Sex Worker

Sex Workers provide a variety of sex-related services throughout the land of Eden, including prostitution, erotic dancing, and sexual surrogacy. They are viewed by most as a vital part of the Edenian economy and a crucial part of promoting the Council of Five’s holistic approach to healthcare and wellbeing. And yet, there are still some Edenians who view the profession with disdain and seek to outlaw some or all aspects of this “amoral,” “dirty,” and ”depraved” industry.

Legality and Safety

Sex work has been legal throughout Eden since the founding of the Council of Five. That said, the profession has not always been so widely understood or supported.

During the First Age and the early Second Age, the ubiquitous Quadling Cathouses served to house and protect all of those who sought to engage in sex work—and served as a place where the misunderstood profession could be quietly tucked away. But following The Invasion of Oz and the forced relocation of the halflings to Oz, human opportunists moved in ruined everything.

As humans too often do.

A hundred years later, though, the legendary Maeve Murphy founded the Sisterhood—a labor union dedicated to improving working conditions, safety standards, and rates of compensation for its members. And their public relations campaign, together with public regret over the actions taken against the halflings a century earlier, were key in changing the people’s perceptions of sex work and so much else.

Types of Work

Sex work is an umbrella term and encompasses a wide swath of consensual sexual services and erotic performing arts. These include, but are not limited to:

• Sex Education, the work of educating the public on the sexuality spectrum, the importance of safe sex, the importance of consistent enthusiastic consent during sexual encounters, and the sexual anatomies of the numerous sapient species found across Eden, among other topics
• Sexual Surrogacy, the work of assisting a trained psychotherapist in addressing a client’s issues with intimacy and sexuality
• Prostitution, the selling of in-person sexual services by a sex worker to a client or clients—whether as part of a organized brothel or as an independent contractor
• Sexual Performance, the depiction of sexual intercourse, whether recorded or performed live in front of an audience
• Erotic Dance, the performance of striptease and/or pole dancing in a public or private venue

A Way Out

One of the core principles of the Sisterhood of Sex Workers is “The many and varied entrance points into the field must be acknowledged. Some will choose the work because they enjoy it or find it fulfilling, but many will be drawn to it out of financial necessity, or for other reasons. As such, providing pathways out of the profession must be a core part of the organization’s mission.”

As such, educational opportunities and financial assistance are an important part of any organization whose workers are protected by the union. While some Edenian sex workers stay in the trade for life, others get out as soon as they can. And the Sisterhood’s ongoing public relations efforts mean that leaving the profession and getting some other kind of job is way easier in Eden than anywhere in The Real World.