Welcome to Gaia! ::

Unico Sangue - Single Blood (Born into the Main Giovanni Family and Embraced)
(MUST ASK KINU FOR PERMISSION TO JOIN)

Amadeo Giovanni
Ambrogino Giovanni
Augustus Giovanni
Claudius Giovanni
Ingnatius "Iggy" Giovanni
Illario Giovanni
Nonna Giovanni
Vespara Giovanni



Doppio Sangue - Double Blooded (Embraced Giovanni from an absorbed Family Line)



The Major Families [Dunsirn, Machiavelli, Milliner, and Pisanob]:
Despite the misleading name of the clan, Giovanni Kindred are not all former members of the Giovanni mortal family. Of course, the Giovanni clan has no problem letting the other clans believe that their numbers are smaller than they actually are.





Dunsirn
(MUST ASK PANDIEMONIUMS FOR PERMISSION TO JOIN)

Plural - Dunsirn
Nicknames - Bankers of Dunsirn

Active Family:
Artis Dunsirn
Bac Dunsirn
Maeve Dunsirn
Niko Costello Dunsrin
Ranulf Dunsirn (Head of the Family)

Scottish branches of the Giovanni, these savvy bankers have a nasty fetish for cannibalism. Augustus appreciated their ability to keep a secret and brought them into the fold. The Dunsirn are steeped in the supernatural landscape of their Scottish homelands and are rumored to have ties to both the savage Lupines and an enigmatic sect of nature mages.

The Dunsirn were assimilated into Clan Giovanni in the early 18th century. Before that, the Dunsirn were already a rich family. Rumors speak that the patriarch of the modern Dunsirn was banished from his family's estate for the crime of cannibalism. Unperturbed, the outcast returned with a family of his own, killed (and probably ate) his relatives and overtook their business. In the modern family, cannibalism is treated like an urban legend, and many Kindred that have contact with a Dunsirn banker joke about their fondness for "long pork", but just as many still look wary when a Dunsirn eats a sandwich.

It is believed that the Dunsirn entered service to the Giovanni with a loophole of leaving the Clan when they desired it. Not interested in Necromancy, the family focuses nearly exclusively on making money. The Dunsirn were crucial for establishing Giovanni domains in the colonies, and their influence in the U.K allowed them to play on the various internal conflicts, like the issue between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland. In modern times, the Dunsirn have been vital for the developments of Giovanni interests in the European Union. However, several Anziani now insist that the Dunsirn have to deepen their knowledge of Necromancy in the wake of the Sixth Maelstrom. Being bossed around chafes at the Dunsirn's pride and some worry what this will bode for the relationship between the families.

Another facet of the Dunsirn is that they are distantly related to Garou (i.e. some of them are Kinfolk), understood to be Fianna (although given their location in Scotland, it could also be one of the old Kin lines of the Black Spiral Dancers). Approximately, one in hundred children has the potential for the First Change and in the rare case that the child becomes a Garou, it is either quickly killed by the family or flees to become a Ronin. Also, more Dunsirn than any other family are adept in Hedge magic, which is tolerated by the main family.



Machiavelli
(MUST ASK KINU FOR PERMISSION TO JOIN)

Active Family:
Aurora Machiavelli
Celestino Machiavelli
Edon Machiavelli (Family Head)
Louis Machiavelli
Marius Machiavelli
Romeo Machiavelli
One Mortal Member - Unknown

This Family enjoys the greatest degree of respect from Augustus and the rest of the Giovanni Family, for their assistance in the Cappadocian purge. Nothing more than a mere mortal at the time, Edon Machiavelli was an associate of many of the Giovanni Elders who continued to practice the ways of mercantilism. When the Giovanni rose up to extinguish the Cappadocians, Edon and his family used their prodigious influence to ferret out information regarding the havens of the Cappadocians, thus making it easier for the Giovanni to hunt their parent Clan down and slay them. For such service, Augustus himself Embraced Edon and honored his descendants by bringing them into the fold. The Machiavelli are indeed the descendants of Niccolo Machiavelli who himself joined the clan in 1527.





Milliner
(MUST ASK UTA FOR PERMISSION TO JOIN)

Plural - Milliners
Nicknames - The Grudge Masters

Active Family:
Dante Milliner
Davide Milliner
Fabrizio Milliner (Related to Dunsirn)
Jessie Milliner
Lewis Milliner
Nicletta Milliner
Nicolas Costello Milliner
Raul Milliner
Riccardo "Ricco" Milliner (Family Head)
Vincenzo "Vinny" Giovanni

The 1950’s induction of the Milliners into the Giovanni Clan began with a family feud between Francis Milliner and Joe Kennedy after a Boston business deal cut out Milliner and set up Kennedy. Using Giovanni monies, Milliner set up circumstances to destroy the Kennedy legacy, resulting in, if you believe the rumors, the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The Milliners are extraordinary industrialists and have close ties to the Mafia. Though extremely young compared to the rest of the Giovanni, they are still considered a Major Family for efforts that proved instrumental in providing the Giovanni Clan with a foothold in North America

Francis Milliner is the leader of the family and is famous for his ability to hold a grudge. The history of the Milliner family within Clan Giovanni begins after Francis Milliner was passed over by P.J Kennedy during his campaign to become the next president of the Columbia Trust Company. In turn, Francis Milliner used his business contacts to ally himself with Andreas Giovanni of Boston, who had recently arrived. Over the years and a little encouragement from his new allies, Francis Milliner worked to systematically undermine the entire Kennedy business while they were "distracted" by politics. Urban legends within Clan Giovanni hold that the Milliners still pursue their vendetta against the Kennedys, and that they are responsible for the assassination of J.F. Kennedy, among other misfortunes.

Currently, the Milliners are headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and have influence in the greater New England area. Francis Milliner's success in claiming the city for his Clan has earned him the favour of Augustus Giovanni himself, who allowed Francis to diablerize the unfaithful Giovanni Genevra to lower his generation. The Milliners are not well versed in Necromancy, instead preferring to focus on the business of making money. Thanks to the Milliners, the Giovanni involvement in organized criminality didn't die when Italian influence waned. They invested heavily in privatized prisons that bring in a constant source of income and cheap labor for the Clan, as well as using their influence to denounce witch-hunters as "persons of interest" and "domestic terrorists"





Pisanob
(MUST ASK NOIR SONGBIRD FOR PERMISSION TO JOIN)

Plural - Pisanob
Nicknames - The Children of Tenochtitlan

Active Family:
Jacobo Pisanob
Mercedes Pisanob (Family Head)

Though they did not originate as a true Family, the Pisanob have, throughout the centuries of breeding and Embrace, become one nonetheless. The Pisanob were inducted into the ranks of the Giovanni from a loose-knit cabal of Aztec priests in South America, led by their high priest, Pochtli. Masters of Necromancy even before they became Kindred, the Pisanob are atypical in that they’ve maintained the trappings of the Necromancy they used during their mortal existence. Pisanob Necromancy is extremely ritualized and utilizes props and iconography from the ancient Aztec religions. Their influence, as one would expect, is mainly relegated to the Latin American countries of Mexico, Central and South America as well as the European countries of Spain and Portugal.

The Pisanob are a bloodline of necromancers that is centered around Mexico and South America and are allied with the Giovanni. They were formerly led by Pochtli, a powerful premascine necromancer.

The Pisanob originated from Aztec necromancers that were Embraced during the 16th century in order to preserve their unique traditions from extinction. Even today, the Pisanob's style of Necromancy, as well as their rituals, remain different from the main Clan.

Although most of their temple havens in the Mexican hinterlands remain secure, many outlying Pisanob havens in Mexico have been compromised. Between unchecked rampages by the Sabbat and Underworld conflicts with the resurfaced Harbingers of Skulls, the Pisanob were beleaguered even before the crippling maelstrom in the spirit world. When half their phantom servants were destroyed in an instant, the Pisanob were finally vulnerable to the vengeance of spirits who had awaited a chance since before Columbus came to the Americas.

The only reason the temple of Pochtli has survived is that the maelstrom and its aftermath caught the Pisanob's enemies as flat-footed as it did the Kindred themselves. The Harbingers of Skulls suffered the ghostly apocalypse at least as badly as the Central and South American Giovanni. As for other Pisanob, they have found themselves frequently targeted by a group of humans who claim to be driven by a higher power to reclaim the world. Numerous Pisanob have met their ends at the hands of these mortal Hunters, too, finding themselves caught between the warring sects or compromised to save another Kindred's skin.

In secret, the Pisanob fear that Gehenna has come. To answer this threat, Pochtli revitalized Aztec sacrifice ceremonies to gather the hearts of enough Kindred to appease the things that will rise. Most Pisanob who knew of this keep it a secret, because they feared retaliation from the Giovanni family that would surely destroy them.



The Minor Families [Della Passaglia, Ghiberti, Puttanesca, Rossellini]:
The Giovanni, both of the Family and of the major families often look down on the minor families with a degree of contempt. However, their usefulness precludes any treatment harsher than jibes and taunts from their betters. Most significantly, the Minor Families have little say in what policies Clan Giovanni implement and it is extremely rare for one of their kind to climb higher than the station of Don or Dona of a city.



Della Passaglia
(MUST ASK YAYOI FOR PERMISSION TO JOIN)

Active Family:
Arisa
Aureliano Della Passaglia
Columbina Della Passaglia
Fiero Della Passaglia
Fiore Della Passaglia
Gabriele Della Passaglia
Georgina "Gigi" Della Passaglia (Family Head)
Matteo Della Passaglia
Savio Della Passaglia
Valentina Della Passaglia

The della Passaglia are the Giovanni’s agents in the Far East, and are specialists in dealing with the mysterious Kindred of Japan, China, India, and Southeast Asia. Before being brought into the Giovanni, they originated as traders to the East, following the roads set up by Marco Polo As such, they have opened new vistas for the Giovanni with their knowledge of Asian Necromancy and Thanatology. As the Far East specialists, they provide valuable links with Asian Vampire, which call themselves Kue-Jin.

The Della Passaglia are a family within the Giovanni Clan that descended from Italian trader families that had ties with the Orient, trading silk, tea, and porcelain for opium and firearms.

The Giovanni assimilated the Della Passaglia in the 15th century. For a long time, the Della Passaglia were the only Kindred tolerated by the natives within the cities of China, and careful observations from both sides revealed much about their cousins. Up to this day, the Della Passaglia are the most informed Kindred next to Oliver Thrace in the matters of Kuei-jin and the paradigma of the Middle Kingdom.

Recently, however, relations have soured up. The Great Leap Outward makes association with the foreigners difficult for potential sympathizers among the Kuei-jin and many have chosen to turn from them, leading many Passaglias thinking that the Kuei-jin exploited them in order to learn about the weaknesses of Cainites. The Della Passaglia, however, hope to regain the Asians' favour by securing their aid in bringing down the Shroud in the conquered territories in California, to ensure that the Second Breath could also take place in these lands. With this, the family would greatly assert their value to the Venetian main family, regain favor with the Kuei-jin and gain several wraiths for the Ritual of Endless Night. So far, the Ancestors of the Kuei-jin are debating this course of action, but more and more voice support for the Kin-jin's plan.



Ghiberti
(MUST ASK [ESTELLE] FOR PERMISSION TO JOIN)

Active Family:
None

As the della Passaglia are specialist in Asia, so the Ghiberti have made significant in-roads for the Clan into Africa and the Middle East. Though they’re grudgingly respected for their efforts to establish trade routes in the Dark Continent, and procuring valuable information regarding Nubian aspects of Necromancy and the Abombo (African Wraiths), they are still mistrusted and discriminated against by Single-blooded Giovanni for their ‘going native’ and intermarrying with the natives. They are responsible for involving the Giovanni in the United States, West Africa, and West Indies trade triangle.

The Ghiberti family is a branch-family of the Giovanni focused on Africa, who are best known for having developed their own path of necromancy, the Cenotaph Path.

Originally Italian, the Ghiberti were acquired in the early 17th century when it became obvious how much money was just waiting to be made in the triangle trade between the United States, West Africa, and the West Indies. The ruthless Ghiberti Kindred developed an aptitude with the abambo and the fourfold soul of the Dark Kingdom of Ivory that no other Giovanni could match, and they leveraged that advantage for all it was worth. They also got in on the lucrative underground slave trade early, and in some ways helped establish it – an industry they support to this day.

Studying the strange powers of the ghostly Moriman, the Ghiberti learned to trace wraiths and bind them. Experienced Ghiberti Kindred recognized that mystically compelling the dead required an extensive knowledge of the ghosts to be so commanded. Whereas many among the family content themselves with mastery of the occasional wraith and the means to affect corpses or the Underworld, more erudite practitioners looked into necromantic means to unearth locations or objects holding strong ties to the dead (known as Fetters in necromantic circles).





Puttanesca
(MUST ASK SEUSSI FOR PERMISSION TO JOIN)

Plural - Puttanesca
Nicknames - The Criminal Puttanesca, The ******** Puttanesca

Active Family:
Addie Puttanesca
Alice Puttanesca
Antonio Puttanesca
Benedict "Benny" Puttanesca
Black Widow (Married into family from outside)
D'Angelo Puttanesca
Eloisa Puttanesca
Fiorenzio Puttanesca
Francesca 'Franny' Puttanesca
Lucia Puttanesca
Milana Millie Puttanesca
Nicolò (Nico) Puttanesca
Oriana Puttanesca
Riccardo Puttanesca (Family Head)
Vittoria Puttanesca
Zeno Puttanesca

The Putanesca are the servitors of the Giovanni, as well as their agents in the world of blue-collar crime, such as prostitution, numbers running, and the drug trade. Considered little more than whore mongers and crack dealers, they are reviled by all others of the Giovanni Clan. However, their aptitude in dealing with the seedy underbelly of modern society makes them especially useful nonetheless.

The Puttanesca's very name translates as "of the whore"; they are a Sicilian family of low-rent criminals, pimps, and thugs with ties to the Mafia that the Giovanni acquired in the 1660s to do the family's "dirty work". Largely ignorant of necromancy, the average Puttanesca has a temper that would even put a Brujah to shame. Not the type to forgive and forget, they are consumed with the concept of vendetta and are usually employed by the clan as leverage against enemies.





Rossellini
(MUST ASK SEUSSI FOR PERMISSION TO JOIN)

Plural - Rossellini
Nicknames - Piccoli Fratellini, Little Brothers, Little Siblings

Active Family:
Armando Rossellini
Count Marcello Rossano Rossellini (Family Head)
Damiano Rossellini
Diego Rossellini
Ilaria Rossellini
Inigo Rossellini
Leontina Serafina Rossellini
Lucilla Rossellini
Melchiorre Rossellini

The Rossellini are sadistic individuals who enjoy mutilating their victims as part of their Necromantic Rituals. They became involved in the Giovanni clan when a cadre of their members ran afoul of Claudius Giovanni, who separated their souls from their bodies until they swore an oath of fealty to the Giovanni. Since then, they have almost entirely interbred with the Giovanni Family, though there are few true Rossellini still walking about.

The Rossellini (formerly Rosselini), also referred to as the Piccoli Fratellini ("Little Brothers") by the main Clan, are a branch of the Giovanni family that originated in Italy. They share many traits of the main family, being another family that practiced Necromancy since the Roman Empire.

Like the Giovanni, the Rossellini had strong ties to Venice, where both families practiced necromancy. By other mages of the Middle Ages, the Rossellini were regarded as the more talented necromancers. In addition to the ways of necromancy, many Rossellini were Sorcerers. Even then, the Rossellini were often regarded as hysteric or otherwise unbalanced. After the conversion of their Giovanni rivals into a Cappadocian Bloodline, the Rossellini were, at first, unaffected, except that they began to push themselves and their arts harder in order to compete with their rivals. They were assimilated into the family after a nasty incident with Claudius Giovanni in Rome during the 16th century, who ripped out the souls of the ruffians and forced the family to swear an oath of fealty to the Giovanni.

Among the Clan, the Rossellini are known for their cruel (even by Giovanni standards) treatment of their wraith servants. More than one Giovanni secretly suspected that the reason the Rossellini wound up serving the Giovanni (and not the other way around) was philosophical more than tactical. The Giovanni pursue necromancy for the power to exalt the family. The Rossellini do it because they simply like it. It is an end in itself, and consequently, the Rossellini often try to do as much as they possibly can, as sadistically as possible, just to push the envelope.



The Lesser Families [Beyrn, Koenig, Li Weng Rothstein, St. John]:
Most of the Retainers of the Core Family and Major families come from these families.

Beryn (by marriage)

Active Family:
Andreas "Andy" Beryn

The Beryn are a family of Flemish merchants operating from Luxembourg with African influence like that of the Ghiberti. They have many holdings in South Africa mines. They have few vampiric members, only six to seven, and few of them take an interest in Necromancy. In fact Beryn seem to be unskilled in the realms of Necromancy having virtually no knack for it. It would seem they where brought in only for genetic purposes. Their tall stances and wide shoulders are desirable traits after all. Only seven are know to be in line for the embrace. Most are ghouls or still mortal. Many whisper that when the Rossellini are gone, the Beryn are to replace them purely as breeding stock.



Hidalgo (by marriage)
(MUST ASK YAYOI FOR PERMISSION TO JOIN)

Active Family:
Angel Hidalgo (Family Head)
Bruno Hidalgo
Jose Hidalgo
Santino Hidalgo

The Hidalgos were another group of Giovanni from the Obsidian Kingdom, who live in Mexico, in the northernmost areas of the Flayed Lands. The family is of mixed Mayan and Spanish ancestry. These Necromancers are vile in their rituals, often mutilating their mortal sacrifices due to the belief that it will help them in their witchcraft. Although there were only one or two vampires chosen from the ranks of the Hidalgo, most members of the family practice at least one rudimentary form of Necromancy. Since a Sabbat attack in the 1990s there's only mortal and ghoul Hidalgos left. Clan Giovanni has no knowledge of these survivors, although there are some who continue the search.

During the Spanish colonization of Mayan lands the Giovanni encountered an unfamiliar Underworld. Hence why they came up with the idea to interbreed Maya natives with family members and potential mediums amongst the Spanish in the hope of establishing a new branch of the clan. This was the origin of the Hidalgo branch of the Giovanni.

Under the leadership of Vespasiano Giovanni the Hidalgo proved to be proficient in trade, and a rare few were born with the potential to contact wraiths. It was these who received instruction in the rudiments of necromancy. Interestingly, whilst ghouling these mediums allowed them to retain their ability, once they were Embraced it disappeared. For this reason, Hidalgo vampires were never numerous.



Koenig (by marriage)
(MUST ASK YAYA, KINU OR SEUSSI FOR PERMISSION TO JOIN)

Active Family:
Berlioz Koenig
Felix Koenig
Konstantin Koenig
Matthias Koenig
Milo Koenig
Rainier Koenig
Wolfgang Koenig

These German death cultists may have never come to the attention of the Giovanni had it not been for World War II when the Giovanni saw an entire nation rise up under a dark leader. His band of cultists had the sickest and most twisted ideas of death that the Family had seen since the induction of the Rossellini. They are also German arms manufacturers and generally not put in the same room with a Rothstein as it normally resolves in the death of both parties.

The Koenigs, also spelled König are a lesser family branch of the Giovanni Clan operating in Münich, Germany and Japan.

The Koenigs are a family that was assimilated through marriage. Their activities involve arms manufacturing. They are also death-cultists that really benefitted the Giovanni with their necromancy.

The Koenigs have expanded their territory to Japan after Heinrich Koenig embraced Hiromitsu Asano in the 1950s. This added more financial gain for the clan.



Li Weng (by marriage)
(MUST ASK CHERI FOR PERMISSION TO JOIN)

Active Family:
None

The Li Weng, originating from outside of San Francisco’s Chinatown, are a group of geomancers who are attempting to gain favor with the Giovanni Clan so that they might be the next Major or Minor Family.



Rothstein (by marriage)
(MUST ASK KTQUEEN FOR PERMISSION TO JOIN)

Active Family:
Shlomo Rothstein (Family Head)

The Rothstein are Jewish-American Cabbalists with ties to Las Vegas. In the early 1900’s, Shlomo Rothstein was Embraced and became the first and formal ‘head’ of this line. Their ties in the diamond industry cannot be denied.



St. John (by marriage)
(MUST ASK KINU FOR PERMISSION TO JOIN)

Active Family:
Everette St. John
Thane St. John

The first of the five Families that Augustus looked to acquire in whole was the St. John. They are a cabal of English Masons who have been breeding into the family. Their ties with the occult are very strong.

Giovanni


The Giovanni are respectful, genteel and well-mannered. Affluent beyond imagination, Clan Giovanni traces its roots back to before the Renaissance, to a family of merchant princes. The clan still maintains its original home in Venice, in a thousand-year-old loggia just outside the heart of the city. No other clan makes such a spectacle of humility and propriety as does the Giovanni. And no other clan hides its blasphemous secrets as well.

According to tales whispered in Camarilla salons and Sabbat esbats, the Giovanni's money spoiled the family, and the Venetians turned to nigrimancy out of perverse boredom. Surprisingly enough, the family demonstrated a great aptitude for trafficking with the dead, and their newfound abilities caught the eye of a forgotten Antediluvian. The vampire Embraced the head of the family, Augustus Giovanni, and brought him into the world of the Damned. This particular Antediluvian, the legends say, had a profound interest in death, and the Embrace of Giovanni and his family was intended to further the vampire's knowledge of what lay beyond the wall of mortality.

The Ancient's plan worked better, albeit differently, than he'd intended. Augustus, a cutthroat and mercenary merchant, saw the opportunity to seize his doddering sire's power and did so, hunting and killing all of the Antediluvian's descendants as well. After drinking the Ancient's blood, Augustus became a member of the Third Generation and founded his own clan, the Giovanni.

Other vampires reacted in horror, and, for a century, the "Devil Kindred" Giovanni were rooted out and destroyed wherever they went. Finally, the Giovanni sat down with the newly formed Camarilla and formed a mutual truce. This truce guaranteed the Giovanni would not participate in the Jyhad and would leave other vampires to their affairs. The Giovanni agreed, thus averting the genocide they surely would have otherwise met.

Taking advantage of other vampires' lack of involvement with them, the Giovanni quietly continued to amass wealth and power, practicing their Discipline of necromancy all the while. Few believe the clan is engaging in either practice for altruistic purposes, and recent global movements by the Giovanni have many Kindred worried. With all that money and all those harvested souls, something is on the horizon; it is an ill wind that blows out of Venice.

Members of the Giovanni clan are also members of the Giovanni family, and those not Embraced often serve their Kindred relations as ghouls. This familial tie - members of the clan are related by blood twice - ensures complete loyalty on the part of the Giovanni. While concentrated primarily in Europe, the Giovanni have recently been expanding into, the world market, and the clan seems to be more prolific in recent nights.

The Giovanni Crest:



Nickname: Necromancers

Appearance: Giovanni vampires typically maintain airs of presentability and respectability. Most Giovanni, hailing as they do from the Italian branch of the clan, bear European features, including fair-to-dark complexions, dark hail and solid statures, Giovanni tend to dress well but not lavishly, preferring subtle accouterments of affluence to ostentatious displays.

Haven: Giovanni favor havens befitting their wealth. Mansions, palatial homes and well-appointed apartments suit the Giovanni best, though uncommon is the Necromancer who doesn't keep a backup haven in a sewer or graveyard. Some Giovanni involve themselves in medical power structures and make their havens in hospitals, where plenty of coyer exists and precious blood may be taken at a whim.

Background: Most Giovanni come from the ranks of the Venetian family and have spent much of their mortal lives as ghouls in service to another family member. As closely knit as the family is, rivalry and treachery are rampant among the clan, as each member tries to assert his superiority over others. Amazingly versatile for having such a finite pool from which to draw new Kindred, the Giovanni may Embrace any individual who shows particular promise, but only after a "trial period" of ghouldom known as the Proxy Kiss.

Weaknesses: The Giovanni Kiss causes excruciating pain in mortals who receive it. In fact, the bite of a Giovanni vampire often kills its mortal victim from shock before the poor soul has a chance .to die from blood loss. The Necromancers do twice as much damage as any other vampire to mortals (and only mortals) who suffer their Kiss. Thus, if the Giovanni in question took one blood point from a mortal vessel, that vessel would suffer two health levels of damage. As such, Giovanni vampires are quite likely to feed from already dead corpses or from resources like hospital blood reserves.

Organization: Giovanni clan affairs are handled in Venice, in a vast loggia colloquially known as the Mausoleum. As is to be expected, the clan has a familial structure. Incest, necrophilia, favor-currying, ancestor worship and carefully cultivated guilt riddle the family; by the time most Giovanni Kindred are Embraced, they've seen more than enough to inure them to the vagaries of undead existence. The clan's nonintervenrion in the Jyhad allows members to focus on their own vendettas and better their knowledge of Necromancy. The Giovanni Antediluvian, Augustus Giovanni, reportedly still maintains direct control over the clan, though none outside the clan is known to have seen him in the past 400 years.

Quote: Consider taking a different tone with me. You are, after all, worth as much to the Giovanni dead as you are undead.

The Embrace

Most Kindred sires choose who they Embrace. In the Camarilla, this is often a complicated matter of paying dues until one gets permission, then spending months, years ---even decades--- picking the perfect person to drag into eternity. In the Sabbat it can be a lot simpler. "Hey, he looks tough, let's get him!" But those Sabbat who last more than a week or two tend to be those who were Embraced after some thought and deliberation. In neither case does either sect foster a perception of obligation. Neither group feels it owes the Embrace to any mortal.

Among the Giovanni, the criteria are completely different. Merit figures into it, but only within the narrow confines of family. A mortal may seem tremendously useful and worthy, but if she's not one of the accepted mortal bloodlines, the odds of her becoming a Giovanni Kindred are slight indeed. This doesn't mean that every Giovanni cousin eventually suffers the curse of Caine, regardless of merit. Far from it. Most don't even rate the Proxy Kiss, the brutal period of being a ghoul. But the family, though widespread, is tightly knit. Everyone comes to a christmas party Damn it. If you recieve an invitation to one of the other reunions-- the ones they hold every April 4th-- you'd better show up for ******** sure.

Many of the Giovanni are mostly ignorant, but only the truly clueless are completely ignorant. Too many rumors circulate, even among the backward bumkins who aren't going to be shown the Horrible Truth in a million years. They may not know, but they suspect. So many whispers and overheard remarks and strange goings-on make the rounds that even the dullest needle in the pincushion is eventually going to stitch something together. They know that some people in the family get picked, and if you're picked, you get money. You attend all the parties, even the secret ones. You always look good, you always know what's going on, you always have a smug, half-smile when you look at the ones who weren't picked. Thus, even the Giovanni who don't know exactly what's going on know that something is going on. Something powerful. Something they want, very much, to earn.

The Giovanni then are a family of over-achievers. But it's not as simple as excelling in general. See, the ones who haven't been picked often have a hard time of knowing who has. If you don't know for sure who made the cut, it's hard to suss out why they did. So while one Giovanni concentrates on making the starting soccer team, another turns down dates so he can study the violin and a third is just grade-grubbing as hard as she possibly can. Their all gambling that their field is the one that earns them the big reward. Whatever it is.

In all actuallity, the Giovanni Embrace is just as complicated as the Camarilla one -- just in a different way. What is intesely personal and private in the Camarilla is often decided in a forum of Giovanni elders.

The Elders consider numerous factors when it comes to deciding who Embraces whom, first and foremost their generation. Higher generation vampires are more powerful.

Factors to include in The Embrace

Name -- Hey, the Giovanni didn't end up where they are tonight without healthy doses of Nepotism. This means that the less-promising child of a noteworthy mortal father may enjoy preferential treatment.

Talent -- Sure, it's not the only factor, but it's still an important one. If you earn the Embrace, you do because you're damn good at something.

Nature of talent -- On the other hand, f the clan decides they need more asskickers, someone who's placed in Spain's national Greco-Roman wrestling championship may find himself Embraced before a truly brilliant stock investor -- who can, after all, continue investing during the day.

Genealogy -- It shouldn't be a factor, but fome elders still harbor a bit of a sentimental streak for the family. This would be more surprising in a Kindred who wasn't raised from infancy to think the family is the most important thing in the world. Thus, a Giovanni is often more likely to ask the elder's permission to Embrace one of the children she had as a mortal (or a grandchild, or great-grandchild).

Gender -- Four centuries ago, it was common knowledge that women were hysterical, inherently sinful, weak and good for little more than mopping, cooking and screwing. Of course, it was also common knowledge that the Earth was flat. Some of the anziani have overcome their now-anachronistic upbringing, but for most those old habits die hard.

Ghouls

The ghouls with the Proxy Kiss are, of course, well aware that it's better to recieve the Embrace from an older more powerful Vampire (While they may not understand the complexities of the generation, they're well aware of the political edge that being close to an elder gives). Thus they are constantly competing to prove their loyalty to the family and to idividiual vampires. Remember, the Giovanni are a driven family, and the Proxy Kiss goes to those who stand out of a field of overachievers.

Given the family belief that the blood bond clouds your judgement, it ironically turns out that many of these bond-addled ghouls never earn the Embrace. It's akin to the old baked goods proverb: Why buy the loafe when you can have the slices for free? Why reward someone with the Embrace if she's perfectly devoted as a ghoul?

Wraiths

A wraith is a ghost, the soul of a person who has died unfulfilled and now haunts the Shadowlands.

Overview
For some reason, known or unknown to the wraith, they are still tied to the living world (the Skinlands) and cannot pass on to the ineffable afterworld. Wraiths are confined to the Underworld (Oblivion), a parallel reality which is tangentially connected to the living world, but distinct with its own laws and physics.

About 5% of people becomes wraiths after death in time of relative calm. Far more in times of great calamity and suffering. It is plausible a sizable percentage instantly becomes Spectres at the time of their death.

Attributes
Physically, a wraith is a coherent "body" of plasm, the substance that makes up the majority of the Underworld. Plasm is a non-material "stuff" that houses the wraith's soul and which the wraith unconsciously shapes into a form resembling their living body (often somewhat exaggerated, and incorporating Deathmarks). The wraith's Corpus, their body-equivalent, can be changed by Moliate or through soulforging and has only a loose relationship to what the living would think of as a body. Most wraiths are solid plasm - which is to say that if a wraith were chopped in two, there would be no internal organs, just a consistent mass of "stuff" throughout the body.

Wraithly bodies are subject to their own distinct metaphysics; in the Shadowlands and Tempest, they obey local rules of gravity, but under certain conditions can pass through material things (informally called the rule of ouch). Plasm can also be used to manufacture objects and many of the items in wraithly society are comprised of other wraiths.

The wraithly mind is divided into two parts, the Psyche and the Shadow. After death, the negative, self-loathing and self-defeating parts of a wraith's personality form a distinct archetypal personality of their own. This personality, the Shadow, is in communion with the darker forces of the Labyrinth and serves as a constant foil and antagonist to the Psyche. The Psyche, in turn, is the wraith's original personality, or at least the parts of its personality that retains its humanity and sense of survival or will to live. Wraiths have a higher, positive personality as well, usually termed the Eidolon. In the modern era, the Eidolon is generally fairly weak due to the severe suffering and cynicism in the world and most wraiths are only marginally aware that they have one.

For a wraith to exist in the first place, it must be bound to the living world by one or more Fetters. Fetters are objects (or creatures) in the living world to which the wraith is connected and that keep it from passing on. Fetters are a mixed blessing for wraiths - allowing them to interact with the living world, but also binding them to it.

Pathos and Angst
A wraith's psyche feeds on Pathos, the energy of emotion. Each wraith has several Passions, the emotions which are most tightly connected to its personality. Experiencing these emotions, even vicariously, provides the psyche with energy that the wraith can then use for various purposes.

The Shadow also has energy, called Angst, which it can acquire by fulfilling its own passions. These Dark Passions are generally contrary to the wraith's own goals.

Lifecycle and Types of Wraiths
Wraithly status is defined by a combination of age, maintenance of one's Fetters and Willpower. The lowest form of wraith is a Drone, a wraith that does not have any Willpower or personal identity, drones are condemned to eternally act out their personal tragedies and are tightly bound to their Passions and Fetters. Having no personality or self-will, they are usually converted into raw materials as soon as they are found.

Self-aware wraiths begin as Enfants; when a person dies, its soul is reborn in the Underworld covered in a layer of plasm called a caul. The caul acts as a cocoon that keeps the wraith docile until it is removed, a few wraiths remove their cauls themselves, but the majority of cauls are removed by another wraith, traditionally called a Reaper.

Young wraiths are called Lemures, with the distinction between a young and an older wraith primarily being Fetters. A Domem is a wraith whose Fetters are all destroyed, preventing them from staying in the Shadowlands for any period of time - while Domemhood generally implies age, a wraith can become a Domem while still very young, all it requires is that their Fetters be destroyed. A Gaunt is an older wraith who has resolved one or more of its Fetters and still maintains them. Gaunts are significantly more powerful (and generally more canny) than Domems and are consequently more respected in wraithly society, though there are rare exceptions, such as the Deathlords.

The final distinct class of wraiths are Spectres, which are wraiths who have been absorbed by Oblivion. Spectres have their own society and from the wraithly perspective are mostly hostile entities out to destroy all other wraiths.

What Ranks Can Control a Wraith (Number and Type)

Disciple: Up to seven but not often all at once. Any type.
Antediluvian: Can subjugate up to three of any type
Methuselah: Can subjugate up to two of any type
Elder: Can subjugate one of any type and one of an animal type
Ancilla: Can subjugate one of an animal type only

Any rank below Ancilla does not have the strength to subjugate a wraith.