| Ishtar Street | |
|---|---|
| |
in Brief
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| Area | 15 acres |
| Population | 7,000 |
| Primary Function | Commercial |
Other attributes
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| Primary Social Class | Lower Class |
A commercial district set aside for banking, Ishtar Street has, indeed, been taken over by sacred prostitutes and followers of the Kama Sutra from the Southeast Quadrant. Ishtar Street caters to clients seeking entertainment of an intimate nature, as well as hardcore and casual gamblers. While gold and silversmiths have taken residence in these parts of the city, three competing temples were built as houses of prostitution. These temples were the Temple of Aphrodite, the Temple of Kamadeva, and the Temple of Ishtar.
Despite this, while other redlight districts such as the Way of Sin (in the Southwest Quadrant) and Phaeselis' Delights (in the Northeast Quadrant) are dangerous and disreputable places that no one wants to go there, Ishtar street has maintained a reputation as being a socially acceptable place to come and to have fun. Or whatever fun one might be interested in having. The Proteans control most of the secular bordellos here, while the Mystery Religions of Ishtar and Kamadeva control most of the sacred business of love and beauty. Aphrodite's temple was recently built in order to muscle in on some action in the sacred prostitution racket.
The Flavor of Ishtar Street[]
Map of Ishtar Street
Ishtar Street is a place where people go to gamble or to find entertainment of a more intimate nature. It's also, paradoxically, home to a lot of gold smiths and some silver smiths. While Old Town is a place where successful adventurers plumb the depths of the city in the city dungeons, the successful ones return to spend their money here. Either to gamble it away, or finding a place so they just can not sleep alone that night. Ishtar Street, being next to Old Town, is getting a lot of money (which is part of the reason why the Aphroditists have moved in).
The place is lavish, it's decked in red and purple and the only "drab" building is the Temple of Kamadeva. The only Hindu Temple in the Northwest Quadrant is the one dedicated to the Aryavartan God of Love. Kamadeva's temple is covered in stone carvings depicting various sexual acts. Besides this, the place is a beautiful place in order to keep up it's reputation. Parks have been created, along with gazebos, fish ponds, and gardens. It's not a quiet place during the night when some prostitutes are looking for customers.
Running Ishtar Street[]
People of Ishtar Street[]
Timon, Goldsmith[]
Timon is a Jeweler and a goldsmith. He works with gold much of the time
Ishtar Street Rumors[]
Ishtar Street Locations[]
Being a comercial district, there are a few places that the PCs might run into that are quite interesting to them.
Temple of Aphrodite[]
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The birth of Venus by William-Adolph Bouguereau (1879).
The temple to the Goddess of Love and Beauty moved here from Temple Row. The reasons are fairly obvious, the temple priests want to get in on the action of what is going on in Ishtar. Here they purposefully train young girls and boys to be prostitutes. So far, only the most androgynous looking boys are often trained to be male prostitutes for the temple. Unlike Phaeselis Delights, where they perform (ahem) a certain operation on their boys, the boys here remain intact.
The hetairai here sell their bodies for the temple's coffers to offer adventurers a place to stay at night. They promise a night of companionship and no one need to sleep alone. While the temple does not have rooms for someone to stay in, there are a few inns dedicated to the Aphroditian quest for money in order to operate. The sacred prostitution constitutes a form of Priestcraft, and so Alexander made a law forbidding the practice for both girls and boys of Hellene descent. The law is ignored and people continue to sell their bodies at the temple.
Bank of the Heavens[]
This particular bank is the Temple of Ishtar. Called moneylenders, the temple was formed in one of the old Empires and is now run by a Protean. The Temple operates as a bank here because their sacred prostitutes make a lot of money off the Adventurers that survive.
The Proteans that run this bank are known as the Ishtar Brothers (LE m proteans aristocrat3/commoner 2), and they have various means to lend out money. The money they lend out are used to start businesses, buy houses, and so forth. They also have interesting ways of collecting debts. Besides being belligerent and sending strong armed thugs to collect, they will also go as members of their prostitution ring and use sex to extract money from welchers of their loans. After all it's the principle (or the principal) of the thing, and the ends justify the means to these brothers.
The Temple of Kamadeva[]
The Lionheaded House[]
Hypermenestra represented by this lady.
The Lionheaded house is the most elegant bordello on Ishtar Street. The establishment claims that it's clientele comes from the Noble Quarter and city government. Its real claim to fame is not that it's run by Autolycus (NE m protean com1/exp8), who purveys brides on the side (which is a nice way to put it). Nope. It's the fact that it's owner, the beautiful Hypermenestra (NG f human exp 3) sits on the City Council representing the merchants of the town. Her election has many people enraged, but she fairly represents the mercantyler's guild to the city council, and those who elected her have never complained about her leadership.