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Wednesday, November 16, 2016

You are magnetic ink or the Bueaucrat Career in Cepheus Engine

If this turns out uninspired blame me. I have always wondered about this career in the various T versions as I can't fathom why someone would want to play it. I am not saying it doesn't make sense as a career but rather as a choice for an alter-ego in a game most of us play to escape from our own here and now. The description says this is a government official although I believe it is applicable to any large group acknowledging that it is necessary to have them to run. Let's get down to it then, shall we? Surprisingly it is hard to qualify for this career needing a 6+ with social standing (SOC) as the controlling characteristic. It seems that bureaucrats are a someone elite group so I may backtrack here on my NGO viewpoint. Thinking on this it seems likely to me that this career isn't the clerk at the registry of motor vehicles but perhaps more along the lines of a civil rights enforcement organization leading to a more positive public image. Survival is a fairly easy 4+ with education (EDU) as the controlling characteristic. Commission is fairly easy at 5+ with SOC giving a boost of hindrance. Promotion on the other hand is a difficult 8+ with Intelligence (INT) controlling any possible modifier. So it appears nepotism will get your foot on the bottom rung but you need an agile mind to climb the career ladder. Re-enlistment is 5+ giving a moderate chance to retire if you pursue this career to the exclusion of others. The base skill is Admin -1 unsurprisingly with Advocate -1 awarded at rank 4 Chief.  At the completion of your first term you know Computer, Carousing, Bribery, Leadership and Vehicle at rank 0. Again this skill set is not the one I originally imagined for a government desk jockey however it does suggest someone who gets out and mingles to find out what is going on. Mustering out offers low passage, middle passage twice, high passage, boosts to both mental characteristics and finally (to 5 and 6 characters) a SOC boost. All of this seems fine and the SOC boost helps with my re imagined career being one the average citizen admires. Cash wise the table ranges from one thousand to fifty thousand credits (still disliking English and it's rules) which seems okay to me.

The personal development table offers boosts to your dexterity (DEX), endurance (END), both mental characteristics, Athletics and Carousing. I am not sure what I make of this beyond being the kinds of things a regular person could accomplish in their free time. A quirk of mine regarding character generation is that the awards are what the career trained you to do however rather than as leisure activities which I view as covered by background skills. END, INT, EDU and Carousing can all be explained as coming from doing your job possibly for unexpected long shifts in the case of END. That leaves DEX and Athletics to explain in the context of a bureaucrat which I am struggling with at the moment. Then again I am positing the society as a whole is encouraged to gamble and compete so perhaps a part of the job is to run and compete in local versions of the Showcase of Worlds. The specialist skills are Admin, Computer, Perception, Leadership, Steward and Vehicle. The only ones that stand out enough for comment are Leadership a skill that boost a group rather than an individual; Steward which covers not only catering to others but appearing in high society and finally Perception which seems to have been left out of the rules. My version goes from Ocean Ships to Physical Sciences and with English having at least two meanings for the word, "I perceive that man is falling out a window" and "He appears unhappy about it" what is intended isn't immediately clear. I am going to go with noticing things being modified by INT and noticing an emotional state being modified by EDU. Advanced education skills are Advocate, Computer, Liaison, Linguistics, Medicine and Admin none are odd enough to comment on. So at the end I have gone from a faceless minion of the triplicate gods to a troubleshooter for the Referendum who wanders about trying to identify and solve discontent with the system. It is not meant to represent a rebel leader however as the most prevalent skill is Admin which is used to get the system to work rather than disrupt it. This is probably a concept I would have never had if I wasn't looking at the careers beyond just their titles and can see this actually being a character trope that someone could want as a background.

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