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I looked upon the scene before me - upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain - upon the bleak walls upon the vacant eye-like windows - upon a few rank sedges - and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees - with an utter depression of the soul, which I can compare to no earthly sensation… - Edgar Allan Poe * There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy - William Shakespeare * No Man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks. - Mary Wollstonecraft * Tell me the news, again, whatever it is... sorrow and I are hardly strangers. I can bear the worst. ― Sophocles






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Road of Heaven; Divinity/Penitence/Retribution/Tears
Topic Started: Sep 27 2015, 01:52 PM (335 Views)
Roofie
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Heaven Divinity Penitence Retribution Tears
Road of Heaven

Nickname: Faithful

Virtues: Conscience and Self Control

Ethics of the Path

The Faithful cling to the belief that divine purpose guides the hand of fate, and that even great evil can serve a greater purpose. Vampires who walk the Road of Heaven devote themselves to understanding that purpose through subservience to a higher power. Holding tightly to the faiths they held in mortal life.Followers of Heaven accept the curse the Lord placed on them. Everything is part of God's plan, even the Children of Caine.

So, the existence of a higher power is irrefutable, as its dominion over all things. Vampiric existence is part of a divine plan; God laid his mark upon Caine and his childer as part of this. The word of God is law. Defiance of God is sin that leads to damnation. Thus, the Embrace is a call to direct service of the God's will over individual will. Following divine law and rejecting evil is the only way to shackle the Beast. So, love and serve God in all things. Deny the Devil through denial of the Beast and all creatures of Hell. The voice of the beast is Satan, seeking to lure the faithful into sin, so those of Heaven repress the Beast with their faithful devotion.

The road, as a whole, is built upon the belief that God is testing the so-called Faithful. Theirs is a heavy burden, but they bear it gladly. They shun all servants of evil, such as devil-worshippers, demons and followers of the Road of Sin. It is important for the followers to battle such corruption and sin in others, as all the devil requires is for the faithful to do nothing.

Outwardly, the Road of Heaven appears as the most fragmented and chaotic of roads; as Cainites retain their faiths and religions from mortal life. These differing religious traditions inform how Cainites on the Road of Heaven make sense of their Embrace. Christian Cainites liken themselves to Job, seeing themselves as subjects of a cosmic test of character. Muslim Cainites see the Embrace as a call to destroy the servants of Shaitan. Jewish Cainites find the Embrace an invigorating call to scholarship, a new avenue for insight into the nature of God. Druidic Cainites reason that serving the Great Balance requires darkness as well as light. And a servant of the old Roman Gods believes that she had somehow offended one of them and must strive to regain that god’s favor.

Differences between Faithful tend to be entrenched, with different Paths often representing distinct religious traditions. However, each Faithful must choose their own sub-Path, which determines the more specific ethics and moralities that they must adhere to. They all agree, though, that a heavenly reward is not unattainable – just harder for the Damned to achieve. After all, God does not withdraw His grace from sinners.

Sins against Heaven
RatingMoral Guideline
10Violating any of the Ten Commandments, for any reason
9Failing to speak out against corruption and sin
8Acting out of pride, avarice, gluttony or some other sinful impulse
7Robbery, willful vandalism
6Causing harm to a pious and virtuous person
5Feeding from and innocent without permission
4Blasphemous or heretical acts
3Allowing a crime or major sin to go unpunished
2The murder of innocents
1Aiding a demon or other supernatural agent of evil
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Roofie
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Heaven Divinity Penitence Retribution Tears
Path of Divinity

Nickname: Heretics, Divinists

Virtues: Conviction and Self Control

Ethics of the Path

Followers of the Path of Divinity believe that the very foundation of standard Faithful belief, the notion that god cursed their kind, is flawed. Undeath is not truly a curse but instead proof of God's favour, a divine blessing. They have been touched, in a real and literal sense, by the divine. They stand alone and above all other of God's creations and point to their supernatural powers and perfect, undying existence as evidence of their claims.

Believing themselves superior to mortals, Cainites invariably come to the Path of Divinity as it is the only viable means of reconciling their genuine belief in God with their secret delight at having been “gifted” with the Embrace. Divinists believe it is their role to guide humanity to the worship of the Lord. The Flock must be led, guided, and educated to fear and adore God's chosen. Extending the worship of Cainites ultimately spreads the worship of God.

The Beast rises to action when it is frustrated and denied; so long as its hunger is kept satiated, a Cainite never needs fear that his Beast will slip its leash and put the Faithful's soul in jeopardy. The kine are there specifically to ensure the Faithfuls continued good behaviour.

The Divinists are viewed as heretics among other followers of Heaven, as their tenets emphasize a contrary relationship with God to all others who follow the Road. These deviant few are considered grossly misled at best, and greatly blasphemous at worst. Thus, it is generally considered unwise to publicly announce one's adherence to the Path of Divinity. So Divinists are often experts at circumspection, blending in with the broader hierarchy of the road at large.

Sins against Divinity
RatingMoral Guideline
10Allowing mortals to violate the Ten Commandments
9Failing to speak out against corruption and sin
8Acting out of pride, avarice or some other sinful impulse
7Theft, robbery, willful vandalism
6Causing harm to a pious and virtuous person
5Feeding from an innocent by force
4Blasphemous or Heretical acts
3Allowing a crime or major sin to go unpunished
2The murder of innocents
1Aiding a demon or other supernatural agent of evil
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Roofie
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Heaven Divinity Penitence Retribution Tears
Path of Penitence

Nickname: Penitents

Virtues: Conscience and Self Control

Ethics of the Path

Members the Path of Penitence believe they are damned by God and must atone for their sins. So revolted by their accursed condition, they feel it must be God's punishment for a life of sin and impiety. Their curse is a condition that both tests their faith and gives them an opportunity to show God their damned souls are not beyond hope. Only by spending their unlives in search of atonement may they once again know God's grace and an eventual release from the torment of the Curse.

Cainites are damned, filthy creatures by their very natures. Followers believe that personal suffering leads to enlightenment, and ultimately to redemption. They are dedicated to the notion that unlife as a damned childe of Caine should not be pleasant or secure; that their condition is both a test and an opportunity – the last they'll ever get, in fact – to show their Creator that their damned souls are not beyond hope.

Penitents hold fast to the Faithful ideals of worship, and the same basic tenets of the parent road (understanding their own accursed natures), but for them the key to self-mastery lies in showing God just how faithful they truly are.

They understand their Beast quite well, perhaps better than other Faithful, knowing that by keeping it weak and tame, they can avoid temptation and further spiritual disintegration. They espouse a rigorous regimen of self-discipline, prayer and penance as fundamental aspects to their belief system. The most demanding path of Heaven, followers are given to self-abuse in the name of atonement; they are expected to literally beat their own damned souls into submission - flagellation. Many practise blood-denial, sometimes going without nourishment for nights on end or engaging in extended fasts where they maintain a constant minimum of blood in their bodies.

Removing the stain of sins past requires the performance of good deeds present, and part of the Path's foundation lies in doing beneficent work for mankind – indeed, many become guardians of communities. Vows of poverty and silence predominate, but a number of Penitents, having acquired considerable power and wealth over the course of their protracted existences, prefer to take vows of charity. These individuals are a prime example of how even ambitious and powerful Penitents wan remain true to both nature and path simultaneously.

Sins against Penitence
RatingMoral Guideline
10Violating any of the ten Commandments
9Failing to speak out against corruption and sin
8Feeding to maximum capacity
7Failing to self-flagellate or otherwise suffer nightly
6Failing to administer charity to the needy
5Feeding from an innocent without permission
4Blasphemous or Heretical acts
3Allowing a crime or major sin to go unpunished
2The murder of innocents
1Aiding a demon or other supernatural agent of evil
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Roofie
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Heaven Divinity Penitence Retribution Tears
Path of Retribution

Nickname: Crusaders

Virtues: Conviction and Self Control

Ethics of the Path

It is at once a divine curse, duty, blessing, and birthright to act as God's wrath on Earth. Followers of the Path of Retribution believe that those duties include punishing the wicked and the sinful. Crusaders believe themselves to be agents of divine justice, touched by God to act as the scourge of evil on Earth until the End of Days.

They are martially minded Noddists who use their God-given power to bring the light of Heaven into the world, beating back darkness in the process. They believe cainites, having been stripped of their morality, are the hands of God on the physical world. The Faithful exist to serve as Heaven's righteous wrath. Non-Faithful Cainites ultimately walk the path to damnation. Clemency must be neither asked for nor given where evil is concerned.

Of all the Faithful, Crusaders are the most at peace with their natures – a fact that makes them all the more unsettling. They recognise the Beast as Satan trying to draw them from the path, and they view their intake of blood as a divine sacrament in that blood quiets the corruptive urges of the Beast. These chosen warriors mete out justice wherever they feel it is needed and rarely care about acting in error. If all Crusaders commit any trespass, it is the hubris to presume that they know God's will. They believe they are the hands of God in the physical world.

The structure of this path is one of the most rigid, as each adherent who wishes to be involved at any level in path affairs must be officially ordained by a path elder. This initiation ritual, called the Blooding, confirms the initiate as knight – one of the Right Knights of His Most Holy Order of Vengeance – in the service of both path and God. Once confirmed, a knight of the Order is now part of a brotherhood, a worldwide military order of Noddists dedicated to smiting all that is unholy in the name of the Lord. The Order's beliefs are stark and its methods Draconian, but none can deny its power.

Sins against Retribution
RatingMoral Guideline
10Neglecting an opportunity to exact vengeance
9Failing to punish any corruption or sin
8Acting out of pride, avarice or some other sinful impulse
7Allowing a moderate crime or sin to go unpunished
6Causing harm to a pious and virtuous person
5Feeding from an innocent without permission
4Blasphemous or Heretical acts
3Allowing a crime or major sin to go unpunished
2The murder of innocents
1Aiding a demon or other supernatural agent of evil
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Roofie
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Heaven Divinity Penitence Retribution Tears
Path of Tears

Nickname: Martyrs

Virtues: Conscience and Self Control

Ethics of the Path

The last of the commonly followed branches of the Road of Heaven is the Path of Tears, and in practice it is a combination of the Paths of Penitence and Retribution. The first-hand revelation about the existence of the Damned, compiled with the ensuing revelations about the World of Darkness, confirms every paranoid notion of Heaven and Hell in Martyrs. Disgusted by what they have become, followers feel they must pursue evil at every turn simply to reconcile their spirits with their natures.

Unlike those on the Path of Retribution, the Martyrs do not feel that they are the scourge of the wicked among the kine. Indeed, they feel themselves to be inferior to the Children of Seth. Instead, they believe it is the burden of the Noddist to disrupt the plans of the Adversary on Earth by any means necessary, up to and including the sacrifice of their own unlives. The tide of corruption brought forth by demons and other Cainites must be stemmed.

Followers believe God cursed them with both suffering and smiting the evil in the world. In doing so they pay the greatest cost for their atonement in undead toil. The Beast is seen as the personal barometer of damnation. Whenever it reaers its ugly head, it must be beaten down through the sacrifice of the metaphorical blood of the damned. Slipping too far down the path is seen as Satan gaining undue influence over their souls .Martyrs will dutifully end their own existence if they believe they have fallen so close to the Beast's clutches that they cannot be redeemed.

It is the duty of the Martyr to suffer so that others might not. Aid must be offered to those in pain, and protection to those who suffer evil's scourge.

Sins against Tears
RatingMoral Guideline
10Neglecting your duty in any way
9Showing cowardice in the face of evil
8Acting out of pride, avarice or some other sinful impulse
7Theft, robbery, willful vandalism
6Causing harm to a pious and virtuous person
5Feeding from an innocent by force
4Blasphemous or Heretical acts
3Allowing a crime or major sin to go unpunished
2The murder of innocents
1Aiding a demon or other supernatural agent of evil

- Roofie
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