Paolo Sardenzo is a Giovanni whose failures to bring the Endless Night are somewhat legendary.
Biography[]
Paolo was a Giovanni on his mother's side, and originally served as a ghouled diplomat for his family in the endless struggle between the Camarilla and the Sabbat for influence over the Italian peninsula.
Soon, he became involved with the struggle of independence of Venice from Austria. To this end, he and his teacher Diego Giovanni allied themselves with a prussian faction of Ventrue to fight against those Ventrue who controlled Austria. Afterwards, he aided the Ventrue in their struggle against the Toreador of France and Paolo's reward for his extraordinary service was the Embrace in 1867.
Between 1866 and 1914, Paolo brokered many fruitful deals with other Kindred clans. He showed his aptitude for Necromancy was as great as his aptitude for politics. When the first World War erupted, he was fascinated by modern warfare and was aggressively harvesting new shades from the dead in the battlefields. Paolo thought that that was the right time to tear down the Shroud. His success in harvesting souls gained him many followers until a shell landed too close to his haven and his crypt was exposed to sunlight. Paolo survived by burrowing into the ground, but his left arm and left side of his face were forever scarred.
He survived the injuries, but was faced with waning resources as his followers left him and ghosts from beyond the Shroud started to actively work against him. When the Fourth Maelstrom happened, a group of war-dead wraiths, calling themselves the Bloody Legion, rose up and rebelled against Paolo and the Giovanni. Eventually the Bloody Legion was put to an end, but not before they dealt Paolo a series of defeats, humiliating him in front of the family.
When World War II began, Paolo hoped to use this opportunity to regain his place in the family. Trying to start the Endless Night again, he disobeyed his superiors and traveled to eastern Germany, hoping to harvest the souls of the dead during the Russian campaign, but things ended poorly for Paolo and he was staked and dragged back to Venice.
Paolo remained staked until 1985, when his needed expertise in the Shadowlands gained him release. He was blood bonded to Diego Giovanni, and by the year 2000 Paolo had caught up with modern life and computers, urging his master to invest more in technology. Although the blood bond is very strong, Diego finds it harder and harder to resist relying on Paolo's advice.
Appearance[]
Paolo started out as a tall, dark, handsome man, but the left side of his face is now hideously scarred. He removed his left eye and replaced it with a corpse's eye, which has festered in its socket. Observers say his left hand festers too.
Character Sheet[]
NOTE: Paolo has created a new Combination Discipline, using Thaumaturgy and Protean, so that when he is laying in soil soaked in blood, he can absorb the blood into himself, even in torpor. Of course, blood-soaked ground is not terribly common, except in wartime or at the sites of atrocities.
Gallery[]
References[]
- VTM: Clanbook: Giovanni Revised, p. 97-98
