Know Your Kindred – Hazimel

Name: Hazimel
Clan: Ravnos
Generation: 4th
Embraced: ?

Legend says Hazimel was a stone mason, who ruled much of pre-historic India. He extended his domain by bestowing his Eye upon a succession of rulers in exchange for their loyalty. Today Hazimel’s existence is more myth than reality, but his Eye – the evil eye of Gypsy folklore – resurfaced in the midst of the Sabbat assault on Atlanta in 1999.

According to the Ravnos Khalil, Hazimel had sent his own eye out from his tomb. While he slept, he was still connected to his Eye, being able to see all that it saw.  Eventually, the Eye was hidden in a statue, that wound up on display in the home of the Toreador Victoria Ash in Atlanta.

When the Sabbat assaulted Atlanta, the Eye was discovered and obtained by a vampire named Leopold, who lost his sanity to the Eye’s influence. Leopold replaced one of his own eyes with Hazimel’s and a terrible power flowed through his body.

With the Eye, Leopold began to create a horrific masterwork of flesh and stone in the Adirondack Mountains. A Gangrel war band was sent after him, but Leopold destroyed nearly all of them. Only the Gangrel Justicar, Xaviar, survived.  He called Leopold a sign of Gehenna, the vampiric End Times, and pulled his clan out of the Camarilla when the war council in Baltimore refused to support his assertion.

Eventually, Leopold was killed and the Eye came into the possession of the Setite scholar, Hesha Ruhadze, who through an enchanted gemstone could telepathically connect to the Eye in the hopes to better understand the artifact’s true nature.

But before Hesha could delve too deeply into studying the Eye, a Sabbat war party lead by the Tzimisce methuselah, Lambach, stole the Eye.  Lambach used the power of the Eye to create an army of vampire shock troops.  The Eye horribly changed Lambach’s physical form, becoming unrecognizable.

Lambach and his forces were destroyed in Los Angeles after Ambrogino Giovanni and his clan’s most powerful necromancers performed a ritual that pulled the souls of Lambach and his troops out of their bodies.

What happened to Hazimel’s Eye after that is anyone’s guess…

– Sources: The Clan Novel Saga, The Eye of Hazimel Storyline 2002, Lambach’s Legion Storyline 2003.

Know Your Kindred – Ezmerelda

Name:  Ezmerelda
Clan:  Ravnos
Generation:  4th
Embrace:  Unknown

It is unknown if Ezmerelda truly exists or not, but her name has appeared throughout centuries among the Gypsies.  Whether she is one woman or several borrowing the same name is unknown, but the Ravnos elders are unwilling to discount it as a mere coincidence.  Some speculate she may be a childe of Ravnos himself.

She is regarded as the quintessential Gypsy heroine.  And whether she is a single individual or a series of powerful Ravnos seers, her influence has nonetheless been profound.

Ezmerelda is a beautiful Gypsy woman with sparkling eyes, lustrous hair and a crescent-moon birthmark on her face.  Her ways are mysterious, her history unknown, her visions powerful and her mind and wit are sharp.

– Source: Clanbook: Ravnos (1st ed), pg 68.

Know Your Kindred – Spider Killer

Name:  Spider-Killer
Clan:  Ravnos
Generation:  5th
Embrace:  Unknown

Very little is known about the vampire called Spider-killer.  He haunts the cities and wastes of the American Southwest, wreaking chaos and destruction wherever he travels.  His mastery of illusions is well known and very powerful.  Many vampires have met their end trying to destroy him.

The earliest reports of Spider-killer date back to 1894.  His goals are hard to understand from his reported actions, but it would seem his favorite targets are Setites and Mexican Sabbat, who he repeatedly and ingeniously disgraces.

His path wanders as far south as Mexico and as far west as California.  Rumors say he travels with other supernatural creatures, like Werewolves and magi.  The Ravnos elders think he may be a remnant of the “Ravnos Neve” – new, more idealistic Ravnos who allied themselves with Native Americans during their unsuccessful war with white settlers.

Some believe he is not Ravnos at all, but one of the Nuwisha, a legendary breed of coyote shapeshifters.

– Source:  Clanbook: Ravnos (1st ed), pg 24, 67.

Know Your Kindred – Natalia

Name:  Natalia
Clan:  Ravnos
Generation:  8th
Embrace:  1703

Like all Ravnos, Natalia acts completely carefree.  She is very good at pick-pocketing and seduction – flirting outrageously with anyone she meets.

She is a slender and sultry beauty with dark eyes and dark hair.  On the outside she looks no more than a 17 year-old.  She likes to wear clothing that has a wide assortment of colors on display.

She came to Berlin after having dreams about her old lover and friend, Ankla Hotep being lost and locked up in a dark prison cell.

– Source:  Berlin by Night, pg 100-101

Know Your Kindred – Ankla Hotep

Name: Ankla Hotep
Clan:  Ravnos
Generation:  5th
Embrace:  1727 BC

Ankla has been locked away in torpor for the past 60 or so years.  Even with his amazing powers, he was not able to avoid the explosion aboard the R.M.S. Lusitania that injured his body and threw him into torpor.  The Nazis managed to obtain Ankla’s body and they brought him to Berlin for use in medical experiments.

The Setite Nefertiti discovered Ankla in Berlin.  Back in her mortal teenage years, Nefertiti and Ankla were lovers, until then she discovered the truth – Ankla was really a vampire and he had been using Nefertiti for her body and her wealth.  Nefertiti was incredibly hurt to learn this, but by then Ankla was long gone.  Even after she was taken in by Set, Nefertiti never forgot the shame Ankla brought upon her.

So while Ankla laid in torpor, Nefertiti manipulated his mind to forget who he really was and to believe he was Caine.  She had a special amulet made for him that increases his powers even more.   Nefertiti hopes to use the newly brainwashed Ankla as her servant and destroy both the Camarilla and Sabbat for the glory of Set.

Ankla is very powerful.  And with the help of the amulet his Chimerstry powers increase to the level of an Antediluvian.  While using his Chimerstry he is for all intents and purposes Caine and can alter reality around him within a five-mile radius.

Ankla is a large dark skinned man with wide shoulders who looks generally attractive, in a roguish way.  He wears colorful clothes and smiles frequently.  He loves to tell stories about the amazing things he has seen in his world travels.

Source:  Berlin By Night, pg 118, 120-121