COMMUNITY - FORUMS - GENERAL DISCUSSION
Horse Stealing

A quick question: will we have something in the hud that says"this is your horse/wagon" or we will rely only on its apearence and our memories? If not, how often horses will be stolen or just mistakenly rided? Since everything in the game can be lost/stolen.... how easy?


4/13/2017 5:43:01 AM #16

Posted By Ecir_Edyah at 12:54 AM - Thu Apr 13 2017

Man, I got excited by the thread title, thinking we'd have a big, ornery debate about punishments for mount and livestock theft.

As someone not too far removed from rural Texas roots, I'm here to tell you that was a death penalty offense less than 150 years ago...no need to trouble the law or courts about it. Nobody in the community would raise a fuss on the finer points of legal statutes or due process.

So in this here "low" fantasy world we're bombarded with contemporary social conventions like liberal democratic institutions in medieval times, labor unions, egalitarianism, gay marriage, environmentalist resource management, males who can only procreate one per year, well let me tell you somethin' pardner...those of us who might find ourselves in horse/cattle ranching had better see some right fine Justice for livestock thieves---or else we'll just take care of it the Ol' West way...

...y'all.


As for in-game labels for your mount, I say it should work only as well as your character's state of sobriety. If he's only buzzed, then several labels should pop up over several horses, all saying "Maybe your horse?" until he shakes it off. If he's had way too much to drink, then the label should disappear altogether and he just has to think about it for a minute which horse looks like his...and decide if he wants to guess...

Maybe if they make breathalizers with USB ports, then the game can tell if the player has had too much, too.

Hmmm..might not be a bad idea, actually. If it were working in the forums as we speak, could I hit "Submit" right now?

The ol' west way is quite futuristic for a medieval game, I think in medieval time a cow was more important than a horse due to amount of food produced in comparison. Horses are only good for travellers, hence the high need of them in America during west conquest, before trains of course.

I don't expect much travelling in a medieval game but for traders, wandering healers maybe as public entertainers/bards if any, anything else could easily be taken as a raiding/invasion attempt from another kingdom...

Also in medieval era, religion was mostly telling the law and people were not killed for stealing (talion law more likely, meaning punishment in proportion to the crime) but rather tortured or humiliated.

The common punishments in medieval ways for criminals were, from small crimes to major ones :

Minor crimes like thievery :

  • a fine to pay (most likely for rich people as nobles)

  • public humiliation while bonded to stocks for days/weeks

  • hard labor

  • hand cutting (don't think it would be possible in this game)

  • banishement (most likely for nobles)

Major crimes like murder or attempting murder, sorcery :

  • public torture, ex : breaking on the wheel or to be quartered

  • death penalty : head cut by executioner, hanging, breaking on the wheel, to be quartered, to be burnt on stake (witches)


"Anything, from the malicious hummingbird to the stately dryas elk leaves a trail to the skilled eye, but master hunters. Only way for a fool to find them is to stalk the silence, but only a legend can truely merge with the wild up to become a relentless nature spirit." Shrike the stuffer.

4/15/2017 12:30:58 AM #17

Posted By Toutatis at 12:43 AM - Thu Apr 13 2017

The ol' west way is quite futuristic for a medieval game, I think in medieval time a cow was more important than a horse due to amount of food produced in comparison. Horses are only good for travellers, hence the high need of them in America during west conquest, before trains of course.

I don't expect much travelling in a medieval game but for traders, wandering healers maybe as public entertainers/bards if any, anything else could easily be taken as a raiding/invasion attempt from another kingdom...

Also in medieval era, religion was mostly telling the law and people were not killed for stealing (talion law more likely, meaning punishment in proportion to the crime) but rather tortured or humiliated.

The common punishments in medieval ways for criminals were, from small crimes to major ones :

Minor crimes like thievery :

  • a fine to pay (most likely for rich people as nobles)

  • public humiliation while bonded to stocks for days/weeks

  • hard labor

  • hand cutting (don't think it would be possible in this game)

  • banishement (most likely for nobles)

Major crimes like murder or attempting murder, sorcery :

  • public torture, ex : breaking on the wheel or to be quartered

  • death penalty : head cut by executioner, hanging, breaking on the wheel, to be quartered, to be burnt on stake (witches)

Your post was a far more thoughtful response than mine ever deserved! Nicely done.

You make a striking point that I think could hold up well to some cursory historical scrutiny. Point well taken.

Still, I don't think historical documentation can't be graded on the same curve since the time periods were so far apart---and such an enormous difference in the ability to document 'news' at the time. I bet if the Middle Ages had widespread printing presses and generations of liberal democratic traditions in their psyche, public awareness of what Americans came to call lynches would stand out more. It really wouldn't surprise me to learn that it was such a foregone fact of life in the sparsely populated regions of medieval Europe that it probably just went without much saying. At least not as much saying as managed to get recorded in the New World hundreds of years later....

...but...

...even if we could observe both with equal detail after setting our sites for equivalent populations densities---the fact that Europe had been so settled for so much longer than the New World's 19th century may indeed have meant that its rule of law and the reach of due process (such as it was) was more ingrained than in the American West--where an equivalent strength of regional government was lagging behind population growth for a long, long time.

So just in case, I'll argue with myself in the same post so I can say I was right no matter what.


DPBoD2.jpg

4/19/2017 2:27:52 PM #18

Or, just click the panic button on your horse FOB and follow the sound of neighing. Hey presto!


Friend Code: 4AC3A3

4/19/2017 3:40:28 PM #19

The speculation and work arounds of the community aside...

Apart from branding, there has been no confirmed way you can tell your mount apart from another. We'll just have to wait and see how they are dealing with it.


4/20/2017 1:08:07 PM #20

Perhaps this might call for a proper implementation of the Yassa in some communities?

(The Yassa was a form of law governing the Mongol Empire. Incredibly well done, IMO.)


4/21/2017 11:46:59 AM #21

@eric_edyah While we're still on the topic of your (rather enjoyable) post, I just want to point out that "labour unions" of a sort did exist in medieval Europe in the form of guilds. Maybe they weren't quite what we would think of as unions, but they were nonetheless organizations run by tradesman to represent their interests.


4/21/2017 11:58:06 AM #22

Posted By MReal at 06:46 AM - Fri Apr 21 2017

@eric_edyah While we're still on the topic of your (rather enjoyable) post, I just want to point out that "labour unions" of a sort did exist in medieval Europe in the form of guilds. Maybe they weren't quite what we would think of as unions, but they were nonetheless organizations run by tradesman to represent their interests.

Indeed you're right sir! (And a lot of them could be just as violent as their 20th century counterparts in between chapter meetings!)


DPBoD2.jpg

4/21/2017 3:50:40 PM #23

In a town you leave your horse with a stable master who will give you a voucher with the information of the horse and what stall it was in. Return with the voucher and the stable master will retrieve your horse. Of coarse there will also be a fee for keeping your horse in the stable. That's how i would do it.


4/21/2017 7:44:46 PM #24

If we are talking medieval times, then a decent riding horse was a luxury that many could not afford. A good war horse was worth as much as a parcel of land.

Even a packhorse or mule was not cheap.


4/22/2017 1:47:13 PM #25

Posted By veryhasted at 09:07 AM - Wed Apr 12 2017

I doubt we have any information regarding this so far.

I hope we'll have to rely on its appearance, perhaps mark them somehow.

I love this idea! mark them, like in real life.


4/22/2017 2:05:32 PM #26

Posted By FrancisDrake at 10:14 PM - Wed Apr 12 2017

A. don't leave your horse out in town, put them in a stall.

B.remember in wich stall you parked your horse.

xD

I agree, like in real life you have to remember where you parked your car lol