This Lore represents knowledge of the social structure, traditions and myths of the Ravnos. It also represents how well a character might be able to recognize the names of famous Ravnos and know the trends of the Clan within given regions.

Generally Possessed By: Ravnos, Ravnos antitribu

Potential Specializations: Chaining the Beast, Clanbook: Ravnos (2nd Ed), Clanbook: Ravnos (Rev. Ed)

Sources Consulted for this List: Clanbook: Ravnos (2nd Ed), Clanbook: Ravnos (Rev. Ed), Libellus Sanguinis IV: Theives in the Night

Lore: Ravnos x1

• You know that the primary Ravnos Disciplines are Animalism, Chimestry, and Fortitude, and that Chimestry is unique to their Clan. (VtM [Rev]: 97)
  
  
• You know that Ravnos are traditionally prone to thievery and vice, to the point where such actions have become innately compulsive. (VtM [Rev]: 97)
  
  
• You are familiar with the Karavalanisha Vrana (Wounds of the Night's Sword), an ancient Indian epic regarding the history of the Ravnos Clan. (LS4: 12, 24-25)
  
  
• You know that the Clan's Antediluvian is either A) according to Noddist traditions, a man named Dracian B) according to Karavalanisha Vrana, a creature known as Zapathasura, who is charged by the gods with hunting down a race of demonic entities or C) according to some folklore, a simple Rroma named Ravnos. (LS4: 24-25)
  
  
• You know that the Clan has strong ties with India and with the Rroma (gypsies) and that several lines of Ravnos were entirely Rroma descended.
  
  
• You know that many Indian Ravnos follow the Path of Paradox, a Path of Enlightenment which espouses adherence to ones jati, or caste, and fulfillment of svadharma, or purpose.
  
  
• You know that during 1999, a disaster known as the Week of Nightmares struck the entire Clan, causing members to frenzy and devour one another and wiping it out save for a handful of Cainites. You know that many claim it was sparked by the rising of the Ravnos Antediluvian.
  
  

Lore: Ravnos x2

• You have heard that in Noddist mythology, Dracian was Embraced by Irad, a member of the Second Generation. This occurred after he was caught stealing from his home, and after the fall of the Second City Caine cursed him with the insatiate need to sin.
  
  
• You have heard that in the Karavalanisha Vrana, Zapathasura was a dead manwronged by great demonic beings known as the asuratizayya (known in the modern nights as the Cathayans) and that the Gods granted him immortality and power that he might pursue them to the ends of the Earth. (LS4: 24)
  
  
• You have heard that in the Story of Ravnos, Ravnos was the son of Tshurka, a wandering Rroma who took Caine (called Kaen in the legends) into his kumpania as an act of kindness after they had both left Cainite society. Kaen later Embraced Ravnos after Tshurka was killed by wandering Cainites, and he in turn Embraced many of his kumpania.
  
  
• You know that in every legend of the Ravnos progenitor, he is said to have made an eternal enemy of Ennoia, the Gangrel Antediluvian.
  
  
• You know that the Path of Paradox focuses on attaining understanding of the mayaparisatya, the grand illusion of life, and that it claims that all Kindred are locked eternally outside of the cycle of life and death (samsara), and hence must realign their purpose in life, hence the focus on jati and svadharma. You are familiar with the term shilmulo to refer to adherents of this Path.
  
  
• You know that the Rroma-descended Ravnos practiced a bastardized version of the Path of Paradox, which espoused debauchery and general mayhem, and that Indian elders have, in recent nights, made attempt to revive the old Path.
  
  
• You are familiar with the basic jati (or castes) of the Indian shilmulo. They are: The Brahman, who are said to have great insight and powers of clairvoyance, and tend to be advisors and philosophers; The Kshatriyas, who are the warriors of the Clan and carry out the fight against the asuratizayya; The Vaisyas, who are embraced from the merchant classes and engage in most of the mortal interactions of the Clan; and the Chandalas, the lowest jati, who are not necessarily Ravnos, but rather a general grouping for Caitiff, non-Ravnos and those who have failed to adhere to their original jati. You also know of the Sudra, who are not a proper jati, but rather an Indian term for ghouls. (LS4: 27)
  
  
• You know that it was the European Rroma-descended Ravnos who were hit hardest by the Week of Nightmares, possibly because they had a tendency to travel in kumpania.
  
  
• You are familiar with the Medieval tradition of "The Treatment", in which mobs of Ravnos gang up on a Domain that has been unkind to them and attempt to spread chaos therein. (LS4: 21)
  
  
• You have heard of legendary Ravnos such as Durga Syn, an ancient Methusaleh who has an ongoing feud with the Nosferatu Baba Yaga, and whose brood was one of the only notable European groups to survive the Week of Nightmares.
  
  

Lore: Ravnos x3

• You have heard that in Noddist mythology, Ennoia blamed Dracian for tempting her into slaying the Second Generation, and that they have feuded ever since.
  
  
• You have heard that in the Karavalanisha Vrana, that the Gods both blessed and cursed Zapathasura. You hear that Kali, goddess of war and bloodshed, gave him a thirst for vengeance; that Indra, the god of storms and crops, gave him the gift of fertility, that he might make other men to fight for him; that Hanuman, the monkey king, gave him the power to speak to animals; that Devi, the core form of femininity, gave him power over the maya; and that Himuvaat, god of moutains, gave him the durability of stone. You know, on the other hand, that other gods refused to bless him, saying he was an unclean and polluted thing - being dead. These were Surya, the God of the Sun; Agni, the God of fire; and Brahma, the God of Creation - who left him prone to fire and sunlight, sterile and starving.(LS4: 24)
  
  
• You have heard that in the Karavalanisha Vrana, the asuratizayya were once known as the siddhi, beings who were charged with tending to and protecting humanity. According to the epic, they eventually trafficked with the true demons, and were cast into their fallen state as punishment. You are aware, at this point, that these myths seem to correspond with those of the Cathayans.
  
  
• You have heard that in the Karavalanisha Vrana, Ennoia once, like Zapathasura, was charged with combating the asuratizayya, but was cursed by the gods because she rejected them after learning the price of her power. As a result Gangrel are thought to be forever barred from fulfilling their proper destiny.
  
  
• You have heard that in the Story of Ravnos, Ennoia was the lover of Ravnos, and the daughter of Lillith, and that she betrayed Ravnos unto death in the hopes of being taken back into the Second City, from which she had been exiled. In the story, Kaen returned after Ravnos' destruction and cursed Ennoia for her treason. You have also heard mention of the figure of Laetshi, Ravnos' sister who was able to see into the future and predict Ennoia's treachery.
  
  
• You know that the cosmology of Path of Paradox is tied in some ways to the Discipline of Chimestry, and that shilmulo claim that the power is a way of altering the maya, or the world.
  
  
• You are familiar with the five alleged childer of Zapathasura from which the major Ravnos jati evolved. They are: The Black Mother, an old crone from which the Brahman jati descends; Rakashasa, the great deceiver, who allegedly fled to Africa; Chandraputra, a great warrior from whom the Kshatriyas jati descends; Ravana, who apparently made pacts with demons and later disappeared; and Ramessu, from which the Vaisyas jati descends.
  
  
• You know that the Brahaman develop the Discipline of Auspex rather than Fortitude.
  
  
• You know that the Rroma-descended Ravnos are also known as the Phuri Dae to the Indian Ravnos, and that they originally were said to have come from the Brahman jati. Within the group however, they call themselves the phralmulo and use the term Phuri Dae to refer to those who are able to use Auspex (unbeknownst to them, in the manner of the Brahman). The Phuri Dae also reportedly call their Indian brethren the Vrita. (LS4: 24-25)
  
  
• You are familiar with the Phuri Dae tradition of the kris, in which Rroma-born Ravnos hold communal judgement over one another; and the tradition of patshiv, in which Rroma-born Ravnos gather to celebrate.
  
  
• You are aware that the Ravnos have been credited with embracing such historical figures as Mata Hari (although this is disputed by the Assamites).
  
  
• You have heard of legendary Ravnos such as Bramaparush and Gayal, two great Ravnos elders credited with the foundation of the Path of Paradox and for siring several of the largest broods of the Clan in Sri Lanka and South Asia; Ivan Krenyenko, who was simultaneously hunted by the Sabbat, Camarilla, Society of Leopold and the KGB due to his exploits; and Ezmerelda, a Rroma woman (or series of women) who is said to bear a the crescent shaped birthmark that forbodes Gehenna. (CtB: 80)
  
  

Lore: Ravnos x4

• You have at some point read a copy of the Karavalanisha Vrana. You are very cognizant of the fact that it refers to deities that did not come into existence until 4,000 years after it was alleged to be written, and that it is probably the work of a collection of Ravnos and not the writing of Zapathasura alone, as is claimed.
  
  
• You have heard legends of the diaspora, in which Rakashasa, Ramessu, Ravana and the Black Mother all left Zapathasura in turn, leaving Chandraputra as his one loyal childe. You hear that Ravana gained terrible power form the true demons at some point and returned to taunt Zapathasuram, and that the Black Mother eventually created the lineages known as the Alexanderites and later the Sybarites, who founded the false Path of Paradox and were reknowned as pirates and brigands. You have also heard of the Phaedymites, a small group of honor-bound Ravnos who served as couriers during the Midde Ages. (LS4: 12-15)
  
  
• You have heard of Bashir, and the heretical Christian Paradox cult he founded, known as the Bashirites, who sought to bring about the Biblical Apocalypse in the Middle Ages.
  
  
• You hear that it is possible on the true Path of Paradox for some Gangrel to reclaim their svadharma, and that this belief is known as "The Gangrel Heresey" among the shilmulo.
  
  
You have heard of the saddhu, a scant few Ravnos antitribu and Elder Indian Ravnos who serve as teachers for the Path of Paradox in it's uncorrupted form. You hear that they are capable of performing great acts of blood sorcery known as Sadhana and are to be respected and feared. (CtB: 81)


• You have heard of Ravnos Neve, Ravnos that appear to have been native to North America at the time when Europeans first arrived.
  
  
• You have heard of the Wuzho, fanatical Phuri Dae descended from the Rroma bloodline known as the Tsurara, who vowed to eradicate all the undead from the Earth.
  
  
• You have heard of some of the now mostly extinct Phuri Dae Ravnos families of Europe, including the Spanish Gitano, the Enligh Juna and the German Sinti.
  
  

Lore: Ravnos x5

• You know that Bashir made claims to have had personal contact with Christ and that the Bashirite movement specifically attempted to bring about the endtimes by plunging the world into sufficient sin to give cause for Christ's second coming, and as such heavilly contributed to the Western bastardization of the Path of Paradox. (LS4: 13)
  
  
• You have heard of the Yoryari, a small splinter group of the Sybarites who founded a number of now forgotten philosophical variants on the false Path of Paradox. (LS4: 14-15)
  
  
• You have heard of the Urmen, a rare bloodline of Phuri Dae who trafficked with the Fae, and you are aware that the arts of Chimestry can deal lethal harm to fairies.
  
  

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