Road of Blood
Sobrequiet: Assassins or Dervishes
Historical Note: This version of the Road of Blood is the most recent adaptation of the path that has guided the most fanatical Assamites since the first Bali war and the fall of the second city. It represents an infusion of the ancient lore brought back by Ur Shulgi into the more modern (and Islamic) understanding of most of the clan. Though it retains an emphasis on a mortal God (abhorent, in Ur Shulgi's eyes), it injects a new fanaticism into the blood of those the ancient needs most as he focuses the clan on its ancient mission of judging and punishing the Children of Caine. This particular version of the Road of Blood has not yet spread beyond the loyalist faction of Clan Assamite.
The others have been judged and found wanting. The judgement has been made and it remains for the executioner to deliver the sentence. Through diablerie, murder or blood magic, the Children of Haquim slowly fulfill the dictates of their clan founder. The war is a holy one; the vampires are offenses to God (or Caine), and must be removed from his Earth.
The Path of Blood is the name given by outsiders to the set of dictates and obligations followed by the most loyal of the Children of Haqim. Those who follow the path or those familiar with the ways of the children refer to the faith as "the way" or even "the laws of Haqim."
The path is ancient, dating back to the foundation of Alamut, and its precepts are older still. The course exalts the heirs to Haquim's blood above all others; they are descended from the Holy One and gifted with his teachings. This legacy of both divine grace and immortal wisdom marks the Assamites with a special place in God's plan.
The Way teaches that the Children of Caine are a curse leveled by God on His failing human worshipers. Haqim's children are just as damned and just as much a part of the curse as any other vampire, but they can transcend their state and rid the world of the pestilence of other Cainites by virtue of their heritage and blood. Staying on the path and obeying the laws of Haqim, the Assamites may stand apart from other vampires and be judged on their own actions.
These Children believe that other vampires exist to be consumed, killed and cast aside. By feeding on the heart's blood of other Cainites, a dervish may quench the Beast and move closer to God's grace. This is the will of the Creator, they believe. Caine may have been cursed, but Haqim was favored. God allowed him to be drawn into the night so that he could seek redemption and bring it to others. To move closer to Haqim (through diablerie) is to move closer to salvation.
Not all vampires of Clan Assamite follow this path, not even all among the Loyalist faction. All Children of Haqim know how harsh the path's strictures are and only the most worthy are selected to follow it. Assamites must demonstrate true loyalty to the teachings of their father, and excel at whatever tasks the clan selects for them in order to be chosen.
Other Assamites commit diablerie - be it to satiate the hunger within or to follow what they know of the laws of haqim - but only those on the Path of Blood commit diablerie for religious reasons. Caine's bastard childer are considered wicked failures, unable to redeem themselves or accept their place in God's plan. Their taint must be wiped away.
The way of Haqim is based on two crucial pillars. The first is that a follower must understand and make others comprehend that vampires are evil, cursed things, and must convert those few worth saving to the service of Haqim. This does not mean adherents attempt to convert other vampires to the path, but ensure that their actions serve followers' interests. A Ventrue's attempt to destroy an Elysium in Johannesburg can be channeled to be "productive." Why just destroy the Elysium with a few vampires inside? Why not convert the Ventrue to the way of Haquim (or a pale shadow of Haqim's way) and use her as a spy? Delay the vampire's grand gesture until followers of the Path of Blood learn everything that they need and then choose the best time to allow the vampire to proceed.
Camarilla neonates, still wallowing in their angst and questioning their fate while bemoaning their status, make easy targets for such manipulation. Some Blood practitioners use packs of young vampires of other clans as blunt insturments - shock troops to test and destroy a target's defenses. There is no shame in doing so; when all these childer go to their Final Deaths, the world is rid of them and God's work has been done. Some path followers fancy that by being destroyed in the service of the path, a vampire of a bastard clan is absolved.
In general, however, Haqim commands that Cainites of other bloodlines be destroyed. They are not to be befriended. They are not to be allied with. There must be a cogent reason why a vampire of another clan is not slain outright by an Assamite on the Path of Blood. The assassin must show fellow followers a valid benefit to the other's existence. For example, a Sabbat Noddist searching for the resting place of ancient Methuselahs might be spared if his investigation provides clues to Haqim's resting place. A Toreador antiquarian who lovingly maintains a fallen Assamite warrior's weapon may be despised, but can be left alone. A vampire who knowingly aids the Children of Haqim in their holy war is worthy of continued unlife.
But do not assume that these precepts make the dervishes murderous fundamentalists. They understand - as most other vampires do not - that the moral relativism practiced by Cainites is a lie. Vampires consume humans for survival, and use them for diversion, pleasure and as playthings. There is no debate on the issue: Vampires are evil. Evil must be hunted down and destroyed. The hypocracy of other Cainites is even more insulting than their existence.
Followers of this path know that they cannot wage all-out war on the other clans, though. They tried that before and failed. As deadly as the Assamites are, with their sorcery, Disciplines and martial skills, they are vastly out-numbered. Even adherents of the Path of Blood accept that there must be limits to the true Jyhad. The dervishes operate within the bounds of vampiric society until the time is right, playing at mercenaries and offering gifts of violence and murder to the highest bidders. the price they charge is blood, both in potable donations from elders and in the right to diablerize victims. Some Children of Haqim believe they both honor and save the souls of targets in this manner. Others do not hold to such high-minded superstitions; blood is blood and the children must walk the path.
History: The basic philosophies of the Path of blood can be traced back to Haqim's teachings when he dwelled in the Second City. And yet, the calling tiself, like other paths, developed over time. Scholars talk of a process of "honing" as time, work and the pain of ages stripped away and sharpened the philosophy's tenets. At the beginning of the Common Era, the Path of Blood has adapted many of the precepts of Zoroastrianism, but by the 9th century, it had adopted a great deal of Islamic teaching. Vampires were obviously unclean things and a threat to the faithful. The notion of God as a harsh master who had set a great task for his followers appealed to the warriors of Alamut.
In the Dark Ages, the path, then known as the Tariq el-Haqim, was widely respected among Arabic Kindred who followed the tenets of Islam. These Ashirra acknowledged that the Children of Haqim followed an order creed than that of the Prphet and considered followers privy to ancient laws set down by God. For their part, the adherents of Haqim did not strike Ashirra who were true to the laws of God. Haqimite scholars and Ashirra elders discussed their mutual truths until the dawning of many days, and there was balance for a long time. Many young path followers fo the time were Embraced as Muslims, or like the Ashirra sought conversion after they were born into the night. Both groups shared a common set of philosophies and goals, and watched over the Empire of Faith as it spread across the known world.
But time is the enemy of all things, even for immortal beings and their beliefs. As the Children of haqim continued their crusade to bring their lord's justice to even the most distant infidels, the path waned. With adherents stretched between the western isles and the borders of Taugast, there were few teachers sufficiently advanced to ensure that the laws were respected. As the Children Embraced infidels, many found it easiest not to instruct their childer in the Path of Blood. Heretical interpretations of the path emerged in this vacuum and it was one such abomination that may have formed the basis of the modern Path of Caine.
Following the Convention of Thorns, the defeated childer of Haqim almost abandoned the Path of Blood. Many newly Embraced "Assamites" - as they were known in the West - clung to the flotsam of their humanity. A strange, mistaken remnant of the Path of Blood lingered on, but it was never very influential. The true path was still taught at Alamut, but until the waking of haqim's childe Ur-Shulgi in 1999, little effort was made to extend the path's influence.
The following is not taught in its purest form in millennia. Though it still pays homage to a mortal god, connections to Islam have been downplayed, though stuborn Muslims have been quietly removed from positions where they can influence more vulnerable minds. Ur-Shulgi demands that Islamic influence be removed entirely, but his suborinates know that such an exorcism will be extraordinary difficult and will take decades if not centuries to accomplish. The Path of Blood officially rejects Islam, but there is respect for the Prophet's words in practice. the Loyalist faction sees adherence to the path as adherence to Haqim's laws and by extension, loyalty to Ur-Shulgi. Followers now actively evangelize their way and try to recruit as many of the Children of haqim as possible (especially those who have not chosen sides in the Loyalist/Schismatic divide) to the holy cause.
Current Practices: Since the breaking of the Tremere curse and Ur'Shulgi's ascension to the Black Throne, the Path of Blood has come into its own. Practitioners actively pursue their war against all enemies. Followers of the Path of Blood do not hunt their Schismatic fellows. They turn their attention to other foes more worthy of an assassin's blade and a diablerist's fangs. Assamite warriros and sorcerers seek to unravel the Baali curse and prepare the way for their great holy war against the Children of Khayyin. Baali in North America nd Europe have fallen to haqim's children, and others cower in their holes, waiting for the end.
Those on the Path of Blood have always sought to deliver righteous vengeance upon vampires who would sully God's Earth with their evil, but now followers approach fanaticism. They still undertake mercenary work and demand payment in blood, but such "employment" is a means to an end. Adherents, especially those of a scholarly bent, focus on converting others who may be redeemed or used (especially neonates), and seek to secure and translate occult books and libraries for the use of their cause.
All, however, spend considerable time in contemplation, prayer and meditation, seeking to understand haqim's teachings and the whispered legacy of the Holy One. Others seek to know God's purpose (by whatever name He may be known), and in so doing hope to find clues to both Haqim's location and when he will awaken.
Description of Followers: Followers of this path may appear to be fanatical assins or obsessive scholars, desperately searching for clues to the End Times, but this view is false. There is an edge of desperation to their actions, but adherents to the way of Blood must prepare, must plan and must be equipped for war. Similarly, practitioners may seem to confirm the stereotype of "foreign" assassin, terrorist or spy (and likely Islamic), but followers of haqim are not "Islamic." The way of Haqim is older than the law of the Prophet and although the faithful maintain a particular respect for Islam, few would call themselves "Muslim." Only a few path members are Arabs.
Followers of this path still operate as mercenaries for blood, but now much of that vitae is sent to Alamut to prepare for the awakening of Haqim. Scholars know that when a being as old as Haqim awakes, he will be hungry. They wish to sate their lord's thirst so that he may lead the clan to victory, rather than be his food. When haqim is satisfied, the final battle will commence and the Children of Haqim will march alongside God's holy angels.
Following the Path: To walk this path, adherents must rid temselves of any moral objections to diablerie. Feeding upon other Cainites is not the worst sin of the blood. Indeed, it is one of the least. There's no shame in delivering God's judgment. Nor is it a crime to steal from a theif. Diablerie rids the world of a cursed being and diminshes potential enemies.
