Dionysians

The Dionysians are an enigma to most of the other factions who struggle to control the city of Ukiyo. Of all the groups they spend the most time away from the city exploring the far reaches of the universe through the city’s many portals and even when they do stop off long enough in the city to get involved with the other groups, it’s only long enough to set up a deal or offload good before moving on to another adventure. It seems to everyone else that they merely use the city as a staging ground for their various expeditions and a crossroad for their trade routes.

It’s only when you look deep that you begin to see how thoroughly the group is entrenched into the underworld of the city. Drugs, weapons and numerous other forms of contraband make their way through the hands of the Dionysians. A lack of coherent organisation in the group keeps them both out of view of others and ensures the few members based in the city cannot give away secrets to the other factions. Of course, should the Dionysians get organised, they could establish an empire over thousands of worlds. Maybe one day they will.

The Dionysians aren’t like many of the other factions, they don’t want to claim the city as their own. Such a task would take far too much effort. Indeed, even if they did manage to control the city they wouldn’t have the time or the inclination to keep it in running order. But needless to say, they don’t want the city to fall into the hands of another faction. This leaves them with a single option, they must keep the city in a state of flux at all times. As long as no one controls the city they will be able to conduct their business across thousands of worlds without seriously infringing apon anyone who lives there. Whenever a faction seems to be getting the upper hand in a situation, the Dionysians ensure that they back anyone who organises a resistance movement. This often places them on two sides of a political struggle, but they see no problem with this. As long as the city remains neutral (or at least interesting), then they consider that they have been successful.

The most common types of people drawn to the Dionysian fold are businessmen and explorers. They use their contacts across the planes to create intricate trade networks and often develop huge influence and wealth in many fields. On a lower level, there are quite a few members of the city’s underworld who work as independant operatives for the Dionysians, these include arms dealers, “Fences” (who “selectively redistribute” stolen property) and “Cyber-docs” (who specialise in mechanical implantaion and augmentation).

The members of the Dionysians tend to attract three distinct types of followers. The most common of these are the cultists who flock to them for the SPICE and for other drugs which may show the way to enlightenment, these followers typically come from the primitive cultures far from the city’s influence. Second to the cultists are the fetishists who look to technology as a form of enlightenment, rather than immersing themselves in a world of drugs they instead choose to connect to a machine consciousness, these followers invariably come from high tech realms where the city is seen as a type of technological heaven. The smallest of the groups of followers could best be described as the Dionysian Militia. These followers defend explorers on their travels and maintain the huge storage facilities which the Dionysians have claimed around the city.

Gatekeepers - We share a tenuous link with these Technomancers, they understand the value of keeping the doors open to the far off realms. Leave them to their toys and they will let you be.
Oneiromancers - Once we could have shared a lot with these shamans, but we have seen the need to evolve. It’s all well and good to deal with drugs and spirits but if you’re not going to profit from it, then why bother?
Patriarchs - I don’t trust them. They’re far to serious, far too careful and far too secretive. They’re obviously hiding something.
Silver Oracles - Their predictions are enigmatic, and their vision is skewed from our own. They livfe in the future and don’t pay enough attention to the here and now.
The Junta - They like the shadows and often cover our backs in the city’s underworld, still that doesn’t mean we trust them. Let them have the darkness, pretty lights and illusions are far more distracting both to ourselves and to others.
Xenophobe’s Fist - They hate us, we don’t like them. It’s as simple as that. We will drive them into the ground and do anything to hinder them before we even look at the other factions.