Path of Caine
A heretical path on the Road of Blood
Nickname: Noddists
Basic Beliefs: The key to redemption lies within. Only by learning of Caine's ways and following his divine teachings can a vampire learn to be at peace. A Cainite must examine himself, his desires, hs weaknesses and his failings. The vampiric condition can be understood only through thorough self-examination. Pain and uncertainty must be confronted and transcended. The agonies of undead existence are mere penance.
The key to undeath, noddists say, is that by knowing the path, one can understand the present. Followers of the Path of Caine go well beyond that simple aphorism, though. Understanding Caine and the beginnings of things is an obsession beond all else. Caine is the paragon of all vampires, the Dark Father to whom all vampires should aspire. To seek such greatness, a vampire must explore all the advantages and limitations of his nature and learn about these phenomena came to be. To fully comprehend Caine's blessing, Caine himself must be comprehended and the student must understand why the dark gift was given.
Adherents of this path are the historians of the Sabbat. Noddists obsessively search through mortal histories and the shadow histories of vampires. They are expected to be scholars, both to record teh epic glories of the Sabbat's struggle against the Antediluvians, and to ferret out information that might be useful to the sect's crusades. The Sabbat expects useful information, but it also allows Noddists to continue their obsucre pursuits unmolested. Followers' grails are primary sources - the fragmentary and seemingly conradictory records of Caine, the First City and the Flood. This obsession goes far beyond mere historical interest. It borders on the religious and mystical. Noddists are the theologians of the terrifying faith of Caine.
The true heart of this path is the acceptance of the curse. But acceptance is merely the start. Vampirism is considered a gift. By becoming a vampire, a mortal can come close to the truth of all things and touch divinity. The undead form and its weakness must be fully understood, even as one studies Caine's laws. One cannot comprehend vampirism without knowing th elaw. Caine's gift must also be honed, sharpened and tested, by developing Disciplines, learning new skills and by challenging oneself.
Diablerie is sanctioned and practiced by adherents of this faith - to become closer to Caine. Noddists seek to approach the Father, not the Antediluvians. Advocates seek to end the Antediluvians above all other goals. After all, these elders defied Caine and were punished.
Diablerie is not anything as base as merely stealing power. It is not merely a cheap way of learning Disciplines. By drink the heart's blood of another vampire, one can savor another's unlife, another's experience, and grow in the light of Caine's wisdom. Other vampires all have insights into the nature of the vampiric condition. By drinking their souls, Noddists receive blessings from unlife itself.
This path is not concerned with salvation or with somehow seeking redemption from God. Vampires are the result of God's curse, and so the undead should have no need or desire to seek His grace or to supplicate themselves to His power. Vampires are not "evil" - they are part of the natural order. To be a vampire and not exult in one's nature is evil. To be undead and not use the tools that the Curse provides is evil. Sanctity, if it applies to the vampires at all, can only come through learning Caine's way. Transcendence, if it is possible, will only come when Caine awakens and gathers his childer to him. On that Final Night, he will judge all and bring those who have been faithful into his mercy and grace.
The Path of Caine is demanding, rigorous and specialized. It emphasizes scholarship, eschatology, insight and harsh personal control. Followers are epxected to spend most of their time learning all they can about Gehenna, searching for fragments of the Book of Nod and other texts, and defending their theology against doubters and blasphemers. Other things, adherents are told, can wait. After all, vampires are undying.
Description of Followers: Noddists take their role as Caine's priests seriously. Followers of this path are expected to be reserved, dignified and educated. They tend to dress in somber black, and many adopt traditional Catholic trappings in mockery of that religion. Some were religious in life - usually those whose intellect or perversion attracted the attention of their sires in the first place. such origins give the priests a rather dubious repuatation outside the Sabbat, as many suspect that followers are primarily disturbed and deranged mortals given the dark gift so they may practice their sins for eternity. These accusations are not necessarily untrue, but it is usually intellect, not perversion, that a Noddist sire seeks. Those Embraced can seek Caine's truths and a way of finding redemption.
Noddists are often soft-spoken, diplomatic and scholarly, but defend their ideals with passion and sometimes violence. While many have a reputation for non-competition with others of the path, serious disagreements have arisen - rifts that have led to monomancy and murder.
Priests do not seek to play games with the universe. Caine's knowledge has been recorded; Noddists' goal is merely to find it. They are not philosophers in the truest sense of the word. Rather, they are theologians. They debate and study Caine's words and the records of ancient times to synthesize a theological framework for the Sabbat in the Final Nights.
