Civic Diplomacy

From Vanguard WikiSpheres

Civic Diplomacy is the art of manipulating the citizens and rulers of a city to achieve large bonuses and effects.

There are two variables to consider when planning to do Civic Diplomacy:

• What type of NPC (what Station) do I want to influence?

• In what way (what conversation type) do I want to influence them?

NPC Stations

There are eight types of NPCs in every city. Some cities have many of one type and few of others. In some cities, working with one type of NPC will spawn more of that type to communicate with. In others, speaking with one type may reduce the number of NPCs to speak with of another type!

Station Types

The type of NPC is known as the NPC's Station. Each Station represents one of the vital categories of citizen in a fantasy medieval city:

• Domestics (ordinary citizens - Those Who Toil)

• Soldiers (the warriors and guards - Those Who Fight)

• Crafters (the skilled laborers of the city - Those Who Create)

• Clergy (the priests and shamans - Those Who Share Wisdom)

• Academics (the magic-users, sages, and historians - Those Who Know)

• Merchants (the vendors and traders - Those Who Trade)

• Nobles (the rulers and their assistants - Those Who Rule)

• Outsiders (monsters, hermits, or foreigners - Those Who We Shun)

NPC Decks

The race and station of an NPC has a large effect on the deck he or she will have available. The NPC's racial expression type is the major determinant, modified by the expression type related with the NPC's station. Together, these can give you a rough idea of the types of cards you will see in a given parley.

Levers

Each community can be likened to a series of Civic Levers. In smaller villages and towns, there may be only 5-6 levers; in the largest cities, there can be 35 or more! Each lever represents one combination of NPC and parley type; thus, Entertain Soldiers is one lever and Convince Soldiers is another.

As you and others win parleys with NPCs, the value of the corresponding lever is increase; if the value exceeds a given threshold, the bonus for that level is activated. All characters within the town gain the bonus, which is usually a buff or ability that lasts for one hour. As long as the character remains in the town with the active bonus, the hour timer keeps resetting.

The levers for each station interact: when you increase the value of one lever, the value of any opposing levers goes down:

Convince, Entertain, Incite, and Interview levers all oppose one another.

Gossip levers are unopposed.

For instance, as you raise the value of the Simple Pleasures (domestic interview lever), you lower the value of Will of the People (domestic convince lever).

Lever values don't remain static. Over time, the values of all levers decay towards the neutral value: values above neutral get lower and values below neutral get higher.

To attain and sustain one or more benefits in a town, diplomats must make a concerted effort to keep the lever values above the benefit thresholds. This usually requires a number of characters working in concert to attain specific goals.

For example, you decide you want the effect from Simple Pleasures (a bonus to outfitting skill). You start Interviewing Domestics and move the marker from 10 to 11 to 12... You know the threshold for Simple Pleasures is 40, so you ask other diplomats for help to speed up the process and as you all interview domestics, the lever rises very quickly. You continue winning Simple Pleasures parleys until the lever hits 40; suddenly, everyone in the city, whether they participated or not, gets the outfitting bonus! You now only need to win an occasional parley to offset the lever value decay, thus maintaining the bonus.

Personal Status

Faction

As you win parleys with NPCs, you gain status with those factions associated with them.

Presence

Presence is a measure of how comfortable NPCs of a given station are with you. If your presence isn't high enough, some NPCs will refuse to parley with you. With high presence, you are also more influential and each parley win has a greater effect on the lever values.

You can improve your presence with a given station by winning parleys with NPCs of that station (it may take several wins to gain a point of presence). In addition, clothing and other equipment may affect your presence with one or more station (dress for success!).

Prestige

As you win parleys with NPCs in and around a major city, you gain prestige with that city. As your prestige with a city grows, you gain access to Writs, Embassies, and Missions for that city.

Failure

When you fail a parley, you may well loose faction or prestige. In addition, you will need to wait for the person you spoke to cool down before he or she will talk with you again; in some cases, you might even be attacked or incur other penalties.

Information and Informants

As you win parleys in Civic Diplomacy, you will earn pieces of information. Informants will pay for this information with equipment and other valuables.

Information

When you win a parley, you may learn some information about various topics. This information may be of low or high reliability and has a quality that depends on the level of the source.

Informants

When you collect sufficient pieces of information, you can trade them to Informant NPCs. Informants specialize in various information topics and will pay for collections of information with equipment or other valuable items; the value of this loot varies depending on the reliability and quality of the information.

For instance, a Blackmail Informant will trade loot for sets of blackmail information (seven hearsay, five rumor, or three evidence). They may reward you with gloves or necklaces.

Civic Diplomacy NPCs

Within the cities, towns, and outposts you will find various Civic Diplomacy NPCs. Using the NPC tables, you will be able to search for NPCs in your community with the desired station types near your skill level.

Any NPC who has Civic Diplomacy parleys has a basic dialog option labeled "Civic Diplomacy". After you click on the option, you will see the parleys available; each one is labeled by the lever affected and shows the skill level of the NPC and the required presence.