// THE PREMISE
What this world is
Saint-Cyr is a fog-bound river city where gas lamps flicker beside glass towers and the night belongs to the Kindred. For four hundred years the vampires have ruled the city's hidden half through a fragile treaty called the Accord, and the mortal population - the Kine - have no idea they exist. You are a mortal who has just been noticed by the wrong, or perhaps exactly the right, immortal.
The romance is real and dangerous: desire as leverage, intimacy as risk, and the very human question of whether love offered by something that will outlive you can ever be trusted. Lucien Sarkany, the lonely ancient Prince of the City, keeps the Accord and resents it. Isolde Dubois of House Beaumont runs the city's nightlife and wants the Princedom. House Voss watches everyone and would end the treaty to feed openly. The rebel Unbound, with brokers like Silas Roux, plot to tear the secret order down. And Sister Agnes Moreau's Lantern Order would burn you for consorting with the dead.
The Accord is failing. Into the cracks you are drawn - courted, used, protected, and endangered by immortals who each want something. To survive you must navigate love and loyalty as weapons, and decide whose cause, and whose bed, is worth the risk. The offer of the Embrace hangs over everything: salvation, damnation, or the ultimate seduction.
// PLAY PROFILE
What this world plays like
Start as a mortal drawn into Saint-Cyr's hidden night. Learn who has noticed you and what they want before deciding how much of yourself to reveal. A private invitation may be more dangerous than an open threat.
Choose how to approach Lucien Sarkany, Isolde Dubois, House Voss, the rebel Unbound, or Sister Agnes Moreau's Lantern Order. Their causes pull in different directions, and intimacy does not make those differences disappear.
Your story could follow a romance, an attempt to expose the Kindred, or a struggle to escape the court's use for you. Consider what the Embrace would mean to your character, and whether its promise is worth the life it asks you to leave.
// FACTIONS IN MOTION
Principal factions
The ancient rulers of Saint-Cyr, House Sarkany are the architects and wardens of the Accord. They see themselves as the necessary shepherds of a flock of predators, maintaining a fragile peace not out of altruism, but out of a deep, ancestral terror of what its breaking would unleash.
The vibrant, decadent, and ambitious new blood of Saint-Cyr's Kindred society. House Beaumont controls the city's nightlife, art scene, and mortal finance, believing that influence, not dusty tradition, is the true currency of power. They view the Accord as a leash held by a weakening master.
The cold, pragmatic enforcers of the Masquerade and the undisputed masters of information in Saint-Cyr. House Voss operates through a network of private security firms, data brokers, and blackmail, serving the Prince while ensuring that they are indispensable and know everyone's secrets. They believe control is the only real peace.
A fractious coalition of outcasts, anarchists, and newly-Embraced Kindred who reject the tyranny of the Houses and the Prince. They thrive in the city's forgotten places, running black markets and smuggling operations. Their defiance chips away at the Accord, which they see as an instrument of their oppression, dangerously unaware of its true purpose.
A clandestine order of mortal fanatics who know the truth of the city's monstrous rulers. Operating from hidden chapels and basements, they are guided by a fire-and-brimstone faith that demands the cleansing of the 'leeches' from Saint-Cyr. They see the city's secular apathy as a sickness that allows the devil to flourish in the dark.
// KEY FIGURES
People you'll meet
// SITES OF RECORD
Places that matter
The sprawling, working-class engine of Saint-Cyr. A dense grid of brick tenements, small factories, and tram lines under a permanent haze of smog. The streets are crowded, noisy, and anonymous, a perfect feeding ground for Kindred who prefer not to play politics.
The modern, ambitious face of Saint-Cyr. Gleaming towers of glass and steel attempt to rise above the fog, housing corporate offices, luxury apartments, and exclusive nightclubs. It is a district of light and energy, all of it powered by the schemes of House Beaumont.
The old heart of Saint-Cyr, a place of melancholic beauty. Manicured parks, ancestral mansions veiled by weeping willows, and quiet, gaslit streets. By day it is a tranquil green space; by night, it is the private hunting ground of House Sarkany and the seat of its power, the Verein opera house.
The lowest part of the city, both in elevation and status. A riverside slum of decaying warehouses and tenement barges, perpetually damp and smelling of silt and decay. Rickety boardwalks cross canals of stagnant water, and overgrown marshland consumes abandoned lots.
// STORY PASSAGE
A passage from the published profile
Lucien sets down the wine he will not drink. "You think I asked you here for the conversation," he says, and the candlelight does something dishonest to his face. "Perhaps I did. It has been a long time since anyone told me the truth in this room."
He is either the loneliest thing in Saint-Cyr or the most dangerous lure in it. You cannot yet tell. That is the point.
Selected story passage. Your choices can lead elsewhere.
BEFORE YOU ENTER
Choose a first decision
Start with a person you want to meet, a place you want to see, or a problem you want to understand. You make choices through written actions and read the Narrator's response. The people and places above introduce this world; they do not promise a fixed sequence of scenes.
Completed turns save to your account. Review the latest scene and the relevant in-game information when returning. Check current access and Spark allowances before a longer session, and use the player guide for help with saves, artwork, possessions, and other supported features.
Profile updated .
CHECK ACCESS AND SPARK COSTS · CHOOSE A CHARACTER BEFORE PLAY