Path of Enlightenment

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The Paths of Enlightenment, sometimes derogatorily called the Paths of Edgelightenment, are the variant codes of morality in Vampire: The Masquerade meant to replace Humanity.

Yeah, But Why Though?

To understand why paths of enlightenment exist, a player has to realistically consider what it takes to maintain humanity for an immortal who lives in a near constant shadow war that can go hot whenever their demigod ancestors does it for the lulz. A vampire has to invest in emotional connections, avoid hubris, avoid asshole vampires that look on your life as either a means of promotion or a tasty snack, and keep their beast in check.

That last one is key.

The beast, being a primal id made from a curse from G-D on one of his grandkids, is always trying to make a vampire take the low road, and taking the low road feeds the beast. To describe how difficult this is in the world of darkness imagine a catholic priest who just graduated seminary…with a sex addiction, a penchant for cocaine, a violent temper, and a whole lotta repressed feelings, working in Las Vegas’ busiest brothel/mafia hangout at a 24-hour confession booth. I’m not saying that vows are gonna be broken, but the poor fuck’s chances of keeping them are close to nil, because the beast is that insidious. Some Vampires think maintaining humanity is just a vicious spiral that ends with death or losing all control, and for the majority they're probably right.

So, how the fuck do you stay sane when Humanity isn't long-term viable? How do you keep your beast in check?

They came up with the paths of enlightenment, a process of literally building a new moral framework from the ground up, where the morals are less naïve to the realities of the Jyhad and Unlife.

Paths of Enlightenment

Path of the Beast

“Act natural, predators are natural. Lions don’t need money, bears don’t need condos, humans aren’t animals!”

Path of Blood

“I’m a vigilante because my Progenitor came up with Vampire Criminal Law, if a vampire goes out of line it’s my duty to end their unlife…or if my elders got paid to do it.”

Path of Bones

“Death is cool, let’s study death…like *really* study death, I have so many corpses to autopsy!”

Path of Caine

“Caine was the first and best vampire, so I’ll model my life after a homicidal farmer cursed by god and totally fight with people for ancient tomes that might tell me more about my sempai.”

Path of Cathari

“We’re animate corpses in a world created by the demiurge, everything’s already evil and damned why not enjoy it a bit?”

Path of Evil Revelations

“Okay, first there was the pentagram. And then this awesome dude with horns gave me this cool power and it only cost my soul. _{Yes master, virgin sacrifice at midnight, in a playboy bunny outfit, I am glad to be your lickspittle master}”

Path of Honourable Accord

“I’m like a paladin except I can’t break my word or I’ll go insane, but if I do an atrocity because the hierarchy I'm in demands it I'm all good. Oh, you dishonoured My Lord. I hope you didn’t like your head attached to your body.”

Path of Lilith

“Lilith was a generation before Caine and totally got a raw deal, so we’re going to implement a Gynocentric BDSM culture and tell you the REAL reason why the penis is evil: Caine!.”

Path of Metamorphasis

“EugenicsEvolve motherfuckers! We gotta evolve until we’re no longer vampires and maybe something better…or a Shoggoth.”

Path of Night

“Only the Evilest DARKEST EVIL is good enough for me to spread EVIL and make things horrible for everyone. Did I ever tell you about the time I was totally cool and not cringy?!?”

Path of Paradox

“We can make illusions! So who the fuck knows what is real? Also, if you’re enlightened enough, you can warp reality*”

Path of Power and the Inner Voice

“Nietzsche! Nietzsche! Nietzsche! Nietzsche! I stay sane by being the most Ubermench ever. What’s your favorite Ayn Rand paragraph?”

Path of Typhon

“Worship Set! We have Blackjack, Hookers, Blow, Blood, and when you’re tired of that we have this mystery cult thing that won’t totally backfire on us.”

_{(*Power to warp reality not a guarantee. Adopting the Path of Paradox may cause: Insanity, mockery, people pointing and laughing, getting shot on sight, getting left for the sun, getting figments of your imagination to plan your demise, and acne.)}

What the Creators Intended

Vampires have to be monsters to exist, and realistically it’s very fucking hard not to adapt to circumstance. Paths were a way to codify what happens when Vampires find some stability that doesn’t involve being the kind of faggot who weeps tears of blood over the hunter that just tried to torch you and the apartment building your haven’s in. Where a lot of paths are looser in the realms of: killing, stealing, property damage, torture, etc., what is put in it’s place is something that is stricter in the hierarchy of sins.

A Path of Beast Vamp isn’t going to be bothered by accidentally killing someone during feeding, such things happen to prey after all. However cold blooded murder is still a problem, according to the path it isn’t natural. And that’s the key thing: ACCORDING TO THE PATH.

Rather than the loosey goosey moral greys of humanity the Paths have far more specific prohibitions, some that are even harder to avoid. Like not frenzying, something that is likely to occur in any tense situation, and there are disciplines that can induce it. Or Path of Power and the Inner Voice and it's level 1 Sin "Turning Down an Oppourtunity for Power," I can easily see how a good ST can exploit this. Paths don't just let PCs do what they want, you are literally trading which sins drive you nuts.

Furthermore, paths are meant to be built from the ground up. and your XP had better go to boosting your path every so often because unless your ST is merciful you’re starting much much lower on your path of enlightenment than the folks still on humanity, and you might have to buy up brand new virtues from scratch. (Remember how you got a free dot of each virtue? If you switch Concience with Conviction or Self-Control with Instinct that free dot is gone and you’re just a little bit easier to fuck over by the ST…unless you spend your freebies boosting those virtues instead of disciplines or backgrounds_{...not fucking likely.})

On the other hand. If you can keep players to their hierarchy of sins with the same zeal that a Rules Lawyer cares about circumstance bonuses, some really facinating RP can happen and you might actually see something cool.

The Path of What I Was Going To Do Anyway

The path of That Guy, who just wants an excuse to be an edgy asshole. The name comes from the Revised Edition, where this name was given alongside a warning about the potential for players to abuse paths to avoid moral questions.