Latest revision as of 01:16, 6 April 2010

Two-Bit Shankara

There is, in the south, a rather mediocre city that likely wouldn't even be on the map if it were not for its location at the crossroads of major traderoutes. Serving as a stopping point for caravans of all types, it is a merchant's city, filled with brightly colored tents, plodding yeddim, and, most importantly, moneylenders.

In this rather unremarkable city lives a rather unremarkable guard. One would easily lose the face of Two-Bit in the crowd if he saw him. Like his fellow citizens, he is dark in skin, with firm muscles, a vaguelly unattractive face, a foolish grin, and dull brown eyes. His armor has seen better days, and his swordsmanship is... lacking. He enjoys a good drink now and then, though, and is very generous with the money he has.

Perhaps too generous.

It is not known how it came to be. It is believed that it was through a highly unlikely combination of bureaucratic mismanagement, over generosity, and dumb luck, though some superstitious guildsmen secretly believe a god meddled in the affairs of the moneylenders. Whatever the cause, Two-Bit, sometimes called "the safest man in the south," has an unprecedented mountain of debt. Though he faithfully pays, it is suspected that it will take centuries of return before his prodigious amount owed has dried up. To make matters even more interesting, there is a law in this city that states if a man is murdered, the murderer must (among a great deal of other things) take responsibility for the victim's debts.

For the amount of debt owed by Two-Bit, an otherwise unimportant fellow, talent after talent would be spent on bounty hunters to track down anyone foolish to slay the unsuspecting guard. With the highly unusual, bureaucratic protection of the vengeful moneylenders looming over his shoulders, not even the most vile of criminals dare harm a hair on the head of Two-bit, lest he call down his enormous debt upon them.

Name:    "Two-Bit" Shankara\\ Nature:  Follower\\ Concept: Dumb guard\\

Attributes

Commentary

Right. I wanted to make sure not every mortal I did was really cool. One of the first that popped to mind was a guard. But how to make a guard interesting? Well I could give him a family, or tie him in with crime, or what have you, but this idea hit me, and I had to run with it.

It really is more of a joke than a serious character, and better suited to less serious and angst ridden games of Exalted (though he can offer a nice break from the savagery of darker games if used correctly) and he's a perfect annoyance for more muscle headed players. Let them enter this city, and do some "illicit" activity. Allow this guard to stumble upon them. Watch them kill him. Easily. Then let them leave the city. Behind them, a HUGE investigation is under way, and it isn't long before the identity of the "murderers" is discovered. Start hounding them with debtors and heavy handed collectors. When bewilderment turns to annoyance, reveal the reason. Allow them to capture one, and question them. Watch their eyes roll as they discover that this is all because of some nameless dead guard in some nameless city. Watch them shrug and offer to pay the debt back. Watch their eyes bug out at the price (at least resources 5). Enjoy them squirming.

Of course, your more socially oriented characters are unlikely to even GET into this mess, and will have no trouble talking their way out, especially the economically savvy Eclipse caste.

But he's a fun idea in any case. The red shirt you never want to kill.

~Mailanka

Heh, you have a very interesting mind Mailanka and this is another case of it paying off. Not nearly as interesting as Helene, but this is an NPC idea that I'm almost certain to go ahead and use in one of my games or at least a variation thereof. The basic idea, while amazingly amusing, is none the less quite interesting and portable:) I also like the 'God' angle, which would go a long way toward making this an even more upraisingly funny scenario, if a Little God was somewhere involved. Heh. - CrownedSun

What's that old quote? "If you owe someone a hundred dollars, he has power over you. But if you owe someone a million dollars you have power over him." -Fade