Steve Jackson Games GURPS – Generic Universal RolePlaying System

Salome Houri

Professional Courtesan

Total: 100 points
[By arcangel@prismnet.com]

Appearance: Playmate of the decade; age anywhere from 20's to 50's - health care is good at TL11.

Attributes

(-10) ST 9
(30) DX 13
(30) IQ 13
(10) HT 11

Advantages (30 points):

Double-Jointed, Very Beautiful.

Disadvantages (-18 points):

Mercenary [a -5 point version of Greed], Reputation -5 (with Irari, all-but-caught-and-convicted data-destroyer, recognized occassionally; -8 points), Courtesan's Code of Honor (The Customer is Always to be Humored; Maintain Discretion; Always be Polite, Graceful, and Attractive; No Freebies; -5 points).

Quirks (-5 points):

Loves her work; Few inhibitions (none related to gender); Secretly records all her jobs (to critique her performance, NEVER blackmail !); Gets fond of some clients; Always wears exotic-color contacts (amber, purple, etc.).

Languages:

New Garavaran-13, Sparrial (M/A, fairly common alien race)-11 (0.5), Irari (M/A, fairly common alien race)-11 (0.5), Thral (M/A, common alien race)-11 (0.5).

Skills:

Acrobatics-12 (2), Acting-12, Dancing-15 (8), Detect Lies-12 (2), Diplomacy-12 (2), Erotic Art-15 (2) [House Rule: Double-Jointed gives +3], Escape-13 (0.5), Merchant-12 (1), Performance-14 (4), Professional Skill (Courtesan)-14 (4), Psychology-11 (1), Savoir-Faire-13 (1), Sex Appeal-11 (Becomes 13/15 when appearance modifiers are counted) (2), Streetwise-12 (1), Whip-12 (1).

Conversions:

Fantasy:

Except for the little problem Irari have with her, Salome's perfectly suited to a fantasy campaign, though she may get a Social Stigma from her business, depending on the culture. Literacy becomes an advantage, and she'll probably need access to some kind of contraceptive and healing magic (more the former than the latter - she doesn't take on the kinds of clients who are really likely to have social diseases).

Modern:

Since prostitution is not legal, most places, Salome's likely to have a Social Stigma/Secret/Enemy (police). Remove Acrobatics and add the point to Streetwise (unless you've found more disad points than she currently has). If plausible, she'll be in one of the few places that has licensed prostitution, and/or a professional Dominatrix who plays S&M games without sex (and therefore, not illegally). While she's probably surgically-sterile, replace a quirk with "Safe Sex Fanatic," since there are non-curable diseases in this day and age.

Near Future:

Probably no changes, though it's possible she'd show up as some mid-/high-level exec's mistress instead of a "working girl" (add Comfortable or higher Wealth, if that's the case). If there are non-curable diseases, then the same quirk as Modern.


Salome Houri's first real job was with the MultiSpecies House of Pleasure (run by the Irari, Propritor of a MultiSpecies House of Pleasure) on one of the nominally lawless stations of the Sparrial homeworld. [Get GURPS Aliens for Sparrials and Irari, though there's a thumbnail sketch of Sparrials in GURPS Space, and Roleplayer #10.] This, unfortunately, came to an end when an Irari researcher, interested in the potential of psychological control of humans via sexual means, dallied with Salome for an evening. During that time, someone broke in, stole critical (and irreplacable) data from the Irari researcher, and escaped, destroying years of research. While Salome herself denies that she was a willing party to the incident, the Irari researcher believed that Salome had at least agreed not to interfere, and it is suspicious that she left the station and vanished for a while so shortly afterwards . . .

However, there being no proof that humans would accept, Salome soon showed up again (though she avoids the Sparrial homeworld, where bounty hunters could be sent against her, and certainly avoids Irari worlds!), dancing in high-class establishments and entertaining visitors in the evenings. She's delicately-boned, medium-tall in height, and generally goes either barefoot or wears flat sandles. Despite her tendency to show up on space stations, she has a mane of hair that falls at least to her lower back (sometimes longer - which, combined with the occasional color changes (favoring tawny and midnight black), make some suspect it's a sensaskin (Ultra-Tech) wig), and garments that often are not entirely practical (think flowing, translucent things, and/or tight spandex-like outfits, usually with cut-outs; on stage, the outfits get much flashier).

She also makes use of sophisticated holo-belts, which alter her apparent clothing, and/or create images of jewelry/flowering vines/butterflies / sparkles/etc. (The holo-gear consists of a torc (thick neckband), two bracelets, two anklets, and often a conventional belt. They're plain metal, perhaps a bit silvered, but are always disguising themselves as well.) The holo-generating jewelry also incorperates close-range bioscanners, which Salome uses to judge whether nearby people are interested, not interested, or potentially threatening - usually this is indicated by color-changes within the holo-projection (e.g., blue flowers suddenly bloom when she's talking to an non-client, red flowers bloom when the sensors detect arousal, and neon-orange blossoms appear if she's near someone whose bioscans suggest Salome may be physically threatened).

Because "pillow-talk" is something people indulge in from time to time, Salome (like most people in her business) has heard various secrets (ranging from business ones to personal fantasies) and hints. She keeps those to herself - not only does she rarely reveal whether or not someone is a client (and she's perfectly happy to lie about it, if the client wishes discretion), but she will go so far as to evict someone from her presence (or leave) if that person is trying to pump her for information about a client. (This doesn't mean that if somebody really let something slip, that she couldn't be in danger; not everyone believes in her profesional ethics.)

Typical Quotes:

"The saying is wrong. You can buy love. At Guild rates, of course."

"Irari are so flighty sometimes."

"If you can't talk about it, then don't - you don't have to explain yourself to get a good backrub."

"I'm sorry, but I can't discuss Mr. Jonson with you."


(Back to list of Space Characters)
(Back to list of 100-point characters)
(Back to list of All Characters)


Top of page

Privacy Policy | Contact Us


Steve Jackson Games