Editing Helotry of Xiombarg (section)

==The Mystery Cult==

By far the single most taxing problem for those trying to garner information about the Helotry of Xiombarg is the sheer variety of answers.  If one were to ask a Helot about the source of his or her power, the chances of two answers being similar is very slim.  The closest to a consistent answer seems to be that it is both a philosophy and a religion, or some bizarre mixture of the two.  In truth, the answer is much more complex.  

A mystery cult is a form of religious observance that takes one aspect or experience in a deity's life or growth or faith, and seeks to emulate it in act and deed.  In the case of the mystery cult of the Nameless Goddess, most Helots who have found themselves unwillingly bound have sought to end their captivity with magical force.  Usually, such unwilling captivity forces the spellcaster to be unable to cast spells; if they manage to do so, by subterfuge or sheer willpower, they gain some insight into the unwilling imprisonment of the Nameless Goddess who gently guides and controls the destructive, perverse goddess Xiombarg from within her Oder-inflicted constraints.  Eventually, they will discover other bondage witches and cerebrectomists, who teach them what they have experienced if neither unique nor is it simply a show of power.

To a truly devoted Helot, the taking on of bondage is not simply to gain personal power or mystically unleash their inner power through constraint of the body.  When they don their blindfolds, their bindings, and limit their body and flesh, they are actually emulating the essential nature of their deity.  This act, this ritualistic affectation of their goddess' nature and legend, becomes a form of worship where they are no longer simply mortal but become as essentially divine as their own deity.  Devout Helots have as many explanations for why their powers exist as there are Helots:  sympathetic magic stimulated by the restraining of oneself to mimic the restraints placed on all magic by the Lords of Order, a philosophical journey of self-empowerment through denial and introspection, utilizing the mystical essences of the bound and Nameless Goddess through emulation of her binding....and many more explanations.

Many claim to know the truth of where the powers the Bondage Witches and Cerebrectomists stem from; many people can even emulate various abilities they have through long practice, careful study, and hard work, yet the power seems to flow easily to them.  The magical energies themselves seem neither arcane nor divine in nature  - most being supernatural in power  -but you will get explanations that differ from arcane and divine casters alike and often receive answers that mix the two disparate forms of magic.  This lack of unifying philosophy makes determining the motives and beliefs of the cultists difficult for those intent on learning about them or fighting them.  All the Helots believe their own explanations, and this lack of unity makes the cult less of a threat than it would ordinarily be; generally, it is the presence of the worshipers of Xiombarg that turns the Helotry into a real threat by organizing others under the Queen of Swords' banner.