Path of Pleasure
A Path on the Road of Sin
Sobrequiet: Voluptuaries (ancient), Hedonists (modern)
The Beast lusts. It is a creature of the senses, driven by the instinctual desire for pleasure and comfort, eschewing physical pain and emotional distress. why resist that primal urge? Why cling to a way of existing that denies the comforts of the flesh, considers pleasure and desire to be sins, defames all things of beauty not first defined as "holy"?
Adherents of this path tame their Beasts through the application of sensual excesses of all types, exploring the outer limits of both human and Cainite sensuality. They do so in the most explicity physical ways possible, engaging in blatantly sexual feeding rituals with vessles of both genders, exerting the effort necessary to engage in sensual activities other than feeding, experimenting with pleasure-inducing (or refining) Discipline applications and simply leading their unlives floating in a sea of immediacy and physical bliss. They favor comely companions/consorts, beautiful and well made clothing, rare incenses, warm beds, perfumed baths, larders stocked with rare mortal 9and, occasionally, immortal) vintages to please their refined palates and unlifestyles that permit them to pursue all of these things. They shun the physically unappealing, the graceless, the vulgar and the plain, as well as circumstances where regular contact outweighs any possible pleasure that might arrise from the association.
Practices: When other Cainites think of outrageously hedonistic Sinners, they're thinking of the adherents of this path, to whom no form of physical pleasure is taboo, unwelcome or left alone for very long. The Voluptuaries often practice a form of "sacred protitution" in which they teach others ot appreciate the gift of their bodies and senses, as well as pleasing themselves, teasing new understanding of the Beast's lusts out of their social interactions. In Cainite society, they often occupy the role of procurer for other vampires, seeking out and training vessels, supplying aphrodisiac substances and performing other such pleasure-providing tasks.
Virtues: Conviction, Instinct.
Additional Ethics of Pleasure:
- The Beast is a creature of the senses, best tamed by feeding it the pleasure it desires.
- Feel no shame or inhibition when seeking fulfillment; all acts of pleasure are sacraments to yourself.
- Avoid these things that bring you no pleasure, for they arouse the Beast to wrath.
