Derech Lilith, commonly called the Road of Lilith, is one of the primary Roads that Cainites may choose to follow in Vampire Twentieth Anniversary Edition: The Dark Ages. The Road of Lilith is dedicated to the rabbinical figure Lilith, who appears in multiple Noddist sources as well as in traditions carried on by hidden cults. Some of these cults survived the Dark Medieval and transformed the Derech Lilith into the Path of Lilith.
Those who follow the Road of Lilith refer to themselves under multiple names. Often reviled as Witches, they often speak of themselves as Lilin or Bahari, while older names speak of the Lilith-worshippers as the Ki-sikil-lil-la-ke.
Its followers adhere to the virtues of Conviction and Instinct.
History[]
It is not known when the Derech Lilith was first formed. The only hints are that it had to be the region of the Fertile Crescent, given that Lilith is a primary figure in their myths. Her worshippers and followers formulate multiple mythic traditions, which are often at odds with accepted mainstream theology among the undead. They speak of a pre-Abrahamic time when not all vampires were thought to be from the same progenitor and thus reject Caine as the Dark Father. Alternatively, they look to times when there was something like the Caine myth, but Caine was a woman, or a pair of divine twins, or an angel, and so on. Many claim that their blood is the blood of demons, and that they were never totally human, even before the Embrace. Some even claim to have spontaneously become vampires without need of a sire, though none have proven (or attempted to prove) this to be true.
Most cults break Lilith down to fundamental principles: To pain and creation. To create, one must hurt and be hurt. This is the fundamental principle of life itself. Those who create with pure abandon and celebrate the wet and fleshy acts of creation will invariably be betrayed by those too afraid or otherwise unable to create, like Caine did to Lilith.
Rules and Practices[]
The Bahari recognize planting and harvest time as significant, and they will often align acts of creation (and the occasionally necessary act of destruction) with these seasons. Further, Bahari will gather and ritually make love and physically wound and test each other's limits. These ritualized sadistic acts are pale microcosms of the ultimate tests that life deals the celebrants, and is never meant to replace real learning.
As a rule, there is no formal organization among the Bahari. Limitations, like the binding of Lilith's hair, chafe members of this Road, and few are willing to create overarching hierarchies. Cults form, share myths and lessons they have earned, hurt each other, love each other, then break apart and reform elsewhere with other Bahari. People who are recognized as having learned great lessons (at great expense) or created great wonders may be greeted as "mother", "grandmother", "father", and so on, but this is not a universally accepted practice.
Hierarchy of Sins[]
| Derech Lilith ("Road of Lilith") | |
| Rating | Moral Guideline |
|---|---|
| 10 | Feeding immediately when hungry. |
| 9 | Joining a system created by those with no wisdom. |
| 8 | Ignoring one of Lilith's faces. |
| 7 | Rejecting the suffering of others or dismissing it. |
| 6 | Cruelty for its own sake. |
| 5 | Stealing great learning and claiming it as your own. |
| 4 | Destroying a thinking being. |
| 3 | Not seeking out the teachings of Lilith. |
| 2 | Getting between someone and the teachings of Lilith. |
| 1 | Shunning pain. |
Paths[]
The Road of Lilith has numerous variations, too many to possibly record all here. V20 Dark Ages offers a short exemplar and The Black Hand: A Guide to the Tal'Mahe'Ra offers multiple other Lilin cults with a modified ethic system that might have sprang from the Derech Lilith.
- Path of Making - a Path dedicated to finding and propagating Lilith's demon-children.
- Path of Thorns - a Path focused on physical pain. Members study pain scientifically, seeking to codify breaking points and ways to break a victim's threshold to make her see.
- Path of Veils - a Path focused on Lilith as a rebel and counter-figure to both the Abrahamic God and Caine.
References[]
- VTDA: Vampire Twentieth Anniversary Edition: The Dark Ages, p. 128-130
