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Notes on Conversations (2004/06/30)
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Humans:
-------
Rural folk
  Live apart from a community, self-sufficient
Villagers
  Live in a small community (typically no town wall)
Townsfolk and City Dwellers
  Live in a walled, defended community, specialized jobs
Seafarers
  Live / work on the sea
Nomadic Folk
  No fixed abode, continually move (typically on a pattern following
  herd beasts or migrating wild game)
Hermits
  Live alone
Merchants and Traders
  Pedlars     -- travel with a pack or perhaps a beast of burden
  Caravaneers -- travel in caravans
  City-based  -- dwell in cities with warehouses
Soldiers and Mercenaries
Knights
Nobility


Brigands
Pirates
The Accursed
Members of Secret Orders


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Common Keywords (simple)

(Look)
(Hail)
(Bye)

Name
Job
Health
Buy, Sell, Give, Beg
purchase services (training, healing, transportation, ...)

join



Common Keywords (common knowledge)

personal info about:
  profession, duties, skills, fundamental tools of the trade
  possessions, real property
  likes and dislikes (people, food, other things)

information about:
  neighbors and relatives
    name, profession, location

  directions
    where am I?
    essential services (food, sleep, healing, ...)
    a shop / merchant of a particular type
    where can ____ be bought?

  social status / caste / profession / loyalties
    who is your lord / master?
    what (public) groups do you profess membership in?
    what is your status / rank?



Common Keywords (tasks / demeanors)
  scrutinize (is NPC lying?  more information available?)
  barter (alter prices, buy/sell an atypical item)
  persuade
  threaten
  trick (distract)
  trick (get information)
  insult
  flirt / seduce
  grovel / toady / flatter



Conversation actions doable with a party member:
  leave party: stay here
  leave party: return to <some base>  -- such as an inn
  leave party: return home            -- home of the character in question
  converse (as with any character other than oneself)
  change party order (initiative, deployment pattern, etc.)
  buy/sell or get services at "party members" rates
  ...



Idea: Speaking in another language:
    [word][word][word]  (place words in brackets or somesuch)









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Orks
  by Tribe
  by Caste


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Supporting API and Data Structures
----------------------------------

group
being
conversation
topic
datum

A being hasa conversation
A being belongs to 0+ groups

A conversation has 0+ topics

A group has 0+ members
A group has 0+ topics

(some relation exists between topics and groups)
topics may have internal structure (and/or state?)


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General Categories of Society:
------------------------------
Simple Folk
    - These are folk who seek to live, in an often dangerous world.
      Their skills and knowledge are of ordinary things.  They plant
      and gather, herd and husband, that which is needful for life.
      Most folk are simple folk.
    - Simple folk are ruled by the Powerful.
      They respect The Wise and shun The Accursed.

Powerful Folk
    - These are those who wield temporal power.  Whether warrior or
      wizard -lord, master rogue or wright, they possess skill and
      knowledge to gather power and hold it to themselves.
    - The Powerful rule over simple folk.
      The counsel of The Wise may be heeded or ignored.
      The power of The Wise and The Accursed alike is sought to wield,
      by threats or promise of reward, dealings or cozening.

"The Wise" are those who know magic or arcane lore, and use it wisely.
    - Their power is tempered by restraint, but runs deep.
    - On occasion they provide counsel, but generally avoid temporal
      entanglement with the Powerful.
    - Simple folk may be timid towards their power, but on the whole
      The Wise are respected by such.
    - Powerful folk respect their power, but chafe that it cannot be
      readily wielded for their purposes.
    - The Wise are opposed to The Accursed.

"The Accursed" are those who know magic, and use it wickedly.
    - Their power knows only the restraint of what they will dare, and
      what risks they may survive.  Potency is attained by zealous
      striving, heeding not the cost.  The (various) costs they pay
      would be considered precious by others, but deemed of no value
      to The Accursed.
    - Simple folk are fearful of their power, seeking to avoid
      eldritch harm.  Given the chance, they would see The Accursed 
      burn.
    - Powerful folk note their power with envy and nervous caution,
      sometimes seeking to bargain for its' wielding.
    - The Accursed despise The Wise, and consider them fools.


Movers and Shakers
------------------
"Warlordism and Piracy" is the watchword!


Warlords
    - These vie among one another for temporal power.
      Sitting in strongholds, they muster strength and scheme, between
      intervals of open war.  In the interim, spycraft and raiding
      serve their ends.
    - Generally, the term "Warlord" implies a single individual with
      charisma and force of arms (a Warrior).  Individuals with other
      skill paths (Wizard, Rogue, Wright) exist as Warlords however,
      and in some regions, a political unit is ruled by multiple
      persons acting as a Warlord in aggregate.  Rule by an
      individual or by a group; each has distinct strengths and
      weaknesses which will be relevant to the player navigating in /
      contending with such forces.
    - Each has a definite region of control, limited in conquest by
      neighbors and/or geographical features which are impassable or
      halt conquest by defensibility.
    - Within these regions, knights and/or patrols of soldiers may be
      met; though their "control"  includes wilderness regions from
      which wild or monstrous creatures may wander.
    - Outside of these regions, bandits in the pay of a warlord may
      harass travellers or raid lightly settled places.  Spies and
      agents seek to establish themselves in useful locations outside
      these borders.
    - On occasion (as scripted events, or due to AI deciding
      conquest), a warlord may decide to venture forth in a band
      himself, or muster an army for raid or conquest.  Unless
      traveling by stealth, such a retinue will go forth in strength.

    - There are various warlords, each with a particular region,
      ambition, moral character (wants, dislikes, positive/negative
      character traits) and so forth.
    - Each cultural group may have one or more warlords; typically the
      forces loyal to (as opposed to sujugated  by) a warlord are of a
      single culture to which that one belongs.  Note however, that
      among warlords are those who were once known as Wanderer...


Bandits (minor)
    - Small bands of outlaws (also known as "wolfs heads") survive by
      banditry and foraging.  Sometimes they are employed by a
      Warlord, serve a faction of The Accursed, or are recruited by
      Pirates.
    - Any group of bandits/outlaws which is sufficiently large or
      well-established is properly considered a (lesser) Warlord
      group, and as such would not be "minor".


Pirates
    - Well-established groups of pirates exist, with fortified lairs.
      Such may be secret, or their location may be well-known.  
    - Major piracy consists of the domination of a region of the seas,
      blockading trade (or taking a heavy toll) and raiding coastal,
      riverside, and nearby settlements.
    - Pirates may be met in single ships (of various sizes) or in
      groups.  Large groups represent a threat of significance similar
      to an army, and are best avoided.
    - Leadership of pirate groups varies from a single charismatic
      leader to a group of co-equal captains.  Social order on board
      ship (and back at port) varies from the despotic to the
      anarchic.  The level of internal violence and internal social
      stability varies from one group to another, ranging from the
      chaotic and murderous to settled communities.
    - Warlords whose primary power base is naval are of this type, and
      may control multiple towns in addition to the (mandatory) home
      port. 


Pirates (minor)
    - Minor piracy exists much as minor banditry exists.
      Such may be independent sea-borne outlaws, or itinerant naval
      bandits.  Major piracy is a form of Warlordism.


Orc Tribes
    - Multiple tribes of each of the cultural/ethnic types described
      in (another document).
    - While each has a characteristic terrain / manner of living,
      exceptions to these patterns exist.  (Individuals, or entire
      tribal groups.)
    - In many (most?) places, Orc Tribes dwell apart from Humans,
      conflict occurring on the borders between the groups, or as a
      result of some movement / action of one faction or another.
    - In other instances however, Orc Tribes (or individuals) dwell
      quite close to Human habitation.  Instances of interspersed
      settlement, or individuals dwelling in a foreign culture, exist
      in quantity, but are somewhat the exception.
    - Cross-breeding of Orc and Human is possible.  The progeny of
      such a union exhibits traits favoring one parent or another.
      There are no "half orcs", though folk may look for / percieve
      human/orkish features and believe that such half folk exist.
    - Further treatment of Orkish society (per tribe) is needed, in
      particular to detail the character types (Warrior, Wizard,
      Rogue, Wright) which exist among the different tribes and the
      role they play in their societies.


The Accursed (various groups lumped together by this title)
    Necromancers (corrupt)
    Diabolists
    Disharmonic Summoners (? do these belong to this group ?)
    ,

Secretive Orders of Magi, Druids, and others of the Wise
    Evokers   - philosophy: control planar apertures, be careful
    Summoners - philosophy: open planar apertures!
    Elementalists - p: wield the power of the elements, 
                       with respect and restraint
    Illusionists - p: perception is reality, change real<-->unreal
    Necromancers - p: learn secrets of life and death, 
                      wield this power with restraint
    Enchanters - p: Learn Essence from the Mundane.
                    Through Enchantment, clarify Existence.
                    (Their magic enchants beings and objects.
                    Charm Person, Glamer, Geas, enchanted weapons)
    Druids - p: wisdom comes from nature, lead a simple life
                (use no metal weapons / armor, live outside cities, ...)
    Clerics
        - These are attendants of shrines or ruins.
        - They are few in number, and at best, recruit to 
          replacement level (master --> 1 apprentice).
        - Their ways are of the past, yet they hold ancient wisdom 
          despite their ties to an earlier age.
        p: Follow obscure maxims.  examples include:
           "Knowledge is Destruction"
           "Spirit is stronger than Flesh"
           "Ether permeates All"

Guilds of Merchants
    - Merchants trade any/many goods, but divide themselves by the
      manner of transport (land, ship, ...) and the character of the
      movement of goods (bulky versus light, needful vs luxury, ...):

    Grains (and other needful but bulky goods)
    Cloth  (and other bulky but lucrative goods)
    Spices (and other small, precious goods)

Professional Orders
    Smiths
    Masons
    Leatherworkers
    Engineers (construct bridges, mills, large structures)
    - artificiers are too few in number to form a guild? 
      or perhaps only one guild, in the largest city (in the play area)

Professional Orders (secretive)
    Thieves' Guild (probably only one notable one, multiple minor groups)
    Beggars
    Spies
    Assassins (at least one group, solitaries in certain places)

Contemplative and Philosophical Movements
    Manner of seeking: Pilgrims, Monks, Hermits
    What is sought:    Various philosophies are followed

Travelers (also known as Wanderers, Gypsies, Tinkers, ...)
    - shard-wide, more than one ethnic group / culture is represented
    - in the play area, perhaps only one such group
    - social organization is very informal, 
      but very tight relations within small groups


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Meeting Notes 2004/07/08
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...

Meetings will be weekly Thursdays for some weeks coming up

My Deliverables for next meeting:
- Terrain Palettes for Wilderness, Town Scale
- RPG Combat System rules (numbers to be tuned later)





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