Golden Rule Options 

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tacey leapt from the rooftop and swung in a short arc before he crashed through the window of the apartment where the vampire Snake's gang of followers and their girlfriends slept.  He had tired of hunting the treacherous Gangrel, and despite the growing feelings which stirred in him for his new domitor, Gwen, he often dreamed of a new life away from all of the killings.  Gwen's sire, Sean, had sacrificed Stacey's former master, the dangerous terrorist immigrant, Michael, in a useless strike against the Gangrel prince's childer.  Sure, Mikey had slain the vampire Vince Scano and an incredible horde of his retainers, but it had cost him his existence.  If only he could escape with the lovely prostitute, Sasha, who had become his ward and friend as she struggled to escape the lifestyle and drugs of her past.  If only they could find somewhere else to be together, in safety.  But the blood called to him, irresistibly.

Suddenly, Stacey was engulfed in complete darkness, and he immediately thought of the crew of independent ghouls who were currently aiding them.  Still not sure exactly how Sean had succored their aid, Stacey was thankful nonetheless, and actually impressed.  The Banker, the only name the independent would acknowledge, and his band moved with military precision and displayed a potence he had seen only in the more powerful vampires he knew.  This strange darkness had to be their doing.  Behind him, Norman crashed into the room as well.  For a moment he heard the ex-cop cursing as he was similarly blinded.  But then Norman warned him, "Stacey, I can see a little now, and there are two on the bed."

"Where the hell is the bed, Norman, I can't see anything."  Stacey swung his gun carefully in the direction Norman indicated.  "Get on the floor.  Now."  This sucked, he was blinded by the strange darkness which defied the bright sunlight that should be streaming into the window, and these gang goons apparently knew the score.  As quickly as the darkness had struck him, it parted.  The couple before him on the floor were naked and obviously far more scared than he was.  Norman was clutching his face, quietly cursing at the suddenly overload of his superhuman senses by the instant flood of sunlight.

The couple was marked with bites, like those a vampire would leave, only he usually noticed that the bites healed when a vampire licked them.  Quickly he moved to help secure the rest of the house.  The bites appeared on every single one of their new captives.  And nowhere could he find a sleeping vampire.  "Okay, " he said to the first of the Banker's crew that he ran across again, "what is going on here."

A bemused expression crossed the independent ghoul's face.  "You don't know do you?  Your master has never told you."

"What are you talking about?"  The superiority that the Banker and his group seemed to feel every time they were around Stacey and the other ghouls who served Sean and his coterie did really irk him.  "What is going on here?  What is this crap?"

"You really don't know?  We were checking them.  Another ghoul's blood is still vampire blood."

Disbelief wrestled with further inspirations of thoughts of freedom as Stacey took in what was certainly the most incredible fact of the Blood he had learned since being made a ghoul in the first place.

ndependents are the ghouls that have broken free of the blood bond, but are still tied to the blood of the vampire.  More hungrily than any addict, they seek their regular fix in the veins of the undead who once sought to enslave them.  Empowered by the mystical properties of the blood, and gifted with immortality as long as they continue to drink it, these rogues can become quite dangerous to the vampires who made them what they are.  As the years pass, they become masters of the hunt, possessed of secrets of the supernatural, ever more desperate for the blood, and ever more skilled at getting it.

It is however extremely unrealistic to believe that the successful independent ghoul gets all of his blood directly from the veins of his vampiric prey.  First of all, vampires number only approximately one per one hundred thousand human beings on the face of the earth.  They are rare.  Secondly, the vampire is usually more powerful than any mortal can ever dream to be, even if he is pumped up on supernatural blood.  The vampire is dangerous prey.  These two factors combine to make the continued existence of the independent ghoul very precarious.

Things get worse, however.  An independent ghoul cannot drink blood from any vampire more than three times, or he is instantly blood bound to it.  A blood bound ghoul is once again enslaved and has lost his precious independence.  If we assume that a hunting ghoul somehow managed to fill his captive vampire with blood before feeding, and know that he can only feed twice upon the vampire, we will see that the ghoul can only obtain about twenty blood points, maximum.  In extremis, a ghoul could save his blood and only drink one point every three days to avoid metabolizing the last of his vampiric vitae.  Thus, the ultimate independent ghoul could theoretically need but capture a vampire every sixty days.  The perfect, completely unwasting independent would still devour all the kindred of mighty Chicago in twelve years. 

But, of course, this assumes that some ultra-ghoul burns none of the precious vitae in the use of supernatural powers or healing, an extremely unlikely event when hunting kindred.  Many disciplines require the use of vampire blood, as does boosting your physical attributes and recovering from the wounds that inevitably accompany the assault of the vampire.  Subject to the partial awakening of their own beast, ghouls also often frenzy, an violent event that usually causes the further use of the supernatural blood to perform fearsome deeds.  Obviously, an independent will surely need more than the six kindred per year that quick math might suggest.

Independent ghouls with some time under their belts have developed into organizations, working together to increase their chances of survival.  They hunt together, and share the fruits of their labors.  They pass around staked vampiric sources of blood, and separate groups may even exchange kindred.  They employ refrigerators to save their supply if they manage to acquire excess, and they learn to hunt with exquisite care.

But none of this is enough.  There just aren't enough vampires who pose targets easy enough for a ghoul to take.  Some of the elders among ghouls have discovered a gruesome secret.  Though it has become as diluted as the blood in their own veins, there is merit in feeding upon their own kind.  The vampire blood flowing through a ghoul's veins can be stolen, and the poor vassals of the mighty kindred make such incredibly easier prey.  Few know of this "ghoulish" practice, as the victims rarely survive to tell the tales, and even the kindred domitors who discover it usually do not tell their ghouls for fear of provoking deadly infighting.  A few elder ghoul independents stalk their own kind as mercilessly as the vampire on the prowl.

lood obtained from another ghoul is certainly far weaker and more diluted than that from a vampire.  It is incapable of causing the blood bond, and will not make someone into a vampire if injected or ingested by one who has died of exsanguination.  And, of course, it is almost always diluted with worthless human blood.  Ghouls drinking from other ghouls will not necessarily gain the full benefits of their prey's blood.  Only a percentage of the blood drunk equal to the fraction of the victim's vampire blood versus human blood will be usable kindred vitae.  Thus, if an independent drunk two blood points from a captured ghoul who possessed five vampire vitae and give human blood points, he would gain but one Blood Pool.  Of course, the human blood still fills his digestive tract, and counts toward the limited amount that a ghoul may carry in his stomach.

Many other properties of stolen blood do continue to exist, however.  The blood of a vampire stolen from a ghoul does prolong life, and can be used to power disciplines, to boost attributes and to heal.  A ghoul drinking five points of actual vampire vitae from the ghoul vassal of a Nosferatu domitor may still find himself suffering its side effects.  Similarly, a ghoul drinking heavily of revenant blood might also suffer side effects of lesser form than the revenant's family weakness.  The blood that the mysterious revenant ghouls manufacture in their bodies works differently in some ways though, its presence in the body slowing aging, but not stopping it.

Generally, the only way to detect a ghoul, other than extended observation, is to taste his blood, for even his aura appears no differently than that of a mortal.  The difficulty for ghoul or kindred to detect vampiric blood in a mortal's bloodstream is determined with a Perception+Occult roll with a target number equal to 10 minus the total Blood Pool of the ghoul in question.  Obviously, the presence of vampire blood is much easier to detect in a well fed ghoul.  The Tremere power Taste of Blood allows a kindred to, despite the name, detect the Blood without even actually tasting it, though with a flat target number of seven.  In the event that one with this first level Thaumaturgical power actually tastes a ghoul's blood, he may roll twice, once each way, to determine what is learned.

hen introducing this new way of feeding into your chronicles, it is important to remember a few simple things.  Remember, that it is secret knowledge.  Independent ghouls who discover the secret usually do not tell anyone, both to keep their prey unawares, and to keep from drawing increased wrath from vampire society.  Not many ghouls or vampires will ever discover their secret.  Any elders in the Camarilla who even know of it keep it quiet, in obeisance to the Masquerade, and to ensure that their ghouls do not prey upon one another.  Keeping this knowledge out of the public eye also ensures that most independents do not last long, either becoming once again enslaved, or finally being killed.  Few Sabbat take the time to study their ghouls carefully enough to learn such secrets, but certainly a ghoul showing the freedom to learn it on his own is likely to be summarily turned into dinner.  Perhaps a few Tzimisce who still engage in experiments towards creating new revenant families might know.  Consider the changes that it will make to your chronicles, especially if you are running an all ghoul setting.