My Milkshake brings all the boys to the yard

[GenThunderfist]

The Whores of Rifts Earth!

In CWC it states that the Coalition States pay their soldiers well with a salary of approximately 3,000 per month and Hazard Pay increases this by 30%. Yet, a lady of the night can earn 1D6x1,000 credits PER NIGHT (Page 68 of Rifts: Black Market) she can earn far more than the CS Officer. Far more. Of course I realize that her Sugar Daddy is going to "pimp slap most of that out of her hand when he knocks that #$%^* down" but even so... that is a lot of money.

So it made me wonder...

What sort of god awful nasty %^&* does a whore on Rifts Earth have to do in a night that she could earn TWICE the monthly salary of a Coalition Military Officer?

For my 2 cents, I could see it as all those War Weary CS soldiers blowing their 3k on a whore a night...I mean, there are plenty of grunts to go around.

[The Galactus Kid]

New favorite thread.

[Nether]

Holy jeebus, maybe my ISS Intel Specter should retire to the private sector and become a pimp and start up a Radio Sex Chat line so troopers in the the field can make use of it.

I will gold plate my armor, diamond studs where the teeth would be and make my boots platforms with goldfish in the heels, put some spinning rim thrusters and neon lights on the hover car, and i should be on my way to be Hue Heffner of the CS.

[Wooly]

Another example of a poorly constructed fictionally economy in a Palladium Books product? I am shocked I tell you sir!

[Mech-Viper Prime]

Somehow it seems outrageous high, like that part was written by a virgin or someone without any experience with hookers or women in general.

[Giant2005]

Is that the wage of the common street walker or an extremely high quality escort?
If it is the latter, it isn't too unreasonable but the former I would question - she would have to perform tricks for hundreds of guys in a night for that kind of cash if they were paid in the same sort of proportion to street walkers of today's standards.
It could also be a case of being willing to pay more for a little enjoyment in a world dangerous enough that the value of enjoyment goes up.

[Nether]

Just seems excessively high in cost. The text to me suggests an average hooker which apparently is well paid.

Maybe there is some benefits we arent seeing mentioned in the text here, maybe the Mistresses sexual healing powers really do heal you.

GM: sure you want to do that as you will lose your arm?
Player: yep, i can take one for the team. (really he is thinking about the brothel and the paid medical leave)

[Greyaxe]

That wage is per night, could be 5-12 "Johns" each paying a few hundred credits each.

[Zamion138]

Well a legal brothel worker here in nevada usaly makes about 300 to 800 an hour alone with a guy. So assuming that some how these girls are not being robbed often and that they get a good % of the take i could see them making 1 to 2k a night.
But they can get that much as they are the only legal sex workers in the country, they are tested I want to say once a week, so they can ask for more. In rifts i dont think frontier towns have the same legal hang ups of charging passing CS solider for sex. Rifts "ladies of the night" dont pay the huge taxes nevada sex workers pay either, but they are either small time operations or work for the black market , so if they are taking home 2k a night they could probaly be keeping 500 to 800 credits for themselvs.
Watching the movie american hustle, it show tht the pimps dont give any onf the money to the women. so that could be happening too.

[Giant2005]

That wage is per night, could be 5-12 "Johns" each paying a few hundred credits each.

The average wage today would be about $4000 a month. The average price of a street walker would be somewhere around $100 or 2.5% of the average monthly wage.
If a Street Walker of Rifts Earth charged at the same real-world ratio, she would be charging 2.5% of 3000 which is $75.
At $75 a trick, she would have to perform 80 tricks in one night to get 6,000 credits.

She is either a very high class worker for professionals or she is an extremely diligent worker.

[Zamion138]

That wage is per night, could be 5-12 "Johns" each paying a few hundred credits each.

The average wage today would be about $4000 a month. The average price of a street walker would be somewhere around $100 or 2.5% of the average monthly wage.
If a Street Walker of Rifts Earth charged at the same real-world ratio, she would be charging 2.5% of 3000 which is $75.
At $75 a trick, she would have to perform 80 tricks in one night to get 6,000 credits.

She is either a very high class worker for professionals or she is an extremely diligent worker.

Or gets paid via brothels numbers and the writer of the source matrial called up one of the cat houses in nevada or watched to much HBO on the subject.
I agree that for the average street walker thoose are high numbers but not to high for a brothel worker in a legal cat house.

[azazel1024]

I could see it being that price range for some of the really high priced ones.

I think a better one, if you want to cover the range would be more like 10d20x10 per day if you want to cover 99.9% of ladies of the night.

That'll give you the range for the low end ones maybe only picking up a couple of clients in the worst sections of the burbs all the way up to some of the really expensive ones who are probably devoting a whole night to one or two fairly high rolling clients.

Not that I have any experience in it (honest, I really don't), but from the little I know of it, your average prostitute can earn in the area of $300-400 a night for some of the ones in bad parts of the city up through $2,000-10,000 a night for some of the ones who hang out with people like Governors, rockstars and such forth.

[Wise_Owl]

The books are written by people who are more concerned about writing books about Giant Robots fighting Dragons and Demons than about the nitty-girtty of economics? That's the real answer. All that stuff is just sort of plucked from thin air.

That being said, the Income of an 'Escort' in our society is reasonably high, and indeed I wouldn't be surprised if a sizabel number made more than the 'grunts' of the US military. However, yeah the economics of this make no sense. I realize that's not really a satsifactory answer, but I doubt the writers seriously sat down and thought about this.

[glitterboy2098]

Oiran courtesans of feudal japan would often require small fortunes to visit just once. even the lower ranking ones would cost several weeks or months of the regular wages for a soldier of the times. this was mainly because they were expected to actually entertain their clients with music, poetry, tea, etc. they weren't just prostitutes (those existed, but were far cheaper)

i could see a high end escort in rifts having many of the same traits.

[Mech-Viper Prime]

Oiran courtesans of feudal japan would often require small fortunes to visit just once. even the lower ranking ones would cost several weeks or months of the regular wages for a soldier of the times. this was mainly because they were expected to actually entertain their clients with music, poetry, tea, etc. they weren't just prostitutes (those existed, but were far cheaper)

i could see a high end escort in rifts having many of the same traits.

I can see an rifts escort making top dollar, and being well connected, and highly trained in other areas, meaning you don't grab some burb trash and take her to the coalition states high class social gathering, you hire a professional escort.

[taalismn]

Oiran courtesans of feudal japan would often require small fortunes to visit just once. even the lower ranking ones would cost several weeks or months of the regular wages for a soldier of the times. this was mainly because they were expected to actually entertain their clients with music, poetry, tea, etc. they weren't just prostitutes (those existed, but were far cheaper)

i could see a high end escort in rifts having many of the same traits.

I can see an rifts escort making top dollar, and being well connected, and highly trained in other areas, meaning you don't grab some burb trash and take her to the coalition states high class social gathering, you hire a professional escort.

And CS intel likely has a little black computer file on all the registered and 'vetted' escorts who can be trusted to be let in the front door(and who get regularly checked out by visiting psychic if a leak is suspected) of CS functions...part of the appeal/service being having a date you can bring in the door without a troublesome security check, frisk, and mind-scan, though if you have a limited pool of such escorts, it can get kind of awkward seeing the same faces/bodies come in on different arms in rapid progression, though it might be seen as a sign of status if you can afford the services of certain names.
And because such social functions are happy hunting grounds for sugardaddies, the courtesans are going to make sure they stay clean(or at least that's the thinking) and not upset the ISF and the PSi-Nuts.
However, that doesn't preclude petty intrigues within the company of the courtesans and their patrons(like spying on your latest bedmate for your true love, or scheming to pry that VERY skilled young man off your rival in order to publicly humiliate the latter).

[Witchcraft]

Somehow it seems outrageous high, like that part was written by a virgin or someone without any experience with hookers or women in general.

^ As someone with considerable experience in the above-mentioned areas of expertise I must, admittedly, agree that I shared your initial assessment.

[taalismn]

Somehow it seems outrageous high, like that part was written by a virgin or someone without any experience with hookers or women in general.

^ As someone with considerable experience in the above-mentioned areas of expertise I must, admittedly, agree that I shared your initial assessment.

Depends how much alcohol and dope has been consumed before the transaction, and how much assistance is given in removing said money from the client's wallet...

[Pepsi Jedi]

Just for the record. The above is speaking about "HIGH PRICED 'ESCOURTs'". I.E. The type of lady (or sometimes man) That is used by politicians and such to appear at huge political functions, business parties, ect. In our world you find them in Washington and stuff. The ladies have to be intelligent and pretty and schooled on a number of topics and be able to 'act their part' in 'polite company'. Speak on the topics of the evening and mingle with the upper class with out standing out. They also have to be able to take it if someone DOES figure out they're an escort and talk down their nose to them. The book stipulates these things and even points out that 66% of them don't even have sex with their clients.

They need a minimum MA of 14, PB of 14, and a good to excellent IQ as well, dance and wardrobe and grooming skills, Public speaking, art, lore and history, and seduction.

They're not what people sterotypically think of when you say the word "Whore".

They differentiate them from "Pimps and streetwalkers" or "Brothel workers" in other parts of the book.

Later on it stipulates that "Private rooms" in "Gentleman's clubs" go for 50-100 credits an hour.

"Hookers" "Streetwalkers" "Prostitutes" "Brothels" ect are mentioned.... many times.... in the book, but it doesn't give "rates" For these folks, and the cost for the "Escourts" Are not 'Whore pay'. As pointed out 2 out of 3 don't even have sex with their clients. It's just a different class and type of 'job'.

(( Just a note, even with all of this said, the book isn't all "SEX SEX SEX" it's very much glossed over when it is mentioned. It's just kinda funny as most Palladium books are rated "PG". I think in the previous freak show write up "Three prostitutes" Were mentioned. Same in this one. Past that you MAY have seen one passing mention of ladies of the evening or something in one in 10 books. This book is a book about criminals and you just see it mentioned more. It's NOT a sex book by any means. It's just kinda funny. I have book cases full of Palladium books and if you added mentions of sex in ALL of them you wouldn't have half the mentions in this one. lol))

[azazel1024]

Okay, if we are just talking very high end escorts than the price sounds a little closer to believable. It isn't like this women (or men) are going to be working 30 days a month. They probably have a "gig" anywhere from 2-8 times a month, probably just for an evening or maybe for a few days if traveling with someone to an important function.

As mentioned, a lot would be litteral social escorts. Most would be offering a little something else as well though.

Of course you also have your lower end escorts who would command much lower prices, but would fullfill similar roles. They'd be the type your typical modestly well to do businessman or woman or low end politician might contract with. They are also going to be resonably well educated (or can fake it well), good looking, polite, etc. They aren't the kind that command your average months pay for a single evening of escort services though...maybe just a weeks pay.

[taalismn]

I have this image of a Cyberhumanoid cyborg conversion as a premiere courtesan...durable, customizable, little chance of disease transmission, and, if a CS employee, stuffed to the gills with spygear to pick up on possibly incriminating pillowtalk.

[cornholioprime]

I would bet that, inside the Coalition States, those 3,000 credits go a lot further along -courtesy of the Coalition States' internal economy -than that 6,000 credits might help that call girl outside of the Fortress Cities.

Anybody else who is currently or formerly in the Armed Services remember how much cheaper stuff was in the PX, for just one example? (Back then, it was also tax-free; don't know how things are for servicemen today, and I'm talking about the late 80s to early-mid 90s.)

Or that you could just live on-Base if you wanted, rent-free??

For our members who have never served in the real-world Military, I tell you that it is/was quite possible to live your whole life on the Base and spend little to no money at all if you put a little effort into it, depending on what your personal tastes and desires are.....

[Sureshot]

A lot of math and montary figures in Rifts as a whole have always been wonky to say the least. 1500-2000 credits tp recharge a e-clip really.

[Killer Cyborg]

A lot of math and montary figures in Rifts as a whole have always been wonky to say the least. 1500-2000 credits tp recharge a e-clip really.

How much would 20 LAW rockets cost?

[Noon]

A lot of math and montary figures in Rifts as a whole have always been wonky to say the least. 1500-2000 credits tp recharge a e-clip really.

The ladies of the night will recharge your e-clip...

That said, the 'per night' is kind of missleading. It depends on whether you have clients or not - or even if you want to deal with whateve clients wash up (not all ladies of the night are somehow the beaten property of some pimp. Though many are (particularly in third world countries)).

[Hotrod]

This has got to be the most inappropriate thread to get the OK from the moderators since my "Can Blood-Sniffing Supernatural Predators Smell Menstruation?" topic. On par with "If u pee on a vampire will it do damage?"

I really have to wonder if Palladium Books is trying to go in a new direction with this Black Market book. Role-playing interactions with hookers is the kind of thing that's going to make parents say "Riiiiight then, this isn't what my Johnny needs to be doing in his free time" and steer them towards something else.

Or perhaps PB is counting on kids' rebellious streaks? Because rebelling against your parents so you can role-play a hooker in your free time is totally what I see today's youth doing whenever they're not lost in the world of their smart phones and video game systems... which is never.

Yep, we're doomed. Bring on the Coming of the Rifts.

[GenThunderfist]

This has got to be the most inappropriate thread to get the OK from the moderators since my "Can Blood-Sniffing Supernatural Predators Smell Menstruation?" topic. On par with "If u pee on a vampire will it do damage?"

I really have to wonder if Palladium Books is trying to go in a new direction with this Black Market book. Role-playing interactions with hookers is the kind of thing that's going to make parents say "Riiiiight then, this isn't what my Johnny needs to be doing in his free time" and steer them towards something else.

Or perhaps PB is counting on kids' rebellious streaks? Because rebelling against your parents so you can role-play a hooker in your free time is totally what I see today's youth doing whenever they're not lost in the world of their smart phones and video game systems... which is never.

Yep, we're doomed. Bring on the Coming of the Rifts.

Good point you have there...oh wait I almost forgot!

Warning!
Violence and the Supernatural
The fictional World of Rifts® is violent, deadly and filled with supernatural monsters. Other dimensional
beings often referred to as "demons," torment, stalk and prey on humans. Other alien life forms, monsters, gods
and demigods, as well as magic, insanity, and war are all elements in this book.
Some parents may find the violence, magic and supernatural elements of the game inappropriate for young
readers/players. We suggest parental discretion.
Please note that none of us at Palladium Books® condone or encourage the occult, the practice of magic, the
use of drugs, or violence

So it doesn't cover SEX specifically...on the other hand, I don't have BM and it could have been added in...It does mention Parental Discretion...I can't help if people are bad parents and let their 5 year old rape a demon with a stick.

[Mech-Viper Prime]

This has got to be the most inappropriate thread to get the OK from the moderators since my "Can Blood-Sniffing Supernatural Predators Smell Menstruation?" topic. On par with "If u pee on a vampire will it do damage?"

I really have to wonder if Palladium Books is trying to go in a new direction with this Black Market book. Role-playing interactions with hookers is the kind of thing that's going to make parents say "Riiiiight then, this isn't what my Johnny needs to be doing in his free time" and steer them towards something else.

Or perhaps PB is counting on kids' rebellious streaks? Because rebelling against your parents so you can role-play a hooker in your free time is totally what I see today's youth doing whenever they're not lost in the world of their smart phones and video game systems... which is never.

Yep, we're doomed. Bring on the Coming of the Rifts.

Good point you have there...oh wait I almost forgot!

Warning!
Violence and the Supernatural
The fictional World of Rifts® is violent, deadly and filled with supernatural monsters. Other dimensional
beings often referred to as "demons," torment, stalk and prey on humans. Other alien life forms, monsters, gods
and demigods, as well as magic, insanity, and war are all elements in this book.
Some parents may find the violence, magic and supernatural elements of the game inappropriate for young
readers/players. We suggest parental discretion.
Please note that none of us at Palladium Books® condone or encourage the occult, the practice of magic, the
use of drugs, or violence

So it doesn't cover SEX specifically...on the other hand, I don't have BM and it could have been added in...It does mention Parental Discretion...I can't help if people are bad parents and let their 5 year old rape a demon with a stick.

Why does galaxy of terror come to mind?

[Balabanto]

Heh. I can see that price outside the coalition states, easily.

"You want me to take WHAT back to his hotel room? That thing has spikes all over his !@#$#@!!. There's no way I'm going to put my !#$#! on his !@#$!!!!!"

"Think of them as love rods."

"More like vibroblades! Are you KIDDING me?"

[Pepsi Jedi]

This has got to be the most inappropriate thread to get the OK from the moderators since my "Can Blood-Sniffing Supernatural Predators Smell Menstruation?" topic. On par with "If u pee on a vampire will it do damage?"

I really have to wonder if Palladium Books is trying to go in a new direction with this Black Market book. Role-playing interactions with hookers is the kind of thing that's going to make parents say "Riiiiight then, this isn't what my Johnny needs to be doing in his free time" and steer them towards something else.

Or perhaps PB is counting on kids' rebellious streaks? Because rebelling against your parents so you can role-play a hooker in your free time is totally what I see today's youth doing whenever they're not lost in the world of their smart phones and video game systems... which is never.

Yep, we're doomed. Bring on the Coming of the Rifts.

Why is it inappropriate? It's not like there's graphic sex in the book. The profession is just mentioned. The fact that Palladium writes such "PG" things is pretty well known but acting like there's no sex in the world is a bit silly. The one actually being discussed is high end escourts, 2/3rds or 66% (How ever you like it)) Don't even have sex with their clients.

Are we really going to cower from things my 12 year old could tell you about?

[Hotrod]

In our culture, overt portrayals of sex and prostitution tend to stir up more controversy than violence and the supernatural. Google "Hot Coffee" for a shining example. In a game that requires the player to randomly carjack innocent people and commit all kinds of violent felonies, but some unused files that let your avatar date and have sex with girlfriends is what stirs up controversy when someone mods them into the game.

I'm not saying it's right, but it's how things tend to go. That's why I'm a bit mystified at the hooker-heavy tone of Black Market.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Only in America would a book mention sex be heavily discussed like this...I am happy to live in Denmark, we have all kinds of crazy European sex here...but then again, America is a country that was founded by prudes...

Of to the Vandersexxx!

It's not all of us Amanda. Just like with any cross section of humanity you'll get some people that snicker and giggle when such things are discussed. The internet just gives them voices with out having to blush and look people in the eye when they talk. lol

[Pepsi Jedi]

In our culture, overt portrayals of sex and prostitution tend to stir up more controversy than violence and the supernatural. Google "Hot Coffee" for a shining example. In a game that requires the player to randomly carjack innocent people and commit all kinds of violent felonies, but some unused files that let your avatar date and have sex with girlfriends is what stirs up controversy when someone mods them into the game.

I'm not saying it's right, but it's how things tend to go. That's why I'm a bit mystified at the hooker-heavy tone of Black Market.

It's not that it's "Hooker heavy" it's just that instead of ignoring it for 99% of the books/time. It has it listed with other criminal enterprises. (( Which is kinda weird, it's a post apoc game. you gotta wonder "who" is making it illegal))

[Hotrod]

Why is it inappropriate? It's not like there's graphic sex in the book. The profession is just mentioned. The fact that Palladium writes such "PG" things is pretty well known but acting like there's no sex in the world is a bit silly. The one actually being discussed is high end escourts, 2/3rds or 66% (How ever you like it)) Don't even have sex with their clients.

Are we really going to cower from things my 12 year old could tell you about?

This topic doesn't bother me in the slightest. Nor does the book. It's just not the kind of thing I'd discuss in a public place. That's what I meant, not that it's inappropriate for this particular forum (though it skates along the edge of what the moderators have historically allowed here)

A lot of things that 12-year-olds talk about aren't fit for public conversation.

[Hotrod]

In our culture, overt portrayals of sex and prostitution tend to stir up more controversy than violence and the supernatural. Google "Hot Coffee" for a shining example. In a game that requires the player to randomly carjack innocent people and commit all kinds of violent felonies, but some unused files that let your avatar date and have sex with girlfriends is what stirs up controversy when someone mods them into the game.

I'm not saying it's right, but it's how things tend to go. That's why I'm a bit mystified at the hooker-heavy tone of Black Market.

It's not that it's "Hooker heavy" it's just that instead of ignoring it for 99% of the books/time. It has it listed with other criminal enterprises. (( Which is kinda weird, it's a post apoc game. you gotta wonder "who" is making it illegal))

From your own review:

if you took every other book palladium’s ever published and added them together you wouldn’t have half the references to hookers that this book has

'Heavy' is relative. It may not focus on it as much as "Pimps Up, Hoes Down", but by Palladium's standard, this book references the world's oldest profession a lot.

By the way, I completely agree on the illogical approach with this aspect of the Black Market. It seems to me like they've based the Black Market on modern organized crime stereotypes and movies, forgetting some important aspects of the setting.

[Pepsi Jedi]

In our culture, overt portrayals of sex and prostitution tend to stir up more controversy than violence and the supernatural. Google "Hot Coffee" for a shining example. In a game that requires the player to randomly carjack innocent people and commit all kinds of violent felonies, but some unused files that let your avatar date and have sex with girlfriends is what stirs up controversy when someone mods them into the game.

I'm not saying it's right, but it's how things tend to go. That's why I'm a bit mystified at the hooker-heavy tone of Black Market.

It's not that it's "Hooker heavy" it's just that instead of ignoring it for 99% of the books/time. It has it listed with other criminal enterprises. (( Which is kinda weird, it's a post apoc game. you gotta wonder "who" is making it illegal))

From your own review:

if you took every other book palladium’s ever published and added them together you wouldn’t have half the references to hookers that this book has

'Heavy' is relative. It may not focus on it as much as "Pimps Up, Hoes Down", but by Palladium's standard, this book references the world's oldest profession a lot.

By the way, I completely agree on the illogical approach with this aspect of the Black Market. It seems to me like they've based the Black Market on modern organized crime stereotypes and movies, forgetting some important aspects of the setting.

Well that's what I was trying to say. It's not that it's "Hooker heavy" but if you have 100 books out there, and sex is mentioned in .... 3 of them. Then this book comes out and it's mentioned 10 times. The book has more than 3 times as many mentions as all other books put together, but 10 times in 200 pages isn't "that much" when the book you're reading is 100% about criminal organizations. I just don't want to misrepresent.

As to the second part. yeah. It's got kinda a weird feel sometimes. I mentioned that in my review. Some of the time it seems to be more written for Shadowrun, in that it seems to focus alot on city life and things you just don't think about in Rifts.

[flatline]

Only in America would a book mention sex be heavily discussed like this...I am happy to live in Denmark, we have all kinds of crazy European sex here...but then again, America is a country that was founded by prudes...

Of to the Vandersexxx!

I curse the Puritans almost daily.

--flatline

[glitterboy2098]

Only in America would a book mention sex be heavily discussed like this...I am happy to live in Denmark, we have all kinds of crazy European sex here...but then again, America is a country that was founded by prudes...

Of to the Vandersexxx!

It's not all of us Amanda. Just like with any cross section of humanity you'll get some people that snicker and giggle when such things are discussed. The internet just gives them voices with out having to blush and look people in the eye when they talk. lol

so far the discussion in the thread has been fairly clean and level headed. though i think the thread name is a bit puerile.

Okay, if we are just talking very high end escorts than the price sounds a little closer to believable. It isn't like this women (or men) are going to be working 30 days a month. They probably have a "gig" anywhere from 2-8 times a month, probably just for an evening or maybe for a few days if traveling with someone to an important function.

As mentioned, a lot would be litteral social escorts. Most would be offering a little something else as well though.

Of course you also have your lower end escorts who would command much lower prices, but would fullfill similar roles. They'd be the type your typical modestly well to do businessman or woman or low end politician might contract with. They are also going to be resonably well educated (or can fake it well), good looking, polite, etc. They aren't the kind that command your average months pay for a single evening of escort services though...maybe just a weeks pay.

so pretty much the Oiran's of Japan, perhaps a bit more along the lines of the Geisha's, who eventually took over the Oiran's role in fuedal japan's culture, though the Geisha didn't offer sexual relationships, just the cultural entertainment. (at the time, most of the customers were from the samurai class, who at that time were often unmarried. their entertainment tastes went more towards obtaining a slice of idealized domestic life than towards sex.)


for those who have a hard time wrapping their heads around the japanese examples... think Inara from Firefly. the 'Companion', who's job includes entertaining her customers with music and intelligent discussion, not just sex. in fact, it is implied in a few episodes that sex is not a major part of her job compared to the more mundane entertainment side of things, although obviously the sexual element seems to be the one that many characters seem to fixate on.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Only in America would a book mention sex be heavily discussed like this...I am happy to live in Denmark, we have all kinds of crazy European sex here...but then again, America is a country that was founded by prudes...

Of to the Vandersexxx!

It's not all of us Amanda. Just like with any cross section of humanity you'll get some people that snicker and giggle when such things are discussed. The internet just gives them voices with out having to blush and look people in the eye when they talk. lol

so far the discussion in the thread has been fairly clean and level headed. though i think the thread name is a bit puerile.

Okay, if we are just talking very high end escorts than the price sounds a little closer to believable. It isn't like this women (or men) are going to be working 30 days a month. They probably have a "gig" anywhere from 2-8 times a month, probably just for an evening or maybe for a few days if traveling with someone to an important function.

As mentioned, a lot would be litteral social escorts. Most would be offering a little something else as well though.

Of course you also have your lower end escorts who would command much lower prices, but would fullfill similar roles. They'd be the type your typical modestly well to do businessman or woman or low end politician might contract with. They are also going to be resonably well educated (or can fake it well), good looking, polite, etc. They aren't the kind that command your average months pay for a single evening of escort services though...maybe just a weeks pay.

so pretty much the Oiran's of Japan, perhaps a bit more along the lines of the Geisha's, who eventually took over the Oiran's role in fuedal japan's culture, though the Geisha didn't offer sexual relationships, just the cultural entertainment. (at the time, most of the customers were from the samurai class, who at that time were often unmarried. their entertainment tastes went more towards obtaining a slice of idealized domestic life than towards sex.)


for those who have a hard time wrapping their heads around the japanese examples... think Inara from Firefly. the 'Companion', who's job includes entertaining her customers with music and intelligent discussion, not just sex. in fact, it is implied in a few episodes that sex is not a major part of her job compared to the more mundane entertainment side of things, although obviously the sexual element seems to be the one that many characters seem to fixate on.

mmmmm Inara...... *Sighs whistfully* I'll be in my bunk.

[glitterboy2098]

Inara: "So. Would you like to lecture me about the wickedness of my ways?"
Book: "I brought you some supper, but if you’d prefer a lecture, I’ve a few very catchy ones prepped. Sin and hellfire… one has lepers."

[Pepsi Jedi]

Just make sure you don't go to the -Special Hell- Glitter!

[Anthar]

Only in America would a book mention sex be heavily discussed like this...I am happy to live in Denmark, we have all kinds of crazy European sex here...but then again, America is a country that was founded by prudes...

Of to the Vandersexxx!

That's why us Canadians have that border dividing us, that and free healthcare which sort of go hand in hand.

[Ectoplasmic Bidet]

Only in America would a book mention sex be heavily discussed like this...I am happy to live in Denmark, we have all kinds of crazy European sex here...but then again, America is a country that was founded by prudes...

Of to the Vandersexxx!

That's why us Canadians have that border dividing us, that and free healthcare which sort of go hand in hand.

I thought it was to keep Americans from stealing from your strategic syrup reserve?

[Anthar]

To quote Batman, "I can accomplish more than one goal with one action."

[nilgravity]

What sort of god awful nasty %^&* does a whore on Rifts Earth have to do in a night that she could earn TWICE the monthly salary of a Coalition Military Officer?

I think I saw Splyn's sex tape. It was in Japanese...

[flatline]

What sort of god awful nasty %^&* does a whore on Rifts Earth have to do in a night that she could earn TWICE the monthly salary of a Coalition Military Officer?

I think I saw Splyn's sex tape. It was in Japanese...

The sub-titles are a riot!

--flatline

[Nightmask]

Only in America would a book mention sex be heavily discussed like this...I am happy to live in Denmark, we have all kinds of crazy European sex here...but then again, America is a country that was founded by prudes...

Of to the Vandersexxx!

I imagine the Arab states would respond even more heavily on the topic, what with beliefs extreme enough on sex to put the old-school Puritans as looking like sex-happy hippies in comparison.

[Balabanto]

Well this all started with the comparison to the cs officer. We should not discount the fact that merly being a cs citizen is worth top dollar. Not to mention being protected and having amenities that others dont have. Then you have the glory, power, and prestige of being in the cs military. The escort has to pay for room and board and other expenses from that pay.
I find it funny people trying to relate their real life experience with this post apocalyptic world where demons and magic rule the day. I imagine that pleasure is much more valued in the hard world of rifts than it is in our society today. This is more so when you consider that much of the money made in rifts is by mercenaries who live not knowing if they are going to live another day. This is 10x as true for juicers. Blowing a jobs pay seems like a regular occurence.
I also dont think that the writers just pull numbers out of the air. They do use prior books economics to help value things. Dont forget that all the books are read before they are put out. Read by people who have been around rifts for sometime. I believe most things can be reasonably (within the context of the post apocalyptic demon world) answered if you really think it out

Blowing a job's pay, huh?

Well done, sir.

[Mech-Viper Prime]

What sort of god awful nasty %^&* does a whore on Rifts Earth have to do in a night that she could earn TWICE the monthly salary of a Coalition Military Officer?

I think I saw Splyn's sex tape. It was in Japanese...

The sub-titles are a riot!

--flatline

You sure that wasn't the worm scene from gaxaly of terror

[escargotini]

That's why us Canadians have that border dividing us, that and free healthcare which sort of go hand in hand.

I thought it was to keep Americans from stealing from your strategic syrup reserve?

Too late!
Don't worry, I'm sure Jim Lahey and Randy are tracking the criminals.