A somewhat incestuous family
-Narrated by Nikita Ivanov Putanesca, "public relations" of the
Giovanni family, early 2000s.
For the Giovanni and us, the Putanesca family, their
representatives in this giant freezer called Prague, having the
Camarilla in town alongside Vassily and Carlak was a curse. In
general, we did business with them, like any good merchants.
They stayed out of our affairs and we stayed out of theirs,
unless they failed to honor their side of the occasional trade
agreements.
The few conflicts we had were arguments over our unjust
confinement in the Jewish Quarter, the endless excuses about the
disappearance of certain cousins near the cemetery, and a few
commercial disputes between our younger family members and the
Ventrue and Brujah. As for the Tzimisce of the Old Country,
they are too feudal to cross casually, so it is better not to
set foot in their territory.
The result was that the Camarilla grew too confident, convinced
they had us where they wanted us, hands tied and wings clipped.
In truth, while we fed their pride with a carefully staged play,
the Giovanni enjoyed free rein in the city, especially in our
favorite spheres of influence.
Still, let me stress that we knew we were under watch, and not
every Camarilla Kindred is easy to fool. Giovanni in Prague have
always kept to a middle position, never overly inconvenient,
never casually indispensable, but always extracting the maximum
advantage from that position. During this period, we remained few
in number compared with other clans, so as not to seem like a
threat and to use this moment to renegotiate opportunities for
family growth. Back then, we were so few we could not be seen as
a danger. Now we can be seen as salvation, and everything has a
price. Besides, not every Camarilla clan had more members than
we did. Even so, it was in our interest to draw no more attention
than strictly necessary and prevent the Prince or Primogen from
sending their hounds to sniff around our house.
Before this war engulfed the city, the Putanesca had already made
the Giovanni rich through the "illegal immigrant" business. By
illegal immigrants, I mean Sabbat Kindred. We made a fortune
before and during the sect war by smuggling Sabbat Kindred in,
then "miscommunicating" that fact to the Camarilla. Well, not
exactly lying. Let us just say they failed to read the fine print
in our contracts.
No account of the Putanesca, and by extension the Giovanni, is
complete without the Mafia. Here in Europe, even the youngest
Giovanni neonate might frenzy at such a stereotype, but in Prague
it is as true as snow being cold, the sky blue, water wet, and
women full of secrets.
It is well known that the Giovanni have always maintained ties
with European mafias, especially the Russian one in Prague. We
Putanesca have been their eyes, ears, and hands here for
centuries, and like them, we built early ties with the Dolgoruki
Mafia, at least since the 1920s, when the Giovanni and we were
supplying weapons to the fledgling sons of the KGB and the Red
Army. Things became complicated a few years later when the Brujah
and their Primogen in Prague, one Ivan Tzerenski Drago, learned
of it and declared war on us with full fanfare.
Since then we have had more than enough friction, and the
Putanesca and the Brujah-backed Dolgoruki Mafia have shed almost
as much blood as the Sabbat and Camarilla in recent years.
The last part of the Giovanni family interests in the city of
Prague is market and finance. As Prague sits at a major European
crossroads, the family has interests mainly in the European
Monetary Fund Bank and Citibank, as well as in more than five
hundred freight and asset-transport companies. A few good years
of subsidies gave us the chance to place certain family cousins
in seats across the wider European Community, and this strategy
has produced rich and steady profits so far.
Of course, everything I've told you is fine, but it's not necessary.
to tell you that many know the city is partly the way it is
thanks to our "contribution" to the cause, and naturally many
Kindred on both sides would gladly show us their affection in the
form of fireworks. So how do you survive in a blood-thirsty city
when you are first on the menu? You make yourself useful to your
potential rivals. That is what we do best. That is exactly what I
have just shown you.
Narrated by an unknown Vástago, early 2001.
Money is not the only motive that moves most members
of the Giovanni family to remain in the city. Their true
objective is the dead.
In a city that endured turbulent nights that soaked the streets
in rivers of blood and ash, the souls of the fallen on both
sides are a half-cooked feast these cannibals cannot resist.
Murders, desiccated Herd, everyone caught in uncontrolled
violence, and even collateral victims have produced such a vast
number of disembodied souls in the underworld that it is only a
matter of time before someone casts nets to hunt them. Add
Prague's own violent history as a continental crossroads,
immersed in endless conflicts and centuries of death, and the
city becomes, for all practical purposes, an enormous cage of
priceless souls: the Babel of the Restless.
The only obstacle keeping the Giovanni from claiming this jewel
is me. So it is by my will. The Giovanni hope to draw from this
endless overflowing source of souls for the "great plan" of their
ambitious founder, but I will not allow it. I will deny them
access as long as blood remains cold in my old heart. Let them
keep trying to harvest souls and strip this city of what is its
own. One day their ends will no longer justify their means, and
that day is coming soon.
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Observer Note:
To begin with, the majority presence of the Necromancer clan in Prague is made up of members of the minor Family known as the Putanesca (meaning "of the whores"), almost all of them belonging to this family, although they have been embraced by Giovanni. Treated by their pure-blood cousins as mere pimps, small-time merchants and traffickers of all kinds, it is clear that if there is one thing they know how to do, it is make money. They are not interested in the mysticistic affairs of the Giovanni, in fact, it is rare to see any Putanesca with knowledge about the dead.
On the other hand, the Giovanni have made it clear what they think of both the Camarilla and the Sabbat, and it is not precisely that they welcome one or the other with open arms. The truth is that it seems that the Giovanni believe that neither one nor the other fulfills the same objectives as them in this city, and they do not plan to do anything about it. While the Kindred of the Sabbat enjoy numerical superiority and those of the Camarilla have in their favor an unwavering loyalty granted by their sect, the Giovanni seem to have been in Prague all this century in a private war and in the shadow of all against an unknown enemy.
The Camarilla has tried to evict them during these years by the method of war of attrition and the boredom of living locked up, and it backfired. The Sabbat tried to throw them out by force, with their indistinguishable method of kicking the ass, and their shoes broke. Avoiding the Giovanni is perhaps the most reasonable action to take now, although it is somewhat dangerous and a tactic of little benefit in the long term. Prague is a great city. If we don't want to share anything with them, it won't take them long to find other tables to dine at.
However, after my talk with the previous offspring who did not want to give his name or any information about him, the Giovanni and their future relations with the rest of the Kindred may take on a new and hectic atmosphere. Call me paranoid, but I think the next few years are going to be much less pleasant for them if things don't start to improve with the two ruling sects in the city.
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