The safeword is “paradox.”
The Whipping Boys appear to be a shallow Legacy, using magic to experience pain for sexual gratification purposes without some of the messy after effects. Life magic, the Legacy’s forte, is used to heal the body after long nights of consensual abuse. The Whipping Boys are entrenched in the Sleeper S&M culture, and as such ride close to some seedier practices (especially in the World of Darkness). Given that, other, more conservative mages tend to regard them as freaks or perverts. But the Whipping Boys, beneath their he- donistic ways, have a deeply spiritual side, and roots in ecstatic traditions the world over.
The Whipping Boys believe that through extreme suffering and sensation, a person can reach a place in which the soul is unfettered, unconstrained by any part of the body. The consciousness can then be reshaped, so it’s important to enter into the experience with a clear goal. Most of the time, the Whipping Boys use the practice as a way to focus and refine their use of the Dream Merit, but the “Session,” as its called in the Legacy, is also the method by which members advance. In addition, the Whipping Boys claim that a Sleeper who undergoes the Session and remains conscious can reach the Supernal Realms and Awaken.
The Whipping Boys learn and, more importantly, teach, through suffering. Even a mage with no connection to the BDSM culture might find enlightenment — and the beginning or end of the Hanged Man phase of the Tarot journey — in a Session. Of course, that involves moving past the initial feelings of disgust or discomfort, or even homophobia, experienced by the mage.
Orders
The Whipping Boys have the greatest foothold in the Adamantine Arrow of the west coast.
- The Guardians of the Veil has used S&M culture as a labyrinth occasionally, and so doesn’t object to a Legacy in place there, provided it’s something they can use.
- The Mysterium and the Silver Ladder don’t much care for the Legacy.
- The Mysterium recognizes the long-standing tradition of using pain and sensation to find wisdom.
- The Silver Ladder finds the whole thing a bit kinky.
- The Free Council itself doesn’t have any problem with the Whipping Boys, and more mages from the Legacy come from this order than any other, apart from the Arrow.
Attainments
- Pain is Strength
- Pain is Skill
- Pain is Perfection
