The Children of the Vine

"Greetings, and welcome to our celebration! Please, make yourself at home. Eat, drink and be merry! What? Why are we celebrating? Hmmph! As if we require a reason for revelry. Actually, we are celebrating a momentous event, although usually we celebrate for the sake of having a party. Today's date marks the day when we split from Society of Sensation. Oh, did I forget to mention our sect? It must be this wine. You must try some. Here have a glass...No? Don't mind if I do. Now where was I? Oh, yes, the Children of the Vine." "I once was a factor in the Sensates. After all, for one who truly loved pleasure as much as I, it seemed to be the faction to join. No longer would I resist any temptation. Every whim, every desire could be fulfilled. I spent my days and nights seeking nothing less than sheer ecstasy. I admit, I wasn't interested in finding such ridiculous things as "truth" or "meaning." Of what use is truth to me? Truth is not always pleasant. Sometimes the truth is hard and ugly. Better to escape the truth through absolute pleasure."   "Anyway, that all fell apart with the rise of Factol Erin. Yes, she is truly beautiful. There is much potential for ecstasy with that one. Such a shame that she refuses to reach that potential. What's that? Yes, I'm talking about the same Factol Erin. You see, Erin and I have a certain...difference in our outlook. She decried me as a shallow hedonist. According to her, I was living the Sensate philosophy all wrong. She feels it is the goal, nay, the duty, of every Sensate to experience as many different things as possible. This includes pain as well as pleasure, misery as well as ecstasy. I argued that there were some experiences I could do without. However, the rest of the faction's high-ups agreed with her. They said that the focus of the Sensate philosophy should be on diverse experiences, and self-restraint has some value. I, however, believe that if something feels good, do it...as often as possible."   "I left the Sensates, content to continue in my ways, following my whims. They have never served me wrong, at least not for long. Hey, that could be the start of a poem. I'll have to write that down. Later maybe. I'm busy with this glass of wine right now. Anyway, many others followed me. We wanted to experience only our own pleasure, regardless of the consequences. I became the unofficial leader, and I am known by my fellows as "Factol Moreus," despite the fact that we are not a faction. We became known as the Children of the Vine for our uninhibited parties. The name suits us well."

You're nothing but a worthless bubber!

- Common insult levelled at a Reveller

I'll drink to that!

- Equally common retort

"What about you? Do you wish to join us and seek nothing but your own pleasure? No? You say we are selfish and irresponsible? Maybe so. But there are worse things to be. We try only to create happiness. We cannot stand suffering, in ourselves or others. I think it very sad to see so many berks wasting their miserable lives, toiling for a future that may never come. I wish I could convince them, too, to live in the moment and embrace their own happiness. Tomorrow it may be too late. That is why today...we celebrate."    

The Children of the Vine

The Children of the Vine, also known as Revellers and Carpet Knights, are members of a sect that first sprang up on Arborea. Many Sensates became enamoured of the pleasures of the Gilded Hall, and sought only self-gratification. The most degenerate of these hedonists broke off from the Sensates on the example of Moreus, a former Sensate factol. The Society of Sensation, in turn, was not exactly sad to see these folks go. Their faction has enough of a reputation for pleasure-seekers as it is. Those who were honest (and barmy) enough to admit that they cared only for pleasure and not for learning the truth joined the Revellers under the leadership of Moreus.  

Sect Beliefs

Embrace pleasure; nothing else is worth your time. Nothing should be denied. Every whim and impulse should be acted upon, every desire or need fulfilled. What use is the philosophy of the greatest sages? Has it made them happy? Why seek anything less than ecstasy? Also, don't worry about so-called "perfect" experiences. Truth, love, art, beauty...all meaningless. Worry instead about what's right here right now. That's all that really matters. Self-denial is a great evil. "Do what thou wilt" is the only law worth recognising. After all, if we all did what we wanted, we'd all be happy.

Sect Membership

Principal Plane of Influence

The true home of the Revellers is in Arborea. They are found most frequently on this plane. They have been spreading through other planes on the chaotic side of the great ring, however, especially those members with more selfish and sinister tastes in pleasure.

Allies and Enemies

The Revellers are still on very good terms with the Sensates. They also share many beliefs with the Transcendent Order, although the Ciphers try to make their whims a bit more enlightened than the Children of the Vine. The Bleak Cabal also admires this sect's stance on finding the "truth" to be a meaningless pursuit. The Dustmen consider the Carpet Knights to be hopelessly lost in their own childish attachment to the pleasures of "life," and the Harmonium and Mercykillers consider them to be dangerous deviants upsetting the moral fabric of society.

Eligibility

There are no lawful Children of the Vine. Other than this restriction, any character who desires to seek self-gratification can join. Evil Revellers don't care who they harm to experience pleasure (and often have a sadistic streak), while good-aligned Revellers try to spread happiness to others as well as to themselves.

Benefits

Children of the Vine are remarkably able to resist the negative consequences of their reckless lifestyles. Members gain advantage to all saves versus all poisons, toxins, and diseases. They also gain resistance to the poison damage type and reduce and poison damage they take by 2.

Restrictions

All Revellers have some form of addiction to a pleasurable activity. The player of a Reveller character must choose some vice that the character will seek out irrationally, and will be unable to function well without (-2 to all attack rolls, saves, and ability checks; -2 to Armour class/ day without addiction). The DM must approve all addiction choices, as they should be sufficiently debilitating as to make this an actual weakness, but not enough to make the character unplayable. Suggestions include alcohol or other drugs, sexual activity, gluttonous behaviour, or gambling.