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Author Topic: Cognoscenti Company Composition  (Read 1860 times)

Offline religon

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Cognoscenti Company Composition
« on: April 09, 2014, 01:51:30 PM »
Cognoscenti companies are limited to one "Cognoscenti." It is explicit that you can't have a Jesuit and an Inquisitor in the same company. Does that extend to the two named leaders, Curr and van Helsing? In the narrative, van Helsing is referred to as an Inquisitor. A careful reading is that van Helsing is an Inquisitor, hence a Cognoscenti. If he is in the company, an unnamed Inquisitor or a Jesuit may not be in the company however Curr can join the company.

What combinations of these leaders are intended to be in the same company?

Offline Craig

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Re: Cognoscenti Company Composition
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2014, 06:54:18 PM »
You can't have two leaders whose leadership adds up to more than +3 [IHMN, page 31, Talents].

So you can have any one of the Leadership +2 Characters or figures, plus either a Knight Captain of St. John or a Swiss Guard Captain.

Although Curr and van Helsing may be forced to 'cooperate' by the Papal See, they shall not appear in the same company in the field.

There you go  :D
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Offline Craig

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Re: Cognoscenti Company Composition
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2014, 07:02:56 PM »
It amused the hunter that his targets felt that being inside a timber-framed building with lath and plaster walls gave them some protection. All it did, as far as he was concerned, was create a series of blind spots that he could exploit.
Standing beyond the light of the lantern over the door of the house he checked his pistols before kissing the crucifix about his neck. He then flicked down a pair of yellow lenses from the brim of his hat which enhanced his vision considerably in the gloom.
"You in the house!" he shouted. "You have one minute to come outside and surrender to our Lord's justice or I shall come in and take you!"
Watching carefully he saw men take quick glances from either side of the window by the door. Another man looked through the door's eye-level grill. The hunter smiled wryly.
"Who the hell are you to demand our submission!" came a shout from behind the door.
"I am Absalom Curr, Inquisitor Lord of the Cognoscenti and servant of His Holiness the Pope" replied the hunter.
"You have no jurisdiction here" came the reply.
"I am an agent of the Almighty, I recognise no man-made borders" said Absalom.
There was some whispered conversation inside the house, then a face appeared at the window.
"Go away old man. There are many of us in here and only one of you, and we have hostages" said the man. There was a round of laughter.
"Do I know any of your hostages?" said Absalom.
"Pardon? I do not get your meaning." said the man.
"It is simple really, if I do not know or value these hostages of yours then they are of no use to you" said Absalom.
"But they are innocents and you are a servant of the Pope" said the man, sounding less sure of himself now.
"There are no innocents" said Absalom.
He raised one of his pistols and, with infinite care yet no delay, fired three shots. The first crashed through the window and took the man who had been speaking square in the chest. The second went through the thin wall on the other side of the window and blew the top of the head off another. The last pierced the door and buried itself in the shoulder of the third.
There was silence for several seconds, then the man behind the door began to moan.
Absalom took the opportunity of the pause to walk several paces to his left, still cloaked in the shadows.
A rifle and a shotgun poked through the window and fired at the place he had been seconds before. He replied in kind this time emptying both his pistols through the window and into the walls on either side.
Again a moment of silence and a pause. Absalom returned to his first position and reloaded both revolvers, while keeping one eye on the house.
The door emptied and a rifle and two pistols were thrown out onto the muddy roadway. Then a young man half carrying an older one with a shoulder wound stumbled through the door. They were followed by two more men, all keeping their empty hands visible.
One of the men looked into the gloom at where Absalom was last.
"We surrender to the Lord's justice" he said in a shaky voice.
Absalom looked them over. The older man appeared to be wearing a ragged Carabinieri tunic so was possibly a veteran. the others looked like peasants, poorly dressed and barefooted. The youngest, who had by now helped his comrade down onto his knees was different. Yes he was as poorly dressed as his comrades but he seemed to have retained some of his confidence.
With a sudden gesture and a single word of Aramaic he threw a ball of blue fire directly at Absalom. It stopped a few inches from the Inquisitor and went out with a faint pop. Absalom Curr smiled and stepped into the light.
To the men huddled in the doorway he was an impressive sight. Well over six feet tall with a black, bushy beard he looked more like a pirate than a priest. He wore a long dark coat that would have been fashionable in the 1840's perhaps, across which were two bandoliers with many small pouches along them interspersed with ammunition, crucifixes and other religious icons. On his hat was a tall conical black leather hat with a broad brim.
"You have revealed yourself boy and that was your last mistake. repent your sorcery or face the wroth of the Lord your God" said Absalom sternly.
"He is no god of mine butcher!" shouted the young man, his voice thin and desperate.
"So be it" said Absalom.
Then he raised both pistols and did not stop firing until all the chambers were spent. Before him lay the broken forms of four men, each obviously dead. However, Absalom was not finished. He holstered his pistols and as he strode forwards he pulled a long axe from his back. He stopped in front of the body of the young man and with a single stroke separated his head from his body. An oily blue mist seeped from the stump of the severed man's neck and Absalom showered it with Holy Water from a flask at his side. It dissipated quickly.

Offline religon

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Re: Cognoscenti Company Composition
« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2014, 07:14:39 PM »
Craig, thanks for the clarification and the story.

I was misinterpreting the errata Correction...
"There is _no_ limit on the number of figures in a company which can have the Leadership Talent."

So the errata only allows for 3 figures with Leadership +1 beyond the original printing of the rules. It doesn't throw out the restriction for total company Leadership total, a limit of 3.

Offline Dewbakuk

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Re: Cognoscenti Company Composition
« Reply #4 on: April 09, 2014, 07:57:16 PM »
Or Craig has forgotten he did the errata  ;)
So many projects..... so little time.......

Offline Craig

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Re: Cognoscenti Company Composition
« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2014, 08:07:36 PM »
Or Craig has forgotten he did the errata  ;)

Charles did the errata  :D
I just do as I'm told...

The errata is correct, so I stand corrected. You can have Curr and van Helsing in the same company - huzzah!

My excuse is that I get up at 0500hrs and commute 90 minutes to work and rarely get home before 1830hrs, I'm tired...

Offline religon

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Re: Cognoscenti Company Composition
« Reply #6 on: April 09, 2014, 08:26:07 PM »
Good thread. I'm sorry to have opened a can of worms. I too blame Charles for the errata confusion.  :)

From HVF...
"Some of the Cognoscenti are Jesuits and some are Inquisitors. Whichever is chosen there can only be one Cognoscenti in the Company."

Is Curr an Inquisitor?
Is van Helsing an Inquisitor?

Should the second sentence from the quote read. "Only one Jesuit or one unnamed Inquisitor can be in a Company?"

My Company idea involves either of the unnamed Cognoscenti with the 'Meticulous Planning' Talent and one or both of the named Cognoscenti for muscle.

Thanks,
Robert

Offline Craig

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Re: Cognoscenti Company Composition
« Reply #7 on: April 10, 2014, 04:34:21 AM »
Special Admonitor Jacob van Helsing is a Jesuit.
Absalom Curr is an Inquisitor.

My original reasoning behind there being only one Cognoscenti (of any flavour) in a company is that they are special individuals who draw a team around them of knights, guardsmen and martyrs. The papacy only has a small number of such men and is unlikely to gather them together except in the most dire of circumstances.
The most senior Cognoscenti, such as Curr and van Helsing, may have another Cognoscenti at their side as an aide or apprentice.

Offline vsfguthroth

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Re: Cognoscenti Company Composition
« Reply #8 on: April 10, 2014, 07:23:38 AM »

My excuse is that I get up at 0500hrs and commute 90 minutes to work and rarely get home before 1830hrs, I'm tired...

Ahhh. That explains the strange posting times - I had previously assumed the system had your time wrong  :D
“You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
W.S. Churchill

 

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