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Author Topic: Oaths  (Read 1817 times)

Lesurous

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Oaths
« on: March 01, 2018, 09:25:08 pm »

Simple as that. Like a strange mood except instead of being random, have it tied to their personal experiences. To clarify, got the idea from the Slayer's Oath from Warhammer, to which a dwarf dedicates themself to dying in battle (restricted from ranged weapons, to ensure full danger). For Dwarf Fortress, I'd imagine setting up a system of Oath creations would fit well with Toady's goals, since X survivor of a forgotten beast attack swearing a Slayer Oath and then engaging the beast in mortal combat with the ferocity of only someone fully commited to dying in battle can have. Can also create other Oaths, geared to influencing their desires, and their mental fortitude doing them. Craftsdwarf's Oath, Hunter's Oath, etc.
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FantasticDorf

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Re: Oaths
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2018, 07:50:28 am »

I see it as a legislative promise histfigs can make to themselves and to others, sort of a binding second wish similar to the slayer's oath which is triggered when a set of conditions are met in the face of danger. Dwarves could arrive with or establish new binding oaths, as well as recieve buffs & maluses on the status of completion/failure when and if relevant.

Quote
Indebted gratitude - "I pledge my honor and life to you [adventurer_name], i will always be at your disposal when you require me"  = do something significant for a histfig, save them from a wild beast or return their family from kidnap for a automatically receptive and loyal follower.

Revenge - "I pledge for the rest of my days to hunt down [histfig] and have them destroyed for [incident/reason]" = in which case for your adventurer becoming a target, you will attract groups of villians exacting a motive, don't become the enemy of a leader of a enemy civilisation or the leader will add killing you into their civilisation goals as per executing their oath.

Trustworthyness (not quite loyalty) - "You are a oath breaker, why should i listen to any of your lies when you cannot follow our code of laws and customs?" - break a oath and receive extreme negative penalties that may end up being either pernament. Civs with low oath breaking rules may cheat & lie more openly as well as not engage in actually binding oaths unless it is applied by force.


If dwarves would arrive and be able to undertake personal quests as a sort of expansion of the missions screen, you'd be able to see to help dwarves with outstanding oath dilemmas fulfill their aspirations. This also counts for dwarves who wish to pernamently extradite themselves in order to pursue a oath in exile or become a world generated adventurer with a motive.
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IndigoFenix

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Re: Oaths
« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2018, 07:56:14 am »

I'm expecting that the "personal dream" system will get expanded in general.  Right now dreams are randomly assigned at birth, which seems like a placeholder.

GoblinCookie

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Re: Oaths
« Reply #3 on: March 05, 2018, 02:20:43 pm »

I'm expecting that the "personal dream" system will get expanded in general.  Right now dreams are randomly assigned at birth, which seems like a placeholder.

A lot of things work that way.  It is an efficient way to save on fps. 
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Azerty

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Re: Oaths
« Reply #4 on: March 05, 2018, 03:16:59 pm »

Could oaths have guarantors? For exemple a warrior could pledge to a king he will fight his enemies, using a deity with Oath among his spheres as his guarantor; another way would be an advanturer pledging to a merchant he will get his goods back, using the local lord as guarantor.

This guarantor would be tasked with enforcing this oath and punishing the violators: a deity could curse the violator (another way to become a werecreature), a king would punish the him and a warrior might attack him.
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Lesurous

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Re: Oaths
« Reply #5 on: March 06, 2018, 06:17:34 am »

Could oaths have guarantors? For exemple a warrior could pledge to a king he will fight his enemies, using a deity with Oath among his spheres as his guarantor; another way would be an advanturer pledging to a merchant he will get his goods back, using the local lord as guarantor.

This guarantor would be tasked with enforcing this oath and punishing the violators: a deity could curse the violator (another way to become a werecreature), a king would punish the him and a warrior might attack him.

Would also add stuff for the law system to handle, i.e. break an oath/contract and be sentenced to jail time.
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GoblinCookie

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Re: Oaths
« Reply #6 on: March 06, 2018, 12:52:06 pm »

Could oaths have guarantors? For exemple a warrior could pledge to a king he will fight his enemies, using a deity with Oath among his spheres as his guarantor; another way would be an advanturer pledging to a merchant he will get his goods back, using the local lord as guarantor.

This guarantor would be tasked with enforcing this oath and punishing the violators: a deity could curse the violator (another way to become a werecreature), a king would punish the him and a warrior might attack him.

This fits in well with magic.  In a world with little magic oaths are really just down to personal honour but in a world with high-magic failure to keep an oath could automatically have nasty consequences.  Actually we could have a whole magic system based upon oaths generated for some worlds. 
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Azerty

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Re: Oaths
« Reply #7 on: March 06, 2018, 01:02:48 pm »

Could oaths have guarantors? For exemple a warrior could pledge to a king he will fight his enemies, using a deity with Oath among his spheres as his guarantor; another way would be an advanturer pledging to a merchant he will get his goods back, using the local lord as guarantor.

This guarantor would be tasked with enforcing this oath and punishing the violators: a deity could curse the violator (another way to become a werecreature), a king would punish the him and a warrior might attack him.

This fits in well with magic.  In a world with little magic oaths are really just down to personal honour but in a world with high-magic failure to keep an oath could automatically have nasty consequences.  Actually we could have a whole magic system based upon oaths generated for some worlds.

Like the Unbreakable Vows?
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GoblinCookie

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Re: Oaths
« Reply #8 on: March 07, 2018, 01:04:37 pm »

Like the Unbreakable Vows?

Precisely.  However I was not merely talking about having magic oaths but a magic system *based* upon oaths.  That is a situation where every spell requires you to swear an oath that is magically binding.
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Azerty

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Re: Oaths
« Reply #9 on: March 08, 2018, 10:04:35 am »

Like the Unbreakable Vows?

Precisely.  However I was not merely talking about having magic oaths but a magic system *based* upon oaths.  That is a situation where every spell requires you to swear an oath that is magically binding.

Changeling: The Lost has this as magic system. You have to pledge something (i.e. a memory, body parts) in order to get something.
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"Just tell me about the bits with the forest-defending part, the sociopath part is pretty normal dwarf behavior."

GoblinCookie

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Re: Oaths
« Reply #10 on: March 08, 2018, 11:58:09 am »

Changeling: The Lost has this as magic system. You have to pledge something (i.e. a memory, body parts) in order to get something.

It is the same except that the pledge is in the future.  More like "If my enemies burn to cinders I will cut off my hand within the week or I shall turn into cinders".  It is not sacrifice something to get something, you get something and then you sacrifice something or else you will suffer a fate worse than that.
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Pvt. Pirate

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Re: Oaths
« Reply #11 on: March 19, 2018, 08:57:24 am »

that sounds a lot like divine magic in D&D http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Magic , but the conclusion would be that arcane magic would be dorfs finding out how to manipulate the game's memory data :D
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