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Courtesan Career Tables

gchuck

gchuck

SOC-12
Knight
Ten years ago, or more, someone made a character generation chart for a Courtesan character.
I think it appeared during the time that Firefly was on tv.

I used to have a copy of the charts, but, now I can't find them.

Anybody out there have these? I'd appreciate a copy if you do.
 
gchuck said:
Ten years ago, or more, someone made a character generation chart for a Courtesan character.
I think it appeared during the time that Firefly was on tv.

I used to have a copy of the charts, but, now I can't find them.

Anybody out there have these? I'd appreciate a copy if you do.
Click to expand...

We have a career track like that in Diverse Roles which is the career book for Clement Sector. That assumes that you don't mind something not strictly part of the OTU and are looking for a character generation chart along the lines of what appears in MgT1e.
 
Gypsy Knights Games said:
We have a career track like that in Diverse Roles which is the career book for Clement Sector. That assumes that you don't mind something not strictly part of the OTU and are looking for a character generation chart along the lines of what appears in MgT1e.
Click to expand...


I have a bit of an objection to the Prostitute tables in your DR book- seems to me the high-ranking ones would have a shot at something like Cr50000 or ship shares for results 7 on benefits- reasoning being a small percentage would be favored by doting clients and/or would leverage insider information from their customers into successful investments.
 
"Today, the term courtesan has become a euphemism to designate a comforter, escort, mistress or a prostitute, especially one of dignified etiquette who attracts wealthy, powerful, or influential clients."
 
Courtesan

Realize that a large amount of Western Cultures would think that Geisha's are prostitutes instead of being well trained companions and in some ways "eye candy" that they were trained to be. The ones who shared the pillow of someone were a different group of people altogether. Yes, there were those who became more intimate with their client, but that was their choice not their position. Keith
 
Courtesan's IMTU are modeled after the 'Companions' in Firefly. That's about the most I can say about what I wanted them for.

They are 'arm candy', confidant, sounding board, and sometime bed warmers.

IMO, anyone who goes through this kind of training has to be top tier, and command respect for their training, if for nothing else.
 
I would tend to think that with 10,000 member worlds and 10,000 distinct cultures, that the profession would be seen in so many ways as to be difficult to model with a single career path, so that almost by nature, "courtesan" would have to depict a very particular interpretation.

Alternatively, of course, I'd think you could take a civilian career like Merchant and apply the results, with the differences being more on the role-playing/background side.
 
LeperColony said:
I would tend to think that with 10,000 member worlds and 10,000 distinct cultures, that the profession would be seen in so many ways as to be difficult to model with a single career path, so that almost by nature, "courtesan" would have to depict a very particular interpretation.

Alternatively, of course, I'd think you could take a civilian career like Merchant and apply the results, with the differences being more on the role-playing/background side.
Click to expand...

Indeed - while there could be a standardized "Imperial Courtesan" career path for those seeking formal work involving upper-level megacorp managers and Imperial nobles (including knights & above, as well as subsector politicians etc), there would also be many other variants - both in sectors/subsectors/small interstellar polities and in individual systems.
 
BlackBat242 said:
Indeed - while there could be a standardized "Imperial Courtesan" career path for those seeking formal work involving upper-level megacorp managers and Imperial nobles (including knights & above, as well as subsector politicians etc), there would also be many other variants - both in sectors/subsectors/small interstellar polities and in individual systems.
Click to expand...

The point there would be that they would be courtesans within a cultural paradigm - that of the 3I culture - and not within the culture of any single member world or system.

There was a lot of discussion about culture here, but I don't think it came to anything solid or really implementable in terms of how to clearly define it. The role of courtesans, how they were viewed by and employed by both genders, the range of skills and abilities that were both expected of and hoped for from them, would be reliant on that cultural lens.
 
Which is exactly why I specified "Imperial Courtesan career path" in addition to "local variants"!

Many worlds, especially those which retain their own identity (as opposed to large "highly-integrated-into-the-Imperium" worlds), would still have a in-system (and possibly small interstellar grouping) culture where "courtesans" are different from the Imperial culture pattern!
 
Careers can also be interpreted so broadly that they represent what a person got out of them more than representing who they worked for. As such a personal history as a "Courtesan" could be covered by Diplomat, Entertainer, Spy, or even the old and venerably generic Other. In editions that handle "career" changes, a person could be in the Oldest Profession the entire time, transitioning from streets (Other) to arm candy (Entertainer) to armed candy (Spy and/or Diplomat) over the years.
 
Ulsyus said:
The point there would be that they would be courtesans within a cultural paradigm - that of the 3I culture - and not within the culture of any single member world or system.

There was a lot of discussion about culture here, but I don't think it came to anything solid or really implementable in terms of how to clearly define it. The role of courtesans, how they were viewed by and employed by both genders, the range of skills and abilities that were both expected of and hoped for from them, would be reliant on that cultural lens.
Click to expand...


Because traveller is a situation in which we have to look to an authoritative source for legitimacy of a statement. That source is canon and canon doesn't define 'imperial' culture. We just get hints, many of which strain suspension of disbelief. We know far more about the cultures of non humans and minor human cultures than we know about how the people of the imperium live their lives.
 
Courtesan a possibility?

What if the "the Courtesan" was simply the title to a professional guide service provided by the locals. Picture an area where there are several local groups or governments in the region. There is something like the Traveller's Aid who has local college kids help you as guides and local knowledge people. The kids get credit for their "humanities or anthropology type" classes, while picking up a bit of loose change.

What comes to mind is something like Neelix from Voyager. Just that they wouldn't become a crew member. Carry them to another planet, drop them off, and they head back on the next ship.

It could work in a densely packed sector.
My opinion, yours will vary.
 
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