High-rankers getting a 'trust fund'

[The Silence of the Erdlus]

What if merchant house employees above the rank of 'crafter' and 'hunter', leader-level Arm members and noble house aides and representatives got what I can't really think of as anything other than a 'trust fund' of sorts?

Your name is assigned to a list of people who, occasionally, due to 'exceptional service', get a nice hefty bonus package of an amount appropriate to your clan and rank. This could be an expected part of your pay occasionally--- if you are good and work hard. That way aides and such can afford those silt hawk and haro soups they serve in that fancy Allanaki tavern sometimes, rather than feeling like they ought to scrimp and save their money. I've never seen a non-noble eat at Red's, but then again, I haven't really been in there since that old change to noble house pay went in.

[Miradus]

Can you just emote eating fancy foods in a fancy place? I have emoted nursing the same beer for hours and hours. I don't know that I'd have a problem with someone saving their coin for plots and such and just emoting ordering and eating fancy food.

But other than that, what would this trust fund be used for?

[Patuk]

I feel like having noble houses being able to buy people to gather and cook such foods is a better solution than it being bought from faceless NPC's. What good is an aide if they are unfamiliar entirely with finer cuisine?

[The Silence of the Erdlus]

But other than that, what would this trust fund be used for?

Fine clothing, fine jewelry, excellent weapons with the sdesc word 'vicious,' bribes to the Arm, spice. I just kind of want high-rankers to be rolling in it. I feel like they should be.

[The Silence of the Erdlus]

What good is an aide if they are unfamiliar entirely with finer cuisine?

[Miradus]

Why are they not "rolling in it"? As an indie merchant I have to buy extra sacks to carry my coin around in.

Why not address whatever factor is preventing them from earning their own coin?

If Ben Bernanke can conjure up 13 trillion in imaginary money to give to the oligarchs, why can't Nergal?

[The Silence of the Erdlus]

Its not so much that they're not getting paid enough (like I said, it was 'fixed' once and I'm not sure how that's worked out) but food in Allanak is still like twice the price it should be and some indies can get a LOT more by risking themselves in what usually feels like low-risk situations, until of course a mekillot some hunter drew close to the gates shows up a month after you started playing.

With their employment though comes one thing I always found priceless--- a measure of real in-city safety. I heard once about a Kadian that had been arrested. She was placed in a decent (non filth-covered) room with a snack tray and drinks and asked to wait until things were clarified.

[Armaddict]

I feel like having noble houses being able to buy people to gather and cook such foods is a better solution than it being bought from faceless NPC's. What good is an aide if they are unfamiliar entirely with finer cuisine?

Logistics of this are hard.

[Zenith]

Why are they not "rolling in it"? As an indie merchant I have to buy extra sacks to carry my coin around in.

Why not address whatever factor is preventing them from earning their own coin?

Indie merchants actually have a -much- easier time making money than most Aides, and certainly easier than nobles. You can devote all your time to doing things that will turn a profit, and it makes a lot of sense for you to do so. Aides really shouldn't be spam crafting or hunting. They're supported and fed by a noble house. Their time should go into serving their noble and advancing the politics of any given situation. Aides that lock themselves away are generally not terribly useful. That's not to say they never can, just that it is not actually doing the job they are usually hired to do.

Merchants I don't think need any sort of "trust fund" access. They get a commission based on everything they make and sell. It's ridiculous to offer them even more.

edited to add: I'm not actually certain that a trust fund of sorts is the solution, but I do think the economy needs better balancing.

[Zenith]

Thinking about it further, how is this different than access to clan accounts beyond the fact that you can't use House/Clan money for anything you want?

[IAmJacksOpinion]

I don't think that money is hard to come by in this game. Like, at all. I've never played a noble or aide, but hunters and crafters basically take Scrooge McDuckian dives through mountains of coin as it is. You're calling this a "trust fund" for some reason, but what you're actually describing is either an increased salary or a performance bonus. Both are things that characters of this level already have access to, even if the salaries don't exactly blow your hair back.

[Hicksville Hoochie]

If your PC's superiors aren't jerks, and your pc is earning their keep, expect to have some pretty deep pockets. 

[Desertman]

If you are actually worth having and any good at your job/role/position you will have your own money.

[Armaddict]

Or on the opposite end of the spectrum...if you're good at being a corrupt element of the power structure, you will always have money.

[Jingo]

Yeah, that's not universal. I try to be the boss that hands out goodies at every opportunity, but even then I'm faced with opportunity costs.

Even in Legion Force Alpha, we were subsidizing our salary selling kryl shell in order to make rent. Even though we were explicitly told not to.

Edit: Legion Force Alpha is just my name for the kryl-war era legionaires/volunteers that somehow turned out pretty badass.

[Desertman]

I'm not sure what Legion Force Alpha was, but if it was actually The Legion, I can see how that would indeed be an issue.

The entire setup for The Legion was so counter intuitive to the entire theme of the game world as a whole in the minds of MOST people that you would have a hard time pulling that gig profitably.


I was never once shaken down by a Legion soldier for a bribe or fine for example. It was seen as "uncouth" and "not subtle". When I was in The Legion myself we were told specifically that we weren't allowed to actually publicly pursue criminals and cause a ruckus if we saw one for the same reasons. If we saw a criminal, we had to get a Templar on the case and we could assist the Templar.

Maybe that was just the era when I was in the Legion, but as a whole the entire concept was fucking retarded.*

*personal opinion

I also saw in the recent past where the AOD was no longer allowed to fine people/extort bribes from them. I don't know what that was about. It was a couple of years back when I saw it I believe. I don't know if that's still the case, but that falls right into the same basket in my opinion. If you want to ensure I never play another soldier, just make sure I can't actually be the standard corrupt soldier of Zalanthas.

Then again it's not like I play a ton of soldiers  and I could have just been misunderstanding what I heard or it could have been the product of specific and reasonable IC happenings/circumstances of the time period when I saw it.

(My experiences did however convince me of the value of bribing soldiers, not just Templars, when I could on my non-soldier characters. I feel more people should, and more regularly. It is on the whole fitting to the theme of the game world and good for the health of the game in my opinion.)

[BadSkeelz]

The problem with the AoD was that you're given power to enforce the law, but explicitly told that you're not police officers and that templars are the only one who can interpret the law. Sergeants get some leeway but it's pretty minor. Short of someone cutting motherfuckers up with bone swords or slinging spells around, your rules of engagement with criminals are murky at best.

AoD PCs can't take people to the jail cells either for later interrogation. When it comes to law enforcement the AoD NPC  are much better at their job and have more freedom than PCs.

And of course, when you decide to just follow the NPCs lead in how to behave and just kill everyone you begin to get in trouble. 

[MeTekillot]

Staff don't give high-ranking AoD PCs incriminate, but they give them crimcode immunity, which incriminates their 'kill' and 'subdue' targets, and also turns on the soldier auto-gib.