Post by Tami on Mar 2, 2007 21:49:54 GMT -5
Within each of the Damned lies the power they call the beast. It is the unending hunger and limitless savagery that gnaws at their souls, night after night. They must learn to master the Beast or else go mad, becoming little more than ravening monsters until they are put down by their own kind like rabid dogs. In order to stand against the nightly demands of the Beast, vampires embrace a variety of philosophies, beliefs they can hold on to and build a strong center around, perhaps even paths to greater understanding of their nature and a measure of peace. They call these ways roads (or viae in Latin), and through them lies hope, and often power.
Initiates
Newly Embraced vampires choose a particular road to follow. Some neonates make this choice with a full understanding of the implications, after their sires teach them the ways of Cainite belief. This technique is the preferred one among the High Clans and some of the Low, but it is hardly universal. More likely, the childe has little detailed understanding of roads or may even be blissfully unaware of them at all. Her own instincts guide her to a broad via she can follow. Such Cainites follow their roads out of blind faith or instinct, clinging to whatever beliefs they can to ward off the Beast. Proper instruction in a road is one of the reasons princes insist on controlling the right to create childer. Caitiff left to their own devices too often degenerate into monsters and stir up the mortal population against Cainites in general.
However vampires arrive at their chosen road, they all begin as initiates of that road. Their first steps are tenuous and cautious. An initiate is not yet fully committed to the road, so he does not yet enjoy the full benefits of it. Initiates, whose convictions have yet to be tested, are less able to hold back their Beast, which makes them susceptible to the madness of frenzy and the Red fear. Initiates also do not yet radiate the aura of their road.
Each road carries a particular aura with it, a feeling or impression the Cainite unconsciously projects. The greater the Cainite's Road rating is, the stronger this aura is. For example, followers of the Road of Kings have an aura of majesty about them, while followers of the Road of Humanity seem more normal, less like creatures of the night. It's only a vague impression.
Adherents
Initiates remain intiates until they experience a moment of truth, a powerful insight into the nature of the Beast and their chosen road. This comes quickly for some, while others struggle for some time before stumbling upon the insight. Some roads and teachers work to create moments of truth for their initiates while others allow them to happen in their own time. A moment of truth affirms a Cainite's faith in a road. Those who have experienced one can progress from initiate to true adherent of the road. Thereafter, moments of truth allow the vampire to advance further along the road.
Teachers and Priests
Some Cainites who are particularly experienced in their road and firm in their beliefs, with many moments of truth behind them, choose to share their insights with others in order to help them along the way. They become teachers and ministers of their road. They may do so deliberately or fall into the rold as more and more students come seeking advice and guidance. Sires usually teach their childer at least the basics of their own road, if not all major roads, so that the fledgling can survive in Cainite society.
Paragons
Above even the greatest teachers of the roads are the paragons, those Cainites who embody the principles of their road in every word and deed. These worthies have endured many years of unlife and faced countless challenges on their path, overcoming them through dedication and strengthening their devotion. Their wisdom is unparalleled, and they are looked upon as the equals of Christian saints and mythic heroes. Mystics claim that some paragons have even attained the legendary state of Golconda, but such paragons are incredibly rare.
Apostates
Sometimes, Cainites turn away from a road they have chosen, but apostasy is a grave decision that risks the character's soul. Either the vampire takes up a new road in short order, or he is lost to the Beast forever. In either case, apostates turn away from their current road. They no longer honor its principles or follow its traditions. Doing so allows the Beast greater reign over the vampire's heart and soul, and apostates become increasingly dominated by the needs of the Beast. They sneer at their former beliefs and may even become outcasts at court or among other adherents of their road. Most apostates fortunately have the patronage of a teacher or priest of another road to shield them. Those who do not may be declared anathema or even become prey in a blood hunt.
Eventually, after casting aside most of their road's beliefs, apostates reach what some Cainite scholars call ''the jaws of the Beast''. They must take up a new road, dedicate themselves to it and struggle to regain their mastery over the Beast, or they surrender and sink into complete savagery and irreversible damnation.
Excommunication
Even rarer than those who turn their backs on their chosen road are those Cainites banished from their road by an elder or teacher, barred from their road and made anathema to their fellow adherents. Not all roads practice excommunication as such, and it is never invoked lightly, but influential priests and teachers of a road have the power to declare an adherent outlaw, and groups of them can even banish one of their own.
The excommunicate is cut off from all involvement with the road, its rites and its followers. Anyone associating with or giving aid to an excommunicate is likely to suffer the same fate.
Initiates
Newly Embraced vampires choose a particular road to follow. Some neonates make this choice with a full understanding of the implications, after their sires teach them the ways of Cainite belief. This technique is the preferred one among the High Clans and some of the Low, but it is hardly universal. More likely, the childe has little detailed understanding of roads or may even be blissfully unaware of them at all. Her own instincts guide her to a broad via she can follow. Such Cainites follow their roads out of blind faith or instinct, clinging to whatever beliefs they can to ward off the Beast. Proper instruction in a road is one of the reasons princes insist on controlling the right to create childer. Caitiff left to their own devices too often degenerate into monsters and stir up the mortal population against Cainites in general.
However vampires arrive at their chosen road, they all begin as initiates of that road. Their first steps are tenuous and cautious. An initiate is not yet fully committed to the road, so he does not yet enjoy the full benefits of it. Initiates, whose convictions have yet to be tested, are less able to hold back their Beast, which makes them susceptible to the madness of frenzy and the Red fear. Initiates also do not yet radiate the aura of their road.
Each road carries a particular aura with it, a feeling or impression the Cainite unconsciously projects. The greater the Cainite's Road rating is, the stronger this aura is. For example, followers of the Road of Kings have an aura of majesty about them, while followers of the Road of Humanity seem more normal, less like creatures of the night. It's only a vague impression.
Adherents
Initiates remain intiates until they experience a moment of truth, a powerful insight into the nature of the Beast and their chosen road. This comes quickly for some, while others struggle for some time before stumbling upon the insight. Some roads and teachers work to create moments of truth for their initiates while others allow them to happen in their own time. A moment of truth affirms a Cainite's faith in a road. Those who have experienced one can progress from initiate to true adherent of the road. Thereafter, moments of truth allow the vampire to advance further along the road.
Teachers and Priests
Some Cainites who are particularly experienced in their road and firm in their beliefs, with many moments of truth behind them, choose to share their insights with others in order to help them along the way. They become teachers and ministers of their road. They may do so deliberately or fall into the rold as more and more students come seeking advice and guidance. Sires usually teach their childer at least the basics of their own road, if not all major roads, so that the fledgling can survive in Cainite society.
Paragons
Above even the greatest teachers of the roads are the paragons, those Cainites who embody the principles of their road in every word and deed. These worthies have endured many years of unlife and faced countless challenges on their path, overcoming them through dedication and strengthening their devotion. Their wisdom is unparalleled, and they are looked upon as the equals of Christian saints and mythic heroes. Mystics claim that some paragons have even attained the legendary state of Golconda, but such paragons are incredibly rare.
Apostates
Sometimes, Cainites turn away from a road they have chosen, but apostasy is a grave decision that risks the character's soul. Either the vampire takes up a new road in short order, or he is lost to the Beast forever. In either case, apostates turn away from their current road. They no longer honor its principles or follow its traditions. Doing so allows the Beast greater reign over the vampire's heart and soul, and apostates become increasingly dominated by the needs of the Beast. They sneer at their former beliefs and may even become outcasts at court or among other adherents of their road. Most apostates fortunately have the patronage of a teacher or priest of another road to shield them. Those who do not may be declared anathema or even become prey in a blood hunt.
Eventually, after casting aside most of their road's beliefs, apostates reach what some Cainite scholars call ''the jaws of the Beast''. They must take up a new road, dedicate themselves to it and struggle to regain their mastery over the Beast, or they surrender and sink into complete savagery and irreversible damnation.
Excommunication
Even rarer than those who turn their backs on their chosen road are those Cainites banished from their road by an elder or teacher, barred from their road and made anathema to their fellow adherents. Not all roads practice excommunication as such, and it is never invoked lightly, but influential priests and teachers of a road have the power to declare an adherent outlaw, and groups of them can even banish one of their own.
The excommunicate is cut off from all involvement with the road, its rites and its followers. Anyone associating with or giving aid to an excommunicate is likely to suffer the same fate.