Characters on the path of Ruthless are driven, ambitious, and unstoppable. Everything and everyone that gets in their way is an obstacle to be circumvented, navigated, or destroyed as appropriate. Many characters or beings that act in line with this path of enlightenment are not actually on such, and instead have low Humanity scores. This indicates that said being is more of a broken shell of a man than an enlightened, zen killing machine. (Tony Montana from Scarface, for example, would have been on the path of Humanity, not Ruthless)
When on the path of Ruthless, at all times, you must have a short term and long term goal written down. A short term goal is usually mission/game oriented like "Surviving a stay on the island" or "Killing the main target monster." A long term goal is lofty and difficult to accomplish, but not impossible. Good examples of long term goals would be "Destroying PISCES" or "Colonizing the Moon." Usually, you will also have an immediate goal ("Climb this mountain," "Kill this monster"). Immediate goals should be kept clearly in mind, but don't need to be written down.
The following table gives examples of acts that trigger Enlightenment checks for characters with Ruthless. For example, a character with a Ruthless rating of 7 would be required to make a Conviction check if they allow living obstacles to get in their way, get distracted from their goals, take a vacation, or change a long-term goal on the fly.
| Ruthless | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Changing or failing a long-term goal |
| 2 | Taking a vacation |
| 3 | Taking orders from some mamsy pamsy wuss who can't get the job done |
| 4 | Favoring shorter-term goals over longer-term goals. |
| 5 | Getting significantly distracted from your stated goals (e.g. Starting a campaign against cancer while having an unrelated long term goal) |
| 6 | Changing or failing a short-term goal |
| 7 | Allowing an entity that you could kill to get in your way |
| 8 | Taking an indirect approach because of possible personal harm |
| 9 | Failing an immediate goal |
| 10 | Participating in an activity that doesn't immediately bring you closer to completing your goals |
