It's long past time again for another item of note that I have begun referring to as, Creator's Insights. This time around I have been thinking of the Mortanis and of assassins and assassinations in general. I will begin with the idea of assassins. Originally, I was a little uncertain as to whether or not I should acknowledge them as a listing in the Income section of the Price List. I was also hesitant to acknowledge them period. The reasons behind this come from past experiences in roleplaying; both tabletop and computer-based. These experiences, just about every one of them, involved a character who claimed to be an "assassin" yet they lacked the basic skills and knowledge required to be an effective killer. The characters (there have been enough of them over my years of roleplaying to create an average) would be created and billed as deadly assassins who are unmatched in their skill and ability. Funny thing is that these characters would usually only possess skills related to assassinations at levels equivalent to Mizahar's L1 skills and even then only at the low end of L1. It indeed was laughable.
In fact, I remember playing an old Shadowrun game where one of the other players was playing what he referred to as a Corporate Assassin. We were in a situation where our group was taking refuge in an abandoned gas station when a rival corporation of the one we were working for surrounded us with at least a dozen men. I was playing a Decker; effectively a hacker character focusing primarily on technical skills. We had a few others in our group who were moderately combat oriented but when the enemy began firing on the gas station and then moved in to storm the place, I remember turning to the guy playing the Corporate Assassin and asking him when he was going to actually do some killing. The player then looked at me and said, "I don't have the right skills to help get us out of here." I was pissed because I'd worked hard on building my character up and it looked like he was going to bite it. The player of this Corporate Assassin had been going on all night in-character and out-of-character about how much of a badass the character was and now when we actually needed him, he didn't have the skills to back up his concept.
I channeled my anger into my character and immediately raised my submachine gun and fired off an entire clip into the Corporate Assassin's head. Mind you my skill with the gun was low (yet still higher than the Corporate Assassin) and my initiative roll wasn't great as I had few bonuses. The damn Corporate Assassin didn't even have more initiative bonuses than me. I turned his head into red mashed potatoes. We ended up escaping the gas-station scenario and the player of the Corporate Assassin was pissed at me for the rest of the night (he eventually got over it).
My point to this story though is that when I was thinking about assassins as part of income I figured that it would have to be one of the few occupations that required at least some skill in areas that relate to assassins. Mind you, it is still terrible low but I see it as a base. Not all starting assassins are going to be successful. They will have to struggle to eliminate their target and it won't be pretty. There will be little finesse to it and more often than not, the beginning assassin will be taking jobs that require little skill to perform.
Moving on, a truly capable assassin here on Mizahar, one that should be feared and respected, is NOT a character with L1 in Poison, Larceny, Stealth, Intelligence and Intimidation with an L2 in Dagger. Such a character would likely only be capable of killing in a manner similar to a thug in a bar fight or a prisoner stabbing another with a shiv and then quickly walking away. There is no real skill in what they do. Honestly, a character who wants to become an assassin will likely begin with developing their skills long before engaging in any actual assassinations.
I see any character that wants to lay claim to being an assassin as having AT LEAST the following skills:
A Weapon Skill or Poison (L3 in one, L2 in the other)
Stealth, Impersonation, Subterfuge or Seduction (L2 in all or at least 3 out of 4)
Blind Fighting, Escape Artist, Forgery, Cryptography, Intelligence, Unarmed Combat (L1 in all)
Note that I said, AT LEAST. My reasoning behind this is that your average city guard will likely have a weapon skill of some sort at L2. If you're an assassin with only an L2 in either a weapon or poison or both, the average city guard will be something of a match for you. Depending on the city and the training of their guards, they will also have other skills such as unarmed combat, investigation, observation and such which will put an "assassin" with anything less than I mentioned above at a disadvantage or at least make his job more difficult than it would be for a REAL assassin. If the assassin isn't more skilled than those hunting him down, he is no assassin. Also remember that the above mentioned skill set is for a starting assassin; an assassin who has taken a bit of time and effort to build some skills before engaging in assassinations.
This brings me to the Mortanis. I wanted an organization that would be fitting for characters of the darker mindset who possess high levels of skill and are looking for a more exclusive "club" of sorts. I also wanted to provide an example of what a true assassin would look like on Mizahar. The Mortanis are vision of "badass" in that they have the skill and the mentality to turn killing into an art. To compare what I see as a starting assassin with the ideal end result, here is an exert from the Mortanis in Lore that shows the requirements (skill-wise) for becoming a member:
3 Gnosis Marks from Krysus
At least one of the following skills at Master Level (76+): A Weapon Skill, Poison or Torture
At least one of the following skills at Expert Level (51+): Stealth, Impersonation, Subterfuge or Seduction
At least two of the following skills at Competent Level (26+): Blind Fighting, Escape Artist, Forgery, Cryptography, Intelligence, Unarmed Combat
While an equally skilled assassin need not have 3 Gnosis marks from Krysus, those marks make their job so much more efficient. Notice that the primary skill or skills of a Mortanis assassin are at L4/Master Level. They also have a secondary skill of at least an L3/Expert Level.
So if a character has skills comparable to that of the beginning Mortanis, they have every right to lay claim to the title of Assassin. One may ask why I didn't just place the requirements for the Assassin Income as being at a Mortanis level or at least higher than what it's at now. I would counter that it would be too restrictive and nobody would ever pursue such a line of work. Even though I have yet to see true assassin PCs roleplayed in any roleplaying game I have ever played, I wanted to keep the occupation and character concept open to players who may one day create a well thought out, well built character that fits the title of Assassin.
So in closing, rule of thumb when playing an assassin type character, if the average city guard is a threat to you, you are no assassin. If a blacksmith with an L2 using their forge hammer as a weapon poses a threat to you as far as skills are concerned, you are no assassin. If the only poisons you know how to use do not in some way disable your target or at least make your target easier to kill, you are no assassin. |
by Rayage on November 11th, 2012, 6:38 pm 
