Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 21 Nov 2005 to 22 Nov 2005 (#2005-217) From: MYSTARA-L automatic digest system Date: 23/11/2005, 19:00 To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There is 1 message totalling 72 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. 'Honest' Life on Ne'er-Do-Well? ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2005 14:50:49 -0500 From: Libramus Subject: 'Honest' Life on Ne'er-Do-Well? So I've been recently thinking about the Alphatian kingdom of Ne'er-Do-Well, and wondering exactly how the kingdom manages to remain stable on anything resembling a long-term basis. The place was conceived as a thieves' paradise, after all, where anything that doesn't directly harm someone is okay and certain kinds of crime are actually celebrated. Problem with this is, a thief doesn't really produce anything of value in the long term, and anyone engaging in honest trade in such a lawless kingdom would likely want to emigrate after the second or third season of nonstop theft, swindling, extortion, fraud and confidence games threatened to do the business in. So how _does_ Ne'er-Do-Well manage to avoid becoming a starving pit of vipers? A few possibilities I've thought of here, none of which really satisfy me: - Ne'er-Do-Well doesn't *have* any sort of honest trade. It steals whatever it can, and trades stolen luxuries for those things it can't steal (bulk foodstuffs, skilled labor, et cetera). Problem: There are just too many things that can't be stolen for this to really be feasible. The concept that a kingdom of 20,000 thieves can actually cooperate and coordinate well enough to keep the kingdom running, without anyone being stabbed in the back or ratted out on, is also a difficult stretch. - Ne'er-Do-Well has a solid proportion of honest citizens, who for some reason don't suffer from the depredations of the island's thieves. Maybe custom and tradition keep the locals off limits; maybe the locals are all just so incredibly cunning and paranoid that the island's thieves swear them off for easier marks. Problem: Ne'er-Do-Well presumably gets a lot of visiting thieves, many of whom won't know or care about a 'hands off the locals' custom. As for cunning and paranoia - even if you could find 20,000 people able to stare down Name-level or better thieves on a regular basis, could you convince them to live on some backwater island where they'd have to do so? - Ne'er-Do-Well is essentially communist. The government and the Thieves' Guild (essentially one and the same) use their cut of the loot to subsidize management of farms, craft shops, and everything else Ne'er-Do-Well needs. Problem: The Soviets had industrial automation, huge economies of scale, and a much smaller kleptocratic class when they tried this, and they lasted maybe seventy years. A communist Ne'er-Do-Well should have been on the rocks decades ago. - Ne'er-Do-Well practices extensive slavery. The 'honest' people of the island aren't there by choice and give new meaning to the term 'hand-to-mouth existence' on a daily basis. Problem: ICK. Not to mention that between lousy legal protections, nonexistent worker morale, and zero outside support, whoever owns these 'sweatshop' businesses has to be operating at a huge loss. Any ideas on other possibilities, or ways in which one of the above could be reconciled to something that makes sense? Because as it stands, I'm not sure why Ne'er-Do-Well didn't starve out years ago. - Rodger Burns libramus@scn.org ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 21 Nov 2005 to 22 Nov 2005 (#2005-217) ****************************************************************