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Lexum ranks; Far too many Rank 4s, and other stuff!
Topic Started: Feb 16 2008, 02:36 PM (382 Views)
Ansob.
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Alexander Norris
Whilst discussing Adam Fenemore-Jones' character with him (Lexum arcane caster, Adam wants to make him Rank 4), I realised that the Lexum rank system has a bit of a problem:
- Political Rank 4 is being part of the Imperial Senate. This is all well and good, but if it's going to be a senate, it's going to need at least ten, maybe twenty members to function properly. That's twenty Political Rank 4s which is way too much (yes, even if only one or two travel abroad with any regularity);
- there's no official Arcane or Divine Rank 4;
- there's three too many Military Rank 4s and the Praetorian Guard's power doesn't justify the Centurion being Rank 4 (more on this later).

I propose that Lexum's rank structure be changed to bring it more in tune with Esparr's (which is the standard as far as plot tanking is concerned ;)). That means a lot less Political Rank 4s (like, two or three, not 10-20), one Arcane Rank 4, one Divine Rank 4, one "mainstream" Military Rank 4 and one "discreet" Military Rank 4 (again, more on that later part further down).

I've discussed this with John, who didn't seem overly against any of the ideas I put forward. I know that none of this is going to get written down in the setting info by next week-end (I'm not stupid), but I'm posting this both so I have a record of the ideas somewhere I can access them (...I'm pretty sure I said that about the last forums >.>) and more importantly, so Adam and Phil (the two other Lexum characters) and anyone else who has ideas can post and everyone can discuss this.

So, here's what I propose.

Political Rank 4

The main problem with PolRank 4 is that currently, there's no one between the Triumvirate and the Imperial Senate, and that the Triumvirate are NPCs. I believe there's a simple solution to this which also provides us with a solution to ArcRank 4 and DivRank 4.

The solution is this: give the Triumvirate a cabinet. Call it the Concilium (Latin for "Council") and its members, Counsellors.

I'll expand on this in a second, but here's what this does: reduces the number of PolRank 4s to two, ups the number of ArcRank and DivRank 4s to one and provides another, solely in-background representation of the power of the Legions.

How?

This Concilium is composed of the Triumvirate's direct advisors. They are "chosen" by their peers (read into that what you will) and presented to the Triumvirate. Their official task is to advise the Triumvirate on all matters relevant to their expertise and to make sure the different seats of power work together, but everyone knows that they also make sure their respective organisations' interests are represented.

The Concilium is composed of four voting members and one nonvoting member:
- two Senators (NB: this can either be two Imperial Senators, to ensure that the Senate is heard, or one from each Senate, and the Republican Senator chosen to sit on the Concilium is generally ignored - I like the second better, personally, but both options are out there) elected to the post by a full majority (so only the richest and most popular make it);
- one member of the Magi Assembly (elected to the post by a full majority);
- one member of the Churches (elected by a who-knows-what majority by the Guides - they're pretty secretive about the whole thing);
- the Legatus Rex, who is only present in an advisory fashion.

Concretely, this means that Lexum is now governed in a typically Lexan fashion (sort-of democracy) whilst at the same time, mechanically having as many Rank 4s as Esparr. This is a win-win situation, as far as I'm concerned.

Note that this requires the current PolRanks 3 and 4 to be shifted down a notch - so Republican Senator is now PolRank 2, and Imperial Senator is PolRank 3. This better reflects the power of those positions relative to other ranks within Lexum, and aligns with Esparr again. PolRank 2 characters can be either a Governor, a Magistrate or a random member of the Republican Senate: the first two have more apparent power, but the latter makes laws.

Military Rank 4

We've solved the problem of Arcane, Divine and Political Ranks 4, but there's still the problem of Military Rank 4 - Lexum has four.

I'm not as sure of how to fix this, and I'm going to put forward several solutions, but there is one thing which I think should be changed irrespective or whether or not that issue is addressed - Praetorian Guard positions are costly in terms of Rank (the mechanics term). Now, this wouldn't be such a problem is they had more military power, but as it is, from a stricto sensu reading of the Lexum background information, a rank (as in, military rank; not the mechanics term) in the Praetorian Guard has no more value than a rank in the Legions; that is to say, a Praetorian Decurion does not outrank a non-Praetorian Centurion despite the difference in Ranks (Rank 3 versus Rank 2).

So here's a way to fix it that doesn't require much effort at all: simply edit the Praetorian Guard entry in Lexum's background to stress that while officially, yes, a Praetorian Decurion does not outrank a Legion Centurion, disobeying a direct order from a Praetorian Guard member is guaranteed social suicide unless you have good reasons. In setting terms, this is because they represent the will of one of the Triumvirate members. In rules terms, this means that a Praetorian character, despite the difference in military rank, can still give orders to a character whose Rank is lower than his - in other words, a Praetorian Decurion has as much authority as a Legion Tribune.



Now, about the number of MilRank 4s in Lexum - my problem is that comparatively, even with the above change (so a Centurion of the PG outranks every Legion officer except the Legatus Rex) power is too diluted among the three Praetorian Centurions. This doesn't come from their lack of rank, since I addressed that above, but more from the fact that each PG century is a separate faction and works towards its own goals. It's that fact, combined with the number of PG centuries (three) which poses problem - because we end up with three Centurions and a Legatus Rex, which is three more than Esparr and a bit over the top.

I have multiple solutions to this problem, none of which I'm entirely sure about. Note, this is an either/or list, not an and one - I'm suggesting one of the below:
  • the Praetorian Guard isn't three factions, but a single one. It contains members from each of the Triumvirate members' families and yes, if they need to go somewhere, they generally handpick family members. That said, to promote unity, trust and cooperation between the Triumvirate, the Praetorian Guard is a unified body with a single commanding officer - Military Rank 4 #2.
  • the 11th Legion doesn't actually exist as a separate body. The Praetorian Guard is both bodyguard to the Triumvirate and secret police. The Centurions of the PG aren't playable (being needed as bodyguards 24/7), but the Spymaster is - one character who oversees the logistics of the PG's police activities (Military Rank 4 #2 - would require the PG being larger, just in terms of numbers).
  • As above, but the 11th Legion is a separate body that just deals with spying - the Praetorian Guard are the SS rather than the Gestapo, and arrest the Triumvirate's enemies. Again, requires a larger-sized PG (about 1000 members) and a unified PG, so a single, higher rank to be responsible (Military Rank #2 - and interestingly, this leads to the possibility of Stealth Rank 4 - the Spymaster of the 11th Legion, who can be around even in the current system).
Personally, I prefer the first option; it's the most elegant one in that it doesn't touch the PG's function and therefore doesn't encroach on the 11th Legion's. It cuts down on the number of Military Rank 4s whilst doing minimal amounts of retconning and actually having a sound, in-setting rationale.

Chris, John, Adam, Phil and anyone else who cares to contribute: thoughts?
Edited by Ansob., Mar 2 2008, 05:30 PM.
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Cursed
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Gnaeus Duronius Aeacus Prolix Senium
good stuff. i do think that this does need to be addressed as i suspect it would put Lexum player characters at a disadvantage when interacting with other players or NPCS from different countries. a rank 4 arcane caster would be preferrable to me at this point, and i really would like to get envolved with lexum politics as much as possible, but the rank system restricts the maximum political powers that could be available to my character.

i cant think of a reason why ansob's Concilium cant be introduced. i dont feel it voilates the idea behind the government system, and to me fits with the context of the game. it owuld be interesting to figure out what happens if say there where two player candidates running for the single slot for say the Magi Assembly or one of the senitor positions and there is a deadlock. how could be resolved ingame rather than someone backing down and remaking a character background (or intirely remaking one).

because of the nature of what the peatorian guard do (spending practically all their time in the personal space of another) its insaine to think that some form of bond would not form between the guard and the guarded. thus the PG having onoffical power over others equal or higher rank makes sence even without ansobs porposed changes. really IMO they should be included and are a extention of what has already been implimented. sure you can take the chance and ignore what a PG orders, but you risk the quiet infulance he may have with which ever Triumvirate he guards, and subsuqently anything that that Triumvirate could exact on you. it feels fun ;)

to recap:
-Concilium makes sence and IMO balances power for lexum players when compaired to other countries players
-Praetorian Guard seem to have the powers that ansob has already mentioned implicity, so additing it to the ranking system only makes sence IMO.
-rank reshuffle seems to make sence, particually from my point of veiw of wanting a high ranked arcane spellcaster, which currently i dont have access to.

thanks.
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Game_Control
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Thanks for being this to our attention guys, we have put the reworking of Lexum's Title and Position at the top of our "to-do" list, however we wont be able to make any changes until after we have got the Site fully up again and Blood and Stone is over.

Thanks for your ideas, we will see about including them as soon as possible. Keep them coming.
Game Control.
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