So, the Varisians seem to be a clan/family based society, the design influenced by real world Romany Gypsies.
The Sczarni are Varisian criminal gangs.
Now, in the real world a 'crime family' is usually just that - a literal family, at least at its core. Crime syndicates without blood relationship, the fantasy 'Thieves' Guild', is much more the exception than the rule. Organised and semi-organised crime requires bonds of trust; these can sometimes arise from non-familial relations, eg a group of military veterans or a religious cult, but family bonds are by far the most common. The partial exception would be street gangs that often operate more on a 'Bruderbond' or 'warrior society' ethos, with induction/hazing helping to create a kind of virtual family. And there can be hybrids, eg the US Mafia seems to have developed with a partial Bruderbond type system as the close kinship ties of the original Sicilian immigrants loosened.
So, what are the Sczarni? They're not simply particularly criminal Varisian blood families, as far as I can tell. The indications from eg Sczarni gang descriptions in Guide to Korvosa seem to fit the Bruderbond model, eg a gang of all-female second-storey burglars. Historically IRL you'd tend to see this kind of gang more in societies where extended family relationships are relatively weak, Victorian London and other European cities, say (real world Romany Gypsy criminal organisation seems to be entirely clan/family-based, as far as I can tell).
So, if the Sczarni are Bruderbonds, what causes the members of tight-knit Varisian families to join these gangs? Are they outcasts from 'respectable' Varisian society? Youths who rejected arranged marriages or committed other infractions, perhaps?
Or are they actually more of a hybrid model, perhaps typically dominated by Varisian blood families of criminal bent, but inducting new unrelated members on an oath/haze basis? Does that mean they might be open to non-pureblood-Varisian membership, eg the typical mixed Chelish/Varisian citizen of Magnimar or Korvosa?
How do other Varisians see the Sczarni? Are they the social rejects, the unwanted outcasts? Or are they looked up to as the defenders of Varisian culture against the Chels, the way many Sicilian immigrants to the US once saw the Mafia?
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I go with the Hybrid model, myself, with the caveat that you must be a Varisian, or at least have Varisian blood, to be allowed to join, similarly to how The Italian Mafia has artificial rank ceilings for people who are not full blooded Italian themselves.
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How do other Varisians see the Sczarni? Are they the social rejects, the unwanted outcasts? Or are they looked up to as the defenders of Varisian culture against the Chels, the way many Sicilian immigrants to the US once saw the Mafia?
Given what I've read, it's a little of both.
The Sczarni see themselves as defenders of Varisian culture, or more accurately, they think that it's okay to deceive and rob non-Varisians as payback for the many years of cultural abuse at the hands of Taldans and Chelaxians. They're not as interested in preserving Varisian core values as much as taking what they want because they feel the world owes them.
Most average Varisians, both nomadic and settled, view the Sczarni as a cultural black eye. Because the Sczarni stir up trouble by the very nature of their enterprises, they're essentially the source of most modern prejudice against Varisians, the reason people think all Varisians are thieves and liars. Most Varisians that DO hold to their traditions and stuff hate the Sczarni as a result, and refuse to associate with them.
It's sort of a vicious cycle. People are racist against Varisians because they think they're criminals by nature, and as a result, some Varisians become embittered and join Sczarni families to get vengeance and survive, which feeds into the negative stereotype of the Varisian criminal, etc.
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How do other Varisians see the Sczarni? Are they the social rejects, the unwanted outcasts? Or are they looked up to as the defenders of Varisian culture against the Chels, the way many Sicilian immigrants to the US once saw the Mafia?Given what I've read, it's a little of both.
The Sczarni see themselves as defenders of Varisian culture, or more accurately, they think that it's okay to deceive and rob non-Varisians as payback for the many years of cultural abuse at the hands of Taldans and Chelaxians. They're not as interested in preserving Varisian core values as much as taking what they want because they feel the world owes them.
Most average Varisians, both nomadic and settled, view the Sczarni as a cultural black eye. Because the Sczarni stir up trouble by the very nature of their enterprises, they're essentially the source of most modern prejudice against Varisians, the reason people think all Varisians are thieves and liars. Most Varisians that DO hold to their traditions and stuff hate the Sczarni as a result, and refuse to associate with them.
It's sort of a vicious cycle. People are racist against Varisians because they think they're criminals by nature, and as a result, some Varisians become embittered and join Sczarni families to get vengeance and survive, which feeds into the negative stereotype of the Varisian criminal, etc.
So that would imply the Sczarni are low-status rejects among the Varisians, even if they tend to avoid preying on other Varisians? That would seem to tally with the non-clan-based gang structures described for the Sczarni, and put them pretty firmly in the Bruderbond model. So comparing them to criminals in London, where I live, they'd bear more resemblance to eg the Afro-Caribbean street gangs (with no status in respectable Afro-Caribbean society) than to the more common family based or hybrid criminal organisations of the old east-end English Cockneys, or the more recent Turks & Kurds, Romany Gypsies, Irish Travellers etc, which are more of a Sicilian Mafia model, though usually on a smaller scale.
I can work with that, I just need to think of them as more individualist and less family-oriented than the original model would tend to indicate. The Sczarni then are actually more individualist - more Chelish! - than mainstream Varisian society.
Varisian traveling bands are not likely just one family however extended but more likely 2-4 families with a historical bond - otherwise inbreeding would be a problem. Varisian culture isn't criminal but rather opportunist - as civilization has encroached they've adapted by explointing the advantages of their mobile and socially freer lifestyles and are snake oil salesmen, circus sideshows, performers of all kinds (dancers, mucisians, actors) and so forth. Sczarni are just another adaption only more directly fixed in civilized towns and cities. They still are based on a small circle of known families and have progressed to con games, burglary, drug dealing and the like. I'd hardly call myself well read on the topic but when I've seen sczarni described it's rarely one large group controlling an entire city, rather multiple groups of various strengths. Their cultural background just doesn't incline them to large, hierarchical groups. And they seem not to go in for the worst of criminal activities - assassination, slave trading, etc.
Other Varisians are likely conflicted about Sczarni - with a begrudging admiration for their ability to prosper and exploit the weaknesses of the Chelish and other so-called civilized groups but also burdened by the sczarni's confirmation of the worst stereotypes for Varisians.
Varisian traveling bands are not likely just one family however extended but more likely 2-4 families with a historical bond - otherwise inbreeding would be a problem.
Inbreeding problems tail off rapidly with distance of relatedness, hence clans and hunter-gatherer bands are viable. Globally, inbreeding within an extended family network remains very common IRL.
Varisian culture isn't criminal but rather opportunist - as civilization has encroached they've adapted by explointing the advantages of their mobile and socially freer lifestyles and are snake oil salesmen, circus sideshows, performers of all kinds (dancers, mucisians, actors) and so forth. Sczarni are just another adaption only more directly fixed in civilized towns and cities. They still are based on a small circle of known families and have progressed to con games, burglary, drug dealing and the like.
That's a different take on the topic that's interesting, thanks. So on this view the Sczarni are just one aspect of normal Varisian society.
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I'd imagine it's a bit of a sliding scale. Sczarni being what you call those varisians the person feels go to far. The chelish smith thinks the cunning merchant family are sczarni. The merchants view the con-game pick-pockets as sczarni, who laugh at the idea because they've had to pay protection money to the real sczarni, which offends the gang who stole from the bank of Abadar because a true sczarni would never threaten another varisian.
I'd imagine it's a bit of a sliding scale. Sczarni being what you call those varisians the person feels go to far. The chelish smith thinks the cunning merchant family are sczarni. The merchants view the con-game pick-pockets as sczarni, who laugh at the idea because they've had to pay protection money to the real sczarni, which offends the gang who stole from the bank of Abadar because a true sczarni would never threaten another varisian.
Brilliant, thanks! :D
The Sandpoint Sczarni are likely to be appearing soon IMC, this gives me lots to work with.
Glad I could be helpful. ^_^
Sandpoint is wonderful place to play in.
Glad I could be helpful. ^_^
Sandpoint is wonderful place to play in.
5 3-hour chatroom sessions so far, and I've barely scratched the surface. :) I'm running Rise of the Runelords, been doing maybe 1-2 pages of the actual AP each session (last time was the Boar Hunt, + Lonjiku confronts Ameiko), and having a *great* time with the town and its quirky residents. :) Two of my PCs have allied with the Scarnettis, another is a Deverin and plotting to destroy them!
I suspect that may be because Ustalav's people are ethnically Varisian, and have settled down to the point that ONLY the Sczarni families still wander. Ustalav Varisians are very different though. They apparently came to the area as conquerors, rather than nomads.
Nomads who became conquerors is what Rule of Fear implies. This is also why there's so much racial enmity between the Varisians of Ustalav and the Kellids.
PathfinderWiki describes the Sczarni as a loose collection of Varisian crime families and does not mention Ustalav.
But it does say under the organization sidebar "Scope: Regional (Wherever significant numbers of Varisians can be found)."
Since significant numbers of Varisians can be found in Ustalav, it follows that there are Sczarni families there as well.
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I suspect that may be because Ustalav's people are ethnically Varisian, and have settled down to the point that ONLY the Sczarni families still wander. Ustalav Varisians are very different though. They apparently came to the area as conquerors, rather than nomads.
I interpret the Varisians of Ustalav as mainly mimicking the Taldans of southern Avistan. Unlike other nations, now the Varisians had a nation to call their own and settled down.
In my Carrion Crown game, I call most of the settled Ustalavic Varisians and their nobles the "High Varisians," who actually look down on their traditionalist cousins for their nomadic ways and failure to adopt the customs of true civilization (i.e., Taldan aristocracy).