Which Path of Enlightment would you follow and why?

Well, I did a bit of soul searching recently and as a side-result this question occured to me.
Assuming you got Embraced, grew unadle to follow Humanity, then which of the Paths would you choose to follow?

I would go for the Beast in Via Venator umbra variant until recently, because... Well, let's face it, I have a lot of animal instinct. I always had.
Then I went back to Church so if I were to become Cainite I would most likely go for Via Caeli (Road of Heaven)

How about you?

I'm not familair with the paths, but from what I've read here I think I'd follow either Road of Kings - Path of the Vizier (I have a high opinion of myself, but prefer to give advice instead of being directly in charge) or Road of Sin - Path of Pleasure (I have a tendency to put my pleasure above my responsibilities).

As i am not familiar withe the paths as well, i used Dragatus link and would say i would follow:

Road of Sin - Via Adversarius (The Path of the Devil) because i HATE doing tasks given to me.. if i don't want to do it of my own free will i will probably not do it. There are some exceptions though...

Road of Sin - Via Voluptarius (The Path of Pleasure) because i want to do what i want and pleasuring myself is a great way to have fun.. even if it hurts others.

Road of Kings - every path. I would not be able to choose a path from the road of Kings as all 4 are kind of like me. It's like a mix of all these 4 that would be my path.. I want to follow all 4 the most of all other paths.

As a Ravnos I would say Path of Paradox.
If that isn't an option I'd go for one of Path of Honorable Accord, Cathari, Harmony or Caine.

I'd either go with the Path of the Feral Heart, or the Path of Caine.

Probably Metamorphosis, Path of the Power and Inner Voice or Path of Caine.

Thanks for your ansvers. I thought you would give a bit more of why, but well...
So all the rest follows Humanity?

I'll work on this subject soonish

I may go via caeli tho.

By Path, I assume you mean we have been (willingly or unwillingly) recruited by the Sabbat. That being the case, my answer would be Path of Honorable Accord. Honor is all. I keep my word, and you'd better damn well keep your word to me, because if you don't I'll have your head.

Otherwise, I'd have to go with Via Humanitas (Road of Humanity), like Christof. Not quite as touchy-feely as it's described in Dark Ages: Vampire; but hanging on to Humanity by tooth and claw.

Despite what some Kindred choose to believe, they are not above humanity -- they are still mentally human, for better or worse. As we know from reading the history books, and the news, this is bad enough. Those who use the Embrace as an excuse to cast off all human conscience and be a monster are just giving in to their baser instincts... they are no different mentally than some human sociopath or serial killer or Somali warlord who has done the same thing. The only difference is a matter of time, and lack of accountability. A human can only be evil for so long, before they grow old and die (or get caught and punished). Kindred can continue to grow more evil over the centuries; and their peers are more interested in covering up their excesses, than in making them behave.

Machiavelli said, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." But I think that sci-fi author Frank Herbert stated it better: "It is not that power corrupts, but that it is magnetic to the corruptible." People who will abuse power are drawn to power. There are people who will not abuse power, but they usually don't seek power. They have to be convinced that it is their duty to accept power, to wield it wisely. An example of this is George Washington, who refused to be King, and refused to run for a third term as the first US President, to set an example. (Of course, he would not be elected today, but that's another topic. He might not last long as Kindred, either...)

You asked for why, Feral, and you got it.

Thank you Duncan, I am truly impressed.

No, I didn't mean the Sabbat... In Camarilla there are Elders who follow Paths, some simply becayse they did so before Camarilla existed... In Dark Ages Paths were the default.

I agree with your sentiment on Gorge Washington and power in general.
Theats why I don't like democracy: sheep making beauty contests for shephards dogs... That is OK, but why to choose flashy and beautiful over wise? By now everyone should have noticed promises of politics aren't worth the paper they are printed on.
I have an idea: make Path of Honorable Accord obligatory for politics!
Too bad they mostly seem to follow Path of Power and the Inner Voice, or simply Evil Revelations...

As for the mentality, I think you overlook the Beast. Inner force that has a will of its own. And could force you to eat (and kill), flee, rampage... Hence the necessity to follow some sort of morality to keep it down. Or embrace it and let it frolic, as in the Path of Feral Heart. The best source for the need and transition to new morality I have read in Clan Novel Lasombra. Poor Lucita... From noble lady to demon from hell.

Reason of why; alright.

Path of Paradox speaks for itself, as a Ravnos I would follow the same path that the rest of my clan does
I doubt strongly that I would be far into it though.

Path of Honorable Accord because I value my word and thus seek to uphold it whenever given.
Besides, it's easier to lie if you always tell the truth

Path of Cathari because pleasure is pleasant!

Path of Harmony because part of me is empathic and believes in balance.

And Path of Caine because I find Kindred lore and the likes to be interesting and would gladly serve Caine if given the chance. Also because I like the guidelines of it.

Feral wrote:

Thanks for your ansvers. I thought you would give a bit more of why, but well...
So all the rest follows Humanity?

I'll give you my reasoning sometime later. Will require a wall of text which will have to be carefully revised to not generate any shitstorms of political correctedness.

ThePhilosopher wrote:

Feral wrote:

Thanks for your ansvers. I thought you would give a bit more of why, but well...
So all the rest follows Humanity?

I'll give you my reasoning sometime later. Will require a wall of text which will have to be carefully revised to not generate any shitstorms of political correctedness.

You don't have to worry about politically corect BS with me...

Feral wrote:

As for the mentality, I think you overlook the Beast. Inner force that has a will of its own. And could force you to eat (and kill), flee, rampage... Hence the necessity to follow some sort of morality to keep it down. Or embrace it and let it frolic, as in the Path of Feral Heart. The best source for the need and transition to new morality I have read in Clan Novel Lasombra. Poor Lucita... From noble lady to demon from hell.

I don't buy the idea of the Beast as separate entity, either. The Beast is YOU, without conscience or remorse. All that the curse of Caine does is bring this part of your psyche to the front, and make it harder to fight. I think WW was right to make you pay the penalty for stuff you do during frenzy or Rötschreck, because it's still you. Like alcohol... committing a crime under the influence of alcohol is not a legal excuse, because it's still you without the normal inhibitions.

Path of Feral Heart is embracing that part of yourself. Understandable, just not the way I would go.

Very interesting look on things, Duncan. I must admit I always envisioned the Beast as separate, probably demonic entity... Well, I have to think before applying conscience or remorse anyway, so... Guess i know the low half of human nature well. It makes work that much easier, when you are into new drugs, experimental therapies and the like. After all, my actions are for the greater good in the end.

You know... I suddenly realized I might follow some derivate of Via Ossi in RL...
And most of my friends, too... But at least our patients mostly recover, so it is for something.

The beast is basically your instincts and passions. You should read what are the Shadows in Wraith, to see how "different an entity" it could be.
So yeah the beast is the basic self centered egocentric Part of you

I've always seen the Beast as the most primitive part of your brain. Only concerned with the most basic functions of survival and reproduction. Reproduction of course gets lost after the embrace. And without the other regulating parts of the body, like hormones, it's harder for the conscious part of YOU to keep it in check.

So you need some reason to make the effort. I don't know if it has to be some structured "path of enlightenment" or something. But you need at least some moral codex to force yourself not to let go, and give away all control about your actions to primitive instincts.

So as I see it, the beast is you without the thinking and regulating parts. Just a set of rprimitive instincts for survival, that will of course utterly fail in any society...

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I can imagine the progress: From Grey Hunter to Path of Orion to Path of Harmony.
The start would be accepting that you are not human anymore. No, you're not. Feed the dellusion if you will, I won't. I can't wrap my brain around a proper metaphore, but following Humanity is being hypocritical cannibal. Contradiction.
Thus the Grey Hunter. Being the predator you are while remaining social. You need to stay where the prey is. And enjoying it all a bit.
Then taking it up a notch. Focusing on the hunt, chasing much more dangerous prey. Being more... devout; helping society. Taking out the flawed heads (like Humanity freaks; as we say "a man acting like a Turk is worse than any Turk").
Finally, Path of Harmony. I'm not human, but that doesn't mean I have to blow shit up. Almost everything has its place in the world. Keep the ballance.

Don't mistake men for sheep. They're more like tups. And remember, Paths are for vampires. You're still human

Jad.3 wrote:

I can imagine the progress: From Grey Hunter to Path of Orion to Path of Harmony.

I like your way of thinking. You have put some thought into it. +rep

Jad.3 wrote:

Don't mistake men for sheep. They're more like tups. And remember, Paths are for vampires. You're still human

Yeah, I keep aging
Paths are followed by Ravenants and old Ghouls too. I tried imagining a Bratovich on Humanity

Feral wrote:

... I tried imagining a Bratovich on Humanity

Sounds about as easy as doing a triathlon for a gargoyle

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Childe of Malkav wrote:

Feral wrote:

... I tried imagining a Bratovich on Humanity

Sounds about as easy as doing a triathlon for a gargoyle

Walking on the bottom FTW!! The bike would have to be heavy-duty, also.

I suppose the Road of Humanity. No matter the clan I would follow this.

SaulottheGentle wrote:

I suppose the Road of Humanity. No matter the clan I would follow this.

Then hope you won't get embraced by a Follower of Seth...

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Childe of Malkav wrote:

SaulottheGentle wrote:

I suppose the Road of Humanity. No matter the clan I would follow this.

Then hope you won't get embraced by a Follower of Seth...

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Dont they usually take in people who are already corrupt?

SaulottheGentle wrote:

Childe of Malkav wrote:

SaulottheGentle wrote:

I suppose the Road of Humanity. No matter the clan I would follow this.

Then hope you won't get embraced by a Follower of Seth...

-

Dont they usually take in people who are already corrupt?

Not necesarilly. They often take specialist in given fields (from nurses through artists to contract killers0, corrupt them, ghoul them and teach them about cult of Sutekh, finally Embrace them if it serves their antediluvian cum deity.

Imagine following Humanity as Tzimisce or Gangrel...
It is hard to smile with a snout full of sharp canine teeth.