Hroksan-dvin-bolayatik

Created by: Garry Stahl
Appearance: Starbase 600 game USS Crystal City Murder Mystery
Number of Members: 34,564 in the Vulcan guild
Nature of Members: Unmarried, sterile Vulcan women.
Organization: Guild: Members vote for the guild leadership. The guild runs the training school and supports members with banking services and access to equipment unique to the profession. There is only one such guild on any Vulcan world or world with a sizable Vulcan population. All guilds are associated and members can freely move from one to another.
Game Role: Something to encounter
World Role: A necessary and logical profession.
Relative Influence: Major for their size.
Public or Secret?: Not spoken of outside other Vulcans.
Publicly Stated Goal: Provide the required service and keep ancient Vulcan arts alive to be enjoyed.
Relative Wealth: Large for their size.
Group advantages: More personal freedom that enjoyed by the average Vulcan woman within Vulcan society.
Special Abilities: None outside the usual Vulcan abilities. Highly trained in their profession.
Group disadvantages: Not many Vulcan women want to pay the price that comes for such freedom. All must also submit to sterilization.
Those who favor them: Vulcans wishing an evening of classic entertainment. Single Vulcan men facing pon farr.
Those opposed to them: It would not be logical to oppose what is necessary.
Area of Operation: Vulcans and Vulcan worlds and enclaves throughout the Federation
Headquarters Location: Shir'kahr, Vulcan.
Public Face: Entertainers practicing the ancient Vulcan fine arts.
Notable Members: None public
History of the Organization: Hroksan-dvin-bolayatik (Givers of necessary service) is about the last profession anyone not Vulcan expects to see on Vulcan. They have existed in some form or another on Vulcan since the dawn of Vulcan civilization. The current form of the practice is older than the Way of Surak, it is however influenced by that Way, and has made certain changes to accommodate it. 
What do they do? Well, we are told that every seven years a Vulcan male must mate, or die. It is illogical to assume that every Vulcan male has a wife, even if that is the most desired outcome. Society must provide an outlet, or loose valuable men to madness and death.
The Givers of Necessary Service are that outlet. A logical solution to an biological problem. These women take care of the sexual needs of single men in pon farr. Unlike their sister profession on Earth, what is required is not shamed. It would be illogical to treat them badly. They are a respected profession, if one that is not spoken of to outsiders.
Since horny Vulcan men are not exactly filling the streets the women need something else to do with their time. To that end they practice a second profession that is an exact parallel to the Japanese Geisha. Hroksan-dvin-bolayatik wear distinctive archaic Vulcan dress. They entertain at private parties with traditional dance and music. 
Each Hroksan-dvin-bolayatik is considered the head of her own household, and has the position in society that entails. However the price is that she is also not a public figure and most maintain the private matters of many men. She is expected to not be forward in public. Lastly she must undergo medical sterilization to ensure that no children are engendered out of wedlock.
The training takes several years and is physically and mentally rigorous. She must learn the ancient fine arts, dance, music, and conversation. She must learn how to deal with the animal lusts of a Vulcan male in full pon farr. Through all this she must maintain her own discipline as well.
The usual candidates are young women that have lost their childhood betrothed, those that have refused marriage for various reason, and young widows without children. The field of candidates is small, and those that pass the training fewer yet. A fully trained Hroksan-dvin-bolayatik will never lack for occupation.
The usual career of a Hroksan-dvin-bolayatik will last about fifty years at most. Some do find husbands and marry. Others retire on what they have earned and take up less restrictive careers in science or art. Some few legendary Hroksan-dvin-bolayatik practice their entire lives, and are in such great demand they can choose when and where they will perform. But always, a male in need is not refused. 
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