Hippodrome

Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.
—Oscar Wilde

The Hippodrome

Located inside a former Chelsea bank, the Hippodrome is a gay sex club operated by Parker Rath, a Daeva ancilla from Montreal. Founded in 2001 as a gay counterpart to Club Byzantium, the Hippodrome began to drift out of Venus and Ingo’s orbit almost immediately—try as they might, its clients demanded something rougher than a system of qedeshah and koitai, and the Hippodrome soon took on a life of its own. Today, the club is tacitly part of the Viriconium coterie, and is frequented by gay Cainites of all sects and clans. Typical of Byzantium’s lupanaria, feeding is expected, but murder is prohibited.

Culture
The Hippodrome is a no-holds-barred sex club, and is quite removed from the tame elegance of Byzantium’s Forum Tauri. The club earned a certain degree of infamy during the Blackout of 2003, when Rath brought in a generator truck and hosted an all-night rave in the sweltering heat. The only source of music and light for blocks, the party devolved into a sweaty bacchanalia, resulting in several Embraces and more than a few disappearances. As Malachi was reputed to have said, “Finally, proof the Byzantium coven is actually Sabbat!”

Today, the Hippodrome attracts a wide range of clientele of every shape, color, and tribe from all over the world. Most of the regulars enjoy the club’s edgy reputation, and certain theme nights can be trusted to get out of hand, particularly a monthly gear party called Military Monday. Still, not every night is devoted to leather and kink, and the Hippodrome has its share of Underwear Nights and Castro Dance Parties.

Maroon Flags
Having been Embraced in 1975, Parker Rath has a fondness for the hanky culture of the gay seventies, and one is more likely to see “flags” at the Hippodrome than most modern gay clubs. This is especially useful in the interactions between vampire and human, which adopts a maroon-and-black bandana code. When placed in the left pocket, the flag identifies a Cainite looking to feed; willing blood dolls place the maroon bandana in their right pocket.

Layout

The exterior of the Hippodrome is still the façade of the original bank, but the interior was extensively renovated in 1999 to match the Greco-Roman theme of Club Byzantium.

Entrance
The Hippodrome is open Monday through Saturday nights from 10 pm to 4 am. The club’s public entrance is at street level, marked by a chiseled sign bearing a triple-headed serpent column. Guests pass through a rigorous security check, and women are generally turned away. (Femdoms on gear nights are sometimes welcome, as are most female Cainites.) Men must be dressed appropriately—especially on theme nights—and are strongly discouraged from wearing cologne or other artificial fragrances. Obvious straights looking to “get a peek” are charged double, and are openly taunted—“Here for puppy play, or just a good fisting?” “Here’s a yellow hanky, make sure it’s in your right back pocket.” The Hippodrome has very little security, and the staff of human bouncers is supplemented by a single Templar.

Ground Floor
The cavernous upper level of the Hippodrome contains a large dance floor, usually kept energized by pounding EDM. A long bar serves the standard menu of drinks, but regulars know how to purchase poppers, ecstasy, and GHB. The ground floor also contains lounges and dark rooms, a locker room, and a private suite for VIPs. Although the Hippodrome is a sex club, the dancefloor usually stays vanilla until late in the evenings, when things can get rowdy.

Lower Level: The Vault
The entire lower level of the Hippodrome is called the “Vault.” Along with the standard dark rooms and glory holes, the Vault features fisting tables, a sling maze, a BDSM rubber room, and a “wet room” complete with bathtubs for a variety of watersports. The largest room is located within the old vault itself, which has been transformed into an orgy room called the Track.

The Track
Centered around a phallic reconstruction of the Serpent Column, the Track is an oval room decorated with muscular Greek statuary and mosaics depicting brawny charioteers. The floor is an interlocking puzzle of contoured cushions, and includes a statue of the four bronze horses of Venice, which are conveniently draped with leather straps. One of the original features of the Hippodrome linking it to Club Byzantium, the décor of the Track is a subject of affectionate humor by many regulars, who sometimes host “horse races” of their own.

The Blood Bank
At the far end of the Vault is the “Blood Bank,” a former office suite converted to a pitch-black dark room. Any guest passing through the draped passage and entering the Blood Bank is fair game to the Cainites within, flag or no flag. In order to prevent innocent chickens from stumbling into something they’re not ready for, the entrance is guarded by one of Parker’s cambions—usually Daddy Vic, a friendly master and expert in needle-play, or Officer Tower, a taciturn former cop who’s been known to physically cuff unruly assholes to the wall.

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-October 2018 update. The Hippodrome is loosely based on the Lab.Oratory at Berlin’s Berghain nightclub, with a little inspiration from New York’s own leather bars, Eagle NYC and the now-defunct Cock. I am indebted to Alexander Cheves for his Advocate articles on gay sex parties and hanky culture. The orgy in the banner is by Portuguese artist Ricardo Bessa, the triple-headed serpent is the decoration that graced the historic Hippodrome of Constantinople.

Author: Great Quail
Original Upload: 19 August 2018
Last Modified: 29 September 2018
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
PDF Version: [Coming Soon]