Splat
From the White Wolf Wiki, the most complete White Wolf reference
Splat is a generic term for factions or groups in White Wolf games, e.g. clans, Traditions, tribes or Guilds. A more official term sometimes used, especially for games in the new World of Darkness, is "character axis".
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[edit] History and origin
Back in the days of early dot-matrix printers, the asterisk resembled a squished insect, with six legs splayed out. As a result, it was often referred to as a "splat" by programmers who wished to save time (something like calling the "exclamation point" a "bang"). In later computer usage, it was often used as a wildcard character in searches to represent any or all results; e.g. searching a directory for "*.bat" would display all files that ended with the .bat extension.
As a result, on USENET when discussing the clanbooks/tribebooks/traditionbooks/etc., many people began referring to them as "*books." This evolved into the term "splatbook." Naturally, it followed that a clan, tribe or other faction would therefore be a splat.
Exalted has much larger hardcover supplements, nicknamed fatsplats, which tend to cover an entire type of Exalted (such as the Lunars or Alchemicals). The various World of Darkness game lines (Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken and Mage: The Awakening) are all arguably fatsplats of the main World of Darkness: Storytelling System Rulebook.
[edit] Splat types
[edit] Old World of Darkness
While multiple splat types existed in old World of Darkness games, the majority had only one main type. These "main splat types" are bold in the following entries.
- Clans and bloodlines in Vampire: The Masquerade.
- Dharmas in Kindred of the East.
- Roads (in addition to clans and bloodlines) in Vampire: The Dark Ages and Dark Ages: Vampire.
- Tribes, auspices and breeds in Werewolf: The Apocalypse.
- Traditions/Conventions and Crafts in Mage: The Ascension.
- Guilds and Legions in Wraith: The Oblivion.
- Kith in Changeling: The Dreaming.
- Creed in Hunter: The Reckoning.
- Houses (or Sebettu) and Factions in Demon: The Fallen.
[edit] Exalted
- Caste for Solar, Lunar, Sidereal, Abyssal and Alchemical Exalts (though each has their own unique set).
- Aspects for Terrestrial Exalts.
[edit] Trinity Universe games
It is notable that Aberrant is perhaps the only White Wolf game which does not have splats; every Nova is considered unique.
- Psi Orders (and corresponding Aptitudes) in Trinity.
- Inspiration type - Stalwart, Daredevil or Mesmerist - in Adventure!.
[edit] New World of Darkness
Each new World of Darkness game has two "axes" of (usually) five splats: one inherent and supernatural, and one chosen by the character, which may be social, political or philosophical. (There is often a sixth choice representing no alignment on this second axis.) This arrangement is generally referred to as the "5x5" system. Each game also has an additional minor splat type (like Kindred bloodlines) that are unavailable at character creation, but may be joined later; examples of these are presented in each core book, with more presented in later supplements.
In this list, the inherent splat is given first; the social splat is second.
- Clans and Covenants in Vampire: The Requiem. Bloodlines, offshoots of the clans, may be joined after character creation.
- Auspices and Tribes in Werewolf: The Forsaken. Lodges, a social minor splat, are usually joined after character creation.
- Paths and Orders in Mage: The Awakening. Legacies may be joined after character creation; some are tied to specific Paths.
- Lineages and Refinements in Promethean: The Created. While there is no true minor splat, Athanors serve a similar niche and may only be created during play; each is associated with a specific Lineage.
- Seemings and Courts in Changeling: The Lost. Changeling breaks with the 5x5 model, with seven Seemings and only four Courts. Seemings have sub-splats called Kiths which are optional but must be chosen at character creation. Entitlements may usually only be joined after character creation; some are restricted to members of certain Courts.
