Buying NPC Slaves...

[I R K00L]

I probably missed it in the original documents somewhere, and deserve a horsewhipping if so, lolz, but I was wondering about the PC purchase of NPC slaves in Armageddon.

I imagine it's an IC thing to figure out where and who from to buy your slaves...

But, are there any social restrictions on buying slaves? Can anyone free, or perhaps a wealthy commoner buy their own slaves?

And if so, when aquiring an NPC slave, do you get added the proper ways to command and call them? Or do you just kinda have a limp NPC standing around in your home, occasionally moving from one room to the next?(provided your home is 2 rooms  :roll: )

Any other comments on slavery, or aquiring slaves that could be helpful and not too IC? I've been learning Armag so much in the past few months, and this is a topic I've meant to touch for a while now.

Thanks guys!
Gabs

[Glowworm]

It's no secret that the largest slaving house in the south is Borsail, and the largest in the north is Winrothol (it's listed in the game docs).  Depending on where you are, inquiring with a character from one of these houses would be a good place to start.


And in general, if you're wealthy enough to be able to afford the luxury of buying a slave then by all means have one if you like.  To get a NPC slave, you'd have to go through the IC formalities of purchasing a slave and would have to special app for one with the mud account.  The IMM's would probably consider your ability to handle the NPC responsibly, the probability that your character will live long enough to even enjoy use of the slave, and whether or not your character has the financing to feed/support the slave in its daily activities. (Or so I would think)

If you're really interested, check out this section of the helpfiles...
   http://www.armageddon.org/general/slavery.html

[rnix]

If you look back on the files there is a huge discussion on this topic and with stats of how much and maybe who would be able to hold a slave and so on.....

[Bestatte]

Some of these questions haven't yet been answered, regarding the mechanics of owning an NPC slave.

I've seen mercenaries and guards, but those were House hirelings and not slaves. I know they can be ordered to do various things such as "guard so and so" and ldescs added to them and such.

Can NPC slaves be manipulated in the same manner? In addition, do NPC slaves get hungry? If so, do they need to be ordered to eat or can you just hand them food and they'll eat automatically? Can they be ordered to carry things for you? If you need for them to do something (such as making them emote for example), is the order visible to everyone?

I've seen Templars order militia npcs about, and sometimes it just looks odd. Not because the Templars are ordering them to do something, but instead because it's just the echo you are stuck seeing when you want the NPC to interact "on its own."

I guess what I'm asking is, once you acquire an NPC slave, does it come with a "care and feeding" manual? Or at least a mechanics helpfile so its owners know exactly what they can/cannot do with their new property?

[Lazloth]

Can NPC slaves be manipulated in the same manner? In addition, do NPC slaves get hungry?

Pretty much, yes;  codewise, no.

[Angela Christine]

It depends on the kind of NPC, they aren't all created equal.  Some will just wander around your property with an ldesc that indicates they are dusting, scrubbing, etc.  Others don't even wander, they are stuck perpetually scrubbing the stairs or tending the garden.  As far as I know, you can't make these NPCs do anything even if you own them or otherwise have authority over them, the imm sets them on thier path and after that they are just for atmosphere.  Then their are the specialized task NPCs like cooks, shopkeepers and some stationary guards, they do their thing but they aren't willing to follow you around.  On the up side, you never have to wonder where these guys are since they always load to the same place after reboots.  

NPCs that are willing to follow you around, guard you and obey a selection of orders are the big status items, and I assume that NPCs of this type that happen to be slaves would work the same as the NPC guards who are hirelings.  You can get them to follow you, guard you, stand somewhere and guard something, sit, stand, rest, sleep, etc.  The NPCs of this type I've encountered didn't need coded food, their needs and production are all virtual.  You have to be careful with following NPCs, they stay in place when you quit out so if everyone quits in the taverns the dorms are filled with dumb NPCs standing around doing nothing.  I've heard there can also be loading problems with them, if they are left in an unusual area.  After a reboot they usually load back in their home space, which can be a pain in the ass if they are supposed to be guarding you somewhere far away from home where you really need guarding because you reappear wherever your character was last saved but without your faithful guard.  I'm just speculating, but these kind of Slave NPCs are probably more expensive than the purely-decorative ones.  Not only are they a larger OOC responsibility, but IC training a slave to be a faithful armed bodyguard for whoever buys them (as opposed to being trained to guard one House from childhood) is tricky.

AC

[My 2 sids]

Can I just ask why anyone would want an NPC slave?  Now Im not asking why some people would what slaves, I for one think slavery is a very dynamic part of Zen.  What I dont get is why have a slave that your character cannot interact?  I would think it would be far easier to simply RP having a slave just like so many RP having a family or parents or whatever.  

If people want to see more slavery in Zen, I suggest more people creat slave characters.  Having more PC slaves would prob. have a greater effect on the game than just NPC slaves that dont offer much.  More PC slaves would add dynamics by interaction with their keepers, the public in general, or with other PC slaves (if allowed).  Although the documentation describes slaves as having a wide viriety of uses and statuses and freedoms... all one tends to see around the game are NPC work slaves, high status concubines, escapeing slaves, and a VERY few number of slaves that seem to interact with the public only as guards.

A PC can't play the same times as you. Whereas if they were really a slave they would always be available.

Not many players want to be a slave. And some people find one hour a day to be acceptable, while you may need your slave to play with you as long as you play. (for me 12 hours a day)

Say you need protection. Pc slave is only around for 1 hour a day. That is not very good protection.
Rp having your virtual bodyguard protection you...sure his virtual hits will probably not help. If someone will attack me using "code" whats wrong with having "coded" protection.

[Twilight]

If you are talking about NPCs, slave or otherwise, that you can "call", I think you are in for a long wait with a normal character to get one.  First off, these types of NPCs require that the staff give you quite a bit of trust, because of the threat of abuse.  Imagine a permanent friend that is always going to come back, even if it dies, gets left somewhere, etc. and who has as much loyalty that the person who calls it wants it to have...not to mention that your slave gardener should probably -not- be following you around guarding you...

Beyond this, the ability to call as far as I can tell is linked to your clan rank.  So you would need to be coded up your own little private clan to get this to work, which while probably a possibility for a very long lived, successful, rich character of a trustworthy player, is probably not something that is going to happen for a fairly normal one.