Explore a world which women rule, a world without wars, pestilence - or pesky domineering men! Slaves to their female masters, they exist only to provide pleasure...
Gai-Shift Encyclopedia of Knowledge
Presented is a who's who and what's what of the Gai-Shift world, for those who came in late or might need a refresher. For the characters, I've included the story set (in parenthesis) where they made their debut. Hopefully readers will find this guide of interest and use.
Rough History: The current year is the late 1980s. However, in this world, World War One went on until 1922, killing off an entire generation of young men and threatening the planet. Lighter than air crafts ruled the skies with their lightweight armor and heavy guns. With no end in sight, it was the biology of women that came to the rescue. Across the globe, women suddenly found that they could "order" their pregnancies, determining the sex of their offspring. Men, diminished, became a subservient race (known dismissively as 'mannis'). Women, with their cruel fairness, secured the world into tight, blissful utopia.
Technology: Most power comes from steam engines, evidently advanced (noted as recombination engines). Further, a highly combustive compound named Orgasium (see below) can be used to increase the output of steam engines ten-fold. Clockwork engines are also in common use. Computers (Mechanical Intelligences, or 'MI's) are punch card controlled and highly evolved, as are robotic devices. Wirelesses exist, but most communication is slow and considered. Overall, it is a slower, more humanistic world.
Magic: It has been noted that magic is beginning to come back into the world.
Series Order (while the story series are largely stand-alone, they chronologically form the following order).
= = = = = = = = = = =
Gai-Shift
Introduction to the world, and a trip to visit a sexy South-American tribe.
Angel
A strange winged woman is assaulting the women of London.
Reversal
Stories about an English estate where every need is met.
Magic
A young sweet witch joins a coven.
Orchid
A battle of bondage Ninjas.
The Pit
A huge computer runs a strange world beneath London.
Snowbound
Class struggle (and paddling) in Mother Russia.
Hotel California
A hotel with an automated laundry with a few bugs.
Winter Solstice
(a brief interlude)
Out of Africa
A large cast goes on an epic journey into the dark continent.
Green
Two girls go for a walk in the woods and find fairies.
Beachcomber
A single-chapter adventure; a fun day out on the beach.
Portrait
Lady Petunia Goldwaith is literally pretty as a picture in this short romp.
Thermocline
The Enemy Below, with leather-clad vixens and topless Vikings.
Oasis
An Arabic witch keeps a collection of cohorts for her amusement.
Point of View
a Gai Shift adventure that puts the reader in the action!
Some like it knot
A little gender-bender fantasy becomes a desperate reality for a poor girl.
Cogs – Serif
A librarian trys her hand at writing, using very reluctant stationary.
Cogs - Kiyoko
Security in the world down under, and the benefits it enjoys.
Peregrine
An "Alien" knockoff, but with a sexy feline aboard a disabled airship.
CHARACTERS (in alphabetical order)
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Alina (Gai Shift): Tall and tan and young and lovely, Alina serves the High Mistress of Ecuador. For her services to the Unbound Pleasure, she was given Bert51, who she keeps snuggly tied under her bed. Lucky fellow.
Amahagger (Out of Africa): The loose tribe that inhabits the west coast of Africa where the carbon-aligned diamonds are produced. Port Mons lays with this area.
Anish (Upside down): Sarama's younger brother, married by arangement (involving ropes and a gag) to Bhavneet.
Anna, Miss (Gai Shift): Young Petunia Goldwaith's stern middle-aged governess, anti-science and, really, anti-fun as well. Kept Petunia in tight bondage as an aid to character development. Petunia reprogrammed her MI to turn the tables on her matron. After a year of overstimulation, the woman now directs Goldwaith's domestics at Willie Hall with an enthusiastic flare.
Auntie (Hotel California): Aunt to Li-June and Li-Jack, a compact Oriental woman of late middle age who still has the tastes (and wild flair for passionate sex) that she had in her beautiful, winsome youth.
Barberis, Captain (Out of Africa): An economy-sized Italian woman with hips the size of her own mammaries, her black hair a midnight tangle around her sensuous, lively face. Captain of the 'Lola Montez'.
Barbette (Reversal): Lady M___'s chief maid, a leggy Frenchwoman of middle-years, whose feather duster brings panic (and riotous laughter) to all those unlucky enough to experience it.
Below-room (Out of Africa): A subterranean complex in Africa, sponsered by Petinna Pitt for the production of carbon-aligned diamonds. Automated traps allow fresh women to be captured and carried below. However, its computer (or 'below-god') is little more than a complex adding machine, so Noblewoman Jumbe provides on-site management (when not forced into her own production line to help make up shortfalls).
Bert51 (Gai Shift): A manni from the Royal Stables, trained and docile, yet always good for a ride. A favorite of the ladies.
Bhavneet (Upside down): Young and very slinky friend of Sarama's, married to Anish if only for the additional layer of possessiveness it affords (as if ropes, cords, anchorlines and bed-belts arn't enough).
Bolomuskets (Thermocline): Weapon of units such as the Marylebone Lancers, a weapon that fires a bolo-like tangle-net that can truss up a target at fifty yards.
Burke, Adara (Pit): A short, snappy Welsh reporter, a covetous brunette whose sea-green eyes are always on the lookout for her next story. Employed by Sun, but also freelances pornography for Pitinna Pitt.
Carbon-aligned diamonds (Out of Africa) : Flawed, dim diamonds doused in fresh orgasium molecularly realign to perfection.
Carin (Oasis): A cheery blonde Dutch witch currently trapped in Ra'idah's tower. Her flower-power is enough to put a blush on more than just roses.
Chespeake (Gai Shift): A green-eyed, long-limbed black slave who is frustrated by owners who continually fall in love with her and neglect keeping her in abject bondage. In this, she has become an abolitionist, dedicated to abolishing slave rights so as to keep slavery good and secure. After becoming a slave (and ending up a queen) of the hill-women of Ecuador, she ended up as a sister in the Temple of Astarte in Port Mons. She is also an expert in Amahagger language, the local dialect.
Chlorophene (Green): A lanky forest druid with wide lash-bordered eyes and blonde/green hair. Lives in the woods west of Sheepish, as much a friend of the forest fairies as she is a bane to trespassers.
Cindy (Some like it knot): A bubbly midlands girl, cherry-haired, busty, hippy, who uses her hard-nosed common sense to get what and who she wants. Works as a maid in the Goldwaith country estate, where she shares a room with Colette
Climatrixes (Thermocline): A growing profession of women who can be cycled through orgasium extractors for maximum output. They customarily find berths on such vessels as 'Lola Montez' and 'Unbound Pleasure'. The 'Kraken' prefers to juice prisoners. (See Orgasium, Goldwaith Elixir)
Coldburne, Annie, Sister (Out of Africa): Wiry frame, copper hair. A sister in the Temple of Astarte, usually in trouble for low output numbers (she takes a craftswoman approach to forced orgasms). Sent to Africa as part of a joint expedition between a newspaper and her order. Now runs the Port Mons Convent of Astarte.
Colette (Some like it knot): A pure drip of youthful French sexuality in the form of a brunette with deep eyes and a trim little form. Currently in Lady Goldwaith's employ as a maid in her country estate. Rooms with Cindy.
Cordefriseur (Portrait): Famous Frenchmanni, a painter whose works are so sought after he has obtained second-hand citizenship. Resides in England, having fled the once-a-decade revolutions sweeping his native country. His handler Marguerite takes him out when he's commissioned and puts him away when done.
Drummand, Constance, Chief Officer (Gai Shift): Member of the London Metropolitan Police Force, based at the Central London Precinct House. Has short red hair, and a temper equally short and red. Always puts duty first, is no-nonsense and generally a hard-ass about everything. Of everyone in the Gai-shift world, she is perhaps the one with the most issues. Getting her bound up and orgasmed is one of Petunia Goldwaith's life goals.
El Falcone (Out of Africa): One of Port Mons' most successful corsairs, an older Arabic woman with a hooked nose, calculating eyes and a white streak sweeping through her black hair from her right temple. Those who cross her end up chained upside down in her villa's dungeon where a courteous and well-trained staff of tormentors see to every need (her needs, not her guests).
Elixir (Gai Shift): See Goldwaith Elixir
Elixir-depravation (Pit): If you think water boarding was bad, think again. Here, a woman is treated with Goldwaith Elixir, bound fast and left to stew in her percolating sexual juices.
Elsa (Magic): A milkmaid of the village of Sheepish. So troublesome that she spends much of her time in the village stocks. Its almost as if she adores passing women tickling her exposed soles. Who could imagine such a thing?
Featherthrust, Sergeant (Thermocline): Blonde, stiff, formal, ramrod straight and slender, head of the Marylebone Lancers. Bronze eyes, hair loosely collected at back, but long beaded strands dangle before ears.
Find-N-Bind Mark 1 (Peregrine): Designed by Van, this huge fugitive-harvester, with its mechanical arms and internal binding devices, seeks out and binds those on either side of the law.
Gayana (Snowbound): Anna Oblonsky's personal physician, old and gray as an iron bar, bespeckled and silent. She has a collection of creams with great medicinal benefits; some can restore posteriors abused by her mistress. Others are for herself or secured patents, a mixture of stimulant and lubricant.
Goldwaith Elixir (Gai Shift). Created by Lady Petunia Goldwaith. A liquid that, if ingested or inhaled, creates great sexual yearnings in women. Unfortunately, it also inhibits their abilities to climax, leaving them in a frustrated state. Usually, the victim needs to be bound fast and masturbated to eventual satisfaction. The end result of this is Orgasium (see Orgasium).
Goldwaith, Petunia, Lady (Gai Shift): A flirty mix of the concave and convex, a delightful blonde bombshell whose hair color is at odds with her intellect, which is vast. Not only did she develop the original MI sexual programming card decks, she also developed Orgasium. Always sunny, and ever on the watch for a knot to tighten.
Hallerna, Captain/Chieftain (Thermocline): In her armor, she is tall and fearsome. In her silken bed-robe, she is tall and sultry. Her hair is blonde, her eyes arctic, her taste full-bodied. Prisoners who are carried off by her are rarely unchanged by sexual-trauma (in a good way).
Hammersmith, Olivia (Orchid): English Ambassador to Greater Japan. Middle-aged and dignified, her eyes gunmetal gray, her hair mousy brown and usually bunned. Stumbled into the Japanese Crisis and stayed bound for all of it. Rescued by an English-funded raid.
Hannah (Beachcomber): A beachcomber living in a small cottage on the Thames Estuary. Tall, dark bronze skin, light chestnut hair in a windblown mop, round face and freckled button nose. Wears a coarse blouse and full skirt. Her feet are perpetually mud-stained. Fully recycles all debris (and women) who wash up.
Hisstle (Peregrine): A feline/female, wiry and exotic, who captures women and feeds on their sexual distresses. When she does so, she empathetical radiates her bliss, wetting the pants of women for hundreds of yards around. White fired, brown maned, her back patterned in calico, her tail tuffed. Currently roaming the Russian steppes, deviling the local peasant-women.
Hoffsteder, Zana, Captain (Gai Shift): This airship captain understands the need for drag-reduction and smooth flight surfaces. Always clad in her rubberized flight suit, her black hair tumbling over her shoulders, and her sky-blue eyes carefully settled behind her clip-on spectacles, she is the woman you'd want at your helm. Originally captained 'Sky Groper', but has piloted 'Unbound Pleasure' on several Royal missions.
Hotel California (Hotel California): A hotel in San Francisco run by Li-June and her Auntie. The hotel boasts a fully automated laundry device with a very unfortunate hair-trigger. You can check out any time you like, but you might never leave.
Japanese Crisis (Gai Shift): This crisis rose when Empress Nabuki of Greater Japan turned Ambassador Hammersmith of Britain into a bondage toy, keeping her bound up every night for most of a year. The Crisis ended when an English-commissioned black orchid raid spirited the Ambassador to the airship 'Unbound Pleasure'.
Johnston, Madam (Magic) - Chief witch of the Wiltshire district, mature yet still shapely. Able to influence the weather. Considers a good apprentice to be a bound and gagged one. Should have avoided deals with strange religious orders.
Jumbe (Out of Africa): Port Mons noblewomen contracted by Petinna Pitt to manage the diamond alignment chamber. Strong-willed and darkly beautiful.
Kate (Magic): One of the replacement witches, apprentice to Megan. Tall to the point of being gawky, her hair is oddly purple, likely a side-effect of her magic. Besides her skill in levitation, she is Lady Goldwaith niece. While prisoner of the underground extraction center in Africa, she vanished into thin air. Current whereabouts unknown.
Kiyoko (Orchid): Member of the white orchid order, in the service of Empress Nabuki. Slender and serine, her long black hair lifts from her forehead in raven-wing folds. Has received far-reaching training, from bondage to sexual interrogation. Can tie a woman up with a flick of her wrists. And can do other things to her, with further flicks.
Knightsbridge Angel (Angel): An apparition that showed up over central London, a winged woman who bound up sleeping damsels and molested them to utter distraction. Eventually the Angel kidnapped Rani and applied many automated toys to her brown tight body. Chief Officer Constance Drummand saved the day and captured the Angel (see Sybil).
'Kraken' (Thermocline): Viking raiding submersible skippered by Chieftain Hallerna. Was steampowered but recently orgasium-boosted, giving it range to strike any corner of the globe. Its only weakness is the need to vent the excited atmosphere its crew generates (especially when they are homebound with captives) Women jammed into the pipes of its steam-powered pipe organ can be milked for fuel and watched for fun.
Li-Jack (Hotel California): Oriental manni, twin brother to Li-June, a slender youth with curious blue-green eyes. Designed and built the laundry MI processors for the Hotel California. Lives in the shadow of his sister who forces him to wear a cage around his jewels. Also presented as a service to female guests as part of room service (various ties and positions are available at a slight charge. Removing the cage costs a great deal more). Eventually escaped to join a railroad maintenance train staffed by Chinese female track workers.
Li-June (Hotel California): Oriental princess (in demeanor), twin sister to Li-Jack, a slender youth with curious blue-green eyes. Keeps things orderly in Hotel California, and any guests who break any rules end up in the hanging discipline cage in the lobby.
Lilla, Queen (Gai Shift): Her Royal Majesty of England. Bow.
'Lola Montez' (Out of Africa): The largest paddlewheel steamer of the times, an ocean-going five-star hotel with Captain Barberis at her helm. Known for the burly Italian mannis who make up a sizable portion of its crew (a major selling point among females considering passage).
Looper (Pit): A looper is someone who is so worried about hurting their captive, they tie ridiculously loose bonds.
Lucy (Peregrine): Power – and butt - monkey of the Unbound Pleasure, slight, blonde, frightened of her own shadow. She wouldn't have confidence even if you lubed it and eased it up her ass.
M___, Lady (Reversal). A very stout and very proper estate owner who speaks in upper-case. Runs a very popular estate with rooms with all the amenities (including a hole in the wall where a belted-up manni's tackle is thrust through, for the use of the occupant). Ladies, its better than a mint on your pillow.
Malik (Oasis): Big and blunt and threatening, and a eunuch. With his dangle locked in a golden cage, he can't take any advantages with Ra'idah's harem. The girls, wicked vixens, take advantage of him, to their delight and his pain.
Manchester, Baroness (Reversal): Possesses striking beauty and poise, with her dark hair spiraling to fall over her shoulder. Developed a clever pump-inflatable device that can be mounted to a woman's private part, making it a manni's private part. With its clever feedback cilia, a woman gets it every bit as good as she gives it.
Mannis (Gai Shift): Term for the male race, somewhat rare. Mannis are generally raised into a life of service. They are often trained for pleasure-service. Those exceptional at this might find deployment in private estates (see 'M___, Lady') or even the Royal Stables. However, in Greater Japan, they often are used as field slaves. In Ecuador, the custom is to bind them for public use and consumption once a month. They are greatly feared by the Ecuadorian hill-tribes, who refer to them as 'The Sisters with Forward Tails'.
Marguerite (Portrait): The beautiful brown-haired handler of Cordefriseur .
Martha (Some like it knot): A lanky woman with long brown/black hair and a homely/pretty face. Shy yet always eager to be pleased. Works as a maid for Lady Goldwaith in her country estate. We can assume she daydreams smutty thoughts while she over-polishes the sliver.
Marylebone Lancers (Thermocline): Weapons of Mass Depravity. This five-woman squad is commanded (somewhat) by Sergeant Featherthrust. Kept in sheath-bondage and drip-fed elixir, when deployed they will tie up everyone within range or die binding. Their uniform consists of blue tunics with gold buttons and braids, white panties and booties. Armed with bolomuskets, so beware.
Megan (Magic): A cute tomboyish girl with short brown hair and, incidentally, a witch. Unfortunately, her power was that no rope will stay tied around her, a most frustrating curse. However, in her adventure in the Pit, she discovered that Goldwaith Elixir will nullify the curse.
Merrywell, Teak (Pit): A thief and purse-snatcher (see definition for further details), with a coppery mass of hair, one strand of which always troubles her. Attempts to use the word 'bloody' in every spoken sentence. Is now El Falcone's prisoner.
MI (Gai Shift): 'Mechanical Intelligences'. This is a very loose term to describe card-reading thinking machines and their attached robotic manipulators. Lady Goldwaith developed the recursive programming techniques which allows household MIs to be instructed to bind up their inhabitants, a very popular pastime (see 'Tuesday of the Empty Lanes'). When the MIs of Goldwaith Laboratories and the Metropolitan Police were combined, the Pit was formed, perhaps leading to the creation of the first sentient MI.
Milo (Out of Africa): Tall, broad-shouldered with black Italian hair, this manni almost a throwback to the dominating men of the pre-Gai Shift world. Formerly a crewmate on the 'Lola Montez', he was kidnapped by Sister Annie and now serves as a male auxiliary acolyte in the Port Mons Convent.
Miriam (Oasis): A witch held in Ra'idah's harem, older and reserved with her hair parted in falls of black and white. From Serrento, Italy, where they make wine the good old way. For some reason, loves to tie up ankles.
Mistress, High, of Ecuador (Gai Shift): Narrow faced, long limbed, quite the person to rule over a hot-blooded nation of woman sacrifices. And its not blood they pull from you atop their high pyramids.
Mosi (Out of Africa): Heavy-set Amahagger native girl, a golden ring dangling from her pug nose. Works as Jumbe's assistant. Has a free-spirited view of sex, especially sex with bound, helpless partners.
MS (Pit): 'Mechanical Sentient'. Only one Artificial Intelligence exists in the world. Originally it came about when the Central Police Station's computers were linked to those of Goldwaith Laboratories, to provide extra processing power to the experiments in MI capture programming. The ungainly interfaces sparked a self-aware process which slowly expanded through much of subterranean London. See Pit, Pitinna Pitt.
Nabuki, Empress of Greater Japan (Orchid): The elfin ruler of the home islands. Playfully sadistic in her bondage. Instrumental in bringing about the 'Japanese Crisis'.
Oblonsky, Anna, Contessa (Snowbound): Dark Russian noblewoman, bane of Airshipwoman Petra's early existence, a firm believer in the use of Corporal punishment (if only to ensure dedicated tonguing).
Orchids (Orchid): There are two warrior orders in Japan, the white orchids and the black. White orchids fight for honor and duty, blacks for money and reward. Both styles rely on weapons-of-bondage, whirling scarves, snag-wires, clockwork nets, etc. Both are trained in sexual matters (including interrogation techniques). Usually, when orchids fight, every living thing within a hundred yards ends up trussed.
Orgasium (Gai Shift): Take a woman, have her drink/inhale Goldwaith Elixir, bind up her moaning, thrusting body and molest her through a chemically delayed climax. The end product of her orgasm is a trace amount of Orgasium, an explosive liquid. When mixed with boiler water, it can increase steam-engine output several times over. (see Goldwaith Elixir)
Otka (Magic (unnamed), Pit): A wiry, raven-haired gypsy who keeps Tameran the witch bound up in her cart, using suspension, well-placed knotted line, and the sway of travel to keep her guest entertained.
Peidillotine (Oasis): A device used in revolt-torn France, patterned off a guillotine. Rather than a blade, there is a suface of vibrating feathers. Rather than a neck, bare feet are thrust trough the stocks. You get the idea. Nothing to laugh about.
Petra, Second Officer (Gai Shift): A big-boned Russian woman, second-banana (often literally) to Captain Hoffsteder.
Pili (Out of Africa): Skinny, gawky, bespectacled Amahagger native girl. Formerly worked for Jumbe, now a nun and transcriptionist of the Convent of Astarte (as well as Sister Annie's confident and plaything).
Pit, The (Gai Shift): Originally formed when Goldwaith Laboratory kludged its basement MIs together with those of the nearby Central London Precinct House (where Drummand works). The Goldwaith researchers began to see anomalies form, with MI sexual servicing tracks being extended into the London depths. Women who wandering into this unknown eventually return groggy and sexually sated. Justice was quick to react, and began surrendering its more hardened criminals to the Pit. Reports are now coming in from all over the city of women being snatched and dragged below for some quite capital (if not lengthy (and we mean that in every sense)) entertainments. See MS and Pitt, Pitinna for further developments.
Pit Lottery (Pit): Once diplomatic relations where opened between the Crown and the Pit, a voluntary admission policy (where those who entered would be locked in bondage and sexually stirred for weeks) was begun. Following the ensuing riots, a lottery was created to reduce the gate to a manageable amount. Kiyoko heads the security detail making sure nobody without a golden ticket gets in.
Pitt, Pitinna (Pit): This is the female identity taken by the Pit as it formed a conscious. She/It exists in a quasi-legal state, a ruling power of a de-facto foreign nation beneath London. At the conclusion of Hammersmith's expedition, she entered into a treaty with Queen Lilla, replacing the Pit's slave-raiding practices with sexual tourism. So popular was the program that a lottery system had to be created to determine who could go.
Port Mons (Out of Africa): A west-coast African town located in Amahagger territory, situated on the carbon-aligned diamond trade route. This wealth has made the town very powerful, with African noblewomen rubbing elbow with Arabic princesses. With so much wealth, good harem girls are at a premium. White slavery is also popular. Sister Annie's convent is located here.
Prussian Army Knife (Out of Africa): A handy pocket closet-o-toys. Amongst its foldout devices are toe loops, thumb clamps, a pair of nipple clips (permitting a painful linkage) and a wide selection of ticklers. Oh, and a knife.
Purse snatching (Pit): The criminal activity of kidnapping a woman of means, binding her fast in some secluded location, and sexually provoking her (without resolution) until she pays her own ransom. It is customary for gratification to be provided at payoff.
Ra'idah (Oasis) : Golden-eyed Arabic witch with a teleport ability. Her fetish is kidnapping – on a grand scale. In her sealed oasis tower, she holds dozens of witches captive in her harem.
Rani (Angel): Lab assistant to Petunia Goldwaith. An Indian of calm, traditional beauty. Considered unshakable under MI probing (as proven by the Knightsbridge Angel), and hence leader for the coming expedition into the Pit. So cool and collected, you'd like to see her get a good rattling. Don't worry, its coming.
Sacred Grove, The (Green): A magical place deep within the new forests of the Gai-world where trespasser are wrapped in tight leaves, molested over long hours, and used to pattern a new fairy. If curious to see such a wonderful place, ask any druid and she'll be more than happy to lead you there.
Sakujna (Pit): An Indian servant girl who was captured by the Pit and incorporated into Rani's harem. After hearing her mistress's plans for world domination, she freed Megan from her Elixir stupor by the only means possible.
Samantha, Routing Officer (Gai Shift): A sunny girl with long golden ringlets of hair. If you get arrested for any crime in central London, she will be the one to examine your toe-tag (while you hand head-down, trussed and mute) and route you to the correct punishment. Has had her boss, Constance Drummand, arrested and punished in the past. No doubt, when Drummand is done with such cases as the Ambassadorial trip to Ecuador and the Knightsbridge Angel, she'll see to her little fiend's comeuppance.
Sarama (Upside down): Young Indian Head of domestics at the Silverplate Plantation, now driver and binder for Lady Silverplate.
Sasha (Magic): A scarlet-haired passionate witch. Responsible for raiding about the countryside, dragging off her captives to her loft of passion. Should have avoided deals with pirates.
Secrete Sauce (Green): A herbal mix know to Chlorophene (and her fairies) that causes the treated skin to feel a dozen caresses, a hundred tickles, and perhaps a pinch. Best used on someone tied down. Apply as needed.
Shah, Mr. (Upside down): Vijaya's former husband, now bound plaything. Hardly ever allowed out of their bedchamber. His midnight moans sometimes give their inn a haunted feeling.
Sheepish (Magic): Megan's home village, where the farmgirls play amusing rope games on each other in the high hay, the dairy mannies are worked to complacency, and daughters listen attentivly as their mothers explain good knotwork. Also home to Elsa, the troublesome milkmaid.
Silverplate, Chauncey (Upside down): Madison Silverplate's playboy son, given by her to three former prostitutes who desired to find him suitable employment in the new order. What mother wouldn't help her sun succeed in business?
Silverplate, Lord (Upside down): Madison Silverplate's former husband, carried off bound to a bed by female mutineers during the fall of Calcutta. Whereabouts currently unknown.
Silverplate, Madison (Upside down): Personified by her tired blonde hair, pale eyes and melancholy air. Lady of the Silverplate estate just outside of Calcutta. While she manages the plantation, she seems prone to kidnappings by servant girls with flashing eyes, wicked smiles, and tight, tight ropes.
Sjefke canvas (Out of Africa): Sail canvas with hemp fibers. When dry, it contracts. When damp, it expands. This means sails will automatically adjust for weather conditions. It also means that victims wrapped in its damp embrace will be slowly squeezed.
Stone, Livy, Doctor (Snowbound): A sliver-haired, hooked-nose mature gemologist. Being Petunia Goldwaith's roommate at University gave her a taste (and endurance) for all things sexual. These passions surprise those who allow this supposedly cold woman to get behind them.
Sultha (Oasis): A game played by the girls of Ra'idah's harem. Made up of a huge board (based on London) where girls move their erotic pieces about and attempt to capture those of other players. Very realistic, at least in the Gai-shift world.
Superior, Mother, Temple of Astarte (Out of Africa): Sister Annie's temple leader in Salisbury, a stern woman who believes in quantity over quality of orgasms directed to the Goddess Astarte. She has been locked in an endless science/religion feud with Petunia Goldwaith, with both hoping to force the other (through ropes and various devices of sexual persuasion) to win over the other (or at least cause great discomfort).
Sybil (Angel): Lab assistant to Petunia Goldwaith. Lanky and plain, with short black hair, flat-glassed spectacles and unbecoming black dresses. Expert in MI programming. For her part in the case of the Knightsbridge Angel, she was sentenced to the Pit. When she was eventually returned, she was committed to an insane asylum.
Tameran (Magic): A chubby yet cute auburn-haired witch. The playfully cute cousin you wished you'd had. Her primary power is ability to charm objects. Should have avoided deals with gypsies.
Tanya (Oasis): An African girl with a pug nose and white-magicked hair, one of Ra'idah's original coven and now suffering (such as idle harem life with bouts of bondage-sex is suffering) her Arab mistress's revenge.
Temple of Astarte (Magic): With the Shift, the Salisbury Convent became the Temple of Astarte. Here women worship the power of the female orgasm while bound up in their cells, waiting the midnight visit of a fellow sister or, if very lucky, the skillful Mother Superior. Annie Coldburne and Madam Johnston are members of this order.
Tuesday of the Empty Lanes (Gai Shift): An economic/social/sexual event triggered when Lady Goldwaith's original MI card sets were issued. By noon, half of London's population was under household rope (trussed by up their MIs). Those that could not get cards rioted, many of them ending up arrested. By nightfall, the city streets were empty. The next day, they were filled again, but everyone was walking quite funny.
'Unbound Pleasure' (Gai Shift): The first long-distance airship. Within its envelope is an Orgasium-extraction network, where five women are rotated through service, rest, excitement, then mechanical ravishment. The Orgasium produced permits the airship to cross oceans.
Van/Vanessa (Thermocline): Lady Goldwaith's technical assistant. Tomboyish to the extreme, a techno-nerd who loves to improve whatever device finds its way into her grease-stained fingers. Slender and agile in her tool-jingling trousers and grubby shirts, she wears her blonde hair in a utilitarian pixie cut, and wears her nose oil-smudged. But behind those sharp blue eyes lies a deep secret – she wishes she were a man (a wish that was granted through a temporary curse placed on her loins my Sasha the witch).
Velika (Snowbound): Leader of a band of Cossacks loosely in the employ of Anna Oblonsky. An exotic mixture of Mongol and Slavic beauty, she is humane in the fact she takes prisoners. What she does with them is another matter, entirely. It usually involves fruit.
Vijaya (Upside down): Short, hippish Indian woman with a taste for men's clothing. Her inn is unique in that it her she, rather than her guests, who determine checkout times.
Willie Hall (Angel): Petunia Goldwaith's London residence. Contains more rope then the London Shipyards.
Winterwood, Serif (Cogs – Serif): A long dark drink of black wine who works in the British Museum. She also freelances for Petinna Pitt, writing moral-blowing erotica on the flesh of girls, a sort of damsel-of-the-month club. Do not bother her or you'll be placed on display.
Woody (Magic): A staff originally charged by the Covent of Megan, Madam Johnston, Tameran, Zelda and Sasha. Megan's teacher (and sexual appliance). Its power can overcome Megan's curse. Eventually used up, but for a good object lesson.
Woody II (Pit): A magical broom, originally charged by the Pit (using enchanted-inclined women as a living dynamo), which was given to Megan as a gift. Woody II can fly and manipulate ropes, making it the perfect stealth/slaver system. 'Ride of the Valkyries' is suitable background music for it.
Zelda (Magic): A skinny bespeckled witch. If you wanted a true Wicked Witch of the West, look no further than Zelda. Should have avoided deals with farmgirls.
updated 20.12.12
story continues in Gai-Shift 1: World of the Gai-Shift
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