Re: Bonding Tricksters

From: Nick Brooke <Nick_Brooke_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1998 23:57:25 -0000



Jane wrote:

> I have one of the players primed to do a Bondsman's Oath on him if
> needed. Any suggestions, advice, thoughts on the wording of the
> Bondsman's Oath, etc? In particular, how much use will it be for a
> newly initiated 15-year-old to have the twit Bonded if a Sword of
> Humakt wants the Trickster dead?

Well, as I understood it, when a trickster swears an oath to a chieftain, it goes two ways. The chieftain will protect "his" trickster (so you can't beat him up or kill him without getting an enemy who has a certain amount of social and legal clout), and the trickster won't muck around with the chieftain (well, not *too* much, anyway) or with anything that'll annoy him: his wife, his sheep, other paramours, etc.

When it's a trickster swearing an oath to a 15-year-old, why shouldn't the rules be just the same? The trickster won't muck around with the 15-year-old or his stuff (too much), and anyone beating him up or killing him knows that they're incurring the wrath (and indeed will suffer from the full social and legal clout) of an aggrieved 15-year-old.

An oath's a two-sided thing, y'see: if this was High King Sartar's court jester we were talking about, it'd work out different I'm sure. (Note, though, that for any heroquesty or ritual purposes, the trickster would indeed be bondsman to an Orlanthi -- which could be very important).

In general, I would advise any trickster not to piss off a Sword of Humakt. They tend not to see the funny side. And their criticisms can be rather cutting -- if you get my point.

Nick
:::: web: <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Nick_Brooke>


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