D&D Homebrew Races - Maenads / Bacchanal Berserkers
A homebrew race of wine cultists who have gone feral for Dungeons & Dragons 3e/3.5; created by Aboleth Eye!
As always, though this homebrew was made with D&D 3.5 edition in mind, with a few tweaks you can absolutely use this material with Pathfinder 1st edition! -- Aboleth Eye
Maenads are a race of half-feral zealots to gods of chaos and wine, wanderers and hedonists who have transformed into fierce predators through occult rituals. These creatures, outside of the delirious atmosphere of their cult, are often at the behest of a feral thirst for blood, wine and violence they can barely master. Their souls evolved and rewritten from their original selves, they wander the earth seeking glory, the divine and bloodshed (though not necessarily in that order).
"This month is fit for little. The dead ripen in the grapeleaves. A red tongue is among us. Mother, keep out of my barnyard, I am becoming another."
Excerpt from "Maenad" by Sylvia Plath
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| Women of Amphissa (1887 Oil on canvas) Lawrence Alma-Tadema (French, 1836-1912) Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
Origins
The mystery cults of Dionysus, Pan and other reveler gods offer their bounties freely, but there is a hidden risk to not just sanity that can catch participants unaware. The soul itself may be drowned in the blessed wine of the gods. Through the consumption of bottomless, strong wine or spirits, and seemingly endless dances and games; initiates to these cults weaken their resolves to return home and take up their roles as warriors, sages, leaders and even honorable parents and children. They party and dance and feast all night, then collapse for hours during the day, intermingling limbs in a great feral pile.
Some never want to leave this revelry, believing this is how life should be lived. That all the daily tasks of civilized living among your fellow men are simply made up rules. Others become addicted to this atmosphere, and cannot leave it long enough to sustain healthy habits and answering responsibilities. Lastly, some go completely mad from intoxication, and they plunge deeper into the cult's embrace to avoid awareness or punishment for the sins they committed in such frenzied states. Sometimes entire families or friend groups are swallowed up by the endless revels--relationships beyond the cult abandoned and minds and bodies completely warped by the chaotic energies of endless drink.
The cults welcome all to the fold, so long as they join their excessive ritual drinking and dancing and sacrifices. The sacrifices of the cult are typically animals, from which the spilling of their blood spikes the cult's wine stores with the divinity (or madness) of their god. However, some longstanding cults have been known to butcher humans and demihumans that reject their ways. Or perhaps they were confused with animals in the cultists' drunken haze, and seen as a gift from the gods to honor them?
Dionysus and most other gods of wine, japes and madness are all diametrically opposed to their orderly kin. Rather than foster organized communities and good works in raising wellfare for a people, they decided millennia ago that chaos was what life was meant to be among all things. And their followers slowly become attuned to these millennial forces--whether they consent to it or not.
Communally, those who have joined these mystery cults are known as the Bacchae. They have given their entire souls to the rites of Dionysus and other gods. The majority of celebrants, the Bacchae are blissfully ignorant of anything that they were before, anything presently beyond the daily revel circle, and cannot fathom anything in the future beyond the need to keep the party alive.
The priests directly leading these cults are instead known as the Bacchantes. Almost all Bacchantes are non-male, as they seek to conjure up their god and be bedfellows and confidants to then. They are the masters of ceremonies for the cult, those who know the secret rites and are blessed to spill animal blood for their god. They are almost entirely human.
Finally, we come to the Maenads: those transformed by the chaotic resonances of their patron god into feral creatures that eagerly, willingly abandon reason and memory in order to feel the divine coursing through their veins. Alluring and predatory, like wildcats in human form, their souls have been burned away by wine-fueled madness--they have become half-things between mortal and divine, closer to beasts than to the men and women they once were. Many of them were even born into the cult, should only stay alive for long enough.
"Maenad" is often confused as a female-only term, but there are many maenads who are male, as well as those who adopt transgender, androgynous or nonbinary identities. They are eager to test the boundaries and taboos of seemingly civilized peoples; for they know a carnal truth of this world... All things are mad in their own way, they merely embrace it and know more truths of this world than all learned men and gods themselves.
Physical Traits & Ascension
Maenads originally are humans (sometimes a half-elf, half-orc, etc) or were born to a Maenad and humanoid parent.
An adult human who joins a cult of Dionysus (or another similar chaotic-aligned god) may be chosen by the patron entity to become a Maenad. They are initiated into the mysteries of the cult as true worshippers, and partake of sacred rituals related to heavy consumption of wine and animal sacrifices. At yearly rituals, where the hedonism of the cult is increased dramatically, a group of initiates drink a special wine blended with ritual herbs that have heavy hallucinogenic properties.
Upon drinking this ritual concoction with their consent, the initiates are pulled into heavy hallucinations and drunkenness, often becoming violent or unmanageable. They usually are pushed out of the communal partying or wander off into the woods themselves. Some witnesses claim they saw initiates in these states attempt to play tag with wild cats, climb tall towers barehanded or wrestle down dangerous beasts singlehandedly. Eventually, these partakers fall into a deep trance-like slumber, wherever they end up.
Once the trance comes upon them, the initiate's mind is aflame with visions of blood, wine, running through deep woods and other primal omens. They will awaken at some point hours later, gasping for air at a sudden divine revelation! Priests of these cults claim that those who awaken with one eye transformed into a yellow cat's eye met the eye of their god--and thus their ascension into a Maenad is assured. Unfortunately, some initiates of these rituals only suffer the usual effects of extreme drunkenness and drug abuse (including death by misadventure or of health complications).
The initiate, now an ascending Maenad, is welcomed back to the cult with great favor. Priests of Dionysus often say while deep in their cups that a cult without a maenad is just a good party in the woods. They are swiftly welcomed into cult's inner circle of holy warriors and priests--sometimes pressured by the idea that their full transformation is inevitable. But an initiate Maenad can seek a cure for the start of their transformation by seeking atonement from a 10th level cleric of a lawful god. Usually one of these cults already have a handful of maenads protecting it; but it is rare for more than one initiate to be chosen in this manner, usually only one manifests every three to five years throughout a singular cult's lifespan.
Those that embrace their transformation give up all worldly attachments and possessions beyond the cult, save for what they can carry on their backs. They begin intensive rituals of the cult's individual tenets, hoping to fully awaken this gift granted by their god. Firstly, the ascendant Maenad must forcibly build a great tolerance for alcohol. Next, they are guided into meditative or prophetic trances to make contact with a new feral spirit within them. Of course, the rigorousness of this guided transformation depends on the priest or full Maenad guiding the initiate.
Eventually, as the initiate learns to merge their soul with the wild, divine spirit within them , their bodies undergo changes. Their hands become furry and their nails become long and retractable claws, like those of great panthers or leopards; and their feet become clawed and furry pads like the same big cats'. Fur begins to grow along their limbs, often spotted like leopards or jaguars, and their remaining human eye eventually joins its cat-like twin. Their hair is left wild and unkempt, and often becomes extremely curly if not so already. Lastly, their teeth become sharper, and their canines often become large fangs.
As their body ascends to something more base and bestial, their minds are also changed. Memories from their earliest childhoods begin to dull and vanish, progressing further as the months go by. This often results in Maenads being confused and forgetting how to do certain trades, such as weaving or metalworking, as well as academic pursuits, such as world history, philosophy, etc. What skills and knowledge are retained sometimes lays dormant within the Maenad. A fully embraced Maenad may be triggered to remember details of certain past knowledges, and are usually caught by surprise those facts leapt from their own mouths.
Skills useful for everyday life in the wine cult are often retained. Their guides in their transformation--whether a priest, Maenad or even visions of their god--teach them. They learn how to grow the grapes for wine and how to ferment it in the wild. They learn which special herbs can enhance the hallucinations of the blessed wine and which must be added to the great ritual fires to call down the divine. How to locate animals for sacrifices (and how to steal or extort them from others), how to navigate the wilderness should the cult be ousted by locals, what songs must be played on certain holy days; the Maenad's hollow of past memories are filled with the necessary tasks to maintain their cult's rites and survival.
Eventually, the Maenad's memories of their past life are burned away. Ashes of their past selves. And they are a fully renewed being touched by the chaotic divine. From then on, they are devoted to the cult and those within it; the fiercest protectors, greatest hunters of sacrifices and the hardest revelers.
The ascension process for a Maenad usually takes up to a few years, but if a cult is more immediately in danger from outside forces Maenads mature at a faster rate.
Maenads live much longer than humans, though not as long as elves or other long-lived races. A Maenad of human or half-human origin's lifespan is seemingly increased by another ten to thirty years before they reach the physical and mental limits of middle age, and from then on they progress quite rapidly into decrepitude. A Maenad's physical age is seemingly frozen at their peak of physical health and beauty by the end of their transformation, until old age eventually comes to swiftly wither them off the vine. A life of eternal abandon and frenzy also affects the lives of Maenads, due to their hot-tempered nature and proclivity to go berserk. Additionally, cults of Dionysus are known troublemakers and instigators, so they are often retaliated upon by those they provoke, steal from or force their faith upon.
These cults also prefer to embrace the wild, allowing feral beasts to wander freely among their encampments. Lions, leopards and panthers are especially sacred to these cults; and though they are usually tamed by offerings and spells, accidents do happen. The wilderness is also full of hostile beasts and monsters--and should a cult parade themselves through a wolfpack or bear's territory it is assumed someone is going to get picked off. Many cults of Pan, another chaotic god of the natural world and friend to Dionysus, often invite Dionysian cults to travel through extreme remote wilderness, promising great wild parties should they arrive... And some cultists believe partying wildly like this is worth the risk...
As mentioned earlier, some Maenads are born into the cult by fully transformed parents. The mystery cults of Dionysus, Pan and other gods of pleasure and revels do often partake in rituals with sexual practices. Orgies are common in extremely erratic groups, especially after days of endless partying; and pregnancies are common after a hazy forgotten night of partying in the woods. If a Maenad becomes pregnant (or impregnates a humanoid or fellow Maenad) there is a fifty percent chance the resulting child(ren) may be called upon by Dionysus or whichever god they worship.
Maenad children are indistinguishable from normal children of their parents' original races. They might be more hot-tempered or artistic, or have trouble with remembering small details, but otherwise they do not display any physical or mental traits from any Maenad parentage. Only until they come of age will a Maenad-born child begin to seem out of sync with civilized behaviors.
Once they come of age, a Maenad's child may seek out a cult of Dionysus (or similar), as if answering a call in their heart or very blood. Because cults are prone to move around a lot, and most Maenads are so hedonistic that they do not raise their own children, Maenad-born often become initiated into the first cult they come across in order to have the gifts to pursue their planetouched parent.
Sometimes a Maenad-born will spend their lives restraining this inherited thirst for madness through structure, responsibilities to their people and even to faith for a more lawful god. They may receive a godly vision and the singular cat's eye of an initiate Maenad, but the choice to forsake their pasts and submit to divine transformation is entirely on them. Maenad-born who forgo their first spark of divine madness often never have another chance to embrace their heritage and the faith of their parent.
Legends suggest that the process of becoming a Maenad can be an instantaneous process, depending on the exact myth. Among the clerics of Dionysus, it is believed that the god of wine and revelry created the first Maenads incidentally. His maternal aunts were brought into his cult and went mad from the god's gift of wine. They slaughtered his uncle, Pentheus king of Thebes, in a haze of madness when he snuck in. They were thralls, nurses and proclaimers of the trickster god from then on--no longer human.
It is certainly possible for a god to transform a zealous soul into an avatar of theirs, and Maenad have no cultural history of their own due to their ascension. Perhaps if a mortal is drawn to the brink of insanity, whether by drink, horror or traumatic events, their body and soul could be remade in that first rush of frenzy. Creatures manifested from a god's whims, especially a chaotic one, are impossible for mortals to predict.
One story told among cultists is that a great bull was meant to be sacrificed to Dionysus. But secretly it had been the bedmate of some lesser god, which the wine god thought a laugh. As the beast was torn apart from every limb (through the ritual of Sparagmos) and its blood spilt on a sacred altar, all those who were present went mad from the scent of blood and were transformed into great leopards and wild cats. They hunted through the night, devouring and fighting everything in their path, until Dionysus appeared and called them back. The beasts obeyed and bowed to the wine god, blood on their mouths and human flesh in their teeth. The god raised his divine thyrsus staff and wine poured from it upon each beast. Their pelts split under the sacred drink, and naked beneath them were creatures of man and leopard. They praised the god and wore their wine-stained pelts forevermore...
Psychology and Culture
As we touched upon earlier, the cults of Dionysus (and similar gods) are mostly comprised of wanderers and hedonists. Makeshift tribes united by drunken pleasures, thirst for blood and passions for the wild.
Those initiated into a revel mystery cult almost always forgo the standards of their past lives. Clothing is no longer gendered, and nudity is often encouraged as self-expression. Maenads especially love to wear little, only hiding their terrible claws and spotted pelts to lure in new acolytes (or tonight's sacrifice)...
Almost all Maenads wear a symbol of their god, or something to show their status in the cult; usually an emblem given upon reaching full ascension as a planetouched.
Other naturalistic symbols and materials are predominantly worn. Dionysian cultists are especially fond of crowns or necklaces made of woven grape vines. Symbolically they believe they are extensions of their gods' divine vines, bringing its sweet, liberating taste to all. As part of the ascension, many Maenads are given tattoos using strange inks, which start out as a single cluster and seem to grow upon their skin as they forget their past lives.
Additionally, Maenads anointed as clerics and priestesses of these cults, the Bacchantes, usually hold ceremonial staves with vines wound about them and black pine cones at the head (known as thyrsus staves).
The naturalistic emblems of their god help Maenads share their devotion to wild abandon, while also linking them and their cult families under a single devoted banner.
Animal hides and other trophies are also common among Maenads. Hunting is a necessity when cults live out in the wilderness. Not only is it important ritually, embracing the madness and thrill of chasing down man and beast, but it is the primary source of food for these traveling cults. Typically a druid will compel leopards, panthers and other wild cats sacred to these gods to hunt alongside them.
Often if a treasured beast is killed in action, it's pelt is worn by the clerical leaders. This is why, with their presenting feline traits, many people believe Maenads also have cat faces and tails. Pelts from other animals in the wilderness are worn more to prove a Maenad's might (such as wolves, boars and bears). Claws and teeth are often worn like jewelery or traded among the cults as currency.
Because these groups are almost always at odds with organized cities and settlements, they do scavenge and raid for clothing, jewelry, food, weapons and other necessities. Some Maenads are believed to take pleasure in cannibalizing outsiders and tearing them apart for trophies (such as ears, teeth, fingers, etc.) While spilling of blood is needed for certain Dionysian rituals, Maenads do tend to prefer a carnivorous lifestyle (though not necessarily cannibalistic). Luckily, such groups are either driven out by organized settlements, bands of heroes or even from their own cults if they cross a line. Among the widespread bacchanalian faiths of Dionysus and other gods, groups of cannibalistic Maenads are viewed with disdain and anger for forgetting the camaraderie and beauty of wild revelry. Their gods are seemingly mute on the subject, unless one of their favored mortals ends up on someone's plate.
The chaotic hearts of Maenads often leads them to seek out taboos to provoke onlookers. They have strong hedonistic desires. There is never too much of a good thing--never too much wine, food and pleasure in a world restraining people with artificial concepts of order. However, they often overstep the boundaries of hospitality and public decency--due to having forgotten their entire lives before their full initiation as a Maenad. Invading public forums to drink and enact rituals, desecrating graveyards with revels, demanding residence on a wealthy stranger's household or else; Maenads often provoke and instigate, and their mortal cult members are often the first to be retaliated upon.
However, that is not to say they are all wicked and violent. They are only half-beasts in spirit; not fully distanced from concepts such as community, friendship and joy. They love to play and dance and sing their days away. They welcome all who wish to party with them, and wherever they roam they believe their god has called them to stir up passions and bring people to the truths of hedonism. It is divine to feel good and embrace one another as friends and equals. Wealth and status mean little to Maenads, all are offered a chance to join the frenzy.
Whether the stranger takes the offered cup or receives the fierce claw, that is up to them...
Maenads love to wander. Sometimes they seek to found their own cults, should one ever have too many Maenads at once or disagreements about their god's demands occur. They also love to seek out thrills and adventure. Their ascension as divine beasts inflames their hearts with passion and rage that they may struggle to control. So they travel abroad to temper their inner beast with great challenges and harden their resolve against the imprisonment of orderly tyrants.
Some devoted Maenads take on the path of priesthood, usually the rage cleric, and they travel to follow the path of their god. In a Hellenic/mythological Greek setting, Dionysus' first Maenad priestesses (his inflamed aunts driven to divine madness) supposedly traveled with him from the far east all the way to Olympus. The wine god is also known to travel among mortals, and many Maenads seek to meet their patron and drink with him in person.
Because of their origins as cultists to wild gods, and their origins in Greek mythology, it is assumed that most Maenads solely worship Dionysus (or Bacchus as the Romans called him). They honor the rest of the Olympic pantheon with him, but they are slavishly devoted to the wandering wine god.
Most Maenads are on friendly terms with their sister-cults of Pan, the satyr god of the wilds. Fauns, satyrs and other fey are common guests among Dionysian cults, and Maenads often strike up passionate friendships with the most chaotic immortals. Pan and Dionysus have a longstanding friendship, though they are just as competitive and decadent.
Because of their origins, Maenads make for excellent adventurers. Their hardiness and terrible claws make them dangerous adversaries. And their affinity to channel an innate divine frenzy makes them a great fit for martial roles, such as barbarian. There are also an equal number of rangers among Maenads, who patrol the wilderness for great beasts or claim territories to demand tributes and tolls.
Maenads often dip into cleric or druid levels, in order to commune with the wild forces their cult claims to speak for. They are almost always chaotic, and their lack of a past makes them very forward thinking--like a beast. Maenads do not have the aptitude for scholarly pursuits, especially with wizardry. Any inborn talent they have is enough to satisfy them, so sorcerers are quite common. A few even claim to be favored souls, receiving the first taste of divine magic through the process of their ascension.
Maenad adventurers have any number of motivations to travel beyond the cult. Some seek glory for their god, but many are more interested in immediate and material rewards. They love testing their mettle against heroes and monsters, and unearthing secret treasures lost to the wilds of the world. Others grow simply bored of the day to day in their cult, disliking the honor and responsibilities their ascension has brought them.
Racial Traits
- Medium Outsider (native)
- Maenads abandon their reason in order to transform themselves, physical and spiritually; and at the end, though they are tied to the Material Plane, they are no longer humanoid. They can be resurrected or raised as other living corporeal creatures can be. Unlike true outsiders, native outsiders need to eat and sleep.
- They are not subject to spells or effects that affect only humanoids, such as charm or dominate person.
- Ability Scores: +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence
- Maenads are extremely hardy, allowing them to survive the wilderness and consume great deals of ritual spirits. However, they suffer a weakness of intellect due to their ascension stripping their original memories away.
- Base Land Speed: 30 feet
- Natural Attacks: A Maenad's hands are clawed, allowing their use as natural weapons. Their claws inflict 1d4 slashing damage, plus their Strength bonus (if any). Their claws deal an additional +1 damage for every 4 levels they have.
- Maenads can use their claws as a single melee attack, or attack twice as a full-round action (with a -2 penalty to both attack rolls, as if they have Multiattack). Additionally, they can use their claws as a secondary melee attack as part of a full-attack action with a melee weapon. The Maenad must not be wielding a weapon, shield or other object in order to use their claw.
- Special Qualities:
- Darkvision 60 feet
- Divine Madness: Maenads have a -2 racial penalty to saves against charm effects and the effects of rage-related spells, due to their volatile spirits.
- Immune to polymorph effects and non-magical ingested poisons.
- Resistance 5 against Acid and Electricity
- Skills: Maenads receive a +2 racial bonus to Diplomacy and Intimidate checks. Instinctively, they are equally talented at inviting guests to partake in rites as well as driving strangers off with bared fangs.
- Languages: Common and Sylvan
- Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Gnomish, Halfling
- Favored Class: Barbarian
- Maenads find the path of the barbarian extremely easy to fall into. They are adept at riding the wave of frenzied rage and suffer less from the exhaustion thereafter.
- Dionysus and other chaotic-aligned gods are commonly worshipped by Maenads, even before they ascended from their original selves. Many continue to worship their beloved god, and chase that divine first contact experience adventuring as clerics. The rage cleric alternative class path is also alluring to Maenads.
- Considering their connection to a feral, bestial side to their ascended forms, many Maenads pursue the path of a druid. They often take lions, panthers, tigers and other wild cats as animal companions; but those from colder climes may find bears more eager companions.
- Level Adjustment: +1
- ECL: 1+
Lesser Planetouched:
As an option for all Planetouched/native Outsiders including Aasimars, Tieflings, Genasi, etc.) you can permanently reduce their Level Adjustment to +0 at character creation with the following changes:
- All lesser planetouched have the following racial trait in common, in addition to all the standard racial traits.
- Planetouched: Planetouched are humanoids (not outsiders) with the planetouched subtype. They are susceptible to spells and effects that specifically target both humanoids or outsiders. Charm person works against them, and so does banishment. This trait replaces the outsider entry in each planetouched description.
Maenad Paragon
The Maenad Paragon taps into the truest, wildest essence of their transformation. They have immersed themselves in the sublime madness of chaos, and have emerged with great mastery of their inner beast. They
Maenad Paragons usually pursue the Cleric or Rage Cleric alternate class, fully convinced to be the divine beast of their favorite god. Some decide to tap into their inherent bestial frenzy and pursue the Barbarian class thereafter. Rarely, some Maenads hear the call of the wilderness, unspoiled by order and hungry for life, and pursue the Druid class instead--with the Druidic Avenger alternate class a close second to this path.
Alignment: any non-Lawful, usually Chaotic
Hit Dice: d8
Class Skills: Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Dex), Jump (Str), Profession (Wis), Survival (Wis) and Swim (Str).
Skill Points per Level: 4 + Intelligence modifier, quadruple at 1st level
Table: the Maenad Paragon
| Level | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | +1 | +2 | +0 | +0 | Divine Blood, Feline Affinity |
| 2nd | +2 | +3 | +0 | +0 | Rage 1/day |
| 3rd | +3 | +3 | +1 | +1 | Ability Boost (+2 Wis) |
Class Features:
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Paragon Maenads have proficiency with simple and martial weapons, as well as light armor and all shields (except tower shields).
Divine Blood (Ex): A Maenad's paragon levels stack with cleric levels for the purposes of determining caster level of divine spells granted through cleric or druid levels. For example, a 2nd-level cleric/3rd-level maenad paragon's caster level is 5th for the spells they cast as a cleric. This increased caster level affects only spells that the character can cast; it does not give access to high-level spells or more spells per day.
All paragon levels must be applied to the first divine spellcasting class the Maenad gains (cleric or druid). Once the class is selected this benefit cannot be changed.
Feline Affinity (Ex): At 1st level, a Maenad Paragon gains a +2 racial bonus to Charisma-based checks made to interact with large feline creatures, such as lions, leopards and jaguars. When interacting with creatures that are only part-feline, such as sphinxes and manticores, the racial bonus becomes +1 instead.
This bonus applies to skills like Bluff, Diplomacy, Handle Animal and Intimidate, as well as the druid/ranger Wild Empathy ability's checks.
Rage (Ex): At 2nd level, a Maenad Paragon comes to understand and wrestle the natural ferocity that courses through their blood. They gain the ability to fly into a feral state of frenzy once per day (or one additional time per day if they already have the Rage ability). The effect of this ability is identical to the barbarian's rage ability. Similarly with the barbarian class, if a Maenad ever becomes lawful-aligned, they lose their ability to rage from their paragon levels (as well as any barbarian levels gained).
If a Maenad paragon has improved rage abilities (such as the barbarian class features greater rage, indomitable will, tireless rage, or mighty rage), those improvements apply for the rage ability granted by their paragon levels as well.
Author's Notes:
Since S&S were the people behind all my love for classic Ravenloft's setting, it is interesting that I found another avenue of their work that's inspired me so.
I picked up the book years and years ago for the first time, when I was in a heavy research phase for Greek myths and legends. I devoured every article I could find from Wikipedia and Theoi.org--the latter being a great resource for different localized accounts of these famous myths (with their alternate pairings, retellings and parentages of certain gods and heroes). I was very inexperienced at the time with running more defined settings of D&D, rather than just complete homebrew worlds of mine. Picking up the book this year for this newer iteration of Greek myth D&D, I realized that I had a concrete story I wanted to tell, and the world could allow for Maenads to be a full player option rather than a hard-to-unlock prestige class.
Obsessively, I watched videos and read articles on the Maenads and the cult of Dionysus. I also remembered I had seen Maenads used in modern television some years prior--the HBO series True Blood had a Maenad as an antagonist for season 2. That story was extremely compelling when I first watched it, elaborating on the mystical unknown of the supernatural romance-horror series. The Maenad antagonist basically revels in manipulation of mind and flesh, using hedonism and excess to bind lesser, human creatures to her maniacal plans. And the season touches on many major myths associated with these insane nymph-priestesses. That was a major impact on my knowledge of Maenads until recently, when I dove fully into learning about them for this Greek myth campaign.
I am extremely happy with the Maenads as they are. They, like any creature I make to be a player race option, have the potential for great acts of heroism or villainy. They are skewed lore-wise towards Dionysus being a necessity in their setting, but I don't see why any other chaotic god of nature, wine or madness couldn't be used as their ascension catalyst. May you ride the high of Maenad madness in your own adventures!
-- Love, Aboleth Eye
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