A History of Smoke and Mirrors

Welcome, traveler. Sit, and speak a while. Let me tell you the stories of my people, and if you are entertained and enlightened, perhaps you will tell me a bit about yours...

Of the great Clans of vampires, the Ravnos are perhaps the most misunderstood. Our origins are difficult to trace, our past is clouded by a lack of written records, and our present is a tale told by a thousand voices. Roguish vagabonds, noble Brahmin, storytellers and travelers, thieves and liars, we Ravnos are masters of smoke and mirrors, deception and truth alike. Our culture is vastly different from other Clans, and our sensibilities are likewise distinct. Moreover, as with all things misunderstood, we bear the burdens of prejudice and bigotry. Is it not the way of the world that difference breeds contempt, and fear breeds hatred? Yes, and it is for this reason that the Ravnos Clan must be cleverer, wiser, and always three steps ahead of those who would do us harm.

Ravnos hail from all backgrounds and races, from many different cultures and eras. Yes, there is some bigotry within the Clan, but who can blame us? Facing ostracism for too long, clinging together for too many centuries against the strong storm winds. If you were not raised as part of our family, how do we know that we can trust you? That you can understand what it is to be Ravnos? For this reason, some of our elders hold firmly to the ways of the past. They keep the old lore, and they are hidebound by long-revered tradition. If a sword guarded your unlife for five hundred years, could you put it aside so easily?

We are shimulo. Vampires. We remember things long past, and we fear the future. Yet we are Ravnos, a Clan of change and chaos. As the world shifts, so too must we transform. A fox knows his enemy will not be fooled by the same trick twice. We must adapt. And so we Embrace new blood, and push ourselves to keep up with the modern world even as we keep an eye on the past. This division of old and new, traditional and unconventional is a thorn in our Clan’s heart. You will see it bleed again and again, as I tell you our tales.

We are travelers, individuals who crave adventure and love to wander. Indeed, there is nothing a Ravnos values so highly as his freedom! We do not usually create permanent havens, join societies such as the Camarilla or Sabbat, nor take positions in a city’s established power structure. Nomads and opportunists, we choose to remain on the fringes of civilized society, moving from one locale to the next as we wear out our welcome. Does that mean we are your enemy? No. But it does not often earn us friends.

Destiny guides us. Each shimulo must chase her individual svadharma, and this is the lure that leads us forward as ardently as a lover chases his beloved. To be worthy of a great svadharma, we must stay sharp and ever ready. We must lie to the liars, trick the tricksters, and always remain one step ahead of death. We are comfortable in the company of danger, but we do not lie down with the lion of destruction. Those Ravnos who do not know how to judge when a dangerous game has ended are not long for this unlife. Yes, we eagerly accept great risk if it means the potential of great reward, but we also know when to fold our cards and leave a hand unplayed.

Do not listen to the lies. Ravnos aren’t greedy, nor evil; we are simply seeking wisdom, and truths do not come easily. We follow the path of destiny, and in fulfilling that purpose — by embracing our vampiric nature and giving ourselves over to svadharma — we learn to see through the illusion of “reality” and perceive ultimate truth. Am I speaking too boldly for your sensibilities, my young childe?

Calm your mind. Let me guide you to an understanding of our ways.

Wounds of the Night’s Sword

The tale of the Ravnos Clan is a tapestry spun from a delicate, sometimes nearly invisible thread. Like the Vedic poems of old, our history weaves between truth and fable, recorded in a saga that educates as well as inspires. Our legend stands immortalized in a work known as the Karavalanisha Vrana, or “Wounds of the Night’s Sword.” If you are fortunate, young one, you will one day hear the entire work recited by our greatest scholars — but that would take days, even weeks, and I fear you are not yet patient enough to be wise.

It is said that our Antediluvian, a creature called Zapathursa, conceived the original text of the Karavalanisha Vrana during his time in a legendary city, long before the Great Flood. By his will, and by the continued work of all those who followed in his footsteps, the Karavalanisha Vrana grew and fulfilled many functions for our Clan. It is beautiful, yes, but it is also encoded with knowledge of our history, of Ravnos lore, of lessons learned, and of our Clan’s great svadharma.

Most Ravnos can quote verses, or small portions of the poem. Some can recite an evening’s worth, or a specific parable from beginning to end. Only a few, the most dedicated of Ravnos lorekeepers, can recite the entirety of the poem, and those have spent decades learning the exact words, order, and inflection. Even then, there are few certainties. Every storyteller has differences and idiosyncrasies, and certain lineages of the Ravnos have been entrusted with specific portions of the poem. On occasion, memory has rendered the language imperfect, or those entrusted with specific verses have passed into death, leaving the rest to piece together the knowledge that was lost.

A Ravnos’ knowledge of vampiric history comes from an understanding of events as they unfold in this Vedic poem. The Karavalanisha Vrana also serves as a basis for the Path of Paradox, a code of ethics adhered to by many Ravnos. The work is of critical importance to the Clan, despite its amazing complexity and the difficulty of memorizing such large swaths of text.

Of Myths

You will find, young one, that many other vampire Clans claim that the first vampire was the biblical “Caine.” You should not believe them. The Karavalanisha Vrana describes several different “first vampires,” at least one of whom was female. Truth has many faces. No matter what they say, or how often they try to stifle information they do not like, you must always remember to question. With questions, we find truths.

Legend says there was once a city where vampires and humans lived together in peace. Regardless whether the ruler of that city was the first vampire or simply a first vampire, it makes no difference. We must only agree that the city was ruled by a single masculine figure and his three offspring: Enosch, Zillah, and Irad.

Some versions of the Karavalanisha Vrana tell that Zapathursa was created by gods, whole and singular, like Athena from Zeus’s brow. Other renditions imply that he was a mortal or ghouled servant to the Master of the City, and was Embraced by one of the Master’s three childer. A third variant states that Zapathursa was Embraced by another, someone outside the city, and that he was sent as an envoy to the Master and his brood. Whatever his origin, the versions agree that Zapathursa was within the city — for a time.

When the First City fell, Zapathursa fled, putting his own safety ahead of all else. He cared nothing for the mortal inhabitants, nor for the vampires within that city, as none of them were family. The poem describes Zapathursa’s journey to the city’s east, accompanied by another vampire whom he’d met there; a woman named Ennoia. Thereafter, the two were lovers for many centuries, until a great curse turned her into a monster. Falling into madness and cruelty, Ennoia betrayed Zapathursa. She tried to kill him, and again, Zapathursa chose to flee. He left Ennoia, hoping she would die in the deserts, and in return she swore vengeance against him and all his childer until the last dawn should rise. That vengeance continues, as the two Clans — Ravnos and Gangrel — despise one another.

Now, young one, if you wish to know the truth, you have but to look upon any member of the Gangrel Clan. Ennoia is their mother, and they all bear her curse. Each and every one of them is cursed upon the Embrace to all display bestial, monstrous features; the evil within their soul made manifest upon their flesh. They are condemned, marked with the curse of the gods, and every mortal can identify them with ease, even as the prey knows its predator. Do not befriend them, lest Ennoia’s vengeance come upon you and your family.

Of the Asuratizayya

According to the most commonly recited versions of the Karavalanisha Vrana, the Ravnos Clan first appeared in India when a group of supernatural creatures “betrayed their duty” and used their powers to spread war and tyranny across the face of the Earth. The Karavalanisha Vrana names these creatures asuratizayya, or “countless demons.” We do not know what they are. We only know what they have done, and we know what the tales say about them. Perhaps the asuratizayya are not a single kind of supernatural creature, but instead many different things and many different people, each touched by some ancient evil that we are charged to forever fight. “What are the asuratizayya?” is a question for your meditations, my friend.

What we do know is that the Karavalanisha Vrana charges the Ravnos Clan with the destruction of these terrible beings. For his cowardice at Enoch and elsewhere, Zapathursa was burdened with this weighty svadharma. He, and we by virtue of our shared blood, must seek out and destroy the asuratizayya in order to free the world from their corruption. Further, as a punishment for his pride, Zapathursa and his line were also placed under a curse. We were cursed with the sin of vice — that no matter how hard we try, a Ravnos would always fall to temptation. This is our failing, young one. Some choose to fight against it; others succumb in measured doses that it does not overwhelm them out of starvation. A few give in entirely, losing themselves within their darker nature. However, one of Zapathursa’s brood inherited more of his sire’s cowardice than the others, and the failure of his svadharma is a legendary portion of the Karavalanisha Vrana — and figures prominently into the tales of the asuratizayya.

Ravana, childe of Zapathursa, was tempted and converted by the asuratizayya. At their bidding, he abandoned his sire and went into their service. According to some tales, a newly confident Ravana came to Zapathursa and told him of the deal that had been struck. The childe offered the Sire great power and wealth on behalf of the asuratizayya. “Cease to fight against us,” said the countless demons, “and join your childe in our service.” In fear that the offer would tempt his curse of vice, Zapathursa struck his child, but the blow did Ravana no harm. Ravana fled, and in his wake, Zapathursa fell into torpor.

Of India

According to the Karavalanisha Vrana, many Ravnos remained in India after Zapathursa’s fall. While our Clan cannot be truly said to be “based” anywhere, much of our culture was established during this time of relative peace. We began to establish the jati, or castes, each according to the natural temperaments and skills of the vampires who founded them. Our priests and philosophers became Brahmin; the warriors called themselves Kshatriya; those best suited for mercantile activities and Clan organization became the Vaishya; and last, those with little talent — or low talent — became the caste of Chandala. Below them, even our ghouls and mortal servants are a jati; the sudra, lowest of the low.

Although the Ravnos are no longer based in India (nor are the majority of our Clan Indian in mortal heritage), the traditions of jati continue. To this day, those segregations are important within the Clan’s hierarchy, allowing Ravnos to easily identify one another’s talents and know our places. The jati continue in part because most Ravnos tend to Embrace childer who fit the sire’s choice of personality and ability; Ravnos who respect the jati tend to naturally chose childer who will do likewise. Such childer become part of the sire’s caste. Occasionally, a newly released childe chooses to join a jati other than that of its sire. Doing so is an embarrassment to the sire’s lineage and teachings; to choose and raise a childe who rejects her svadharma? It is a humiliation.

According to legend, the Ravnos Clan ruled over much of India, defending them from other vampire Clans as well as the darkness of the asuratizayya. Indian civilization is quite rich, and quickly advanced in writing, complex theology, and significant skill in mathematics and warfare during a time when the rest of the world was steeped in ignorance. However, this was also a bloody period of history, and in the end, many of the Ravnos who survived the conflicts abandoned India, shocked at the degree of bloodshed and destruction they had wrought upon the mortals they’d been trying to protect.

Following in the footsteps of Zapathursa, our Clan returned to being wanderers. We chose the life of vagabonds, hunting the asuratizayya and refusing to settle down in one place for very long. We keep moving, traveling, sharpening our minds and our skills, fulfilling our destiny, and hunting the asuratizayya. Better that, then to live in complacency and be destroyed.

Of the Rroma

The Ravnos have suffered because of the curse laid upon our blood. If something bad happens while a Ravnos is in the area, inevitably someone blames that Ravnos. Everywhere we go, we garner suspicion and mistrust. To the Clan’s credit, we did not allow our mortal companions to suffer for the sins of vampires among them — we remembered the lessons we learned in ancient India, and the bloodshed we inadvertently caused. No. When we traveled with the Rroma, the Ravnos generally treated the kumpaniyas with respect, giving them as much protection as possible. Those who failed to be a good guest, who treated the Rroma as ripe, portable herds to be feasted upon and forgotten, were quickly taught painful lessons. It did not happen often, I assure you.

This was the first schism within our Clan. The fluid natures of the Rroma did not mesh well with the traditionalism of the jati. It took many decades to reconcile the two, but when we managed it (more or less), it was a great boon to our Clan’s svadharma. We must be both: the old and the new, the flexible willow and the steel rod. These paradoxes are at the heart of truth, childe! Do you hear me? Ah, perhaps later, I can expound on the great truths. For now, let me continue with the history of our Clan.

Perhaps it was guilt, or perhaps a drive brought about by the Clan’s greater svadharma that led to the most vicious battle between Gangrel and Ravnos in recorded history, and it had much to do with the Rroma. A powerful Gangrel elder named Intam, following the cues of an old Christian legend, began to search through the Rroma people, looking for a sign that his God somehow blessed one of the kumpaniyas. When he grew frustrated, he would slaughter the mortals in terrible ways, convinced that the Rroma were hiding some great secret.

To protect the Rroma, the Ravnos stopped running and attacked. They trapped Intam and destroyed him, slaughtering several Gangrel childer along with the elder. The tale those vampires recounted was a fanatic one; their intention was to find a certain group of people blessed by the Christian god, and then forcibly use those mortals as a stepping-stone to their own salvation. To “Golconda,” a mythical state where they become once more human, casting aside their place in the universe; dishonoring their svadharma and the truths of the vampiric state. It could not be allowed.

The elders of the Ravnos Clan met to discuss this situation, horrified that the Gangrel would abuse mortals over such idle superstition. More, that the Gangrel would turn their back on their svadharma and seek a way back into mortal life. Our Brahmin spoke with the ancients of many Clans, and found guidance with the seers among the Malkavians. On their advice, we offered to share our knowledge, our wise Path of Enlightenment, with many elders of the Gangrel Clan. We did this in order to help the beasts understand where their childer transgressed. Some accepted our offer, and joined with us against these heretics. Others rejected our offers of peace, claiming each Gangrel had the freedom to choose her own way. They did not care.

Still, these foul Gangrel chased Golconda, and more than that, they took many mortal lives in their obsessive quest to spit upon the truth of the cycle. They murdered, ravaged, stole, and provoked even the protections of the Silence of the Blood — the so-called Masquerade that hides vampiric understanding from mortals — in order to chase this childish dream. Our Clan saw then that Gangrel are beasts, both in form and spirit; they are barely human at all, and willing to sacrifice anything for their own goals.

With this in mind, the Ravnos punished Intam and his childer, slaughtering all that they could find of the lineage. He sought desperately to return to the cycle? We simply granted his wish.

Hidden Ravnos

Many members of the Ravnos Clan hide among other groups of travelers. Ravnos were Embraced from this wandering populace, and as new blood joined our immortal Clan, our culture changed and adapted to include new ways. To the Clan’s shame, many Ravnos Embraced during this time held fast to the bigotries and hatreds of their mortal ways. These biases have infected our Clan, and as our elders became more and more static over the passing of the centuries, the Ravnos Clan made... poor choices. We were not led by wisdom, but rather by pride. Some cast down women, others insisted on treating non-Rroma vampires as outcasts and lesser beings, and some few even killed any individuals who were Embraced Ravnos without undergoing certain “ritual purifications” prior to the Embrace.

No one group of people that taught us these strictures or influenced our ways. It was an adherence to the old bigotries, misplaced respect given to a closed-minded understanding of the world. It was — and is — sheer foolishness.

Seeing truth beyond reality should be our guide. We should see not a person’s physical form (be it male or female), but instead to understand the truth of the spirit encased in that flesh. We should judge a vampire on their svadharma, and not her race or mortal life.

I do not know why our Clan still struggles to understand these lessons. Perhaps that, too, is part of our curse.

Nevertheless, it is important for you to know that despite this bigotry, the Ravnos were not constrained by the European continent. A group known as the Kinyonyi travel Africa, where rumors exist that a Methuselah named Ramessu established court in ancient Egypt and styled himself a pharaoh. There are many stories of tricksters and Rakshasa Embraced among the nomadic peoples of the African continent.

In other lands, there is a famous tale of a Ravnos named Neve, who hailed from the Americas. I have been told that she led a lineage of Native American Ravnos made of members of the Lakota, Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Blackfoot, Shoshone, and other Plains Indian nations.

The Ravnos spread throughout the world, sharing our wisdom and insight with those open-minded enough to see that the physical is an illusion. Seek, and you shall find.

The Carnivals

From the early 1800s through the turn of the twentieth century, traveling performers were an incredibly popular and common pastime throughout continental America. From small one-man bands and occultists to large carnivals, these roving entertainers became a natural part of the American landscape. Thousands of people escaped small apartments to see these performing acts, losing themselves for a few hours in the illusions and fun of dreams. In the beginning, the entertainers were a fusion of centuries-old cultural traditions, music hall variety acts, Yiddish theatre, and geek or freak shows. As the years progressed, these performing groups formalized. Carnivals and modern circuses were born.

Vaudeville, too, sprang from such roots. However, most vaudeville acts aspired to inhabit permanent stages rather than maintaining the life of a travelling group. On any given night in a city’s red-light district, one could see comedians, singers, plate-spinners, ventriloquists, dancers, burlesque, musicians, acrobats, animal trainers, and more. These were the places where our Clan prospered, and these were our allies and companions. Even the suspicion and disdain toward such performers by practitioners of “more civilized arts” mirrors many of the biases held against the Ravnos by other Kindred.

Like a force of nature, like a wind through trees, the Ravnos Clan moved among these groups. Our penchant for illusions and dramatics, as well as our wandering natures, fit in well with the culture of the carnivals. I will tell you this, childe, though you may not believe me: Though there is no proof that the great P.T. Barnum was Embraced into the Clan, many of his axioms capture Ravnos ideals. I met him once, long ago, and I can tell you that if he does not walk among our Clan in these nights, it is a pity and a waste, indeed.

The World Wars

The World Wars were difficult times for the Ravnos Clan, particularly in Europe and in Africa. As travel grew more and more difficult, we became constrained and forced to hide like rats. Mortal authorities grew more attentive and watchful, persecuting strangers and prohibiting travel; making it difficult for us to survive.

As a Clan whose philosophy stresses freedom and the search for one’s true destiny, the idea of internment camps was abhorrent — much more, the atrocities performed within those encampments. Many Ravnos, particularly those of Rroma birth, did all they could to aid and free the prisoners, up to and including the Embrace. Forsaking the then-common practice of Embracing primarily into a jati or within certain mortal bloodlines, the Ravnos sacrificed part of their philosophy so that we could save many innocent lives. Many Ravnos trace their Embrace to these nights. Jewish, African, Rroma, European, American... anyone who needed help, who was persecuted became our allies. We knew that svadharma demanded it. We could feel the call to Embrace, and to defeat the evil that was plaguing the continent in whatever way we could.

Unfortunately, this desperate practice did not help our Clan to stay hidden. The swell in our numbers led to many Ravnos abandoning Europe to seek havens in Australia, America, or Africa.

The New Era

The hippie movement of the 1960s was an interesting time to be a Ravnos. We thrived on the romantic perception of wanderers (a resurgence, perhaps, of the 1920s’ interest in the hobo culture), sailing comfortably on the proliferation of hallucinogenic drugs and a rise in the study of Hinduism and other eastern religions. Yet the “Age of Aquarius” occurred even as the Clan was struggling to reaffirm its identity in the wake of the Second World War. Through the 1960s, into the rebellious ‘70s and ‘80s, our Clan prospered. But... we also changed.

With the influx of Ravnos Embraced from all parts of Europe, and the deaths of many vampires during the two World Wars, our Clan’s population ratio changed. The elders were static, set in ancient and traditional ways, while these new childer arose from many different backgrounds, religions, and races. Many of these young Ravnos were Embraced out of desperation (and many sires died in the war, or did not have the time to properly give their childer an accounting), and because of this, the childer were not indoctrinated to respect the traditional ways. Their sudden inclusion led to ripples that shook the Clan’s long-held and static culture. Can you imagine introducing a Ravnos Embraced at a Sex Pistols concert to an ancient scholar of the Brahmin? Difficult nights, indeed.

These young Ravnos had modern perceptions, wider views of the world. They held different ethics, morals, and beliefs. Many of these New World Ravnos are hobos, vagabonds, and non-traditional wanderers. They challenged the caste system of the jati; they rejected the idea of blood purity. From fireside to fireside, they questioned the old ways, staunchly debating what they saw as an archaic hierarchy and prejudice. Many joined the Anarch cause. They gave us many headaches, these wild, tempestuous childer, but they also opened our Clan’s eyes to a stasis we held in our hearts for too long.

Particularly static adherents to the Path of Paradox felt that this disrupted the Clan’s true path, and that the Ravnos svadharma lay not along these new routes, but in a return to the old ways. Rifts erupted between kumpaniyas and even among members of familial broods. Over time, these arguments sparked anger and vindictiveness, and even cost some of our young hot-bloods their unlives.

Sensing that the Clan was on the verge of another schism, influential Brahmins stepped in and counseled peace. They sent messages by animal and written word to other elders, spreading wisdom by word of mouth as well as the craftwork of dream and vision. These Brahmin argued that these new childer and their many questions were to the Clan’s advantage. The Ravnos had once again become too static, too set in their ways, and the Clan’s svadharma had moved upon the world to provide us new teachers. To tear away our veils and break our stasis.

The wisdom of the Brahmins brought a peace, but unfortunately, the Brahmins wielded their authority too strongly. They are not “leaders” of our Clan in the traditional sense, but more a conscience, guides and advisors. We respect them. Most of us do. Although arguments were still bitter, the fighting among Clanmates died down, or at least became subtle. Either way, it was no longer a threat to the Clan’s survival.

Still, many of these rivalries and worldview differences persist. Some Ravnos even went so far as to turn their backs on the Clan. They rejected the Brahmin, resenting that these vampires tried to force their opinions on the rest. Nowadays, not all Ravnos consider one another “family,” or even worthy of Ravnos blood. Some cling even more staunchly to the old ways, while others struggle to forge new philosophies and seek new truths — at any cost. A few Ravnos even joined the Sabbat and called it “freedom from the tyranny of our elders.”

The svadharma of our Clan says we must tear away the illusions of the physical world. One should never assume a thing is true; not even the most closely held beliefs. Questions lead to truths, and truth provokes change. Our purpose is enlightenment, and that only comes through trials. This schism, and the temporary loss of our brethren to the Church of Caine, is only one more trial along the path.

Who We Are

“Call me a vagabond, and I’ll smile. Call me a thief, and I’ll laugh. Call me a liar, and I’ll cut out your heart.”

We Ravnos are scoundrels and tricksters, philosophers of a greater truth. We are educated, modern, yet bound in part to a hierarchical past that strongly influences our current culture. They are rogues and travelers, driven by the need to seek out and destroy demons hiding in human guise. Yet for all our good intent, our spirits fall too easily to temptation, and by the lure of vice. We are a paradox.

As it has always been, Kindred society condemns and scorns the Ravnos without ever seeking to understand their purpose. We are called foul, unclean, and wicked, and rarely given a chance to explain our actions before being hunted and destroyed. The courts of the Camarilla fear and despise us. The Sabbat believes us to be arrogant interlopers whose hedonism prevents us from realizing that the world stands on the verge of destruction. The Anarchs act as though we are mocking them, and most Autarks stay away from us for fear their carefully balanced neutrality will be affected by commiseration with a Ravnos.

Most Ravnos do not align themselves with the Sects, preferring to be on their own or to travel with a small kumpaniya. Many young Ravnos tend toward nomadic unlives, traveling from one domain to the next or hiding on the fringes of established territories. We believe that Sect alliance, putting the requirements of a larger group before our own needs, compromises our quest to fulfill an individual svadharma. Temporary allegiances are possible, and even necessary. However, allowing your karma to become deeply intertwined with another’s is the same as voluntarily giving up your free will. It is against our path and our destiny.

Modern Ravnos encompass a wide variety of individuals, and all manner of races and cultures are represented among the Clan. For a Clan of misfits, there is a unity within our blood that calls us together to seek a greater purpose.

Still the scapegoats of society, they are often accused of crimes they didn’t commit, and punished even when provably not guilty of a crime. Of course, we are often guilty — no matter what evidence paints — and they know this, too. We are not angels, nor demons, not innocent, nor guilty. We are as complex and flawed as any other being. Yet we have reputations as transients, scoundrels, and vagrants. We cannot change those reputations, so we use them to our benefit. If an enemy assumes he knows the truth, he will often not seek further.

Misdirection is a powerful ally.

Antitribu

The Sabbat unified behind a desire to resist an oppression they saw between elders and children. They denied the Camarilla’s unification attempts, and espoused a strict doctrine of both freedom and unity. At the time, the magnificent paradox of trying to consolidate those two diverse philosophies tempted many Ravnos to join the Sect. Packs feel much like kumpaniya, and the Sabbat’s violent rejection of blood bonds is in keeping with Ravnos ideals. There are some tangible benefits as well, though I have never been particularly tempted.

However, the Ravnos are not common among the antitribu of the Sabbat. This is in part because the Karavalanisha Vrana speaks of our Antediluvian as a benevolent (or at least, not vicious) being, and in part because many verses question Caine’s role as the ultimate progenitor of all vampires. These philosophies are heretical among the vampires of the Black Church. Further, most Ravnos dislike the practice of Vaulderie and the vinculum, as it has similarities to blood bonding. Tying one’s svadharma to another (or in this case, an entire pack) in such an indelible way is deeply abhorrent to traditional Ravnos philosophy.

Those Ravnos who have joined the Sabbat tend to fall into a few camps. The first and largest being those who were simply Embraced into the Sect, and never given a choice in the matter. They know little of the history or legends of the Clan, and easily accept the philosophies of the Sabbat.

The second camp of Ravnos is individuals who joined the Sabbat out of a sense of revenge or persecution. Some were abused by the Camarilla, or have a personal vendetta against the Ivory Tower. Others are those who left during the two schisms in our Clan — some Rroma, who rejected the Indian heritage, while others are young modernists who rejected both Rroma and Indian traditionalism. Both joined the Sabbat specifically to escape the ethnic prejudices of their elders.

Further, there are some Ravnos who were mortal Rroma, persecuted by the mortal Inquisition during the Sabbat’s founding. They joined the Sabbat to escape these faith hunters, and to visit pain upon any mortals who dared believe themselves more powerful than vampires. The fact that the Sabbat now has their own Inquisition is not lost on me.

Only a slim handful of Ravnos in the Sabbat adopt the Path of Paradox as their ethical road of behavior. The Path is heretical by the Sect due to its tenets (notably its perspective on the Kindred role in mortal affairs; its prohibitions against Embracing, becoming blood-bound, or carrying karmic debt; and its proclivity to question Caine’s role as the First Vampire). Most choose the Paths of Cathari, Feral Heart (or its precursor, the Path of Harmony), or the Path of Night.

The Kris

Among the Ravnos, there is a saying, “If you harm your brother, you harm yourself.” The Clan is a family — large, bickering, divided — but still, in many ways the world is absolutely us-against-them. Therefore, when a Ravnos takes action against another member of the Clan, it is the family’s responsibility to judge — and if necessary, punish — the responsible individual.

Traditionally, judgments occur at a kris, a gathering of Ravnos where major issues are discussed and a council of Brahmin makes decisions. Resolving an issue at a kris is a method of last resort. Punishments can include Final Death, particularly for those who are judged to have worked with the asuratizayya, or sabotaged another Ravnos’ svadharma. Although customs can vary, and some kris are more formal than others are, the basic methods are always the same.

The Clan selects an odd number of judges, usually five or seven. These judges should range as widely as possible: from a neonate to elder, recently Embraced and ancient in years, both men and women. Further, the judges should include members of several jati, and at least one Brahmin, who will serve as the head of the jury.

Punishments from a kris typically include acts of submission, challenges of courage, or appropriate fines, among other things. Fines are not usually paid in money, but with valuable information or items from the guilty party to the one maligned. If the crime is particularly weighty, the guilty party may be declared “unclean” and banished from the Clan for a period of time or until he makes reparations for the crime. A Ravnos that has been declared unclean is honor-bound not to use the maya or manifest Chimerstry of any kind. A Ravnos who breaks this prohibition are hunted down and killed, usually by members of the jury that levied the punishment.

Young Ravnos do not always have the patience, interest, or respect for tradition to call a kris when they feel they have been maligned. The practice of “counting coup” against a Ravnos that has betrayed you or caused you difficulty is not uncommon. One-upsmanship is a ritual in itself, and forcing your enemy to suffer widespread public humiliation can be just as satisfying as killing.

The Ravnos Embrace

The Ravnos Clan is fairly informal, but the Embrace is something they do not perform lightly. The Clan’s philosophy on the Embrace believes that a Ravnos should only be created if it is for a reason directly related to the sire’s svadharma. This is particularly common thought among those who follow our Clan’s moral Path of Enlightenment.

However, among those who prefer the traditions of the kumpaniyas, there is a custom that a Ravnos should ask the permission of the oldest member of the Clan within the city or local area. Gaining that permission is a formality, but also serves as a check on the Ravnos’ choice. The other Ravnos is then honor-bound to look into the matter and ensure that the prospective childe is capable of assisting her sire on the road to his svadharma.

New childer receive instruction in the Clan’s history and legends, and before their release are often required to memorize one verse of the Karavalanisha Vrana. This is both to ensure that some part of the poem lives on in each Ravnos, and also to show the childe’s respect to the oral tradition and history of the Clan. Typically, a childe’s term under the sire’s accounting takes up to a decade of study, observation, and assistance along the sire’s path. During this time, the childer is also expected to begin her contemplation of her own path, looking to find her svadharma apart from that of her sire.

The Castes

In the Clan’s early days in India, the Ravnos were a deeply caste-oriented society. The four jati gave the Clan structure and hierarchy, and helped each member of the Ravnos identify and follow their svadharma as laid out by the responsibilities of her caste. The Brahmin are responsible for keeping the wisdom and lore of the Clan, performing the duties of educators and advisors. The Kshatriya make war on our behalf, or served as a defense in dangerous times. They create strategies of battle, watch for the asuratizayya, and offer protection to members of our Clan who are in need.

The Vaishya protect the silence of the blood, maintaining mortal influences and keeping an eye on our Clan’s herds. They handle interactions with wealth and physical things, focusing their attention on the material world. The Chandalas are all but Caitiff; the weak, those punished for crimes among the Clan, or those who have failed in some meaningful manner. They perform the tasks that no other caste wishes to touch. Its members are forbidden to Embrace, and they are expected to spend much time in meditation and attempt to improve their standing through performing onerous or unclean duties.

When the Ravnos Clan left India, they continued to maintain that basic structure, adding a further layer of complexity garnered from their travels with the Rroma. The term “phralmulo” to identify Ravnos born of Rroma blood became part of the Clan lexicon, though there was no caste for the Rroma-born (nor, in modern culture, does it indicate superiority or inferiority to other Ravnos). The manner in which the Rroma-born Ravnos remained tightly knit and loyal to one another was identified as a caste by earlier elders, who chose to see it much like another jati.

Today, the jati system is respected, but no longer holds the authority that it once did. Older Ravnos insist on the delineations, scorning any young Embrace that does not seek to enter and respect the castes. Ravnos who were born among the Rroma may have some prejudice toward those who were not (including their elders), but the Clan has become too diverse for those biases to rule the Clan’s svadharma. Childer are Embraced from every culture and lifestyle, educated into the Ravnos way of life and taught to respect their elders even as they are encouraged to seek their own destinies.

I have always felt, young one, that the thread that truly holds the Clan together is the Path of Paradox. The Path’s ideals are common among the Clan, even among those who retain their humanity. We are all taught the Path’s tenets, and we are expected to respect its restrictions. Those who defy and reject those ideals reject the very heart of Ravnos culture. Even those who must pick and choose which tenets to respect — the Vaishya, for example, who work with mortals despite the Path’s restrictions — are taught that the Path of Paradox is the only method to find ultimate truth. They give up an understanding of truth in order to keep our Clan safe, and we respect their sacrifice.

In the study of conflicting truths, and our unified desire to see beyond the falsehood of the world around us, the Ravnos find a universal communion.

Svadharma

I have spoken much of svadharma, childe. What is it? It is an inner calling. A sense of one’s destiny. A scholar once said that svadharma was the idea that man owes his service to others, that he owes his life to the betterment of the world. It is the application of your life — in our case, your eternity — toward a single goal that will enlighten or uplift the world. It is the fulfillment of one’s purpose as a creature within the maya. It is duty. Righteousness. Liberation and exaltation... ah, perhaps I’m speaking a little above your head, hm?

Very well, let me put it into simple terms. A Ravnos seeks her svadharma throughout her immortal life. The first step along the path is meditation and self-realization, exploration of the self and the world in order to discover your place within it. From that place, you can attempt to discover your individual purpose. This is not something as small as a single task, nor as large as the movement of continents. It is always a betterment of the self and the world around you. Knowing your svadharma is a divine revelation, an unshakable understanding of purpose, and that only comes when one has sensed one’s true place within the world.

Each person has unique duties and responsibilities to the world. Perhaps you are a Brahmin artist, and your svadharma is to bring an appreciation and philosophical understanding of the art of India to the west. A Kshatriya might feel called by svadharma to cleanse Egypt of the darkness brought by Set’s children. A Rroma-born Ravnos might feel her svadharma is to save her mortal people from persecution, to guard and preserve them and their traditions for future generations.

Rarely is one’s svadharma fully achievable in a single lifetime. However, we are immortal, and thus there are a very, very few who have completed the calling of their destiny. When this occurs, we call it moksha, or the resolution of one’s karma. For mortals, it means they are liberated, released from the cycle. They can move on to the next stage of their enlightenment. For vampires, the term is used differently. It is also a freedom from the cycle, and if the vampire chooses (and was not already), a formal acceptance into the Brahmin caste. The vampire in moksha has a choice to make: Will they begin again, seek their new place in the world, to seek and accept another great svadharma, or will she choose to destroy herself and become as ash? It is an intensely personal choice.

A Ravnos chases her svadharma. Night by night, she keeps her mind turned toward fulfilling her greater goal, even as she manages her night-to-night activities, amusements, and ambition. Even as achieving inner perfection cannot be attained in one night, neither can a person’s svadharma be completed by taking one action, or killing one enemy, no matter how powerful that enemy may be. It requires years, decades, or centuries of continued right action. Yet the path begins, and carries on, one step at a time.

The Path of Paradox

The Path of Paradox came into being in part due to the blending of Ravnos culture with South Asian religion and philosophy, and in part due to desperation in the minds of elder Ravnos who had fallen too far to their Beasts. There were failures along the way: ethical structures and philosophies that could not properly restrain vampiric Beasts. Some worked to keep a vampire from wassail, but failed to allow those vampires to properly function within Kindred society, and their adherents were quickly eradicated. Still, the Path of Paradox is one of the more infinitely flexible paths in existence. Ravnos scholars are constantly modifying it, and there are many variations of the Path throughout the world. The most common variants of this Path are the hallowed, traditional Mayaparisatya, and the spiritual, more modern Samsara.

The Mayaparisatya demands that those who follow its tenets have an understanding of our place in the world, and seek to fulfill our svadharma at all costs. This, too, is common in the Samsara. We Ravnos quest for purpose. We endure pain and suffering in the name of enlightenment. Those who adhere to our Path see the loss of their humanity as a metaphysical sacrifice, an acceptance of our vampiric nature. We step away from humanity in order to become the creature that we were intended to become upon the Embrace — a true vampire, with even fewer ties to our original mortality.

It is the nature of the Ravnos to quest for our svadharma, to seek and find each individual’s purpose and destiny. The Path of Paradox is a tool upon that journey, a way to fully submit to the universe. Through the study of its tenets, a vampire attempts to penetrate the illusions of the physical world. The Path and its variants have led us toward a better understanding of reality and illusion. Where the Mayaparisatya focused on the jati hierarchy and interactions between vampires, the lessons of the Samsara concentrate one’s ethics toward a somewhat more spiritual viewpoint. The Path of Paradox evolves even as we must evolve, so that we might learn to see through the conflicting truths of this world.

One of the most critical doctrines of the Path of Paradox asks the student to discover the inherent inconsistencies and enigmas of the world and accept them; finding meaning in the contradiction of two truths. The law of contradiction states that two antithetical propositions cannot both be true and that nothing which is true can be contradictory with any other truth. This is logic, and mortal philosophers have often stated that to deny this belief is to deny all truth. Yet it is within these paradoxes that the illusions of the physical world are revealed. Once you accept that such conflicts exist, what is the purpose of any truth?

The word “paradox” means “beyond belief” in the original Greek, and the scholar Aristotle relied heavily on the rejection of paradoxes to base logic. Yet Ravnos know illusions can exist, and that some things can be both false and true. The ability to know and not know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, and to reject morality while still claiming an adherence to ethics, is the heart of the Path. Only those whose minds and spirits grasp these elusive truths can spiritually ascend and see through the falsehoods of this world.

Some vampires say that a Ravnos on the Path of Paradox should support seeking Golconda, because vampires are already “out of the cycle,” and such a state would be returning a vampire to the natural order of things. I disagree. To go back, to turn away from the gift we have been given, to attempt to return to a mortal state — that is the heresy. And many in our Clan agree.

The Nature of Chimerstry

The Ravnos are masters of illusion and deception, skilled to the extent that it is inherent in their blood. The Discipline of Chimerstry is the art of weaving the essence of dream into constructs that take on substance in the physical world. We see this power as our birthright, our reward for the constant study of paradox and truth, and as a means by which we can show others that their assumptions are false and meaningless. More than a tool, Chimerstry is a meditation, a spiritual essence, and a joyful communion with truth itself, in its most naked form.

Chimerical illusions take shape from a quasi-substantial essence called maya. Items crafted with the powers of Chimerstry are not real, but they do have a minimal substance. A chimerical gun has the appropriate weight and heft. A Chimerical flag will sway in the wind and will cast a shadow. A construct made of Chimerstry cannot affect anything more substantial than a bright light or a slight breeze, but the substance of its creation acts in many ways as though it were an actual, physical item. Still, it is illusory, and cannot be relied upon to provide the same protections or functions as a real object of its type.

Chimerstry generally has the potential to add, but not subtract, from the physical world. A Chimerical banner can be placed over a wall, but a Chimerical hole could not be placed on the wall to allow a character to see through to the other side. Nor can a character use Chimerstry make someone invisible, though it can create a bush for someone to hide behind. It can create a hat to shadow the face, but it cannot change someone’s facial features (as that would require both adding and subtracting shapes from the current face). It could make additions to an individual’s clothing, if the new clothing is in all ways larger and more encompassing than the clothing beneath the illusion.

An illusionary wall can block a person’s progress, but it is not substantial enough to support more than a few ounces of weight. The maya is a thing of dream, working in tandem with the subject’s subconscious mind to cause the individual to unconsciously react to the illusion as though it were real. This is also why recognizing that something is chimerical is not enough to cause a person to disbelieve the illusion. A person can be told that a wall is fake, but the individual’s subconscious mind continues to react as if the wall is real. Each individual must personally disbelieve the illusion in order to convince the subconscious that the item is, in fact, false.

If an illusion’s creator disbelieves her own illusion, it immediately ceases to exist. The user must treat her illusions in all ways as though they are real or the maya fades. Of course, sunlight burns through Chimerstry instantly, destroying any and all such constructs when it touches them. The light of the sun reveals all truths in time, does it not?

Virtue and Vice

Every Clan has a weakness. A curse, legends say, placed upon the vampire Antediluvians because they betrayed Caine, or committed some other sin so great that a godlike power chose to visit pain and suffering upon them. The Karavalanisha Vrana teaches us that the Ravnos Clan’s founder, Zapathursa, faced punishment for his cowardice and his self-centered choices. Upon him lay the task that he could never complete: to find and destroy the asuratizayya. However, there is another portion of the curse, one that plagues all Ravnos on a nightly basis: that each suffers from a vice, and cannot put that craving to rest no matter how much they feed the dark urges.

The temptation of vice is intrinsic to the blood of all Ravnos, subtly (and not so subtly) encouraging us to act against our morals and give up our victories for even one small indulgence. Every Ravnos is different; every vice is distinct to the individual. Some are easily distinguishable vices — a penchant for envy, or an astonishingly short temper — while some, such as the urge to enslave others, are less quantifiable in classic terms. Lying, cruelty, theft, and other vices lead the Ravnos Clan to evil deeds, and serve to further blacken our not-so-sterling reputation.

When presented with the opportunity to engage in her specific vice, the Ravnos must indulge it. Failing to do so might cause the Ravnos to experience mental anguish, physical sickness, or withdrawals, with shaking hands, pale flesh, headaches, and nausea. No matter how stalwart the Ravnos, eventually her vice will overcome her, causing her to indulge the urges as thoroughly as possible.

Naturally, most Princes are leery of allowing such individuals free rein within their domains. Even if a Ravnos has every intention of obeying the rules and maintaining decorum, her vice will eventually get in the way. Therefore, most Ravnos are turned away by Princes, or only allowed to spend time within the domain if they are willing to pay a great deal in advance of any troublemaking that may occur.

The Treatment

The tradition known as the Treatment comes from a medieval practice of shunning and group shaming. The Ravnos can be very powerful when we work together, childe. Listen to me, and understand.

For those Princes that truly persecute the Ravnos or forbid them passage for no reason, there is a custom among the Clan known as kesht, a colloquial word for “stick.” The closest thing to a proper translation for the word is “the treatment,” wherein the Ravnos’ friends and family among the Clan focus their ire upon a particular city that has wronged their kin. In effect, the city is beaten with a stick — the “stick” being every sin, vice, and crime that the gathered Ravnos can perpetrate within the domain.

When a Camarilla Prince goes too far against us, our Clan comes together to teach that individual a lesson about strength in numbers. Traditionally, the Ravnos who has been maligned contacts a member of the Vaishya jati, the caste whose purpose it is to keep the Silence of the Blood and maintain mortal influences and contacts. That Vaishya, if convinced that it is appropriate, coordinates the Clan’s full-scale harassment of the Prince and his territory.

Ravnos show up, using illusions to snarl traffic, confuse news reporters, create chaos, and sow problems. The longer we are in a city, the worse our plague becomes, snarling bureaucracy and using our Chimerstry to bring more and more trouble down onto the city. If the Prince does not quickly relent, these difficulties turn into killing sprees seemingly done by mortal psychopaths, massive robberies, property destruction of valuable art or city structures, and other significant damage, though we never break the Silence, nor endanger Elysium. The Treatment will continue until the Vaishya who called for it, in consideration with the individual who was initially maligned (if any), agrees that the Prince has been appropriately punished.

Our purpose is not to make the Camarilla as a whole turn its eyes upon our Clan, but rather to harass, embarrass, and eventually force such a Prince into capitulation. We do not expect to be treated as equals with the “vaunted Camarilla,” but we are vampires, and we demand respect.