Vegas by Night: A Giovanni Game

[Xurtan]

“None of us really changes over time; we only become more fully what we are.”
--Anne Rice

INTRODUCTION:

The scent of smoke and alcohol is heavy in the air, overladen with the sheer scent of lust as people press against each other in an endless throng, dancing to the beat of the music and doing anything, absolutely anything, to fill the void in their hearts. It's a yearning hunger, a beast they cannot quell... though they try. Perhaps they even succeed for a time. They drink or fuck or drug the pain away, awash in the music, and even as they dance amid hundreds of other mortals you know them to be utterly alone. Lost to themselves. A sneer touches your lips as you stare at them, finding them pathetic. Perhaps because deep down, you can't admit they are not so different from you. But then, yours is a very different kind of beast.

You find him dancing by himself, shirt off and dripping in sweat as he moves, tossing his hair back and grinning and yelling along to the song. His pupils are blown wide as he meets your gaze, and he doesn't hesitate to wrap his arms around you and grind with you to the music. Every touch has him nearly writhing and you can only assume he's well into an ecstasy trip; whatever the case it doesn't take long to nudge him towards the door, and he's pulling at your clothing and kissing your throat eagerly as you go. His head is foggy with pleasure and need, a state that lasts precisely long enough for the two of you to stagger down into the shadows of the alley. Then his only thought is pain.

Blood splashes against the brick of the alley, and you grunt as you feel his clavicle give beneath your jaw. Your fangs sink deeper into the juncture between throat and shoulder, your hands holding him tight. His breath escapes him in a harsh wheeze, and he beats at you weakly, his face frozen in a rictus of fear and panic as he scrabbles desperately at the brick, at you, at anything he can reach to try to get away. Though his struggle weakens it is clear from his expression the pain never ebbs, and tears slip silently down his cheeks. You know he is dying; so does he. The blood loss has his eyes fluttering as he weeps, and he’s growing dizzy and cold. Beneath your lips you can taste his pulse, you feel as it skips a beat, as it weakens... As it stops.

His last thought was of his parents. He couldn’t have been more than twenty-two.

The body slides to the ground and you leave; you still have work to do.

Sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. You were the best. Everyone wanted to be with you or be you. It was easy to take it for granted. Your family was rich, your family was powerful. The family was the only thing that mattered. If things had remained the same, that would have been the end of it. You would have grown up, taken over an aspect of the business, and never been any the wiser. Spent your evenings doing coke off a hooker's ass or drinking whiskey with the boys, talking about your fraternity in college and the good ol days. But there was more to the family than that, and you knew it. Everyone knew it. It's what has everyone so competitive. Because if there's one thing that is known within the Giovanni family, it's the fact there is a secret. Some people know it, some don't--and you wanted desperately to know.

Oddities go hand in hand with the Giovanni family, of course. Everyone has heard rumors of ghosts, some have even seen some. There's talk of dark magic being used to guarantee success, and strange rituals... as well as strangely long-lived relatives... not to mention the ever present comparison to the mob. But you never could have expected what actually lie behind the curtain. What you would find when your competitiveness pays off, when you actually prove yourself worthy to be let in on the darker reality.

Vampyr.

That wasn't even that long ago, really; a handful of years at most. Your Final Night was as wild as any, and you still remember it fondly. But with a new world being opened up to you comes new responsibilities, and while you might have been at the top of the pack as a mortal, as a vampire you have to work to be seen as worthy. Fucking up is a hell of a lot more dangerous, too, knowing the masquerade is at risk, and if someone deems you a big enough threat even Final Death won't end your suffering. Not in this family.

Luckily for you, you do manage to stand out. Enough to be trusted with work outside of the family compounds. You and several other young vampires have risen above the others, and are set to be rewarded with a mission. Nothing is that easy though, and you know it. This is reward, but it is also test. Equally as your star rises, another's dims--as this is reward and test for you, it is punishment and threat for another. But that's the rub of being in a family as competitive as the Giovanni--being the best is the only acceptable answer, and as a result, you're off to Las Vegas.

Don't fuck it up.



THE GAME

Hello! If you're still with me, welcome. You might be wondering what this is, and essentially it is a (largely) systemless game heavily inspired by Vampire: the Masquerade. Not everything lines up 1:1, but you can expect a lot of the details and broad strokes to. In this case, we will be playing members of the Independent Clan, Giovanni. Those lovable blood usurping, incestuous, necrophiliac quasi-mobsters that everyone adores. You're relatively newly Embraced, within the last 10 years, and have finally proven yourself enough to be sent out on a mission of some worth. Details will be provided in-game, but obviously the game itself is going to be based within the city of Las Vegas.

Where the plot ends up going and how it is resolved will ultimately be up to the players. There are several hooks within the city on top of the 'main' mission, and as is traditional with VtM, not everything is as it seems. What the players discover and the decisions they make both in-game and in character creation will greatly color the tone, scope, and methods used by the party to accomplish their goals.

To those interested, there are four things to keep in mind:

As should be evident from the introduction, this is not a romantic view of vampires. Giovanni are one of if not actually the most fucked up clan within VtM, and that's going to be on full display throughout the people you interact with. These are a people that feed the beast and almost glory in it, whose morals are non-existent and whose focus is often on the end-goal. They have a tendency to take things to excess, and this is seen throughout every part of their society--from the fact that they have been known to kill people solely to dominate and bind their ghosts, to the fact that their ghouling processes are often obscene or blasphemous, such as giving the 'proxy kiss' through fellatio or even without telling someone, simply getting them blood addicted and then dangling the answers over their heads. Exactly how much of this is on display is up to the methods the characters use, but NPCs will not be pulling their punches.

With that in mind, the second thing to keep in mind is sex. While this is intended to be a plot heavy game, sex is also liable to come up. Whether it be NPCs using it against each other or discussing it, using it against the players, or vice versa. This is a dark, fucked up world, and unless it makes sense we're not going to be separating sex off into a separate thread. This goes against standard E practice, I realize, but it also adds and invites specific notes that I believe gives depth to the world. Sex scenes that are fully private will be separated off as normal, but if it's "public", it will be done in a public thread. Due to the nature of the game, the threads will be placed within the Extreme section of the boards.

Thirdly, this game is VtM inspired. Broadly, yes, and many things will be similar--but not everything. This will allow for more customization within the Giovanni families, but also has some specific things changing. The biggest of these is the bite. It hurts. Excruciatingly so. It does, however, have a paralytic. Due to the nature of the pain and the Giovanni family cure, feeding without killing someone is extraordinarily difficult to impossible. This will be a concern throughout the game, especially as blood will be frequently needed to keep up your strength and use your abilities. Naturally, as you're on the territory of someone who is being punished by your mere presence, he will not be inclined to help you--securing a food source will be up to the players.

Finally, though this is a dark game, that doesn't mean a lack of levity, fun moments, or humor. Nor does it necessarily mean a naïve or innocent character wouldn't fit. The thing to keep in mind is a lot of VtM is about dealing with the beast and finding where your morals are, testing them, and seeing what you accept, what you strive to change, and where your lines are. An innocent character is likely going to end up beaten down by the story or corrupted by it, but that can open up a lot of fun roleplaying opportunities!

If you have questions about any of these topics, feel free to ask them here.

THE SYSTEM

Though inspired by VtM, this is not using the VtM system. Nor is it going to be using dice. I'd like for this to be as hands off as possible, with randomness added behind the scenes to keep things interesting. As a result, largely the 'system' is going to be a case of you acquiring blood, and you spending blood, as well as tracking your health. Much like VtM however, combat is meant to be quick and punchy and soon ended--this is largely due to the inherent weakness of PbP, wherein combat is slowed to an absolute slog the instant such things come up. But more on that in a moment.

You are a vampire. As such you--no matter your character--have access to certain passive abilities. You are stronger, faster, and have better senses than a mortal. You also heal quicker. Your bite causes near madness inducing pain, but your saliva has a paralytic effect. The sun burns, and more than a couple of seconds spent under its rays will see you bursting into flame. Your enemies are True Believers, Hunters, and Werewolves. On the whole these are rare, and you are often on top of the food chain... the major exception being other older, more powerful vampires, of course.

You may spend blood to augment any of your innate traits such as moving faster to dodge bullets, healing from a grievous wound, or lifting a vehicle. You will also be creating three custom 'active' abilities to spend blood on, as well as selecting a 'class' which comes with several baked in skills and a general 'theme' which you will style your abilities around. These classes are meant to be worked into your background--a class is not an in-game title, it is a theme meant to represent your character at a glance. If none of them fit what you're angling for, I am willing to discuss it. The skills and attribute bonuses are stats I will be using on the back end, primarily in cases where you ask me if you know something, or can do something, or in the event of a contest between two individuals. Assuming a tie I will be going off of background as to which is more closely specialized to the task at hand. The 'free' bonus can be placed wherever you like from the lists below and are meant to help you customize a class to make it your own.

I would however invite you to learn about the Giovanni before making a character, which is quite easy to do in this modern era. I would recommend this video for a base explanation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMDS31V0PbE

Classes:

Necromancer

Name: Necromancer
Description: Giovanni are known for their Necromantic ability, and that includes the summoning and binding of spirits. Necromancers have a special talent for it, whether it be binding them to their service as servants or demanding a question be answered. They're able to see spirits in the physical realm as well as peer into the beyond. These specialists know that spirits can be just as valuable as gold or silver, and have been known to trade or even hoard them.
Skill Bonuses: Occult, Awareness, Free
Attribute Bonuses: Manipulation, Wits, Free

Charlatan

Name: Charlatan
Description: Charlatans are many things. Con men, certainly. But also businessmen. They wheel and deal and always seem to come out the better of it. The very best ones even leave the other party feeling happy about it! They're one of the 'faces' of the Giovanni family, though can often come across like used car salesmen or a bit oily. No one can doubt the fact that they're effective, however; or that they can make fantastic distractions from the bigger con.
Skill Bonuses: Subterfuge, Performance, Free
Attribute Bonuses: Manipulation, Charisma, Free

Enforcer

Name: Enforcer
Description: Every businessman needs a body guard; every family, someone willing to crack skulls and break knees. That's what the Enforcer is. The guard, the muscle. Someone willing to get their hands dirty in the name of the family without much caring about the reasoning behind it. They tend to lack finesse, more suited to being the bull in the china shop than the scalpel in a surgeon's hand.
Skill Bonuses: Brawl OR Firearms OR Melee, Intimidation, Free
Attribute Bonuses: Strength, Stamina, Free

Fleshcrafter

Name: Fleshcrafter
Description: The Fleshcrafter is to bodies as the Necromancer is to spirits. Though the Necromancer deals in the beyond and the soul, the Fleshcrafter is focused on the meat of the issue... so to speak. Though binding souls into eternal obedience is disturbing in its own right, many people find the Fleshcrafter the stranger and more repugnant. They're able to twist living tissue and bone together into bizarre, grotesque configurations--some even wear other people as clothing, whilst somehow keeping them alive and feeling, locked in eternal agony.
Skill Bonuses: Occult, Medicine, Free
Attribute Bonuses: Intelligence, Appearance OR Strength, Free

Socialite

Name: Socialite
Description: The Socialite is the life of the party. They're experienced with dressing up and generally being the charming, perfect people that everyone loves to hate. They've attended or helped run nearly every event you can think of, from fundraisers and charity drives to cocktail parties and luncheons. They're generally well spoken and tend to have a magnetic personality--they absolutely love to be the center of attention.
Skill Bonuses: Empathy, Etiquette, Free
Attribute Bonuses: Charisma, Appearance OR Wits, Free

Technologist

Name: Technologist
Description: Hackers, tinkerers, and engineers, Technologists are the builders. They take a love of technology to the extreme and tend to have an intuitive grasp of how it works, whether it be some odd device or a control panel. Many times they build their own devices, other times they're the one to consult on structural stability or database management... or if you just need your computer fixed. They can often be stand-offish or 'nerdy', preferring online personas or gaming to going out for a quick pint or to the movies. 
Skill Bonuses: Computer, Technology, Free
Attribute Bonuses: Dexterity, Intelligence, Free

Financier

Name: Financier
Description: Ah, the Financier. The banker, the investment manager, the guy who when you need money, you're probably going to go talk to. They manage the family's hedge funds and money laundering. Though not as technologically savvy as the Technologist, they can get through red tape or find a discrepancy of only a few cents with great ease. They tend to be well off themselves, of course, as no one would trust a Financier that couldn't manage their own funds. 
Skill Bonuses: Finance, Law, Free
Attribute Bonuses: Wits, Intelligence, Free

Free Point Allocation:

Skills

Skills:

Alertness
Athletics
Awareness
Brawl
Empathy
Expression
Intimidation
Leadership
Streetwise
Subterfuge
Animal Ken
Crafts
Drive
Etiquette
Firearms
Larceny
Melee
Performance
Stealth
Survival
Academics
Computer
Finance
Investigation
Law
Medicine
Occult
Politics
Science
Technology

Attributes

Attributes:

Strength
Dexterity
Stamina
Charisma
Manipulation
Appearance
Perception
Intelligence
Wits

Creating Abilities & Blood Expenditure:

As there are 10 units of blood in a human body, a vampire can 'carry' 10 points of blood. Using an active ability costs 3 blood. Boosting a passive (such as your speed, your healing, or your strength) costs 1 blood; this boost will apply for the scene. You lose 1 blood per day, more if you are wounded. This means, ultimately, that choosing to use an ability is worth almost a third of a human's life. Ideally this will keep a natural flow of spending blood and needing to acquire it. How you go about acquiring it is up to you, though cold or bagged blood is a lot like eating cold eggs--the taste and pleasure of the experience simply isn't there.

In regards to abilities, essentially they can be anything you'd like. Summon a spirit, hack an ATM, charm a mortal. The caveat is that they should be within the realm of your theme and character background, as well as within a certain power level. If you think 'third level spell' from D&D, you're in the ballpark. You won't be pulling down the stars or crashing the entire stock market with a single ability, but you are supernatural predators. If you have ideas for what you'd like I'm willing to work with you, whether it be in relation to class or ability. Every character has three custom 'active' abilities. If they are 'buffs' (such as going well and beyond a mere boost of strength), you can consider them to last for a scene. Other 'duration' based abilities will generally last for 24-hours before needing an expenditure of blood to keep them active.

Ability Examples:

Name: Shape of the Beast
Description: The vampire is able to take the form of an animal. The vampire keeps their own intelligence and mind but otherwise gains all abilities of the animal in question, whether it be the ability to breathe underwater as a fish or take to the sky as a bird.

Name: Telepathy
Description: The vampire is briefly able to probe a target's mind, gleaning specific information. The target typically ends up with a migraine as a result of this invasion, but is otherwise unharmed from a single attempt. Repeated attempts may cause irreversible mental damage in the subject.

Name: Mask of a Thousand Faces
Description: The vampire is able to change their appearance and mannerisms to mimic someone else. Though not a perfect mimicry, it is generally enough to pass a cursory test. The more information the vampire has on the target, the better the mask.

The Family

The Giovanni are a new clan compared to other major clans that populate the World of Darkness, and as such, there are no bloodlines originating from them. There are, however, some families that were incorporated into the Giovanni.

Of course, the "pure" Giovanni still think of themselves superior to those who were Embraced into the clan, but not born into the main branch of the family – they even have a phrase for it: Unico sangue or "single blooded", while those who come from the subordinate families are called Doppio sangue, or "double blooded". However, the doppio sangue are still considered much more meritorious than other vampires.

The major families brought into the Giovanni are:

Dunsirn - Scottish bankers and cannibals
Milliner - American financiers brought into the family in the 1950s
Pisanob - Mexican necromancers

The minor families associated with the clan are:

Della Passaglia - An Italian family focusing on the Far East
Ghiberti - Another Italian family of necromancers with an active interest in Africa
Putanesca - Sicilian thugs with a nasty temper
Rosselini - Accomplished though forceful necromancers. Considered equal to the main family

There are also lesser families related to the clan through marriage. These are:

Beryn - Flemish traders with inroads into Africa
Hidalgo - Another Mexican branch rumored to be wiped out by the Sabbat
Li Weng - Chinese geomancers based out of San Francisco's Chinatown
Koenig - German arms manufacturers and death-cultists
St John - Cabal of English Masons
Rothstein - Jewish-American Kabbalists centered in Las Vegas

Your character MUST be from one of these parts of the Giovanni family. Odds are good that regardless you will have the Giovanni surname, but which section of the family you were born into can obviously have an interesting impact on how you grew up, your ambitions, your views, and your culture.

CHARACTER SHEET

Code Select Expand

[color=maroon][b]Character Name:[/b][/color] [i]The name that most people know the character by.[/i]
[color=maroon][b]Family Name:[/b][/color] [i]Please refer to recruitment thread for family names and descriptions.  This should be among the ones that has been provided, including 'Giovanni'.[/i]
[color=maroon][b]Nicknames and Aliases:[/b][/color] [i]Please provide any relevant nicknames or aliases that the character is known by.[/i]

[color=maroon][b]Actual Age:[/b][/color] [i]How old is the character in years?[/i]
[color=maroon][b]Apparent Age:[/b][/color] [i]This will likely be different than your character's actual age due to them no longer aging as a vampire.  This may also be influenced by fleshcrafting.[/i]
[color=maroon][b]Years Since Embrace:[/b][/color] [i]How many years has it been since your character was turned into a vampire?  Please no more than ten years.[/i]

[color=maroon][b]Face Claim:[/b][/color] [i]No art claims, drawings, or cosplay please.[/i]
[color=maroon][b]Gender & Sexuality:[/b][/color] [i]Optional.  Please communicate anything that  you want to share about your character's gender and sexuality.  This could include their preferred pronouns, sexual identity, etc.[/i]

[hr]

[color=maroon][b]Character Class:[/b][/color] [i]Please refer to the recruitment thread for character class options and descriptions.[/i]
[color=maroon][b]Attribute Strengths:[/b][/color]  [i]Please refer to your character class for the three attributes that your character is most adept in.[/i]
[color=maroon][b]Skill Strengths:[/b][/color]  [i]Please refer to your character class description for the three skills that your character is most adept in.[/i]
[color=maroon][b]Character Aptitude Statement:[/b][/color] [i]In no more than three sentences, please describe your character's specialty that is reflective of these strengths; please avoid general statements.  For example, do not say that they 'work with computers and technology', say that they 'work in information security, identifying potential weaknesses in encryption technologies and implementing security solutions'.  Please do not provide descriptors about how your character excels at their job or how remarkable any of their attributes are; if they did not stand out at what they did then they would be denied the embrace.

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[color=maroon][u][b]Supernatural Abilities[/b][/u][/color]

[b]Please remember that supernatural abilities should reflect your chosen character class.[/b]

[glow=maroon,2,300]Ability Name:[/glow] [i]Please name your first ability.[/i]
[glow=maroon,2,300]Ability Description[/glow] [i]Please describe your character's first ability.[/i] 

[glow=maroon,2,300]Ability Name:[/glow] [i]Please name your second ability.[/i]
[glow=maroon,2,300]Ability Description[/glow] [i]Please describe your character's second ability.[/i] 

[glow=maroon,2,300]Ability Name:[/glow] [i]Please name your second ability.[/i]
[glow=maroon,2,300]Ability Description[/glow] [i]Please describe your character's second ability.[/i] 

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[color=maroon][b]Giovanni do not provide the embrace on passionate whim (those who are sired this way are quickly ended along with their creator).  The individual must prove themselves to the family as exceptional in some way, likely by providing some invaluable service or task that will benefit their elders.  What did your character do in order to earn the honor of becoming a vampire?[/b][/color]
[i]Please provide a response here of no more than six sentences.[/i]

[color=maroon][b]How did your character react to learning that there are vampires?  What about the fact that their own family contained an inner organization of them?  Were there any values, beliefs, or perspectives on family members that your character held that was forced inito change?  [/b][/color]
[i]Please provide a response here of no more than six sentences.[/i]

[color=maroon][b]Giovanni are known for celebrating a [i]Final Night[/i] where the vampire-to-be is to engage in the revelry and rush of their last moments as human.  These nights often include moments of extreme immorality, perversion, and taboo-breaking.  Describe your character's Final Night; be sure to include the name of the vampire that ultimately was selected by the family to sire them, as well as any feelings that your character had about this revelation.[/b][/color]
[i]Please provide a response here of no more than six sentences.[/i]

[color=maroon][b]Describe your character's goals and ambitions since their embrace.  Do they feel like they are progressing towards them?[/b][/color]
[i]Please provide a response here of no more than six sentences.[/i]

[color=maroon][b]Identify and describe one character that your character has an antagonist-style relationship with.  This could be a fellow rival in the family, a vampire outside of the family, or an unknown enemy that has done them wrong in the past.  Provide any relevant details here.  Please be aware that this character may be referenced or played by the GM during the course of the chronicle without any further mention or inquiiry than this for the purposes of plotting.  Please keep these characters to vampiric in nature unless you can provide an [i]excellent[/i] reason why a human is not touchable by such a powerful family.[/b][/color]
[i]Please provide a response here of no more than six sentences.[/i]

[color=maroon][b]Optional: Please provide any additional information that you would like to about your character.[/b][/color]
[i]Please provide a response here of no more than six sentences.[/i]




FAQ

Q: How many players are you looking for?
A: No set number in mind, but likely fewer than ten. Too many vampires moving in one area makes things difficult to hide.

Q: Does the game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying, or a combination of the above?
A: To some degree it will depend on the players, but roleplaying will certainly be a chief focus. Investigation will also probably come up with reasonable frequency. Hack & Slash may exist, but will likely be a smaller focus and be fairly quickly decided.

Q: Who is running the game?
A: Xurtan. I am not in need of a co-DM at this time but would be willing to consider it.

Q: Should I PM my character sheet to you, or post it here?
A: Please go ahead and PM it to me.

Q: Will we be using Face Claims?
A: Yes. You may reserve one, if wished.

Q: Will it be primarily GM ran linear plots, or sandbox?
A: A mix of both, to some degree. There's plenty to do and see in Vegas, and there's not strictly a timeline you must adhere to. On the other hand, there are certainly 'main' plots... and people that may get impatient with poor results.

Q: What are the writing and/or time commitment expectations?
A: A GM post will be up every five days, barring unusual situations. I may post faster if everyone has gone. There is no post order nor limit on posts excepting in the case of combat, where I'd like everyone to go before someone posts again.

Q: Will there be player advancement?
A: Yes. Details will come as they become relevant.

RULES

• No drama. Seriously. If you have a problem, bring it to me. We are all adults here and able to separate character drama from player drama.
• In keeping with E's rules, characters must be 16 years of age or older. Character FCs must be 18 years of age or older.
• The game is all inclusive so if you would like to play a gay, bi, straight, trans or other form of character you may, regardless of your gender as a writer.
• If you know you will be absent, please communicate with me.
• Don't control the actions of anyone else, worry about your own character. IE, don’t godmode.
• Post length is flexible but try to give people room to react to things without also skipping way ahead.
• Posts should be made in third person. Please take into account spelling and grammar.
• If you have a question, please don't hesitate to contact me or post in the OOC thread (or here, while the game is forming).
• If you leave the game your character will be made into an NPC under my control and possibly killed violently, depending on game needs.

[Aethyrium]

First!

-Slaps down completed character sheet-

Character Name: Fiora Anita Rebecca de'Giovanni
Family Name: Giovanni
Nicknames and Aliases: -

Actual Age: 33
Apparent Age: 26
Years Since Embrace: 7

Face Claim: Sofia Borgato
Gender & Sexuality: Female, Pansexual



Character Class: Socialite
Attribute Strengths:  Charisma, Appearance, Wits
Skill Strengths:  Empathy, Etiquette, Politics
Character Aptitude Statement: Fiora is a social chameleon, that specializes in identifying and getting close to people of importance and influence. In particular she is a web-weaver style broker, that trades in desires - learning that a politician wants funding for a museum, and securing that to get that politicians support for a bill that needs to pass, for instance.


Supernatural Abilities

Ability Name: Devil's Desire
Ability Description With a request, Fiora can compel a target to reveal their desires. These can take the form of things they want, goals they have, or more-or-less anything that they want so deeply they'd be willing to make a 'deal with a devil' for; see Lucifer's power.

Ability Name: Forbidden Fruit
Ability Description With a touch, Fiora can instill the effects of a substance of choice into her victim. Need to feel nothing? Here's a morphine high. Need to feel everything? Have some ecstacy. No matter what you after, she can be your dealer.

Ability Name: Liberating Presence
Ability Description An aura around her that lowers inhibitions, allowing individuals to live in the moment - freeing them from the burdens of their life, and the consequences of their actions. While this doesn't actually compel anyone to do anything, but it dramatically reduces their resistence toward things. The additional effect here is that it tends to draw people to her, that freedom is despirable, and they want to get closer to what is giving it to them - and they want to keep it, a drug in of itself.

      

Giovanni do not provide the embrace on passionate whim (those who are sired this way are quickly ended along with their creator).  The individual must prove themselves to the family as exceptional in some way, likely by providing some invaluable service or task that will benefit their elders.  What did your character do in order to earn the honor of becoming a vampire?
She had a baby. The long story is that a particularly troublesome figure was in the path of a family goal, blocking them. This individual couldn't be bought, and disappearing them would have been even more problematic. Fiora, however, was able to get close and learn that this individual wanted an heir for their legacy - but their wife was infertile. Taking it upon herself, Fiora allowed this man to use her - repeatedly - until she was carrying his child. Once born, the child was auctioned back to the man and his man, for the price of getting the hell out of the way.

How did your character react to learning that there are vampires?  What about the fact that their own family contained an inner organization of them?  Were there any values, beliefs, or perspectives on family members that your character held that was forced inito change? 
Initially, the revelation got quite the scoff - immortal creatures feeding on blood was a good party theme. Indifference morphed into terror as it became more clear, how much had she risked with her behaviors - that had already been plenty risky on their own; a crippling horror that she was putting herself at risk of losing a life that she quite enjoyed. Terror became inspiration with time however, an opportunity to preserve the shallow things that she valued. Retain her youth and beauty for eternity, and be able to use it across countless people - if anything this new knowledge ultimately only soldified how she wanted to live her life. She began to look past the outer shell of the family, seeing secrets in everything - and became excessively hungry to know them.

Giovanni are known for celebrating a Final Night where the vampire-to-be is to engage in the revelry and rush of their last moments as human.  These nights often include moments of extreme immorality, perversion, and taboo-breaking.  Describe your character's Final Night; be sure to include the name of the vampire that ultimately was selected by the family to sire them, as well as any feelings that your character had about this revelation.
Fiora was already a party-girl, so her revelry had to be dialed up to eleven. Drugs, sex, and alcohol were only the appetizier. Her last act as a mortal was to gift her child with a better life, the man from her past that had used her was presented - and she was allowed, even encouraged, to use him, and ultimately take his life. Six knives for the six years that her son had been on the earth. Freed from her regrets, Otello Giovanni, guided her across the threshold and into her unlife. He tasted a thrill and an ecstacy in the pain - and the freedom of dying - that few could ever understand.

Describe your character's goals and ambitions since their embrace.  Do they feel like they are progressing towards them?
She wants to be at the center of the web. The lies, the plots, the schemes, the machinations, the dreams, and all the rest. Not just for the family, but for her self - she wants to build her own legacy, something she never believed she would accomplish in life. A brokerage of favors, influence, knowledge, and desires that she can play with for her amusement. On a personal front she believes shes made progress, slowly building a list of people that owe her and a black book of those she can manipulate with wants. But getting closer to the center of the threads of the family seems like an impossibly far task, and she's become frustrated chasing it - as it never seems any closer.

Identify and describe one character that your character has an antagonist-style relationship with.  This could be a fellow rival in the family, a vampire outside of the family, or an unknown enemy that has done them wrong in the past.  Provide any relevant details here.  Please be aware that this character may be referenced or played by the GM during the course of the chronicle without any further mention or inquiiry than this for the purposes of plotting.  Please keep these characters to vampiric in nature unless you can provide an excellent reason why a human is not touchable by such a powerful family.
Leone Rosselini caught onto Fiora's schemes fairly early on. He hasn't always been able to trace them, however he has managed to get ahead of her after she's done the work on two distinct occasions, both of which made splashes. By setting things in motion before she did, capitalizing on her work, he has been able to get credit for all of her hard work and that has propelled him further along the web than she has been able to manage. It has sparked a considerable rivarly, and Fiora would like little more than to see him crippled.

...Don't judge me. Sofia Borgato as a face.

[Xurtan]

First!

I'm absolutely judging. Stalker. :p Though that does work nicely as an example sheet for people.

[Juggtacular]

I'll get to work on an app tomorrow.

[Aethyrium]

I stalk with affection, if it makes you feel any better. And see, it was helpful! Come all ye vampires, be my Giovanni siblings!

[Levi]

Vampires!!!! 😍

[TheBlackThrone]

I find this idea interesting. We'll see how the character planning goes. I like vampire games and I am glad this game doesn't have an extreme system.

[Wyatt]

Interested and torn between two very different character possibilities.  Hmmm...

[Levi]

w.i.p

Character Name: Josefina Isabella Pisanob
Family Name: Pisanob
Nicknames and Aliases: Please provide any relevant nicknames or aliases that the character is known by.

Actual Age: 35
Apparent Age:29
Years Since Embrace: 6

Face Claim: Queen Latifah
Gender & Sexuality: Female, Straight (will drink females and forplay but not sex)



Character Class: Necromancer
Attribute Strengths:  Manipulation, Wits, Intelligence
Skill Strengths:  Occult, Awareness, Crafts
Character Aptitude Statement: In no more than three sentences, please describe your character's specialty that is reflective of these strengths; please avoid general statements.  For example, do not say that they 'work with computers and technology', say that they 'work in information security, identifying potential weaknesses in encryption technologies and implementing security solutions'.  Please do not provide descriptors about how your character excels at their job or how remarkable any of their attributes are; if they did not stand out at what they did then they would be denied the embrace.



Supernatural Abilities

Please remember that supernatural abilities should reflect your chosen character class.

Ability Name: Please name your first ability.
Ability Description Please describe your character's first ability. 

Ability Name: Please name your second ability.
Ability Description Please describe your character's second ability. 

Ability Name: Please name your second ability.
Ability Description Please describe your character's second ability. 

      

Giovanni do not provide the embrace on passionate whim (those who are sired this way are quickly ended along with their creator).  The individual must prove themselves to the family as exceptional in some way, likely by providing some invaluable service or task that will benefit their elders.  What did your character do in order to earn the honor of becoming a vampire?
Please provide a response here of no more than six sentences.

How did your character react to learning that there are vampires?  What about the fact that their own family contained an inner organization of them?  Were there any values, beliefs, or perspectives on family members that your character held that was forced inito change? 
Please provide a response here of no more than six sentences.

Giovanni are known for celebrating a Final Night where the vampire-to-be is to engage in the revelry and rush of their last moments as human.  These nights often include moments of extreme immorality, perversion, and taboo-breaking.  Describe your character's Final Night; be sure to include the name of the vampire that ultimately was selected by the family to sire them, as well as any feelings that your character had about this revelation.
Please provide a response here of no more than six sentences.

Describe your character's goals and ambitions since their embrace.  Do they feel like they are progressing towards them?
Please provide a response here of no more than six sentences.

Identify and describe one character that your character has an antagonist-style relationship with.  This could be a fellow rival in the family, a vampire outside of the family, or an unknown enemy that has done them wrong in the past.  Provide any relevant details here.  Please be aware that this character may be referenced or played by the GM during the course of the chronicle without any further mention or inquiiry than this for the purposes of plotting.  Please keep these characters to vampiric in nature unless you can provide an excellent reason why a human is not touchable by such a powerful family.
Please provide a response here of no more than six sentences.

Optional: Please provide any additional information that you would like to about your character.
Please provide a response here of no more than six sentences.

[Sepulchritude]

You said PM? It's nearly finished in a text file.

[Wyatt]

Submitted via PM

[Xurtan]

If people want to show off what they're working on I'm fine with that, it's simply easier to keep track of when they're PM'd. That aside, welcome everyone! My initial replies might be slow as I'm in the Texan hellscape, but it's on the way out. If anyone has any questions, simply inquire. Wyatt, I'll see about getting back to you today about that. Levi, fun FC choice! I do enjoy Necromancers, considering Giovanni being who they are was certainly hopeful to see some people go that route. 

[Levi]

PMed for review

[Honeycrisp]

I'm working on a Fleshcrafter with surgical addiction as her genesis. If anyone else is pursuing a Fleshcrafter please let me know so I can change my concept so as not to step on your toes.

[Wyatt]

Take your time, stay and/or get warm.  That double storm punch was rough as heck down your way!

[Xurtan]

I'm working on a Fleshcrafter with surgical addiction as her genesis. If anyone else is pursuing a Fleshcrafter please let me know so I can change my concept so as not to step on your toes.

As far as I know there is one person working on a Fleshcrafter, though less on the surgery side and more 'torturing an enemy'. Doubling up on classes isn't the worst thing, if you both get accepted.

Take your time, stay and/or get warm.  That double storm punch was rough as heck down your way!

Tell me about it. Still a ton of people without power, water is becoming a pain, and food is questionable.

PMed for review

Noted! I'll review it and get back to you tonight, likely.

[Honeycrisp]

Thank you for letting me know. I'll switch to another concept to audition.

[himawari]

Bleh bleh bleh~
Planting an interest 

[Juggtacular]

Bleh bleh bleh~
Planting an interest 

Hi, Dracula.

[himawari]

That is MISTER Dracula to you 

[Wyatt]

Sharing my sweet little, slightly sociopathic enforcer 

Katya Koenig

Character Name: Katya Marina Koenig
Family Name: Koenig
Nicknames and Aliases: Cristal, a pseudonym from her days as a human assassin, more like a handle or code name than true nickname, but still comes in handy when posing as human.

Actual Age: 34
Apparent Age: 28
Years Since Embrace: 6

Face Claim: Gia Skova
Gender & Sexuality: Female, Bi-sexual



Character Class: Enforcer
Attribute Strengths:  Strength, Stamina, Dexterity
Skill Strengths:  Firearms, Intimidation, Streetwise
Character Aptitude Statement: Katya brings a touch of feigned humanity to the Clan’s efforts whenever a deadly touch of inhumanity is truly required.  More assassin than bodyguard, or one might say a proactive form of protection, her deeds and kills are designed to remove obstacles and draw blame for the crimes to the still mortal foes of Clan Giovanni.  Katya sends untraceable messages to those who oppose the will of the Clan by eliminating and intimidating both those she ends and those imprisoned, or worse, as the fault for her actions falls upon their rarely innocent heads.



Supernatural Abilities

Ability Name: Judas Kiss
Ability Description Effective as a kiss, far more effective when presented in other orally attentive delivery methods, the Judas Kiss will cause the target to betray their loyalties to any person or thing and later feel the guilt of that betrayal as if all consequences of it were their own doing.

Ability Name: Forensic Mimicry
Ability Description After sufficient time in the presence of a secondary target, Katya can mimic forensic evidence from hair to fingerprints to DNA to leave behind at a crime scene.  The DNA is never a perfect point for point match, but most crime lab work does not sequence its samples to that deep of a level and the mimicry she can perform will hold up in court most absent that very expensive form of testing.

Ability Name: Upon Further Reflection
Ability Description The ability to target someone with great accuracy from the merest reflection of their image, instinctively working out the reverse angles and elevations.  Quite useful in making a kill while the surveillance cameras record nothing but Katya looking ‘innocently’ the other way at the exact moment the deed is done.

      

Giovanni do not provide the embrace on passionate whim (those who are sired this way are quickly ended along with their creator).  The individual must prove themselves to the family as exceptional in some way, likely by providing some invaluable service or task that will benefit their elders.  What did your character do in order to earn the honor of becoming a vampire?
Katya went to prison and took the fall for a crime she did not commit to protect a member of the Clan. An apprentice assassin, Katya was given a political target, an Alderman in Chicago.  It was supposed to look like an accident, but before she could complete her task, Henrick Koenig, an undisciplined and careless creature attacked first to avenge some foolish insult.  His attack was entirely vampiric and caught on nearly half a dozen surveillance cameras.  Katya did not hesitate and stepped out of the shadows and put four rounds into the Alderman’s neck and skull, destroying the evidence of his actual manner of death and allowing herself to be arrested and imprisoned instead of Henrick.  With Katya in custody, Henrick disappeared into little more than the footnotes of the police file as unnecessary witness and scandalous lover of the victim, all of which could be kept out of the press in an open and shut case with the lovely assassin confessing fully to the deed.

How did your character react to learning that there are vampires?  What about the fact that their own family contained an inner organization of them?  Were there any values, beliefs, or perspectives on family members that your character held that was forced to change? 
Katya was well aware that she and her Master, the man she apprenticed under, were beholden to a powerful and mysterious family.  Learning later that they were not merely a criminal cabal that hid in plain sight in society, but rather the true embodiment of darkness and nightmares somehow just made sense.  She felt more at ease serving these creatures, belonging to a larger, hidden world that was ancient by her own standards.  In time she learned that they possessed many of the same traits as mortals, for better and worse, only exaggerated to incredible proportions.  Whatever guilt she once felt and suppressed as a mortal who ruined and took the lives of other mortals was washed away in light of her newfound knowledge of this timeless race.

Giovanni are known for celebrating a Final Night where the vampire-to-be is to engage in the revelry and rush of their last moments as human.  These nights often include moments of extreme immorality, perversion, and taboo-breaking.  Describe your character's Final Night; be sure to include the name of the vampire that ultimately was selected by the family to sire them, as well as any feelings that your character had about this revelation.
For Katya, killing was never personal, her mentor taught her that.  Most of the time sex too was impersonal, whether for pleasure or to accomplish a task, she never formed connections with lovers or victims, they were each utilitarian in their own way.  Her Final Night came shortly after her release from prison, her conviction overturned on technicalities that the Family and Clan ensured the Appeals Judges would find in her favor.  Henrick was beyond touching, beyond revenge, so instead she was granted a favor by his Father, and her Sire, Octavious Koenig, a night with Heinrick’s favored pets and lovers, a polyamorous duo of incredibly amorous and attractive mortals. She fucked, sucked and degraded them apart and together in front of the entire Family, then disemboweled each in a murderously orgasmic rage and reveled amidst their blood and terror and viscera, as Henrick was made to watch his beloved playthings being slaughtered.

Describe your character's goals and ambitions since their embrace.  Do they feel like they are progressing towards them?
Katya intends to move upwards in the Clan hierarchy by making her unique skills useful and desired by greater and greater members of Clan Giovanni.  To some extent Katya’s ascent has been uneven at best, her abilities and usefulness oft traded amongst Clan members more like a commodity than anything.  Since her recent arrival in Las Vegas, a city to which she is uniquely suited, Katya has been seeking the rarest of creatures in the Clan, someone she can both serve…and trust.  To that creature her attentions, loyalty and every bit of her blood will be bound to and served to the ends of the earth or of Katya herself, but to find someone worthy of that level of devotion is something almost more fantasy than reality.

Identify and describe one character that your character has an antagonist-style relationship with.  This could be a fellow rival in the family, a vampire outside of the family, or an unknown enemy that has done them wrong in the past.  Provide any relevant details here.  Please be aware that this character may be referenced or played by the GM during the course of the chronicle without any further mention or inquiry than this for the purposes of plotting.  Please keep these characters to vampiric in nature unless you can provide an excellent reason why a human is not touchable by such a powerful family.
Henrick Koenig, the spoilt and pampered, arrogant, cruel child that is the eldest childe of their shared Sire.  He lacks discipline, knows nothing of gratitude or of the greater good of the Family and Clan, at least not in Katya’s eyes.  She served six years of her mortal life imprisoned for a crime he committed, not caring that he killed her own target, but that his carelessness, his uninhibited passions, hungers and temper caused her to sacrifice her freedom for his own, and to protect the Family of which she was not even a member yet.  That Katya was gifted the lives of his lovers on her Final Night, no doubt the hard feelings between them are quite mutual.

Optional: Please provide any additional information that you would like to about your character.
Never truly an innocent since a childhood spent in the life and circumstances of her Mother, a Ukranian mail-order-bride who left her ‘husband’ soon after arriving in the States and lived in various American cities as a prostitute trafficked and controlled with drugs.  Katya found herself a child of the streets and hated what she saw as her Mother’s weakness and all too human frailty.  More fearless than fearful, she was trained to kill by one of her Mother’s favored clients, and quite possibly her Father, a German émigré and assassin.  As his apprentice Katya’s beauty was more often the lure than the hook in the traps he set for his targets, but she was a willing and eager student and some might have labeled her sociopathic even before she was embraced into her vampiric life.

[TheBlackThrone]

Never mind. I'm withdrawing my interest. Ever since I moved into a brand new house, my group game activity has died down. Although this game did inspire me, I know my activity won't be frequent enough. I got too many IRL activities going on.

[Xurtan]

At this time I'm going to be closing this thread, as it seems to not be the time for it. I do appreciate everyone's interest and effort, as I really enjoyed your characters! Thank you so much. I'll no doubt launch this again some day, and we'll see how it goes then. Good luck in your endeavors!