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An '''escort''' is a person offering sexual companionship andsexual services in exchange for money.
Independent escorts are rarer. They do not work within a ring and therefore have no bosses, usually working alone or in small teams of 2-4 escorts. Being independent allows them to keep 100% of their earnings, but they are fully responsible for their own safety and protection. Independent escorts generally have more freedom, usually operating in a designated area or adopting the ''itinerant escort'' business model, travelling between towns and intersections, and selling their services "in passing", using the temporary nature of their stay as a selling point.
Many escorts work in a [[strip club]], where they are also expected to perform strip dances and keep company to customers who request the "host/hostess" or "girlfriend/boyfriend" experiences. It is customary for escorts to push their customers to bring alcoholic drinks to share, [[valuable]] gifts (especially [[jewelry store|custom jewelry]]), or to go for one of the more expensive club services.
The [[Yatela Crime Syndicate]] is thought to possess the largest network of escort rings. They are known for their aggressiveness towards competing networks and independents, usually harassing or attacking their customers, coercing them into assimilation into the Syndicate's own network, or driving them out of business through more violent methods. This campaign of domination of the escort industry - nicknamed ''Operation Toss The Pineapples'', referencing the stereotypically unpopular pineapple pizza - is thought to have begun in [[History of the Mazes|E7-694]]. Within 2 years, the Syndicate gained control of a majority of escort bosses across the Mazes and managed to successfully suppress legitimate youkai escort businesses, virtually driving all of them out of existence.