Vampiric blood is incredibly addictive, giving an overwhelming sense of pleasure when it is consumed. Overcoming the will and overwhelming the mind, an individual who drinks directly from a vampire is filled with unwilling admiration and love for the vampire whose blood they have consumed. With time and repeated application, feeding someone vampiric vitae can enslave them entirely to the will of the vampire. Easy to fall into and difficult to escape, this complete enslavement is known as the Blood Bond. 

The Blood Bond is complete enthrallment, and, while it takes on a character of its own depending on the Bonded individual, the universal constants are that the person is supernaturally loyal to the vampire and has an obsessive admiration or love for the vampire to whom they are Bonded. They would protect the vampire with their life and care more for the vampire’s survival than their own. Supernatural powers, such as Dominate or Presence, cannot change their Blood-Bound emotions. Blood Bonds are usually used to control mortals and ghouls, but vampires may also be Bound. The process requires drinking blood directly from a vampire; once blood has left a vampire, it loses its power to Bond another in seconds. 

After the first drink, the drinker feels strongly for the vampire. They may seek out the vampire, dream of them, try to be the vampire’s close friend, or become infatuated. After the second drink, the drinker becomes even more deeply influenced by the vampire. Though they are not enslaved yet, the drinker finds the vampire one of the most important figures in their life. There are no mechanical effects after drinking once or twice from a vampire, but this growing influence and obsession should be roleplayed. 

After the third drink, the drinker becomes Blood Bound to the vampire. The drinker is now known as a thrall. The one who fed them is known as their regnant. The regnant is now THE most important person in a thrall’s life. All others, including friends, family, and even children, are secondary to their regnant in terms of importance. A Blood Bond gains a Bond Strength equal to the number of times the thrall has consumed the regnant’s blood (maximum of 6). Every Blood Bond initially begins with a Bond Strength of 3, since you need to consume a vampire’s blood three times to become a thrall. Every time a thrall drinks their regnant’s blood increases the Bond Strength by one, up to a maximum of 6. 

Resisting a Blood Bond 

A Blood Bond’s Bond Strength is reduced by one for each month during which the thrall consumes none of their regnant’s blood and successfully makes at least one Defiance check. For a thrall to attempt something against their regnant’s wishes, the thrall must succeed in a contested challenge of their Resolve + Intelligence vs. Bond Strength called a Defiance check. Defiance checks in the presence of their regnant requires the thrall to test every turn. Outside of the presence of their regnant, a thrall is required to make a Defiance check only once per scene. 

Breaking a Blood Bond 

Breaking a Blood Bond requires the thrall to reduce the Bond Strength of the Blood Bond to her regnant to 0 (zero). Bond Strength is reduced by one for each month during which the thrall consumes none of their regnant’s blood and successfully makes at least one Defiance check. A regnant may have an unlimited number of mortal thralls and as many vampire thralls as they have dots in Blood Potency. If a regnant Bonds another thrall above their maximum, their oldest Bond fades to 0 (zero) over a week. A thrall may only have one regnant at a time. Once a thrall has formed a Blood Bond with her regnant, she is immune to the Bond with others. 

Example: Angela has fed twice each from Byron, Clint, and Darcy. There are no mechanics involved at this stage except that Angela must always keep track of how many times she feeds from another character. However, if she feeds from Byron, Clint, or Darcy a third time, she becomes Blood Bound. In this case

Angela feeds from Byron a third time. Angela is now a thrall to her regnant, Byron, with a Bond Strength of 3. Angela spends three months avoiding her regnant, Byron, and successfully makes three Defiance checks. This means that, over the course of those three months, Angela’s Bond Strength to Byron is reduced to zero, and the Blood Bond is broken. However, if Angela were to feed from Clint or Darcy, either of which she has fed from twice already, she would establish a new Blood Bond with whichever one of them she fed from next. Similarly, if her former regnant manages to feed her blood, she would become Blood Bound to Byron again because she has fed from him at least twice during her existence (assuming she isn’t already Bound to someone else). 

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