The art of disguise

[halfhuman]

So, I was sitting here thinking about all the cool illegal stuff that one may or may not be able to find in the Labyrith.  But I also was thinking that the inhabitants of the 'Rinth probably don't much care for the regular citizens of Allenak.  So, how is one to hang around in the 'Rinth without being hated on?  In order to acquire said illegal goods, one would have to talk to a resident of the Labyrinth.  

I could make myself LOOK like a rinthi, but as soon as I said something they'd know I wasn't from the rinth.  So, I was thinking that it'd be cool if I could disguise my voice to make myself sound like I was a rinthi.  People do it every day.  Imitating Brits, Chinese, Mexican's, so on, and so on.  Mind you, they're not very good at it, but as all skills in arm, you can get better with practice.  So what I was thinking is it'd be cool if there was some way to be able to imitate a certain dialect.  

I was thinking that I could emote it:

say (in rinthi accented sirihish) I'll take a knot of your finest spice my good man!

But, to them, that'd just sound like:

The six foot tall gnome says in northern accented sirihish, in rithi accented sirihish  "Bthffghh."

I think it'd be cool if you could change dialects like you change languages, or you could have some sort of syntex to add before speaking commands. I don't know.  Just a thought.

[wizturbo]

It would definitely be nice.  Perhaps it could branch off hearing the dialect enough, and then you could attempt to imitate it.

[joyofdiscord]

But I also was thinking that the inhabitants of the 'Rinth probably don't much care for the regular citizens of Allenak.

Maybe not, but they -do- tend to care for their money.

So, how is one to hang around in the 'Rinth without being hated on?

Who said you had to do that?

In order to acquire said illegal goods, one would have to talk to a resident of the Labyrinth.

Yeah, and what's wrong with that?  Talk to some rinther PC's.  Not all of them stay in the rinth constantly.  Remember the first point above.

I could make myself LOOK like a rinthi, but as soon as I said something they'd know I wasn't from the rinth.  So, I was thinking that it'd be cool if I could disguise my voice to make myself sound like I was a rinthi.  People do it every day.  Imitating Brits, Chinese, Mexican's, so on, and so on.  Mind you, they're not very good at it,

You're right, they aren't.   :wink:  

but as all skills in arm, you can get better with practice.  So what I was thinking is it'd be cool if there was some way to be able to imitate a certain dialect.

The only realistic way to get decent would be to spend a LOT of time around rinthers, and if you can manage that, the reason for wanting the accent is moot, because you are probably "accepted" to some degree.  Also, a feigned accent should realistically be detected, meaning a lot of time getting made fun of or worse for trying to pass yourself off.

Plus, rinthers are going to have other ways of recognizing their own, I'd suspect.  Imagine the fate of someone who decides to score some drugs in the local ghetto by first dressing up in what he imagines a ghetto dweller would wear, then makes a fake, over-the-top stereotypical impression of ghetto talk "Hey, shizzy-dawg, you be having any of the good shit, or 'chronic', as people of our low socioeconomic class prefer to call it."  

The things you ask for and the way you ask for them will also be giveaways.  If you want to make shady deals with a rinther, you need to think like a Nakki who wants to make shady deals with a rinther.  Yeah, the docs explain that people sometimes duck into the rinth for mid-scale business contracts and all that, but how many people -really- want to spend any length of time in that hellhole?

[Spoon]

I've always though of the 'rinth as some kind of uber-ghetto. The commons are what we think of as a gritty, working class society. The Labyrinth is far beyond this, in that if you don't have your wits about you you can almost guarantee being killed for your worthless socks.

[Ghost]

On the idea, I agree with that.  Especially linguists should be able to mimic the accents.  There have been several threats on the subject as well.

Now on the derailment:

So, I was sitting here thinking about all the cool illegal stuff that one may or may not be able to find in the Labyrith.  But I also was thinking that the inhabitants of the 'Rinth probably don't much care for the regular citizens of Allenak.  So, how is one to hang around in the 'Rinth without being hated on?.
I could make myself LOOK like a rinthi, but as soon as I said something they'd know I wasn't from the rinth.

Yes, in rinth, where there is no law, but only the law of the lawless, you will most probably find -anything-.  But the conflict that lies between Allanak and rinthers is of a little more than just a simple "hate on" or "not care".  Rinthers, by all means can be hungry, coinless muggers, OR really rich and powerful mafia guys (How he makes that money, you dont question it).  Your average rinther differs in between these.

So, between these critters, you will most probably find a rinther, who would be happy to trade with you.  Consider that, if they are coinless, they will be happy to earn some coins this way.  If they are rich and powerful, they stay that way because most probably, they do trade those cool stuff.  So, it is more like, you will find some attention in the rinth, and the chances of your getting what you want, depends on how you play out the situation.
And dressing like a rinther, with some logic, will get you away from the trouble of random muggers if you ever walk into the rinth.  If you have something fancy, you better have strong legs to run fast, if you dont want to lose those fancy things.

So my current suggestion:  Dress like a rinther, if you are to walk in the alleys.  And speak to a rinther of your choice if you are willing to end up with the said illegal cool stuff.  The rinthers, most probably, either need that kind of trade (if they are coinless) or, they are already doing that kind of trade (if they are rich).

The things I say, are just my personal thoughts though.  That does not mean that you will always end up with a situation like that.  It may be, that you run into a psycho killer in the alleys, or it may be that you get fooled and mugged, sold as a slave or even killed.   Who knows?

[Tamarin]

I am definitely a proponent of having shiftable accents.  I mean, we can learn languages already, and quite frankly that's pretty hard.  I think learning to mimic other accents should be even harder...something that can't be learned util well after the 40-50 day mark.  That way, you have to have an already very experience pc before you can attempt that sort of deception.  For this to then be used as a tool of deception, you would have had to kept your identity secret the whole time, otherwise they're going to know who you are.  Seriously tho...accent skills.  Ya man.

[Agent_137]

yes to accent learning code.

no it isn't needed in this scenario.

see ghost's post for details.

[halfhuman]

When I used that for example, I didn't mean that it was absolutely necissary. It was just that, an example.  I didn't say you'd NEED a rinthi accent, but it might be helpful for various reasons.  What if I want to pose as a northerner for some sort of scheme I'm trying to pull off as a conman?  All I'm saying is that it'd be wicked cool.

[sjanimal]

The original posters idea is awesome.  The applications are wide.

[Xamminy]

I said somewhere else recently, with what I know, it will take a fairly large revision of how accents work for any changing of accents or having multiple accents code to go in.  I'm not sure it's worth the effort.

[halfhuman]

That could be true. I was just reading The Spine of the World and I was reading about Morik, and the thought of being a master of disguise, as he was, would be a really neat role. But, as far as I can see, you'd need imm intervention every five minutes.  

In truth, when I started this topic, I was thinking about mentioning an appearence-changing disguise-type command.  I decided to see how this went first instead.

And now, thinking about it, I think it might be kinda neat to be able to change your appearence with a disguise command.  You could have a bunch of values that could be randomly added to your Ldesc and Sdesc.  I dunno, that's kinda a discussion for a different topic.

[Ghost]

Warning:  Possible derailment.

I think there should not be any accents.  Tuluk and Allanak should speak different languages!  And tribals should not know sirihish as well!

Tuluk:  A native language for Tuluk.
Allanak:  Native language for Allanak.
Luirs:  Should begin with a newbie elf's sirihish level of both Allanakki language, and Tuluki language..  Oh, Bendune as well.
The tribals:  Begin with only bendune.
For the tribals, too close to Tuluk:  Begin with Tuluki native language as well.
Red Storm:  Allanakki language, but maybe add an accent.
Labyrinth:  Should begin with Allanak's language, but have a "thives cant" like alley tongue, just to distinguish who is from the alleys and who is not.

So, now..  You want to send a spy?  Teach your spy the language, dress him reasonably, add tattooes and no one is going to notice he is from some other place.

Cavilish, as a common trade language would make more sense as well.