Club Byzantium
- At September 15, 2018
- By Great Quail
- In Vampire
0
Words like passion and ecstasy, we learn them but they stay flat on the page. Sometimes we try to turn them over, find out what’s on the other side, and everyone has a story to tell of a woman or a brothel or an opium night or a war. We fear it. We fear passion and laugh at too much love and those who love too much.
—Jeanette Winterson
Club Byzantium
The home and haven of the coven bearing its name, Byzantium is a sprawling sex club located on the Upper East Side. Formerly a seven-story Gilded-Era hotel named Sleet House, Byzantium opened its doors in 1978, but has gone through several intensive renovations over the years. While the exterior still radiates early Beaux-Arts charm, the interior is thoroughly modern.
Culture
Byzantium has an almost mythical status among Gotham swingers. It does not advertise, has no Web site, and bears no distinguishing signs. It’s not listed in guidebooks or underground newspapers, and it’s never referenced directly on swinger boards. Open every Friday and Saturday night from 10 pm to dawn, couples may only gain entrance by producing a “Black Card”—a unique version of “The Lovers” tarot card, its eponymous paramours drawn from various combinations of races and genders. Each card is rendered in a different artistic style, from flowing art-nouveau to pornographic montage, but all are embellished with gold leaf and have identical backings—a matte-black rectangle with “byzantium”printed in gold lettering above an address. Black Cards are issued to couples recruited from sex clubs around the world, including New York’s own La Trapeze and Checkmates, but are only bestowed upon couples deemed “worthy.” While youth and beauty are naturally important criteria, Byzantium’s representatives also reward creativity, passion, and intelligence.
Lifestyle
The majority of couples invited to Byzantium are heterosexual. However, unlike most traditional swing clubs, bisexuality is accepted among men as well as women. Blatant homophobia is frowned upon at Byzantium, and Black Cards are rarely issued to couples likely to cause trouble. The fact the club employs hetaerae to circulate among the guests is also taken into account, and couples who might object to the presence of “professionals” are quietly screened out.
Theme
The overall theme of Byzantium is “Oriental decadence.” Its foundation remains the Byzantine Empire and Greco-Roman antiquity, but this is hopelessly confused with a profusion of Turkish, Arabian, and Hebrew influences. While such flagrant Orientalism would certainly give Edward Said a migraine, Venus has always been a syncretic creature; like the late-Victorian period of her origin, she has a genius for fusing multiple styles into an aesthetic whole. Byzantium strives to avoid tackiness, but like most locations designed for pleasure, what seems exotic by candlelight may appear garish under the harsh light of day. No one is more aware of this than vampires, and Byzantium is nothing if not well-lit!
Management
The manager of Club Byzantium is nominally Ingo Wallrafen, but the busy Toreador restrains himself to “big picture” decisions. On a more day-to-day level, the club is managed by Teddy and Kajan Kapsner. A pair of swingers from the heyday of Plato’s Retreat, they were originally enghouled by Grenadier Toil, but were Embraced as Daeva shortly after his death. A former Army captain and Vietnam veteran, Teddy has an excellent head for business, while his wife Kajan has perfected the role of charming hostess. During weekend hours, they roam the club in full evening dress, cheerfully greeting regulars and ensuring that VIPs are being well-treated.
Security
Byzantium has a well-trained security force consisting of human guards known as Excubitors. Brawny and humorless, Excubitors wear black fezzes and bespoke suits tailored to evoke the mysterious Orient. The carry walkie-talkies and retractable batons, but have been instructed to remain as unobtrusive as possible. Despite the occasional titillating rumor, the Excubitors are not eunuchs, and are neveravailable to “play.” The Excubitors are reinforced by several Lasombra Templars, charged with maintaining discipline among Byzantium’s supernatural guests. While sensual feeding is encouraged at Club Byzantium, killing is strictly prohibited—the coven is too cautious to invite that kind of heat.
The Hetaerae
Another aspect of Byzantium’s unusual status among swing clubs is the discreet presence of paid professionals. Known as the “hetaerae”—never prostitutes!—they do not advertise their services, and are not tipped by the club’s clientele. Drawn from a wide variety of ethnic groups and body types, their job is to circulate among the floors and “play” at their own discretion. Of course, favored guests are free to make special requests, but a skilled hetaera knows how to read a room, and is rarely an unwelcome partner. The hetaerae are fully aware of the supernatural nature of their employers. Many serve as blood dolls, some have been enghouled as cambions, and a few are destined to become Daeva themselves. They have developed close relationships with many Cainite regulars, and often function as matchmakers, shepherding new guests towards appropriate vampiric partners. This is particularly useful among the Daeva. Addicted to vitae charged with erotic energy, many Daeva acquire specific “tastes” over the years. Byzantium’s hetaerae are experts in cultivating guests to produce desired effects, from encouraging various fetishes to triggering an orgy. However, anything more outré than a round of “lesbian spank inferno” must be cleared with the management. Club Byzantium is not a fetish club, and Cainites with more extreme tastes are directed elsewhere. Indeed, some hetaera supplement their income by working weekdays at the coven’s other clubs, particularly Zoara Bela, Viriconium, the Hellfire Club, and the Hippodrome.
The hetaerae are categorized depending on gender and sexual orientation:
Houri
The houri are beautiful women trained in a wide range of tantric arts. The largest group of hetaerae in the club, their primary role is to ensure that everyone has a pleasant and memorable evening at Byzantium. This may involve any number of activities, from flirting with unattended guests at the bar to quietly transforming a couple into a ménage-à-trois. A good houri has an intuitive sense of timing—she knows when to energize a dance floor, when to defuse an awkward situation, and when to fade quietly into the background. Houri attire themselves according to their moods and personal preferences. Some appear indistinguishable from guests, while others prefer fancy lingerie, silk robes, merry widows, etc. During Masquerade Balls, the houri are traditionally unclothed, their bodies artfully painted to match the evening’s theme.
Klavim
Known as the “dogs,” the klavim are men skilled at pleasuring women. Like the houri, they represent numerous types—handsome gigolos, well-hung studs, Italian stallions, long-haired Fabios, etc. A kelev is free to roam the club, but like most randy dogs, only comes when called.
Qedeshah
The qedeshah are gay and bisexual men. They wear a variety of dress, and range from burly bears to effeminate gym bunnies. Drag is rare, but not unknown. The qedeshah frequent the Forum, but occasionally stroll through the other floors to attract the eyes of curious couples. Qedeshah are adept at sussing out bi-curious guests, and have been trained to flirt with ostensibly straight males without causing discomfort. Although qedeshah prefer men, some are willing to play with women, particularly in the context of a threesome.
Arsenokoitai
Young men employed to pleasure older men, the “koitai” range from boyish, clean-shaved twinks to sweet and tender hooligans encouraged to get a bit rough. Unlike the qedeshah, the koitai do not play with heterosexual couples, and are found only in the Forum and the Pandocheia. The koitai range in age from 18-22, and despite Venus’ attempts to exoticize them with a Greek title, most guests refer to them as “boys.”
Pallakís
Many of the hetaerae are also blood dolls. Formally known as the pallakís, these humans are branded by a small tattoo on their left wrist, the Greek letter “pi.” A few are also cambions, further distinguished by a visible token of ownership, such as a special bracelet, a locket, or a second tattoo. Enghouled pallakís retain their sexual freedom, but only their master and approved associates may drink their blood.
The Nephilim
Along with human hetaerae, the club employs several Daeva fledglings known as “Nephilim.” Marked with a tattoo of Byzantium’s unicursal hexagram, the Nephilim act much as their mortal counterparts, but their very presence acts as a stabilizing influence—literally. Skilled in the Discipline of Presence, the Nephilim emanate a supernatural aura that quietly conditions human guests to the company of vampires. This makes humans more receptive and pliant, soothes possible concerns about the “peculiarity” of certain guests, and obscures paranormal events even as they are unfolding. When the Nephilim are present, Cainites shimmer with seductive beauty, and the act of drinking blood seems like a deliciously sensual love bite. Any guest who wakes the next day with bruises, bite marks, and a general sense of enervation recalls only a night of erotic revelry. Victims may even suffer from a feeling of anticlimax, accompanied by the desire to return to Byzantium and recapture that sensation of blissful euphoria.
The Staff
The hetaerae are not the only humans employed by Byzantium, which requires a large service staff to keep the club running smoothly—flirtatious cocktail bunnies, handsome bartenders, cheerful orientation guides, and several DJs, including one spry fellow who used to work at Plato’s Retreat. These employees are discouraged from playing with guests, and dress in white, from ivory tuxedos to Emma Frost patent leather. The club also requires dozens of unseen but dutiful janitors and laundresses.
Layout
The following description focuses on Byzantium’s most important locations. The building also features several offices and storerooms, a kitchen, a wine cellar, and a sizeable laundry room; but these areas are off-limits to guests and rarely visited by Cainites.
The Lobby
Guests enter Byzantium through the ornate, beaux-arts lobby of the former hotel. The lobby contains a bar, a coat check, and several pieces of vintage furniture. After presenting the prerequisite Black Card to the concierge—who files it in one of the hotel’s original mail slots—couples are charged a steep entrance fee. This covers everything from the Hamam bathhouse to an evening of unlimited drinks. Whether guests realize it or not, the cover also includes the services of Byzantium’s hetaerae. Annual memberships are also available, but only to trusted regulars. Good hygiene and appropriate attire are critical for admission. Like many swing clubs, Byzantium encourages couples to “dress sexy,” and jeans and T-shirts are not permitted. While tackiness may be subjective, cheapness and trashiness are discouraged, and Byzantium’s Masquerade Balls are occasions to show off the most expensive and exotic apparel in a guest’s erotic wardrobe.
Once guests have checked in they are allowed to mingle, usually sharing an aperitif while waiting for friends. Nudity is not permitted in the lobby. Guests ready to enter the club may head downstairs to the Hamam, take the elevator directly to the Forum, or pass through a hallway to the main floor. Each entrance is guarded by an Excubitor, who greets regulars by name and directs newcomers to one of Byzantium’s helpful orientation guides. Cainites usually enter Byzantium through the coven’s private entrance, which is guarded by a pair of Templars.
Basement: Hamam
Guests heading to the Hamam pass through a vestibule featuring a statue of Venus Volgivaga, the traditional patron of Byzantine bathhouses. The statue is clearly modeled on Venus and Orchid, and is surrounded by red candles. Downstairs is the Hamam, a sprawling Turkish bathhouse decorated in Moorish tiles and illuminated by colorful Moroccan lanterns. Unlike a traditional hamam, Byzantium’s bathhouse does not segregate by gender, and bathing suits are decidedly not an option. After showering in the wooden locker room, guests are free to sample the Hamam’s many offerings, including baths of various temperatures, a freezing-cold plunge pool, a wooden sauna, and two steam rooms set to different temperatures. The Hamam also contains private massage rooms staffed by professionals, who have been instructed to provide each customer a fifteen-minute massage using pomegranate oil. While these massages are certainly sensual, they do not include sexual contact—these employees are not hetaerae.
Despite its many confusing twists and turns, the Hamam is roughly triangular in layout. The Scheherazade Bath occupies one point of the triangle, a warm pool shaped like a six-pointed star and fed by a pair of musical waterfalls. The domed ceiling above the pool is held aloft by nude caryatids, and is set with stained glass panels depicting erotic scenes from Burton’s The Thousand and One Nights. The second point of the triangle is the Sultan’s Stone, a circular room with a heated stone floor. Illuminated by braziers and strewn with blankets and water-resistant cushions, the Sultan’s Stone is used by guests to relax after a massage or a bath, perhaps lazily caressing each other as they absorb the welcome heat. This is a common place for vampires to engage in a languorous form of cauchemar. The final corner of the triangle is off-limits to human patrons. Known as the Baths of Zeuxippus, this area is reserved for Cainites and their accompanying guests. Feeding is common, particularly in the Crimson Pool, whose name should be self-evident!
First Floor: Constantinople
The first level of Byzantium is formally named “Constantinople,” but few guests call it anything but “the main floor.” It features several lounges, a billiard room, and two dance floors nicknamed Justinian and Theodora, each equipped with a DJ and fully-stocked bar. Guests are encouraged to drink, dance, and engage in limited play, but full nudity and intercourse are rare. This is the area of the club devoted to socializing, and while one might stumble on a furtive bit of fellatio, it’s more common to see “dirty dancing” and amateur striptease.
Second Floor: The Pleasure Gardens
Once guests are ready to take mingling to the next level, they “go upstairs” to the Pleasure Gardens, a labyrinthine arrangement of plush dens, semi-private suites, and orgy rooms.
The Seraglio
The largest orgy room in Byzantium, the Seraglio is designed to evoke a Sultan’s tent pitched in a desert garden, and features a fountain, faux braziers, mirrored cubicles, and bejeweled stars twinkling from a ceiling of indigo velvet. The music is chilled-out and sensual, and the air is perfumed by vanilla and ylang-ylang. The houri that frequent the Seraglio are encouraged to dress like Arabian genies, and most are skilled at belly-dancing.
The Satyricon
This Romanesque den is centered around an erotic statue of Tyche, the goddess of good fortune. She holds a wicker cornucopia, its mouth overflowing with condoms, lubricants, paddles, and shrink-wrapped sex toys. The music here is more upbeat than the Seraglio, designed to enhance more vigorous activities. The Satyricon is staffed by three houri in Greco-Roman dress, always ready to plop a grape into a guest’s mouth at just the right moment! The Satyricon tends to be more bi-friendly than the Seraglio, and it’s not uncommon to find men engaged with other men.
The Kathisma
Located near the Satyricon, this pair of small rooms is connected by a row of glory holes. The right-hand room is bathed in red light, the left-hand room is kept pitch black. Cainites usually don’t feed from glory holes unless requested; however some of the openings are positioned beneath a pair of upper holes designed for the insertion of wrists. It is not uncommon for a blood doll to receive fellatio from a human while both wrists are nourishing Cainites; an activity informally dubbed “the full suck.”
Third Floor: The Forum Tauri
While much of the third floor is devoted to offices, is also contains the Forum Tauri, a club-within-a-club devoted to gay and bisexual men. The Forum may be accessed directly via elevator from Byzantium’s lobby, or from a spiral staircase near the Satyricon. Either way, an Excubitor guards the entrance to prevent casual gawkers—straight men are allowed to pass, but most women are politely deflected back downstairs, unless accompanied by a Cainite or a qedeshah.
The Forum features a modest dancefloor and bar, several well-appointed suites, a dark room, and an orgy room furnished with Roman décor. The Forum is significantly more genteel than most gay sex clubs, and is intended to serve an “upscale” crowd seeking elegance over anonymity—opera queens, decadent aesthetes, bi-curious men who might be intimidated by something more raw. In some ways, it’s more a brothel than a sex club, and lacks the wild abandon of the Hippodrome; one is more likely to see a perfumed koitai servicing a businessman than a balls-deep rodeo party. The Forum is especially popular with gay vampires of a certain age, who prefer a touch of decorum as they feed. In order to maintain a certain degree of discipline, the Forum is presided over by one of the Nephilim, a Castro clone named Frankie. Embraced by London Rain during the Blackout of 2003, Frankie’s sense of humor is legendary, and he cheerfully embraces all “Frankie says” jokes.
Fourth Floor: The Pandocheia
Named after the Byzantine inns designed for weary pilgrims, the fourth floor of Byzantium features elaborate private suites, each luxuriously themed after a particular historical period and appointed with authentic furnishings. Radiating an Eyes Wide Shut vibe, the Pandocheia is reserved for Byzantium’s elite clientele—Cainites, cambions, trusted regulars, and VIP guests. After all, one can’t have neophytes fornicating willy-nilly on the vintage Louis XIV canape! The suites are attended by appropriately-attired hetaerae, and pallakís are common—feeding is not only permitted in the Pandocheia, it is encouraged. The rooms of the Pandocheia are occasionally redesigned to reflect changing fashions, but four in particular have remained mainstays since the eighties:
Palais de Versailles
A gilded salon with interconnected boudoirs, the Palais is a sybaritic playground dedicated to four centuries of French decadence. The bookshelves contain illustrated editions of erotica ranging from the Marquis de Sade to Ouinesh, scandalous paintings adorn the walls, and a wooden spinet in the corner is carved with scenes from a Turkish orgy. An original Bonnard hangs above the crystal bar, which serves absinthe with vintage glasses and spoons. The room is always attended by several hetaerae, the men in powdered frippery and the women poured into bodice-bursting dresses and exquisite lingerie.
The Egyptian Room
Despite its name, this room is actually a Victorian suite decorated in Egyptianate fashion—all the rage of the nineteenth century! The hetaerae who serve this room powder their skin with gold and wear elegant Egyptian makeup; the men with torsos bared, and the women in sleek beadnet dresses of blue faïence.
The Sakura Teahouse
This ornate suite is only open on Saturday nights. Intended to evoke the late Edo period, the Sakura Teahouse contains geishas and oiran, recruited from the ranks of the houri and trained in the ancient arts of music, dance, and pleasure. Many of these hetaerae are pallakís, but the teahouse is managed by one of the Nephilim, a Japanese Malkavian called Okaa-san. An actual geisha Embraced in 1870, Okaa-san attempts to run the teahouse as legitimately as possible, but her Malkavian blood tends to scramble her memories, and the Sakura Teahouse is widely viewed as superficial by most Japanese elders—“About as authentically Japanese as the Egyptian room is pharaonic.”
The Venetian Grotto
Unlocked only for special parties and Vinculum orgies, this suite is a tribute to La Grande Sala delle Orge dePalazzo dei Senza Sangue, the “grand orgy hall” from the palatial residence of the infamous Black Toreador, Venerio Brexiano. Recreated from the description found in Brexiano’s Il diabolico diario di un vampiro esausto, the Grotto contains a serpentine marble bath, a Turkish boudoir festooned with torture instruments, and a polished gondola lined with satin cushions. The ceiling is hung with swings, slings, and hammocks, and the rooms are illuminated by lanterns shaded with “human skin”—actually, goatskin reproductions. When parties are held in the Grotto, the bath is filled with milk or champagne, and it’s not uncommon to find hetaerae suspended from the ceiling on silk cords and dressed like salacious marionettes.
The Fifth and Sixth Floors: The Magnaura
The upper floors of Club Byzantium are private residences, reserved for the members of the Byzantium Coven. A Templar is on duty here at all times, and the only humans allowed to pass the threshold are invited guests and Sabbat retainers. The floors are accessible using a private elevator available from Byzantium’s private street entrance.
The Seventh Floor: Hieròn Palátion
The “Sacred Palace” is reserved for Venus and Orchid herself, who occupies the entire seventh floor, a stunning series of rooms decorated with antique furniture and priceless artwork. The jewel of her collection William Blake’s original The Night of Enitharmon’s Joy, a gift from Lord Dorian Ives. While the Daeva frequently uses these rooms to entertain, no one sets foot on the seventh floor without her express permission.
The Roof: The Garden of Hecate
The roof of Byzantium supports a patio, a bar, a greenhouse, and a small swimming pool. These features are all connected by the Garden of Hecate, a floral maze centering on a statue of the Triple Hecate. Open to the entire coven, the roof is a favorite place to bring regulars for a midnight feeding. It is also occasionally used to Embrace new Daeva, who are bled to death by their lover (or lovers) and “buried” in a rose bower to await resurrection.
Lupanaria of Byzantium
Club Byzantium | Viriconium | Siddim | The Hippodrome | Zoara Bela | Cabaret Tannhäuser | Empusa Theatre | Hellfire Club | Satrina
Sources & Notes
The core of the Gotham Sabbat was first uploaded on 31 October 2000, but the Byzantium Coven was extensively revised during the August 2018 update. I used many sources when compiling this sinful tour guide, including Tom Sawford’s Byzantine Blog and Elizabeth A. Topping’s What’s a Poor Girl to Do? Prostitution in Mid-Nineteenth Century America. The banner is an illustration by the wonderful Russian artist Rheann D; specifically Pomegranate. The Lovers tarot cards featured on the Club Byzantium profile are, in order of left-to-right on the upper set: Kim Stramat, Malleus, and Amrit Brar respectively. The lower set contains two cards by Trungles, with Élodie Gilbert-Lachapelle’s ménage-à-trois in the middle, naturally. Club Byzantium is a fanciful blend of several real-world locations, particularly Checkmates, Miami Velvet, and the Cottage. How much research I have personally carried out in these various dens of iniquity will remain in a sealed file for 200 years.
Author: Great Quail
Original Upload: 31 October 2000
Last Modified: 15 September 2018
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com