Ardeur

The **Ardeur** is the demonic half of a Lilim and the source of their powers. Also known as the **Hunger**, the Ardeur is the greatest ability an Incubus or Succubus has in their possession. It is shared by both vampiric and demonic Lilim, with varying degrees of intensity. It originated with Lilith, the Progenitor Witch, who fed upon psychic energy related to sex and lust while she was still human. Through this psychic ability, the *ardeur*, she was able to metaphysically feed on emotions as the yet-to-be-created vampires would physically feed off of blood. Lilith's powers increased when she began taking angels, gods and demons as lovers, absorbing their lust and empowering herself, yet it was nothing compared to what she could do when she finally became a demon herself.

Cradle Witches possess a variant of the Ardeur, but unlike their vampiric counterparts, it is passive. It allows witches to use sexual energy to temporarily boost their abilities, but they cannot extend their life through it.

## Description

### Overview

The *Ardeur* is a double-edged sword, affecting both the user and its targets. The most basic aspect of the *ardeur* inspires intense sexual passion in all it touches. Those under its thrall are gripped with an intense desire to have sexual intercourse with the user of the *ardeur*, or else the nearest person. When used lightly it is possible for a person to choose the one they have sex with, but the more powerful the *ardeur* becomes, the less picky its victims become (to the point where they would have sex with those they are normally not attracted to i.e. straight people would choose same-sex partners). The *ardeur* can be extremely addictive, making those in its grips do anything to have another taste of it. In its basic form, it can be used to induce and increase sexual arousal and pleasure. At more powerful levels, the *ardeur* can also inspire intense love and devotion towards the wielder of the *ardeur*. At its most powerful, the *ardeur* can hone in on its victims deepest desires and reshape their personalities to better accommodate those desires.

The *ardeur* seems to have a primitive awareness in that it must regularly feed on the lust of its user and others. If it is not voluntarily fed, the *ardeur* unleashes itself without the volition of its user (often at full strength as well) and forces its user to feed it. This is a necessity as those who wield the *ardeur* gain power when they feed it and weaken and eventually die if they do not. If the *ardeur* is mastered, it can only be unleashed by the will of its wielder, but the wielder will decline in health and power if it does not feed. The *ardeur* can be used to feed on people's lust from a distance without the wielder's having to have intercourse with its object. This process is described as being akin to "pulling velvet through an open wound" and is thus not as pleasant as the more usual method of feeding the *ardeur*. Furthermore it is not nearly as effective. At some point, the *ardeur* is revealed to be able to feed on a master vampire or alpha lycanthrope and thus feed on anyone who has metaphysical ties to said master vampire (all its vampire underlings, human servant, animal to call etc) and alpha lycanthrope (all its pack/group etc), thus accumulating enormous amounts of power.

The *ardeur* drains the energies of those it feeds on and can potentially drain a person to the point of death. Thus those who possess the *ardeur* must have several lovers if they wish to properly feed the *ardeur* without killing anyone. Powerful individuals or people who have a unique connection with the user of the ardeur may survive continued feeding, as seen in the case of Jessica Parker and Chance Mikaelson, their status as a Mating Dyad insured that Jessica was not hurt by Chance feeding off her. Some people can only spread the *ardeur* to other people through physical contact, while others can spread it over great distances, even through dreams and metaphysical connections.

While the *ardeur* is almost always associated with sex, an experienced wielder of the power can use it induce, channel, and manipulate just about kind of emotion imaginable.

### Development

Natural-born Lilim, both those of hellish and vampiric origin, are born with the *Ardeur,* but it only begins to manifest as they reach maturity, and will become fully a part of them after their first feeding. Pureblood Lilum almost always possess a stronger variant of the *ardeur* than those who were turned.

While it usually begins centred around lust and sexual energy, as it is a primal human emotion, a Lilim can develop their mastery over the *ardeur* to incite and gain sustenance from other emotions as well: such as anger, rage, fear, pain, despair, love joy, etc. Each House of the White Court appears to specialize in a particular emotion, for example; House Malvora feeds on fear; House Skavis feeds on despair; most of House Raith prioritize lust, and so on and so forth.

## Known Users

* Lilith
* Selene Gallio
* Kol Mikaelson
* Chance Mikaelson
* Jessica Parker
* Kayla Summers
* Belle Morte