Lifestyle and Culture:
Travelers
Nomadic; Travel in horse-drawn, barrel-topped wagons called vardos, which they build themselves.
They always have a plethora of horses and barrel-top wagons at the ready.
Flamboyant; dress in bright clothes, laugh often, arid drink heartily.
Vistani are silversmiths, coppersmiths, haberdashers, cooks, weavers, musicians, entertainers, storytellers, toolmakers, and horse traders. They also earn money by telling fortunes and selling information. They spend whatever they earn to support a lavish lifestyle, display their wealth openly as a sign of prosperity, and share their good fortune with family and friends.
Resolve disagreements through contests that end with reconciliatory singing, dancing, and storytelling.
Vistani bring items into Barovia from other lands; can trade but rarely do so with the Barovian people as they tend to treat them with mistrust and alienate them. Are more willing with people who are welcoming to them as they are to others.
Quick to act when their lives or traditions are threatened, merciless when they believe they must be.
Vistani who knowingly bring harm or misfortune to others of their kind are banished-the worst punishment a Vistana can imagine.
A Welcoming People
Vistani are the kings and queens of hospitality. If you are not their enemy, you are their friend, even if they just met you. The Vistani will treat visitors with open kindness, feeding them from their table and making sure they have beds for the night.The Vistani can also be quite loud and boisterous. They're fans of wine, music, and dance and often indulge in all three. They believe that these things are medicine for the human soul and push visitors to join them in their merrymaking. The more crest-fallen the PC, the more the Vistani will gather around them and push wine into their bellies and try to make them laugh.
Vistani Terms
Rema = Karma, is one of the core tenants of Vistani faith. They believe that kindness breeds kindness and hate breeds hate. If you are kind to them, they are kind back. If you hurt them, they will hurt you back. Simple, really.
Anda Thema - What the Vistani call Barovia, meaning both "heart of the world" and "edge of the world".
Giorgio - Someone who is not Vistani. A general term for outsiders.
Giogoto - An outsider who has done something so profound, they're basically honorary Vistani. They're accepted as one of the Vistani, though they weren't born one.
Mortu - outcasted Vistana
Mortio - enemy of the Vistani
Shae - a generic term for an honored elder.
Raunie - A Vistana with an exceptional gift for seeing the Threads of Fate, ie. Madame Eva.
Remanio - Vistana who have been cut off from the threads of fate, someone who voluntarily leaves the tribe essentially
Vani - A Vistana that returns to their tribe
Vardos - what they call their wagons
Storytelling
The Vistani are excellent storytellers. They collect tales of all kinds and share them almost every night around their campfires.
When visitors come by their camp, they pretty much demand a story as payment for their hospitality. If a visitor is obviously too uncomfortable for this though, they don't push the issue and instead tell one of their own. Time in a Vistani camp should never feel tense or awkward unless one of their boundaries are crossed.
Elders:
Each family or clan of Vistani is its own little gerontocracy; The eldest make the important decisions and their views/coucil is very well respected.
Responsible for enforcing traditions, settling disputes, setting the course for the group's travels, and preserving the Vistani way of life.
Make all the important decisions, but whether by choice or because of their age, tend to speak in cryptic, flowing riddles.
Family Units:
The Vistani believe that family comes first and foremost. And to them, family isn't just the people you're related to by blood. Family is all the people around you, from extended family to friends and their families. Your BFF's mother is your mother too in Vistani culture.
When a Vistana leaves their Tribe (Remanio)
If a Vistana decides to leave their tribe to, say, go live in Vallaki, this isn't shunned. A Vistana is free to go live their lives away from their people if they choose. They won't become outcasts or hated by Vistani if they do so.
Instead, when a Vistana decides to leave the tribe, the Vistani treat it like a death. They actively mourn the loss of the Vistana and send prayers to the fates for their safety away from their family. This ceremonial mourning is almost identical to a funeral in Vistani culture.
The Vistani refer to someone who has voluntarily left the tribe as a Remanio, one who has been cut off from the Threads of Fate.
When A Vistana returns to their Tribe (Vani)
If a Remanio is returned to the Vistani, they are welcomed with open arms and usually copious amounts of tears and hugging. This can happen if a Remanio decides they've made a mistake in leaving, or if they've accomplished their goal and are ready to come home.
When someone is returned to the Vistani, they are called Vani. Vani is a term loosely meaning, "someone brought back from death."
Strahd:
As told around campfires, centuries ago, Vistani rescued him after he was wounded in battle during a military campaign in his mortal life. He then rewarded their generosity by declaring that all Vistani had the right to come and go from his land as they please, a privilege that extends to the present day. Strahd and the Vistani have a relationship of mutual respect.The Vistani showed Strahd kindness and saved his life when they certainly didn't have to, impressing Strahd. Strahd made a vow that all Vistani would henceforth be welcome in his land, so long as they did not openly antagonize him. Because Strahd is a man of his word, he's honored his vow over the centuries.
Lore
Strahd
Strahd comes from a royal bloodline. He died centuries ago yet endures as one of the undead, feasting on the blood of the living. Barovians refer to him as "the devil Strahd."
The Land of Barovia
Barovians are simple, frightened people. Some have old souls, but many do not. The soulless ones are easy to spot, for they know nothing but fear. They have no charm, hope, or spark, and they don't cry.
The Old Svalich Road passes through Strahd's domain. Three settlements lie on the road like beads on a string: Krezk to the west, Vallaki in the heart of the valley, and Shadowgrange to the east.
There's an old windmill on the road between the village of Shadowgrange and the town of Vallaki. It should be avoided at all costs!
It is wise to stick to the road. Wild druids, wayward ghosts, and packs of wolves and werewolves haunt the Svalich Woods.
Beliefs and Superstitions
The Vistani don't worship any gods, but instead believe in something they call, the Threads of Fate. They believe that all actions have reactions and that fate's wound its strings around everyone.
The souls of those who die in Barovia can't escape to the afterlife. They are prisoners in Strahd's domain.
Some Vistani women are blessed with prescience. Of all the great Vistani fortune-tellers, none compares to Madam Eva. If knowledge of the future is what you seek, Madam Eva will tell you your fate.
A prescient Vistana can't see her own future or the future of another Vistana. It is the burden of the Vistani's great gift that their own fates can't be divined.
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