Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by Bren

Aside from Diners Cards, the early 1950s is pretty much pre-credit card. A hotel back then might have wanted a deposit. I seem to recall having to put down a cash deposit for a hotel in the Precambrian Era before I had a credit card. And in much of the world you still have to show a passport when you register for a hotel. That was a thing, and still is for non-EU folks in Europe and it is a thing (and probably was a thing) in most or all of the Asian countries I've traveled to. One of the hotels in China even checked to make certain my Visa was valid.

The brothel is a cool way for a character in an RPG to lay low though. I'll have to remember to use that.

Agreed. And I think your point about this being a great plot item is good. I think that may have been the whole point of Phil's telling the story to us. He was always looking for ways to get us to think 'outside the box' culturally, trying to get us to look beyond the Upper Midwest where we'd grown up; we were fearfully young, back then...

Originally Posted by Greentongue

The context is gamers and their desire for LOOT!
Your explanation was good but gave a rather involved process that could confuse.
I do like the balance transfers and the adventures they can spawn.

I am considering substituting a "clan chop" that allows them to purchase things that the clan would then pay for.
Clan payment being much like you are talking about with them doing jobs for the clan to pay back their debt.

Instead of a "chop", a document that was script and had a set face value was another idea.
Trying to learn which was the accepted practice or could fit the need.

The biggest problem is the rules for experience being based on gold value so working in cash or a cash equivalent is encouraged.
=

Ah, all right! I see what's happening. Well, here's something that Phil did in his campaign that you might be able to use...

As I talked about, the clans do a lot of reconciling accounts and bookkeeping. That's pretty dull stuff for most players, let's face it, and so to make things a little easier Phil introduced us to what he called 'writs'. These are documents drawn up by the various scribes, and they serve as what was called (by the Medici, among others of that time) 'notes of hand'. They serve as a way to keep from having to ship specie around, and can be very useful. Two examples:

Eldest Daughter still wants a new dress to wear to the party. Her doting parents - me, let's say - write her a writ that basically says, "This writ is good for x Kaitars", with her name on it, and they give this to her as a present. She takes the writ to the dressmakers' where they get her fitted up with a dress she likes. They accept the writ from her, and off she goes to her party. If the dress was worth less then the value of the writ, they can either five her a credit on her next purchase, or give her the 'change' in cash. If the dress costs more then the writ's 'face value', then they will bill either me or the clan, depending on who the writ is drawn on. At some point, they will 'cash in' the writ with my clan, which will either pay them in cash or credit on their account, and debit the sum from either the clan's general account or my personal account. I should note that the clan normally will pay for 'clan things', and I have to pay for 'personal things'. The clan will stand behind me, though, if that might be needed. (In m case, it isn't. I am, cough, 'a man of means'.)

Or, in an actual example of game play, one of the players out at Phil's had a tendency to carry all of his wealth in cash - not gems, coins. At one point, he was lugging around 3,000,000 Tsolyani Kaitars; which at three grams a coin, was nine tons of coins. (In 500 Kaitar bags, in big locked chests.) So, Phil sends us off to Blackmoor, where I happen to notice that the locals are up to their elven hips in iron and steel. Being an Imperial official, with pretty wide powers, I issued the player a writ for three million, to be drawn on the Imperium itself, and used the money to buy up all the iron and steel within a hundred mile radius of Blackmoor Castle. We got back to Tekumel, and I handed the stuff to Prince Mirusiya. (There was enough to make armor for four legions. I became very popular, on the spot.)

Mirusiya issued me a writ on the Imperium for the three million, and my 'credit rating' became solid platinum. And I was also now an Imperial Govenor, so I even had a decent salary to live off of. The other player 'cashed in' his writ, and went back to carrying around his treasure in a very stout wagon. Eventually, during the Sirsum mini-campaign, he made a run for it as we looked to get dead; he was the Imperial Chancellor for the Province of Hekellu, so he deposited his money in the Imperial Provincial Treasury, issued himself a writ for the sum, and took off for safer climates. We were stuck with this almighty heavy wagon, which we wanted to send back to Hekellu - guess who got stuck with that nasty job, escorting a wagon full of gold back along a bad road through a countryside full of very hostile tribesmen.

Lord Takodai hi Vriddi, who was in charge of this travelling circus, gave me what troops he could, and asked me if I still had the uncashed writ for the three million; I did, he asked me for it, marked it "PAID IN FULL", and the damn wagon and golden cargo was now my personal problem. We did managed to get back to Hekellu; I did managed to find a place to store the wagon for a while, and so am now a pretty well-off person.

So, I think Phil's writs may be your solution. I still write them up for games; I can show photos of them, if you like. They can be drawn on individuals, clans, temples, or the Imperium itself. They are not paper money, but more like 'letters of credit' then anything else.

Does this help?

Originally Posted by Hrugga

Hello Sir,

Thank you for the reply to my question.

Could you please tell me a bit more about Khirgar? The Blue Fish God story was great.

Since some of the clanhouses are close together and tall, how tall? I have read some good descriptions of some of the houses in Jakalla. What would the houses in Khirgar be like?

What would a young noble/high clan member do for fun(hanging out in the clanhouse can get boring...)?

I was thinking of taking a trip...There is not too much out there about Khirgar that I have come across. Thank you in advance. :0)

H

(er, you don't need to call me 'sir'; I'm 'Chirine', and have been for over thirty-five years - it's all Phil ever called me... )

Khirgar is up on the NW Frontier, and is the big legion base for the Northwest on the eastern side of the Atkolel Heights. The city is up on a hill, and pretty heavily fortified. The buildings are pretty densely packed, due to the site, and there aren't many open areas like markets and squares. We spent a lot of time there in the beginning of Phil's campaign, about three years of gaming. It's very much an 'army town', and the Temple of Karakan is particularly strong there.

The clan houses there tend to 'go up', unlike Jakalla where they tend to spead out more. Have a look at a city in India, Jaisalmer, for examples of what this looks like.

There are all sorts of things / trouble a young man can get into! There's the social whirl of parties and feasts, there's temple activities, government work, and always a career in the military. Cities tend to have all sorts of 'local militia' units that are very socially fashionable and militarily useless; they do look good at parties, though, and tend to attract romantic attention - it's the uniform, don;t you know...

And there's always the clan - the clan elders will think of things for you to do, to keep you out of trouble. Like going on adventures...

Agreed; there isn't much in one place on Khirgar, or any other city. When I was working for the Tekumel Foundation, I proposed a series of 'city books', where we'd gather all of the information we had in the archives on a city and the local province, do a map - I have lots of maps in my collection! - and put it out there for people like you. I started the project, and have all my folders for it in my archives. The Foundation declined to take up the project, however.

If you have more detailed questions, feel free to ask away!

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

So, Phil sends us off to Blackmoor, where I happen to notice that the locals are up to their elven hips in iron and steel. Being an Imperial official, with pretty wide powers, I issued the player a writ for three million, to be drawn on the Imperium itself, and used the money to buy up all the iron and steel within a hundred mile radius of Blackmoor Castle. We got back to Tekumel, and I handed the stuff to Prince Mirusiya. (There was enough to make armor for four legions. I became very popular, on the spot.)

...they would sell you TEN IRON SPIKES for ONE Khiatar?

* cries *

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

(er, you don't need to call me 'sir'; I'm 'Chirine', and have been for over thirty-five years - it's all Phil ever called me... )

"Don't call me SIR, Private, I work for a living!" -- every sergeant ever

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Khirgar is up on the NW Frontier, and is the big legion base for the Northwest on the eastern side of the Atkolel Heights. The city is up on a hill, and pretty heavily fortified. The buildings are pretty densely packed, due to the site, and there aren't many open areas like markets and squares. We spent a lot of time there in the beginning of Phil's campaign, about three years of gaming. It's very much an 'army town', and the Temple of Karakan is particularly strong there.

Khirgar was a great place to be a soldier; it's lovely to have a secure base to come back to after fighting the perfidious Yan Koryani where you can either celebrate your triumphs or lick your wounds. Or perhaps just dump the stones out of your boots and get some sleep. They know how to handle the press of troops, the logistics of keeping them housed and fed, and how to keep that many soldiers entertained with only a few friendly brawls between rival legions now and then.

The only bad part is that as the troops get tried, tempered, and hardened in campaign, they tend to get "rewarded" by being sent to more demanding places -- hence several years spent tramping around Milumaniya picking sand out of our kilts.

Originally Posted by Hrugga

Chirine great stuff!!! Thank you. I read that in Khirgar they have been avoiding Ditlana. Anything of note underground? Also who handles security(patrols and manning the towers)? The local militia, the Legions stationed there, the governor's men?

Also within the five empires, how common are bandit gangs, slavers, and pirates(I tend to see Harchar as an atypical example)? Who usually make up these groups? The poor, escaped slaves, dissatisfied nobles?

How are thieves and the above unsavory elements handled by the authorities? The high road? Slavery? Workhouses?

Thanks again,
H

The city has a smallish Underworld, mostly centered around the Temple of Karakan. There is a nice shrine to Sarku, and one to Ksarul, both of which are pretty strongly guarded. We had a very nasty time in the former, back in the day.

The city is defended by the locals and the city guards; the Governor has his own personal palace guards - a branch of the city troops - and these handle local duties. Each unit of the troops is responsible for a segment of the walls and towers, as are some of the more martial clans. The Legions posted to the city are not formally part of the garrison, but would be called on in an emergency - which is why the city would be a very difficult nut to crack.

Slavers are not common, but you do see them; they are very socially unacceptable, and nobody really wants to associate with them. Bandits and pirates per se are something you'd expect to see in the 'country' areas, away from the larger cities - the risks of getting nailed by the local authorities are just too great. The rule of thumb is that the more remote the area, the more likely one will run into these kinds of people. They usually will not attack large and / or obviously well-armed parties, preferring easier pickings. They are usually poor, low-status folks who prefer to make a living as bandits and pirates; it would be pretty rare to find a noble person in one of their gangs.

Harchar is most emphatically not a pirate. He's a buccaneer and smuggler, which is a very different thing entirely; yes, he does operate in the very (and I do mean very) far edges of the law, but he's very well-respected and is considered a good solid citizen. Yes, he drives the customs and excise to tears, but he fills a very important niche in both society and commerce. He describes himself and his merry crew of capitalists as "honest sea-faring merchants", which is very accurate; they just pursue a more lively wealth-enhancement strategy then most...

Escaped slaves are very rare; they are usually hunted down and killed as quckly as possible, as Gary Rudolph found out when he was the fief-holder of Ferenara. That was a very bloody mess, and a lot of people got killed in very messy ways.

As was mentioned back a away in this thread, captured 'criminals' usually get dead pretty quickly. They are rarely enslaved, as they pose too high a security risk. Prisons are mostly for debtors and 'politicials'; there are no workhouses, and people who'd be sent there are usually worked to death in labor details like dredging the Jakalla harbor.

Captured 'criminals' are also usually the dumb ones. There is a lot of what we'd call 'organized crime' on the part of some less reputable clans, but it's also part of the fabric of society. Seas in point; when I was traveling by road from Meku to Fasililtum, I made sure to let the Sakbe road guards know that I was coming. My Head Bearer got a hold of the local bandit chieftain, who I promptly hired as my 'local guide'. He made sure that we were not bothered on our trip, handing us off to each succeeding local band, and we had a very safe and very pleasant trip. We did encounter a band of 'unlicensed' bandits, who got very dead very quickly; I presented the heads at the next road guard post, collected the rewards for each, and then showed my nobility by distributing the money to my hired Bearers and 'local guides'. As a result, we had no further trouble on the road. At all. Period.

And we got preferred treatment for places to stay and supplies, too; we worked within the fabric of local society, not against it, and we had a wonderful time. The locals were happy, the guards were happy, and we were happy. Phil took great fun in describing local life for us, on the trip, and I think he enjoyed himself. As a 'great lord', I was always being consulted by the local worthies on Serious Subjects, and we had a great time.

Originally Posted by AsenRG

It's still often a thing around here, for EU and non-EU folks alike (but it's identity card and not passport you need to show).

Aren't brothels among the standard places for PCs to hide?


Thanks, Chirine, that gave me an idea I might try to incorporate!

You're welcome!!!