Robin D. Laws's Blog, page 117

I Didn't Know They Were Mutually Exclusive

Korad: Tied Polls Bring Schism

Last week's four polls, wrapping up the last controversial elements of Koradi imperial ideology, wound up with an unprecedented three ties.

The fourth item, determining the key words for Koradi architecture, started as a tie but gained separation as voting continued. As of the close of polling on Monday night, 60% of you favored beautiful austerity over Iron Age brutalism.

For the rest, essentially even polling results obviously indicates controversy within Koradi society.

On the question of where Koradi believe ideas come from, one vote separated those who feel they come from humankind and then are revealed to the gods, versus those who feel they come from the uber-goddess, the Prime Mother, and are then transmitted to people connected to the divine, and then to the lesser gods. Obviously, then, Koradi themselves are split down the middle on this question. (As you'll recall, the fantastic magic of this world never conclusively proves any metaphysical statement, leaving room for disagreement. Presumably the more conservative, matrician elements favor the Prime Mother, with a comparatively progressive half of the population attributing idea generation to humankind.

The origin of the Koradi custom requiring them to leave unused meat outside at night exposed another one-vote split. Half of thought this was a tribute to the Veytikka. The other half thought it was a tribute to the Veytikka, granted because they are formerly Koradi outcasts. I'm ruling that this too signals a matter of controversy. Half of the Koradi believe that the Veytikka descend from, or perhaps are even mutated from, their own outcasts. Half do not. We'll see what the Veytikka believe about this when we get to them.

In the very late going, enough votes came in to tip the last virtual tie in a definitive direction. By three votes, we now know that slaves can be elevated to a second-class citizen status, still beholden to their matrician patrons. 53% of votes went this way, as opposed to 47% who wanted a kinder, gentler Korad willing to elevate slaves to full status.

That leaves us with a big new chunk of exposition for the Korad bible. Check the Scribd document or venture past the jump:


Families, Guilds and Secrets
The connection between public and private life, between family and empire, is the guild. They are strong, militaristic, extremely tight-knit & often based on family ties. They believe in sharing some of their basic knowledge with everyone who will listen, they will even have public libraries, but the jealously guard their secrets carefully passing them down to initiates. They believe in experimenting and trying repeatedly to improve things, even in the face of failure and defeat.

To blackmail a powerful Koradi is not to reveal her secrets, but to reveal that she's failed to properly manage your guild's private information.

Everyone sits around in private, comes up with a decision, largely made by the women, then the patriarch takes that decision to other groups.

Dissent among the elect in the capital must not spill out into the "public hearth" of the empire at large. The hoi polloi around the village hearth do not discuss matters in your home.

That is, I may disagree with my brothers (or sisters), but when we face the cousins (colonials, Imperial provinces) we are unanimous. Special, sealed archives are kept for dissenting opinions. In the private houses of the Lords.

From Guild to Government
Korad's dedication to merit, knowledge and egalitarianism shows in it's Imperial Examination system. Much like Imperial China, Young men and women go through rounds of exams to determine their intelligence, aptitude and ability. These exams determine your placement when you begin your compulsory military service; smarter youths are placed a track to become engineers, officers and scribes, while those with poor test scores are the cannon fodder.

Since this represents the system that is collapsing, it has become corrupt. The lack of a universal quality education system and the bias of the exams and the examiners mean that for the most part, how much money your family/guild has determines how well you do in exams.

Bureaucrats must express themselves using a highly formal, poetically inflected language. Art in letters is the mark of the truly cultured and enlightened administrator. A failure in literary allusion can discredit an otherwise sound proposal (so that it might be submitted anew by a more eloquent proposer).

The Secret Matriarchy
Matrilineal inheritance puts a strong emphasis on the role of mother in the family. One side effect of this is that becoming a mother is the biog status change in the life of a woman, rather than becoming a wife. A mother moves out of her own mother's home, and mothers do not serve in the front lines of the military. This has the further effect of a baby boom every time Korad starts a major war, as young women who want to avoid battle try to get pregnant to stay out of the front lines.

Women are the keepers of history. Going back to oral histories passed down from mother to daughter, in modern Korad, women are expected to preserve the knowledge and history of the family. Literate women maintain family histories going back to the founding of their line. Tradeswomen are the ones who maintain trade journals, guild records and are responsible for training the next generation of workers.

Failure, Scientism, and Inquiry
The Koradi language has several different words meaning "fail" or "failure". 

Earlier in the development of the culture, success by any means was celebrated and applauded, while failure was condemned. The rise of scientific knowledge and the concept of experiments (such as the culture has them), and the development of military strategy (where to lose a battle may be to win a war) led to the idea that success could be achieved in spite of temporary failure, or even that failure could be an eventual route to success (axiom 13). It was tied into religion in axiom 3: even the gods must learn new things. In Koradi culture, there is no such thing as perfection.

The language changed to match this, with various different versions of "failure"/"to fail" evolving: "to fail utterly", "to fail but learn a lesson through it", "to deliberately fail as part of a larger plan", "and "a necessary failure as part of a process". Some of these are single words, while others are proverbial or slangy phrases.

Religion
Koradi place great emphasis on the mother as producer of children; their supreme deity is the Black Goat of the Fens (whom is symbolized by the sacred goat of the marriage ceremony), a million-teated, ever-pregnant creator who spews out fragments of the cosmos, which given enactment and form by her soldier-demiurges. 

The Festival of Ideas
The most important festival of the Koradi year is the Festival of Ideas, which occurs in midWinter. It is celebrated in all cities, towns, and villages of the empire. On this day, everyone dresses in costumes to conceal their identity, much like we might at Hallowe'en or Carnival. It's a bit like Saturnalia, in the sense that all social and class distinctions are (in theory) suspended for the day. 

However, the celebrations are not frivolous. Rather, this is a day for anyone who feels so inclined to come forward and to offer an Idea, without fear of censure or of being called foolish. An Idea can be any sort of proposal or observation. It may be based in magic, or science, or (more rarely, as the Koradi are still notoriously focused on the pragmatic) the arts. 

"Hey, why don't we dip a piece of string in a cylinder of melted wax, let it harden, and set the exposed part of the string on fire at night to produce light?" 
"I've noticed that this magic spell is stronger when performed at midnight, especially when the three moons are aligned in *this* configuration." 
"I think we should fence off the western meadow of our village as common ground for all to use." 
"I have an idea for a bardic story where the villain tries to kill a seaborne enemy by putting lots ofvenemous serpents on his ship!"

At the end of the day, the priest(esse)s of the God(dess) of Knowledge decide which is the best Idea. This is restated as an offering to the Gods, and noted down in the temple records. Over the next few weeks (as the Spring campaigning season approaches), each community's chosen Idea is communicated to the sect's High Temple in Onyxbridge. Any that may have general application thus have a chance to be evaluated and adopted by the sect's leadership and/or the Empire's leaders, to the benefit of the entire Empire. 

Because of the pseudo-anonymity of the process, the greatest of leaders can present wild ideas without fear of losing face if their Idea is shot down, while the humblest of beggars can be sure that his Idea will be considered as carefully as any other, purely on its own merits. Of course people may have some hints of who the presenter of any given Idea is, especially in small communities: but the polite fiction of anonymity is maintained. In particular, there is a profound social taboo against criticizing anyone for a bad Idea, both during and after the festival. 

However, this anonymity is winked at in the case of a good Idea. In addition to winning the favour of the Gods, the proposer of a good Idea may find their community standing increases - unofficially, that is. Formally only the Gods are supposed to know who proposed what Idea, and you are never supposed to *expect* any sort of public recognition for your Idea - that's horribly gauche and impious. 

Claiming the credit for an Idea that was actually somebody else's is the worst possible act of blasphemy. This is mitigated if two or more people propose the same idea independently (it has been known to happen) or if someone is given credit for an Idea without realizing it: but it's still thorny theological ground.
The better educated are certainly more adept at explaining any particular idea, leading to a bias in the theoretically equitable ritual.

Also, ideas must be stated as generalities or refer to already-established social groups. Naming names is strictly prohibited. 

And, of course, any idea generated by a woman has to be handed off to a male communicant. While women still don the appropriate dark-sheeted disguises, they do not deign to speak. This is the result of an ancient intersection of the festival tradition and the structure of the Matrician class system, which originated in two different pre-Koradi societies in the far and forgotten past. The women are not forbidden to speak ideas themselves, nor is there any prohibition or consequence to doing so on the books, it's just never done. Doing so would still offer up private knowledge to the public.

Conservative matricians believe that ideas originate with a primal mother goddess, the Black Goat of the Fens. From her they are communicated to people possessing a special connection to the divine spark. They are then transmitted through people to the lesser deities. As many people say that gods, even the prime mother, can't change or have new ideas, and that innovation is a strictly human preserve.

Frivolity is Forbidden
The Koradi are never frivolous. Frivolity among natural-born Koradi is punished severely. Accordingly, the costumes are all dark grey sheets distributed by the Temple of the Lord of Knowledge.

Outside innovation is forbidden in aesthetic matters. The Koradi abjure what is considered 'art' or 'decoration' from obscene foreigners, as judged by the familia censor. Accusations of foreign artistic taste may be brought against families by others, or the civil slaves operating the religious bureaucracy, and may involve redistribution of land holdings or being stripped of personal wealth if found guilty (with any results of foreign artistic inspiration being summarily destroyed in the ritual garbage pits).

Koradi anti-ornamentation standards are aggressively enforced.  Korad architecture is beautiful, but in a simple, austere way. Decoration and art are things other, weaker, foreign people do. Architectural ability is highly prized, but the resulting basilicas lack anything that could be accused of being frivolous.

Spying and Thievery
The Koradi focus on gaining knowledge means that certain forms of spying and thievery are viewed as entirely honourable. However, there is a sharp distinction between those that are honourable and those that are not. Spying or theft that succeeds because of shrewd observation and cleverness are virtuous and noble: however, any such acts that rely on treachery and/or brute force are contemptible.

A clever spy or thief who cases out a building, and later returns to sneak in through the weak points and steal valuable information or jewels gains honour, in much the way that a brave soldier wins honour for winning on open fight. However, a spy or thief who robs that same building by gaining employment as a servant there and being entrusted with the key by the owner, or who bribes such a servant, is doing something contemptible - like a soldier who sneaks up on his opponent and stabs him in the back.

HOWEVER, a spy or thief who gains employment at a building across the way in order to be able to watch the first building is still being honourable, as long as (s)he does not rob from or cause other negative consequences to their employer. This is sometimes difficult for outsiders from a non-Koradi culture to understand, but to the Koradi themselves the difference is so obvious that it goes without saying.

So basically covert observation, sneaking around, and trickery are all perfectly honourable. However betrayal, seduction, infiltration, bribery, brute force, and extortion are not.

If caught, an honourable spy/thief is considered to be like a prisoner of war: someone to be treated with respect until they can be ransomed or traded. A dishonourable spy/thief is a common criminal, richly deserving scorn and harsh punishment. This distinction helps explain why the stealthy sea raiders of Blackflag are quietly tolerated, and why the ex-piratical mayor of Stiltport is in fact widely admired.

In military campaigns, the Empire places great emphasis on spying and scouting, with the aim of gathering enough information to plan the perfect campaign. This takes time, so the Empire is often slow to act: but when it acts, it usually does so with great effectiveness.

Status
Slaves can never rise to the heights of imperial society. Slaves may be elevated to a quasi-citizenship, stillb beholden to their matrician patrons.

The Veytikka
Koradi pay homage to their longstanding relationship with the mysterious carrion-eaters known as the Veytikka. Custom requires them to leave unused meat out for them. Half of Koradi say that this is because their own outcasts once became Veytikka. Perhaps some of them still do.

The Birds

The updated archive is here!

Please Tell Me You're Being Ironic

Ripped From the Headlines: The Kiss of Yig

Normally Ripped from the Headlines features scenario premises for The Esoterrorists. Today's news story seems to cry out for a Trail of Cthulhu treatment—perhaps in the modern day.

When reports surface that the venom of certain poisonous snakes induces a intoxicating effect strong enough to get through to hardened opiate abusers, a cadre of jaded libertines heads to Oklahoma snake country. There they set out to find a local shaman willing to provide them with a venom-derived hallucinogen known as the Kiss of Yig. At the behest of a concerned relative, the investigators attempt to intercept them before they successfully establish a widespread distribution network for the mind- and body-shattering, supernatural drug.

Ree Dolly as Iconic Hero

I've written before, here and in Hamlet's Hit Points, of the iconic hero: the serial character who does not undergo a story arc, but instead remains steadfast against pressure to change. Instead, the iconic hero changes the world, resolving disorder and solving problems. (The iconic hero is also the centerpiece of two upcoming Stone Skin Press anthologies, starting with The New Hero.)

A character can conform to this pattern without having multiple adventures. You don't see it often, because readers and viewers expect the protagonist of a standalone work to be a dramatic hero, who does transform.

Ree Dolly, the heroine of the book and movie Winter's Bone, proves the point.


She remains determined and true to her goals throughout as she deals with the disappearance of her meth-cooker father, and the threat that bail bondsmen will claim the family homestead. The people in her father's criminal orbit keep discouraging her, and she keeps at them, until she solves the central problem.

Were author Daniel Woodrell to choose to write a follow-up novel, Ree Dolly could easily become a serial iconic hero according to the classic pattern. Until then, she's an example of a standalone protagonist who follows the iconic hero template.

Mattie Ross (True Grit) is another young woman protagonist of a novel and recent Oscar-buzzed film characterized by her preternatural steadfastness. She however more clearly undergoes an arc, from innocence to experience, as marked by a serpent's bite.

The Birds

The updated archive is here!

Korad: Where Do Ideas Come From?

Remarkable concord characterized our spitballing process. In last week's comments much was decided about the imperial, secretly matriarchal ideology of knowledge, militarism and expansion.

A few issues remain.

Where do ideas come from? Are they of purely mortal origin, an innovation then offered to the gods? Or are they a fragment of the divine spark, originating from the Prime Mother, the Black Goat of the Fens, to which persons in good standing are permitted glimpses? This second thought would also tell us about Koradi religion: there are the lesser gods one interacts with, and the primal goddess who underlies all things.

View Poll: #1712994

Why do the Koradi have a tradition stating that unused meat must be left outside? Is it to feed the carrion-eating Veytikka people, to whom the Koradi made an ancient pact now remembered in parable form? Or was it part of an official policy of over-population, in which most Koradi are disinherited at puberty and forced to fend for themselves. In this version, the aggression and need for resources of the outcasts drove the imperial expansion.

Or does the truth lie in between? Do outcasts transform into inhuman Veytikka?

View Poll: #1712995

Are slaves from non-Koradi culture who prove themselves allowed to rise through the ranks of power? Or are they entitled merely to a more prestigious level of service?

View Poll: #1712996

The Koradi have now been established as dour, gray-hooded despisers of frivolity. To what extent does this translate to their architecture?

View Poll: #1712997

Odyssey Con

I will be at Madison, Wisconsin's Odyssey Con, or Oddcon, as it is affectionately known, as one of its guests of honor. The con runs from April 8th to 10th at the Radisson in Madison. (If only more events were held at venues that rhyme with the names of their cities!) Oddcon is a general interest gaming and science fiction convention. I look forward to catching up with the midwestern gamer and geek elite, including a number of authors slated for various Stone Skin Press projects. I'll be up to the usual GoH duties, including panels and a reading. Swing by and say hi if you're in the area.

There will still be a Madison, WI at the beginning of April, right?

Dramatic Irony and Reward Mechanisms

In response to a previous post on the confirmation reveal, queex asks:

Do you have any thoughts on which games manage to build in this sort of suspense well? Does there have to be some sort of reward for allowing your character to suffer if your player knowledge could save them in order for you to 'buy-in' to the suspense rather than seeking out harmonisation early?

How to handle the character knowledge/player knowledge split has traditionally been a matter for play style rather than rules structure. The original oral tradition of GMing that sprang from D&D told us to keep these two things harmonized. If a dungeon bashing party split up, the GM separated the resulting groups into two rooms and alternated running the game between them. This became less common over time without any game introducing a mechanism to discourage it. You can use separation of knowlege and dramatic irony style with present-day D&D, or any flavor of old-school D&D. Cultural expectations may require Gygax/Arnesonian neo-fundamentalists to observe the old ways, but the rules dictate nothing about it one way or the other.

As far as reward mechanisms are concerned, I think we generally overestimate their efficacy in shaping player behavior. This is especially true when dealing with story and narrative considerations. You might get some limited bang for the buck on the crunchier side of the spectrum. But even when you think of the granddaddy of all reward mechanisms, the D&D experience point, it mostly bribes you into doing what you're there to do in the first place—fight monsters and take their stuff.

Negative reward systems are sometimes more effective. They tell you what the game is meant to discourage. It's that framing or signaling, that creation of expectations, that does the trick, rather than whatever mechanical punishment is putatively associated with it. For example, in GUMSHOE games with Drives (motivations that ensure you act like a character in the genre at hand), few if any groups ever see a penalty imposed for shirking. The mere requirement that you think about your Drive is almost always sufficient to inspire the desired result. When it isn't, it's because a player is resisting the entire premise and really wants to play something else—a problem not fixable via any rules mechanism.

So in a game where I want to use dramatic irony, I don't impose a rules structure or offer a reward. I just explain to the players how the device is going to work. In practice, players tend to dig the suspense and if anything bend the situation to delay the moment of information harmony when their knowledge and the characters' converge. This may be because dramatic irony in RPGs most often arises in situations where the characters are at odds with one another. It's more fun to have them working at cross-purposes and suffering from information starvation than for everyone to always be on the same page. And in tabletop gaming, that amorphous sense of joy and pleasure we call fun is the real reward mechanism.