Thread by @jachilli

Thou shalt sire another only with permission of thine Elder. If thou createst another without thine Elder's leave, both thou and thy progeny shalt be slain.

These are the words of the Third Tradition, the Tradition of Progeny. But what do they mean?

Let’s start from the beginning. Creating progeny means making a vampire — killing a person and working a curse on them so they become one of the undead. If you’re going to make progeny, you likely have a reason to make progeny.

Kindred motivations are as numerous as there are Kindred. Some vampires make others of their kind simply because they’re lonely. Being a vampire is a very solitary state, regardless of how modern vampires fight it. Sometimes, one just needs a companion.

The nature of the Embrace countermands this desire. Embracing a child, even when done out of love, takes life and true emotion from that childe. Vampires don’t have emotions of their own; after the Embrace, at best, Kindred have the memories of mortal emotions.

So, so many Kindred try to stoke their emotions by performing acts like Embracing progeny, hoping to stave off the weight of decades or centuries under the night. It may work for a while… but ultimately all they’ve done is bring another predator (or parasite…) into the world.

This companionship may be a Kindred echo of love, but it’s just as likely something as monstrous as vampires themselves. Some Kindred sire progeny out of a desire for servitude. Some have tastes so rarefied that they Embrace only to have potent vessels to feed upon.

Other Kindred are cruel or judgmental with their Embrace. For these vampires, the Embrace isn’t a gift, it’s damnation. Some Kindred Embrace to rebuke the wicked, damning them to an eternal world of night. It’s unjust and autocratic, but it’s undeniably punishment.

The Nosferatu who Embraces a beautiful childe only to twist them with a fearsome visage. The Toreador who Embraces a talented artist to shatter her muse and gift. The Lasombra who Embraces a childe to forever “show them their true place.”

With all that in mind, how does the Tradition of Progeny affect one’s undead lineage? And, being a Tradition, what influence does this Tradition grant one’s local authority figure over one’s childer? As always, the answer varies by where — and who — you are.

In many (if not most) cases, Princes and other local authority figures interpret themselves to be the “Elder” stipulated in the terms of the Tradition. If the Prince holds praxis, her word is law, and if she determines whether or not a Kindred has a right to progeny, that’s that.

Of course, this relies on the strength of her praxis, her ability to enforce such dictates, and the willingness of a domain’s Kindred to heed her. Quite simply, there’s no way to know how many “unsanctioned” progeny are out there, especially among the highest generations.

In other cases, one’s “Elder” refers to primogen, prisci, or the most august member of one’s clan. This usually happens in domains where a Prince or other figurehead is weak, and a council of clans or even a few powerful clans hold true sway.

Externally, this seems to other clans like there’s reason to bolster clan ranks with neonates and to force political outcomes through number. More veteran Kindred know that intra-clan politics don’t work so smoothly as all that, and very few domains are democracies anyway.…

In still other domains, one’s “Elder” is one’s own sire. These elders reason that without them, you’d have no Embrace to convey yourself, so you need their blessing, permission, or even advice. A figurative transference of sin. (Art by Ally Burke.)

This last is frequent among Anarchs, autarkis, and some of the independent clans with a narrow hierarchy or other power structure. It’s also common in remote domains where there IS no high-ranking leader. A brood of Brujah, hive of Gangrel, or mob of Blood Brothers, for example.

This is also common among social structures with no permanent domain. Nomadic Sabbat packs, for example, are often answerable only to themselves, as are the cults of personality roaming the hinterlands or the lawless Barrens of sprawling cities.

Bottom line, you may not be the final authority over who you choose to bring under the veil of night.

Needless to say, the Third Tradition of Progeny is much affected by the Fourth Tradition of Accounting, but that’s a conversation for a different day.