“That which cannot be experienced by the senses is open to debate. And thus, it is only through firsthand experience that we are led to Truth, and for what purpose were we given our senses and faculties if not to experience Truth?”
~ Tyndarus felius Phygia of the Rimari Sensorum

The cult believes that in order to truly understand the deep, underlying truths of the world, one must engage with it to the fullest extent. And while the cult does not advocate for suicidal recklessness, it is expected that one will allow themselves to be open to all that creation can offer. Mankind has been served a dizzying array of far more sensations, experiences, and knowledge than any one creature could ever hope to take in during a lifetime. And while the pleasures that life serves in abundance should be relished and enjoyed, a large portion of existence is characterized by various forms of suffering. How thankful we should then be that mankind is not constrained by merely one lifetime. The cult teaches that it is the responsibility of humanity to truly explore what the creator made, and in so doing, truly understand the depth and breadth of the meaning of life and of this world. Therefore, pain must serve a purpose, as do pleasure, grief, hunger, desire, and the entire spectrum of everything a human has the capacity to feel.

It is believed that many generations ago, when the average human lifespan was shorter, the Rimari were more conservative and focused on experiencing the sum of a small portion of existence. One cultist might seek out every type of experience that causes a surge of thrilled excitement, whereas another might try to experience every form of grief. Some would seek out every piece of music composed on a certain instrument, and others would try to catalogue and define the scents of every plant. However, when mankind became gifted with extended life, and death no longer held that final, abyssal end to experiences as they knew them, the Rimari Sensorum accepted this divine encouragement to continue and grew more extreme in what they chose to seek out.

If the cult was merely an exploration of knowledge and the arts, they would likely be more tolerated. However, for the initiated of the Rimari Sensorum, no knowledge or experience is too taboo, and those who seek are not judged among them – however the rest of the world may gaze upon them in condemnation. In fact, for some among them, the less experienced an act or sensation is by humanity, the more it is sought out for its rarity and value. This can obviously lead to sinful behavior, if not outright heinous actions among some worshippers. This is not to imply that all cultists seek the darkest of experiences, but if the true aim of worship is to partake of all there is, then the most forbidden fruits must also be on the menu at some point. This is a source of the distrust many communities feel towards Rimari cultists, for one never knows if today will be the day that the cultist seeks to experience being a turncoat, murderer, liar, or thief. However, the Rimari would argue that to truly understand another human is to know what they have known, and it is in this way that true empathy is born. And so it is with the world as a whole – one must seek to experience in order to understand, and once one understands, they may forgive, grow, and transcend. True knowledge of all leads to salvation, for when one has read the entirety of the universe, the book may be closed, and perhaps what comes next can be started.

Offerings

The Rimari Sensorum value acts of extreme pain or pleasure, records of new knowledge and experiences, forgotten and hidden information and lore. They often partake in herbs and alchemical preparations that create a hallucinogenic or intoxicant response, as well as those that cause a purgative or irritant response.

Vow

Those who follow the Rimari Sensorum may not turn down the experience of something new when offered to them. Those who break their vow suffer a -2 to their Faith for the next three event days or until they properly atone for their broken vow and make an appropriately impressive sacrifice, whichever comes first.

Should the follower accept their punishment and end the next three event days without rectifying their broken vow, they are no longer considered a part of the Rimari Sensorum, and will be unable gain a benefit from offerings until they have made amends through atonement and a precious offering.

Certain benefits are available to those of the Rimari Sensorum who swear the following oath before a Shrine of the Senses with an accompanying offering and use of the prayer ability.

Mold my form and thoughts by your creation and will, o god. Let my rapture and atonement echo to the heavens and the depths, as I go forth into the unknown without a backwards glance. I shall endure to the end.

Swearing this Oath places them under the Vow of the Rimari Sensorum

The following must be written into the dedications book as if it was a prayer. The use of an Altar or Shrine spends the user’s daily prayer ability:

Common Offering – Wine, honey, a favored herb, or an alchemical preparation allows the worshipper to leave a record of a memory they have at the Shrine or Altar which may be vividly experienced by all who touch it. This memory will endure for a year and a day *or* until the Shrine is destroyed, whichever happens first. This cannot be used to replace a touchstone memory that has been lost.
Rare Offering: Stolen Moments – A lore prop, rare wood, an unusual new experience performed at the shrine along with a melee weapon will allow the worshipper to leach a single touchstone memory from the next PC or NPC whose blood touches the blade. This does not take the touchstone memory from the target, nor does the Rimari Sensorum make a new touchstone memory.
Precious Offering: Through your eyes – With an offering of wyrd forestry materials, a touchstone memory lost in death, or an extreme or nearly unique act performed at the shrine you can, along with a lock of hair or blood of your target, for the next hour ride along with a person whose hair or blood you have placed on the shrine and experience what they experience through their eyes. If the shrine is desecrated while you are riding along, or the target is exorcised in a way that would remove possession, you die.

In addition to offerings at a Shrine, one may make a common offering at an Altar dedicated to the sacred senses. The Altar must contain at least five different uncommon items that the Rimari associates with deeply memorable experiences they have already had, or ones that they yearn to have, and a representation of the senses.

Dedicate Shrine of the Senses

This is a ritual to create a space sacred to the Rimari Sensorum, where they may dedicate experiences to god, present offerings, or meditate on or learn from others’ experiences.

Constellation: Tariq
Orthodoxy: 3
Observances:

Act – A group of five members of the Rimari Sensorum (or individuals who wish to dedicate themselves to the Rimari Sensorum and take the vow), one for each of the five senses, gathers in a private room where they will not be disturbed.
Focus – A wooden box, large enough to hold at least five items, is ceremoniously laid in the center of the group.
Offering – Five separate rare, wyrd or complex crafted items for each of the five senses, each one of which represents a tantalization of the different senses – taste, touch, hearing, smell, and sight are placed into the wooden box reverently, with each one announced and described aloud in extreme detail.
Focus – A lock is placed upon the latch of the box and closed.
Focus – Each member of the gathering must pass a dagger around, cutting themselves in a rough location that corresponds to the sense they represent – the tongue, near the eye, the nose, the hand, and the ear.
Act – Once each member begins to bleed, they must each smear their blood on the lock fastened to the lock on the box while speaking the words: “We take none of these gifts for granted. We experience the world as it is, and seek to uncover the mysteries and riddles you have laid for us, o lord. Veritas liberabit vos.”

If the lock is ever broken the shrine is desecrated.