Alanaki Senators

[DrunkenSalarr]

I was wondering if the Senators and Senate Representitives from the major Merchant houses wear anything that shows their position.  I'm sure the Senators do leave the Noble's Quarter from time to time.  And even if Joe Commoner doesn't recognize the face, he should be able to recognize his House and, IMO, the fact that he is a Senator.

For the Senators -not- to give themselves some way for others to recognize their position would be unrealistic.  What do you think?

[2 Lazy 2 Login ShaL]

I equate Senators (high ranking heads of Merchant families, high ranking members of Noble familes) to a Black Robe or maybe even Muk or Tek themselves. Everyone knows they exist (or do they :shock: ) but can you really name one person who has actually ever seen one?

I'm sure their rank is depicted on them somehow, a robe, a silver pair of bracers, a silver clasped, silt horror rank collar with four diamond stars... would the average commoner recognize these ranks? Probably not, but you can bet your ass other senators/black robes/house generals would. It's not for us little people to know about.  :wink:

[Rindan]

I tend to agree that a commoner might not be able to recognize a senator's symbols.  That said, I don't think you will have a hard time spotting one.  If you are sitting in a bar, and all of a sudden a servant arrives announcing that senator Borsail is about to arrive, then a dozen servants and body guards sweep in, chances are a senator is about to show up.   I doubt that the senators leave the noble and templar sections of the city often, but when they absolutely half to I imagine that everyone in the general vicinity is going to know about it.  Why would a senator leave the comforts of the rich half of the city for the poorer half, especially when anything he might need from the poorer half can be brought to him.  People forget how big the templar and noble quarters of the city is.  It is a big place.  It takes up a fair chunk of the city just to accommodate a relatively small number of people.  A noble of such high rank would likely have only other nobles as aids and a handful of trusted servants he keeps inside the quarter.  If he really need to relay a message that required leaving the quarter, he would just use someone else to do the deed.

[Armaddict]

I don't believe senators are usually played by PC's.  They're the higher ranking members of noble houses and the PC nobles you -usually- see tend to be lower to mid-ranking.  I could be wrong, but this is based on my understanding and experience.

[Eclipse]

Senators are perhaps the highest ranking members of a noble house from what I've seen. While a House Head will tend to deal with the business of the House, the Senator is like the foreign affairs guy except foreign affairs deals with city affairs (in this classification, I'm ranking each different House like a country). Senators and House Heads are of equal rank from my understanding but each has their own particular field of expertise. Such as the House Head deals with matters of internal operations of a Noble House family, the Senator deals with House business in relation to the city/other families.

Both characters from what I've seen are NPCs and SELDOM ever seen in public if at all and if they are seen, they're likely to be well-guarded if not bearing with them an entire retinue of soldiery. Most clan Senior-ranking nobles are NPCs though some PCs have attained those rankings, not too sure on it. But I personally doubt the staff would want a PC running all the operations of a House officially unless that player had proven him/herself over RL years of playing Armageddon to understand the social fabric of the city as well as NUMEROUS IC years of experience (perhaps 40-50 as these guys are OLD!).

Just my thoughts anyways. And likely to have incorrect facts given I'm barely conscious.

[Angela Christine]

Sure you can recognize senators, they are the wizened old men surrounded by a solid dozen heavily armed body guards.    They probably look something like emperor/senator from Star Wars, but with more body guards and no lightening comming out of their fingertips.

I think that if they were to travel outside the nobles quarter, and perhaps even within it, they would use a wagon.  That way there can always be a guard unit and a locked door between them and the world.  They likely aren't worried about pickpockets, but about terrorists, assassins from other organizations, and even assassins sent by ambitious members of their own House who want the senator's job.  At that level it isn't survival of the fittest, it is survival of the most paranoid.

The only possibility for travel outside the noble and templar section that I see comming up is to attend games at the Arena, and then only very special games.  (They can have thier pet mul slaughter 'rinth elves for their ammusment at home).   Their wagon would pull up to the gates of the arena, and a dozen guards would deploy like the secret service, guarding ever enterance into the stretch of road the wagon was occupying, the enterances to the arena gates, and the path to the noble's box in the stands.  Once the senator was in his seat a few guards would stay by the wagon to guard it and watch for suspicious people in the crowds, a few would stand outside the enterance to the noble box, a good number would surround the senator in his box, a couple would likely patrol the rest of the stands to look for potential assasins in the crowd.  (Code wise it may not be possible to fire accross the arena from one side of the stands to the other, but ICly it would be, so you would need to watch for crossbows in the stands opposite the noble's box.)  They might even have a "bomb squad" with some sort of animals trained to sniff out flash powder.  

It would be a big commotion, so even if you don't recognise senatorial devices you will recognise that someone terribly important is there.  At least that's how I'd do it if I was a Senator.  


Angela Christine

[lukie]

What would be the point of a PC senator if there aren't any other PC senators? That'd be stupid. Just one guy sitting in a room with 50+ npcs.

>A big white room
This room is where all the senators have meetings and make descisions that are important. The room is really big and is in the shape of a semicircle. There's lots of seats for all the senators, and a big purple chair made of iron in the middle for the head senator to sit in.
A wizened old man is here.
A big buff human bodyguard is here.
A big buff human bodyguard is here.
A big buff human bodyguard is here.
A big buff human bodyguard is here.
A whispy old man is here.
A big buff human bodyguard is here.
A big buff human bodyguard is here.
A big buff human bodyguard is here.
A big buff human bodyguard is here.
The very wizened, whispy old man is sitting in a purple iron chair here.
A big buff human bodyguard is here.
A big buff human bodyguard is here.
A big buff human bodyguard is here.
A big buff human bodyguard is here.
A big buff human bodyguard is here.
A big buff human bodyguard is here.
A big buff human bodyguard is here.

And that's why I don't write room descriptions.

[DrunkenSalarr]

Ok, they probably wouldn't come out, but I can guarentee you every commoner knows what distenguishes them, just as Black Robe Templars are rarely seen, but everyone knows how important they are and how to recognize them.

I think there would probably be Statues of the past, if not current, Senators somewhere in the city.

[Impska]

Ok, they probably wouldn't come out, but I can guarentee you every commoner knows what distenguishes them...

I would think that Senators would be a prime target for assassination. What advantage would there be to have them clearly marked so every regular joe could recognize them on sight?

[marko]

Some thoughts on senators.

First, I do not believe all senators are old.  From reading the Allanaki senator doc  (http://www.armageddon.org/general/senate.html) there seems to be an indication that at least two are (or were) young.

Next, I would ask everyone to think for a moment and honestly answer if they could pick out their country's top leadership - not the "ruler" but the major advisors.  For example, let's take the US - Everyone knows Bush (mainly because of the wonders of modern communication channels - television, internet, news papers) on sight.  But how many know everyone in the US Administration on sight?

Basically, in a world in which such methods giving the public access to photos and other identifying marks it would be nigh well impossible to recognize a Senator on sight.  This leads to the question - would there be distinguishing equipment?  Such as the crowns rulers wore in the past (so everyone would know they were the king).

If there were items of status they would only be worn in formal occassions.  These formal occassions would be restricted to the Noble Quarter and quite likely only to the Senate Building itself.  While a king of old would wear his crown the Dukes wouldn't - you could tell a duke when they were formally garbed (including their 'mini crown') but not when they were out for a stroll.  Much like a judge of today - you can only tell a judge as being a judge when in court.  As of yet I've not noticed any markings of office to indicate that someone is a Senator.

Marking yourself as a senator in public is possibly, as Impska notes, a method to getting yourself assassinated.

[Twilight]

One of my characters, quite a while back, interacted with one of the current senators.  There was nothing to distinguish this NPC from another noble of the House really, when looking at the senator, or by the number of guards, etc.

What distinguished this person was when talking to another, PC this time, noble of the House, and mentioning that my character had been hired by that individual.  It was kind of funny to see the "Oh....Shit" kind of amazed expression on the noble's face.  So, no, you probably couldn't recognize a senator.  You might not know their name.  But nobles do understand, and it is, appropriately I would think, in noble circles that they carry importance.  One noble or another, one templar or another, it wouldn't matter to a normal commoner, they are all so far above them anyways.