A number of Backgrounds require that they be associated with a specific Realm of Influence: the segment of society that those Backgrounds are effective in. It is still possible to use a Background in other parts of society, although they will be less powerful. The amount of effectiveness lost in translation, so to speak, depends on the specific Realms involved as well as the character’s success on a Power-Brokering roll.

Some Realms of influence are adjacent to one another, meaning that there’s significant overlap between them; for instance, the Crime and Law Enforcement Realms (although often antagonistic) have enough commonalities between them that using a Background associated with one on the other will lose significantly less effectiveness than a non-adjacent Realm would.

The current available Realms are:

• Academic relates to schools, universities, and the educational bureaucracy and industry associated with then. Academic influence is useful in getting access to rare or unusual sources of information, getting academic credentials or the opportunity to earn them, being permitted to use academic facilities, and in affecting how schools operate and what they teach. It has some overlap with Medical, with Politics and Government and with Corporate and Industrial.
• Community relates to everyday working people, small businesses, and local organizations. While not as flashy as some other influences, and less able to act on a national scale, Community influence can help someone disappear or help them find someone who’s in hiding, can ensure that someone receives a chilly reception in a particular neighborhood, and can provide access to almost any tool or information that might be found in a working-class household. It overlaps with both the Crime and Religion and Spirituality influences.
• Corporate and Industrial relates to business and manufacturing interests at a more-than-small-business level. If you want to arrange to have something pulled off the market, or put into production; gain access to prototypes and corporate research projects; form strategic alliances between big businesses; or make use of restricted corporate facilities — this influence will be of great use. It has significant overlap with Academic as well as with Finance and Transport.
• Crime relates to London’s underworld — in the metaphorical, rather than the literal sense. Everything from pickpockets and three-card monte hucksters to gang lords and high-end jewel thieves falls under Crime influence. If you need to recover stolen property, arrange for someone to get mugged on the way home from their favorite club, or arrange for a local business to be vandalized until it’s driven out of business, you’ll want influence in Crime. It has significant overlap with Law Enforcement and Community, and also some with Medical and Transport.
• Arts and Entertainment relates to the arts and to show business of all kinds — theatre, painting, music, sculpture, actors and actresses, and their goings-on in the context of London. Access to Entertainment influence can potentially allow you to score tickets for coveted premieres or sold-out shows, make sure that an artist’s new exhibition gets good (or bad) reviews, arrange for a famous performer to appear at someone’s birthday party, and so on. It has significant overlap with both Media and High Society influence.
• Finance relates to banking, the stock market, currency trading, and so forth. Anyone who needs a loan in order to start or expand a business, wants to gain information about the extent and composition of someone else’s wealth, or wants to engage in a bit of profitable insider trading will benefit from having this influence. It has overlap with both Corporate and Industrial and Politics and Government.
• High Society influence involves the rich, the famous, and those who’d like to be either or both. It’s invaluable in gaining acceptance in elite circles, making the right friends, ensuring that your children are admitted to the best schools, and securing introductions to or favors from a “friend of a friend”. High Society overlaps primarily with Arts and Entertainment and with Media.
• Law Enforcement relates to the Metropolitan Police, the National Crime Agency, and other local or national agencies tasked with fighting crime. Friends in Law Enforcement can arrange to have people or organizations harassed by investigations, get charges dropped (depending on how much influence one has), obtain access to items seized as evidence or to someone’s criminal record, or even arrange to have someone’s communications watched. Law Enforcement has overlap with Crime, with Legal, and with Politics and Government influence.
• Legal relates to the law courts and the process of lawmaking and enforcement. Legal influence can arrange for a good lawyer when you need one, help you win cases or get an acquittal, and provide help in ensuring that agreements are legally enforceable. Its overlap is mostly with Law Enforcement and with Politics and Government.
• Media relates to the news, television, publishing, and the internet. There’s no better way to ensure that a scandalous story is suppressed (or promoted) than to have Media influence, and that’s without even considering its utility in getting access to photographs, video footage, interviews, the identities of confidential sources, and an almost endless list of other potential possibilities. Media influence overlaps with both Arts and Entertainment and with High Society, as well as with Politics and Government.
• Medical relates to health care, medicine, prescription pharmaceuticals, and other similar topics. Almost everyone needs a doctor at some point, and Medical influence makes it easier to get one off the books, to get access to someone’s medical records, to get a prescription for Vicodin even if you don’t necessarily need one, and so on. It has some overlap with Academic and with Crime, and the existence of the National Health Service means there is also overlap with Politics and Government.
• Politics and Government relates to the machinery of both city and national government. Given the degree to which the British government is involved with almost every aspect of life, it is among the broadest and most useful types of influence, although it also has the most overlap with other realms — Academic, Finance, Law Enforcement, Legal, Medical, Media and Transport. Politics and Government can help arrange the implementation or repeal of particular laws, influence government organizations to do or not do something, determine candidates for a particular election, get licenses for various restricted items or activities, and more.
• Religion and Spirituality relates to organizations of faith in the greater London area — the Anglican and Catholic churches, Buddhist or pagan groups, and even the mortal world’s occultists. This type of influence can allow access to discreet safe havens with food and shelter, esoteric knowledge, and the good offices of various spiritual figures in persuading someone to follow a particular course of action. While somewhat narrower than some other realms, it also has the least overlap with other groups, mainly Community.
• Subterranean London relates to the goings-on in the eponymous realm below the city streets. If you need to find a route through the under-city to a particular destination, find someone who can provide services or goods in the down-below, or keep an ear to the ground for unusual developments, this influence can be invaluable. It has no significant overlap with any other realms, and vice versa.
• Transport relates to travel, shipping, and logistics, whether by road, train, water, or air. Anyone who’s ever needed to get something into (or out of) London without having leaving a paper trail or dealing with any sort of legal restrictions will find this sort of influence a useful one. Conversely, it’s also very handy when trying to find out where and when someone may have been traveling, or when the best time and place to waylay a shipment or package would be. There is a good deal of overlap between Transport and Corporate and Industrial, Crime, and Politics and Government.
• Wildlife relates to non-domesticated animals, and is only available to characters who have some magical method of communicating with such creatures — vampires with Animalism, Kithain of House Aesin, and so forth. It is very broadly useful for observing and tracking people — there’s nearly always a pair of eyes somewhere in the city, or the country, to notice people going into or out of a building, meeting up with someone else, and so forth. However, since animals have very little understanding of human concepts and ideas, this influence also gives vague and general results — your crow friends may be able to tell you that the man with the red scarf talked to someone in the park, but they probably won’t be able to describe who he talked to in any useful way, much less relate what they talked about. It has no overlap with any other realms.