All Things Vargr

[Grav_Moped]

It's apirational.

Heck yeah, we're pirates! Ok, we're hauling 81Td of cargo at Cr1k/jump and have been for years, but just you wait -- someday we'll find that one big prize ship and then we'll be rich and famous and feared!

Until then, though, this Type A Free Trader is too a pirate ship!
..

 

[Condottiere]

It could explain why Corridor was overrun, if ten percent of the nearby Vargr, and a billion corsair starships decided the pickings were easy.

 

[kilemall]

How about amping it up- Vargr corsairs are actually what a privateering navy looks like, authorized by x planets to attack y targets/enemies while getting starport facilities to base and maintain and sell booty.

Or completely fun/wild- subsidized corsairs. The pack or world mega pack funds the ship in exchange for a cut of the proceeds on a regular hunting ground.

 

[Condottiere]

Yeah, I was thinking about that.

If you take the narrative at face value, corsairs basically dominate Vargr society and civilization, possibly to a greater degree than Vikings.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

A. Vargr military, as opposed to paratized, tends to divide into regular and irregular units.

B. Regular units operate under regulations, discipline, and imposed authority.

C. Irregular ones are usually banded together, semi voluntarily submit to regulations, disciple, and authority.

D. Until they don't.

E. Most, if not all, Vargr polities can't afford to maintain standing armies.

F. Or, sitting aerospace forces.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

G. And if they can barely afford a regular army, they certainly won't be able to pay for a space navy.

H. Basically, I think we're looking at the Renaissance, in terms of the Vargr military.

I. Any cohesive Vargr polity is likely to rely on levies and militias for ground forces.

J. Gambling on the draft, half the slots are for the army.

K. The remaining ones are law enforcement, marines, and the navy.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

L. And, of course, there be mercenaries.

M. Except, that Vargr inclined to be mercenary, join corsair packs.

N. I tend to believe, the vast majority of corsair packs don't have a corsair starship.

O. They will sell their services to anyone willing to meet their price.

P. Or, if desperate, board and lodging.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

Q. Corsairs aren't space pirates.

R. Corsairs are mercenaries who wish they were space pirates.

S. Why are there so many corsairs?

T. It's because Vargr just want to get off their planet, and make easy money.

U. Which begs the question, why Vargr are socio economically, possibly politically, dissatisfied?

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

V. So I'd bet that most Vargr armies are made up of corsairs, militias, and levies.

W. Militias could be regionally based, or neighbourhood, or clan.

X. Levies would be draftees, or conscripts.

Y. All of the above are probably not sold on the cause, unless the fighting is going to be in their backyard.

Z. And, likely, you'll have to pay the corsairs continuously.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

1. And then, you have the regular units.

2. The thing about war is, that you experience attrition.

3. Which means, in our case, a lot of hors de combat pack leaders.

4. As such, you have to transfer the primary loyalty to an institution.

5. Not the Constitution.

6. But the Regiment.

7. Which had earlier determined would be the Banner in size and scale.

8. For lack of a better term, I dubbed the Banner Leader as Warlord.

9. His political sponsor could be the Collie in Chief.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

A. Most Vargr rulers are going to be worried about internal dissent, rather than their expansionist neighbours, who'll have similar concerns.

B. What they'd want would be the secret police, internal security (and riot control), and a palace guard.

C. Smart Vargr rulers would set these up as separate power centres, to keep each institution in check.

D. The palace guard would be the most suited to set up as a fairly elitist military unit.

E. To be more precise, it should be a combined arms regimental combat team, therefore self reliant.

F. Loyalty should be directed to both the Regiment, and the Vargr ruler.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

G. I can't recall if the Vargr have an organic numeral system, so we'll stick to decimal.

H. I also don't recall if Charisma had a game mechanic effect on the optimal and maximum size of packs.

I. Leadership skill should modify this upwards.

J. Starting Charisma is three to eight.

K. One assumes the maximum is fifteen.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

L. Charisma effect should be very specific for each pack.

M. GURPSization.

N. For example, a father figure of a family pack would have a much higher charisma is respect of the member of that pack, than he would have at work.

O. Until the puppies become teenagers.

P. And losing a chess match might effect a Vargr's standing in the competitive chess world, but not elsewhere, unless his grandmaster status was used as a charisma bonus there.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

Q. Optimum pack size could be determined by ([{charisma plus leadership} times {charisma plus leadership} divided by two].

R. This hasn't been tested out, it's more a possibility to determine the number of pack members that a pack leader can effectively lead.

S. Pack leaders can lead larger than optimal sized packs, but this reduces their effective Charisma in regard to that pack.

T. Pack leaders can extend their effective control of the pack, by creating sub pack leaders.

U. Maybe maximum number of sub pack leaders is half their Charisma score?

 

[bookwyrm]

S. Pack leaders can lead larger than optimal sized packs, but this reduces their effective Charisma in regard to that pack.

This looks counter productive (the reducing their effective Charisma part). This makes it look like the Commander is losing confidence in their ability to lead the troops when over a certain size/amount. This would make it hard for both the troops and sub leaders to follow his/her orders, because it's hard to have confidence in a leader who has low self confidence (which is shown in the lowered Charisma).

U. Maybe maximum number of sub pack leaders is half their Charisma score?

This should be based on a Table of Organization, not Charisma. Sure, the ToA might be different from polity to polity for Vargr, but it's the high Charisma & ability that make it effective, and a low Charisma & ability that would make it fall apart.

I think Charisma might have an upper limit on how big a Military could actually get, which is why the Vargr Military is different from the Droyne, Humans, and Aslan. It's not weaker, just different.

Q, R, & T make sense and got the like.

 

[Condottiere]

Outside of opting for an egghead career, Charisma is being used for practically everything, for what I'll assume are Vargr interactions.

You join careers with Charisma bonus, you get promoted based on Charisma bonus.

It's possible their primary religious holiday is Charismas, where they get their annual bonus.

Regular units are going have pack leaders mostly distinguished by their Charisma score, so the smart thing would be to keep packs between twenty to thirty, plus specialists and combat support, so that when you need to replace the pack leader, his replacement's Charisma score should be able to effectively control the pack.

The sub pack leader concept occurred to me, since in wargames you have subcommanders to extend control, and the control to be extended in this case would not be actually with the platoon/pack.

 

[bookwyrm]

It seems like the more Vargr one is dealing with, the more complicated things become.

And they're one of the easier races to use as a Character. Who would've thought?

 

[Condottiere]

We're pretty complex as humans, ourselves.

The question here is span of control, and I think because of it's limited nature in Vargr psychology, is why they can't really expand long term, nor manage to keep a polity together.

Of course, that's the premise I'm working on.

How would that work out in Cyberpunk, where you could have large swathes of Vargr connected electronically, guided by artificial intelligence, hard to say, and supposedly, beyond the scope of this particular project.

Maybe they'll reject it, possibly implying they actually reject psionics, though the narrative implies they're rather tolerant of the practice.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

V. A Vargr can join as many packs as he wishes, assuming he's accepted.

W. However, it's also a question of how much time he has to commit to each.

X. And if you're the pack leader, that multiplies.

Y. Though, the form and function of a particular pack would scale that up and down.

Z. There is considerable difference between the responsibilities of a chess club president, to that of King Charles Spaniel of Mongrelia.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

1. While the smart thing would be to be the head of your own Vargrian Guard, as well as that of the Secret Police.

2. The problem is, there is only so much time in the diurnal rotation.

3. Being head of state, actually requires making sure that the machinery of state operates at a level that the electorate finds tolerable.

4. Which is why you usually try to install friends and family as the heads of key institutions.

5. Which is easier for Vargr, since competence is perceived by underlings as a combination of success and Charisma.

6. Usual leadership progression is organic, from within the pack.

7. In a regulated environment, a pack leader, or any higher organization tier, is going to be imposed.

8. Any leadership calculation would need to add in how respected this outside force was in imposing an external leader.

9. That's where the added characteristic of Authority comes in.