Editing Cult of Ecstasy (section)

== Hey kid, wanna get your mind expanded? ==
The Cult of Pleasure is, buried underneath a mountain of booze and tits, all about pushing the boundaries of reality by rejecting it as nothing more than an illusion, and can dispel this illusion, if only briefly, through transcendent experience. It's not just Hookers and blow all the time, some of it can come from simpler pleasures like music or art or food or even something like body modification, but the point is to reach a level of sensation that allows your mind to see the world for what it truly is. It's for this reason that Cultists powers often manifest through the Sphere of Time, and traditionally have been seen as mystics, oracles, and shamans (though not nearly to the extent of the [[Dreamspeakers]]). 

The Cultists would laugh off the idea of a Sphere however, since they understand the Spheres as less explicit separate entities of reality and just parts of a bigger whole; the only thing specific about them is that they themselves are unreal; Illusions of things like Time, Matter, Forces, etc, and are treated as such. Once you understand that something like Time isn't real, you can bend it however you want, and thus anything is possible. That is how this group of whores and druggies ended up in the seat of Time; they see Time as the ultimate barrier, the very last possible boundary...and want to smash it down and live outside of it.

Cultists themselves generally walk their own path to Enlightenment and Ascension, as there are a million ways to do it and each person's way is equally valid, though they'll generally group up in order to help themselves find breakthroughs or push each other or themselves into finding deeper truths of Life and Time and through experimentation and new sensations. Basically daring each other to get on the magic carpet ride to enlightenment until someone finally says "Do it or no balls" and you stand up, fueled by alcohol, to go ahead and do it just to shut them up. 

=== The Esoteric Power of Percocet and Wine ===
One of the Ecstatics' most defining trait and stereotype is their affinity for narcotics and sexual experience as a foci for their magic. It's not their ''only'' Foci, as the concept is to expand and open your senses, which can be any number of things: a favorite story read aloud, a comic book, a prayer (the [[Celestial Chorus|Chorus]] [[HERESY|''loves'' that]].), anything like that...but Sex, Drugs, and Rock n' Roll is generally accepted to be the easiest and most useful ways of doing it.

Don't just assume this is a way to free ass and weed though; the Cultists take this shit ''very'' seriously. For the Ecstatics, Sex is more than just fun; it's a three-tiered system with wanton fucking being at the very bottom, and requires either a lot of it or a perfect situation to create the perfect moment of momentary enlightenment. They'll happily go down on you if you ask, but you're not going to really get much beyond the obvious. Their concept of "high-sex" is pleasurable, but it's honestly more work than play; being a specific tantric ritual designed to share energies with the other person. Lovemaking is the creamy middle of the two, being more about intense personal bonding, something that the Ecstatics also see as something that can expand your boundaries, though not nearly to the extent as their more intense rituals. Oh yeah and ''do not'' use their permissiveness as an excuse to try and force yourself on them or another person; that's in their code. If they consent though? Have a ball.

As for drugs, they categorize them into three very scientific roles based on what they do: Running Toward, which is about manifesting energy (Coke, Meth etc.), Running Away, which is about relaxing energy and introspection (Weed, Booze, Morphine, Quaaludes if you know anybody who makes them)...and Bad Shit. They try not to use Bad Shit because all that's gonna do is fuck you up and actively disable your ability to use without also creating understanding (heroin, krokodil, fentanyl, basically anything that could seriously screw up your brain irreversibly). Most Elder Cultists will toke up and encourage their disciples to do so as well, but will try to get you off the Bad Shit or actively use magic to break your addiction as quick as possible. 

As expected, this can become its own obstacle, as the Cultist worries about getting stuck in the "same old shit" over and over again, but such is the big hurdle; if you can overcome it, then you get to see some ''really'' crazy shit just by remembering the feeling of getting your back blown out, or the taste of the best beer you've ever had cross your lips. Such Cultists are considered true masters, as they've transcended the surface level pleasures and understand them deeper than any one person ever could.

=== Code of Ananda ===
Sh'Zar realized quite quickly that while all the pleasure in the world and chasing it is a net good for Cultists, this gaggle of meth addicts and nymphomaniacs need a little bit of guidance to keep them from tearing themselves, and the tradition, to shreds and committing exceptionally dangerous crimes. Thus, he set down the Code of Ananda, which attempts to set guidelines for all Cultists on what "Acceptable Behavior" is.

The Code reads as follows:
* '''I. Thou art miraculous: So are we all.''' - Don't use your magic to lord over Sleepers. They might Awaken someday.
* '''II. He who spits upon his good right hand shall find the left one fails him in need''' - Help your fellow Cultist if he needs it, and don't take it for granted. You're gonna need help eventually too.
* '''III. Each gold coin yields two like it; each stalkgiven creates a bundle. Yet, each coin taken turns therest to dross, and one bundle gone creates a famine. Thus shall a Seer count his deeds.''' - Don't fuck up the magic blunt rotation. Help your fellow Cultist and Sleeper with your findings if you can.
* '''IV. Some minds rest best asleep. Stir not thosewho would not waken otherwise.''' - Don't wake up Sleepers willy-nilly. A hotly debated topic among the Cult since it's very much against the "push the boundaries of personal reality" thing that the Cult was founded on. Without a doubt the part of the code most broken or ignored by it's more unsavory characters.
* '''V. Truths foreseen are not always truths.''' - Don't believe everything your visions tell you and ''certainly'' don't assume your magic brought upon by taking Hyper-Percocet is fact.
* '''VI. If a man (or a woman) would rend another’s passions, let him be as one torn by wild dogs. For passions are the seat of the Self, and if they bleed, so too does the soul.''' - If anybody's using their magic to do rapes or fuck people's brains up, you have full permission to blow them up.
* '''VII. Let each Seer account his own deeds, and if those deeds should want for wisdom or kind-ness, let him be put forth to weep alone''' - It's not a Cult if you're on your own. Don't be a shut-in, show up to Cult meetings, learn what people have to teach. 
* '''VIII. Humor cooleth blood: Wrath spilleth it.''' - Don't harsh your own buzz by taking yourself seriously.
* '''IX. Even trees rent by lightning may grow new fruit.''' - This one is the subject of much more scholarly debate, as it's either referring to the Cult being capable of redeeming someone's defiled understanding of Passions, or that those who fall in the Cult have a chance at redemption.
* '''X.  A  fool  feels  no  fear;  A  Sleeper  remains shackled by it; A Master transcends it, yet recalls itswisdom. It is good to be afraid: It is folly to bow to terror.''' - Be free to test your boundaries and your limits, but don't do something blatantly stupid. Understandably a ''lot'' of the Cult's initiates fuck this one up the hardest.

As you can probably tell from reading, it's mostly just "don't be a dick' written ten different ways, but it's important to keep hammering that point home because the Cult's understanding of pleasure is ''very'' Slaaneshi, if we're looking at it from the outside.