Ravnos

ℹ️️**Attention!**This is AU content. Not canon

The **Ravnos** are one of the thirteen clans of Kindred in Vampire: The Masquerade.

## Ravnos

### Nicknames

Rogues, Ravens, Daredevils, Vagabonds, Wanderers, Tricksters, Mystics, The Haunted, Gypsies, Criminals, Deceivers, Charlatans, Shapers, Seekers, Unwelcome, Hundred-Mask Clowns (by the Kuei-jin)

## Overview

Known as wandering tricksters, mystics, and vagabonds, the Ravnos are incurable daredevils who gleefully pursue the art of unliving dangerously. Nobody in the west understood the old Ravnos, and now it is far too late to do so, as Zapathasura rose from his slumber in the Week of Nightmares; and in his death throes, wiped out nearly all of his clan. The remaining few were left without any connection to their true heritage and history, and have been forced to rewrite it themselves. But if they did not wander before, they no longer have any choice but to; or else they will meet the same fate as their progenitor.

## History

For the Ravnos, the Final Nights were just that. The entire history of the clan pivots around the Week of Nightmares.

In the 1990s, the cold war between the Kuei-Jin of the Infinite Thunders Court and the Ravnos of India heated up. The Ravnos eventually took a page from the Sabbat playbook and began mass-Embracing candidates, sending armies of neonates to be slaughtered by the Wan Kuei. The psychic backlash from these deaths reverberated up the lineages of the Ravnos, eventually waking Methuselahs who joined the fight, only to result in the eventual awakening of Zapathasura himself in 1999.

Zapathasura broke his fast on his own clan, then proceeded to attack everything in sight, including most of Bangladesh. His exact motivations were never clear, because by the time the dust settled, three Bodhisattvas, several packs of Garou, uncounted mortals and an awful lot of Technocracy ammunition had *barely* been able to stop the Antediluvian. With his dying curse, Zapathasura set off a psychic bomb within his own clan, resulting in the Ravnos devouring each other in a cannibalistic frenzy.

Most outsiders were aware only that the Ravnos spontaneously developed incredible powers of Chimerstry for about a week, then proceeded to attack and devour each other. By the time the Week of Nightmares ended, there were perhaps 100 Ravnos still this side of Final Death, and none of them was of significant generation or power. With their ranks significantly depleted and weakened, the surviving Ravnos of India sought shelter by other Indian Kindred in order to avoid what would have otherwise been the finishing blow from their Bijali enemies of the Infinite Thunders Court.

The Ravnos of the early 21st century are an endangered species trying to outpace their own ultimate doom. Now cursed to wander without being able to settle roots like others, those who managed to survive the fateful encounter with their Antediluvian just a few decades ago now (or managed to avoid his call altogether) have with their childer started a revival of the Clan by taking to their nomadic roots in earnest, using their experience to stay ahead of the new threats to Kindred existence. Some fight the curse by setting up multiple havens and using different masks in a single domain, but it is difficult work to maintain for long before something goes wrong for them.

Before the Companion, The Chicago Folios described two vampires originally of Clan Ravnos: Shejana (now identified as a Caitiff) and Enzo Tovani (clan listed as unknown).

## Organization

Before the Week of Nightmares, the Ravnos were broken into western and eastern divisions. Western Ravnos are largely individuals without larger clan loyalties outside of perhaps tribal (and Rroma loyalties).

Eastern Ravnos have their own caste system, developed from the lineages that descended from Zapathasura. These *Jati* are effectively bloodlines with the clan:

* The priests of the Indian Ravnos were the *Brahmin*, who maintain mayaparisatya and advise the other castes. The Brahmin replace Fortitude with Auspex, and many learn Sadhana. The Western cousins of this caste, the Phuri Dae, are treated as a distinct bloodline due to their variant clan Disciplines. *Clanbook: Ravnos Revised* erroneously names this caste as "Brahman".
* The *Kshatriya* were the military leaders of the Ravnos and ran the war against the asuratizayya.
* *Vaisyas* maintained the equivalent of a Masquerade in India and also managed mortal resources. The Vaisyas were effectively a military manager caste.
* *Chandalas* were the Ravnos equivalent of Caitiff; and Caitiff in India were automatically classified as Chandalas. Demotion to Chandala status was a common punishment for heresy.

These *Jati* are directly related to the *Jāti* of Hindu society, with the equivalent of the Shudra caste being ghouls.

Since the Week of Nightmares, the Ravnos do not have much in the way of a clan organization, but more communally-minded members of the clan have established their own system of tradecraft in order to communicate and organize meetings.

## Culture

Western Ravnos, historically connected with the oppressed Rroma, maintained a strong sense of clan solidarity for a very long time. The most common manifestation of this solidarity was through a form of retaliation called "The Treatment". The Treatment was a vengeance attack where a mistreated Ravnos would contact fellows in the clan, who would then swarm upon the city where the original Ravnos was victimized. In general, a dozen Ravnos running amok could bring even the most experienced Prince to the brink, and well-placed exaggerations about the impact of the Treatment was the main weapon the Ravnos used to squeeze out what place they did have in Western society.

Past that, Ravnos culture was dominated by its religious role; the greatest division between Indian and Western Ravnos being the differences between *mayapisatya* and the Path of Paradox. In 1998, Ravnos elders began to "educate" (with knives) their heretical cousins, setting the clan back on the straight and narrow.

In India, the Ravnos dominated the continent, probably the largest concentration of a single clan in one country. In several ways, the Ravnos paralleled the Assamites – both clans had a caste system invisible to outsiders, and both clans were defined by a military role.

### Embraces

As with everything else in the clan, Embraces differed between Indian and Western Ravnos. Western Ravnos generally embraced only Gypsies (with the exception of the Ravnos *antitribu* who were noted for embracing *gorgios*) and generally embraced for any reason. Indian Ravnos viewed the Embrace as a means to fulfilling the fledgling's *svadharma*. In India, one's *Jāti* in life also defined one's *Jati* in undeath.

## Weaknesses

### Classic

Due to their inherent clan weakness, the Ravnos clan are all criminals; each Ravnos has a specific vice ranging from plagiarism to mass murder. When the opportunity to indulge that vice is present, Ravnos must succeed in a self-control check to avoid indulging it.

#### 20th Anniversary Edition

Vampire: The Dark Ages 20th Anniversary Edition distances itself from the stereotype of the compulsive criminality within the Ravnos by including other character traits, as well. Their compulsions can range from beneficial ones (like defending innocents or donating for the poor) to deviant ones (the aforementioned plagiarism or mass murder).

### Fifth Edition

#### Bane

**Doomed**: A Ravnos' Bane is that the sun’s fire that incinerated their founder rages through the Blood of the clan, erupting from their very flesh if they ever settle down for long. If they slumber in the same place more than once in seven nights, roll a number of dice equal to their Bane Severity. They receive aggravated damage equal to the number of 10’s (critical results) rolled as they are scorched from within. This happens every time they spend the day in a location they’ve already slumbered less than a week before. What constitutes a location in this regard depends on the scope of the chronicle, but unless otherwise stated, two resting places need to be at least a mile apart to avoid triggering the Bane. Furthermore, a mobile haven, such as a movers’ truck, is safe so long as the place where the truck is parked is at least a mile from the last location.

#### Compulsion

**Tempting Fate**: The Ravnos vampire is driven by their Blood to court danger. Haunted as they are by righteous fire burning its way up their lineage, why not? The next time the vampire is faced with a problem to solve, any attempt at a solution short of the most daring or dangerous incurs a two-dice penalty. (Suitably flashy and risky attempts can even merit bonus dice for this occasion.) The Daredevil is free to convince any fellows to do things their way, but is just as likely to go at it alone. The Compulsion persists until the problem is solved or further attempts become impossible.

## Notable Ravnos

* Daemon
* Ada