Being a goddess of fertility and war, Ishtar has an invested interest in the healthy reproduction of her worshippers.

Her followers strive to please the will of the goddess in exchange for healthy, strong offspring.

As the goddess who is responsible for not only granting women reproductive viability and healthy children, she also bestows the gifts and wisdoms of sexual satisfaction and gratification. Priestesses are the ones who are entrusted to teach such things.

It should come as no surprise that many women of Shem are most devout to their beloved and divine mother goddess.

Young married couples who are struggling to procreate or are perhaps unskilled or afraid for the well-being of their child post-conception are oftentimes sent to the guidance of the temple of Ishtar. There, rituals and rites are conducted. These oftentimes take the form of guided breeding rituals in which hallucinogens are consumed.

Dissolving boundaries between the couple, masks are worn, often in the form of the ram or the primal satyx.

These, combined with constant sensual stimulation from painted priestesses and priests, also masked and adorned in gold, are meant to ensure a proper and most effective copulation.

While this is often a paid service for the elite, the temple will accommodate even the poorest of worshippers.

Granted, the price paid will most often be by the husband, who will be expected to immediately inseminate a number of temple prostitutes in return for the blessing. These rituals can last for several hours. However, payment can take several days as long as one of these breedings is successful.

Men who die of exhaustion during the process of their payment are treated as heroes by the temple and are interred in its sacred ground.