World War 11 v trickster totems of Raven and Coyote in highest esteem. The Ravnos called these shilmulo the “Ravnos Neve” (New Ravnos), and more idealistic clan members allied themselves with these Native Americans in their bloody and ultimately unsuccessful resistance against the guje settlers. (1 am sad to say that just as manygeorgio “neglected to spit into their palms” when dealing with the Neve.) Strangely, stories of the Ravnos Neve persist, though that bloodline is largely thought to have been driven to extinction at the hands of guje soldiers. By the time of the American Revolution, all of the larger cities were fully controlled by the mulo, and the Ravnos stayed well away from what they perceived as a squabble of the guje. To the Ravnos, it seemed ridiculous to swear allegiance to any government, as this was just a symptom of the guje’s sickness. When America finally won its independence, my clan had no cause to celebrate; under the British governors, the Rom were largely ignored in the face of more urgent administrative concerns. As time passed, however, the Ravnos grew accustomed to life in America. Many families continued to travel back and forth between New World and Old, maintaining contacts with the European Rom. Other kumpaniyi remained purely American, eventually losing their ties with the Ravnos of Europe. These families are not well loved by phrulmulo traditionalists. n World War 11 When the armies of the Third Reich began to march, the Ravnos plunged into a phase of denial along with thousands of the juuindo. After the initial shock of the troop movements, the Rom, and the Ravnos along with them, quickly became accustomed to a P ,, IHPL “P r h a P cr r IPl stepping soldiers. And why not? They were polite, loved good drink and song, and let the Gypsies travel freely. Then things changed. Food was rationed; many starved during the severe shortages that followed. Through trickery, phrulmulo Ravnos were able to provide for their kumpuniyi, making alliances in the underground food trade and obtaining false papers. In short order, my clan began to form a monopoly on these criminal activities, and began supplying stolen ration cards and forged identification to several resistance groups. However, as the deportations continued and the persecution of Jews and homosexuals whipped to a fever pitch, my clan faced a new dilemma: Entire kumpuniyi were also vanishing, and stories surfaced of the Nazis’ infiltration by Camarilla parasites, in particular the Tremere. Soon, word reached them of the wholesale slaughter of Gypsies in the concentration camps, and the Ravnos’ worst fears were confirmed: The Nazis intended to destroy the Rom outright and the ever-opportunistic Tremere, seeking an end to the Gypsy Kindred who remembered their crimes and outraged their sensibilities, planned to use the gaje’s genocide as a cover to eradicate the Ravnos. After centuries of persecution and defiance, it seemed that the Camarilla was preparing to play out the final trump. This knowledge created a schism inside Clan Ravnos. Many felt that remaining in Europe would only hasten their destruction - that survival depended on fleeing to Northem Africa, or even farther, to America. Another group spoke out, preaching torpor as the method to escape Nazi persecution. While the war raged overhead, the Ravnos could slumber peacefully under the earth, and awaken to find the conflict resolved. Other members of my clan were not so quick to admit defeat. Acquiring weapons and information from the resistance groups they had supplied, these Ravnos tumed their energies away from criminal activities and launched themselves into direct insurgency and guerrilla war against the Nazis. The campaigns staged by my clan proved devastating; existing for countless generations in the shadows of thegaje, the Ravnos were able to travel in secrecy, strike out at their enemies, and disappear again without leaving a trace of their passing. Though guile in preparation and chaos in aggression, the Ravnos slowed the operations of their oppressors to a crawl in many areas. But we were few, and the Reich‘s armies too vast to stop. Many of the juvindo were not accustomed to such violence, and chose to try to live as they always had, traveling in peace. These nonaggressors were quickly blamed for the crimes of my clan, and were rounded up by Nazi troops. The Ravnos soon discovered that they could not continue to fight against the Nazis without sacrificing their people. Driven by fear of extinction, a few Ravnos tried to assault certain concentration camps. They discovered an abominable truth: Many of Europe’s vampires - yea, even the “noble” Inconnu - stalked the camps by night, exploiting the Nazis’ barbed wire for their personal feeding pens. Against so many “Kindred” even the Ravnos could not prevail, and so Auschwitz and Belsen, Treblinka and Ponari and all the rest stood until the end of the war. Adding insult to injury, other bands of georgio and phralmulo also infiltrated the camps, but fed on captured Romrather than aiding them. They were not the sole reason why so many Rom fell to typhus, noma and dysentery, but their careless feeding certainly exacerbated the spread of countless loathsome diseases. Unfortunately, the entire clan paid a severe price for the attacks of these treacherous shilmulo: Even today, many of the juwindo believe that the Ravnos were among the clans who used the camps for massive blood feasts. Finally, the war ended, and my people began to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives - and unlives. The war had scattered my clan: Many families had fled to America, while those who had remained had brought disabled Rom and even gaje into the clan, disgracing and weakening the blood of Ravnos. In the first months after the war, such an unreasoning hatred of the Camarilla existed that many Ravnos turned to the Sabbat, believing that the enemies of our enemies would be our friends. They are now entirely lost to us, drowned in the Vaulderie of their mrhime allies. Other Ravnos became obsessed with vengeance, and they too became estranged from their families. The shame that the surviving elders felt could be heard in their dire predictions of the downfall of our entire clan. Yes, the appalling events of that time have dramatically altered the clan forever. The information Age Today, the struggle to remain untraceable presents a constant challenge. With metal spying machines circling the globe, and billions of dollars poured into the pursuit of D I - * C , ’ Z such arcana as “demographics” and “market tracking,” the Ravnos have found that the simplest transaction in the gaje world can provide clues into their habits, patterns of movement, and even favorite swindles. Global telecommunications have enabled governments and police to keep up-to-the-minute files on millions of people; many Ravnos elders feel that it will only be a matter of time before the shanglo can track their very footprints. However, though technology has made anonymity difficult, it has also made the modem tools of deception more accessible to members of my clan. A blip in a Ventrue’s database can be pilfered as easily as a Toreador’s El Greco original, and high-resolution computer programs have made the once-troublesome art of forgery much easier. Even in this modem age, Ravnos continue to keep close contacts among forgers and other high-technology criminals. Even today, there are still vast regions of land in which the Ravnos can travel in relative freedom. Avoiding the cities of the guje completely, many kumpaniyi live as they always have, under a veil of mystery and isolation. These Ravnos stick to regions of Eastern Europe, Northern Africa, and the rural Americas, where the technology of the times has been slow to surface.
