Shadow Artist Reformation

[Nyr]

Thanks so much to everyone that contributed to discussion on the shadow artist system!  We received a lot of feedback and a lot of interest.  After reviewing player feedback and after making adjustments and expansions to the beta documentation, we're ready to put this system into place.  These newly reformed documents are now live.

The public documentation for shadow artists is located here:

General documentation
Shadow Artist FAQ
Shadow Agent FAQ

The explanation for the changes is on the Chronology page (which has another thing there too that might be of interest).



In a nutshell, here are the major changes and additions from the last time this was brought to the fore in the past thread on this issue:

--wording changes to make some stuff a bit more clear that was already the case
--the templar/artist "ordering" process is now more of a "negotiating" process, with soft requirements rather than hard requirements.  Artists can beg off for reasons which are defined in their "FAQ" but that may face consequences
--defined the basics for rank progression; while it is mostly in the hands of the templar PCs, there are some minimum requirements for time
--gave a few more perks to master artists, namely the ability to NOT have the public rank of a master artist (allowing them to choose to be sneaky master artists if they wanted to be, and hide their rank from their employers).  They also have more of an ability to negotiate for pay as well as to beg off from contracts that might jeopardize their position in whatever organization they are in.  (Not that they won't act against their employers, they just might not want to take a job that isn't suitably lucrative enough to be worth it.)
--fleshed out the history of shadow artists a little bit
--fleshed out the illegal part of crime a little bit


If you're playing a current shadow artist, you may re-register or even retire from service at no penalty.

A couple of player artists have contributed artwork that is directly related to the work we did here.  Personal thanks from staff go out to:

James de Monet
Potaje

I've linked their submissions for this part of the Tuluki Art project here, with their permission.

[Taven]

Do we have documentation on social standing yet? Since all contracts possible (things ranging from the fairly harmless to full out assassination) require that someone be of equal or lesser status, documentation on that would be helpful.

[Nyr]

If you can find me a help file on the current website that uses a table, I can set up the caste table on this site.

[Taven]

If you can find me a help file on the current website that uses a table, I can set up the caste table on this site.

Would something like this work? It's all links for some reason (and the links don't work), but it is a table.

Semi-related, addkeyword has a typo at the top and then a similar looking table that has an error:

Code Select Expand

use the request tool: http://www.armageddon.org/request">http://www.armageddon.org/request

[slvrmoontiger]

From the FAQ:

How do contracts work, anyway?
For the artist, contracts are a simple process. The templarate will contact you when they have a job that fits your particular set of skills. You must accept the contract; this part of the job is not voluntary. You chose to become a shadow artist, and you do not get to discriminate between contracts. You will be paid half of the price of the contract up front, the other half upon completion. You might privately wonder who hired you, but that is of no consequence. You don't talk about your contracts to anyone, barring the exception below. You have a job to do. Hop to it!

If you work for a patron, you might be given a contract by your patron (through the templarate). Contracts provided by your patron may be discussed with the patron. This is considered a necessary part of training up the city-state's artists. However, contracts for other parties (which remain unknown to you) may not be discussed with anyone, including your patron.

Bolded word is typo'd

[slvrmoontiger]

Please ignore my previous post I must have misread something. Unfortunately the Edit function doesn't work for me or I would edit it.

[Taven]

And I'm back for comments on the docs themselves. Before we get to that, I want to say that I'm pretty pleased with how they're looking.

Thank you for incorporating so much of what you got from player feedback! I love that you can turn down a contract if absolutely needed, but that it also carries potential punishments. I think it solves concerns about being given tasks beyond one's ability, and also allows for having that one special someone that you'd be unwilling to act against. Sure, there are consequences, potentially, but that also makes sense.

Most of the following has to do with clarification on situations, and for one point, I think that the docs should be slightly altered for clarity.

Someone came to me and wants me to put in a contract against someone because of my social status in relation to the target...what do I do?

How much is it worth to you? Figure that out first, and use it to your advantage. Your social ranking/caste has its privileges, and this is one of them! Assuming you take on this person in a partisan-style arrangement, you must disclose the details of the arrangement to the templarate when you request the contract.

So let's say that Idie Hunter Amos wants to take out a contract against Merchant House Employee Malik. Amos goes to Lyksae Sergeant Talia, who has more social standing.

• If Talia wants to go ahead and set up Amos' contract with the Faithful, does Amos have to be her partisan, or is that optional?
• What if Talia secretly likes Malik, and so she doesn't want to have him killed. Is it illegal for her to tell him that Amos wants a contract on him?
• Talia doesn't take Amos on as a partisan, because she wants Chosen Lady Lyksae to get benefits directly. Talia sets up the contract, but Amos is the Chosen Lady's partisan as a result, not hers. Do details still have to be disclosed?

The Basics:

• In general, the contracting agent never knows which shadow artist is assigned to their particular contract, and they should never seek to discover this. The shadow artist never knows who requested the contract, and they should never seek to discover this.
• The exception to this is the case of a patron with a partisan shadow artist. Such a patron may send contracts through the templarate designated to their artist, and discuss details of the contract with them in order to promote their training process.

I know in the last thread, the discussion came up about just temporarily having someone as a partisan for the length of the job. Was that okay, or frowned upon?

Example: Indie Merchant Amos hates Indie Hunter Malik. He also knows that Talia is a super shadow artist. He wants to have her as a "partisan" so he can speak to her about the job, but he doesn't want the arrangement to last longer then that.

And what about something like...

Example: Amos wants to mess with Malik. But he thinks that shadow artist Talia can't do it alone, so he wants to have Kellik who isn't a shadow artist help lure Malik somewhere. Kellik would have to know about the crime, however. Is that possible, or no?

How do contracts work, anyway?

For the artist, contracts are a simple process. The templarate will contact you when they have a job that fits your particular set of skills. You must accept the contract; this part of the job is not voluntary. You chose to become a shadow artist, and you do not get to discriminate between contracts. You will be paid half of the price of the contract up front, the other half upon completion. You might privately wonder who hired you, but that is of no consequence. You don't talk about your contracts to anyone, barring the exception below. You have a job to do. Hop to it!

This seems to totally contradict the "Can I turn down a contract?" portion. You may want to revise the bolded portion for clarity. Something like "it is expected that you will accept contracts. Part of being a shadow artist is doing all sorts of work that comes your way". That way the portions won't seem to contradict one another.

[evilcabbage]

I think Partisanship is restricted to the Surif houses, to be honest.

[Taven]

I think Partisanship is restricted to the Surif houses, to be honest.

It's not, actually! From the previous shadow artist thread:

This may seem like a dumb question, but it is tangentally related to the topic at hand.

Things are very "patron" based. The docs suggest that only Chosen or Faithful can be patrons, but I'm pretty sure in the past Family/Reps of the GMH Houses could also take partisans. Is that no longer true?

Technically anyone can be a patron or partisan to anyone else:

Patronage is a formal agreement between two parties for the benefit of both. Patronage may be either long-term or short-term. This can take many different forms. The following examples are not meant to limit what can be done but highlight the possibilities.

The noble was used because it's the most common one; there are plenty of other examples of what can be done though.

Also, are there any guidelines for patrons (for shadow artists, mainly)? For example, if I really like Amos but he isn't my patron now, can I short-term offer him patronage, for the length of a single job? That way I know who can be hired, and I can talk to him about it. Oooor, is there a minimum time limit required for being a patron to a specific shadow artist?

Hmm.  No, there are not.  Should there be?  That sounds like it's a hole you just found.  "I can't pick who I want for a job...but I can engage in a short term patronage relationship with this guy who I know is awesome...so I'll use him for one job...and get around that rule, because he's my guy!"  You guys are sneaky.

[evilcabbage]

... That is an unbelievable loophole in the system that is fucking genius. Unless Staff closes that loophole off, that's pretty much the epitome of slick and dashingly clever in Tuluk.

[Nyr]

If you can find me a help file on the current website that uses a table, I can set up the caste table on this site.

Would something like this work? It's all links for some reason (and the links don't work), but it is a table.

Semi-related, addkeyword has a typo at the top and then a similar looking table that has an error:

Code Select Expand

use the request tool: http://www.armageddon.org/request">http://www.armageddon.org/request

I fixed the error on the addkeywords page.  The first page...meh.  I will talk to Morg and see what options we have.  There's definitely another page out there that has better looking tables...

[Nyr]

Someone came to me and wants me to put in a contract against someone because of my social status in relation to the target...what do I do?

How much is it worth to you? Figure that out first, and use it to your advantage. Your social ranking/caste has its privileges, and this is one of them! Assuming you take on this person in a partisan-style arrangement, you must disclose the details of the arrangement to the templarate when you request the contract.

So let's say that Idie Hunter Amos wants to take out a contract against Merchant House Employee Malik. Amos goes to Lyksae Sergeant Talia, who has more social standing.

• If Talia wants to go ahead and set up Amos' contract with the Faithful, does Amos have to be her partisan, or is that optional?

From the partisan docs:

Patronage is a formal agreement between two parties for the benefit of both. Patronage may be either long-term or short-term.

and

The possibilities are virtually endless. Every patronage relationship needs to be agreed to by both parties and stated explicitly in the game during discussions.

Yes, Amos has to be a partisan of Talia.  This can be a short-term, one-time thing, a formal agreement between the two for the benefit of both (Talia gets something out of it, Amos gets something out of it).

• What if Talia secretly likes Malik, and so she doesn't want to have him killed. Is it illegal for her to tell him that Amos wants a contract on him?

I don't see why it would be.  Going to a higher-status patron to get work done means risk.

• Talia doesn't take Amos on as a partisan, because she wants Chosen Lady Lyksae to get benefits directly. Talia sets up the contract, but Amos is the Chosen Lady's partisan as a result, not hers. Do details still have to be disclosed?

...

what?  Talia doesn't take Amos on as a partisan because she wants Chosen Lady Lyksae...who's Chosen Lady Lyksae?  What are we talking about here?  This wasn't in your scenario.

The Basics:

• In general, the contracting agent never knows which shadow artist is assigned to their particular contract, and they should never seek to discover this. The shadow artist never knows who requested the contract, and they should never seek to discover this.
• The exception to this is the case of a patron with a partisan shadow artist. Such a patron may send contracts through the templarate designated to their artist, and discuss details of the contract with them in order to promote their training process.

I know in the last thread, the discussion came up about just temporarily having someone as a partisan for the length of the job. Was that okay, or frowned upon?

Example: Indie Merchant Amos hates Indie Hunter Malik. He also knows that Talia is a super shadow artist. He wants to have her as a "partisan" so he can speak to her about the job, but he doesn't want the arrangement to last longer then that.

I'm wondering how Indie Merchant Amos has the 'sid to hire a master shadow artist to "mess with" an indie hunter.  This is a pretty extreme hypothetical scenario.  Spending potentially thousands (or enormous favors) in a partisan agreement just so Amos knows he is hiring the very best in order to to kill an indie hunter...sure.  If Amos is dumb enough to do that, Talia will take his money.

And what about something like...

Example: Amos wants to mess with Malik. But he thinks that shadow artist Talia can't do it alone, so he wants to have Kellik who isn't a shadow artist help lure Malik somewhere. Kellik would have to know about the crime, however. Is that possible, or no?

Sure, that's possible.  Illegal?  Maybe.  Good luck with that.  What's more important here is that it's not so smart to go to that extreme just to "mess with" an indie hunter.  It's also not so smart to engage a partisan agreement with an already admittedly master shadow artist and then think, "gee, this person I'm wasting all of these resources on is just not going to be able to do this on her own."

How do contracts work, anyway?

For the artist, contracts are a simple process. The templarate will contact you when they have a job that fits your particular set of skills. You must accept the contract; this part of the job is not voluntary. You chose to become a shadow artist, and you do not get to discriminate between contracts. You will be paid half of the price of the contract up front, the other half upon completion. You might privately wonder who hired you, but that is of no consequence. You don't talk about your contracts to anyone, barring the exception below. You have a job to do. Hop to it!

This seems to totally contradict the "Can I turn down a contract?" portion. You may want to revise the bolded portion for clarity. Something like "it is expected that you will accept contracts. Part of being a shadow artist is doing all sorts of work that comes your way". That way the portions won't seem to contradict one another.

Yeah, I missed that one in the update, it is fixed now.

[Nyr]

I think Partisanship is restricted to the Surif houses, to be honest.

It never has been.

... That is an unbelievable loophole in the system that is fucking genius. Unless Staff closes that loophole off, that's pretty much the epitome of slick and dashingly clever in Tuluk.

Well, I guess we'll see what people do with it. 

[Quirk]

I like the new changes.

One thing I'm not sure is resolved by them though is timeliness. It still seems possible for an artist to accept a contract on someone they like, blocking other attempts by having the contract active, but not making any attempts to fulfill it. Conversely there's the case where someone is asked to perform a contract on what seems like a reasonable target, but they then very gradually discover they have no playing time overlap - this could take weeks or months to be sure of. It seems to me that having the target still walking round without the contract taking effect many weeks later would be galling and frustrating to the person who paid up front for the contract in the first place.

[Nyr]

One thing I'm not sure is resolved by them though is timeliness. It still seems possible for an artist to accept a contract on someone they like, blocking other attempts by having the contract active, but not making any attempts to fulfill it.

There's nothing prohibiting multiple people from wanting to kill someone.  There's nothing prohibiting the templarate from dealing with an artist that's doing something like that, either.

Conversely there's the case where someone is asked to perform a contract on what seems like a reasonable target, but they then very gradually discover they have no playing time overlap - this could take weeks or months to be sure of.  It seems to me that having the target still walking round without the contract taking effect many weeks later would be galling and frustrating to the person who paid up front for the contract in the first place.

Covered in the artist FAQ.

OOC NOTE: If there's some OOC reason you cannot pursue a contract, feel free to make this known to staff. If you have differing playtimes or the "target" seems to have disappeared as far as you can tell, let staff know. This can be communicated to the PCs in the templarate. This sort of thing does not fall into the category of frivolous declination.

[Desertman]

As I read it, if a Templar tells a Shadow Artist below the Master rank to complete a contract, they have no choice but to accept that contract, regardless of the nature of the contract/danger to them personally, or they will face being disappeared. It appears other punishments/consequences are also on the table, but being disappeared is an actual possibility for refusal of a contract.

I just want to make sure I am reading that correctly.

[Nyr]

As I read it, if a Templar tells a Shadow Artist below the Master rank to complete a contract, they have no choice but to accept that contract, regardless of the nature of the contract/danger to them personally, or they will face being disappeared. It appears other punishments/consequences are also on the table, but being disappeared is an actual possibility for refusal of a contract.

I just want to make sure I am reading that correctly.

No, you are not reading that correctly, or you're reading something that isn't supposed to be there at all.  The exact opposite, in fact, is in the shadow artist FAQ:

Can I turn down a contract?

In a word? Yes. You CAN turn down a contract. However, you should know going into this that shadow artists are expected to DO work, not turn it down. Declining a contract must be done carefully. It's one thing if you're quite sure you cannot handle the difficulty of the contract--after all, as omniscient as the templarate seems to be, they may have overestimated your abilities and interest in risky situations! Declining for other reasons has its own risks. Reasons that make sense to the templarate will more than likely be accepted in exchange for future work. Reasons that are frivolous may be met with punishment, up to and including revocation of your ability to be a shadow artist. Greater capacity for exceptions exists for the masters of the art of shadows, for they are given more latitude to protect their positions.

[Desertman]

From Shartist Docs:

• Failure to complete a contract appropriately may result in punishment ranging from simple fines to revocation of registration to outright disappearance.

I did in fact read this incorrectly. You can't be killed for turning down a contract, only for extreme failure in completing a contract you have already accepted. Sorry about that.


It appears the one thing I hated about the first round of documentation was fixed.

I love it.

I am Durzo Blint.

[Nyr]

Yep, if you screw up badly you can get killed for it.

I'm also working on an ASCII Caste Chart.  This is really taking me back...

[Riev]

I am excited to see if/how/when people really take advantage of all this.

To ACTUALLY see "organized, legal crime" in the city would be nice, from "legal muggings" to defacement of property.... It sure would be nice to trust in the Sun King to keep everyone safe, and trust in NOBODY ELSE BECAUSE THEY DON'T LIKE THAT YOU WALK FASTER AND HIRE SOMEONE TO BREAK YOUR LEGS.

[Seeker]

Tuluki Chosen should immediately have their stipends doubled across the board. 

With the OOC requirement that they must spend at least 50% of their total income on contracts every year.  As their patriotic duty.


Seeker

[Nyr]

Yep, if you screw up badly you can get killed for it.

I'm also working on an ASCII Caste Chart.  This is really taking me back...

Well, now I just need to find a way to get this onto the website.  However, here it is, copied with very minor changes.

          | -------------------------------- |
          |         Faithful Caste           |   
          | -------------------------------- |
          | Exalted          |    Templar    | --------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |   
          | ---------------- | ------------- |   Chosen Caste  |                                        Common Caste                                            |
          | The Sun King     |       -       | --------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
          | High Precentor   |       -       |        -        |    Artisan            |      Merchant            |  Legions    |     Commoner                  |
          | Inquisitors      |       -       |        -        | --------------------- | ------------------------ | ----------- | ----------------------------- |               
          | Precentors       |       -       |        -        |       -               |             -            |     -       |          -                    | ------------------------------------ |
          | ---------------- | Illuminated   |  Head of House  |       -               |             -            |     -       |          -                    |             Slave Caste              |
                             |  High Templar |  Senior Family  |       -               |       Head of House      |     -       |          -                    | ------------------------------------ |
                             |  Templar      |  Junior Family  |       -               |             -            |  General    |          -                    |                  -                   |
                             | ------------- | --------------- |  Circle Leader        |             -            |  Colonel    |          -                    |                  -                   |
                                                               |  Master Bard          |             -            |  Captain    |          -                    |                  -                   |
                                                               |  Master Shadow Artist |     Senior Merchant      |  Lieutenant | Senior noble/templar employee |                  -                   |
                                                               | Bard / Journeyman SA  |     Merchant/Byn LT      |  Sergeant   | Middle noble/templar employee | Ranked Legion/Artisan/Lyksaen slaves |
                                                               | Apprentice SA         | Jr. Merchant / Byn Sarge |  Corporal   | Seeker / Jr. employee         |  Ranked House slaves; Artisan slaves |
                                                               | ----------------------|  Entry-level employees   |  Private    | Apprentice of Poets' Circle   |   Personal noble/templar slaves      |
                                                                                       | ------------------------ |  Recruit    |     Independent Commoner      |            Skilled slave             |
                                                                                                                  | ----------- | ----------------------------- |           Unskilled slave            |
                                                                                                                                                                |--------------------------------------|

[Desertman]

Deleted. It would derail and wasn't really related.

[Lizzie]

Since this is dependent on caste, when previously it wasn't necessarily dependent, I'm wondering - where do Allanak- or Luirs-born GMH family and non-family members fit into this, with regards to "contracts" for shadow artists?

For the sake of clarity:

Junior Agent Ginger-da Kurac, born and raised in Luir's, newly assigned to work in Tuluk.

Overseer Pretty-boy Kadius, born and raised in Allanak, presently on a rotation to work out of Tuluk.

Senior Merchant Jimbob of Salarr - born and raised in Red Storm, not a family member, hired into Salarr and raised through promotions to Senior Merchant, presently assigned to Tuluk.

[Nyr]

Since this is dependent on caste, when previously it wasn't necessarily dependent, I'm wondering - where do Allanak- or Luirs-born GMH family and non-family members fit into this, with regards to "contracts" for shadow artists?

For the sake of clarity:

Junior Agent Ginger-da Kurac, born and raised in Luir's, newly assigned to work in Tuluk.

Overseer Pretty-boy Kadius, born and raised in Allanak, presently on a rotation to work out of Tuluk.

Senior Merchant Jimbob of Salarr - born and raised in Red Storm, not a family member, hired into Salarr and raised through promotions to Senior Merchant, presently assigned to Tuluk.

It was covered on the old page with this snippet:

Those Great Merchant House employees who are able to claim citizenship may have a slightly higher social status then those who cannot - especially in legal matters. However, since the social power of the Great Merchant House is largely a function of their tremendous wealth and not any perceived quality of character, the differences are minor. This caste also includes the upper echelons of proven, independent commoner organizations, such as the T'zai Byn.