TEXT: Bloodstone Press                                                                                                                                                     Amazons Vs Valkyries: Mystery Cults 
  1 
  Cult of Dionysus 
   
  CULT OF DIONYSUS  
   
   INTRODUCTION  
  Welcome to the Mystery Cults series for the 
  Amazons Vs Valkyries adventure setting. The 
  religious cults presented here are just a few of the 
  hundreds that exist in this setting. Some are 
  dedicated to chthonic gods that are nearly forgotten, 
  while others worship new deities, such as Alexander 
  the Great. These cults are most common in Greece 
  and the Greek colonies, but also exist in Egypt, 
  Persia, Rome, and Carthage. Even in less civilized 
  lands druids, witch doctors, and other religious 
  leaders join together, keep secrets, pursue common 
  goals, and organize themselves in a hierarchy.  
   MYSTERY CULTS  
  Mystery cults are secret societies that exist 
  within religious institutions. Like other secret 
  societies, their existence is well known, but their 
  rituals, lore, and objectives are concealed. Only the 
  initiated are allowed access to these secrets.   
   
  Levels of Initiation. Cult membership is divided 
  into a hierarchy of at least twenty degrees or ranks. 
  Some cults have more than sixty ranks. Only the high 
  priestess (or priest) is privy to all the cult’s secrets.  
   
  Exclusivity. None of these cults require their 
  members to disavow or deny other deities and cults. 
  In fact, many people are simultaneously members of 
  multiple cults.  
   
  Cult Secrets. Only the initiated know the true 
  name of the cult’s deity, and they are forbidden to 
  speak it to anyone outside the cult. At each level of 
  initiation, a different true name is revealed to the 
  member with only the high priestess knowing the 
  actual true name of the deity. Mystery cults also 
  harbor many other secrets and esoteric lore. Some 
  examples are listed on the table below. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  D20 
  Secret Lore 
  1 
  Facts about mythical events  
  2 
  Location of an entrance to the Underworld 
  3 
  Location of a gate to another dimension  
  4 
  Location of a prison holding a demon or deity 
  5 
  Formula for creating magical items 
  6 
  Rare spells  
  7 
  Facts about other planes in the multiverse 
  8 
  Facts about a mythical beast 
  9 
  Facts about distant lands 
  10 
  The true ambitions of a major political figure 
  11 
  Archaic or extinct language(s) 
  12 
  Secret of navigating the tunnels of Europa 
  13 
  Lore of a lost or forgotten civilization 
  14 
  Location of a legendary magic item 
  15 
  Clues or answer to a puzzle or riddle 
  16 
  Location of a sacred site  
  17 
  Lore about a humanoid or monstrous race 
  18 
  Lore of a lost, magic-like technology  
  19 
  Location of a magical island  
  20 
  Lore about the Amazons Vs Valkyries conflict 
   
  Initiation Fees. Although membership in most 
  cults is open to everyone, initiation rites have fees. 
  These fees offset the cost of the ritual and help 
  support the temple and its ambitions. The amount of 
  the fee increases with each degree and depends on 
  many factors, including how much the applicant can 
  afford and how much the cult leaders desire the new 
  member.  
   
   
   
  
  Bloodstone Press                                                                                                                                                     Amazons Vs Valkyries: Mystery Cults 
  2 
  Cult of Dionysus 
   
  Initiation Times. Most cults conduct initiations 
  once per year. Common dates include the first full 
  Moon after the Winter Solstice, the Spring Equinox, 
  and the Summer Solstice. The initiation process 
  usually involves preliminary ritual purification, eating 
  sacred foods, and confessing of wrong doing. This 
  takes at least three days and sometimes up to two 
  weeks. The actual ceremony begins at sundown and 
  continues until sunrise. During the ritual, the 
  initiates consume psychoactive substances and 
  venture into a deep cavern where they have 
  unnerving encounters with deities and demons.  
   
  Membership Advantage. Besides access to 
  secret lore and powerful associates, being a cult 
  member has other perks. Membership can mean 
  that your business wins a lucrative contract from a 
  trade guild or local magistrate. It could mean that 
  your child is educated by an elite, Greek tutor, or 
  that your competitor suffers a tragic setback.   
   
  Leadership and Members. Cult hierarchies are 
  separate from temple priesthoods. While most 
  leadership positions within the cults are occupied by 
  priestesses (or priests), not all temple priestesses are 
  members of the mystery cult. Likewise, most cult 
  members are not priestesses or employed by the 
  temple; they are private citizens, lawyers, 
  merchants, stage actors, lords, scribes, and 
  princesses. 
   
   
   
   
   
  THE CULT OF DIONYSUS  
  Domains: Life, Madness, Nature, Trickery 
  Location: Greece, Anatolia, Greek colonies 
  Cult Secrets: Will of the gods, meaning of life, 
  afterlife, resurrection  
    
  Dionysus is a Greek deity of intoxication, wine, 
  hedonism, theater, grape harvest, and liberation. He 
  is also a deity of death and rebirth, symbolic of 
  perennial plants. Members of this cult are semi-
  nomadic, traveling from town to town in a great 
  procession of revelers. Fauns and nymphs are 
  usually found among them, instigating the revelry. 
  This great band of drunken minstrels and dancers 
  practically take over communities when they arrive. 
  Their heavy drug use, loud music, and frantic 
  dancing help the cult members attain a state of 
  animalistic consciousness, escape the bonds of 
  civilization, and embrace the feral nature within.  
   
  Many governments consider the cult of 
  Dionysus dangerous since the members promote 
  alternate political views, unusual social ideals, and 
  deviant morals. Cult members are occasionally 
  accused of crimes ranging from petty theft and 
  trespassing to sexual assault and insulting the gods. 
  A few governments have completely banned the cult 
  while some others have restricted or limited it. The 
  Athenian government has attempted to accept and 
  integrate the cult with only marginal success.  
   
  THE TEMPLES  
  The main temple of Dionysus is on the island of 
  Naxos in the Aegean. It is an ancient sanctuary, more 
  than 1,200 years old. Naxos has a small city 
  (population 10,000), also called Naxos, and two 
  other towns of 500 people. The rest of the island is 
  dotted with hamlets and thorps.    
   
  Another significant temple to Dionysus is in 
  Thebes. This temple is located near the Proitidian 
  Gate and adjacent to a large theater and a temple 
  dedicated to Dionysus’ mother, Semele.  
   
  Many satellite temples exist throughout the 
  Eastern Mediterranean. These serve as gathering 
  sites and recruitment centers for the faithful. 
   
  Initiation. Initiation rites are held once a year in 
  January at the main temple in Naxos and at the 
  temple in Thebes.  New members must make a 
  pilgrimage to one of the temples to join the cult.  
  
  Bloodstone Press                                                                                                                                                     Amazons Vs Valkyries: Mystery Cults 
  3 
  Cult of Dionysus 
   
  FESTIVALS  
  The festivals that honor Dionysus are outlined 
  below. The maenads and their bands of revelers 
  always participate in these events.  
   
  Ascolia. The people of Attica hold a great feast 
  every autumn in honor of Dionysus. The festivities 
  include sacrificing a goat, making a greased ball out 
  of its skin, and playing a game with it. 
   
  Dionysia, Rural. The oldest festivals honoring 
  Dionysus are held during the Winter Solstice. The 
  merriment is relegated to the countryside and the 
  rural peoples. Towns hold their celebrations on 
  different days allowing for entertainers, priestesses, 
  and revelers to attend multiple events. The festivals 
  involve a parade where men exhibit phallic symbols 
  and women carry baskets and jars. These 
  processions are followed by competitions of drama, 
  poetry, song, and music.  
   
  Dionysia, Urban. Three months after the Rural 
  Dionysia, a similar but much larger festival is held in 
  the cities, particularly in Athens, Elusia, and Thebes. 
  These festivals last seven days and feature elaborate 
  stage performances with famous writers and actors, 
  bountiful prizes, and the sacrifice of a bull. The 
  celebration concludes with a second parade of 
  drunken revelers cavorting in the streets.   
   
  The Haloa. This women’s festival celebrating 
  Demeter and Dionysus is held after the harvest. Men 
  are not allowed to attend, though they are expected 
  to cover the expenses of their wives and daughters. 
  At the festival, women engage in all sorts of 
  hedonistic indulgences.  
   
  The Lenaia. Held in Athens each January, the 
  Lenaia is a relatively small event that focuses on the 
  rebirth or resurrection aspects of Dionysus. It is not 
  open the public; only cult members and temple 
  priestesses attend. There are contests of drama,  
  comedy, and music followed by nocturnal cultish 
  rites and ceremonies. 
    
  The Anthesteria. This three day festival of 
  resurrection and rebirth is held in the spring. Social 
  order is inverted during the festival with masters 
  becoming slaves and slaves becoming masters. 
  Undead rise and wander among the living during the 
  celebration. The priestesses place wards on people’s 
  homes to protect them from these monsters, but 
  anyone caught in the streets between sundown and 
  sunrise risks an encounter with the undead. On the 
  second day of the celebration people dress in bright, 
  cheerful outfits and engage in drinking contests. 
  They also hold memorial observances for deceased 
  relatives and friends. The ritual queen of the city 
  ceremonially weds the deity as the sun sets. That 
  night, the undead return the streets. On the third 
  day, the undead are banished from the streets with 
  Dionysian rites requiring tithes of food from every 
  citizen. After the ceremony, citizens finish the day 
  with games and sporting events.  
   
  THE MAENADS 
  First among Dionysus’ followers are the 
  ferocious Maenads. They are the leaders and 
  priestesses of the cult. These women are known as 
  “the mad ones” and dress in animal skins and 
  antlers. They carry rods tipped with acorns and have 
  one or more snakes crawling upon them. During 
  rituals, the Maenads gather into frenzied mobs that 
  tear bulls apart and pull trees from the ground. 
  During battle, they turn this same bloodlust against 
  their enemies, ripping armed soldiers to pieces with 
  their bare hands. 
   
  The Gerarai. Among the Maenads are an elite 
  group of fourteen older, wiser priestesses who take 
  an additional oath of secrecy. These priestesses are 
  known as Gerarai and serve as the high priestess’s 
  lieutenants and administrators. They assist the high 
  priestess in the most important rituals.  
   
   
   
   
   
  
  Bloodstone Press                                                                                                                                                     Amazons Vs Valkyries: Mystery Cults 
  4 
  Cult of Dionysus 
   
  MADNESS DOMAIN  
   
  Gods that personify chaos, ferocity, unrestraint, 
  and delusion, such as Dionysus, Astarte, Sabazios, 
  and Loki may grant their priestesses access to the 
  madness domain. For some deities, madness is 
  expressed in uninhibited carnal desire, for others it is 
  a trip into the far reaches of consciousness and 
  delving into alternate realities. Some of these deities 
  promote twisted logic and sadistic humor, while 
  others encourage gluttony and hedonism. Many 
  followers of these gods enjoy life and want others to 
  share in the nonsense and dark humor of existence. 
  Others are alarmed at their divine insights and work 
  feverishly to avert (or achieve) some esoteric, 
  paranoid goal.  
   
  Madness Domain Spells 
  Priestess 
  Level 
  Spells 
  1st 
  Hideous laughter, speak with animals 
  3rd 
  Enhance ability, suggestion 
  5th 
  Fear, hypnotic pattern  
  7th 
  Confusion, phantasmal killer 
  9th 
  Dominate person, modify memory 
   
  CHANNEL DIVINITY: MAD SKILLS 
  When you choose this domain at 1st level, you 
  can use your Channel Divinity as an action to 
  temporarily access hidden talents and flares of mad 
  genius within yourself. When you call upon this 
  ability, choose one skill or tool. You have proficiency 
  with the chosen skill or tool for 10 minutes.  
   
  CHANNEL DIVINITY: FRENZY  
  Upon reaching 2nd level, you can use your 
  Channel Divinity as a bonus action to enter a state of 
  feral madness and blind ferocity.  
   
  While in a frenzy, you gain the following benefits: 
  • 
  You have advantage on Strength checks 
  and Strength saving throws. 
  • 
  When you make a melee attack 
  using Strength, you gain a +2 bonus to the 
  damage roll. When you reach 10th level, this 
  increases to +3 and when you reach 17th 
  level it increases to +4 bonus damage to all 
  melee attacks that use Strength.  
  • 
  Your unarmed attacks inflict 1d4 damage. 
  This increases to 1d6 at 6th level, 1d8 at 12th 
  level, and 1d10 at 18th level.  
  • 
  When you use the Attack action to make an 
  unarmed attack, you can make a second 
  unarmed attack as a bonus action, assuming 
  you haven’t already taken a bonus action 
  this turn.  
  • 
  You have resistance to all damage as long as 
  you are not wearing armor. 
  • 
  You can’t cast spells or concentrate on 
  them while in a frenzy. 
  • 
  You cannot use any special abilities such as 
  Channel Divinity, Destroy Undead, or 
  Preaching while in a frenzy.  
  • 
  You cannot use weapons or shields while in 
  a frenzy.  
   
  Your frenzy lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if 
  you are knocked unconscious. If you have nothing to 
  attack, you can maintain the frenzy by dancing 
  vigorously or running about. You can also end the 
  frenzy on your turn as a bonus action. 
   
  RANDOM THOUGHTS  
  When you reach 6th level, your unpredictable 
  and disturbing thoughts protect you from certain 
  types of magic. You add your Charisma modifier to 
  any savings throws against being charmed or 
  frightened.  
   
  If you use your Channel Divinity while you are 
  charmed or frighten, you make a new saving throw 
  against the effect as a reaction.  
   
  Also, If you fail the saving throw against a detect 
  thoughts spell, the creature probing your mind must 
  make a Wisdom saving throw or suffer from short 
  term madness.  
   
  8
  TH LEVEL ABILITY  
  Upon reaching 8th level, your powerful and 
  evocative persona enhances the potency of your 
  cantrips. You add your Charisma modifier to any 
  damage you deal with a cleric (priestess) cantrip.  
   
  GREATER RANDOM THOUGHTS 
  At 17th level you become so infused with the 
  chaotic energies that you are immune to the 
  charmed and frightened conditions.  
   
  If you fail the saving throw against a detect 
  thoughts spell, the creature reading your mind must 
  make a Wisdom saving throw or suffer from long 
  term madness.  
  
  Bloodstone Press                                                                                                                                                     Amazons Vs Valkyries: Mystery Cults 
  5 
  Cult of Dionysus 
   
  CREDITS 
   
  Writing. L.J. Ogre 
  Editing. Heather Clift 
  Art. Sir lawrence Alma-Tadema, Cornelius Devos, Ferdinand Leeke 
  Graphic Design and Color. Joel Grahn  
  Some Graphic Elements. Lord Zsezse Works 
   
   
   
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  6 
  Cult of Dionysus 
   
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