Was on my work comp and don't want the rdinn blacklisted, so this is my first chance to see what's happened today.

Nice post, Blammm, I am getting a sense of Asher Rather than undermotivated, I think the boy's got more energy than he knows what to do with...would that be a fair assessment?

As to Dash's overview of crew relationships...that's a great idea, but I am afraid that I will likely have to play awhile with everyone before I really know how Willow interacts with everyone.

If it helps, Willow's no reader, but her training means she is good at reading body language and intuiting what someone feels or wants...so if she had been asking to many questions of Dash (or anyone else, for that matter), she'd have noticed the twitchy evasions and backed off gracefully.

As to the registry (are you sure you engaged a Companion? ...they're really expensive!), I think Alacrity and I will need to figure some things out. Willow's not an actual Companion, having left before completing her training (and more importanly, doesn't pay guild fees), so I think we'll need to resolve the "relations" between Willow and the Guild. I'd love to have my cake and eat it too (all the advantages of a being a Companion, hehe), but I doubt Big Al will allow it for the sake of game balance.

Willow would have no access to the registry unless she finished her training and paid guild dues. As far as the guild is concern, Willow is another one of the many who don't make the rigorous and intense training a companion requires. If they found she was acting (in trade or by title) as a companion though - then the sheets would hit the fan.

See, that's the kind of "clarificatin" I was looking for. Thanks, Vanadia. Like I said, most of what I put in that post was derived from a scribbled note here and a stray thought there trying to figure out what the relationships might be like as we've all been crewed up for a year or so... I'll revisit some of Dash's thoughts on Willow.

And yeah, I figured Sam (in his life-that-was) was likely entertained by a "true" companion on at least one occassion (one of those "perks" for being the one of the Alliance's "top bomb droppers" or what have you... y'know, corporate/gov't bribery ... I seriously doubt, even with a pilots salary, that he'd have paid that one out of his own paycheck, though...)

Happy New Year

I haven't been around this week. Sick...yuk...where's Willow when ya need her?

Anyhoo, Brom, I did get the e-mail. This is my first day back at work this week and still not completely up to snuff but I will try to get a response out today...no later than tomorrow.

To Ash from Kora:
Sorry 'bout the assumption darlin'...it won't happen again

No prob, babe.

You'll find that Asher will have no hesitation getting all greased up with Kora.

What?!? He's in his early twenties and got a bad case of the hormones. What's a boy t' do?

That's no way to spend the holidays, but I often find myself sick when i take vacation time. It's like my body wants to ensure I get some real downtime.

Hope you are feeling better! I can't wait for this game to fly...speaking of which, I am travelling part of next week and most of teh week after that, so the more progress we can make this week, the better!

I am feeling a mite bit better this afternoon so hopefully it will only go up from there

As for Ash gettin' greasy with Kora...she will put him to that test

What are the repercussions, if any, of one dropping out of Companion training?

To be a companion takes years of physical discipline, education, meditation, and training. It is very intense, and many do not make it to the end of training.

The art of seduction and the like only comes after training, and then there is a final test.

Willow didn't get to the final test but she did complete her education and was partially through the "core training" when she dropped out. So she would have had clients, although not many.

Dropping out has no ramifications really, in fact few do make it to the end. To be a companion takes a certain mindframe that only some can achieve. Unless the person tries to set up shop as a whore, or pass themselves as a companion, then there would be problems. In the former, the person is blacklisted, in the latter, the guild will take drastic steps.

So, Willow has clients and may continue to see those clients even if she is not a member of the guild?

She had clients. She can no longer "serve" clients.

oh, and here is an interesting cafepress page I found while looking for chinese I could use.

A little whimsical in the brainpan

...I've stumbled across a few words and phrases here and there that don't seem to be included in any of the "official resources" (i.e. the rulebook, the pdf's on the site that Al linked earlier in the thread, etc)... Don't seem to have that pile of notes with me at present but I can stick them all togehter and post them for reference if you like.

I thought there was a distinction between Companions and your run of the mill pros/whores/strippers... Mal just used called Inara a whore to get under her skin. It is, in essence what she does, but could be so much more than that.

A high class escort service versus a back alley, drug addicted sex worker, if you know what I mean. After all, geishas had more to what they did than sex.

Does the guild control the entire sex trade? I had a very different understanding but hey, I romanticize everything

that's confusing me too Van.

Maybe I am not explaining myself well.

Companions guild does not control the sex trade. There are still escorts, whores, hookers and whatever degree downwards you want to add. Companions do cater to the Geisha concept, but they are in the sex trade whether they want to admit it or not.

So ... a companion trained dropout could have clients and be an escort/hooker. However if she called herself a companion, then the guild would take action.

A companion that drops the "guise" and becomes a whore is blacklisted (Heart of Gold Episode of Firefly).

So if you aren't paying dues and serving tea before or after the deed, you are a whore. If you are serving tea, doing the deed but don't have the degree (and claim to) - then you are in a world of hurt.

Think of it as a trademark violation. Nike took over the playboy mansion.