Vendors Under Occupation

Vendors Under Occupation

Introduction

The people of Britannia do not react uniformly to war.

Under the Orcish occupation, merchants and other townspeople have their own loyalties. Some support the ruling power. Some quietly sympathize with the opposing side. A few may serve as spies or trusted contacts.

These loyalties persist even when control of a town changes.

A vendor who secretly helps humans during an Orc occupation does not suddenly become an Orc loyalist when the town is liberated. Likewise, an Orc sympathizer may continue to assist Orc-aligned players after human forces regain control.

Players must learn whom they can trust.

Vendor Personalities

Eligible town vendors are assigned persistent political personalities that influence how they react to occupation, liberation, and the allegiance of nearby players.

These personalities are not displayed through labels, icons, or special interfaces.

Instead, vendors occasionally reveal their attitudes through what they say and how they behave.

A sympathetic vendor might quietly suggest that allies remain nearby.

A spy may warn that appearances are deceptive.

A hostile vendor may make their position considerably more obvious.

Players discover these personalities through observation, conversation, experimentation, and information shared with other players.

Commerce Under Orc Occupation

When a town is under Orc control, commerce changes.

• Orc-aligned players may trade normally with most vendors.
• Human players may need to locate sympathetic vendors willing to trade secretly.
• Some vendors refuse to serve human players.
• Vendors openly hostile to humans may attack them.

An occupied town is therefore not necessarily closed to human commerce.

The problem is discovering whom you can trust.

A sympathetic blacksmith, mage, provisioner, or other merchant may continue conducting business despite the occupation, but finding those people becomes part of living in occupied Britannia.

Commerce After Liberation

Liberating a town reverses much of the commercial situation.

• Human players may once again trade normally with most vendors.
• Orc sympathizers may continue assisting Orc-aligned players in secret.
• Vendors hostile to Orcs may refuse to serve Orc-aligned players.
• Some may respond aggressively.

Liberation changes who openly controls commerce.

It does not erase the loyalties of the people who live there.

As towns are liberated and recaptured during the Orcish Invasion, these relationships persist through the changing political landscape.

Discovering Sympathetic Vendors

There is no master list identifying which vendors can be trusted.

Players are expected to discover that information themselves.

Pay attention to what vendors say.

Their comments may depend upon:

• Their own political loyalty
• Whether the town is occupied or liberated
• The allegiance of the nearby player

Remarks are intentionally occasional rather than constant. A vendor may reveal something useful about themselves only from time to time.

Learning the population of a town can therefore be valuable in its own right.

The merchant who appears unremarkable today may become extremely important when control of the town changes tomorrow.

Hidden Vendor Networks

Sympathizers and spies may know other people who share their loyalties.

A player who finds a trusted vendor and asks the right questions may be referred to another contact elsewhere in Britannia.

For example:

"You might speak with Harlan, the blacksmith in Vesper. Keep your voice down."

A referral may identify the contact by name, profession, and location.

These referrals are not conventional quests.

There is no quest log, objective arrow, or scripted sequence to follow.

They are information.

Over time, players can use these clues to build their own knowledge of the hidden political and commercial networks operating throughout Britannia.

Finding Supplies Through the Network

One purpose of the vendor network is simply commerce.

Suppose a human player needs reagents while living in an Orc-controlled town.

The local mage vendors may refuse to trade with humans. Rather than abandoning the town, the player can seek out someone already known to be sympathetic and ask for help or information.

That vendor might provide the name of another trusted merchant:

"Seek out Marissa, the mage in Yew. She is a friend, but be discreet."

The player must then travel to Yew, locate Marissa, and discover whether she can provide what is needed.

Through sympathetic contacts, players may gain access to:

• Weapons
• Armor
• Reagents
• Bandages
• Tools
• Training
• Food and provisions
• Other supplies that may be difficult to obtain under occupation

No formal assignment is created.

The player begins with a need, gathers information, and decides what to do with it.

Vendor Networks and Courier Work

The same networks used to locate sympathetic merchants can also provide another kind of opportunity.

Trusted vendors sometimes need documents, orders, parcels, or other items delivered to their contacts elsewhere in Britannia.

Unlike searching for supplies, courier work begins with the vendor asking something of the player.

A merchant discovered while searching for equipment may therefore later become a source of work, and a courier assignment may introduce the player to additional merchants and towns.

See Courier System for additional information.

Knowledge Has Value

Occupation changes more than who controls a town.

It changes whom you can trade with, where supplies can be obtained, which contacts are useful, and how safely those contacts can be reached.

Because vendor personalities persist as territorial control changes, information learned about the people of Britannia remains useful.

Players may gradually learn:

• Which merchants can be trusted
• Which merchants are hostile
• Who has useful contacts elsewhere
• Where sympathetic traders can be found
• Which commercial networks extend between towns

This knowledge can be shared, guarded, traded, or simply remembered.

A town is therefore more than a collection of NPC shops.

Its inhabitants have loyalties.

And those loyalties matter.