Black Temple

The Black Temple is a holy house devoted to Derketo.

Introduction
From outside the building, built out of dusky stone, seems less decadent that one would expect from a place dedicated to Derketo. Although the priestesses of the Black Temple worship all aspects of Derketo it is known that these holy dignitaries focus much more on Death. Pleasure may be offered - but providing the gift of death is their major obligation.

Structure
The priesthood of Derketo is led by their high priestess. The identity of their leader is a well kept secret. Although every priestess acts autonomously they all will obey her command. The priestesses are responsible for taking care of the temple duties and offering their services to the followers which seek out the Black Temple. Besides the priestesses the temple bears several other deniziens. Temple servants, young girls and women that entered the temple voluntarily to assist the priestesses.

High Priestess of the Black Temple
The high priestess enacts as the guidance and lead of the temple - therefore responsible to react to incidents that might threaten the temple as well as use diplomacy to reach out to other groups inside the exiled lands.

Derketo Priestesses
The Derketo priestesses are the backbone of the temple. They run the temple autonomously, receive visitors and offer their services. They rarely leave their temple if there's no reason to do so.

Their services extend to a wide range - every aspect of Derketo is covered. As servants of death they'll act as effective assassins, willing to provide the gift of death if the right price was paid by the contractee. But it would be foolish to believe that these priestesses would have the mentality of mercenaries or hired thugs - their service is utterly motivated by their religious drive to serve Derketa, not Derketo in that case. As servants of seduction they offer their skills as spies on those who pay the price.

To price Derketos fertility the priestesses provide free meals to any hungry visiter. If the visitor is plagued by a different sort of hunger the priestesses will act as servants of pleasure, using their expertise to whorship Derketos lustful embrace.

A priestess wears usually her traditional priestess attire if she dwells inside the temple or Invicta.