Torture Chambers and Devices

[Cind]

Do you want to see these in the game? Do you want them to actually drain hp/stun or not? I think they would have to, in order to have any semblance of effectiveness (because zalanthans are tough people who generally don't bow down when the usual leash has been removed.) I actually want one that drains mana, and causes the victim to believe that they are losing their affinity to their element (whether this is actually happening or not.)

What kind of chambers and devices would you like to see? Even in medieval times these things were pretty elaborate. The conclusion of the war might have depended on how creative you were. There's not enough desk jockey roles open to play in Zalanthas. You could have a Master of Tortures, whose job it is is to be creative enough to get answers to the Arm's satisfaction.

I think objects that can be applied to a person and then let them go, with the order of "Come back when you're ready to talk" would also be kind of cool--- sort of like the gem, so code for things like this already exists. It would be a device that made you physically frail, like a 'simple wooden collar,' or 'a garnet-studded bone ring' and perhaps one of these sorts of devices would cut your max stun in half, for aides and House crafters and the like. Especially for aides and House employees, this would be a way to get your information and avoid the social mess of killing a House employee. The right device would be applied to ensure your cooperation within a few weeks, and like the gem they would be unremovable.

[Pheme]

Do you want to see these in the game?

No.

[Lizzie]

Do you want to see these in the game?

No.

I concur.

[Vex]

No, not even a small bit.

[Medena]

No, not interested in this.

[Armaddict]

Consensus so far:  Just kill them.  Ignore when they complain that they wanted you to play something out.

[Medena]

Consensus so far:  Just kill them.  Ignore when they complain that they wanted you to play something out.

A "no" to intricate torture devices is not the same as saying "just kill them".  This is a role-playing game.  There are infinite ways to play out torture, maiming and debilitation. 

[Lizzie]

Consensus so far:  Just kill them.  Ignore when they complain that they wanted you to play something out.

You don't need extended physical signs of current, constant, continuous active torture to "play something out." If someone is walking around the city experiencing active current torture via a device, he would - according to the rules of the game - be required to request consent every single time he moved to a different room (because hidden/invisible people AND in case he's being shadowed by someone visible and just didn't notice yet). No, not even almost maybe, not even possibly perhaps. Just no. It's not necessary, it adds NOTHING to the game that can't already be done through roleplay.

Torture scenes are just that. Scenes. They start, they happen, and they're over. They don't take RL weeks, or RL days. There are public devices where onlookers can get their jollies observing pain and anguish, or experience it. We don't need characters to have non-removeable cuddlers hanging out in the Gaj.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Yes, in concept - but aside from manacles and blindfolds, I wouldn't want any of these things to be mobile.

But I absolutely want to see various devices in game that serve this feature.

Crosses, Stocks, Lynching Posts, and Pikes in particular appeal to me. I also like the idea of torture implements like hooks and blades, but I'd like them to be a tool in a purpose-designed room, so that you use basically the room to torture persons.

'Use hook victim' is more appealing than 'kill victim' in a prolonged scene.

[BadSkeelz]

They already exist and work fine.

If you can't pull a random item out of the clan tool bin and think of some way to use it... well you're probably in the wrong line of work.

[Hauwke]

Protio: Sticking things in places makes people uncomfortable. A scorpion stinger in the eye? You best bet I would spill the beans.

[Cind]

I see, but I honestly think its kind of weird that these spikes and clamps stuff don't actually exist in the first place. You have to go get that thing Crafter Malik uses to make holes in bone beads with. A consequence of a world where defilers have sucked most of the life out of the soil? Maybe.

[Hauwke]

I have actually always assumed they exist virtually, not every item has to be coded.

[Lizzie]

If you were to implement coded torture devices that actually did something codedly to the recipient, I would expect and require a few possible coded results:

The recipient might:

blow chunks on the torturer's boots.
hurl projectile vomit on random parts of the torturer's outfit.
pee in her pants/on the floor (or if male and possessed of an intact penis and unpantsed, pee at the usual angle and end up getting the torturer's boots/trousers wet)
shit in his/her pants/down his/her leg/on the floor
pass out from pain
have a heart attack and die almost instantly
mul rage
spontaneous and violent, lethal connection to an element that affects everyone in close proximity.

[Cind]

I thought of something today--- that I was probably the only person in Arm's history who was a nobody, being interrogated, and was let go without so much as a cigarette burn on their skin (my brother looked like someone who was wanted, so we were both apprehended--- he wasn't as lucky as me, but didn't suffer much or get killed, and it became obvious to them that my character was crazy.) Everyone I meet that the subject ever came up, says that people who are being tortured get killed afterwards. Is coding torture objects really necessary at that point?

In my original post, when I referred to an object that could half your maximum stun that the Arm or another group would put on you, then let you go, expecting you to spill the beans afterwards if you expected to keep your job, was referring to people that in my mind have the possibility of being tortured without then killed to avoid loose ends. Because House crafters, House aides, are -not- loose ends---- they are 1%, the privileged, and I don't know what the staff policy would be on torturing them, but they should probably expect privileges. I once heard of a House Kadian crafter who was a suspect in a crime, but they weren't sure yet who was innocent or not. They 'placed her in a room with drinks and snacks and asked her to wait.' I believed it right away. I have a background in sociology and it helps flesh out my experience of the game--- could I do this or that to add to it, suggest that on the gdb.

What I mean is, the Arm isn't going to want to eradicate most of the players in House Salaar if they can help it, when all hell breaks loose between House Salaar and House Oash. Pleasing House Oash is probably more important, but so is pleasing House Salaar. Being able to put an 'odd, garnet-studded ring' on two Salaaris they strongly suspect of a crime who are refusing to talk would put the pressure on them, as the Way is everything to House merchants and House aides. Unable to get work done, their value to the House would begin to slip. As time wore on, people would wonder why they have these rings on in the first place. In some cases, the Arm would remove the rings after five or six RL days, perhaps ten if the crime is grevious but they have nothing that leads to the accused. Best case scenario, the real guys are caught and your ring is removed, with apologies and everyone in the House knowing you were innocent. Work has backed up, but that's okay. Kind of weird that you were suspicious enough to put a ring on, but whatever. The -Arm- thinks you're innocent, so cool beans.

I'm less attached to this idea than I was because you never know how pcs are going to react to a new game mechanic. But I'd like to see some idea, perhaps better than this, come up that doesn't equate to 'Lock them in a room with food for 10 RL days and hope they say something.'

[The Warshaper]

Breed and gick f'mes are torture enough. Please don't add anymore torture elements to the game.