Everything

What greater oppression exists than the hated blood bond, so callously employed by the elders to bring their headstrong childer to heel? A symbol of the vast abuses of the War of Ages, blood bonds represent the ultimate tyranny: the subjugation of the self and the denial of freedom to make one’s own way.

An enterprising Tzimisce discovered — or perhaps rediscovered — the secrets of shattering the blood bond over eight centuries ago, which played no small part in touching off the Anarch Revolt. With but a word, the Tzimisce could release a vampire from the shackles of the blood bond. And given the strange properties of Tzimisce vitae, this potential sometimes passed on to Cainites who didn’t belong to the clan, especially after partaking of the Vaulderie cup with one of the fiends.

Needless to say, this is certainly a fool’s bargain, but it is important for two reasons. First, the power of Oathbreaker is so rare that tales of its duplicity (see below) exist, and in fact form some of the legendry of the Anarch Revolt itself. Second, some suspect that this power provided the basis for the ritus that became the Vaulderie (see pp. 288-290 of V20). It is a historical curiosity, to be sure, but every now and then, some powerful Tzimisce or other Cainite afflicted with Vicissitude manages to dupe a reckless and desperate Lick into emancipating himself with tainted blood. Better to have the fool bonded, even if imperfectly, to oneself than to the true lord of the dom.

System

The vampire spends a blood point and a Willpower point and imbues her blood with the ability to suborn blood bonds. Each blood point creates one draught’s worth of blood that can be consumed in this way, and it retains this property for one night before it becomes dead and inert. The vampire who consumes the blood feels an immediate cessation of any blood bond that exists.

This freedom graces the vampire for one month and one night, whereupon the Kindred who activated the power may spend a Willpower point and replace the suborned (but true) blood bond with an illusory blood bond to herself. This replacement blood bond lasts for one night. Alternatively, she may spend ten Willpower in a single scene and sustain the illusory bond for one year and a night.

If the vampire replacing the bond chooses not to spend the Willpower point at the point when it would normally be renewed, the original blood bond returns, and the false one ceases immediately.