You may think, my dear, that once you have a ghoul that you are the complete and absolute center of his universe, that he will only be with you and no other.
You'd be wrong.
The ghoul, to the degree that he is Bound to you, does exist for you. But what happens when you're not present, or you send him off to perform a task for you? He must interact with others at that time. In fact, most of the useful tasks a ghoul can perform for us require that interaction with others.
Ghouls will interact with mortals in a manner like that of mortals. I've described their interactions with us in previous sections and go into them in detail in another portion of this letter. At this time, I will describe what I've been able to learn of ghouls' interactions with other ghouls.
Note that here we are speaking of the bishops, some knights, and few pawns who are aware of their condition and of other ghouls. Naturally, the ghouls who are unaware have no more interaction than mortals would.
Our ghouls will speak with other ghouls for two basic reasons: boredom and survival. A ghoul, being bound to his master, and performing regular duties for his master, does not have much time to form mortal friendships, nor can he speak of much that he does without being destroyed for breach of the Masquerade. On the other end, few Kindred will speak freely with the ghouls of others. That leaves only other ghouls to speak with.
A ghoul will also desire to know as much as he can, in order to further the causes of his master and continue his own survival. This leads the ghoul to other ghouls, who would naturally possess some of the necessary information.
It would seem that ghouls would constantly be in conflict with one another, as their masters are in conflict. But this is not the case. Except for those having the Presence discipline, it is not necessarily easy for us to convince others of our convictions, so our dislike or hatred for another will generally not pass on to our ghouls. This enables the ghouls to speak with one another without the animosity we Kindred so often feel towards others of our kind.
As they speak, ghouls will share information. However, as Hassan has informed me, ghouls expect that whatever they say to another will immediately be known to the other's master. I have used this in the past to spread rumors and lies, and also had this used on me as well. Each road travels both ways, as they say.
Though I have had problems due to Hassan speaking with other ghouls and obtaining false information, on the whole I (and other Kindred) believe it is useful for ghouls to speak to one another. We are occasionally provided with true information, our ghouls become better informed and better able to serve us, and, perhaps most importantly, our ghouls receive an outlet for any tendencies which could later become dangerous to us.
There are some ghouls, however, who are dangerous. I speak of the Ronin, the few ghouls who have no master and serve only themselves. They often encourage others to rebel, and engage in trading information for Vitae with our servants. Be careful of giving your ghoul any of your Vitae, for it may end up in the wrong hands. This is a small worry, though, because Ronin are rare and usually killed by the Sheriff as soon as their presence is known.
Like Kindred, ghouls also have their own social structure. Perhaps the most important influence is the relative position of each ghoul's Regnant. The ghoul of a Prince will wield as much or more influence over other ghouls than almost any other ghoul in a city, despite the relative age and experience of the other ghouls. Younger ghouls who occupy these positions are known as "canards". Ghouls of Elders will have almost as much power, and ghouls of others lesser amounts of power.
The second most important influences are the age and experience of the ghoul. I have heard of three categories of this:
The Sages are to other ghouls what Methuselahs are to us, my dearest. They have knowledge of many events, and often know of matters that we would not expect them to, for although we may notice the presence of a Kindred or not at an event, who will notice her ghoul?
Sages are typically quite old, often having serviced their masters for well over a century, or even longer. There are very few of them, as they are either thralls to an Elder or have outlived at least one master, and the latter is very hard to do, as I describe later on.
Do not underestimate these ghouls, my Childe. They have survived amid vampires without the advantages of vampiric abilities for a very long time. This only makes them (and their masters) that much more dangerous to cross.
The majority of ghouls are journeymen, who have served their masters for a number of years but have not reached the "exalted" position of the sages. The most infighting among ghouls occurs between ghouls of this rank.
Only a few of these ghouls survive to sage status, because the life of a ghoul is not an easy one. Wars, protecting one's master, and the fleeting fancy of one's Regnant cause many to perish. I myself have had to leave more than one cherished servant behind as I fled a city ahead of an invading army or disease.
It is my expectation that Revenants, those of the ghoul families of the Sabbat, would be considered journeymen or sages almost from the start, by virtue of their unique heritage.
The Tyros are the Neonates of ghouls. They have little experience with other ghouls or Kindred society. Some of these ghouls may actually be quite old, but have just recently become aware of the wider world around them.
The majority of these ghouls belong to Anarchs or the Sabbat, as ghouls of both sects tend to have short lifespans.
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Back to About Some Notable Ghouls
On to the next section, Of the Use of Ghouls by Our Kind