l'Ambassadeur (C&S)
I was chatting with an older friend about the SCR and they dug up a crumpled supplement pre-dating the famous 'Chargé de Mission' adventures that popularised the diplomatic posting premise for Sword and Cloak. The ambassador class was included within.
Delacroix coloured with Redon.
Start with an overt pistol, a hidden knife, and dress traditional to your home region.
Emissary: You are from a different region, representing your home's interests elsewhere in the realm. You speak 3 extra languages, know someone (merchant, noble, spy, rowdy,) in each town you visit and can drink a gallon of wine without getting drunk.
Uprooted: Whenever you return home, you are viewed with suspicion. Whenever you are in your new location, your origin is always obvious, despite your knowledge of custom and etiquette.
Home and away: In your employ you have 2d6 servants from home, and 2d6 servants from your new location. The two groups despise each other- if they ever get along, they will surely depose you. None compare to your local contacts.
Local contacts: Roll on the upper, middle and lower class occupation tables. Assign an occupation each to the following three NPCs, who you have formed a bond with in your new location. Each contact has a Need (support, intimacy, wealth, power, etc.) and your relationship suffers if you cannot provide this Need to them.
Your local contacts should be a major source of l'action and l'amore in your life. When resolving city action, you can always declare that one of them is with you. When travelling (country action), you may declare one of your local contacts who will join you on the journey. While pursuing l'action with a local contact you may choose to roll together with +2, but your local contact takes worse consequences on a failure. You always know the indoor maps of building linked to your local contacts' occupations.
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Sworn friend Someone you swore a solemn vow of friendship with and would fight to the death for. You may have one sworn friend ever. Hold Espirit for each other. When one of you falls in love with someone, the other must save or fall in love with the same person. If the friendship ends, become despondent (-2 to all rolls until you reconcile) and if they die, take two vices or else become doubly despondent (-4 to all rolls).
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Lover Someone it could never work out with. You hold Espirit for your lover, but they do not yet hold it for you. If you spend consecutive weeks with your lover, you see signs from the angels in the architecture, landscape or customs of your new home. X-in-6 are helpful, the rest incomprehensible (where X is number of weeks, min 2).
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Protégé You may only have one protégé at a time, who you are training to be a diplomat. They hold Espirit for you, and will do anything to impress you. If you treat them well, they will one day save your life. If you treat them badly, they will depose you brilliantly. Either way, they will doubtless one day surpass you.
Boulot: You cannot be killed by defenestration and have 2-in-6 better odds to make jumps in rooftop chases or between moving vehicles.
En garde: While you are nothing special in a fight, you shine in a duel. When you hurt someone in a duel, roll a d6 for an extra effect:
- disarm them
- knock them over
- grab hold of them
- pommel strike/ pistol whip them (d4 damage)
- free acrobatic manoeuvre
- roll twice and combine
If you get 'roll twice and combine' three times on a roll, you defeat them with an unparalleled display of finesse and acumen. Your opponent now holds Espirit for you; if they already hold Espirit for you, they save or fall in love with you; if they are already in love with you, seal it with a kiss.
Handsome ransom: You are constantly being kidnapped. If you talk to one of your captors a few minutes every day for a week, or for one hour once, they must save or hold Espirit for you. This will certainly lead to your escape and their doom.
Handsomer ransomer: You are constantly kidnapping people. You get your favourite version of backstab/assassinate, but nonlethal (see examples linked here). Those who hold Espirit for the kidnapped person now hold Espirit for you as well, until the ransom is paid.
Loyal subject: You would never directly oppose your region's interests. If it were to become public, most probably at a deeply inconvenient moment, you would have to flee or else one of your servants would betray you and assume your position.
If you take this terrible action to protect one of your local contacts from a dreadful fate, you may choose to adopt a vice instead, and the action will not be attributed to you. If you have more than 3 vices at once, one of your servants will try to have you replaced.