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A Sourcebook for Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniv Ann ivers ersary ary Edition. Edi tion.
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M ATTHEW D AWKINS V AMPIRE CREATED
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REDITS C Written By: Matthew Dawkins. Layout and design: Marcos M. Peral Villaverde. Cover Art by: Christopher Shy.
© 2017 White Wolf Entertainment AB. All rights reserved. Vampire: The Masquerade®, World of Darkness®, Storytelling System™, and Storytellers Vault™ are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of White Wolf Entertainment AB. All rights reserved. For additional information on White Wolf and the World of Darkness, please, visit: www.white-wolf.com, www.worldofdarkness.com and www.storytellersvault.com.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS HIBERTI T HE G
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OOKS STORY H
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ENOTAPH P ATH T HE C
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Oh boy, no dey give me that kind fabu. You see dis eye I got? It see everything, all kinda gbege. I rip your soul out if it see you cross me. I rip it out and eat it up. —Izukanne, Seventh Generation Ghiberti, Terror of Warri and Lagos, Most Wanted Vampire in Nigeria
The Ghiberti are no Legacy of the Laibon, at least not as far as the Laibon are concerned. The Laibon are native to the continent, each ancient to a different degree, and claiming descent from Cagn or their godlike, oftentimes monstrous ancestors. The Ghiberti are none of these things. They refute Cagn, they point to Venice and Florence as their point of origin, and view the Laibon as old, anachronistic, and past their time.
L G EGACYBOOK HIBERTI Clan Giovanni first Embraced members of the Florentine Ghiberti family in the 16th or 17th century, so the tale goes. The Ghiberti were sailors, slavers, and plunderers of the western coast of Africa. For a time, the Giovanni utilized the Ghiberti as a new source of wealth, but steadily the family learned the tools needed for Necromancy, and began spreading them to new Embraces made from the people they so often captured for shipment and sale. Within a century, the original Ghiberti were ensconced in Florence, and are rarely seen to this night. The Ghiberti from that point on, until the modern nights, were proudly African. The Ghiberti hold little love for the Laibon, the primary reason being a simple one: during the height of slavery raids, kidnappings, and press-gangs, the Ghiberti family Embraced the villagers most inclined to turn over their neighbors. Despite Guruhi tales, not all Ghiberti were the worst of the worst. Many were simply scared or confused by what was going on. But if a Ghiberti Embraced the wisest man or woman in the village and commanded that new childe to round up the healthiest kine for shipment, they did it for better or worse. As reward, the Ghiberti allowed that vampire to remain with those not shipped, to take as a herd, retainers, or for whatever purpose they wished. The Laibon lost many servants in those nights, and their hatred turned to the Ghiberti. This hatred has persisted for centuries. The Ghiberti act as a rogue element in the African continent, not dissimilar to the Xi Dundu, but despised even more for their historic activity. They do themselves few favors by continuing to pursue dark arts and foul rituals, though Laibon occasionally call on the line to act as mediators between territorial disputes. Like their Giovanni forebears, they find their role as independent observer and adjudicator lucrative. Masters of the Cenotaph Path focused around binding wraiths and their fetters, the Ghiberti are pioneering Necromancers compared to many of the Giovanni minor families. The Venetians pay little active interest to goings-on in Nigeria, but are swift to telegraph money to a Ghiberti in need. Inevitably, the funds sent to the Ghiberti family end up in the coffers of warlords and dictators, fueling conflict and producing more souls for the Giovanni’s grand schemes. The Ghiberti are no restricted to the African continent, but it is the only location where the name “Ghiberti” means something in these nights. Beyond the continent, these vampires might adopt
the name “Giovanni,” though another vampire might raise their eyebrow at a Sudanese claiming to possess that family name. More often they do not declare their clan or family name, accepting the status of Caitiff where necessary for business to take place. Nicknames: Necromancers, Ima Ozun, Traitors, Dutchmen Appearance: Ghiberti favor smart and functional clothing to anything extravagant. Despite the tendency for Nigerian pomp, the Necromancers prefer cold blacks, greys, and dark greens, resembling corporate chiefs, engineers, and soldiers without insignia. The majority of Ghiberti in these nights are people of color. It is rare for any to be fundamental believers of any religion, as the line holds a definite loathing for blind faith, born from the fanatical antitheism of the first Africans Embraced into the line. The trauma so horrified the victims, they abandoned all thought of something beyond the hell in which they now existed. One odd feature Ghiberti enjoy is the adornment of fetters. A wraith’s fetter may be any object important to that ghost, making for many odd decorations adorning random Ghiberti. Izukanne is known to have an ivory sphere for an eyeball, the orb being the fetter of a deceased Dutch slaver. Anusha Ghiberti wears baby teeth on a bracelet, once belonging to mother now dead, but bound to the Necromancer. Haven: The family favors compounds housing several of their number and loyal members of their herds. Often in enclosed locations surrounded by private security forces, the Ghiberti place their havens over sites of carnage such as mass graves, torture sites, or the village in which a massacre occurred. Thankfully, few kine desire such locations, allowing the Ghiberti to claim them for low prices and cultivate the dead within for their own purposes. In Africa, Ghiberti claim the majority of their domains in the country of Nigeria. A massive nation with many peoples and languages, the Ghiberti exercise a tight hold on their selected populace, making the Laibon tense in anticipation of a coordinated uprising. Background: Ghiberti often emerge from the ranks of the war torn and the desperate survivors of brush conflicts. The family favors kine who have witnessed death and come to understand its brutality. In some cases, this lesson may be a kindness for a new vampire. For the Ghiberti, this lesson is necessary for making a strong Necromancer. Ghiberti origins have changed over the centuries. The initial Ghiberti were a family of 6
T HE G HIBERTI slavers from Florence, but most Ghiberti in these nights adopt the name despite their origins, hailing from NorthWest Africa. The Ghiberti started out as the masters and commanders of slave ships, before Embracing the rousers among African villages and communities who they could turn to their way of thinking (with gold or promises of mercy for their families), and ultimately took to Embracing the individuals who act in illegal paramilitary units. Though there are outliers, the Ghiberti follow their family line and see themselves as adapting with the times, always Embracing the truest survivors of the era.
Ghiberti are said to only Embrace with permission from the Giovanni family, but this edict is rarely followed. Venice has no presence in countries such as Nigeria and the DRC. Character Creation: Social attributes are the primary focus for the majority of Ghiberti, who dedicate much of their time to grooming the kine in their herds, influences mortals into service, and intimidating their enemies. Mental or Physical may be the secondary attribute, as some Ghiberti favor studying and mastering Necromancy, while others concentrate on creating bodies. Skills and Knowledges share dominance, with Ghiberti often receiv-
STEREOTYPES The Laibon: I remember when they wanted to be considered Laibon. Fat chance. They still hold a grudge because we declined their status as a Legacy. —Roberta Okadigbo, Eighth Generation Guruhi, Magaji of Abuja The Ashirra: It is fundamentally sinful to handle bodies in the way they do. Ghiberti are a pestilence. —Abu Nijad, Eighth Generation Bay’t Mushakis, Warrior of Jerusaleum The Camarilla: Is this some kind of Giovanni? Then why do they have a different name? —Alexander Silverson, Seventh Generation Malkavian, Ex-Prince of Birmingham, Alabama The Guruhi: They were first Embraced from outcast stock. Those who would prey on their own, the type who woul sell their families to the Dutch. Why do you think the Mla Watu are now told about every Ghiberti haven of which we know? We can also hold a grudge. —Roberta Okadigbo, Eighth Generation Guruhi, Sworn Enemy of the Ghiberti The Xi Dundu: They fear the change we bring, just like the others. We will extend the olive branch, however. They will thank us, and we will say “ wamukelekile” as a “you’re welcome” to our new allies. —Tfwala, Twelfth Generation Xi Dundu, Information Broker of Mbabane The Giovanni: We have few minor families with such resourcefulness and access to mass graves in these modern nights. We mistreat them, for they are not us, but Ignazio thinks highly of them. —Isabel Giovanni “Nitocris”, Ninth Generation Giovanni, Giovanni-Setite Ambassador The Mla Watu: All natural things pass into death and rebirth. They are not natural. The Ghiberti should not be. I curse their aberrant existences. —The Carnifex, Sixth Generation Mla Watu, Wearer of the Horned Mask, Last Seen in Kismaayo, Somalia
The Laibon: Look at de yanga ohu ezi. Dey so caught up in surviving dey ain’t changing or growing. Time is up for dem. Soon dey be Camarilla, Sabbat, and Ashirra like de rest. —Izukanne, Seventh Generation Ghiberti, Master of the Cenotaph Path The Ashirra: I consider them friends and amenable to all fair offers, though their religious devotion is a distraction. —Patience Ike, Ninth Generation Ghiberti, Diplomatic Mediator, Court of Tunis The Camarilla: Ana min Sudan, and even I know this sect to be a jabal khara… Mountain of shit, in English. Free is the way to live and die, my brothers and sisters. —Anusha Ghiberti, Tenth Generation Ghiberti, Necromancer of Khartoum The Guruhi: You know, I have not spoken to one spectre who remembers a time when the Guruhi weren’t in control. For that reason, I give the Legacy my respect, while planning its downfall. —Anusha Ghiberti, Tenth Generation Ghiberti, “The Excavator” The Xi Dundu: Aproko on de street tell of planning an uprising, and real soon. I hate the Guruhi, but Xi Dundu? Fool, you dey craze. Dese fuckers will make it worse for us. —Izukanne, Seventh Generation Ghiberti, Family Representative to Venice The Giovanni: Baaba and neene, father and mother. We capture souls for dem and dey give us a continent in which to do it. Sweet deal. —Izukanne, Seventh Generation Ghiberti, Advocate of the Path of Death and the Soul The Mla Watu: For centuries we tried to exorcise these ghasts but they only seemed to get stronger. I’m told there’s a stronghold of them in Kismaayo. —Moses Smith, Eighth Generation Ghiberti, Fetters Hunters, Disappeared in Somalia A View from Without
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L G EGACYBOOK HIBERTI ing the Embrace to fill some gap in the family’s arsenal. Many specialize in the occult, focusing on the rites and rituals of the kine in their region, while others focus on lethal abilities such as Melee and Firearms. Ghiberti commonly receive Background dots in Allies, Contacts, Herd, and Retainers. The family recognize the importance of mortals, especially if loyalty can be guaranteed. The strength of the Blood is far less important than the strength of the family. Resources are rarely held by the Ghiberti directly, but they can quickly summon them if they possess Allies and Contacts in Venice. No recorded Ghiberti existed prior to 1690 C.E., though the Giovanni and Ghiberti do not advertise their family trees outside of clan gatherings. Ghiberti Natures and Demeanors tend toward the schizoid, with Traditionalist Demeanors in Guruhi domains, while Rebel and Rogue Natures come out to play in the shadows. Deviants and Creep Shows are common among this family. It is common for the Ghiberti to Embrace ethically challenged individuals to make the plunge into Necromancy easier. Though uncommon, an increasing number of Ghiberti have undertaken tutelage in the Sabbat Path of Enlightenment known as The Path of Death and the Soul. Izukanne of Lagos acts as mentor to any Ghiberti who decide to walk on this journey. Disciplines: Dominate, Necromancy, Potence Ghiberti commonly learn the Cenotaph Path before any other Necromancy Path. Weakness: When the Ghiberti feed or simply bite a victim, the wound causes immense pain in the recipient. If mortal, the victim must make a Stamina roll (difficulty 4) to prevent going into shock. When a Ghiberti feeds on a mortal, she does twice the damage of another vampire without this weakness. This extra damage does not convey additional blood points. When the Ghiberti feeds from another vampire, that vampire must roll to resist frenzy for every two blood points drained. Organization:The Ghiberti call themselves a family, but unlikely the Giovanni, rarely afford respect to mortal members of their line. Only the Italian Ghiberti back home cleave to that tradition. The African Ghiberti family is a family in the sense that all members have endured and survived death in some form. They are family in the same way members of the same platoon may consider themselves brothers. The Ghiberti defer to no hierarchy in Africa (though they do take orders from Venice and the Ghiberti in Florence), instead giving respect to the most accomplished Necromancer in their region, who they dub as “Necromancer” while the other members of the family are simply known by name or deed. Legacy Prestige: The simplest way Ghiberti earn prestige among their own is through the creation and mastery of new necromantic rituals. The family has a motto: “ The Exploration of Death is Eternal.” This is taken to mean there is no end to rituals, paths, and understanding of 8
T HE G HIBERTI death’s many facets. Ghiberti enjoy showing off how many wraiths and fetters they possess as bound souls and artifacts. Though they rarely demonstrate such showmanship outside the family’s eyes, within a Ghiberti compound, it becomes a metaphorical dick-measuring contest as Necromancers display tortured spirits on ectoplasmic leashes.
The Ghiberti Masquerade is something a little different, part in reverence to their traditionally Nigerian culture, and part in mockery of the Camarilla. The Edo Masquerade they emulate is a Nigerian custom whereby the people wear masks designed to resemble spirits. Accompanied by music and dance, the participants imitate their chosen spirits, whether of ancestors or of elements and emotions, their bodies becoming one with their masks of wood, mud, stone, and leather. When the Ghiberti join in, they imitate their bound wraiths, mocking the dead, dancing alongside the living, and feeding in a chaotic spree across their domains. The mortals whisper about monsters infesting the Northern Edo Masquerades, but the nature of the event prevents participants from removing their disguises for fear of disrespecting the spirits. Each year, the Ghiberti mock it further with increased depravity. The Guruhi and Osebo are aware of this practice, clucking their tongues but taking little action to stop this desecration of an important ritual. The Ghiberti pursue their version of the Masquerade to new extremes in these nights, intending to turn the entire festival into one that fuels a necromantic ritual of devastating power.
OOKS STORY H The Ghiberti are a particularly unpleasant minor branch of the Giovanni clan. They consider themselves separate to the Laibon (and the Laibon agree), but the Ghiberti possess a desire to belong in their common domains. This drive rarely compels them to sentimental bonds with the other African Legacies, but does compel them to form temporary alliances, serve as mercenaries, or simply act as diplomats between warring Laibon. While they serve well as an independent force of troublemakers and soldiers-forhire, consider some of these uses for this line: M ASS G RAVES Ask most Laibon and they will say “Vampires, for all their pretension, rarely instigate wars between mortal nations. The risk of doing so and being caught is too great. Our powers are rarely sufficient to sway an entire people into the constant action required for war.” Ask the Ghiberti, and they say “Of course we can start a conflict. Just give us time with a dozen warlords, and we will spark a brush war for you.” The Ghiberti refute the notion that vampires must stay out of kine activities. They are self-assured to the point of danger, but always push further for the sake of spreading death and harvesting souls. The Democratic Republic of Congo is the family’s favorite location for starting wars. There are already so many mass graves, fanatical cult and paramilitary leaders, and terrorized civilians, that it’s an easy task to push some buttons and reap some bodies. A Ghiberti would benefit from building up their Allies, Contacts, or Retainers Background with members of these violent human factions. A sure way to gain more souls is to point a warlord in the direction of a small, undefended village and promise wealth in exchange for bodies. The Ghiberti are not lacking in money either. A call to Venice with a good reason for payment often results in cash on the wire within hours. Not all Ghiberti are immortal instigators of mortal conflict, several protesting loudly against such flagrant acts. Further still, the Ishtarri and Kinyonyi deplore this activity, and seek to neutralize any Kindred attempting such grievous behavior. T HE G HIBERTI M ASQUERADE The Ghiberti view the Masquerade as a distinctly European phenomenon. While the Laibon have their equivalent in “The Secret Must be Kept,” the Ghiberti do not consider themselves Laibon, and therefore play fast and loose with the Tenets the Guruhi set down.
N EW SLAVERY The first Ghiberti Embraced were not people of color, but slavers of Mediterranean descent. Ghiberti is not an African name, it is an Italian one. Though the Italian involvement in slavery was reduced compared to the Dutch, British, and ultimately American, the Ghiberti family were among the wealthiest and most prolific of Florentine slavers. The Ghiberti Embraced many of the “finer pieces of stock” from their human cargo, allowing them to pursue their slaver aims with greater ease. Though slavery in its broadly understood form has faded from legality and the public consciousness, the family still pursue slavery as a fine way to torment a soul from a body, make powerful, desperately loyal slaves, and of course, turn a horribly immoral profit. These nights, many Ghiberti use child slaves as free labor, kidnap small communities and sell them offshore to mortals and vampires with no qualms, and specialize in finding “exquisite vessels” for Kindred with specific tastes. The Ghiberti never stopped trafficking in human meat and blood. Such an endeavor could lead to their crossing powerful vampires when they happen to kidnap a favored ghoul or vessel, or deplete a herd by removing half its number in a cargo container. The Ghiberti have crossed the Laibon in this way before, once intentionally to vex them, but more often in an inadvertent act of disrespect. The Ghiberti cannot give up this foul practice, but it may be that the other Laibon will stop them before allowing it to continue further. TIPPING THE SCALES The Ghiberti claim to be independent of the Laibon struggles throughout Africa, and for the most part they’re true to their word. The family have their interests, and 9
L G EGACYBOOK HIBERTI the Laibon have theirs. The Ghiberti have little stake in the cold war between Guruhi and Xi Dundu, beyond obtaining a ready supply of souls for their projects, and those of the Giovanni. Times change, however. The Ghiberti seek to consolidate their power in Western Africa, spreading it farther if the Laibon permit. The best way to ensure this permission is to take a side, formally kneeling before the Guruhi, aligning with the Xi Dundu in their telegraphed backstab, or providing support to a dark horse in the form of the Shango to take leadership of the Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom. The Ghiberti have no interest in leading, but they do want to be on good terms with the victorious side. Were the Ghiberti to tip the scales of power, the ripple effect to the home clan would be immense. The Giovanni are forbidden from participating in the Jyhad, and where the Camarilla would sit in interference in African Kindred politics is up for debate. The Giovanni historically advised caution to the Ghiberti, but in recent years the Anziani of the clan provided a command to Izukanne, via Isabel Giovanni, to break bread with the Laibon for reasons of ingratiating the clan internationally. As one of a handful of independent operators in the Ebony Kingdom, the Ghiberti are well-placed to lend the weight of their deathly expertise behind a faction, making a name for themselves as they do so.
sites such as these are plentiful throughout history across the continent. The Ghiberti strongholds in Nigeria are located over mass burial sites, providing practitioners of this path ease of access to the spirits of the dead and their morbid attachments. Izukanne of the Ghiberti devised the Cenotaph Path in the 1920s alongside several Giovanni cousins, though to this night he takes sole credit. His necromantic peers never returned home to Venice, but to every Necromancer’s surprise, the familia did not punish Izukanne for the obvious purge of his rivals. It appeared the Giovanni valued access to the Path more than they did a few absent kin. The path focuses around the concept of the vampire as bridge between the worlds of the living and the dead. By breaking taboos, cultural boundaries, and desecrating the memory of the dead, Cenotaph Path practitioners find it easier to manipulate the restless spirits of the deceased. This Path allows the Ghiberti to sense where a ghost has touched the mortal world, detect an object or location of importance to the ghost, and gain an indication of where the Shroud between the living world and the Underworld is at its strongest or weakest. At higher levels, the Cenotaph Necromancer can sense when a wraith forms within a half-mile of her location and create new fetters for wraiths where old ones are inaccessible or destroyed. This latter power can be used to draw a spectre back to a semblance of calm, but it is more likely the Ghiberti will use it to freshly bind a previously unbound spirit. When a vampire uses powers from the Cenotaph Path, mortals are able to perceive a vacuum of light around the Necromancer’s body, as if life itself is being sucked into a black hole where the vampire stands. Individuals attuned to the supernatural describe seeing the practitioner’s skeleton through his or her skin while the ritual or power activates. Any attempt to intimidate another individual (who doesn’t practice Necromancy) while using the Cenotaph Path is at a -1 difficulty. Note: The power levels of the Cenotaph Path can be found in Clanbook: Giovanni Revised, pages 67 to 70.
ENOTAPH P ATH T HE C “We are, all of us, bad men. Only bad men could do what we do.” — Simon Agu, Eleventh Generation Ghiberti, Court Saboteur, Former Subject of the Lagos Magaji The Cenotaph Path is a little-known path of Necromancy concerned with binding wraiths and their fetters, finding prominent use at the sites of mass graves, battlefields, and locations where civilians were slaughtered en masse. Unfortunately for the Kindred and kine of Africa,
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Strangers in a Strange Land
Clanbook Ghiberti includes
• An example of how you can create a Clanbook with the templates for Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom for Storytellers Vault.
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