, these Families created the town of Requiem and signed the Treaty of the Fold. This set of laws governs them, and binds them to the will of the High Lord Executioner, who has the final say on matters of life and death. Over the years, Requiem has changed locations, but its purpose remains the same: this is where the Families come to do business and settle scores.

Who Are The Families?

The Treaty of Fold recognizes two kinds of families: Patron and Ward. According to the Treaty of the Fold, there can be up to 13 Patron Families, who control territory in Requiem. In addition, Ward Families - smaller families who don’t yet qualify as Patron Families - can align themselves under the protection of Patron Families. As of October 2021, there are eight Patron Families:

• The Anastasia Dynasty - Led by Anton Anastasia, the High Lord Executioner, this openly criminal family dominates the politics of Requiem.

• The Boon-Helm Collective - A collection of masked maniacs, cannibals, and torture artists led by Polaris, a pure blood with advanced bad brain. 

• The Brokentooth Clan - The Brokentooth Clan generally dwells in Requiem proper, and thrives upon the trade driven by the town. Their family head is Salt (note: this is a PC Patron Family).

• The Jones “Secular” Congregation - The laws of Requiem ban the open practice of religion, hence the “secular” nature of this family, named for their cult leader, Jones.”

• The Molon Collective - Outsiders, loners, and recluses led by Keres Molon, the Collective possesses a psionic connection to the Gravemind and a drive to “protect” it.

• The Volkov - Information brokers (or less charitably, spies), the Volkovs never appear in public unless fully masked, following the example of their founder, Seraphis Volkov.

• The Warren Collective - “Let’s make a deal.” The fixers, brokers and smugglers of Requiem, founded and led by Jack Warren, this Family focuses on profit above all else.

• The Zodiac Order - Named for its founder, Zodiac, this family’s mission is its “research.” Unfortunately, their research focuses on the creation and control of the undead.

What Are the Laws of Requiem?

The Treaty of the Fold gives the High Lord Executioner the powers of a dictator in Requiem, and so the laws are subject to change at any time. You can find a full list of the laws here, however, there’s a few well-known laws you should remember. 

• Preaching is outlawed in Requiem, except for a few exceptions, and then only in private.

• If a citizen of Requiem is murdered, the killer shall be killed. If a Family Member is murdered, the killer and one of their closest associates will be killed.

• Once a year, the laws of Requiem are suspended during a time called Honor’s Fall.

What is Honor’s Fall?

The last thing in our Requiem 101 primer is an introduction to Honor’s Fall. During the last full month of summer, there will be one night when all laws and protections of the Treaty of the Fold will be suspended. This annual bloodbath prevents vendettas and other feuds from destroying the alliance for the rest of the year. During Honor’s Fall, some Families disappear, others rise, and the social order of Requiem resets.

In the coming months, we’ll expand on the Families, Honor’s Fall, and the Treaty of the Fold in this blog. For latest updates, follow us on Facebook at Dystopia Rising New York.