| abstract | - Via Crudelitas, commonly called the Path of Cruelty, is a Path of Via Peccati found in Dark Ages: Vampire. Sinners who follow Via Crudelitas view the Beast as born from anger and hatred, and therefore seek to control it by allowing it to rage. At the same time, many who follow the Path of Cruelty derive a perverse type of pleasure from the suffering they and their Beasts cause. Most Cainites view Via Crudelitas as the most debased of the Paths of the Road of Sin since those who travel it want to cause pain for no other purpose than their own pleasure. Followers are sometimes called Heartless. Those who follow the Path of Cruelty put themselves front and center. Their interests must be served first, no matter the price. Mercy and forgiveness are not a part of their nature, as those are weaknesses that do not serve the Beast or their own purposes. While the Heartless can be as hedonistic as those on Via Voluptarius, they indulge in inflicting torture, suffering, and slow, painful deaths on those they use rather than the high life. The travelers of Via Crudelitas usually have little or no contact with Cainite society, but those who do are used by other Cainites to inflict punishment or judgment on those who do "wrong".
* DAV: Road of Sin (book), p. 67
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