By 1815, they were in the opening phases of an industrial revolution, and the Family sensed a lot of opportunity. Venice sent seven young up-and-comers to make a permanent presence there. There were problems, as expected. Resistance to the foreigners in a strongly nationalistic country, assumptions and misunderstandings between clans, mortal bureaucratic interference and more contributed to any number of complications, but the Giovanni quickly overcame them and began sending large profits back to Venice.
The greatest benefit to this operation was the Stroganov family. The Tatar-descended Stroganovs were a family of salt merchants who had built a financial empire in the late 1500's, and had been instrumental of the exploration and exploitation of the Ural Mountains and Siberia. There had often been dealing between the Stroganovs and Giovanni, and the family had contributed several ghouls (and even a few who had merited the Kiss) over the decades. When the Giovanni began a permanent base of operations, it was the Stroganovs that made it possible.
By 1900, not only were the Stroganovs established as a Familgia di Fiducia (along with the Chirin and Pozharski families) or Druzhina, as the Russians called it, they had taken enough care with their offspring that they had developed the first Revenant House of the Giovanni. This was to prove a great boon in the coming times.
In 1905 the Russo-Japanese War ended with Russian defeat. Discontent was widespread when the incompetence and corruption of the government was revealed in the aftermath. What soon became the Revolution of 1905 resulted in Emperor Nicholas II and Prime Minister Witte issuing the October Manifesto which promised a constitutional government under a new legislative body, the Duma. This silenced many rebellious elements and the revolution died out. However, no sooner than the furor did down than Nicholas dismissed Witte and dissolved the first two Duma meetings when they showed independent spirit. He then reduced the role of the Duma to a purely advisory body.
In February of 1917, Russia had again been suffering from gross mismanagement of their actions in World War One. In response, there were widespread revolts and food riots. The Duma had had enough, and assumed direct control of the government. Nicholas abdicated the throne and went into exile. However, it was too little too late. In the second revolution of that year, the famed October Revolution, the Bolsheviks toppled the Duma and took power.
To the Giovanni, this was a disaster. They had quietly pushed for the Duma to have greater authority, and had made some alliances with the Brujah toward this goal, but they underestimated the mortal fever of discontent. When the Bolsheviks took control, the Giovanni found much of what they worked for crushed, and their properties stolen.
When Don Simon met with representatives of the Brujah Revolutionary Council in December to fix what had obviously been a grave mistake. The meeting went well until the Brujah announced that all Giovanni assets were to be seized and half of all income from Russian business were to be returned to the new government's Brujah overseers immediately. Simon declined on several grounds, and the discussion was over. As Simon and his advisers left the building, Brujah soldiers and their allies gunned them down in the street. Simon was slain, as were Guiseppe Giovanni and Mia Rosselini-Giovanni.
The reaction was swift and firm. Brujah power bases were savagely attacked, their allies were ambushed, and their mortal supporters killed. This was misunderstood by the mortals who saw it as a general resistance against the Bolsheviks. By the end of 1918, there were no less than four armies and dozens of urban resistance groups in action; the Red Army under Bolshevik control, the White Army of reactionaries and royalists, the Volunteer Army raised from military unit in the south (and supported by Britain and France), and the anarchistic Green Army raised from peasant towns in the central plains. The Giovanni provided some amounts of support to the Whites and outright financed many of the smaller rebel factions.
By July of 1918, the Giovanni realized that the chaos was well beyond their control. At that point, they could only preserve whatever they could of their holdings and hope for the best. But there was one matter left to settle. They had been betrayed by their Brujah associates, and omerta demanded revenge. Since they could not get this vengeance personally (being hideously outnumbered), and could no longer work dependably through mortal agents, the Giovanni set on a bold plan. They would abduct the Imperial Family and create from them a new line of Giovannis.
The plan did not go as planned, as they arrived just as soldiers were executing the Romanovs, but two were saved, Alexei and Anastasia. Over the next few years, many other Romanovs were "rescued from the State" and granted the Kiss, although Alexei himself did not receive the Kiss until he was older, and Anastasia never received it.
The Giovanni-Brujah feud continued until after 1946, when a tacit truce was reached. Business flourished in the following years, and everything was looking very bright. That was when the real disaster happened. A supernatural force swept over the land, causing a sudden shift in the balance of power. The Giovanni suddenly became prey of an enemy they could not identify. To an ever greater extent, this was true of the Brujah and Venture, as well as all the vampire clans. Even the other races of the night were subject to this curious siege, and there were rumors of Lupine strongholds, defended by scores of warriors and shamans, wiped out in a single night by an unknown power. It was said that even the magi were not immune. Worse yet, the flow of profits to Venice stopped, and so did all communications. Even wraithly messengers found difficulty crossing the border, and many were destroyed in the attempt. The ones who returned told takes of a black wall surrounding the land. It was as if Russia was cut off from the rest of the world.
Spirit scouts were dispatched, and they reported odd events in the mountains, tales of an undead army operating in the cities, of huge beasts patrolling the countryside, and even a story about a fallen angel pressed into service to this dark force. Finally, one spirit returned from scouting, his form riddled with Oblivion. It said just one thing before it was consumed; "The Hag." To the Giovanni this meant little, but to the Romanovs it was as if Armageddon had just knocked on their door. If the dread Hag, Baba Yaga, had truly returned, they were all doomed.
They began to research and spy, and eventually put together the reality. It was true, Baba Yaga walked the earth again, and was manipulating all of the supernatural creatures to do her will. And for those who would not follow, they would be destroyed. The Hag had even raised entire armies of the night-breeds, including awesome horrors from the ancient world. They also learned that Durga Syn, a mage who had been cursed by the Hag and rescued by the Ravnos clan was leading a resistance to the Hag in the south, and that the Lupines themselves were struggling against her.
For a time the Giovanni stayed neutral, but it quickly became obvious that hey would be attacked as soon as other threats were dealt with. And so they threw their support behind Durga Syn. Once again, the Giovanni had picked a side in war, but this time it would be different.
Using their mortal influences, the Giovanni began to interfere with military deployment and assignments, disrupted the flow of good across the country. But unlike previous wars, the Family began maneuvering their own people into seats of political importance. The age of Peristroika had arrived, and the Giovanni were going to ran it down the Brujah's throats.
It is not know exactly what happened after that. Most say a band of lupine heroes found and destroyed the Hag and her Armies collapsed. Some say it was betrayal from within her Armies. The most outlandish is that the Hag was tricked onto drinking from the Holy Grail, purging her of her corrupted shell and transforming into the "Little Grandmother" of the old days. All that was known for certain is that the Shadow Curtain was finally broken, and Russia was open to the world again.
It had cost the Giovanni badly. Four who had existed when the Curtain fell, only one was survived. Anselmo had been killed when his home was attacked by an extremely power Nosferatu called the General. Giorgio Giovanni and Michael Rosselini were killed by a pack of mutated Lupines. Only Bernaldo Giovanni had survived.
In April 4 of 1990, a ship pulled up in the harbor at Venice. Bernaldo led a small party to the Mausoleum. As a birthday gift to Uncle Augustus, Bernaldo presented Mikhail Stroganov, Ivan Pozharski, and Petrov Roshenko, and Alexei Romanov (Saint Alexei as of 1981). Augustus formally welcomed the expanded family and declared Alexei to be both Capo de Famiglia Romanov and Primo Consigliore of Russia. He also inducted Bernaldo into the Anziani.
Stroganovs
and the
Druhzhina?
Commander's Report from the
Ipatiev House Massacre
(the real thing)
So what happened
to the
Ipatiev souls?
Editor's Note
about all this.
Back to the Homepage