Moonrise- discussion thread

Discuss away. The RP proper should start in two days.

What are the ruling thoughts on Mercenary bands?

Depends on the region.

The Shiak-ku don't actually allow mercenary bands within their borders. Anyone who wants to make their living by fighting without being part of a local militia or the Shiak (the national military) has to sign on as an "Irregular Soldier" (nearest translation), and is closely monitored by the central government, required to make regular check-ins with local officials and give a fill out paperwork a week in advance before traveling outside their current locale, including such information as intended destination, reason for travel, estimated travel time, and any villages or towns that will be passed through along the way. These "irregulars" are contracted by local officials to handle matters ranging from civil unrest to tracking down escaped criminals.

Officially, Mal'artahn's opinion of any given mercenary band depends on how many men are in it, as well as how loudly they say their prayers. Unofficially, however, mercenaries are the bane of many a priestess' existence. Mal'artahn's policy of snatching any man caught without written permission from his spouse is easy enough to circumvent; mercenary bands employing men often have women within their ranks pose as wives for the unmarried men of their companies. Others require a man seeking membership to wed one of their women as part of the initiation. Some mercenary bands take this a step further and offer marriage as one of their services, temporarily marrying one of their women to a man who needs to enter the country but doesn't fancy being imprisoned for the rest of his life, with particularly bold groups selling their services to men within the districts, marrying them in the city and transporting them to nations more accepting of their gender. Whether the "couple" seeks an annulment afterwards varies; some mercenary women are meticulous about such things, but others have admitted to having as many as ten husbands, by official counts. As one of the only ways for a man to escape the chattel role Mal'artahn culture forces him into, mercenaries tend to be beloved by Mal'artahn men and scorned by the women.

Karllanders tend to regard foreign mercenaries much the same as they might view a stranger's wolfhound. Potentially useful, certainly, and preferable to the wolves, but dangerous, unpredictable, and best left well enough alone. Mercenary Karllanders, meanwhile, are just Karllanders with swords, unless they've taken up arms against Karlland in service to a foreign nation. Such traitors find no welcome in Karlland, and are best off not eating, drinking, or sleeping anywhere near native Karllanders.

Ibenta looks down on mercenaries, who typically lack titles, ranks, or any other distinctions that would help them advance in Ibentan society. However, many nobles employ them as a sort of "wild card" in power-plays; a new group of mercenaries can't have been bought off by the competition yet, making them a hot commodity, for all the nobles' bluster.

edited 9th Sep '16 12:27:53 AM by Dragon573

The Azmanche regard mercenaries as useful, and you will often find many mercenary bands of Azmanche. They can be slightly more trustworthy than other bands.

The game is live.

Wait a minute. Vamp, what are you doing?

I have no idea.

So, here's the thing. I think there might have been some miscommunication. As simply as I can put it, I thought you were signing up to have this guy going after the fugitive like everyone else, because that's what this RP is supposed to be about; pursuing a fugitive in Karlland, not leading a warband against Ibenta.

To use an analogy, for me, this is kinda like turning up for D&D night to run Keep On The Shadowfell, having everyone make characters for it, and then having one member of the party say he's half the world away, looking for the entrance to the Tomb Of Horrors so he can fight Acererak.

I'll fix it.

I've been waiting on Secret to post, but it has been two days. I'm going to send Secret a PM. If I don't hear anything shortly, or if Secret isn't interested anymore, I'll get us moving along.

edited 13th Sep '16 11:45:40 PM by Dragon573