u/TrustMeImLeifEricson

I'm considering trying some of the VtM visual novels, and I purchased both Shadows of New York and Reckoning of NY when they were on sale some time ago, but never grabbed Coteries because the listing didn't really explain its plot well and lacked the appeal of clans Lasombra and Ravnos. Since CoNY is expensive right now I was thinking of skipping it entirely and starting with Shadows, but will I be missing anything important if I do this?

Ages ago, I recall reading a section in one of the old VtM books discussing what vitae looks like under deep scientific analysis, and I need to brush up on this info, but I am unable to locate the topic by searching my PDFs. I thought it was in Ghouls: Fatal Addiction, but no dice there. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Alternatively, my question is if vitae from a vampire registers as belonging to its original producer or if it displays the vamp's genome (I would still like a source to read up on though).

Edit: Been looking over The Time of Thin Blood which has some throwaway references to extra-vampiric blood being nothing but dead components, but so far that's all I'm finding on the topic. I can always make a ruling on the question, but my failure to find the canon text is frustrating (assuming it actually exists and I'm not just misremembering something I read 20 years ago).

Edition: Revised, 2026

So I've got a story I'm running for one PC where he's joining the Sheriff for an unexpected and very public incident at the local Tremere Chantry, and I've decided to include some demonic flavor and need a little help from people who are more well-versed in Tremere lore than I.

The story so far is that the PC was at a Brujah Rant along with the Sheriff when a bunch of alerts started coming over the emergency services comms about a hazmat-critical explosion at the city's largest university, and the two have just gotten access to the scene, and are being stonewalled by the Regent, all right before dawn. What they will discover is that the clan was trying to perform an exorcism of sorts on a student who was courting every kind of demonic influence they could access in an effort to "prove" the null hypothesis on demonic existence and was predictably foolish, leading to some sort of possession. The details on what the possessing entity is are not important, because neither the Sheriff nor his new deputy know the difference between a bane and an Earthbound (read: it's flavor and I'm not incorporating crossover rules into this), but the Tremere were interested in the occurrence and it literally blew up in their faces. The Warlocks are going to get their lackeys to clean up the scene during the day and try to pass the explosion off as a lab accident.

What I need help with is understanding how lore-compliant or not such a premise is. I know that attempting to make pacts with demons and other obviously Baali-type stuff is a kill on sight offense for both the Cam and the Sabbat, but is what I'm describing something that the Chantry would be concealing at all costs? Assuming that the Tremere involved weren't looking to do this but couldn't not take advantage of an opportunity that fell in their laps, what approach would you expect them to take in explaining the situation to a suspicious but not very occult-knowledegable ancilla Sheriff, and possibly the Prince? I'm working under the assumption that they would stick to the line that they were trying to prevent a situation from becoming a problem and feeling that this is a sufficient defense, but am I overlooking something that could make things more interesting?

I would appreciate any insights or ideas on how to add a bit more intrigue to this plot and not set a bad precedent in allowing the Tremere to come out scot-free despite being obviously subversive. Thanks.