Money for Soldiers

[tHEhERETIC]

Forgive me if this has been covered before...

In the course of my PbP the issue of airfare has come up. With an all-angel party this would be a non-issue: up tether, down tether. With this mixed party I used a major Song to get folks to the battlefield, but the next plot point is to avoid a battle, not fight it. Ryuki, the rich-boy NPC in the party, is balking at the expense report he'll have to write if he foots that bill.

The party includes two Soldiers, one of them grizzled and one of them wet behind the ears, plus a, erm, contractor. I haven't even asked if the latter has a passport, but the old soldier will definitely have fake documents.

Oh, I've put myself in a pickle.

So how do Archangels--specifically Michael--handle their slush funds? Also in play are Gabriel, Dominic, David, and Marc. And possibly Eli, if I really need to stretch for it.

[johndallman]

How much notice was there that the party would have to travel by air? With a couple of days, Marc's organisation should be able to make it easy: turn up, collect your pre-booked tickets, head over to the AmEx office and collect a card and some cash. With less time, meet someone who'll hand over credit cards and cash, and buy the tickets yourselves. If you're somewhere less on the map, visit a Hawala agent and get cash. This is very close to Marc's Word, and his organisation can do this stuff well.

Michael would be the next best organised, maybe with a wire transfer from a headquarters. Given time, he'd sub-contract it to Marc simply because that will be smoother and less traceable. The other Archangels will likely go straight for sub-contracting, because Marc is everyone's intermediary.

Edit: As for getting approval for the money, most Archangels trust their servitors and Soldiers on the need for it. You seriously do not want to try defrauding Marc's organisation. They have Seraph auditors, who I've always reckoned can use their resonance on accounts, and the Triads listen to calls from them.

[William]

So how do Archangels--specifically Michael--handle their slush funds? Also in play are Gabriel, Dominic, David, and Marc. And possibly Eli, if I really need to stretch for it.

Are you asking about the mechanics of how they move money that's not attached to the angel's Role? Roles probably have debit cards these days. No Role? Call a number. Michael's people probably have a whole Quartermaster's Department for handling these sorts of things. Gabriel's are unlikely to be so well organized, Soldekai's abilities notwithstanding. Dominic probably keeps his people's funds under several layers of paperwork. David and Eli are probably about knowing a particular person to call. Marc is easy -- cards. He has a whole Attunement about ATM machines. If you're outside the ATM network, you're a little outside his Word's base.

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Or are you asking about Heaven and money in general, especially budgets?

If this were GURPS, a PC could be reasonably expected to have about $3,000 in cash available in his own name on a credit or debit card, simply as part of a Role, plus another $12,000 in "settled goods." Actually, that was the GURPS 3e starting wealth back in the 90s when IN first came out; now it might be more like $20,000 in his Role's sundries, plus $5,000 in cash. In regular IN, a higher-Status Role probably comes with more cash. Interestingly, someone with a low Role and/or no settled place to live would have access to the full $15,000 or $25,000 "credit line," instead of having an apartment and a car somewhere -- but then, of course, they don't have an apartment and a car. Such wandering agents might simply be able to call someone up and have the money spent for them or sent somewhere, if they don't have a bank account with a card.

Whether this gets "expensed" is probably going to depend on how much you figure the organization has coming in. Remember, not even angels can make money from nothing -- Marc's "Head of a PIN" takes lost money from elsewhere in the Symphony, and counterfeiting is a lie. The more liberal an organization's rules for funding operations are, the less cash they are likely to have on hand for any one operation. Airfare? Probably a very regular expense.

Does an angel's Role have a day job and a paycheck? What have they been doing with it? (Marc's angels might have a short list of Heaven-managed credit unions where they deposit their money and obtain a none-too-shabby return. This conveniently gives Marc the management of their funds in the meantime, and allows him to fund projects with the vig.) With this you could simply rule that background funds accrue to the agents based on their Role's job. Does the angel have a Role without a paycheck? Then flinging funds around is likely to degrade the Role!

An angel without a Role might be funded at a certain expense level, essentially equivalent to a salary, although most angels wouldn't think of it that way. This would allow PC angels to call on an ongoing budget without having to worry about repaying anything. The PCs should probably know what this level is. How is this funded? Heaven's low-level Role staffs, the non-NPCs doing quiet duty out in the world, probably have day jobs and businesses which bring in funds, some of which -- a tithe or zakat, perhaps? -- or even all, is shifted to the angel's Word organization. Trade can make financial profits; Stone can easily acquire gems and precious metals; Lightning and Creation can make high-quality goods without salary costs and sell them; the Sword and Faith probably have pipelines to church donations. Heaven in general may interview arriving souls to determine the location of lost goods and funds which can be collected without disturbing the Symphony. Some Words with less connection to "civilization" may have more difficulty collecting funds: Dreams, Animals, Flowers. Minor Archangels. Zadkiel is notoriously stretched thin.

And then we come to the situations where the PCs need more money than they normally have, budget or salary notwithstanding. The last thing Heaven is going to do is count pennies when there's a soul at stake, of course... if somehow you need a million to save a soul, your Archangel can probably teleport you a Cherub in a power suit with an attache case full of cash. But. Agents who persistently find themselves unable to fulfill their missions without emergency external support are going to find themselves poorly reviewed, and eventually replaced by agents who can handle the job more steadily. If you've needed a mill, which was probably expedited to you via Trade, you might be ordered to assist a Trade mission expected to recoup the expense: for instance, infiltrating a large firm with Vapulan ties and sabotaging it, making the Trader a good return on his short.

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by William

Are you asking about the mechanics of how they move money that's not attached to the angel's Role? Roles probably have debit cards these days. No Role? Call a number.

The particular issue here involves moving money on behalf of people who aren't angels at all as well as the angels. One of them (the NPC) can probably foot his own bill, but is balking at footing everyone's. The experienced Soldier has a day job, but not one that gives access to a whole lot of money, especially since she's got to eat. The 'contractor' might be able to foot his own bill, but he won't do so. He's on contract, and that bloody well includes expenses in his book.

[William]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

The particular issue here involves moving money on behalf of people who aren't angels at all as well as the angels. One of them (the NPC) can probably foot his own bill, but is balking at footing everyone's. The experienced Soldier has a day job, but not one that gives access to a whole lot of money, especially since she's got to eat. The 'contractor' might be able to foot his own bill, but he won't do so. He's on contract, and that bloody well includes expenses in his book.

Can someone persuade Ryuki to give to the cause? He can't take it with him, after all. An in-group social challenge can be a good plot obstacle (worth rewarding if successfully dealt with).

The core rules essentially play up the fact that a Soldier of God is asked to sacrifice, often a lot, in the name of a Heaven which sometimes forgets human needs and motivations other than the saving of souls. Angels are generally awesome beings, but they do come from a negentropic universe where money isn't important. If the Soldier really can't scrape up the funds, my first instinct would be to try to explain this to whichever angel she's working under, laying out her available funds, her expected expenses ex mission, and why international airfare isn't a good option right now. "But Lucriel, that's the kid's college fund. Is it a net benefit to the Symphony for me to spend today's airfare out of that when I don't anticipate being able to refill it, thereby probably depriving her of a first-tier college education?" Of course, if you're heading off a major infernal Tether, the answer may be "Yes."...

Does the 'contractor' have a contract? If so, it either mentions expenses, or it doesn't. If the wording is vague... that's his supervisor's problem, and probably calls for quick clarifying negotiations. If he's necessary to the mission and he's insisting on being expensed, then whoever is paying him has to decide whether he's worth it, and if he is, it's their job to come up with the money.

ETA: And the last paragraph in my previous post applies as well. If the GM doesn't want cash to be a plot obstacle, it certainly doesn't have to be. A Soldier might be agle to call up her supervising angel and get access to War's moving-people-and-stuff-around funds as well as an angel. Michael being big on personal honor, she may know that she has access to the occasional funds and is expected to account for them with success, whereas a Laurentian might have a website with a form to submit and a numerical budget figure.

In all cases, remember that money solves far too many problems to be too easily available to PCs. If you need sudden funds, expect to owe someone. Yay, plot hook!

[Jason]

Aside from "How does Heaven handle finances?", another way to look at this could be "How much time do you want to spend considering the intricacies of accounting in your fantastical adventure game?"

If the answer happens to be "Maybe not so much" (as mine would be), I'd probably make a quick judgment offering a few suggestions of how the group might handle it:

1. Social contest to convince the Soldier to give in.
2. Social contest to convince the contractor to give in.
3. If those fail or nobody wants to do them, emergency request for funds to War, which gets delivered "no questions asked (until afterward)." Like using the company credit card, if they don't like what you bought with it, they're going to ask you to pay it back, one way or another (whether by Essence, free labor, a favor you'd REALLY rather not do, or even a geas...).

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by William

Does the 'contractor' have a contract? If so, it either mentions expenses, or it doesn't. If the wording is vague... that's his supervisor's problem, and probably calls for quick clarifying negotiations. If he's necessary to the mission and he's insisting on being expensed, then whoever is paying him has to decide whether he's worth it, and if he is, it's their job to come up with the money.

The contract at this point is basically a collection of oral handshake deals with assorted Heavenly agents, with agreed remuneration ranging from favors to loot to living to see tomorrow morning. He's kind of over a barrel a lot of the time (especially regarding that last condition), but is already kind of intransigent because Michael expects him to give up the loot he got paid with from the last deal (sort of; he exploited some vague wording and took shameless advantage of possession being 9/10 of the law, not fully realizing what the Law actually means in this context.) In other words, his contract doesn't actually specify expenses, but he's determined to get something out of the arrangement, or at least not lose more (from his perspective; he's kind of a jerk).

[robkelk]

My take on this is "What makes for a better game?"

If the players enjoy figuring out how to get past these sorts of obstacles, then by all means have them figure out how to get past this one - and reward them for doing so.

If the players would rather just dissolve to the map with an arrow moving across it then dissolve to everyone getting off the plane at the airport closest to where they need to be, then just say "you make a request to your Superior and he opens up the War chest to pay for tickets." (Pun intended, by the way.)

[Rocket Man]

So if there's money for Soldiers, are the chicks for free?

[Matthias Wasser]

Rob has the objectively correct answer, but another in-world consideration is that for many operations, the visibility rather than volume of money is likely to be the constraining factor. With supernatural powers it should be pretty easy to create or capture lots of economic value in relatively short order. Need to make a lot of small cash purchases? Sure, no problem. But mortal authorities and rival Celestial outfits are paying close attention to how money is flowing electronically. Big cash purchases may be most problematic not because of the expense per se as the attention suitcases bring when found. Plane tickets are probably an innocuous enough expense to not be much of an issue as long as everyone's Roles are in proper order.

Some outfits, like Valefor's or Jordi's, may balk at requests for cash for basically ideological reasons, but that's obviously a separate issue.