Path of Illumination

The Roads

A Path on the Road of Humanity

Sobrequiet: The Illuminated or Blasphemers

Despised as a possible outgrowth of the philosophies that led to the inception of the Cainite Heresy (a claim supported by little in the way of compelling evidence), the Path of Illumination is a dualist philosophy that encourages Cainites to seek out the bitter journey toward Golconda and, thereby, outgrow the bonds of the rude material world. The Illuminated, as they prefer to be called, ("Blasphemers" is a favored title for them among more traditionally Christian Cainites), maintain that Caine never committed a sin in his murder of Abel; in fact, he could not have, since he existed in a world without defined moral law. To their thinking, he was punished without an understanding of the possibility of transgression, since he was given no strictures by which to live. Further, they believe that the "creator" whose agents appeared to curse the Third Mortal is a false god, and the one truly guilty of sin. In their eyes, cursing Caine in a manner which forced him to repeat the very crime (which he was never told was wrong until after the act) that resulted in the maledictions of the angels is the evil act, since the "One Above" (a villainous figure which they consider analogous to the Demiurge) should, in theory, passess the foresight and understanding to comprehend the dire consequences of the act - unless of course, the entity behind the Curse of Caine was neither omniscient nor what it claimed to be.

Still, the Illuminated do believe that the True God revealed Himself to Caine, offering the unfairly persecuted Dark Wanderer a git of hope in the form of the Bitter Journey. After all, he of all human creatures possessed the lifespan necessary to realize the transformations of spirit that would allow him to transcend the parameters of the material prison into which he had been sentenced and attain his ultimate potential. The journey toward Golcanda, the pursuit of uniquely human perfection on the part of the lone seeker, took shape that day, the only worthy objective from the morally upright Cainite, harbinger of the Incomprehensible Divine.

Practices: Generally speaking, the Illuminated are not faithless, just irreligious. In fact, most them believe that the human (and, thus, Cainite) potential for enlightenment, peace and perfection cannot be attained through adherence to external sources of authority. To them, to be human means to be without limitations. Further, as the Path of Illumination is, in many ways, a solitary journey of discovery, most of the practices of the path can be undertaken in solitude. Meditations are common, upon the nature of the Beast, the soul, the Divine and the terrestrial. Rare gatherings of the Illuminated, on the other hand, are uncharacteristically joyous affairs. Taking comfort in the presence of their fellows, the Illuminated put aside the heavy burden of their holy task for a time and revel in what it means to belong to a brotherhood of the intellectually and spiritually liberated. Of course, those who would judge the Illuminated poorly view these celebrations as debauches, forums for all manner of devil-worship, human sacrifice and other such foul deeds.

Illuminated Virtues: Conviction and Self Control

Additional Ethics of Illumination

• Caine alone is without sin or even the capacity for sin.
• The world of flesh is a prison, intended to ensnare the human soul (the only substance within material reality capable of evolution to perfection) in an eternal cycle of reincarnation.
• Through Golconda, Cainites transform their souls into a vessel for the perfected world of spirit, or else become human once more and, thereby, discover the means to liberate those souls.

Hierarchy of Sins against Illumination

Score	Minimum Wrongdoing	Rationale
10	Failure to openly seek Golconda at all costs	You are the light of hope
9	Accepting the rule of others	Only through self-determination shall you be free
8	Harming or controlling others	The enlightened reject both violence and domination
7	Theft and robbery	You have been liberated from material needs
6	Accidental violation of another	Ignorance does not excuse cruelty.
5	Failure to pursue wisdom and enlightenment	If not for understanding, why do you walk this path?
4	Impassioned violation of another	Those who act as beasts become beasts
3	Planned violation of another	Reason alone is not shield against the Beast's wiles.
2	Casual violation of another	Shed enough blood and your soul will drown in it.
1	The most heinous and demented acts	Would you so callously betray your human potential?