Giovanni (World of Darkness)

articleissues
notable=June 2008
in-universe=June 2008
primarysources=June 2008WoD vampireThe Giovanni is a fictional clan of vampires, from White Wolf Game Studio's "" books and role-playing games. Unlike most vampires, the Giovanni are associated with neither the Camarilla nor the Sabbat. Much of the Giovanni symbolism is Italian, and the organization was founded in Venice (c.1000 AD). Their symbol is the Giovanni seal.

Introduction

The Giovanni Family is an enigma, standing outside Kindred politics, and is the only clan to have truly done so since its inception, The Giovanni have a reputation that causes most fellow Kindred to avoid them at all costs. The clan’s taste for the morbid is something that even the stuffy Ventrue and the wild Brujah can agree is not natural. They are the only clan that knows the joy of life, the dark twilight of unlife and the bitter ashes of true death.

Founded during the Dark Ages and coming to ascendance in the Renaissance, the Family of Giovanni has since grown to include several other families. They are now stronger than they have ever been, while all around them disintegrate into dust. Still, suspicion of this clan has continued to the present day. By staying neutral in quaint battles, the Giovanni have had free reign to build their merchant empire. The clan's wealth is quite sizeable, but no one knows the exact purpose for which it employs this wealth. Few outsiders have ever taken part in the clan's necromantic rituals, so the purpose of these is likewise a mystery. Instead, suspicions and innuendoes have taken the places of facts and truths. Clan Giovanni is one of the more rigidly controlled clans and contact is constantly maintained between members of the clan.

Augustus Giovanni

Augustus Giovanni is the head of the Giovanni Family, a massive merchant family who made their mark on the world by being war profiteers from the Crusades. Originally embraced into the Cappadocian clan, he rose up against his sire, and committed the act of diablerie. His family hunted down the rest of the Cappadocian clan to extinction

He oversaw the aftermath of the sixth maelstrom’s effects on Venice.

As of now he has just returned from a long trip in the Shadowlands. He was last reported to be under Venice talking with other Elders of the Clan or has fallen into torpor for a year or so.

Clan structure

Most of the Giovanni are related to one another by birth in addition to their shared vampiric lineage; a number of their families are incestuous and practice necromancy. Unlike the bite of other vampires in the World of Darkness (whose bites induce a stupefying pleasure), the bite of a Giovanni (the so-called "Giovanni Kiss") is extremely painful. Many Giovanni prefer taking blood from corpses (instead of living humans).

There are very few Kindred who operate outside the Giovanni family, due to the insular nature of the clan, and the family structure. While members of the Ventrue and Lasombra clans spend up to 10 years evaluating and testing potential embraces, and the Tremere have a rigid apprenticeship where ghouls serve as acolytes for many ranks, the Giovanni embrace strictly within Family lines. Candidates are bred into the Clan and taught from the time that they can speak that the Family is everything. The most promising members of the generation are ghouled. Only those who show enough promise as a ghoul are embraced.

Potential Giovanni have many opportunities to betray the Family long before they're even ghouled. Those who show signs of disloyalty are simply never embraced. Furthermore, even after the embrace, the traffic in wraiths and unwilling spirits is significant enough that should a Giovanni betray the Family, one of the wraiths they've been abusing would use the excuse to inform on them.

Minor Families

*Pisanob: Descendants of Aztec and Mayan priests from Mesoamerica. Their power base lie in the badlands of Mexico and South America.
*Hidalgo: Another branch of the family that originated within Mexico. Rumored to be wiped out by the Sabbat as contact with them has been broken
*Rosselini: From a similar Roman decent as the Giovanni. Also accomplished necromancers who typically exert force even when force isn't necessary to control their wraithly servants. Considered near equal to the main family.
*Milliners: A family of bankers without par. The head of the Milliners has a longstanding hatred for the Kennedys. While not interested in necromancy, they excel at finance. The Milliners are a prime factor in Giovanni control of Boston.
*della Passaglia: Another family of traders who were rumored to have been connected to the great Marco Polo himself. They now serve as the Giovanni connection to Asian thanotology and their prime Asian mercantile business men.
*Ghiberti: A branch of the family from Africa and responsible for involving the Giovanni in the United States, West Africa, and West Indies trade triangle. Also responsible for inventing the Cenotaph path of necromancy.
*Dunsirn: A Scottish branch of the Giovanni. Savvy bankers with a nasty taste for cannibalism.
*Putanesca: Sicilian thugs with a temper that puts the Brujah to shame. Every clan has to have their guys to do the dirty work, and the Giovanni have the Putanesca
*St John: Cabal of English Masons
*Beryn: Flemish traders with inroads into Africa similar to the Ghiberti
*Rothstein: Jewish-American Kabbalists who seem to be centered in Las Vegas
*Li Weng: Chinese geomancers based out of San Francisco's Chinatown

Dates of Importance to Giovanni

*April 4 – Anniversary of Augustus Giovanni's diablerie of Cappadocius. This is the primary date of importance for the Giovanni family, when almost all embraces are performed.

References

* "" (3rd Edition) by Justin Achilli (White Wolf Game Studio) (1998)
* "Clanbook: Giovanni" by Justin Achilli (White Wolf Game Studio) (1997) ISBN 1565042182

External links

* [http://www.jcmrpgart.blogspot.com/ Vampire NPC gallery] NPC (non-player character) gallery with Giovanni characters
* [http://www.giovanni-wod.net/ Giovanni.Net] A website with many details and info about clan Giovanni.