Prostitute

Prostitutes are professional service providers who offer consensual physical or emotional companionship in exchange for payment. The term encompasses a range of professions across the Continuum Universes, including courtesans, escorts, and therapeutic companions. The role varies widely by culture, law, and species biology.

Overview

In most civilized sectors of the Continuum Universes, prostitution is regulated as a branch of the social services economy, alongside hospitality and companionship trades. Practitioners are typically licensed through local guilds or civic offices, ensuring informed consent, safety, and compliance with interspecies health regulations.

While the term *prostitute* has historical stigma in several worlds, modern institutions often prefer the designation companion, courtesan, or intimacy professional — emphasizing professionalism, consent, and health standards over moral judgment.

Duties and Training

The work of a prostitute or registered companion depends on the expectations of the region and clientele. Duties can include emotional companionship, conversational engagement, physical intimacy, or nonsexual contact such as relaxation and comfort therapy.

Because the Continuum encompasses many species with diverse physiologies and social norms, registered professionals undergo extensive training in:

• Cross-species anatomy and etiquette
• Medical hygiene and safety protocols
• Consent law and behavioral ethics
• Cultural literacy and communication

In worlds such as Galaxa and Mallikai III, medical certification and consent-chip registration are required before practice, ensuring both client and provider protection under civic law.

Variations

• Escorts – Companions hired for formal or social events who may, by agreement, provide additional private companionship.
• Cuddlemates – Nonsexual professionals who offer safe physical contact for therapeutic or emotional relief. Cuddlemates are especially common in high-density societies where isolation and stress are prevalent.
• Courtesans – Elite companions often trained in conversation, art, and diplomacy, employed by high-ranking patrons or attending state functions.
• Therapeutic Companions – Specialists working in medical or rehabilitative environments, providing comfort to patients through platonic human contact.

Cross-Species Context

Because interspecies relations vary greatly, many companions specialize in clients of a single species or biology type. For example:

• Lekaran and Elven companions are valued for their empathy and aesthetic training.
• Human and Equisian professionals are considered adaptable and culturally versatile.
• Valorîin guilds typically forbid physical intimacy as a commercial service, but allow companionship and touch therapy under supervision.

Economic and Legal Standing

Regulation differs by universe and polity.

• In Galaxa, registered guilds pay standard service taxes and must provide quarterly health verification.
• In Midheim, companionship is treated as a civil contract profession under the Ministry of Labor.
• In frontier colonies, unregulated practice persists but is often overseen by local unions for safety.

While exploitation remains a concern in less developed regions, major interstellar societies enforce strict protections emphasizing consent, autonomy, and occupational safety. Modern civic movements treat the profession as legitimate labor deserving of rights and medical access.

Cultural Perception

Social acceptance varies. Some faith-based communities restrict or prohibit such work, while others—especially cosmopolitan worlds—consider it an ordinary service profession. Historical stigmas have largely diminished in most major trade sectors, replaced by recognition of companionship as both emotional labor and a stabilizing economic activity.

Trivia

• Ulbar Noom of the Equisian Confederacy was the first companion licensed to serve interspecies clients following the Harmonization Accords.
• Lona Neama, a Lekaran courtesan from Surface City, became a cultural ambassador after her retirement, advocating for companionship rights and public health reform.
• The Cuddlemate Guild of Mallikai III employs over 12,000 registered practitioners in major metropolitan areas, specializing in emotional comfort therapy.