As a follow-up to @tragedyjones' post above on the Vampire Praxis in Las Vegas, I'm going to go ahead and foward you guys a little somethin'-somethin' on the once-premiere vampiric Covenant of Las Vegas, the Sangiovanni.
Keep in mind that, as sphere antagonists, the Sangiovanni won't be available as PCs at first; but the plan is to definitely allow for them later on, as the game progresses and things get more complicated.
SANGIOVANNI
La Cosa Morta
I step out of the car and adjust my tie, leaving Julie sitting in the backseat, licking her cherry-red lips, her eyes rolling back into her head as the hit of my vitae starts to course through her system. She's the best ghoul I've ever had: cunning, sexy, and dangerous. But she's not meant for what comes next. Back in the day, she'd have been considered a moll. Now, when I say back in the day, I mean when she was just some mortal. Women have always had a place in the hierarchy behind the scenes, where it matters. But she's relatively new to the family, so she don't get to see what comes next. Not yet.
I walk the hall of the little casino we call our own. There aren't many of us left in Vegas--we got run out by the First Estate when Howard Hughes managed to run the mortal Mafia out in the 60s, and then again when the FBI screwed all our mortal interests in the 80s--but there's enough of us. We have some holdings, still, even if our proceeds and our purpose ain't so much making money, like it used to be. We like the way we do things, and some of us are willing to operate on the sidelines. We're immortal--we got time. Every kingdom falls eventually.
Frankie, one of my sire's ghouls, opens the door to the back room and I step past him with a smile. "Hey, Frankie."
"Hey, Mr. Gio." Mister Gio, because I'm part of the family. My name ain't Giovanni, but I got the blood, see, and for the people in this outfit, that's more than enough to show some respect. I descend down a set of stairs made of cement until I end up in the basement. It's a dank, dark room, with a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling above a chair. In the chair, tied up, is a man. I don't have to scrutinize him to know he's alive--he doesn't pop to my eyes, like the dead do. Behind him, my sire, Don Nico Giovanni, head of the local family and absolute authority as far as I'm concerned--and you can tell that fucking CEO bitch I said so, too.
"Massimo," he says, lifting his hands and then clapping them down on the shoulders of the man in the chair. "Finally, you are here." Nico is not as pale as me. Despite being a true Giovanni, he hasn't made the strides in the Discipline I have; his Vitae can still hide his nature.
"Sorry, boss. I got held up." I take another look at our stool pigeon--at least, he will be: white guy, rail thin, probably an addict of some sort, by the bags under his eyes and the way he holds himself, even tied down. I smile at him. I know my smile ain't pretty--none of me, really, is pretty. Even those of my kind that are pretty ain't, you know, pretty, and those that are ruin it in some way or another.
"It's all right. It's all right. But I need you to fix this problem for me, okay? Our friend Ricky here, he has decided that he is not going to talk, and if he doesn't talk--well." My sire shrugs his shoulders and lifts his hands.
"He'll talk," I tell Nico. I turn my eyes to Ricky. "You know how they say dead men tell no tales, Ricky?" I pull out a revolver from inside my jacket. His eyes go wide and his blood runs cold; I can smell it. "They're wrong." I tell him this, and then plug him twice in the chest.
Neither Frankie nor Nico try to stop me; they don't even seem to notice anything is off. Because it's not.
My revolver gets put away again and I walk towards Ricky's now hunched over corpse. Frankie's already untying him. He sprawls him out on the floor, arms at his side, legs straight--more or less, it ain't gotta be perfect.
I prepare myself, pull out a few little bags of assorted powders and dust and things, put them in the palm of my hand and fist them tight, grinding them together with vigor and will.
Once Frankie's done putting Ricky on the floor, I walk over to the corpse and hold my fist out over it. I speak the words--they're old words for new things--and I open my hand, letting the powder and dust fall on the corpse as I lower my hand a few inches. Once the powder settles, I lower my hand some more and I can feel the essence of what made Ricky an individual trying to escape. I fist it, twist it, and then I pull my hand up.
Ricky's corpse rises with it, slowly getting to its feet, blank eyes staring at me, waiting for my every command.
"Now," I say, looking into his dead eyes. "About those shipments..."
You want to join the Sangiovanni because: You were a made man or woman during life. You already have an unhealthy obsession with the truly dead. You have a penchant for violence. You like structure but don't cater to corporations or religions or revolutions. You believe that the dead can be tools to be used for your own gain. You like money and power but want to make your way up in traditional ways. You've had rough dealings with the cops or come from a long line of criminals. You lost someone and are desperate to get back in touch with them beyond the grave. You've romanticized the Mafia and have no idea what you're getting into. You owe us.
The big picture: People think criminal behavior ends when you die, and in most places and situations, that's probably true. But when it comes to vampires, that's not a given--and the Sangiovanni can make sure of it. Based essentially on the hierarchical structure and the modus operandi of the Italian Mafia, the Sangiovanni are a structured organization that ignores most of the legal means of acquiring power and wealth. In fact, whenever legalities are in the way, they embrace ways of side-tracking them. This is made all the more intriguing by their ability to both commune with and control the dead. Ghosts give them passwords, revenants sign cheques and deeds, and dead bodies become nothing but a mild inconvenience when, as far as the authorities are concerned, they aren't even dead.
One of the most terrifying aspects of the Sangiovanni is that they use their dark necromancy to their own advantage in the most ruthless ways possible, and they have the drive, dedication, and traditions to make it efficient. That, and their most powerful ceremonies seem to work on Kindred in ways that make all other vampires understandably uneasy. Of course, some of their ceremonies also work on the Strix--which makes them invaluable.
The Sangiovanni are a fiercely loyal group, either through terror, coercion, or true belief. They respect the wider Traditions of the Kindred, but aren't shy of circumventing details to make those Traditions a little more... operationally friendly.
As an organization, the Sangiovanni is a dangerous enemy to have, especially if they have a strong foothold in a location. It can be dangerous not to eradicate them entirely, although strong shows of force, and killing the wrong member of local leadership, can summon the higher ups, who believe that certain things are never to be left unresolved.
Where we came from: The Sangiovanni trace their history back a long way and across the pond to Italy. Giancarlo Giovanni was a mobster in Italy who was a bit of a necrophile, and his proclivities got him involved with a vampire. Sired into the Mekhet Clan, Giovanni wanted the same for his family--his wife, and eventually his kids--but his wife didn't fit the Mekhet mold and his sire forbade it, so he found a friend that was willing to do it, someone much more aristocratic, like hiw wife--a Ventrue. They kept their kids in boarding schools, and they kept themselves well-fed when their kids were around.
As their kids grew up, Giovanni found that his eldest--his only son--was a bit cruel, a little obsessive about his conquests, far too promiscuous--he found a Daeva willing to embrace the young monster. His middle child, a daughter, reached adulthood with a hollow look in her eyes--she made terrifying comments and, while she was attractive enough, tended to make people unsettled--and so he found her a Nosferatu sire. Last but not least, his youngest daughter was a wild child; berserk and untameable, he paid a Gangrel quite a lot of money to sire her and teach her.
Meanwhile, ol' Giancarlo's obsession with the truly dead--not undead like himself--started to affect his use of Disciplines. He found himself studying the different sorceries that certain Covenants use, and even sent spies into the Lancea et Sanctum and the Circle of the Crone to steal their secrets. Usually, this ended with the spies's deaths, but the information squarely in Giancarlo's hands. As a family, the Giovanni develop the art of Necromanzia--sorcerous control over the dead, both corpses and ghosts.
Their power in Italy skyrocketed, and eventually, they began inducting others, slowly becoming one of the most powerful Kindred organizations in southern Europe--their own Covenant--the Sangiovanni.
Giancarlo and his direct family are rumored to all be in Torpor at the moment, but no one can confirm where or since when--it's quite possible they're active, behind the scenes, watching their empire spread.
Our practices: The Sangiovanni's goal is to amass power, and to do it by using the dead as their thugs and a decent, unquestioning force of labor. When the Sangiovanni starts taking over an area, they buy businesses, often extorting the deeds out of unwilling business owners, sometimes killing them, and sometimes Embracing them not only into vampirism, but into the Covenant directly, without so much as a how-do-you-do. Many members of the Sangiovanni are in the Covenant because they were Embraced by one, and either feel they owe the necromancers, have come to like it, or are simply being held against their will, either by force, Domination, or the necromantic powers of the Covenant itself.
One thing is for sure, the Sangiovanni have a long memory, and with every corpse and restless spirit being a potential snitch and ally of the Covenant, it's very difficult to ever truly be sure they aren't waiting for their moment to strike back.
As far as hierarchical structure, they operate like the Italian Mafia. Most of the time, there is a Don, and his Capos, and their underlings, all the way down to the thugs. Their criminal methods extend to the mortal, often sequestering and converting to their cause (or at least their loyalties) high ranking members of mortal criminal organizations. They also rely heavily on the extortion and overt control of public officials both through money, magic, and of course, blackmail.
Nicknames: Necromancers; La Cosa Morta (within the Covenant); The Corpse Corps (internal/external, humorous); Deathwitches; Perverts (derogatory)
Concepts: Made Fang, assassin for hire, zombie wrangler, ghost whisperer, informant for the mob, liaison between the Covenants, business manager, mob lawyer of the dead.
When we are in power: The Sangiovanni like to own land and exert our power through it. Not only is it good business, it's also a great way to get our hands on the gates that connect the world of the living to the world of the dead. We rule Praxis with an iron fist, with the Don of the Covenant automatically being at the very top, occupying the place where a Prince might sit. The other Covenants are treated as separate "families", who answer to us, but have weight--often based on how much power they can rally individually. We keep our friends close, and our enemies under a microscope, often employing ghosts and revenants to shadow or spy on either. We extend our influences so much into the mortal world that it can be hard to weed us out--sometimes more than any other Covenant. It could take years, and help from mortal governments, before we can really be ousted.
When we are in trouble: If things get bad enough, we get scarce. We break up, split, and then rendezvous somewhere else we know it's safe. And then we plan our comeback. We're a relatively new Covenant--no older than the Carthians at most, and definitely not as large--so many people don't realize that even if they get rid of us, we're gonna come back. And we're gonna do it slow-like, so you never even notice until your dead family members are sucking the marrow from your bones.
Sangiovanni Merits
Members of the Sangiovanni have access to the following Merits. Unless otherwise noted, they have an additional prerequisite of Status (Sangiovanni) • or higher.
Wiseguy (••)
Prerequisite: Not a member of the Sangiovanni
Your character is not a member of La Cosa Morta, but is close enough to some of its members to be considered an associate that can be trusted and occasionally supported.
This Merit provides a handful of advantages:
- Your character receives a +1 bonus to all Social interactions with Sangiovanni members, as if she had a single dot of Covenant Status.
- With a teacher, she may purchase the first dot of Necromanzia (for 3 experiences) and gains a free ceremony. Invictus in particular should be very careful about taking this Merit.
- Once per story, she can draw on a dot of Allies: Sangiovanni, Contacts: Sangiovanni, Mentor, or Herd. This should come at the cost of a small favor.
- If she ever formally joins the Sangiovanni, she sheds this Merit and adopts two dots of Covenant Status, becoming greater than an average newcomer to the family does.
Mortician's Appraisal (••, Necromanzia •)
With but a glance, the Necromancer can discern the cause of death of a body. On corpses and non-sentient living dead, this is automatic. To discern the cause of death of a sentient undead (such as Kindred or a possessed corpse) requires a Wits + Medicine roll, resisted by the target's Composure.
Host of the Dead (•)
Prerequisite: Necromanzia •
The Sangiovanni may spend a Willpower to obtain the Open Condition pertaining to Ghosts for a Scene. Without the proper Ceremonies, however, she may not have any control over what the ghost does with that.
Ghost Network (•• or •••)
Prerequisite: Necromanzia ••, Contacts: Ghosts
You've created a web of ghostly contacts much more thorough than most of your fellow Sangiovanni. Your initial ghostly contacts may have been rooted to a certain location, but now they've spread across Twilight, to the point where you can usually count on some shade having seen something of interest in any general location of the city.
At two dots, the Storyteller should consider you having informants in any pertinent part of the city. If a ghost had a reasonable chance of having the information, your character can track that ghost down within a few hours and acquire it. For three dots, the network is so thoroughly built that even people who might usually be able to block ghostly Contacts can't deal with it — your ghostly connections cannot be hindered by other Social Merits unless the person attempting it also possesses this Merit.
Having this many ghostly friends can be a hassle. Your character probably spends 4-6 hours a week dealing with ghost messes around town, lest they be exorcised or worse.
Groundskeeper (••)
Your character either owns or has unlimited and easy access to one of Las Vegas' many cemeteries. He always has the very best Necromanzia sacrifices and materials on hand. Take a +1 to all Necromanzia rolls for having good ingredients always on hand. If your character has enough time to actually visit the cemetery and get fresh ingredients for the ceremony, the bonus is raised to +2.
True Descendent (••)
You are a Giovanni, directly descended from Giancarlo and his children (before they were each Embraced). For starters, your actual surname is Giovanni, and you gain +1 to any Social interaction with other Sangiovanni who do not possess this Merit. More importantly, due to a quirk in your blood, you cannot be blood bound by anyone in your direct mortal family. In addition, you exhibit a resistance to the blood bond in general: if anyone in the Sangiovanni Covenant who isn't a member of your direct family attempts the bond, you add your dots in Sangiovanni Status to your roll to resist it; if anyone in your Clan attempts it, add your rating in blood sympathy. For some reason, the closer they are, the more you resist…
Zombie Legbreaker (• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Necromanzia (? need to figure out what level the Ceremony will be), Retainer at a level equal to greater
You have a zombie Retainer that you've permanently reanimated. This is common for Sangiovanni ghouls and retainers that die, but their Regnants aren't ready to part with them yet.
Your Retainer loses any Supernatural or Social Merits and any Social or Mental Skills. Pick a number of Physical Skills (or physical Disciplines, as per the Retainer Merit) equal to its rating in the Retainer Merit, as you reshape your new revenant to your liking.
Your Zombie Legbreaker can carry out any command it can hear you give verbally, but cannot use deductive reasoning; it is about as intelligent as a well-trained dog, though it can speak and relay basic messages (a single, simple sentence). In addition, it is immune to pain, does not need to breathe or sleep, and cannot get tired, and thus ignores any Conditions of the sort (though missing limbs and wound penalties apply, as they represent actual physical damage not just pain). It takes damage as a vampire (and thus most Lethal is actually Bashing). It is fearless and blindly loyal and immune to Dominate, Presence, and other forms of mind control or emotional manipulation. It is vulnerable to Necromanzia, but resists with a bonus equal to its rating in this Merit. Illusions such as those invoked by Nightmare can fool it, but any effects that would cause fear or panic are ignored.
Lastly, at •, the zombie gains a dot of Vigor, Resilience, or Celerity; at •••, it gains another, and at •••••, it gains a third. It cannot gain more than 1 dot in any of these Disciplines from this source (though it can have them from the Retainer Merit as normal).
Zombie Legbreakers do not heal, they must be reconstructed. Reconstructing a revenant is a long process. Roll Intelligence + Medicine or Crafts in an extended roll, with each roll representing an hour of work. Successes are used to fix damage — Bashing damage requires 1 success , Lethal requires 2 successes, and Aggravated damage 3 successes per Health Level. Damage is fixed in order: Aggravated first, then Lethal, and finally Bashing. The necromancer can pause the fixing process at any time and continue later. The more a Zombie Legbreaker is damaged and fixed, the more obvious its condition becomes.
Necromanzia
Necromanzia, itself a bastardization of the Italian word for necromancy ("negromanzia"), is a special type of Blood Sorcery available exclusively to the members of the Sangiovanni. It focuses on perceiving, controlling, and using ghosts and corpses for the necromancer's own ends. As a discipline, it operates the same way that Theban Sorcery and Crúac do, with levels restricting access to ceremonies that provide the actual effects.
Necromanzia can be a powerful tool in the hands of an experienced practitioner, and particularly powerful necromancers can even use it on Kindred themselves. This fact has caused great disturbance among the Kindred in the past: on top of being created from stolen materials and techniques proper of Theban Sorcery and Crúac, the powerful effects that can affect Kindred hint at a possible link to the Strix and their powerful dread powers that allow them to do similar things. In fact, much as with Crúac, the Strix can become quite proficient in Necromanzia, though they hardly ever see a need for it, given their own dread powers over the dead.
Learning Necromanzia
Only necromancers of the Sangiovanni with Status 1 or more (and characters with the Wiseguy Merit) may learn Necromanzia. If the vampire loses all Status in the Covenant, they can no longer learn any ceremonies but may advance in the Discipline (without the free Ceremony per level). Most Sangiovanni are not foolish enough to teach outsiders their secret sorcery, and those who have left the Covenant are even more careful not to divulge its secrets, not just for fear of being hunted by the Sangiovanni themselves, but due to the stigma that knowing Necromanzia carries in-and-of itself.
With its possible link to the Strix being far more convincing than even that which ties the owls and Crúac together, it's needless to say, knowing Necromanzia is hazardous to one's health without the weight of the Covenant's backing.
Because Necromanzia links the vampire to death and corpses on a metaphysical level (as well as the physical level they are connected to them by being both dead and a corpse as it is), the Blush of Life (and indeed, any attempt to physically imitate the living through Vitae) costs the vampire a number of points of Vitae equal to their rating in Necromanzia in addition to the usual 1. Because of this, most powerful necromancers simply forego the ruse, appearing as the pale, death-laden, ambulant corpses they are (and taking the appropriate Social penalties).
We still don't have any Necromanzia Ceremonies detailed.
Awyisssssss.
