Mage the Awakening 2e is out, and one of my favourite quirky Legacies in first edition was a group of BDSM wizards known as the Whipping Boys. They were an Obrimos Legacy with Life primary that used BDSM sessions and wanted to use the scene to unlock their minds. It was a neat concept, but in practice they’re just another quirky Adamantine Arrow fightmage group. Alongside the Eleventh Question’s Sherlockian focus and whatever that baseball sabermetrics Legacy is, they really hammer home the notion that just about anything people can obsess over is grounds for reshaping their Soul into a Legacy. I decided to use what I know about real world BDSM–I don’t practice because I’m a cavetroll and sunlight turns me to stone–and refocus them to be Mind primary.
Honestly, it’s a bit early[1] to be throwing them up here, since I could use some editing and a second pass, and I don’t have a Fifth Attainment.
[1] When I originally wrote this it was 2016.
The safeword is “Paradox”
The Whipping Boys are a legacy often regarded with disgust by more traditional willworkers. It is true that they use (some would say abuse) their magic for sexual gratification, going beyond mortal limits of pain and pleasure without any of the dangers often associated with the mundane version. Despite the hedonistic face of the legacy, the Perverts are more than their epithet tends to imply.
Formed by a firebrand naming himself Stonewall during the tumultuous early years of the gay civil rights movement, Sensates find Supernal meaning in the symbolism and trappings of Sleeper bondage, discipline, domination, submission, sadomasochism, and kink—collectively “BDSM”—cultures. While there is plenty to examine for Supernal Truth in the BDSM community, Stonewall was most interested in the consensual enjoyment of painful stimuli as a means to achieving a heightened state of awareness.
In other words, by experiencing magically aided sadomasochism, the Whipping Boys—and the male form is used throughout, though women in the Legacy, especially trans women, enjoy the term Whipping Girl, the title of a book by transgender author Julia Serano—are able to reach a state of consciousness more profound than the rush of ‘headspace’ that mortal practitioners could ever dream of. By undergoing “The Session”, as the grueling experience of pain and pleasure is called, the Perverts are able to Attain some measure of Supernal Truth. And, more importantly, the strength to withstand the trials and pain of chasing the Mysteries.
Parentage: Obrimos, though some claim Stonewall was Thyrsus who overcame his Path’s Inferior Arcanum. Originally a Legacy of Adamantine Arrows who felt even the pleasure of sexuality could be a battleground for magic, many Libertines have been quick to see the Supernal in kink and most Whipping Boys come from that Order. The Guardians have used BDSM culture as a Labyrinth before, but Perverts don’t take kindly to having their techniques of ecstaticism used for torture.
Background: As with the mundane, Perverts come from all walks of life, with many having been in the BDSM scene even before they were Awakened—it’s said that if a Sleeper survives the Session without passing out, they can reach the Watchtowers, though any evidence that it happens more than with Sleeper BDSM practices seems little more than confirmation bias. Many Perverts are also members of the queer community, though it comes from Stonewall’s origins and the general tendency of kinksters to be more sexually liberal.
Appearance: While it wouldn’t be entirely untrue to stereotype the Whipping Boys as the freaks and Perverts their epithet implies, many of them are capable of 'dressing up’ to hide their subcultural affiliations, meaning appearance ranges from subtle hints of desires, like handcuff earrings and delicate choker necklaces to more ostentatious displays of counterculture like rainbow hair, piercings, and leather bracelets. While the visible damage from the Session is most often healed away without leaving a trace, some Sensates will choose to keep the scars and ligature marks of what they’ve been through; after all, it’s fun to show off badges of honour.
Prerequisites: Mind 2, Iron Stamina 1, and one of the following at two dots or higher: Athletics, Brawl, Empathy, or Medicine. While the Dream merit isn’t necessary, many members develop it through use of the Session.
Initiation: The Sensate must make it through an intense Session without using the safeword (“Paradox”). This is less to test bravado than it is to ensure the prospective initiate wants the pain.
Organization: Owing to their origins during a time of even more societal ostracization as well as the sensual and sexual nature of the legacy’s practices, members tend to maintain relationships that are both literally and metaphorically intimate. While the Session itself rarely involves direct sex, physical closeness—and even tenderness—between members of the legacy isn’t uncommon. In spite of this, or perhaps due to it, monogamy is rare, and many Perverts feel that they should form many intimate relationships (albeit keeping aware of the risks such a thing implies for the Awakened). While Whipping Boys aren’t likely to stay with one another on a long term basis, they tend to offer hospitality to one another whenever the need arises. The legacy is without formal hierarchy, and the members often have a relationship like siblings that occasionally fuck each other, adding to the offputting (and often enticing) impression that conservative mages might have of them.
Theory: Pleasure and pain dance along a razor’s edge from one another, and are ultimately the same thing. Through experiencing them both to the utmost, clarity is achieved. While many of the legacy can come across as very submissive, those who have been in it long enough come to understand that controlled and caring sadism can be just as enlightening.
Ruling Arcanum: Mind
Yantras: Undergoing or performing the Session (+2), being sexually stimulated for prolonged periods without release (+2), cleaning and preparing bondage equipment (+1), experiencing pain (+1, or +2 if it would normally induce wound penalties)
Oblations: Undergoing or performing the Session, submitting to someone not of the legacy, meditating while in bondage, non-vanilla sex, giving aftercare, sparring
Many of the Attainments of the Whipping Boys use the Session as a ritual casting. Doing so means devoting an entire scene to the Session, and only one ritual may be used at a time, though multipart Sessions are not uncommon. Particularly for those in the Arrow, a Sensate might spend several hours undergoing the Session to strengthen their bodies and minds for battle. It doesn’t matter whether the Pervert using the Attainment is the dominant or submissive in the Session, and many will have it performed by trusted Sleepwalker associates with the proper magical tools.
Prerequisite: Initiation
The Session is an intimate affair, and the first Attainment highlights that rather well. Through intimate physical contact (being close enough to hug, touching the chest or face, or even grappling as in a fight), a Pervert can read the general emotional state of her subject, whether that person is her submissive, dominant, or simply someone who has allowed her the closeness required to use the Attainment. This functions as the spell Mental Scan (page 159) with Potency equal to the Mage’s Mind dots, and additional spell factors also dedicated to Potency. The mage may spend a point of mana to learn more detailed information, often to better tailor the Session to the subject.
Optional: Life 1
By taking part in the Session as a ritual casting, the Pervert gains awareness not only of the mental state of her partner, but the physical state of those around her. This is the spell Analyze Life with Reach dedicated to Advanced Duration and secondary factors set to Duration as well.
Prerequisite: Mind 2, Empathy 3
The Session is a form of consensual torture that brings about inhuman sensations of pain and pleasure. Through using an intense Session as a ritual casting the Whipping Boy steels themselves against mental incursion. The Session deals one point of Resistant lethal damage and by spending a point of mana, both submissive and dominant are protected from any mental effecting supernatural abilities by a Clash of Wills. The Reach is set to use Advanced Duration, with additional spell factors allocated accordingly
Optional: Life 2
In addition to strengthening the mind, the Pervert comes out of the Session like a butterfly from a chrysalis. By determining the additional spell factors of Bulwark the Mind with the Mage’s Life dots, she takes on a bearing of cool sensuality and grace, and is no longer effected by negative social modifiers for the duration. Even if she were to walk naked and bloody down the street, she could have a casual conversation with the gas station clerk. Anyone who would try to take notice that anything is amiss or to focus their attention elsewhere must roll Wits+Composure subtracting the Pervert’s Life dots, and only if the Mage gives them reason, while supernatural creatures might resist at the Storyteller’s decision with a Clash of Wills.
Prerequisite: Mind 3, three dots in either Athletics or Medicine and at least two in the other.
Through the Session, a Whipping Boy can unlock potential in themselves or others. With a ritual Session, the Pervert finds her mind becoming more flexible and adroit. By spending a point of mana, she may divide a number of skill dots equal to her Mind dots among that many skills, provided she or the subject possesses at least one dot. The Reach is set for advanced duration, and allocates all spell factors towards that.
Optional: The transcendence of pleasure and pain goes beyond a mien of sensual grace for Perverts this deep into the legacy. When undergoing a Session to enhance their talents, the Pervert gains the benefits of Body Control with Potency equal to her Life dots and Reach set to both Advanced Duration and granting 1/0 armour as her flesh becomes a supple steel. The increased healing rate does apply to the Resistant damage of the Session itself, and healing time for lethal damage is likewise cut.
Prerequisite: Mind 4; at least two dots in each of the legacy’s prerequisites; Iron Will, Iron Stamina 3.
BDSM subculture embraces many things that are hard for outsiders to understand, like the willing exchange of power, and the desire for self harm, but advice given to even the most vanilla intimate relationships is the power of roleplay, and the acting out of fantasies in a safe environment. As with other aspects of the culture, the Perverts have taken this to a level that Sleepers could never dream of. Through the application of a Session and a point of mana, this Attainment allows the Whipping Boy to completely rewrite partner’s personality, as well as her own, as with the spell Psychic Reprogramming with Potency equal to the Pervert’s Mind dots, Reach to allow shifting Mental and Social Attributes, another Reach dedicated to using advanced duration, and all additional factors dedicated to increasing Duration. The Sensate herself need not be in the dominant role, either; it’s a truism that the submissive has all of the power in any true kink relationship. If the Attainment is used on a non-consenting subject, treat their Resolve as two higher for determining Withstanding.
Optional: Life 4
Mental change is good, but physical change allows the mind to be put into action. For the duration of the spell, the subject’s physical characteristics are altered as with Many Faces or Transform Life, with a Potency equal to the Pervert’s Life dots. This can be used for preparing for battle, creating a more comfortable form for the new personality, or simply to fulfill some weird fetish; they are after all called Perverts.
In Sleeper BDSM culture, the period of one instance of an agreed upon BDSM performance is often called a session, or sometimes a play or scene. It’s ultimately an act of roleplaying, designed to allow the participants to obtain some sort of emotional catharsis. Acts that would otherwise be undesirable are often used, and roughness, abuse, and humiliation are common. Through sadomasochism—whether emotional or physical—and the arbitrary and ultimately ceremonial exchange of power, many participants find a mental state known as “subspace”, “domspace”, or more generally “headspace”. A state of relaxation and the sublime.
For the Whipping Boys the state of headspace is desirable, but lacking. Through the use of magic, they can achieve pleasures and pains more dramatic than any a Sleeper could hope to experience.
The Session is an intense and extended BDSM scene that lasts around an hour, even if it feels like days to some and moments to others. As with Sleeper culture, actual sex is uncommon (more often saved for aftercare, with the Session itself as foreplay), but sexual stimulation isn’t. Pleasure and pain are twisted together, both through intimate knowledge of anatomy as well as the use of the Mind Arcanum and other magic. The headspace produced by the Session allows the participant to better center their psyche, as well as achieve answers to otherwise unanswerable questions.
Mechanically, whatever form the Session takes, it fills the submissive’s health track with resistant bashing damage but also allows the submissive to use the Dream merit as if it were two dots higher, even if she doesn’t have it, the benefits of the Meditative Mind merit at two dots, even if she doesn’t have it, and mana as if she had scoured her pattern, even if she was already at her limit for the day. If the submissive isn’t a member of the Whipping Boys with at least their first Attainment, she must roll Resolve + Composure. Failure means that she can’t help but blurt out the safeword—traditionally “Paradox”, though personal safewords are encouraged—and doesn’t take damage, but likewise fails to gain any of the benefits. A dramatic failure often means the panicked submissive hurts themselves or the dominant, taking (non-resistant) lethal damage as appropriate, or a suitable persistent condition.
While the Session is primarily for the Legacy, many Perverts with a versatile or switch bent will offer their services for both regular BDSM and the Session to those who desire it. For those looking to join the Whipping Boys, the initiation Session is a more grueling process. Throughout it, the dominant will attempt to force the submissive to give in and use the safeword. Under any other circumstance this would go against common risk aware consensual kink practices, but initiation into molding your soul around intense pain and pleasure is not to be taken lightly.
The initiation is a Social Maneuver. The submissive’s starting Doors are equal to her Stamina + Resolve + Gnosis. Life or Mind (but not both) may be added. The dominant tries to break the submissive with whatever dice pool he feels is appropriate. Presence + Intimidate for humiliation and demeaning. Strength + Weaponry for floggings. Dexterity + Medicine for edging ministrations. Gnosis + Mind to directly toy with desires. Every turn that this goes on, the submissive takes one point of resistant bashing damage. If she manages to survive the experience—and despite the appearance of danger and the often bloody and sweatslicked clean up, no one is ever in any real danger—the initiate is given several moments of silence as they’re gently removed from any gear, wrapped in warm blankets, carried about like a small child, and have their wounds cared for as intimately and nonmagically as the situation allows for. This period of aftercare is the last chance to decide if the Legacy is right. If she does, she truly is a Pervert, and may purchase the first Attainment.