The Path of Honorable Accord
| The followers of the Path of Honorable Accord call themselves Knights and focus on the society of vampires as a whole. The Curse makes vampires predators with a strong individualistic bias. Unrestrained, they'd destroy each other down to the very last Leech. Knights teach that honor - the rigorous enforcement of standards of nobility in conduct - holds the society of vampires together. Honor strengthens a vampire's ability to resist the Beast and provides the rules that allow vampires to coexist without having to fall back on the human morality they've abandoned. The Path allows no room for mercy or sentiment. Honor is a matter of calculated rational choice. Knights carefully analyze the meaning of the commitments they make and the circumstances they face. Either they must act a particular way to keep their commitments, or not. If not, they enjoy complete freedom to decide how to act on any basis that suits them - raw self-interest usually dominates. Knights gradually lose track of notions like "friendship." They have allies and regular associates; trust plays no part in the Path. Nor does the Path require making any particular commitments, with a few specific exceptions. What matters is how Knights keep their word, not which particular promises they give. Knights make prominent and reliable Sabbat leaders. As long as their superiors administer oaths of office carefully, Knights serve with less treachery or complicated side issues than almost anyone else in the sect. If their oaths require them to fight, Knights fight courageously because cowardice would betray the spirit of their commitment. If they swear to teach, Knights teach thoroughly and make sure their students learn. The problem comes when superiors offer oaths that don't require the Knights to restrain personal ambitions. Knights make great traitors, and rationalize their treachery as providing negative examples of just how important careful definition is when honor ties the society together. Vampires on the Path of Honorable Accord practice Conscience and Self' Control. Keep in mind that this Path's version of Conscience does not include remorse, only concern for one's integrity. |