Post by Iota on Jun 4, 2010 16:14:03 GMT -5
Effective Giovanni are sadistic Giovanni. Controlling Wraiths means acquiring fine control over a variety of psychological levers (understanding passions and fetters) and then ruthless manipulating these tools to make a spirit do what you want. The Giovanni have been sadistic, manipulative and vicious since before the time of Christ, and it bleeds out into everything else they do. The outer shell of the Giovanni clan, the public face is less visibly cruel and horrid, but only because these vampires are explicitly tasked to deal with the outside world.
The most notorious example of this bleed off is the Giovanni Proxy Kiss. Giovanni make an art out of ghouling, since ghouling is a rite of passage for the Giovanni - ghouling means that the Giovanni is now part of the people who make the family work. Not necessarily a mover and shaker, but something akin to a made man: the Masquerade is pulled back and the truth about vampires is revealed. Giovanni tend to make Proxy Kisses aesthetic efforts, and take a point in pride in producing especially memorable or mind-destroying ones - blood received via fellatio, blasphemous masses and the like are all popular choices.
The sadism and weirdness of Giovanni internal culture is enhanced by its incestuous nature. Giovanni can spend the majority of their lives interacting with nobody except other Giovanni, and the resulting insularity breeds additional problems. The Giovanni are, in particular, arrogant and prone to underestimating the world around them.
The Embrace: The Giovanni do not embrace outside of the family; nor do they embrace without permission. Not if they know what's good for them at least. The Embrace is a reward which is almost always givin after a period of ghouldom known as the Proxy Kiss. Often it is a kind of promotion for good service.
More so than other clans, the Giovanni actively consider factors like generation in the embrace. Being embraced by a lower-generation clan member is considered a akin to a performance bonus.
While not uncommon, it is frowned upon to Embrace another of your own mortal family. This would encourage nepotism, and Giovanni much prefer to have the loyalty of their Neonates as divided as possible within the family. For example, while Agatha Milliner might put her own grandson forward for the Embrace, it is much more likely that Stefano Giovanni does the deed. Even better for the Clan if Agatha and Stefano are rivals - the neonate now has loyalty to his own grandmother and his own sire, which forces (somewhat) the two elders to avoid plotting against the other, lest the new childe betray either of them.
Appearance: Despite (or perhaps because of) their horrid underground practices, Giovanni always try to maintain a front of respectability. They dress well, in conservative styles; the women frequently look matronly, while male Giovanni are often white-haired, bearded and look like favorite uncles.
Havens: Giovanni generally dwell in mansions and condominiums in the finer parts of town; most also maintain at least one hideaway in a sewer or graveyard.
Weaknesses: The Giovanni Proxy Kiss is unlike the usual Kiss in that it is extremely painful and excruciating and more likely to send its victim into traumatic shock than anything even remotely resembling euphoria or bliss. As such Gioanni typically get their sustenance from blood banks or storage places, or even more ghastly... corpses.
The most notorious example of this bleed off is the Giovanni Proxy Kiss. Giovanni make an art out of ghouling, since ghouling is a rite of passage for the Giovanni - ghouling means that the Giovanni is now part of the people who make the family work. Not necessarily a mover and shaker, but something akin to a made man: the Masquerade is pulled back and the truth about vampires is revealed. Giovanni tend to make Proxy Kisses aesthetic efforts, and take a point in pride in producing especially memorable or mind-destroying ones - blood received via fellatio, blasphemous masses and the like are all popular choices.
The sadism and weirdness of Giovanni internal culture is enhanced by its incestuous nature. Giovanni can spend the majority of their lives interacting with nobody except other Giovanni, and the resulting insularity breeds additional problems. The Giovanni are, in particular, arrogant and prone to underestimating the world around them.
The Embrace: The Giovanni do not embrace outside of the family; nor do they embrace without permission. Not if they know what's good for them at least. The Embrace is a reward which is almost always givin after a period of ghouldom known as the Proxy Kiss. Often it is a kind of promotion for good service.
More so than other clans, the Giovanni actively consider factors like generation in the embrace. Being embraced by a lower-generation clan member is considered a akin to a performance bonus.
While not uncommon, it is frowned upon to Embrace another of your own mortal family. This would encourage nepotism, and Giovanni much prefer to have the loyalty of their Neonates as divided as possible within the family. For example, while Agatha Milliner might put her own grandson forward for the Embrace, it is much more likely that Stefano Giovanni does the deed. Even better for the Clan if Agatha and Stefano are rivals - the neonate now has loyalty to his own grandmother and his own sire, which forces (somewhat) the two elders to avoid plotting against the other, lest the new childe betray either of them.
Appearance: Despite (or perhaps because of) their horrid underground practices, Giovanni always try to maintain a front of respectability. They dress well, in conservative styles; the women frequently look matronly, while male Giovanni are often white-haired, bearded and look like favorite uncles.
Havens: Giovanni generally dwell in mansions and condominiums in the finer parts of town; most also maintain at least one hideaway in a sewer or graveyard.
Weaknesses: The Giovanni Proxy Kiss is unlike the usual Kiss in that it is extremely painful and excruciating and more likely to send its victim into traumatic shock than anything even remotely resembling euphoria or bliss. As such Gioanni typically get their sustenance from blood banks or storage places, or even more ghastly... corpses.
