Prostitution is a very versatile skill that goes far beyond the mere act of prostitution. That is because in a broken down society like London, love workers are in much greater demand and the underworld is much more powerful than even in the biggest American cities of today. Being a prostitute can be extremely rewarding but also extremely dangerous. After reading this section you will find that the occupation of prostitution is one of the most challenging in London but it can also be very advantageous to become one. Even if your character does not want to make money using her prostitution skill, the other advantages of a high level prostitute may make learning the skill well worth the expense.
First of all, in order to learn prostitute skill above level 2 the character must be a full level PC. This means that every level 3 and level 4 prostitute must expose herself to the risk of being permakilled. Prostitutes can be PCs and NPCs. NPC prostitutes can be found in districts with low moral. They usually don't come to districts with high moral.
PC prostitutes usually hang out in bars or in specially marked streets where they can work for their pimp. The streets are usually unguarded streets in low moral districts where you can see a primitive wash bowl which many of them use to clean up after work. Not very pretty, but it's a dirty business.
Having sex with a prostitute has various advantages. The most important advantage for a customer and the prostitute is, that both get XP from this action. That is because a prostitute is a professional Lady (or man) and the customer can learn something from her, but she also learns something from every job well done. To get these XP, the customer has to have an orgasm, so there is some time involved. However, the same customer can give/gain XP with the same prostitute only about 8 times a day. This can be done in about an hour and the XP gain should be roughly comparable with what other occupations can earn during that time. However, if the prostitute is an NPC, there is no XP reward. Only two PCs together can earn these XP. There are also special magical cloths that a prostitute can wear and which increases the XP gained.
On the other hand, a PC prostitute may as well find an NPC customer. These Johns hang out in the same location where NPC prostitutes can be found. A prostitute who stands next to him can be hired by these NPC customers. She can then lead the NPC to a safe place, have sex, make some money a a little XP from him. Beware that the same NPC can only be used once for this purpose and disappears shortly after sex, probably home to his wife.
If the prostitute is not working on her own but rather for a pimp, the XP gain is even greater. For a customer it is therefore advisable to search prostitutes which work for a pimp, either in a bar or on a street but for a prostitute there is also advantage in working for one.
Having sex with a prostitute also lowers the morality of both the prostitute and the customer.
Another advantage of having sex with a prostitute is, that the customer may receive a crime photo or a rumor about another PC. This information is considered chitchat that can be overheard from a talkative prostitute or her environment and they can come in very handy.
In order to hire a prostitute, you have to know that a character is a
prostitute. You may of course try to hire any character randomly but if the
target is not a prostitute this will only cause a confused reaction by your
environment. You can try characters who hang out in well known street locations
or in bars, or sometimes characters may even approach you and offer their
services.
As a prostitute it is important to turn on the use of prostitution skill on the Skill Tab or nobody will be able to hire you. On the same screen you can set the price that you demand. This price is for one customer and one 15 minute session.
Now a character who wants to hire a prostitute, selects the prostitute, then clicks the Hire Prostitute button on the Misc Tab. This opens a dialog where you can enter the duration in minutes for which you want to hire the prostitute and for how many customers you want to pay. The duration is the time for which the prostitute will be at the customers service and in which the customer must have an orgasm for the benefits of a prostitution job to be applied. The number of customers means that the first X characters who hold the prostitute will have the same right to use her than the original customer. However, all the money is paid to the prostitute by the original customer.
The customer can now hold the prostitute without her being able to struggle and have sex with her, without her being able to retract. However, if the prostitute is attacked at any timer, the job terminates immediately and the prostitute becomes free again. Of course, this is a relatively dangerous situation since the customer could lead the prostitute to a remote location and try to harm her, but that is the risk that every prostitute takes.
There is an exception to the above rule that a prostitute can only be hired when she has the Use Prostitute button down. A character with a high dominance value may be able to hire a prostitute even when she has the Use Skill button turned off, but only if the prostitute is level 3 or higher. This represents a situation where a money greedy prostitute submits to a very strong willed person even against better judgment.
Besides a pleasant way of making money and XP, a prostitute has a lot of further advantages.
First of all a prostitute can provoke 2 NPCs in a room to attack each other
instead of her or another PC if her prostitute skill is greater than 2 which
basically represents the two NPCs fighting over the prostitute. By doing so she
doesn't have to fight both NPC but can rather wait until one is finished, and
then take on the other one. However, this action may or may not arouse the
prostitute herself which may become dangerous in an hostile environment,
especially if the prostitute also has a masochistic
streak. In order to provoke, click on the character you want to be the attacker,
then click the Provoke button in the Combat Tab
A prostitute also has greater chances of seducing characters since she is an experienced pro and knows how to use her attributes.
Another great advantage for prostitutes is that they can smuggle forbidden items in and out of a prison, just like thieves. It is a good idea to hire an experienced prostitute for this job rather than doing it with a character who is not suited, because confiscated objects can be quite a loss, greater than what you would have to pay a prostitute to do the task for you.
When a check for a social drinking situation is performed in a bar, there is usually the need for a number of PCs to be present, but one prostitute alone is enough to declare the situation a social drinking situation.
A level 4 prostitute is also able to determine what turns a character on an off sexually and how his current arousal state is. This is due to her long time experience and it gives the prostitute exactly the same information when she double-clicks another character as any character gets when he double-clicks himself.
There are a number of serious drawbacks however.
First, as described above, a prostitute can be hired against her will under certain circumstances.
Then, prostitutes are always a welcome target for Inquisition cultists who like to kill them for their own morality and to rise their cult level. Mostly these will be NPC prostitutes, but there is nothing that protects a PC prostitute from the same fate.
Inquisition Demons, who can only sacrifice PC characters to drain souls, get more souls when they sacrifice prostitutes, so that is another reason why they may become victims.
Of course prostitutes are more likely to catch a sexual disease, so if their partner has a disease, the chances are higher for a prostitute to catch it than for a normal sex partner.
Some districts may have outlawed prostitution. If a prostitute commits a deal on a street in such a district, there is a chance that a crime against her is generated. If the customer was a PC guard, then the crime is always created, otherwise the prostitutes skill level and the customers observation skill determine whether a crime is created.
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