(modified from V20, p. 103)

The streets of the Dark Medieval world can provide a great deal of opportunity for those who know where to look, how to speak and who to pay. A streetwise person knows how to blend in among the ruck and run of humanity; to gauge its mood, keep a finger on the pulse and know when to take a figurative (or in the case of vampires, sometimes literal) bite out of those opportunities that arise. In many ways, this Talent is the urban analogue of the Survival Skill.

A great deal of information and money can be gained by those who know how to fit in and speak the language of the street. Streetwise allows one to blend in unobtrusively with the local scene, pick up gossip, understand slang or even dabble in criminal doings.

With the Storyteller’s approval, Streetwise may be substituted for Stealth in certain situations (such as blending into crowds). Streetwise may also be substituted for Investigation (for purposes of rumour-gathering) and Commerce (street specialty, for fencing stolen goods and the like) under the right circumstances.

• Level One- Novice: You have an understanding of how the underbelly of your chosen city works; which gangs hold what territory, and who leads them.

• Level Two- Practiced: You are accorded respect on the street of your chosen city, and could readily find your way around a similarly cultured town.

• Level Three- Competent: You could head up your own gang, and little goes on in the underworld of your city without your knowledge. In a foreign land, you would fit into the underworld scenery with practiced ease.

• Level Four- Expert: Even the worst thugs or the most sly con-men instinctively recognise that you are no easy mark. If you don’t head up your own gang, you probably manipulate someone else into doing so for you.

• Level Five- Master: You are the heart of the underworld in your city. If you haven’t heard it, it hasn’t been said.

• Level Six- Legendary: You are a near-mythical “King of Thieves”, a master of beggars, a despoiler of virgins, a poet of the forked road and a raconteur of peerless talent. Francois Villon himself would be impressed…

Possessed By: Low Clan Cainites of all stripes, High Clan Cainites fond of “slumming it”, Criminals, Fences, Fishwives, Tavernkeepers, Night Watchmen, Homeless people and all other folk who operate at ungodly hours…

Specialties: Gangs, Extortion, Smuggling, Fencing, Prostitution, Slavery, Illicit Substances, “Blending In”, Rumours, Local Slang, Area Knowledge & Short-cuts