Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by Hrugga

Very good thanks. I just wanted to make sure that my thoughts were in the right direction. I will be sure to pester you when something else enters my mind!!! Lucky I don't live next door!!! I'm sure the Misses would complain about that Hrugga boy never in his own home...Be well.

H:0)

Great! Happy to help!

And no, the Missus would not mind; it would keep me occupied and out of mischief. Shall I put the kettle on?

Ok, so, the OAL. How tough would a typical member be? What sort of gear would they have? If they came to a bunch of PCs and said "Hand over (X) in the name of the Emperor", how would they back it up (apart from people being expelled/impaled etc)? If the party did hand over (X), might they get a reward or the like (depends on X, I guess).

If someone does get something of great power I would imagine that Avanthar's response is to offer that person a large "inducement" (cash, land, title, dancing girls) in return for handing it over. If they don't then there is a problem...a messy problem.

From d(sqrt(-1)):
Ok, so, the OAL. How tough would a typical member be? What sort of gear would they have? If they came to a bunch of PCs and said "Hand over (X) in the name of the Emperor", how would they back it up (apart from people being expelled/impaled etc)? If the party did hand over (X), might they get a reward or the like (depends on X, I guess).

Right. Let's look at how the OAL is organized. Bear in mind that they do not do 'local policing'; that's the job of the city guards, tomb police, and the Governor's guards.

1) Military arm: 20 cohorts of heavy infantry, normally based in Bey Su, spear and shield, swords. Rarely seen outside the central empire- if on the frontiers, somebody's been stupid. Also 20 cohorts of the Legion of Potent Destiny, reformed to use the surplus of recruits available. Same details. Generally are above average soldiers.

2) Uniformed officers: stationed in every city of any size, they are in the usual OAL military-style uniform, swords as side-arms. Treat as FBI or CID types; do the public investigations. Generally as smart or smarter then PCs and most people. A cut above the usual 'beat cop' in the city forces.

3) Non-uniformed officers: generally, the people / detectives who do the covert investigations and watching people who need watching. Usually dressed in blue and gold, or regular clan colors depending on mission. Usually pretty tough; think senior FBI or the Sweeny - from The Sweeny Todd, aka, The Heavy Mob, aka Scotland Yard's Flying Squad; famous for getting unwilling criminals to 'assist the police in their enquiries'. Inspector Morse with heavy weapons.

4) Covert officers: undercover operatives, who are assigned to keep an eye on troublesome people or trouble spots. Very, very tough and skilled; James Bond - Sean Connery or Daniel Craig, maybe Timothy Dalton - types with pretty wide powers. I know for a fact that there are three of these in my staff, and I am sure that there are more. equipped with anything needed for their roles, and personal weapons as needed.

In your example, the OAL can simply seize anything legally, but they really try hard not to - unless one has been caught red-handed, and it's needed for evidence. Normally, the OAL will make one a generous offer, and if that doesn't work, they make the offer to your clan or Temple, and they put the arm on you. It's always better to accept the offer - you get more, and you get on the list of cooperative people who can be trusted.

Ultimately, of course, they have the full power of the Imprium to call on, up to and including flattening the entire city with all the inhabitants still in it. They do try really hard not to be nasty, but do appreciate a good attitude and helpfulness.

If someone does get something of great power I would imagine that Avanthar's response is to offer that person a large "inducement" (cash, land, title, dancing girls) in return for handing it over. If they don't then there is a problem...a messy problem.

Yes, very much so. And it's usually the case that people take the goodies and do what the Imperium wants. However, the dancing girls are most likely going to be either reporting back to the OAL, or if one is a person of interest they will be a covert OAL operative.

Originally Posted by d(sqrt(-1))

What I like about Bethorm is that it encourages people to take these traits in a good way.

Yes, very much so, like the way Phil looked at it. he held that the player-characters are going to be the best and the brightest that the clan has available, and these are going to be given good training and skills to be the people that the clan send out to explore and have adventures. The high end of the bell curve, as it were. You want player-characters to think like player-characters, otherwise they are not going to come back alive.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

The Western concept of 'corruption' is not what the Tekumelyani consider it to be. Gifts, donations, favors, and 'inducements' are the norm, where one does something nice for somebody and they do something nice for you. There is a line between this and out-and-out bribery, and it's a fine distinction; making a ten kaitar gift to the court to speed up the process is considered normal practice, trying to pay off the judges with a ten thousand kaitar bribe is not. Small gifts are part of the social process, like doing somebody a favor.

As a 19 year old kid from a small Midwestern farm town, it took me a LONG time to figure this out. I'd never even HEARD the word "baksheesh".

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

From d(sqrt(-1)):
Ok, so, the OAL. How tough would a typical member be? What sort of gear would they have? If they came to a bunch of PCs and said "Hand over (X) in the name of the Emperor", how would they back it up (apart from people being expelled/impaled etc)? If the party did hand over (X), might they get a reward or the like (depends on X, I guess).

Right. Let's look at how the OAL is organized. Bear in mind that they do not do 'local policing'; that's the job of the city guards, tomb police, and the Governor's guards.

1) Military arm: 20 cohorts of heavy infantry, normally based in Bey Su, spear and shield, swords. Rarely seen outside the central empire- if on the frontiers, somebody's been stupid. Also 20 cohorts of the Legion of Potent Destiny, reformed to use the surplus of recruits available. Same details. Generally are above average soldiers.

2) Uniformed officers: stationed in every city of any size, they are in the usual OAL military-style uniform, swords as side-arms. Treat as FBI or CID types; do the public investigations. Generally as smart or smarter then PCs and most people. A cut above the usual 'beat cop' in the city forces.

3) Non-uniformed officers: generally, the people / detectives who do the covert investigations and watching people who need watching. Usually dressed in blue and gold, or regular clan colors depending on mission. Usually pretty tough; think senior FBI or the Sweeny - from The Sweeny Todd, aka, The Heavy Mob, aka Scotland Yard's Flying Squad; famous for getting unwilling criminals to 'assist the police in their enquiries'. Inspector Morse with heavy weapons.

4) Covert officers: undercover operatives, who are assigned to keep an eye on troublesome people or trouble spots. Very, very tough and skilled; James Bond - Sean Connery or Daniel Craig, maybe Timothy Dalton - types with pretty wide powers. I know for a fact that there are three of these in my staff, and I am sure that there are more. equipped with anything needed for their roles, and personal weapons as needed.

In your example, the OAL can simply seize anything legally, but they really try hard not to - unless one has been caught red-handed, and it's needed for evidence. Normally, the OAL will make one a generous offer, and if that doesn't work, they make the offer to your clan or Temple, and they put the arm on you. It's always better to accept the offer - you get more, and you get on the list of cooperative people who can be trusted.

Ultimately, of course, they have the full power of the Imprium to call on, up to and including flattening the entire city with all the inhabitants still in it. They do try really hard not to be nasty, but do appreciate a good attitude and helpfulness.

If someone does get something of great power I would imagine that Avanthar's response is to offer that person a large "inducement" (cash, land, title, dancing girls) in return for handing it over. If they don't then there is a problem...a messy problem.

Yes, very much so. And it's usually the case that people take the goodies and do what the Imperium wants. However, the dancing girls are most likely going to be either reporting back to the OAL, or if one is a person of interest they will be a covert OAL operative.

Great stuff, thank you.

In terms of gear, how about Eyes, Amulets, etc? Would they be reasonably common in, say ranks 3 & 4 in your list? Any other interesting magic/tech? Trying to gauge the level of power of some of these guys.

I'm now really tempted to give one of the PCs something REALLY good, and see what offers come in and what they will take. Your comment about dancing girls makes me think of an episode in the recent BBC series of Sherlock where Watson gets married, and his wife turns out to be some sort of super-agent sent to keep an eye on Holmes.

Originally Posted by Greentongue

Color me confused. According to the copy of EPT rules that I have the Shedra have steel swords.
Now I had thought that the nano-bots used the iron from the corpse to extrude a thin film of steel over the composite blade following the ancient instructions coded in them.
There was even a possibility of "farming" Shedra for steel since it is so valuable but the Shedra swords themselves were not useful without the nano-bots.
It also explained how someone killed by one became one.
=

The copper swords come from Jeff Dee's scenario. I guess it's partly because these are ancient Shedra 2000+ years old, and also perhaps because he didn't want to give out steel swords to starting characters.

I did wonder where Shedra got their steel swords from, but maybe it's a bit like the way Mrur changed. In EPT they must be burned to stop regeneration, but later on this was explained as necessary in order to prevent their controller from re-animating them.

I always assumed that newly created Shedra didn't really have anything though. Maybe there's a scenario there, where the PCs are newly created Shedra and they have to go and find some steel swords...perhaps Shedra can sense metals in some way so they can home in on steel stuff?

Like the idea of the nano-bots though.