Port Jericho, 10, 000 ft above the Aeryth Ocean, Year of the Zarcon Eagle, 2364 CE
It was spring when I first arrived on Port Jericho, fresh from having served five years in the Ne Rameridean army. I had joined when I was scarce 15 summers old. My family had perished in a plague that had near wiped out our entire village. For an orphan, the army seemed a logical place to go. Needless to say, I was no stranger to fighting.
The Jerachi mercenary guilds were always hiring and there was never a shortage of work. For the right price, the Hunter and mercenary guilds would take all manner of jobs, so long as it did not bring them in conflict with other contracted Jerachi or Port Jericho itself. Despite this, I was unable to find a place with one of the guilds, though not for lack of trying.
'We're all full,' the recruiting sergeant would say. 'Try back later.'
Failing to find work with the mercenary guilds, I turned my attention to the other types of work to be found on Port Jericho. I ended up in the notorious Firefly Alley, working for one of the House Dames. The thing you should know about Jericho. . . you can find whatever you're looking for here. The Alley is the district to go to to slake your sexual cravings. No matter how depraved or odd your desires are, there is almost certainly a place within Firefly that catered to it. Now. . . some things certainly aren't, but most desires can be fulfilled. 'Alley' is a misnomer, really. Firefly Alley comprises almost the entire South Ward district, with the tamer establishments located nearest the Rim Wall, where newcomers first disembark.
At night, the Alley can be a truly beautiful place. Each establishment has an Artifice lamp hanging beneath its sign, accompanied by two or three smaller ones. If you know how to read them, the softly glowing lights that give the Alley its name can tell you exactly what the establishment offers. Pale yellow means you just get scantily clad dancers. A deeper yellow means the dancers are in the buff. Muted magenta will lead you to places whose courtesans offer straight sex. Orbs of sapphire, amethyst or emerald herald more exotic play. Smaller orbs tinted gold or silver will tell you if the courtesans or dancers are female or male.
These are oft encased in larger lamps tinted gold or silver that will tell you the pairings offered. Silver inside gold tells you that men will entertain women. Gold inside silver means that women will entertain men. Gold/gold and silver/silver pairings also exist, as do outer orbs of gold or silver with multiple gold or silver orbs inside.
Each Firefly House employs several guards, often mercenaries, who live on-site and who may find extra work as Fireflys themselves, either as dancers or courtesans. Such it was that I ended up as a simple guard, hired by Dame Eliza of the Cinder Vault, an establishment that offers many delights.
Such a lifestyle as that the Alley workers lived was so foreign to me, but. . . if you are going to live such a life, Jericho is the very best place to do so. All of the Alley workers, be they male or female, are well taken care of. Rape is an offense punishable by death, at the hands of Jericho's magisters. Any other abuse to the Fireflys results in equally swift, often violent, retribution and that's where I come in.
Dame Eliza had hired me as a guard, to protect her coterie of dancers and courtesans, most of whom were young females. Over the course of my time at the Cinder Vault, I would learn to earn my keep as a dancer as well, 'flaunting that fine ass' as Eliza put it. You'd be surprised at how much men and women alike would pay to see scantily clad men and women dance on a stage. Or perhaps you wouldn't. . .
I had come to Jericho hoping to find a home with one of the mercenary companies. By the time I finally found a job at the Vault, my funds were desperately low. Dame Eliza took pity on me. Though all the living quarters within the Cinder Vault were occupied, the Dame did have a house nearby. She said it never stayed occupied very long, that guards and courtesans alike had fled the quarters, complaining of spooky goings-on. They had reported feelings of being watched, of having items moved or rearranged and of phantom voices and touches.
