Humanity



=Humanity: An Overview= The changes from life to undeath affects more than a person's body. It changes the soul. A Kindred shares her human consciousness with a force completely opposite to humanity -- a thing devoid of reason, conscience or any emotions except hunter and rage. Kindred call it the Beast.

The Beast
The presence of the Beast changes the very nature of morality for vampires. The Kindred can pretend to be a human, but they are not. Even the most evil and monstrous mortal does not have a Beast. A vampire's existence is a constant struggle between the Man, the aspect of a Kindred that can make mortal choices, and the Beast, which cannot.

The Beast follows a single plan: Hunt. Kill. Feed. Sleep. Repeat. It feels no pity, only thirst for blood. It cannot even speak.

The Man consists of everything that resists the Beast: rational thought, a conscience, and most of all the ability to relate to other people. The Beast does not understand what other people think or feel, and it doesn't care. They are just food.

When a Kindred treats other people as prey or tools or inconvenient obstacles, the Man weakens. When Kindred make an effort to interact with mortals as fellow people, to care about their lives and happiness, the Beast... waits. The slide towards the Beast is easy. It comes naturally for creatures that must take blood from the living to survive. Strengthening the Man is very difficult. Most vampires slowly degenerate. Mentally, they become less and less human, more callous and brutal.

Most elder Kindred stabilize as monsters with some degree of self-control. They give the Beast some of what it wants and fight it just enough to preserve their existence. The Beast doesn't know how to hide the bodies; the Man does. These vampires hunt and feed and sometimes kill, but they try not to get caught. Those that cannot strike this balance do not last long. A vampire that is given over completely to the Beast is feared and shunned by all other Kindred, and perhaps even hunted to be put down.

The Frenzy is when, in a moment of great fear, rage, hunter or desperation, a vampire temporarily cedes control to her Beast.

Game Effects of Humanity
Humanity affects how well a vampire is able to stay awake and act during the day, and how well vampires are able to relate to mortals. The higher a vampire's Humanity, the more easily they can pass as mortals, as well as resist Frenzy.

Humanity is rated on a scale of 1-10, with 8-10 being 'more human than human', 6-7 being average, and 1-5 being increasing shades of damnation, until the Beast entirely prevails, at Humanity 0.