Giovanni

The Giovanni are a Venetian merchant family that consumed its own clan founder (Cappadocius) from within — the original and most successful internal diablerie in Kindred history. They have operated since as a self-contained clan-family: membership requires mortal family ties, the Embrace stays within bloodlines, and the business (organized crime, financial services, necromantic research) is inseparable from the family. They are independent, polite, and not to be crossed.

Nickname: Necromancers

Sect: Independent

In-Clan Disciplines: Dominate, Necromancy, Potence

Weakness

The Hungry Kiss: Giovanni feeding is uniquely damaging — their bite does not bring the supernatural pleasure that most vampires’ feeding delivers. Instead, it causes double the normal damage to the vessel and is simply painful. Mortals are conscious through the process.

Practical implications: Giovanni cannot maintain long-term feeding relationships without either Dominating their vessels into compliance or carefully managing the interaction. The pleasure-pain gradient that most vampires use to ensure Masquerade compliance (willing vessels who enjoy feeding) is not available to them.

Clan Culture

The Family: The Giovanni Embrace only family members. Outsiders are not Embraced; they are employed or eliminated. This has kept the clan small, controlled, and cohesive for centuries.

Business interests: Mortuary services, financial instruments, logistics, and the legal infrastructure of death (inheritance, estate management) are traditional Giovanni domains. In the modern era: international finance, luxury goods markets, and yes, organized crime in several territories.

The Necromantic project: The Giovanni have a long-term project — opening permanent access to the Shadowlands and eventually crossing the shroud between life and death. What they intend to do with such access varies by bloodline. The main line’s intentions are considered alarming by most Kindred who know about them.

Amici Noctis: Giovanni maintain a network of mortal families and associates — non-Kindred who know about vampires and operate in partnership with the clan. These mortals are not ghouls (usually) but informed collaborators.

Roleplaying Notes

The Giovanni weakness reshapes feeding into something that requires more deliberate management. They cannot charm their way through a feeding — they must exercise other forms of control or be willing to leave damaged vessels behind.

The family structure makes Giovanni characters interesting for internal politics — clan matters and family matters are the same matters. Loyalty to your sire is loyalty to your aunt; the politics of undeath are the politics of the dinner table.

Merits & Flaws

Cannibal (1pt. Merit) — You can eat and gain sustenance from human flesh (but not ordinary food). An average human provides up to 7 portions (one per health level), each yielding 1 blood point. Other vampires regard this practice with disgust.

Consanguineous Resistance (1pt. Merit) — You cannot be blood bonded by anyone who shares your mortal bloodline. A Giovanni born cannot be bound by other birth-Giovannis; a Dunsirn cannot be bound by other Dunsirns. You can still be bound by Giovanni of a different mortal family, or by vampires of other clans.

Mortuario (2 or 4pt. Merit) — You were Embraced using the Ferryman’s Recall ritual after death. You bear permanent death-scars that do not heal cleanly; every wound leaves lasting marks. This may reduce Appearance over time (even to 0). However, all Necromancy rolls are at −2 difficulty. Costs 4 points for characters who already have Appearance 0 (such as Samedi); 2 points for all others. Cannot be taken with Sanguine Incongruity.

Sanguine Incongruity (5pt. Merit) — You do not bear the Giovanni Clan weakness (the Hungry Kiss causes normal damage only). However, you carry a corpse-like pallor that no amount of blood can flush — you look dead, always. All Social rolls are at +1 difficulty. Cannot be taken with Mortuario.

Inbred (1–5pt. Flaw) — A congenital defect from the Giovanni’s inbreeding. At 1 point: minor cosmetic flaw (+1 difficulty on Appearance rolls). At 3 points: severe physical deformity (+2 difficulty on relevant Strength, Dexterity, or Stamina rolls). At 5 points: grossly disabling physical condition or a permanent Derangement.

Shadow Walker (6pt. Flaw) — You are so tied to the Shadowlands that even in the living world you interact with the realm of the dead constantly. Ghostly objects can obstruct you, wraith powers affect you as if you were in the Underworld, and immaterial environmental hazards can harm you. You cannot see into the Shadowlands, making this a severe navigational blindness rather than a useful power.

Clan-Specific Backgrounds

Memento de Morte (1–5pt. Background) — You possess death-soaked relics: murder weapons, items present at violent deaths, objects made from the bodies of the dying. These mementos resonate with necromantic energy and add bonus dice to Necromancy rolls (equal to the Background’s rating, from +1 die at ● to +5 dice at ●●●●●). The relics must be physically present to provide the bonus.

Spirit Slaves (1–5pt. Background) — You hold direct power over one or more ghosts via catene (fetters) or other leverage. Each level represents additional or more powerful bound spirits: ● = one weak spirito; ●● = two minor ghosts or one stronger one; ●●● = three lesser or two moderate; ●●●● = four, or fewer who are stronger; ●●●●● = five weak or fewer who are more powerful. Spirit Slaves follow orders and cannot easily resist you.

Expanded Necromancy Rituals

Death’s Communion (Level 1) — A Black Mass performed as grim parody of Catholic communion. Subject gains +2 dice to all Necromancy rolls for one night per success. Takes one hour; caster suffers +1 difficulty if she is also the beneficiary.

The Ferryman’s Recall (Level 5) — Embrace a subject who has already died. Requires the intact corpse, one of the deceased’s fetters, and (if the caster was not the original domitor) a blood point of the domitor’s vitae. Subject must have been a ghoul before death. Process takes 8 hours, reduced by one hour per success. Maximum time since death that the Embrace can still take depends on the Embracer’s Generation: 13th gen = 12 hours; 12th = 1 day; 11th = 2 days; 10th = 3 days; 9th = 4 days; 8th = 5 days; 7th = 1 week; 6th = 2 weeks. All wounds scar permanently; the newly Embraced gains the Mortuario Merit automatically.