See, this is one of the things that really, really annoys me about most people's perception of vampire.
"Archon" is not a step above "Prince".
Neither is "Justicar".
"Archon" means "Flunky of Justicar" crossbred with "secret policeman". They can be scary, but a Prince who can get himself so utterly blasted by an Archon isn't much of a Prince.
A LOT of Princes aren't much of a Prince, but Detroit is pretty bloody big, and anyone who can credibly claim to be Prince there is going to be a power in his own right.
"Justicar" isn't a step up from Prince, either. It's in a completely different chain of command, and yes, it does tend to mean you've got phenomenal power and they're likely to be the most powerful vampire a PC will ever encounter.
Kinda like a Prince, that.
The average Justicar is more powerful than the average Prince, but the Prince is local, with all the advantages that allies and influence and even just knowledge of the terrain can bring. Only a crazy man confronts that lightly.
This "Archon" walks in and commands respect. Okay, for some Archons, that works. He doesn't do what the Prince wants him to. Okay, still good. He stands up to the Prince, openly defies him, and "slaps him down"? He's not only capable of doing this out of his own personal power (since you can't carry influence in with you, and the Prince wins there, guaranteed), but he guarantees a destabilising power struggle over the position as soon as he leaves, on his own authority?
Calling in mad reinforcements? Including *groups of Archons*? And he's entrusted alone with handling an armed in-person defense of a huge city? That really is the kind of thing that seems to fit the definition of "Justicar" a lot more than "Archon".
If the Prince is a gormless wimp and the Archon is a badass who was disqualified from the Justicar race last time for shoving, okay.
(PS: Preventing the PCs from playing with the fairies or dining on Imbued is easily solved, by not having Changelings and Imbued in your game. It's my preferred solution, for the record.)
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"Archon" is not a step above "Prince".
Neither is "Justicar".
"Archon" means "Flunky of Justicar" crossbred with "secret policeman". They can be scary, but a Prince who can get himself so utterly blasted by an Archon isn't much of a Prince.
A LOT of Princes aren't much of a Prince, but Detroit is pretty bloody big, and anyone who can credibly claim to be Prince there is going to be a power in his own right.
"Justicar" isn't a step up from Prince, either. It's in a completely different chain of command, and yes, it does tend to mean you've got phenomenal power and they're likely to be the most powerful vampire a PC will ever encounter.
Kinda like a Prince, that.
The average Justicar is more powerful than the average Prince, but the Prince is local, with all the advantages that allies and influence and even just knowledge of the terrain can bring. Only a crazy man confronts that lightly.
This "Archon" walks in and commands respect. Okay, for some Archons, that works. He doesn't do what the Prince wants him to. Okay, still good. He stands up to the Prince, openly defies him, and "slaps him down"? He's not only capable of doing this out of his own personal power (since you can't carry influence in with you, and the Prince wins there, guaranteed), but he guarantees a destabilising power struggle over the position as soon as he leaves, on his own authority?
Calling in mad reinforcements? Including *groups of Archons*? And he's entrusted alone with handling an armed in-person defense of a huge city? That really is the kind of thing that seems to fit the definition of "Justicar" a lot more than "Archon".
If the Prince is a gormless wimp and the Archon is a badass who was disqualified from the Justicar race last time for shoving, okay.
(PS: Preventing the PCs from playing with the fairies or dining on Imbued is easily solved, by not having Changelings and Imbued in your game. It's my preferred solution, for the record.)