Reply To: Role of the Clergy and locations with some negative effects

[Love Gun]

(Since my damn PC crashed last night as I was about to answer to this topic, I try now to recapture what got lost after putting a lot of effort into my post.)

Hey, hey,
this topic finally made me to register for this forum.

I like your suggestions and would like to see them ingame in general.
But I think the clergy should be more like a faction thriving for power, not by force, but by scheming, using the faithful for the(ir) greater good. Forcing even the most powerful noble houses to their knees and make them unable to act without their leave. You made them sound like the good guys, but they certainly are not. It’s all fine as long as they benefit.(sounds pretty much like the goblins, if I’m not mistaken^^)
They would make an excellent addition for the environment of a mercenary group.
They have no army, but riches beyond imagination and they have to keep up appearances for the common people, so they can’t act openly.
Every noble would have to act according to them or they lose the support of the church and thus their own people.
There is that noble that that lord wants to be gone, but alas he remains in good standing with the church, so that lord’s hands are tied. Guess who’s hands are not?
The same goes for the church, that does not like a noble to rise higher than they allowed him to.

This time it all fits even better with the idea for a high pay scenario/contract, i wrote, that was part of the original post. It went like this: the church wants you to kill one of those crazy cultist guys. No problem. In the text prior to the battle there are then stated several subtle hints, that this very guy is some sort of cultist-jesus, who doesn’t seem to be crazy at all, but a very winsome guy, with an aura, that make you feel uneasy for the reason you are there. He seems to know why you have come. He talks to a crowd(which dislikes your very appearance and outnumberes you five to one at least), that hangs on his every word, among which are many sick and wounded (as you the commander observe). Nonetheless you expect a heavy fight. He says to you:“Leave and you may go unharmed.“You hear the threat, but think about to leave. And then to the crowd:“Noone will be harmed today!“ You take this as a slight, obviously he is not even taking you serious.
[The battle starts.] You are surprisingly only facing your target, that isn’t even fighting back(no weapon) and dies quickly.
After battle you expect all hell to break loose, but to your astonishment nobody is moving to rip you apart. Though many are angered, but more are saddened or crying. But the oddest sight are a group of maybe a dozen men, that doesn’t seem to be concerned at all.
You and your men make haste to leave the little village, before anyone is able to change his mind. As you are about to realize, why the church wanted this man to be dead.

Three days later you return to your contractee, to receive your reward, who already got word of your deed and seems to be highly satisfied, pays and dismisses you quickly. You felt uneasy since the day you murdered this cultist, could barely sleep and if you could, you were plagued by nightmares. You hoped that the pay would fix these problems, like it did so often before. But not this time. The sack of gold felt unnaturally heavy, as you picked it up, like it was filled with lead.

(Random event)Some days later at an inn, you hear of a man, that is said to be murdered publicly, but has risen three days after…crazy cultist nonsense.
You try to conceal your gladness, though you buy one round after the other for your boys. This night, for the first time, since days you fall asleep drunk, but lighthearted, thinking that it has never felt so good to be a mercenary.

Though the original was quasi ready to be shipped, I hope you get the meaning and that this is of use one way or the other.

The Black Death
Another idea that came to my mind was to introduce a event that infects a town/village with the plague. (cause you hired all the rat-catchers XD) It kills half the population, half the economy, with half the attachements getting ruined and it is possible to spread to other settlements to some extend and for your battlebrothers to get infected and die of it, if you get in contact.
This event makes some high pay contracts available, where you either have to help the contagioned town to survive this harsh times, by ensuring one way or the other that the trade to this town continues or you are hired by a neighbouring town or the relevant liege, to make sure the plague will not spread by to shutting the town down or kill every still living person and burn it to the ground.

My additions concerning the „Second Proposal“
1. Another conflict I can imagine, would be between a lumber camp and a hunter’s cabin(or a village living mostly off game). The workings in the wood would chase off the wildlife, hence threatening the existence of the hunters/villager.
So maybe it could also be like, that each attached location wants to thrive, similar to the different factions, and therefore tries to outdo opposing businesses of the same kind and other attachments that disadvantages it.
2. Attachment’s bonus/malus depending on the rulers reign-style. For example a guard/prison tower/torture dungeon could generally make bandits looting and them settling down in its influence more unlikely and additionally make people feel save, boosting the production under a just liege, though under a lord known to be cruel, amplifying the tower’s influence radius, but reduce the income of the other attached locations, cause even the righteous people feel repressed by the cruel guards, fear to get imprisoned or worse.
3. Synergies between attachements of one town but also of neighbouring towns. Like: farm + mill (+bakery)= higher (even higher) production/income; 1. town’s farm + 2. town’s mill (+3. town’s bakery)= high trade traffic and a little higher income for all; prison + town square = executions
4. Attachement related contracts. Like already mentioned. There should for example only be a contract available at a town, that wants you to hunt down grave robbers, if there is a graveyard attached to it.