society of sensation
Bein’ a Sensate is, pure and simple, the greatest thing in the planes - if a berk‘s a true Sensate, that is. To be sure, the Society of Sensation has plenty of faction members, but a good many’re just in it for the pleasure. Like as not, they don’t realize that bein’ a Sensate’s much, much
more.i keep those sods around anyway, though, because they’re useful; they do a lot of the daily business in the Cage. And there’s hope for ‘em, as well. Most learn in time there’s more to life than the gut and the loin.
Public Agenda
the sensates rarely need to recruit members. as everyone in sigil already loves them, most taverns theaters or performance circles have at least one sensate around. the strange and sometimes provocative performances bring in large crowds, and the few within the many that see the deeper meaning, and have a desire to experience all life has to offer will end up a member. while some come for the debauchery, the true believers stay for the higher purpose of seeing all life can give.
History
The chant says that, long ago, the Cage was much more lawful and organized, and much less likely to boil over. But times change, don’t they? Sigil attracted berks of a more how might I say chaotic bent. Strange creatures and even stranger philosophies came to call the city
home. Forces of law and chaos, good and evil, were mixing together, and only the truly neutral could maintain the balance. Back then, near seven centuries ago, the Sensates weren’t really a society at all, just folks who got together every now and again for amusements to take the sting out of life. We’d plot some little escapade - say, a sightseeing trip to Carceri and back - or bring some strange new entertainment into a tiny den hidden away in the city.
Word spread of our doings, and others naturally wanted in on the folly. Oh, some naysayers said the new comers were bored, or stifled, or just plain curious. But wiser bloods knew the Cage entered a new era then, that the time’d come for a fresh openness of thinking. And the first Sensates quickly saw that a profit could be made from meetin’ other sods’ needs. A lot of the jink went into building the Civic Festhall, a palace for acts and shows pulled from the farthest corners of the multiverse. Like a trained leucrotta that jumped through hoops while reciting ardistanian poetry. or the birth of a cambion as his balor father stood by,
holdin’ his human mother’s hand and stroking’ her sweaty brow. Aye, business boomed. Even today, though we’re inclined toward more cerebral pursuits, the Sensates still bring in some brisk business.
All the new folks streamin’ into Sigil needed a handle on the multiverse, didn’t they? Especially the green primes
just realizing what lay beyond their own little worlds! We Sensates were an attractive lot, accepting any and all comers. But may-hap we were too indiscriminate back then. Berks who weren’t real Sensates wanted the same entertainment night after night, the same inebriation, the same euphoria. Happy with just one stimulus, the sods couldn’t see why anyone’d want anything different. And that’s not
what bein’ a Sensate’s all about.
But other philosophies came to light in Sigil, too. ’Tis said there were a faction or three to suit every possible bent all sure they knew the dark of things, and all running ’round recruiting as many berks as they could. A cutter sharp enough to ask for a signing fee could make good jink joinin’ half a dozen factions each day! Chaos, it were. And sure you know, the Lady of Pain put a stop to all that, what with her decree to cut back to only 15 factions. A good thing it were, too - she probably stopped a civil war
from breakin’ out.
A good many factions fell by the wayside, but the Sensates were too strong to fade away. ’Course, we did
lose a good share of folk in the shakeup, but that turned out to be a blessing, as we could be far more selective in
letting future members in. And we voted ourselves a factol to help organize the Society, something we’d sorely needed. we still let any cutter into our faction, whether she he good or evil, lawful or chaotic, prime or planar. All that matters is that she’s got a true desire to sense, to experience what the multiverse has to offer. She’s got to really want to taste a dozen different types of honey, to savor each variety, its virtues and flaws. And then she’s just got to convince us that she’s sincere. And, as you found out, culler, we can sniff out a blustering sod in the wink of a quasit‘s eye.
That don’t mean we’re without an agenda, though. It‘s just that our motives and plans aren’t as blunt as, say, Duke Darkwood’s. The Fated‘s factol wants to take over the City of Doors - that’s sure. But the Sensates already run the city: we don’t need a formal declaration that it’s
ours. This very moment, there’re over 40,000 Sensates in the Cage. If I pulled ‘em all out, the place’d go up in civil warfare inside a fortnight. After all, we control nearly all of the public and private entertainment houses - what would the poor sods here do for fun without us besides go to war?
seeing is beliving
Type
Political, Faction / Party
Alternative Names
sensate
Demonym
sensates
Leader
Location
Controlled Territories
Notable Members
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