backStatus
Status is the measure of how a well respected a Kindred is in society. Of course, just to complicate things, one must consider temporary and permanent Status. These two measures of Status are more or less indepentant of one another. When one achieves a 9 in temporary Status one does not simply gain another dot of permanent Status. Certain milestones mark vampiric existence, and without achieving each of these in sequence a Kindred will have an almost impossible time of climbing very high in his or her peer's eyes.
Permanent Status
Distinction of this sort is not lightly conferred. A gain (or loss) of permanent Status means the character is in a completely different class.
None – Too unimportant or rude to even be a client.
o – Be accepted as someone's client.
oo – Gain a minor ceremonial position in a city
ooo – Take someone as your client.
oooo – Gain a major position in a city (Magistrate, Praetor, etc)
ooooo – Gain a position of large scale importance (Legate)
Naturally there are Status levels above and beyond this, but its unlikely that their exact values would be known or relevant to player characters.
Fulfilling the requirements for a level of permanent Status is not a guarentee that that level will really be gained. In fact, an "uppity" neonate who gains a minor position in the city through trickery or the intervention of an elder will likely lose that position sooner or later as the Kindred community does not feel the gain in Status has been earned.
Increasing permanent Status should be at the discression of the storyteller. In general permanent Status should be increased if the character has fulfuled the necessary requirement for the next level of permanent Status and the character has sustained a high level of temporary Status for a reasonable period of time.
Temporary Status
Status of this sort is a measure of the Kindred's reputation in the general community when judged against his or her peers. It can fluctuate wildly over the course of days or even hours.
Temporary Status has a minimum value is 0 and a maximum value of 9. Should circumstances call for it to be increased or decreased above or below those numbers simply place the score at its extreme value.
The following very incomplete list details some things that may cause a character to gain or lose status. No only must a character do one of these things to have their temporary Status, but knowledge of that action must become public. For that matter, the character doesn't even have had to do one of these things for their Status to change, publicly accepted lies can effect Status just as much as publicly accepted truths.
-2X – Losing a client with permanent Status X.
-2 – Being socially defeated by a less capable rival in a public setting.
-1 – Going to excessive effort to socially defeat a less capable rival.
-1 – Being socially defeated by an equally capable rival in a public setting.
+1 – A social triumph over an equally capable rival in a public setting.
+2 – A social triumph over a more capbable rival in a public setting.
+X – Gaining a new client with permanent Status X.