The Ravnos are one of the fifteen clans of Kindred in Vampire: The Masquerade. Known for being wandering vagabonds and hucksters, the Ravnos are charlatans who gleefully practice their arts of deception and theft. Nobody in the west understood the Ravnos, and now in the Final Nights, it's too late to do so. Misunderstood as a clan of gypsies and tricksters, the western Ravnos are a minor and heretical branch of the undead lords of India. Gifted with the power to manipulate maya, the Ravnos saw themselves as tempters and avengers, replacing the fallenKuei-Jin in the scheme of the universe. All that is irrelevant now, however, as Zapathasura rose from his slumber in the Week of Nightmaresand in his own death throes, wiped out nearly all of his clan.

Due to their inherent clan weakness, The Ravnos clan are all criminals; each Ravnos has a specific vice ranging from plagiarism to mass murder. When the opportunity to indulge that vice is present, Ravnos must succeed in a self-control check to avoid indulging it.

Noddists say that in Enoch, Irad embraced a thief named Dracian, to spy on the Third Generation. Dracian immediately betrayed his sire to the other Antediluvians, leading to the end of the Second Generation.

However, the Ravnos claim a richer prehistory, recorded in the Karavalanisha Vrana, The Wounds of the Night's Sword. This epic poem details how angelic beings (probably Kuei-Jin) betrayed their original purpose and became blood-drinking demons; to balance them out, the Gods brought back to live a man who had been wronged more by these asuratziyya more than any other. This creature, named Zapathasura was charged by the Gods to exterminate the asuratziyya and restore balance to the world.

In his quest for vengeance, Zapathasura embraced five childer: Marizhavashti Kali, a seer; the Rakshasa, a shapeshifter; Chandraputra, a military leader; Ravana, who betrayed Zapathasura and may be the Yama King of the same name; and Ramessu, who served as an internal policeman for Zapathasura's war. These five Methuselahs are the ancestors of all other Ravnos. They served Zapathasura for centuries in prehistoric India until the wearied of their sire's endless war and slaughter, abandoning him to his own devices as time passed. Ravnos eventually fell into torpor and the clan restructured.

The majority of the elders left India for the west, while Chandraputra remained in the subcontinent and reordered the clan along a more caste-oriented society. This culture faced two invasions around the time of Alexander the Great - western vampires following the conqueror, and Kuei-Jin on a crusade from China. At this time, Ravnos society diverged. The Ravnos heading towards the west began to deviate from the philosophy of Zapathasura, eventually creating what would become known as the Path of Paradox. Meanwhile, the Indian Ravnos split into castes in a fashion similar to the Assamites, with multiple Jati fulfilling different roles in the war against the Wan Kuei.