Ravnos - Lore of the Clans
The Various Paths of Paradox
The Path of Paradox is a dynamic Path of Enlightenment, constantly evolving as the Ravnos who adhere to it learn
further truths. Although the Path ideals and ethics are very similar, the Path sins presented here are not identical
to those presented in V20 (pp. 335-336), and that is deliberate. V20 presents the Mayaparisatya Path as it has
been through history. This material presents optional, alternative views of the Path to depict how the Path has
(and is) evolving. Your Storyteller may, or may not, choose to adopt this material for her chronicle.

The Mayaparisatya Path of Paradox
The Mayaparisatya Path of Paradox concerns itself with the vampire’s karmic duty to the jati, and to their place in
the world. It is too simple a conceit to say that the Ravnos destroy vampires and seek to fulfill their innate svadharma and
karma. In fact, the Mayaparisatya is arduous and demanding. It seeks to use the basis of one’s physical and social place to
mimic her “spiritual place,” in order to assist the vampire with an understanding of the cycle of ages. Developed among
the Ravnos who traveled from India to Europe, this version of the Path has existed since the time of Roman Empire.
This path was once the primary Path within the Clan, and it is still adhered to by some of the most static Ravnos, such
as the Brahmin elders. This path encourages its followers to be fierce individualists, to avoid following laws (especially
those of mortals), and to accept his utter inhumanity. They see most other vampires as abominations, and work
to fulfill their own svadharma so that they might one day be freed of the “entanglements” of the cycle of rebirth.

Dark Ages
The Road of Heaven

Via Caeli
Many Cainites feel the mark of Caine as a curse and rail against fate and the injustice. However, others cling
to the belief that divine purpose guides the hand of fate, and that even great evil can serve a greater purpose. Vampires
who walk the Road of Heaven devote themselves to understanding that purpose through subservience to
a higher power.
Known as the Faithful, most Cainites on the Road of Heaven cling to the faiths that they held in mortal
life. Outwardly, the Road of Heaven appears as the most fragmented and chaotic of roads; medieval Europe teems
with religions, and many older Cainites retain faiths that no longer have mortal adherents. Differences between
Faithful tend to be entrenched, with different Paths often representing distinct religious traditions.
These differing religious traditions inform how Cainites on the Road of Heaven make sense of their Embrace. Christian
Cainites liken themselves to Job, seeing themselves as subjects of a cosmic test of character. Muslim Cainites see
the Embrace as a call to destroy the servants of Shaitan.
Jewish Cainites find the Embrace an invigorating call to scholarship, a new avenue for insight into the nature of
God. Druidic Cainites reason that serving the Great Balance requires darkness as well as light. And a servant of the old
Roman Gods believes that she had somehow offended one of them and must strive to regain that god’s favor.
However they practice their faith, every Cainite on the Road of Heaven believes in the existence of a higher
power and its dominion over all things. The mark of Caine is part of a divine plan, and only through submission to
divine will can the Beast be contained.

Sobriquet: Faithful

Ethics: The Road of Heaven is a bit different from other Roads in that there is no base Road.
Adherents of the Road agree to a core set of beliefs:
• The existence of a higher power and its dominion over all things.
• Vampiric existence as part of a divine plan.
• The Embrace is a call to direct service of the divine.
• Serving divine will over individual will.
• Following divine law and rejecting evil is the only way to shackle the Beast.
• Each Faithful must choose their own Path, which determines more specific ethics and morality that they adhere to.

Organization: The organization of the Faithful breaks down largely along the lines of Path and faith traditions.
Many Faithful prefer to gather for worship in communities of like faith, particularly followers of the Abrahamic
faiths. Jewish Cainites place great importance on forming and maintaining communities of faith and tend to limit
unnecessary contact with Cainites of other faiths. Muslim and Christian Cainites also tend to form large local congregations
of faith. Christian communities tend to be more fragmented, as disagreements over doctrine and appropriate
practice cause frequent rifts among some congregations. Some Cainites, however, feel their faith is best practiced
in secret, in sacred groves and caves, out in nature where faith is between oneself and the spirits of nature. A few even prefer
to gather with groups of Cainites of mixed faith, discussing and debating the merits and flaws of the different faiths.

Aura: Holiness. The Faithful receive bonuses whenever they are in situations where being seen as holy would
lend them social advantage.

Virtues: Conscience and Self-Control

Paths
The Abrahamic religions — Christianity, Judaism, and Islam — are nominally the most similar in their
approaches to using the Road of Heaven to master the Beast. However, despite a core common set of ethics and
common commitment to the monotheistic worship of the God of Abraham, each faith chooses to emphasize very
different practices in their daily worship practices. Medieval Christians are very focused on maintaining
sexual purity and spreading the Gospel of Christ through proselytizing. Medieval Islam is focused on care for the
weak and vulnerable and commitment to practicing humility and piety. And medieval Judaism is committed to
maintaining and protecting communities of Jewish faithful, submitting to God as interpreted by rabbinical authority,
and maintaining ritual purity. As such, the Paths for each faith are very different.

Dark Ages
The Road of Sin

Via Peccati
The appellation of Sinner is a deeply ironic one, for Cainites on the Road of Sin see no power as above themselves.
How can one sin against God, when one does not acknowledge His authority? Sinners, those who walk the
Via Peccati, claim this rebellious spirit began with Caine’s rejection of forgiveness and acceptance of his curse, but the
Road truly began in a decadent Rome in the days before the Third Punic War. It was forged in the fires of Grecian and
Zoroastrian wisdom, the ideas of a soul’s inner liberty that cannot be abrogated by any force, internal or external. The
keys to unlocking this freedom were found not in denying the soul’s myriad pleasures, but in embracing them. Some
believe a visionary Brujah or Ravnos was responsible for first articulating the labyrinthian paths of desire; others
claim it was a Baali, the Damned amongst the Damned, who pieced together the whispered temptations of demons
but ended up freeing himself.
Other Cainites look at the Sinners and see slaves to the Beast and gluttonous hedonists, dulling their superhuman
senses with glorious arrays of tastes, sights and smells. They see wicked tempters, corrupting individuals
of virtue and drawing victims to lives of excess and ignominy. They see rank neonates so far lost that they refuse
to submit to the Blood Oath.
Sinners dispute none of these charges save one: they would die before they called themselves slaves. Sinners
can take orders, cooperate and aid others; they are selfish, not solipsistic. Indeed, a true Sinner is mastered by only
herself. In turn, they master the Beast by indulging it, feeding it, and acknowledging monstrous urges as part
of themselves. More than that, they ruthlessly pursue self-mastery, walking a Road of self-definition outside of
external strictures or morals. While Scions try to become kings and Faithful try to become holy, Sinners never try
to become anything other than themselves. And they are Damned. Whatever else the world thinks of them,
Via Peccati’s temptations of pleasure and power cannot be denied.
It doesn’t truly matter what the chosen indulgence is. Some inundate the senses with music and art, others
practice the ephemeral hunt of seduction, while still others lead unlives of endlessly cruel amusements exploring the
limits of pain - for themselves and for others. Yet all Sinners find that cooperating with the Beast is the best method
to quiet it. The Road is not innately evil; indeed, cannot an urge for charity be sated, even amongst vampires? Is
not altruism a pursuit of pleasure in kindness? However, Via Peccati is fundamentally self-centered, ever selfish,
never selfless. Nothing may be permitted to lessen the self.

Sobriquet: Sinners

Ethics of Sin:
• You are Damned already; there is nothing forbidden to you.
• The Beast belongs to you, but you do not belong to it.
• Act without hesitation. The laws of neither man nor God bind you.
• Your heart holds your hunger and your freedom. Find the courage to embrace both.

Initiation: Much of Sin is taught from an elder Sinner, called the Tempter, to a student, called the Novice, in a
deeply personal relationship mirroring that of sire to childe. The first steps on the Road often come before the Novice
is even a vampire, and involve breaking the strictures and confines of foreign moralities. The Embrace is the next step,
dark hunger and primal urges uncoiling from the neonate’s tattered soul. Tempters teach the nascent Novice not to
shy from urges, but to follow and satisfy every desire. This learning process is also reciprocal, as a Novice’s reaction
to Sin’s teachings can deeply inflame the desires of the Tempter. Though the earliest steps can see deep cruelties
applied to the Sinner, these pains are never needless. The relationship between Tempter and Novice oft becomes
perversely warm and caring as the adherent walks further along the Road. Even after they’ve been acknowledged as
full travelers of the Road, Novices tend to travel with their Tempters, having long since come to desire their company.

Organization: With a heavy emphasis on personal freedom and individual desire, a regimented Road would be
antithetical to the needs of Sinners. Loosely organized at best, what little structure the Road does possess is built around
facilitating the teacher-student relationship that best spreads the teachings of Sin. The ashen priests of Via Peccati are
known as praeceptors, gathering students and cults around them and unleashing souls with their truths. Great Sinners
are granted respect, but never more than they’ve earned.

Rituals and Observances: Treasuring individuality and personal freedom, the Road observes few formal observances
and rituals aside from the mentor-student relationship. The festival of Saturnalia is the exception; the December
liberties, where free speech is common and accepted, are too intoxicating to ignore. The association with the ancient
Roman sun god also tickles Sinners who appreciate irony. No pleasures are denied groups of Sinners who meet during
the day, and the most advanced Sinner takes on the title of Lord of Misrule, directing his lessers in exquisite temptation.

Aura: Temptation. The Sinners are free and their Road full of promise, and they are adept at recognizing the desires
of others. Their aura modifier affects rolls to cajole and entice.

Virtues: Conviction and Instinct