Continuing here from something Gold said in the Treasure thread: " Horukh -- The Noble Birdman plans to hire an accountant to tabulate his
uncounted coinage reserves. He simply doesn't have the time to count his
money, considering all these distracting visions and adventuring
trepidation. Horukh also has a fair amount of money "on paper" at the
House Of Coin. On the other side of the balance sheet, he retains
various employees, henchmen, debtors, and beneficiaries, drawing regular
pay-outs. " That's... actually really, really good. It's pretty much a perfect summation, in fact. Counts
are the power-brokers, the movers and shakers, of nobility; a count has
holdings small enough that they'll survive fine while he is away (if he
is landed), and a count sometimes acts as a go-between when two houses
are sour to each other, but must profit from each other. So there's a
favor bank, and loans both out and in, and a lot of word of mouth. I
think that Count Horukh probably has a rep as a sharp minded, kind
hearted, trustworthy, and strange agent-of-change-at-large, and is
especially beloved among the shippers and seafolk (since his love of
naval architecture has given them profit and safety innovations, such as
roller railings that thwart grappling hooks) (Roller railings are a
real world thing BTW, used on freighters and tankers vs. Somali pirates. Even SAS
commandos and Royal Marines were thwarted by them over 90 percent of the
time, in live tests. Picture the top railing of a vessel, between each stanchion, as
being a series of free-rolling long barrel segments about 40cm across. A grapple thrown to grab the railing, for boarding, just
rolls right off, or worse, catches and holds---until weight is put on it). And,
on a personal level in-character, yes, Horukh only has much he can do physically ( I
treat his low CON as meaning he has poor endurance, and can work
intensely at high function, but then must rest just as long afterwards
), so the summation of his support network is spot on. He doesn't have that network because he's lazy or above it all; he has it because he is compensating for weaknesses. A lot of
people look as nobles as being real shit-heels, and some are, but I
play a noble as someone with a great burden of responsibility. A Count
isn't there to boss peasants around, he's there to make sure that
hundreds or thousands of families stay protected and fed, at the cost of
most of a Count's personal freedom. The "adventuring trepidation" I
play is in part because of Superman Guilt: the time spent being Clark
Kent isn't the time spent saving people as Superman. Horukh worries that being an adventurer means he will be unable to continue his other work and obligations. And like Clark Kent and Superman = The Count and The Adventurer, which one becomes the dominant identity?
