Posted by Harlequin on October 25, 2000 at 13:05:48:
In Reply to: Yes, but posted by Imbrogno(VIP) on October 25, 2000 at 12:26:13:
> Bria should just add a policy that battleragers are already skating on thin ice and any transgression against the Hall should be dealt with in turn by the Lords/Ladies at their own discretion. You give me that, I'll never bitch about ragers again, ever. Okay, I have to agree with this as a temporary rule but not something that gets added to the Arbiter rule book. All of the Cabals, at one point or another, have opposed the Arbiters, even the Tower, and as such perhaps a permanent rule or law could be added stating that "any Cabal that continually ignores the jurisdiction of the Arbiters, interferes with the apprehension of known criminals, or consistently attacks those members of the Arbiter Cabal may have War declared upon them by the Arbiter Cabal with the consent of the Elders." There, now you send a note to the Cabal, the opposing Cabal, and Bria and whammo! War on! However, this present war is in essence the fault of the Arbiters if said war still stems from the bad relations that began while Minalcar was around. There were a select few Arbiters, no names, that completely ignored any attacks on Ragers by Masters in protected areas. I do not care if a Master is lawful, crime is crime is crime to an Arbiter and no amount of judging should change this fact. I witnessed a particularly brutal attack on a rager in Galadon by no less than 4 masters. I know the events that led up to the attack, I know who was in town during the attack, and I was playing a character that had no affiliation to the Village (lawful) and had comitted no past crimes. There were at least two arbiters in town when the attack occurred, myself and one of my groupmates offered to stand witness and were *completely* ignored. There has never been what one could refer to as "good blood" between the Arbiters and the Ragers but I don't think I can ever remember a time when such a thing was so completely ignored as the Masters-killing-Ragers-in-town incidents as they were during that time. Yes, I was around for the Arbiters doing their best to help the Villagers against the Master/Empire gangs that ran around and if I am not mistaken, Arbiters even came under attack from the Empire because of it. I for one was on both sides of that war at some point and I know Arbiters were dying because they stood up for the Cabal's beliefs. I respect and appreciate those members' dedication and perhaps that war led to the demise of "fair" dealings with the Village. Perhaps the membership suddenly included less than honest individuals because the Arbiters needed numbers in their war. Argh! I got wordy again and went way off subject... It took a while to think it up so it's staying but here is my point: Don't use bugs in this example of policemen vs. populace. Think instead of what would happen if one portion of the populace declared Jihad on another part, because that is what it is. Seen the news from Israel recently? It may be bad form to compare the events over there to a game but in essence, it's what the Villagers war against magic boils down to. Race/Religion/Political wars are never pretty but an authority figure like a policeman inadvertently chooses sides in such a war by doing his job. He doesn't judge anyone for their beliefs (we hope!) he just does his job. I've seen the pendulum swing for both sides of the Arbiter/Rager conflict and I have seen both sides lose members because of multiple deaths, con loss, and exp loss. I've seen Arbiters get their asses handed to them after declaring war on the Village and I have seen the Ragers running scared after picking on the Arbiters one too many times. Fact is, the war may stop temporarily but it will come back sooner or later. Vent all you want but don't let it get in the way of enjoying yourself... This was more like my two bucks than my two cents but hell with it, read it and weep! Harlequin