“Don’t be afraid to explore it — ‘Be that which thou art.’” It was an old Universalist proverb, and she smiled, obviously recognizing the reference. (John the Incubus to Delilah Moraine, in The Cookoo)
Quote/Scripture passage
Symbol: The holy symbol of Suspira consists of a T-shaped cross with a circle at each end of the horizontal crossbar. It is meant to suggest both a woman's breasts and a man's penis.
Seat of Power: Unknown
Adherents: Unknown number, but the Church of Hedonism is the fastest-growing Universalist sect in the world.
Doctrine
The Church of Hedonism is one of the many Universalist faiths, all of which hold to the same basic story but focus on different fragments of the Great Maker. All of these churches teach that mortals carry a piece of the divine spark inside themselves, an inner nature that reflects a particular aspect of the Great Maker. Enlightenment comes when you become one with that inner nature, embodying it as perfectly as one can within the confines of a mortal life. That way, when that person dies, the spark within will understand itself, and rejoin with other pieces of the Great Maker that are most like itself.
Eventually, when everyone has achieved enlightenment, the Maker will finally understand itself, and the universe will be reborn as a perfect expression of the way things ought to be.
However, if when a person dies they have not become one with their inner nature, that divine spark is reborn as someone else and has to go through a new life, with a new opprotunity to understand itself.
Lady Suspira as the Embodiment of the Hedonist Principle
In the beginning was the Great Maker, and she – or he, or it – was all that existed. This was bad, because the Maker hungered for experiences and perspective to give its existence meaning, which cannot be done from only one point of view. So the Maker created the universe out of itself, dividing its essence into a billion trillion fragments in order to spread the divine spark throughout the cosmos.
Those fragments represented different parts of the Maker's personality – or what would be called a personality, if the Maker had had anyone to interact with. One of the larger, stronger fragments became the Lady Suspira, the Queen of Daedra and the ancestor of all incubi and succubae. Suspira was the embodiment of what is called the Hedonist Principle: the part of the Maker that hungered to experience pleasure, in all its myriad forms. The incubi and succubae, as Suspira's descendants, each carry a piece of her divine spark. The Cookoo
Open acceptance of non-humans and supernatural gifts
Considering that most of the ranking members of the church are incubi and sucbbae, and it's leader is a Daedra Lord… It's a given that supernatural beings and non-humans are welcome.
Scriptures
Unknown
Ritual & Ceremony
That Saturday Delilah gave her the night off, so Ysabel took my invitation and came to temple for the weekly service. She ate and drank with the other members of the congregation, then listened to Jasmine preach about the liberating power of finding your true self through the exploration of pleasure. After that came the “worship celebration” – Hedonist-speak for a church-sponsored orgy. (John the Incubus in The Cookoo)
Dedication
In the following week’s service she (Ysabel) formally dedicated herself to the church: after being anointed with sacred oils, she lay down on the altar before the assembled congregation. Jasmine shifted into a hermaphrodite form, meant to embody the male and female aspects of sexuality in perfect harmony, and fucked her cross-eyed while the church sang songs of praise to Suspira. (John the Incubus in The Cookoo)
Baptism
Unknown
Rite of Passage
Unknown
Marriage
Unknown
Ordination
Unknown, but it is primarily incubi and succubae who serve as priests & priestesses
Funeral Rites
Unknown
Organization
Hey, it could be true. And if it is, that's really convenient, 'cause it means that some mortals can achieve their eternal purpose by just having a good time. Oh, yes, and it means that they can partake of the divine nature by having sex with the incubi and succubae who serve as the priests and priestesses of the church. And if they consent to having children with us — well, that's just about the holiest thing of all, because it means that their bloodline will be mixed with the essence of the pleasure goddess herself. And if it keeps us fed, gives power to Lady Suspira and provides us with the means to reproduce ourselves, well, that works out well for everybody, doesn't it? (John the Incubus in The Cookoo)
Missionary work
Officiating services and leading orgies with the same group of disciples week after week is … well … boring. It's preaching to the converted. Our high priestess understands that, so she sends me out to find the prospective candidates who might never consider Suspira's message if they didn't have somebody to teach them. They might not listen if I showed up as an incubus — but if I seem to be a regular guy, and teach by example? Then I've got a chance. It's a good gig. I like to call it my “undercover missionary work.” But it does require a little bit of prep time. (John the Incubus in The Cookoo)
Church property layout
Home is where you keep your stuff when you're not using it, so I guess the temple qualifies. I went in the back door to the priests' quarters, stripped off my clothes and deposited them in one of the hampers; they would be cleaned and put back in the communal closets, where we kept a wide array of outfits to match the different forms we might have to shapeshift into. Within the temple itself there was no need for clothing.
I checked in with and reported on the evening's events with both Tifree and Delilah. Then I grabbed a notebook computer and sat down in the mess hall to do some research over breakfast. (John the Incubus in The Cookoo)
Known members
Jasmine, the head priestess of one of the temples in Metamor City
John the Incubus
Mysteria Halliway (aka Misty).
Conflicts with other organizations
Due to the fact that the Hedonists are lead by Suspira and her children, the Lothanasi are always on the watch regarding their activities.
Also, there is a rivalry between the Hedonists and Talia's Church of Eternal Brotherhood.1
Author's Notes
Sources: The Cookoo, conversations with RavenB, Things Unseen
Librarian's Note This page will get a MAJOR update once the Librarian can sit on her boss with a recorder or something and get some answers out of him
