"It was my choice..."

Kumi frowns. "She seems to care a lot about having or not having the choice to do something. She's fine with putting yourself in bad situations so long as you walked into them with open arms. I guess she cares about freedom?"

"That makes sense."

"There's something else there, though. Something I can't quite put my finger on."

"Do you want some time to think about it?"

"That might be best. I don't have all the pieces yet. You might want to consult with Aya, in Andoran."

"I will. Thank you for your time."

"It's less than nothing."

A few weeks later, in Andoran...

"So that's what Kumi had to say. What do you think about it?"

Aya strokes her lips with her thumb, and frowns.

"I got my first cleric level when I decided to try and kick my smoking habit. I reckon that wasn't a coincidence, not together with Kumi going through her whipping and ending up better off for it. The Lady of the Blackberries is about - sacrifice. The good kind of sacrifice. Giving up something pleasurable because it's bad for you, or suffering pain because it's the right thing to do. She cares about pleasure, but also restrictions on it so that it doesn't become vicious. That's what separates her from Calistria and Urgathoa."

"That fits. I'll add it to the catechism I'm compiling. Is there anything else you want to add?"

"I think that's all I have to add. I have people to look after, so I'm afraid I don't have more time for you."

"Alright." 

He publishes his article a few days later. 

And things start to piece together a little. 

The story's been out for some time. The strikers and vibrators are in many adventurers' bedrooms now. She nudges, very gently.

Calistria's helping the strikers and vibrators spread as well. They're powerful tools for her domain.

These strikers are cheap, but heat-stones already exist which are better for actual torture and more practical as a piece of soldier's gear. He sees no reason to ban them but also no reason to promote them. They're not cost-effective.

The vibrators are banned though.

Ooh, another way of causing pain! They can use that. It's mild, but every little bit counts.

The vibrators are banned.

Of course. Zon-Kuthon and Asmodeus have to ban them because otherwise their people would get to have something good and pleasurable, and they're both gods of suffering. 

She has just been handed a tool to get the powerful to reconsider their allegiances. She gets to hit them right in the sex life.  

The vibrators are purchasable in many, many magic item shops. And even evil people are tempted by orgasms. 

Banned just means the common people don't get to have them. Haven't you understood the first thing about tyranny?

The nobility just have to hide them, which they are already used to doing.

Okay, that was a little less effective than she hoped. They're too expensive to proliferate down into the commoners' daily lives. 

Zon-Kuthon, what about you?

I said they're banned. Really for real. For everyone. Pleasure has no place in Nidal.

Oh, good.

It has to be this way. Genuine pleasure in a place devoted to self-mutilation and suffering is more than mere good sensations. It's relief. A form of temporary escape.

Fuck him up, Milani.

With pleasure.

She makes a sparker model with a hidden vibration function.

Okay, the sparkers are banned too. They were pansy little things anyway.

Huh. Seems to me that there were a number of people who liked those in Nidal.

It would be a shame if any of them were to circumvent the ban.