Your Credit Has Been Denied (OOC Clarifications)

[etcircenses]

Due to the backlash from the reveal that Districters are subsidizing the Tributes’ credit lines, all credit cards for the Tributes have been suspended indefinitely. Though they’ll still have a place to sleep in the Suites, and whatever’s in their wardrobe, essentials like food, even from the Training Center cafe, will be charged for.

There are five ways to receive enough money to buy your essentials:

1. Kill someone in the Arena. For every Arena kill, your character will receive a thousand assi, which is somewhere around $1,000 in US currency and will buy about that much in the Capitol. This applies retroactively to the prior Arena, so if your character killed two other Tributes in Arena 14, they will have two thousand assi at their disposal.

2. Turn in a ‘treacherous’ Tribute to the Peacekeepers. After an investigation, if your report is valid, your character will receive ten thousand assi.

3. Apply for a ‘credit pass’, which will be rewarded at the Capitol’s discretion to worthy Tributes who have a proven history of being grateful to the Capitol. A post for this will go up soon.

4. Receive an underling position with the Peacekeepers. Your character, to continue being paid their modest-but-livable salary, will have to follow any orders they receive from the Peacekeepers, from working on propaganda to occasionally being deployed ‘in the field’ to punish unruly Districters.

5. Aggressively court Sponsors and brands and receive advertisement or spokesperson deals. Tributes will have to work, competitively, around the clock to make a living at this, as the Capitol will garnish 85% of their wages to ‘pay back’ the Districters who worked for them. Escorts and Stylists can help with this.

6. Get a job, such as Rochelle's reporter job or a service job. Feel free to contact the mods, because we are happy to be creative with what your character can do. Want to get them involved with making Avoxes? Barista? Figure out the Panem tax code? Let us know. However, these jobs will be extremely low-paying. Your character will need a source of supplemental income if they expect to have a meal every night. Sponsor deals are by far the more lucrative option, and that's just sad.

As a note, this isn’t something you can just handwave your character ignoring. All Tributes will have to take part in this, or they won’t be able to use any money in the Capitol for food, medicine, or anything else they might need. They won't be able to eat. They can, however, borrow money from other characters, including Staffers. Characters who have build up savings ICly through Sponsorship deals in the past can still have those, although bear in mind that in the past Tributes have not been incentivized to save.

This is not meant to establish any sort of OOC currency system that the mods have to keep track of; we are placing our trust in the players to be honest and reasonable about their characters’ methods and results.

Mentors, both classic and offworld, will continue to receive their earnings. Staffers’ salaries won’t be affected. Petitioned characters won’t be affected.

You may use this post for plotting if you like, or to ask questions for the mods.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[gamemakers]

Re: QUESTIONS

[atouchofka]

Is there any chance of Tributes gaining other jobs without petitioning out? Like I'm not saying Éowyn working in the stables but actually yes I am who does she have to beg to get a job in the stables?

[actually112]

Whoops, we have the same question. I'm +1ing this.

[biiowiired]

Pretty much my question too, with some add-ons: Are the city jobs described in the FAQ still a possibility? What about freelance, self-branding, or creating your own ideas and products for sale? Must Tributes seek out an already-established Capitolite company to market a product?

Re: QUESTIONS

[gamemakers]

Yes! I've edited the above post to clarify. Tributes can take (extremely low-paying, time-intensive) jobs in the city. Please contact the mods if you want anything plot-relevant, such as a position with the Peacekeepers, training Avoxes, or involving Capitol laws or finances.

[actually112]

Another question: are the rules at all different for child characters, and if they aren't, then are the job options the same?

I guess what I'm asking is are there child labor laws in the Capitol?

[gamemakers]

Child characters, because of their obligations to the Tribute Youth Program, won't be able to put in the hours necessary to earn enough income for their necessities with a job. They'll have better luck courting Sponsors.

But no, there are no child labor laws.

Re: QUESTIONS

[glowygreendeath]

Do brand new tributes get a small allowance so they can feed themselves long enough to get a job?

Re: QUESTIONS

[gamemakers]

No, but their Escorts may be able to set them up with a job where they get a signing bonus or advance, or immediately set them up with Sponsors. If you don't have a PC Escort, you can handwave.

[earthborn]

So far as I knew, the 'being paid for their kills' angle was always a thing, wasn't it? Regardless, this doesn't apply to Shepard, who kills enough to make up her living expenses, I think, but I am curious.

What happens to a tribute who is unable to get a job and who is either too proud, too uninformed, too unlucky in the arena, or too unfriendly to obtain money otherwise? If food and other essentials are now the responsibility of the tribute who needs them, will the Capitol seriously just let their tributes starve between arenas? What is the official response to begging on the street, or stealing?

Maybe there should be some kind of horrible low-budget mostly sawdust public school cafeteria style lunchline for the destitute?

[gamemakers]

Tributes were being paid for their kills, but the reward has gone from 100 to 1,000 assi.

Capitol society is under no obligation (in their eyes) to continue providing for Tributes who refuse to integrate themselves. Theft is a prosecutable offense, and begging is likely to just get you told off by Peacekeepers. The Capitol will let people who don't play by their rules starve.

The purpose of this plot is to provide serious IC motivation for characters, especially survivalists, to sell out their peers, petition out, join the Peacekeepers, become more involved with the setting or kill in the Arena, which are things that players have asked for. Providing those basic necessities would undermine the purpose of the plot.

[earthborn]

Ok, thank you. I feel better informed now.

Re: QUESTIONS

[allyorfoe]

Will the Capitol be garnishing the wages of all income that the tributes make? I imagine that for Capitolites, most of the jobs like being a reporter is enough to at least live on, so are their wages getting garnished, or are they just getting paid substantially less than the Capitolites doing their jobs?

Will they begin earning proper amounts of money once they have personally had their debt paid off, or for people like the newcomers who have never had much debt anyway? Or will the 85% just be...indefinite. Were people working before this being paid normally?

Re: QUESTIONS

[gamemakers]

Peacekeeper wages are not garnished. Everyone else's are. However, a job like Rochelle's reporting would probably keep food in her stomach, or at least give her enough contact with Sponsors to be able to secure some good deals.

The 85% is indefinite, and the government will argue that it's necessary for the upkeep of the training center. Capitol citizens were being paid normally, Tributes were living off the credit line.

Re: QUESTIONS

[foundafamily]

How flexible are alternate options? For example, Firo here's a very competent gambler and would try to increase money gained from a menial job or Sponsor deal by smart betting. Is this legal in the Capitol and permissible for this plot?

Re: QUESTIONS

[gamemakers]

Gambling would be alright, although it would be under the table. There's a canon betting black market around the Arenas, and ICly Capitol characters have mentioned playing the stock market. Cardsharking would also be acceptable. Peacekeepers will tell you off for it but it's not a prosecutable crime.

Re: QUESTIONS

[foundafamily]

Thanks!

[letthemburn]

If a Tribute had the inclination and ability, would going out and hunting be feasible, or would getting out of the Capitol prove impossible/inconvenient?

[gamemakers]

This would not be feasible. Tributes are not allowed beyond the city limits.

[letthemburn]

So noted o7

Re: QUESTIONS

[shiny_and_chrome]

OOH oh I have a question:

Nux has two skills in life: driving recklessly and repairing engines. What kind of job might he get? he'd be the world's worst valet driver, just sayin'

Re: QUESTIONS

[gamemakers]

The Peacekeepers are always looking, and would be happy to hire Nux. This would be economically his best choice, or perhaps being a spokesperson or the face of a special sports card line.

Alternately, he could be a mechanic.