The new Red Caste: Black

[Hawt Sommer]

Lately I've been noticing a lot of red caste from by the book sims fighting along side the black caste. They may be wanting to shore up their raid numbers, perhaps their fighers simply suck ass and they needed someone with combat skills.

Keeping the books in mind, How realistic is it for warriors to fight right along side with assassins?

[Conall]

Absolutly unrealistic as long they are not all together attacked inside a tavern by a horde of kurii.

[Verona]

i do believe in one of the books, i think it might have been explorers, that Tarl and an assassin were talking about the different styles of fighting, and Tarl said assassins are less messy than warriors, and they commented about fighting back to back. but i would think it would be the exception rather than the rule. Of course if a city is raided all hands on deck to defend the homestone, and if the assassin is in disguise during the hunt, well off to defend the homestone he goes.

[Melchior Wardell]

I agree, it is not plausible since there is no love between the caste of Red and Black.

I know that in times of war there might be a bit of a fading border to this, since they might be hired as swordsmen. However a scarlet would still feel annoyed by them as would killers.

Still I want to give credit too. Much has already changed over the years for the better. How people act around killers has improved a lot, but still could use a lot of improvement.

Slaves that approach as if killers were nice teddybears. (they are not cuddly or even nice ask my girl if you doubt that)
Free that approach for a nice chat. (we aren't that social and if we are ... you better watch your back *winks* )

Now I know that we all want to interact with eachother so often I try to go with the roleplay and give it that sinister twist, but at times it can be frustrated too. The times I had to move all over the sim because people approached me so easely while I tried to have a clientconversation is more than I can count. I can understand some do it to spy or want to overhear, but when it is another slave that asks me for directions or if she can hire me, is really bothersome at times too.

I enjoy the rivalry roleplay between Red and Black. I feel challanged by it since much is about the difference between the caste and views on fact of war etc. For Crow it is even more meaningful as he was a scarlet before he was recruited for the caste.

I remember some amazing conversations in rp with scarlets that were a true challange for all involved.

[Very Criss]

Meh, it's SL. A few follow the books, the majority....don't care.

The life of a Killer in SL, played correctly, is quite the lonely life unless surrounded by other Killers. Sort of the same line of thinking as playing a Kur, or a Larl, or any other solitary type character. Kind of like putting on a shirt that says, "Everyone around me is going to Hell" and then walking in to a church. Everyone will just look at you and turn away.

So if you aren't killing, then you really aren't playing anything other than walking around a city and complaining when people come up to you and try to initiate RP, telling them that you are a Killer and that they shouldn't be talking to you. But it's SL, and we are here to Roleplay and Interact but nobody can talk to....I don't get it.

But, to each their own. The only true answer to this pole is No. They would not have hung out, shot Panthers together, drank like they were fishing buddies or swapped stories over ye old campfire.

[All Sunday]

Not an assassin but the following comes to mind:
Each assassin should act to his own believes, his concern should be to be taken seriously and objectively as to gather coin with success. To fight with the red caste would mean that he either has been paid or there is some big gain from aiding them.

If I were an assassin who is poor my concern would be money, aiding the home stone without any money back is insane to me. I risk my life for what? Honor? Noble principles? No thanks.

Sl Gor has the need to gather fighters? That's an entire different thing, understandable perhaps but still I would not force any assassin in my sim to aid even if the circumstances required numbers.
Very also underlines this, certain roles are way too containing and people find the need to do something about it and not always the best of choices.

@Crow: The way people approach assassins, or for the matter complete strangers with ease is quite common, but it's also due to the fact many people seek rp and handle in every way possible.
I remember running away from an undercover assassin just cause he said he was one, was funny, he could've been a fake for all I knew.

[Melchior Wardell]

So if you aren't killing, then you really aren't playing anything other than walking around a city and complaining when people come up to you and try to initiate RP, telling them that you are a Killer and that they shouldn't be talking to you. But it's SL, and we are here to Roleplay and Interact but nobody can talk to....I don't get it.

There are many shades of grey and I don't like to think things are this black and white. There are still a lot of possibilities and to be honest, Ar, has proven me right in this regard. And with all the positive there is of course that moment of negative.

And I am far from telling I am perfect ... reviewing my own roleplay to improve is just as much there as the desire that others would do so too.

[Sempati]

Well, it has never been a secret that on OOC level I have good amount of respect for many of the Killers out there, and sought advice from Crow, Snow and others on how the BC united and raised their level of play to help raise the level of play of the Scarlet. Think that is why soo many warriors either tolerate me, or just straight up hate me.
Think it was Crow that really helped me develop a reference guide of Warrior/Killer interactions in order to help promote that strained rivalry. I know often I look forward messing around with Killers, the veiled insults and comments back and forth, it is tense dangerous fun.

Keeping the books in mind, How realistic is it for warriors to fight right along side with assassins?

Now, Ven has that respect of the Killers skill, but to him they are rivals or tools to be used. They are not comrades in arms or drinking buddies, they are dangerous men to be wary of because ultimately they have no loyalty to anything but themselves. As such, they cannot be truly trusted even if your the one paying the gold.
In majority of situations Ven is not going to fight alongside a Killer, unless it is a desperate situation of survival or such. Now he has used Killers as instruments in the past, the most famous was the Trevian week of hell to rescue the Cardy Ubara, but to him that is the same as giving guard a crossbow it is a tool to complete a task. As Crow said, in times of war a wise Commander uses whatever is at his disposal to ensure victory, if that means hiring a group of Killers to accomplish certain tasks so be it, but when warriors and killers start acting like long lost brothers is when you need to pull back and remind each side that....you guys are rivals, at best the relation would be reluctant allies.

Like Tarl and Drusus in Beasts, become temporary allies to accomplish a goal but still barb and bait each other. They also gained a mutual respect of each other but that rivalry still exists. After all it is a strong enemy that makes for a strong man.

[NoneSpecified]

Scarlet makes me itch. Last night I found a warrior who had somehow managed to sneak in to my camp so I tossed him into a pit of spikes. I would never fight alongside a group of warriors in defense of a homestone. The furthest I would go is if I was a paid bodyguard for an Ubar and coincidentally the scarlets also were helping defend him. Killers are supposed to be politically neutral. We don't raid. We are mostly solitary. Etc. If I see any man in my compound acting like a warrior he's going to have a LOT of explaining to do.

I have come across a few--and I do mean few--warriors that I respect. But mostly the red caste in SL Gor is a joke from what I have seen. It doesn't surprise me one bit to see the BC so heavily recruited for our combat skills.

[Kamir]

In answer to the responses, let me simply ask a few questions of my own, and let the rest of you do the math for yourselves....

How many people are playing warriors in SL?

How many people are playing panthers in SL?

How many people are playing outlaws in SL?

Given the nature of Assassins to work alone(be outnumbered), if an assassin were to team up with one of these groups, which group would one choose based on numbers alone? Which of these groups would be looking for ways to improve their numbers and therefore be willing to incorporate Assassins into their ranks?