Morality Path

Also referred to as Paths of Enlightenment, morality paths are moral codes created by vampires in an attempt to retain some sense of self as their humanity crumbles around them. Morality paths act as "stand-ins" for humanity, allowing a vampire to choose new philosophical precepts and rules to help keep themselves stable when the more humane morals of their mortal life may no longer be possible (or desirable) to follow. Like humanity, mortality paths also subscribe to various Virtues.

The vast majority of vampires do not adhere to a morality path; like the humans they once were, they remain tied to their humanity, and most spend their entire unlives trying to protect and preserve it to stave off the influence of the Beast. Vampires with morality paths are likely to be elders who have lived a long time and developed custom morals as a result, or occasionally members of cults and sects that actively attempt to subvert the normal virtues of humanity.

All morality paths are Restricted for new characters; if you have an idea that hinges on one, send Admin a message.

History & Development

Vampires discovered early on that the erosion of their humanity meant increased difficulty fighting off the Beast and maintaining a sense of their inner selves, and philosophies and practices designed to help avoid the dreaded Wassail arose quickly in antiquity. Many elders were pioneers in this area, creating new morals out of necessity just to keep themselves conscious and sane through the centuries.

It is extremely likely that there are many more morality paths that are unknown to the world in general, simply because they were invented by and are practiced by only a single ancient elder; they might pass on their philosophy to their brood, but then again, it might be lost to eternity if the old vampire is ever subjected to Final Death.

Roads

During the Middle Ages, the chaotic taught-by-elders philosophies of vampiric life solidified into the Roads, proto-morality-paths that drew on existing organizations, such as feudal knighthoods or organized religion, to give vampires an additional, non-humanity framework to base their morality on. Philosophers and officials referred to as ashen priests oversaw the creation and codification of the Roads, helping to refine them and provide rulings in areas of questionable morality.

For many vampires, especially in Europe and northern Africa, the Roads once established became almost a religion unto themselves, allowing them an additional dimension in which to make alliances and from which to draw new converts and coterie members. Members of different Roads clashed, sometimes bitterly, if they disagreed over what should be done with the mortals in an area, and fellow members of the same Road often considered themselves to be brothers-in-arms regardless of what else they might have in common.

Modern Paths

By the end of the Renaissance, Roads had begun to fall out of favor, replaced by the newer, more coherent modern morality paths. The rise of free trade and the resulting artistic explosion saw vampires traveling from continent to continent, making it easier to share their new ideas and refine their moral codes.

The Camarilla, seeing such philosophies as inherently evil due to their divergence from humanity, declared them unsavory, deciding that a morality path was a sign of a vampire's inevitable degradation into a monster and therefore a red flag warning to avoid associating with them. Camarilla vampires to this day universally claim to subscribe to humanity as their morality path of choice, although, as in all things involving the undead, the older and more powerful they are, the less likely it is that they are following the same rules as everyone else.

Other sects have more variety. The vampires of the Sabbat are almost all on a path or at least headed toward one, simply by nature of their ruthless disregard of human morals; similarly, the Teteoh vampires consider such paths ways for vampires to achieve enlightenment and oneness with the gods beyond their physical shells. Vampires among the Shining Kingdoms, Jati, and Cradle of Civilization are a mixed bag, considering most morality paths to be valid philosophies but coming down heavily on anyone seen to be doing a poor job of adhering to theirs. The Quiet Nations and most Anarchs, like the Camarilla, adhere more closely to humanity than to morality paths for the most part, but in the philosophical free-for-all of the Independents or Drowned Legacies, any morality goes.

Paths

No paths are truly "common," since they are possessed only by a very small group of vampires worldwide, but even within that select few there are levels of obscurity. The paths below represent the most mainstream of alternative philosophies.

Path of the Beast

Path of Death and the Soul

Path of Honorable Accord

Path of Power and the Inner Voice

Sharia el-Sama

Path of Self-Focus

The less common paths below are likely practiced only by elders or cults dedicated to them; they may have a reasonable number of members, but their practices are likely to be shrouded in mystery and seldom encountered in the wild.

Path of Blood

Path of Caine

Path of the Feral Heart

Path of Metamorphosis

Path of Night

Path of Redemption

Path of Typhon

The following are extremely rare paths indicate philosophies held by only very small numbers of vampires around the world, many of them dedicated to keeping the path alive from the time of their ancient forbears.

Path of Asakku

Path of Cathari

Path of Entelechy

Path of Harmony

Path of Lilith

Path of Orion

Path of Paradox

The morality paths below are known by only a handful of vampires worldwide, and are almost always impossible to find information about.

Path of Bones

Path of Evil Revelations

Hierarchy of Wyrm Taint

Path of the Hive

Path of the Scorched Heart

Path of the Sun

Switching Paths

Switching paths is rare for good reason: it is extremely difficult, and failure means that the vampire is lost to the Beast, permanently becoming a Wight.

In order for a vampire to switch from one path to another (or from humanity to a path), they must first abandon the precepts of their current path; this means not only failing to follow its moral code closely, but actively working against it in an attempt to break free of its philosophies. Once they have received the first level of their current path, they may then attempt to move to another by beginning to perform as if at its first level. They require a guide or teacher for this who is already on the path they want to switch to, whose role is to teach them the new path's code and help them avoid straying from it at a critical time.

This process is obviously dangerous, with no guarantee of success; most vampires simply fail to latch onto the new path properly and fall into Wassail, from which there is no return. Those who do succeed must be harrowingly aware of what they are doing and deeply committed to success in order to have a chance of pulling it off, and it's no surprise that the number of vampires known to have changed paths more than once is functionally zero.

See Also

Beast
Frenzy
Humanity