The Lupanaria of Byzantium

Prostitution testifies to the amoral power struggle of sex, which religion has never been able to stop. Prostitutes, pornographers, and their patrons are marauders in the forest of archaic night.
—Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae

The Lupanaria of Byzantium

The Byzantium Coven is primarily composed of Daeva and Toreador antitribu. This gives it a character unlike any other coven in the Sabbat. Its members are obsessed with desire, trapped by their Arikelite blood in a shifting landscape of lust and fulfilment, seduction and satiation, dominance and submission. More to the point, the Daeva bloodline is physically addicted to human vitae charged with sexual pleasure, whether carefully seasoned through the mounting tension of erotic ritual, or released en masse in the delirious climax of an orgy. In order to cultivate these desires, the Byzantium Coven shares numerous physical spaces with the mortal world. These range from glamorous upscale sex clubs to the most wretched brothels where human trafficking and coercion are the norm. In the same way that humans preserve their dignity by establishing a hierarchy of sins, the Cainites of the Byzantium Coven keep to fairly restricted coteries—a Toreador libertine who indulges in cauchemar at Byzantium while whispering erotic verse believes himself greatly removed from the seedy opium dens of Siddim, where nameless slaves are decanted once their usefulness has ended. Venus and Ingo take great pains to keep these worlds distinct. Byzantium is about selling illusions, and if Cainites are beguiled along with the human clientele, so much the better.

Notes on Terminology
The upper echelons of the Byzantium Coven use flowery, antiquated language to describe their empire, mostly a hybrid of Greek and Latin terms. A  brothel is a lupanarium, a prostitute is a meretrix, a madam is a lena, and so forth. Interestingly, with the possible exception of El Murciélago, none of the Cainites of the coven were born before the seventeenth century. This penchant for antiquity is a reflection of Venus’ roots in the Victorian era, not any Methuselah-like predilection to retreat into the past. Indeed, on more than one occasion the Roman Ventrue Marius has called Venus’ attention to her mistaken usage of a Greek or Latin term; but the Daeva makes it abundantly clear she simply doesn’t care—“You say a pellex can’t be male? That’s so interesting, Marius, I’m sure you know all about young boys…!”

The Byzantium Coterie

Club Byzantium
This exclusive swing club is located on the Upper East Side, and serves the Byzantium Coven as haven, haunt, and hunting ground.

The Empusa Theatre
Founded by Calista Joyce, this theatre is dedicated to modern opera and contemporary art music.

Cabaret Tannhäuser
Managed by Gloria Excelsis, this Lower East Side cabaret hosts burlesque shows, fringe theater, and underground festivals.

The Satrina
A pleasure yacht based in Long Island, the Satrina is available for hedo cruises, floating fetish parties, and the occasional Sabbat function best conducted far away from shore.

The Siddim Coterie

Siddim
The most wretched lupanarium of the Sabbat, Siddim changes its location every few years—the better to hide its tracks, which are laid across the broken bodies of its unfortunate victims.

The Viriconium Coterie

Viriconium
Quarried into the tunnels of an abandoned subway station, Viriconium its a red-light district where Cainites and humans mingle in a subterranean world of sex and blood.

Zoara Bela
An upscale “gentleman’s club,” Zoara Bela also functions as a high-end brothel.

The Hippodrome
A spin-off from Club Byzantium, this gay sex club is located in Chelsea, and has a reputation for wild abandon.

The Hellfire Club
A dungeon in the Meatpacking District, the Hellfire Club features numerous themed rooms to serve the BDSM community.

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 banner uses illustrations by Harry Clarke, specifically Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Little Sea-Maid” on the left, and Algernon Charles Swinburne’s translation of Villon’s “The Complaint of the Fair Amouress” on the right.

A Note on Sensitivity
The Daeva are about sex, and the Byzantium Coven operates an extensive network of sex clubs and brothels. With sex comes controversy, and I’m sure there’s something on these pages to irritate or offend just about everybody. I trust the reader will keep in mind the nature of this material—New York By Night is a horror game about vampires, and the seductive appeal of vampires has made them the subject of many erotic fantasies. Nevertheless, I’ve made every attempt to strive for a certain degree of realism and objectivity regarding the humans involved with the Byzantium Coven, most of whom are sex workers. I’ve read numerous books and articles written by and about sex workers, a fair share of interviews, and historical research in the history of prostitution. When creating material for the Byzantium Coven, I’ve called upon the personal experiences of friends with backgrounds in nude modeling, burlesque, striptease, swinging, BDSM, leather bars, etc. I’ve attempted to capture numerous facets of the sex industry, from glamor to squalor, from titillation to degradation, from hedonism to raw capitalism. I’ve tried to use slang terms as judiciously and correctly as possible, and I trust readers will understand that Paglia’s “prostitutes, pornographers, and their patrons” are not always politically correct, employing terms like “she-male” rather than “transgender woman.” If any reader comes across a misunderstanding or error, please feel free to suggest a correction.

Author: Great Quail
Original Upload: 31 October 2000
Last Modified: 6 October 2018
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com