Question- what is the status of slavery in Taldor (legal, cultural, etc etc)? I figure that serfdom is a thing, but since Sabinus mentioned slave caravans I'm wondering if that should be ringing more alarm bells in Connacht's head.
Perfectly legal and is a large business but generally sold to other nations. So imagine lots of slaves passing through (and heavily taxed) but not many actually residing in Taldor proper. Freeing large groups of slaves is a common way to gain a reputation for being a just and kind ruler or Emperor.
Just to confirm- I love Vioric as an NPC, he’s great. But (as I hope to make apparent in the next post) he creeps Connacht out.
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Thrill as a non-binary character blows Conancht's mind.
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OBI-WAN : Why do I sense we've picked up another pathetic life form...?
Ah, but what if they meant shaving their legs?
Oh don’t worry I know Connacht could easily be wrong, and if he is that’ll make for some interesting RP when that happens.
I honestly am trying a non-gendered character just for fun (I just saw John Wick 3 and they have a few non-binary characters). I did slip with the pronouns once and probably will again. Old habits die hard!
This kid asks tough questions!
Yeah, it’s going to be interesting to see how Connacht interacts with em. The sorts of esoteric eccumenical conversations that may one day result from all this will be a blast to role play one they. For Connacht though, at the very least, it’ll be a while if he changes from calling Lin he. “Old habits die hard” is probably an Erastilian holy saying, after all.
I am really like the stride we have been hitting here. It is a small cast but it is finally starting to come to life, don't you think?
Oh definitely. I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up the 3x a day posting rate forever, but hopefully for now it’s making up from the slow posting rate earlier. As for the cast, I’m finding it plenty large (and hopefully will have a google sheets completed that keeps track of them all sooner rather than later).
This is one of the best play by posts I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of, and hope it goes on for years to come.
Well, pace is fine. I'm going on a mini vacation for the next few days so my posting will be slow. It is a marathon, not a sprint.
Ironically enough, I’m in a mini vacation right now, and come the 30th, I’ll be moving halfway across the country. So if there was ever a time for things to slow down a tad, it would in fact be now. Agreed on marathon over sprint.
Hey, you leaving Texas? Where you moving to, if you don't mind me asking. Travel safely, wherever you are going.
Other way around- heading *back* to Texas after having been out of state for several months.
Heads up- I'm moving on Thursday (as mentioned), and my roommates have discovered that our new apartment has suffered from a cataclysmic sewage leak. Posting before Thursday shouldn't be effected (not much I can do half a country away), but post Thursday things might be a bit crazier than I anticipated.
The use of the bolded word makes me think you might literally be up the proverbial creek.
There was the content of said proverbial creek inside of the fridge. We’ve no idea even how.
Bringing a child to a war zone. What could go wrong?
They could die a horrible, easily avoided death and haunt you (both physically and mentally in this universe) forever?
Yep!
Wow at least the children Rudabeh brings to war zones can defend themselves.
I joke. But really I think Connacht and Rudabeh would get along well. Making people take oaths and whatnot. Word of advice though, if you happen to execute that one mouthy noble brat cause he's a total shithead and murderer, it MIGHT start a civil war.
Hah! I felt like I was channeling Rudabeth a bit there, but in this particular case I felt it made a lot of sense.
I have some vague ideas about turning Alexius (said resident noble brat) into something moderately worthy of respect, should the opportunity present itself. Otherwise, will try to avoid a civil war.
I like that idea, see if you can reform him!
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To be fair, Rudabeh made an OOC promise to reform Haxiel and he ended up throwing her off a wall and then exploding.
... something tells me some intimidation checks might be coming up soon. This conversation could get very interesting.
On this note: a couple of questions.
1. Are there any particular elements of contraband that come from the Endless way Connahcht would likely expect?
2. Is there a formal toll/ tax/ tariff/ etc on caravans that run through Wheldrake that goes to Wheldrake proper, not to the imperial treasury?
3. What are some of the formal punishments for misreporting cargo/ undeclared cargo/ etc.
I want to know what I can threaten to do here, and if there's any area of law Connacht would have some knowledge of, it would be caravan law.
Excellent questions!
1. All types of things are smuggled of course, even mundane things like salt and silk. Smuggling, ie, not including items on a official manifest is illegal. As far as 'stuff usually smuggled', the biggest ones actually banned are drugs (of various types) and a few more the more nasty arcane items (usually linked to necromancy). Of course, Taldor being Taldor, a few bribes can make such charges go away but every year a few are killed to send a message (political or personal) or to raise the bribery rates. Serva knows all of this, of course.
2. Some cities do, some do not. Wheldrake is so small, it is doubtful they get much beyond a trivial sum. There are probably some informal 'gratuities' exchanged however. Trenzi would never call them bribes but merely...tips for good lodging. But Connacht knows better. However, you could impose such tariff's in your role as Imperial Agent. Your role in economic/trade affairs seems pretty strong (although Gods know what would happen if you had a direct confrontation with Lady Sabinus).
3.Lots of them, everything from light fines to beheading in the public square. Could you order Serva's death for smuggling contraband? In Yanmiss, a noble could...if he had the right connections and the merchant did not. The law is very flexible in Taldor. I would note, let us say you ordered some harsh punishment, Serva may very well go to Yanmiss and have it overruled by someone else (if he has connections). Of course, the most common punishment is simply to revoke the trading license (and often make the merchant pay a heavy fee to re-instate themselves). Lots of nobles make a literal living off this type of abuse.
Need more? Make sense? Not fair?
To be fair, Rudabeh made an OOC promise to reform Haxiel and he ended up throwing her off a wall and then exploding.
There's a moral there... somewhere... Connacht, when you find it let me know please.
Will do.
Also, I need to throw my virtual dice into a microwave at this point.
I hope you did not miss Connacht's cameo in Rudabeh's vision?
Nope! I saw what you did with that, it was a nice touch. The dream sequence in general was really good!
Side note- can Connacht (legaly) just go and search the cargo? Or does he need to get a warrent of some type? Is Taldor such a bureaucratic mess that Connacht needs to issue himself a warrant before such a search?
Given the state of my social rolls, this might be relevant.
In a city Serva could probably appeal any attempt to search the cargo, and probably bribe someone to get you in trouble for harassing him. Out here? You could probably make a fair claim legally although would he actually let you? Might be dicey, depending on what he has out there.
Everything okay on your end? Just checking if you saw my last update. There’s no rush I you need time with the post though.
Nope, I missed it. Thanks for the warning!
I am sure that there is no way this can backfire, especially not with an intimidation roll of 10.
Man, aren't you a bold one. What if he isn't bluffing?
If his manifest is actually completely honest, then beyond being more than a little embarrassed and humiliated Connacht will actually go ahead and cough up the letters of recommendation, seals of aproval, etc etc. but he doesn't want to let the merchant out of his sight to let him move any contraband or smuggled materials out of sight first.
If he's lying... maybe some sort of deal can be reached. It depends on what is discovered.
I sort of felt as if I haven't made Connacht quite assertive enough in the past- maybe in going a bit in the other direction here, but it's been a frustrating day for Connacht, not least because he's botched so much diplomacy.
Would it be possible for me to cut off Trenzi leaving- I’d rather nobody from the caravan have advanced warning of the search and hide things away. I’ll mention as much in my next post, but that won’t be till tonight. Serva can still say everything, but it in the hall on our way to the merchant’s goods out of earshot from Trenzi.
I don't think there will be enough time to hide anything. I don't think Serva is going to say such things in a hallway. However, if you insist (which is totally your right) we can ret-con the scene, even if it does spoil things a bit.
Oh in that case it isn’t worth it- I just don’t know exactly how far the wagons would be from the office, but if there isn’t time to pull some shenanigans, then Connacht would be fine with Trenzi leaving.
For a decent chunk of human history, taxes were largely payed in kind rather than in coinage. Farmers forked over a certain amount of grain to their landlords, for example. There's a really interesting period in the late Roman Empire where the economy had regressed so badly that the emperor's government came up with an elaborate tax structure, where people were assigned uniform units of tax that could be payed in just about anything- pigs, grain, a time of physical labor to the state, commodities, etc. Interesting stuff.
Anyways- hence the "tax in kind idea" I had in mind with Serva.
That could have gone better.
As for money, yeah but DND and Pathfinder both assume infinite supplies of liquid capital in every town. Everyone takes gold coins at the same rate, everywhere, in any amount.
It also could have gone worse, but the stakes have certainly been raised, however... I have some ideas. Serva might not like what Connacht has in store for him in the long run.
Yeah, I understand the economic limitations of the pathfinder system, and have no intention in turning this game into an economics simlulator (let alone introducing a comprehensive tax in kind overhaul) lol. Just referencing a little historical tid bit that was tangentially pertinent to something Connacht mentioned in game.
So did you enjoy that last scene? The 'duel' between Serva and yourself? That sort of escalating social encounter is the stuff I like best.
Oh very much so! It was one of the best roleplay encounters to date, and it’s probably going to set the stage for no small amount of nonsense to come. The fallout should be delicious.
Still waiting for the twist you keep hinting about to drop- it shouldn’t be all too long until Connacht returns to the raid valley for the raid in terms of posts, there isn’t much more I plan on doing before it unless you bring something up.
Wow, excellent post Connacht. You very skilled at writing dialogue. I wish I was as good as you so I could do some justice to the GM's escalating social situations. Thankfully I play a bullheaded paladin so I can stay in character AND I don't have to worry about being good!
Still waiting for the twist you keep hinting about to drop
Mowque likes to hit you with the twists when you least expect it. He's especially good at turning what was supposed to be a victory into a crisis, which always blows me away. I suspect it'll come as soon as you think you have it all figured out ;)
Your game with Mowque is a masterpiece that I can only hope to one day mimic. I'm *still* trying to pin down Connacht's dialogue style in some ways, even if I have his overall personality down fairly well at this point.
As for Rudabeth, she's probably the best depiction of a paladin (LG or LN ) that I've seen to date, and you do an excellent job of playing her.
Wow, thank you, that is incredibly nice of you to say. It's all because Mowque has given her a wonderful world to grow in.
I'm always afraid I'll lose Rudabeh's voice over time, or it will change in ways I didn't mean it to. I find it harder to remain consistent rather than developing a style in the first place.
Next post might take a little bit to pin down, so sorry if there's a delay- it'll be a bit tricky to get right.