Donatello Giovanni

Queens -x- Giovanni -x- Vampires of New York from 1999 to 2022 -x- Vampires of New York from 2022 Onward

Sobriquet:

Appearance: Stout and possessed of slow, deliberate move­ments, Donatello Giovanni is a man who knows what he enjoys and takes it as he will. In his best moods, Donatello is jovial, almost avuncular, but his scowl alone can wipe a capricious grin from a neonate's face. He has a full head of hair and a thick beard, worn shorter in the front than on the sides, both of which were just going to gray from their lustrous brown upon Donatello's Embrace. His nose even betrays a few gin blossoms, attesting to one of his vices in mortal life. He has been described as leonine in the past, by the Toreador novelist Tania Trepsa.

Behavior: While the sects play their games of cat and mouse, the Giovanni grow rich. While the Sabbat scheme to take back "their" city, the Giovanni grow rich. While the Camarilla skulks about and stabs itself in the back over issues of princedom and domain, the Giovanni grow rich. It's your duty to ensure that the Giovanni continue to grow rich, and anyone else can do whatever they want, so long as they don't threaten your success or trespass on Giovanni interests. If that becomes the case, retribution will be swift and decisive.

History: As far back as he can remember, Donatello Giovanni recalls being the bearer of privilege. As a child, his family was the wealthiest and most powerful in their village in northern Italy. When he was a young scholar at medical school, he never had to live in poverty as did the other students. Even after he had been Em­braced, when he volunteered to establish a base of operations for the Giovanni, he had to "explained things" to the Sabbat and hadn't bothered at all to speak with the beleaguered Camarilla prince, Michaela.

So it continues to this night. Donatello is known around Little Italy and Nolita as the neighborhood's patron saint. While he accepts that the Camarilla is now the prime mover and shaker in the city, he has informed its figureheads that certain Giovanni domains are sacro­sanct. With his fingers in a dozen legitimate operations and three times as many illegal concerns (particularly with the Gambino crime family), Donatello is everything an organized crime enthusiast could want in a "Godfather." And it's still not enough.

Donatello is responsible for negotiating with the Ventrue coalition that paid to sneak Camarilla Kindred into the city. He exerts direct influence over the Giovanni whose domain includes JFK airport. Even Kindred of other clans kick back a share of their profits to him, from the Setite gangs in Brooklyn to the Ventrue mafiosi in Man­hattan and Brujah toughs in the Bronx. The anarchs respect Donatello's ability to thrive while independent, but they have no love for the man.

Still, for a Kindred besieged on all sides by hungry neonates and jealous elders, Donatello makes sure the Giovanni can hold their own. Should this powerful Kin­dred somehow be removed from the picture, it might well spark a gang war that casts ripples through the Kindred community.

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