Virtue: Conscience

Conscience is a trait of self-awareness and conviction which enables a character to evaluate their own conduct based on their own moral code. Judgements made via Conscience stem from attitudes developed from the character’s system of morality, coupled with their inner guidance that certain things or naturally right or wrong. Conscience rolls are made whenever a Character has performed an immoral act against their Path’s hierarchy of sins. Failure to feel remorse results in the permanent loss of a dot of Conscience. The difficulty of a Conscience roll in order for a Character to feel remorse for wrongdoing is dictated by the severity of the evil they committed in regard to their chosen morality path (i.e. more evil actions result in raised difficulties). See the charts below for base difficulties.

Virtue Level:

0	Completely Amoral: Your character has ceased to feel remorse for any of their actions. They are essentially a bloodthirsty killing machine at this point.
1	Weak: Your character is only troubled by the worst actions imaginable according to their Path’s hierarchy of sins. Roll conscience for level 1 & 2 morality violations.
2	Average: Your character only observes the major laws according to their Path’s hierarchy of sins. Roll conscience for level 1 through 4 morality violations.
3	Just: Your character observes a few of the minor laws according to their Path’s hierarchy of sins. Roll conscience for level 1 through 6 morality violations.
4	Moral: Your character observes most of the minor laws according to their Path’s hierarchy of sins. Roll conscience for level 1 through 8 morality violations.
5	Saintly: Your character observes all of the rules and laws according to their Path’s hierarchy of sins. Roll conscience for level 1 through 9 morality violations.

Available Paths

• Path of Humanity: The core moral assumption of the Path of Humanity is that human life is sacred and notions of good and evil are fixed around this point. Murder, wonton destruction, and antisocial behavior are universally considered evil in this Path, while selflessness, gentleness, and a love and respect for other human beings are considered capital virtues in this Path.


• Path of Safety: The core value of the Path of Safety is utilitarianism—a moral person will do whatever it takes to safeguard that life on the deep space colonies will continue to survive and thrive. Because of this ideology, a person following the Path of Safety could justify a whole list of violent and morally questionable actions so long as they were done to ensure that the continuance of life on their colony would continue.


• Path of Harmony: The core value of the Path of Harmony is stewardship. Vampires, as rational apex predators, have an obligation to shepherd the human masses beneath them so that there will always be a ready supply of food available. This does not mean that Harmonists are completely detached from their prey. Just as a farmer would take pride in their livestock, the average Harmonist views themselves as a benevolent and necessary custodian of society.


• Path of Honorable Accord: The core value of the Path of Honorable Accord is knowing one’s place in the grand order of the cosmos. Every sentient creature in society has a rightful place, and Accordists avoid personal and societal breakdown by observing ridged hierarchies of social status. Those who find and adhere to their proper place gain honor. Those with lower stations submit to their betters, while those with power must shoulder the burden of leadership. For this reason, Accordists tend to develop a tribal mentality—common allies under a single unchallenged king.