Pleasure Salon of Calistria
Absalom’s largest temple of Calistria is a bright, well-kept edifice built in the columned style of classic Azlant. While its architecture clashes against the more graceful facades presented by most other temples of Calistria, it does fit nicely with the general look of other upscale temples in the Ascendant Court, and its priesthood points to the fact that since the elven style was so inspiring to local builders back during the Castrovelian architectural trend a few thousand years back, it’s only fair for some of that influence to run the other way. The sole hint at the nature of the salon’s main form of worship is the extensive reliefs that wrap the upper levels of the salon’s exteriors, depicting dozens of comely humanoids (mostly humans and elves, but with a smattering of other races mixed in) engaged in enthusiastic, acrobatic, and creative forms of promiscuity.
Within the salon, depictions of the same sort cover nearly every available surface, and many focus on Calistria herself. Rumor claims than many private rooms have statues illustrating Calistria immersed in carnal acts with the other gods. (If this is true, the statues are put away whenever Sindoi of the Thousand Poems comes to investigate a specific claim from outraged members of other churches.) The main hall is always staffed with both priests and sacred prostitutes available for patrons or visitors.
The salon has extensive public baths available at no charge. The baths are open to anyone willing to strip to their skin and behave themselves, and are thus a popular meeting place between factions that don’t trust each other. (Patrons who don’t wish to behave themselves can make arrangements to access the salon’s private baths—for a fee).
The temple’s name is more complex than most would ever assume. To the priesthood of Calistria, there is pleasure to be found not only in the pursuit of lust, but also in the pursuit of trickery and vengeance. That the lustful aspect draws much of the city’s focus suits the faithful well, for it allows them to enjoy trickery and vengeance with greater leniency. Certainly none of those who tend to the salon would argue that it does not serve as a brothel (a fact well-supported by the majority of the stained glass windows and murals and statuary within the temple), and the income provided by this element is appreciated, but it would be far more accurate to think of those who work within the Pleasure Salon as information brokers, muses, political advisors, therapists, or even spies than the somewhat limited notion as sacred companions. Certainly the common, crude rumor that all the half-elves of Absalom were conceived at the Pleasure Salon is false, for elves are not the only acolytes within, nor is all the intercourse that takes place inside of a carnal nature.
Large nests of wasps ranging in size from the commonly small to the uncommonly large can be found in the upper reaches of the Pleasure Salon’s chambers. Within the temple’s walls, none who have Calistria’s favor are ever stung, and the priests have come to rely upon wasp stings as proof of a visitor’s ill intent. Priests often serve a mead-like alcoholic drink called metheglin to patrons, jokingly suggesting the delicious drink is made from “wasp honey.” This playful lie has taken on a life of its own, and the priests take pride in how this minor trick has been accepted as fact by many in the city—despite the inarguable fact that the temple’s wasps do not produce honey.
What isn’t as widely spoken of is how the priests of the Pleasure Salon are always listening, always empathizing, and when a favored patron or friend of a friend reveals an injustice, more often than not those wrongs are righted within the week by mysterious events, unexpected revelations, or even fatal accidents, as those who have wronged the faithful find themselves facing divine retribution. While now and then evidence of acts of vengeance performed by the clergy come to light, most such events bear few clues, and the faithful are quick to attribute the development to Calistria’s personal intervention.
Within the salon, depictions of the same sort cover nearly every available surface, and many focus on Calistria herself. Rumor claims than many private rooms have statues illustrating Calistria immersed in carnal acts with the other gods. (If this is true, the statues are put away whenever Sindoi of the Thousand Poems comes to investigate a specific claim from outraged members of other churches.) The main hall is always staffed with both priests and sacred prostitutes available for patrons or visitors.
The salon has extensive public baths available at no charge. The baths are open to anyone willing to strip to their skin and behave themselves, and are thus a popular meeting place between factions that don’t trust each other. (Patrons who don’t wish to behave themselves can make arrangements to access the salon’s private baths—for a fee).
The temple’s name is more complex than most would ever assume. To the priesthood of Calistria, there is pleasure to be found not only in the pursuit of lust, but also in the pursuit of trickery and vengeance. That the lustful aspect draws much of the city’s focus suits the faithful well, for it allows them to enjoy trickery and vengeance with greater leniency. Certainly none of those who tend to the salon would argue that it does not serve as a brothel (a fact well-supported by the majority of the stained glass windows and murals and statuary within the temple), and the income provided by this element is appreciated, but it would be far more accurate to think of those who work within the Pleasure Salon as information brokers, muses, political advisors, therapists, or even spies than the somewhat limited notion as sacred companions. Certainly the common, crude rumor that all the half-elves of Absalom were conceived at the Pleasure Salon is false, for elves are not the only acolytes within, nor is all the intercourse that takes place inside of a carnal nature.
Large nests of wasps ranging in size from the commonly small to the uncommonly large can be found in the upper reaches of the Pleasure Salon’s chambers. Within the temple’s walls, none who have Calistria’s favor are ever stung, and the priests have come to rely upon wasp stings as proof of a visitor’s ill intent. Priests often serve a mead-like alcoholic drink called metheglin to patrons, jokingly suggesting the delicious drink is made from “wasp honey.” This playful lie has taken on a life of its own, and the priests take pride in how this minor trick has been accepted as fact by many in the city—despite the inarguable fact that the temple’s wasps do not produce honey.
What isn’t as widely spoken of is how the priests of the Pleasure Salon are always listening, always empathizing, and when a favored patron or friend of a friend reveals an injustice, more often than not those wrongs are righted within the week by mysterious events, unexpected revelations, or even fatal accidents, as those who have wronged the faithful find themselves facing divine retribution. While now and then evidence of acts of vengeance performed by the clergy come to light, most such events bear few clues, and the faithful are quick to attribute the development to Calistria’s personal intervention.
Type
Cathedral / Great temple
Parent Location
Owner
Ruling/Owning Rank
Owning Organization
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