The Mayaparisatya Path of Paradox
Path of Enlightenment · Vampire
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.
| Rating | Moral Guideline | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Embracing a woman | Women should be bearers of life, not death. |
| 9 | Embracing outside the jati | Most others fail to comprehend the depth of the Paradox philosophy. |
| 8 | Destroying another shimulo | Charity does not, as is widely believed, begin at home. |
| 7 | Killing a mortal for sustenance | Death robs a person of the ability to fulfill their svadharma. |
| 6 | Failing to destroy a vampire on another Path | Those who cannot see the true way should be returned. |
| 5 | Killing a mortal for reasons other than survival | A person may not have achieved her svadharma, and preventing such is anathema. |
| 4 | Failure to aid another’s svadharma | The gods have set this as the shimulo’s purpose. |
| 3 | Allowing one’s Sect affairs to take precedence over one’s dharma | One’s allegiance should be to the gods, not one’s companions. |
| 2 | Becoming blood bound | One may never destroy one’s regnant, which is the whole purpose of this Path. |
| 1 | Embracing needlessly or out of personal desire | One must return others to the cycle, not extract them from it |