You're a what.....? A Master Assassin.....?

[Gallonman]

There is a saying that those who can.... do,
and those who can not teach.

A teacher is not the best in his caste. It takes a special skill set to teach and that skill set is not necessarily the same ones that make you the best caste members IC atleast. I like guides and talking to other caste members but I hate the training part of the rp, I know some like it and to each their own not for me or some others and is not required to be in the caste either way. I see nothing wrong with everyone and their brother wanting to be a MA that is not the problem, the problem is the importance that some put on the title.

As for your nurse example, I do not believe that the nurse is the lowest with regards to both education and training. If you are a nurse you are really selling yourself short and need to look at the larger health care team there are many positions on the medical team with far less training than a nurse has.

@Lucius: Thank you, Valid point

@Mat:

That saying I have heard of but this is a different aspect I'm looking at. Every Assassin is a Master Assassin because they are good at killing? So what separates just regular Assassins from Master Assassins? Well if there isn't a set job that the Master Assassin can do then soon everyone will be a Master Assassin, with time. The idea is to give more power to the role of being "Just an Assassin" like it's so demeaning to be "Just an Assassin".

Teachers are looking at key things with their students before they even take them as a student. Like a Martial Arts type school. The very best is your teacher. He not only has a background knowledge of it but actual on hands experience with it. Just as I believe it would be applied with the Black Caste. You can't expect that the best Assassins would continue killing while the bad ones are training others to become Assassins and join the ranks that they struggled so hard to get into. Of course the best Assassin is going to train your students. This isn't just a class that you learn from, this is what makes them Elite, this is what makes them the harbingers of death. I can see that eventually a student will surpass his mentor but in the topic of Black Caste, the idea of being the best, would it not then be the right idea that the best sets the standards for the rest to fall in line with?

Killing is My Business.....and Business is Good.
Black Gold and Steel
Large Flagstaff (Vincent Cassady)

[Mat]

There is a saying that those who can.... do,
and those who can not teach.

A teacher is not the best in his caste. It takes a special skill set to teach and that skill set is not necessarily the same ones that make you the best caste members IC atleast. I like guides and talking to other caste members but I hate the training part of the rp, I know some like it and to each their own not for me or some others and is not required to be in the caste either way. I see nothing wrong with everyone and their brother wanting to be a MA that is not the problem, the problem is the importance that some put on the title.

As for your nurse example, I do not believe that the nurse is the lowest with regards to both education and training. If you are a nurse you are really selling yourself short and need to look at the larger health care team there are many positions on the medical team with far less training than a nurse has.

@Lucius: Thank you, Valid point

@Mat:

That saying I have heard of but this is a different aspect I'm looking at. Every Assassin is a Master Assassin because they are good at killing? So what separates just regular Assassins from Master Assassins? Well if there isn't a set job that the Master Assassin can do then soon everyone will be a Master Assassin, with time. The idea is to give more power to the role of being "Just an Assassin" like it's so demeaning to be "Just an Assassin".

Teachers are looking at key things with their students before they even take them as a student. Like a Martial Arts type school. The very best is your teacher. He not only has a background knowledge of it but actual on hands experience with it. Just as I believe it would be applied with the Black Caste. You can't expect that the best Assassins would continue killing while the bad ones are training others to become Assassins and join the ranks that they struggled so hard to get into. Of course the best Assassin is going to train your students. This isn't just a class that you learn from, this is what makes them Elite, this is what makes them the harbingers of death. I can see that eventually a student will surpass his mentor but in the topic of Black Caste, the idea of being the best, would it not then be the right idea that the best sets the standards for the rest to fall in line with?

Killing is My Business.....and Business is Good.
Black Gold and Steel
Large Flagstaff (Vincent Cassady)

Can only say that I completely disagree with you for the reasons already stated. Will chin in if something new comes up but for now we will just have to agree to disagree.

[HorizonNinetails]

Just as in SL, I fail to see how a title makes a person better at a job.

That's the same as saying "I'd rather have an engineer fix my car than a mechanic".

Not all doctors are hands on. Not all of them have a clue.

It comes down to if that person is a reliable source of information...if they are, then their title only gives homage to the politics.

You ever watch Nurse Jackie with Edie Falco? I'ma take Edie 9/10 over that doc in the first episode.

Same as SL gor. If I see "MA of Cocksterburg" it won't sway me from going to someone like Crow or Xaz or Sol and going "what do you think?"

As for assassins not having ranks, that's likely to be debated as well. Armies of seasoned fighters wouldn't just all come together as some mass. Pa Kur likely had ranks under him...and those ranks would come from previous skills and recognition from within the caste. Sure Tarl hopped in and out of the camp without much issue...but I think that was JN bending the plot to make cool things happen.

But yea...MA could just as easily come from the number of successful contracted kills completed. Theres little rhyme or reason as to why the title gets used.

[Josef of Ar]

@Large

While the books don't really state what gets one into the position of Master Assassin I would imagine that the caste like any organization has some sort of ranking system probably similar to military in structure. How you advance through these ranks I can't say because we really don't know what they are but speculation would assume that the caste masters would award rank based upon how well you perform in a job.

A good example of what I mean can be seen in the Navy where there are a predetermined number of positions for a rank with in a specific command structure. Without getting too complicated let's assume that the command structure in question is a city. The city would have so many spots opened for a specific rank which is determined by essential tasks that need to be performed within the caste. Generally it is decided what skill level is required for a specific task and how many people are needed to complete it which leads to the creation of a specific number of spots for a rank at which someone should have achieved those skill or enough to be able to easily learn them.

So let's say you have 6 jobs that require a skill level the caste believes should be achieved by the rank of Captain. This creates 6 spots for people to be promoted through whatever promotion process to Captain. As the ranks start increasing the number of positions starts getting smaller and smaller.

Unfortunately we don't know if Master Assassin was a job position (Such as Commanding Officer) or if it was a rank (such as Captain). Knowing one or the other would shed a bit of light on the command structure of the black caste inside a give city. If it's a job position then it's probably equivalent to commanding officer which means there is only one but if it is a rank then there could be multiple master assassins.


On assassins not having ranks. It's just not possible and not supported by the books. We have the terms master assassin and caste masters give to us which are indicative of a ranking structure of some sort and without one the caste would be incapable of functioning in the first place. Any successful organization has ranks whether they are called CEO, Partner, Associate, Captain, Corporal, or Principal; it is needed in order to foster efficient operation.

[Elle Couerblanc]

Master Assassin, Junior Assassin, Assassin in Training...I don't care what your title is - I just like staring at hawt, mysterious looking men in all black!!!

Sorry off topic I know but I just couldn't resist!

[Xaz]

@Large

While the books don't really state what gets one into the position of Master Assassin I would imagine that the caste like any organization has some sort of ranking system probably similar to military in structure. How you advance through these ranks I can't say because we really don't know what they are but speculation would assume that the caste masters would award rank based upon how well you perform in a job.

A good example of what I mean can be seen in the Navy where there are a predetermined number of positions for a rank with in a specific command structure. Without getting too complicated let's assume that the command structure in question is a city. The city would have so many spots opened for a specific rank which is determined by essential tasks that need to be performed within the caste. Generally it is decided what skill level is required for a specific task and how many people are needed to complete it which leads to the creation of a specific number of spots for a rank at which someone should have achieved those skill or enough to be able to easily learn them.

So let's say you have 6 jobs that require a skill level the caste believes should be achieved by the rank of Captain. This creates 6 spots for people to be promoted through whatever promotion process to Captain. As the ranks start increasing the number of positions starts getting smaller and smaller.

Unfortunately we don't know if Master Assassin was a job position (Such as Commanding Officer) or if it was a rank (such as Captain). Knowing one or the other would shed a bit of light on the command structure of the black caste inside a give city. If it's a job position then it's probably equivalent to commanding officer which means there is only one but if it is a rank then there could be multiple master assassins.


On assassins not having ranks. It's just not possible and not supported by the books. We have the terms master assassin and caste masters give to us which are indicative of a ranking structure of some sort and without one the caste would be incapable of functioning in the first place. Any successful organization has ranks whether they are called CEO, Partner, Associate, Captain, Corporal, or Principal; it is needed in order to foster efficient operation.

Koh Gausman started to train me 3 years ago. I started off as a trainee. The training took 3 months. Once I passed all Koh’s task he welcomed me into the caste, as an Assassin. After I had gotten a few kills completed and started to help Koh run the camp due to he gave me more duties to do around the camp, he promoted me to Lt. Few months later, few more kills, and more responsibility which now also included helping him to train new lads to the caste and also community relations he promoted me to Captain. About 8 months later… a lot more kills, a lot more camp duties, by this time I am pretty much doing everything and Koh is sitting back drinking paga.. Koh meets with two other Master Assassins and discusses promoting me to Master Assassin. Both the MA’s he conversed with called me into a campfire meeting one day… I had no clue why, talk about being nervous… until Koh spoke and said that the all agreed that I had earned the title. I was made Master Assassin of our camp that day and consider the MA of Treve. I was by this time running the camp, training full time, and still doing kills. Koh was still grooming me and for few more months would have these long talks with me, telling me all about his life as a Assassin…then the day came Koh walked away, (retiring his Assassin) and turned the camp, our group of 46 Assassins… over to me. One day I will do the same to an Assassin I have already trained or yet to train… then too I will fade away.


In my Camp I have 2 Lt's, One Captain, and another MA who helps me to run the day to day Operations of the camp. We all together are a great team.

Xaz Elephas
Master Assassin of Ka’Zahr
Three Years in Training and Still Learning

[iJudas]

I would not be so presumptious as to wear the tag 'Master Assassin' and I have been training since 2007. I only ever aspired to be an Assassin in the Caste of Assassins, not the 'Black Caste'. I wear the tag 'Assassin' because it is all that I am or ever will be in SL. These days I tend to 'scoff' at those I come across who wear the MA title. I don't view them in a different light. That title has been watered down and diluted so much by so many that it has, in effect, become meaningless to the few that try and remain loyal to the Caste by not elevating themselves beyond their Assassin rank status. As I said previously, I believe there was Pa-Kur in that rank and as we know he is missing in action. Until then.......KISS (keep it simple stupid) and do away with that rank. Judas out.

[Josef of Ar]

I would not be so presumptious as to wear the tag 'Master Assassin' and I have been training since 2007. I only ever aspired to be an Assassin in the Caste of Assassins, not the 'Black Caste'. I wear the tag 'Assassin' because it is all that I am or ever will be in SL. These days I tend to 'scoff' at those I come across who wear the MA title. I don't view them in a different light. That title has been watered down and diluted so much by so many that it has, in effect, become meaningless to the few that try and remain loyal to the Caste by not elevating themselves beyond their Assassin rank status. As I said previously, I believe there was Pa-Kur in that rank and as we know he is missing in action. Until then.......KISS (keep it simple stupid) and do away with that rank. Judas out.

I don't think the title of Master Assassin has to be presumptuous. I think that all depends on the person wearing it and the motivations for doing so really. So with that said I think scoffing at everyone who wears it is in itself presumptuous.

On Pa-Kur. As I pointed out the books refer to him as Ar's Master Assassin, not the Master Assassin so that train of thought is really not very accurate.

[iJudas]

I would not be so presumptious as to wear the tag 'Master Assassin' and I have been training since 2007. I only ever aspired to be an Assassin in the Caste of Assassins, not the 'Black Caste'. I wear the tag 'Assassin' because it is all that I am or ever will be in SL. These days I tend to 'scoff' at those I come across who wear the MA title. I don't view them in a different light. That title has been watered down and diluted so much by so many that it has, in effect, become meaningless to the few that try and remain loyal to the Caste by not elevating themselves beyond their Assassin rank status. As I said previously, I believe there was Pa-Kur in that rank and as we know he is missing in action. Until then.......KISS (keep it simple stupid) and do away with that rank. Judas out.

I don't think the title of Master Assassin has to be presumptuous. I think that all depends on the person wearing it and the motivations for doing so really. So with that said I think scoffing at everyone who wears it is in itself presumptuous.

On Pa-Kur. As I pointed out the books refer to him as Ar's Master Assassin, not the Master Assassin so that train of thought is really not very accurate.

It is MY train of thought and I will not be swayed.

/me scoffs

PS - The discussion as to whether Pa-Kur was 'the' MA of Ar or Gor has been well covered in another thread, where I made my stance quite clear. Apologies for not having the direct link to it here.

[Gallonman]

Thank you for all the responses. As I stated in the beginning of my posts that these were my ideas for the Master Assassin. The true role behind the title "Master Assassin" isn't very well described, but I put life behind it in my own perspective. Whether or not you agree with it is your own opinion. But I perhaps showed a way to limit the amount of "Master Assassins" running around and promote a healthy agenda for those who would seek to be a Master Assassin.

Killing is My Business.....and Business is Good.
Black Gold and Steel
Large Flagstaff (Vincent Cassady)