Institutional and Leadership Experience

 There are by now a number of institutions in Cothon-Gadeed and its hinterlands which have been invested in and developed by, or are outright run by player-characters. Most ambitious, perhaps, is Sesel's iqta', which includes the fortified tower he was granted permission to construct by the Souffets, as well as a colony of Klackons he installed on his lands. Fort Bugeater is now another such stronghold to be developed by him and Censor Pako; but there are also Fort Doghouse in the Ocean's Throat; Bob Hall in the nearby caverns; also in said caverns, the renyu tribe of the Was'go; within Cothon itself are Durham's Ringing Anvil, Fa Min's dojo, Heijo's teashop, and the confraternities of Najm (St. Iskameen) and of Arngeir (a saint whose name the scribes don't immediately recall, unfortunately). There is also still, in Old Tsurr, the Crag Keep of Lord Althis and his compatriot (whose name the scribes have also forgotten, alas).

Nods have been made toward the various ways these institutions might be further developed, or put to use by their patrons. But these have mostly been material, either as acquisitions or assets of the institutions, related directly in some way to money or other directly material gains. What I want to explore now is the possibility of the development of the "spirit", one might say, of the patrons of these institutions. Pockets can certainly be lined by leveraging institutional growth--but what about, instead, seeking growth of one's qualities of leadership and of the esprit de corps of the institution itself?

I've seen systems where player-characters can earn experience for the expenses they spend on building and maintaining domains, which I am not currently proposing. Instead, per a conversation with Jacob (player of Sesel), I've had a different kind of thought, one more closely tied to the idea of learning through leadership and the commanding of followers and retainers.

So this is my thought:

Institution holders with man-at-arms or magic-using type followers who send these followers on a quest or expedition should earn for themselves some fraction of the total experience points earned by their followers, as a part of their growing experience in command and leadership. For this game, in the same way that retainers or followers under the command of a player-character earn 50% of the PC's experience "sui-generis" (i.e. it doesn't come out of the total pool of xp), then leadership experience will also be generated separately and not come out of the pool of experience of those followers sent on the mission.

The leader's experience gain will not be a fraction of any individual's earned experience, but instead a fraction of the entire pool of experience points. Just what fraction is right isn't immediately clear to me, and we will almost certainly have to run through some different ventures at this before coming to the right portion. My initial thought is 20% of the total experience of the expedition; but it's not clear if this will be too generous (I still want to see institution-holding PCs adventure for the sro's share of their xp) or if it would be too stingy (thus making it unworthy of the attention of an institution holder to even bother).

The offering of bounties might be an additional method for characters to earn leadership experience points, especially for those who are higher in level, flush with cash, and yet who do not personally direct any men-at-arms or magic-users who might adventure on their behalf.

I don't have a clear sense of how bounties or rewards might translate into experience points in this way. My first thought is perhaps that a bounty of 200 dinars x character level might be the maximum amount that could earn experience for one-to-one rates (dn to xp), but putting such a flat cap on experience from quests doesn't seem quite right. A fraction like what I suggested for other institution holders seems more appropriate. But perhaps this shouldn't be a separate class of inspiration for a quest; perhaps those who inspire a quest through offer of bounties or rewards should earn the same fraction of experience points from an expedition as those who send their direct vassals on a quest, and the bounty just happens to be the means of inspiration, instead of any sense of loyalty or fealty.

I'm interested to hear what others think of this idea; and also interested in testing this idea out directly for those interested in inspiring quests and earning experience indirectly through the success of their underlings in such expeditions.

It should be noted that direct leadership of followers or retainers in a larger context, i.e. in battles or other military matters, would garner a leader-type experience in the normal fashion, through the defeat of enemies and the acquisition of spoils. What is under consideration here is the sending or inspiration of followers or retainers into adventurous undertakings of their own.

Session #107: Expedition to Babilar

[written up by Jacob, who refereed this expedition--thanks, Jacob!]

Having heard tales of a mystical place called Babilar, a group of adventurers captained by Najm started asking questions around Cothon, to hear more about this strange place. They met one Adelaid Mistsplitter, an old sailor woman who was, in fact, offloading goods traded for from Babilar! They learned several things from the salty woman, and ultimately the following crew set out towards the Denyan Isles in search of the city on 12/28/23.

Najm (captain, MU7)
Fa Mei (1st mate, F4)
Durham (F8)
Pako (R5)
Bart (MU9)
Gan (F7)
Fa Min (E4)
Demitrytus (F2)
Heijo (MU7)

While the expedition has yet to return some 2 weeks later, the party has been exploring and adventuring in Babilar, so the chroniclers have yet to hear any specific word as to the current status of the crew, the crew themselves have received the following.

The crew made several trades for goods, including:

1 barrel of wine-salt
1 4x4x4 crate of blumes (these small, deep blue colored fruit which glow with about the brightness of a small candle, and are very, very sweet)
1 4x4x4 create of babyas (these are oblong-ish, with a wide base, a bright orange color; also glowing, but bright enough for a single one to be about 2/3 that of a fresh lit torch, these are very juicy with an almost bitter taste to the flesh)

The Lucre from this session (note that the gp/ep/sp are foreign currency and would need to be changed to dinars/etc if they are to be used in Cothon-Gadeed):

• 180 gp, 70 ep 60 sp
• An aquamarine gem worth 500 dn
• A quartz gem worth 10 dn
  

The Learning

• 500 xp

The Cut from this session is yet to be determined; it will be apportioned after the conclusion of the second session in Babilar, which was played 13 January, with Jacob as referee again. The company will be returning to Cothon-Gadeed thereafter.

The Long Wake

With the Night of the Watch (at the start of this week) begins the month-long public mourning period of the Long Wake, commemorating the many fallen heroes and others who fell throughout the long period of the Man-Kzin Wars centuries past. This period has, perhaps, especial poignancy this year as the threat of the Red Cloud and his Kzinti warbands hangs over the cities of Cothon-Gadeed.

Beginning this evening, the nights will be filled with the sound of drums, the high eerie trilling of elegiac pipes, and the keening of mourning songs. Professional mourners like the Poor Brothers of the Dead will begin processions memorializing the dead, both within the city and along the Pallbearers' Way, and they will also bear both those who have recently died to be interred in the Necropolis of the Tel al Safina as well as sacrifices to be dedicated to the dead already there. These sacrifices are of course be bloodless--sweet cakes and milk--for it is not wise to give bloody victims to the dead.

At the end of the Long Wake will be Stillest Night (on 27 January), a commemoration specifically of the poet-squire Nguen hla Rii standing silent watch over his slain master, the warrior Karkhor, composing the death song as he waited for dawn to come for him to retrieve Kharkor's corpse to Tsurr after a disastrous battle. This is a week of silent mourning when nothing new is undertaken and no downtime is to be undertaken even by barbarians.

And then, as Stillest Night ends, the next week brings the beginning of the Coreguyi Games! These are the great circuit of athletic and gladiatorial games, mostly held within the huge Coreguyi Arena in Cothon, which begin the solar-year cycle of the Tripartite Games. These Games will be held during the week ending 3 February this year, and more information will be provided for them then.

For player-characters interested in participating in the Long Wake, the scribes suggest these opportunities (these are suggestions; individuals may describe for themselves what they are paying for if they prefer otherwise):

Gold Spent	Public Mourning
25 dn	Pay for a great mess of pottage of beans and greens for the Poor Brothers
50 dn	Hire torchbearers for a procession to the Necropolis
100 dn	Pay for a Poor Brother's stint as a tomb-watcher for the month
250 dn	Dedicate a burial mask of a hero in silver or electrum to the Necropolis
500 dn	Hire gladiators for a private funeral games for the recent dead

Any player-character who spends at least 100 dinars will get +1 on reactions with the Poor Brothers of the Dead for the rest of the year. Spending 500+ dinars on ostentatious public mourning will extend this +1 on reactions to the Dual-Cities at large.

A Procession for a Princess

Some months ago, Iqtadar Sesel received a petition from the Mnor Klackons who make up a portion of the population of his iqta': in short, we demand a princess for ourselves, so that we may be fruitful and multiply--and if you do not, we will seize one!

Here are the arguments with which they put forth their petition, in short (not being the full presentation, but rumors of what was argued to Sesel):

• We are no longer outcasts and dregs barely surviving at the edge of society, but are now organized in the service of a Spire (i.e. Sesel's tower)

• We have provided good service to this Spire in helping to build its infrastructure and maintain its fields (however strange it is to eat the produce of the land, rather than eating the fungal fruits of the fruits of the land)

• We assist in the common defense of this Spire

• Yet we are left bereft, incapable of maintaining our population in service to this Spire! This injustice is injurious, both to ourselves and our lineage which is denied, as well as to the Spire itself, and to the City of which the Spire is only a part, like to a drone being part of the body politic of a Spire

• Therefore, we petition our Ersatz-Princess Sesel to acquire for us a true breeding princess, wherewith to begin replenishing our numbers and the health of our body politic

Hearing these arguments from the subjects dwelling on his iqta', Sesel ultimately ventured directly to the Attine Spire and requested an audience with the princess of the Fifth House (with whom he and others have had the most communication, during the affairs of the cleansing of the Sixth House).

Though many were aghast to hear of the possible intermixing of one of the blood of the Fifth House to intermix with Mnor outcasts, the translator Txach'achit warmed to Sesel's arguments for the mutual benefit of such an agreement and argued eloquently on behalf of his friend's request to his princess--and she, after much hedging and uncertainty, finally acquiesced to allow a junior cousin of her line to be taken by Sesel as a princess for his Mnor.

But not merely taken, of course--as is only proper, there must be a grand procession for such a union!

So, in order to effect this union, Sesel must organize the procession for his Mnor Klackons (and/or other subjects) to receive this princess into their company at the Attine Spire and then transmit her to his iqta', in a representation of a kind of faux-raptio (abduction), which the Attine Klackons observe as a ritual remembrance of their past as many separate spires having to abduct princesses from each other.

Sesel must, in addition to picking the date*:

1. Spend a minimum of 1000 dinars on trappings for this procession (and may earn xp equal to the gold spent above this minimum, to a max of 100 times his level)
2. Spend a minimum of 2500 dinars on a feast for the bride's reception to her new "Spire" (the iqta') (and may earn xp equal to the gold spent above this minimum, to a max of 100 times his level)
3. Describe the procession in a write-up to be posted to this chronicle. Necessary trappings are:
1. a suitable gift for the princess (300-1800 dinars would be suitable; if Sesel spends in excess of 1800, he may earn extra xp as above)
2. fungal lightbearers to lead the way
3. armed guards for the protection of the princess (pay a special wage for the procession, i.e. a full month's pay for mercenaries per the table from the book; pay humans as normal, but pay for any Klackons, e.g. the Mnor, as if they are Elves--and once again, any money spent here will earn Sesel xp up to 100 times his level)
4. optionally, if Sesel invites leveled friends, he may pay them as special guards at 100 gold per level, and earn xp equal to that for each one involved)

*a note on the date--it would be considered bad form in Cothon-Gadeed to pick the week ending 27 January for this procession, as that is the week of Stillest Night when it's evil luck to start anything new

The guards may seem at first blush to be ceremonial, and they certainly are--but let it be noted that they may also be necessary, as they once were. One mere fact is that a procession overland from the Spire to the iqta' has the chance of running into some dangerous beast from which the princess will need to be protected. More realistically, however, there are definitely interests against the union of a Fifth House princess to a colony of outcast Mnor. It may be that such ill feeling toward this union could instigate a counter-raptio, in which Klackons from the Spire would rush forth to attempt to seize the princess and return her to the Fifth House--a coup which would no doubt end any possibility of such a union being successful in the future.

So the guards may be necessary as they were in the old ritual, as insurance against a counter-raid against the procession. It's up to Sesel to determine how seriously he wishes to take this concern--and therefore how many guards to hire and how well to arm them.

This will be a downtime action taken by Sesel (or by Zaida if he can convince her with a 7+ on two dice). Anyone else involved does not need to spend a downtime to participate, as they're not really planning anything, just taking a day out for a procession and feast.