Humanity and Roads of Enlightenment
Roads
A Road's primary purpose is to suppress or control the Beast within the vampire. All characters start on Humanity. Joining a road requires justification and is a level 1 merit and requires that you drop your humanity to one. While the Road of Humanity is one of the most widely practiced philosophies, it is not nearly as universal as the Humanity trait in VTM.
Every Road has five ranks, with 5 being near-perfectly attuned to the path and 1 being barely in control. These ratings tend to vary throughout a character's unlife. Each Road has a different Hierarchy of Sins, which lists what actions mandate a degeneration role for a character with a given path rating. All characters start with Humanity and can purchase the merit: Path of Enlightenment, for 3 freebies.( Branch costs an additional 1)
Storytellers will always warn characters before they do something that may affect their Humanity rating. Storytellers are under no such compulsion for the other paths of enlightenment. Characters must have a Kindred Lore of at least 2 to know that other Paths exist.
When characters do something that would violate their path, there will be a simple test. Success on the test means the character maintains their current path rating. Failure results in degradation. Characters on the path of Humanity win ties, characters on other paths lose ties. Diablerie always results in degeneration. Yes, even if the path calls for diablerie. The act of pulling another kindred into your soul makes it stronger but also brings all of that being’s baggage into it.
Characters can go on Roads only at storyteller discretion. Going on a road other than Humanity is a 3 pt Merit.
Branches:
Branches are hyper-focused ideals of a path. Going on a Branch adds an additional Rule that must be followed no matter what level you are at. People on a branch may spend 5 minutes in contemplation during a session to restore willpower. Going onto a Branch requires a teacher and an action.
Roads in play.
Every character will have a road. If you violate one of the rules of the Road then you will make a test. Failure will result in you dropping a level in the road. If your road ever drops to zero then you enter Wassail. A starting road is equal to a character Conscience (or lower if on a road other than Humanity). Staff is the final determiner of what warrants a Road violation.
Golconda
Golconda is a mystical state that vampires can attempt to tap into by mastering their Road. It is redemption, or maybe it is the forgiveness once offered to Caine, or maybe it is attuning yourself to a higher plane of existence.. Or maybe its a myth. Learning about Golconda requires both Spirit lore and Kindred Lore at 5. Learning more about Golconda requires research. It is known that not every road leads to Golconda.
There is merit called the Golconda Seeker. You probably don’t qualify for it. Ask the staff if you’d like.
Wassail
Wassail is the last frenzy a vampire experiences - the one that causes Humanity to drop from 1 to 0 and puts the vampire entirely and permanently under control of the Beast. Once a vampire enters Wassail, they are lost forever.
A vampire who has undergone the Wassail is known as a Wight.
- Charts are really annoying to make show up correctly in the Wikia. So this is going to remain a link unless someone wants to volunteer to make charts.
Paths of Caine
The Sabbat has created their own paths. They are different but related to the Roads of Enlightenment.
