Anabus

I have just the match if you like danger, skin-contact chemistry, and bad decisions. Must enjoy long walks on the astral plane, ritual bonfires, and being turned into someone’s extracurricular biology project.

— Soki Noles, “A Field Guide to Getting Someone Else Eaten”

I. Nature of the Anabus

If Authorities rule and Avarine hoard, the Anabus consume.
They are the Sentients resonant with Indulgence—the fusion of Lust and Gluttony—embodying every form of sensory excess imaginable.

To an Anabus, pleasure is not a luxury.
It is nutrition.
It is currency.
It is ontology.

And nothing in realspace provides richer sensation than sentient beings who willingly (or semi-willingly) indulge alongside them.

Anabus form cults, often small but intensely loyal ones, built around:

sexual rites

ecstatic feasts

binge-drinking

altered states

scarification ceremonies

masochistic or sadistic “devotions”

synesthetic revels

and, in some cases, chemically-enhanced worship

Their devotees are not merely enthralled—in many cases they are high, spiritually or chemically or both.

The more excessive the rite, the more deeply the Anabus drinks.

II. Form & Gender — Shape as Ritual

Most Secundi treat gender as aesthetic ornamentation.
Anabus treat gender as mechanism.

They shift between:

Succubus (female aspect)

Incubus (male aspect)

Mid-cycle (androgynous, ambiguous, or alien)

…but these are only masks for a deeper biological trick:

Cambion Creation — “Harvest, Reforge, Deposit.”

Anabus can:

Harvest reproductive cells from one realspace being.

Alter the DNA/quantum-resonance in their own internal subspace crucible.

Deposit the modified material into another being—creating a Cambion.

Cambions are living tools:

predisposed to psionic sensitivity

pre-tuned to Indulgence resonance

socially magnetic

physically uncanny

ideal supplicants or cult leaders

or, occasionally… inheritors

Every Cambion is a long-term investment, often cultivated over decades.

III. Domains of Indulgence

Anabus consume sensation, not just lust. Their appetites include:

taste (feasts, flesh, spice, banquets)

touch (pleasure, pain, pressure, temperature extremes)

sound (music, chanting, screaming)

chemical experiences (narcotics, venom cocktails, ecstatic fumes)

emotional intensity (mania, devotion, despair, zeal)

If an Authority rules with a word and a Malebranche with a blade, an Anabus rules with stimulation.

They manipulate nervous systems as easily as others shape shadows.

IV. Potions, Drugs, and Chemical Mastery

Anabus are perfect chemists.
They produce:

addiction-tailored tinctures

subspace-reactive narcotics

ritual fumes

alchemical euphorics

sensory boosters

psionic enhancers

and “essence cocktails” that carry a trace of their own resonance

Their drugs are:

potent

fast-acting

nearly impossible to detox from without intervention

Some kthonikers whisper that the Sublime Organization—the cartel working toward a single all-in-one drug—is nothing more than a massive Indulgence cult led by an Anabus Baron.

No one has disproven it.

V. Protection & Prophylaxis

Resisting Indulgence requires:

1. Self-Control

Willpower, discipline, training from Seekers or monks.

2. Denial Strategies

sensory dulling

fasting

sobriety regimens

emotional detachment

3. Physical Protections

chemical filters

pheromone-neutralizers

psionic pain-dampeners

4. Avoiding Contractual Terms

Indulgence Contracts are physical commitments, not merely philosophical ones:

participating in rites

acting as a donor/host for Cambion creation

running cult infrastructure

gathering “offerings” for the Anabus

brewing their potions

Once entangled, the line between “supplicant” and “asset” blurs quickly.

VI. Callings of the Anabus

The following Callings represent the abilities granted to a supplicant who contracts with an Anabus.

1. Whelm

Regular; Resisted by Will
A sensory overload pulse.

Effect:

Target loses their next turn

Gains Euphoria (Irritating Condition) for 1 minute

On critical failure:

This Calling is infamous for battlefield disruption.

Cost: 1 SP

Activation Time: 1 Action

Duration: Instant

2. Tempt

Regular
The supplicant becomes briefly irresistible.

Effect:

+4 to all Influence skills

Becomes visually and socially compelling

Crowds fixate on the supplicant

In rowdy or hostile environments, this may become dangerous

Used by con artists, infiltrators, cult leaders, seducers, and many kthonikers with poor impulse control.

Cost: 3 SP, 1 SP to maintain

Activation Time: 3 Actions

Duration: 1 hour

3. Ambrosia

Regular; Resisted by Will
The Anabus “feeds” through the supplicant, draining psychic nourishment.

Effect:

Target loses 1d SP

Supplicant gains equal SP

On critical failure by the target:

Addictive to the supplicant

This Calling is ritualized in some cults as “The Holy Kiss.”

Cost: 5 SP

Activation Time: 1 Action

Duration: Instant