Even my wife is snarking.
Now I'm not addressing this to just one person, if I were, I'd just do email. Look guys, pursuant to my PSA, you need to keep the STs involved. Just a simple heads up is usually enough to prevent a lot of ruffled feathers. The asking forgiveness is better than asking permission bit it pretty lame and likely to get you in a lot of trouble eventually. This really goes back to my whole thing about not doing shit that you know would piss you off if you were the ST. It may be coolness made from the frozen remains of distilled awesome sauce, but that is no reason to not clue your Storytellers in on what is going on. This is a matter of procedurals and common courtesy. Its not really any different than putting a character up for a resurrection vote, and then to play said character before the vote is done because “of course it will pass.” You guys know better.
As for genre concerns. Look, stop trying to defend the Giovanni Archon as in genre by finding the one instance of it happening and pointing repeatedly. Protean is not a big deal in genre, and really having Thaum outside of Clan Tremere; I have NEVER seen ANY book based non-Tremere NPCs with Thaum. Stop trying to change the overall setting and say you aren’t. That is the generic you directed at the nebulous entity that is OWbN. Just come out and say you are setting up a separate canon relevant to OWbN and using the books as only loose source material. Sure some people might leave over it, but that is just the way it is. It’s a lot better than the confusion and heartburn that happens when things are changing and people keep saying they are going by the book.
Really, I cannot stress that enough. There is nothing wrong with forging ahead with your own collective setting that is different from the printed source material. The nature of Mind’s Eye Theater in networked damn near demands it I’ve found. Gangrel and Assamites in the Camarilla with Justicars. Super. Giovanni are siding with the Camarilla to fight against the Sabbat. Awesome. All this is fine, just be forth coming about it. That’s it. Don’t try to wrap it in this bullshit blanket that you keeping the setting as outlined in the printed source.
Just acknowledge that OWbN is committed to letting the players have a large impact upon White Wolf’s original setting and that OWbN’s setting is created and shaped primarily upon the vision and actions of its players and thus differs often and largely from White Wolf’s original setting. I even said it nice. =)
