Path of Redemption

Path of Redemption
Nickname	Martyrs
Faction	Sabbat
Virtues	Conscience, Self-Control

The Path of Redemption is a Path of Enlightenment that fights the Beast by striving for salvation in the service of God. Naturally, these claims are somewhat inconvenient in the current societies of the Damned, but the followers of the path are often more determined to gain grace than caring about others. The Path of Nocturnal Redemption is typically seen as an offshoot of this Path, although the other Path was published first.

A follower of the Path is known as a Martyr.

Overview

The undeniable supernatural fact of vampirism, so the scholars of the Path argue, proves that there must be a higher power. If there is a higher power, humanity must have failed it; just look around and you can see how sin and degradation flourish among them. And if this power – claimed to be the Abrahamic God – is disappointed by humanity, vampires, as natural predators by their vitae, are his scourge upon them, dark angels of His wrath that go through a purgatory on Earth to become His servants. By denying the Curse of Caine to poison their soul, they fight the Beast and strive to strengthen their soul in order to serve the Almighty and eventually return to His grace. They see themselves in the station of Job, who was also tested by God and the Adversary.

Most doctrines of the Path are influenced by the Jesuits, who see themselves as Soldiers of God and value scientific researches to gain insight into a fracture of God's plan. The Cainites who follow the Path of Redemption do the same by investigating their Disciplines or spending their immortal existences researching occult texts. They try to atone for the sins of Caine and strive to redeem him and themselves. They believe that Enoch, the first of Caine's childer, was granted absolution and that he was translated into Heaven to act as an angel for accepting the Lord's Grace.

Most adherents of the Path are members of the Sabbat Inquisition or are independent. Usually, they will form communities that are similar to those of a monastery. It should be noted, however, that followers of the Path of Redemption do not care about maintaining their Humanity or any human moralities any longer, having accepted their bestiality and striving only for absolution before God. They unleash their Beast in an orgy of Frenzy annually in a controlled manner (called the Divine Tide) to meditate about their sins and gain understanding about their condition, so that one day they will be able to deny it.

Vampiric nature and the Seven Deadly Sins

The Martyrs argue that vampires are, by their very nature, the ultimate personification of the seven cardinal sins. These are:

• Pride is represented by the vampires physical talents that defy the natural order of God
• Greed is represented by addictive qualities of their vitae towards mortals
• Anger is represented in the destructive nature of the Beast
• Lust is represented in the urge to sire a childe and damn another soul to vampirism
• Envy is represented by the power of the Blood Bond
• Gluttony is represented in the insatiable hunger every Cainite endures
• Sloth is represented by their inability to act during the day

Ethics

• The word of God is law
• Seek the forgiveness that Caine refused
• Understand sin in all its facets
• Study the Children of Seth and remind them of the love of God that you are denied
• Understand the vampiric condition as God's tool
• Embrace only those who have abandoned their faith
• Submit to the Divine Tide in order to understand the Beast and find redemption
• Confess your sins to those above you in the Path
• Watch and destroy those who exalt their cursed unlives
• Pray to God for guidance
• Find those who have faith and teach them
• Destroy all those who would consort with Hell

Hierarchy of Sins

Path of Redemption
Rating	Moral Guideline
10	Neglecting your duty.
9	Putting physical needs before spiritual needs.
8	Refusing the penitence of the Divine Tide.
7	Refusing to heed the words of other followers of the path.
6	Refusing to offer the opportunity of redemption to others.
5	Refusing to take or give confession.
4	Committing blasphemous acts.
3	Allowing a cardinal sin to go unpunished.
2	Murdering innocents.
1	Refusing to acknowledge the necessity of redemption.

Gallery

References

• VTM: Chaining the Beast, p. 86-91