General Does someone in the Imperium really have a low SOC?

[Condottiere]

Initially, churches and their priests were the gift and continued patronage (benefaction) of the lord of the manor, but not all were willing and able to provide, so residents would be expected to attend the church of the nearest manor with a church.

Second and third sons, could be nepoed into positions that are patronized.

 

[aramis]

I was thinking about this after reading a post on Reddit today. A lot of people use SOC as a dump stat. Would someone really have a low SOC in the Imperium? I'm not sure how that would work.

What would that look like?

How do Referees handle this?

The Dread Pirate Quint had a soc of 1. He was a PC. His buddy the count literally couldn't take him anywhere... most worlds demanded ID he wouldn't share... plus, he did a mach 4 flyby of the religious center on Psaydi... killed hundreds... but rescued the count and crew from the locals. No one wanted to talk to him. He was wanted in several sectors. He couldn't use words to get what he wanted most of the time. But Knuckles and Fists worked just fine. And when those didn't, SMGs, PGMPs, and tac missiles did.
He was a trusted member of the crew, but not acceptable in public.
(He was a T4 character with 9 terms, 2 in the navy by draft, one a merchant, 6 in pirate. and a huge raft of skills at level 2)...

 

[aramis]

This is circling back around to the high Soc for alternate reasons such as described below. You can write up an alternate Soc list for academic prestige.

High Soc for various fields is entirely campaign specific, and you can be as rich as you like, and control as many lives as you like, but I think in vanilla Traveller, a Soc C Baron will absoltely have rank on any CEO, however Mega their corp, or planetary official, however high in any extraplanetary issue. And a Soc A courtier may hold themselves above the hoi polloi no matter their wealth or planetary position, but that'd almost certainly never come up unless it was about who got served first at a state dinner.

A CEO of a mega won't get the job unless he's already a noble.

It's an inheritance from the CoDoVerse (Niven & Pournelle).

 

[Condottiere]

I guess you can hire a competent Chief Operating Officer commoner.

The golden parachute could be a potential social standing upgrade.

 

[Dragoner]

Indeed my universe is different, not as dark, Baron Harkonnen can slot right into the 3I; not that different ideas can't crossover. There was an incident in an interview, where the interviewer was neither knowledgeable of either Traveller or the 3I and asked how it was different ... oh boy. Though I have to say, the 3I promoting grift, with nobles as ready made enemies, is brilliant for playability in that characters can do no wrong, there is a lot of freedom there.

 

[whartung]

His buddy the count literally couldn't take him anywhere...

But only when they found who it was, correct? If Quint was introduced as Sam, it would be "Oh, hey Sam!".

 

[bookwyrm]

But only when they found who it was, correct? If Quint was introduced as Sam, it would be "Oh, hey Sam!".

Going by the brief sketch given for Quint, I don't think any of his 'friends' would be 'dumb enough' to introduce him as Sam or anyone else. Might get an elbow in the ribs for their efforts. If anything, Quints 'friends' would be more likely to keep him in the background as much as possible, because he seems to be the opposite of a wallflower and not shy about who he is or whatever anyone might know about his past. Not only that, it seems like there are a bunch of places that would like to haul him in front of a judge or stick him in a small locked room and then destroying the key.

 

[aramis]

But only when they found who it was, correct? If Quint was introduced as Sam, it would be "Oh, hey Sam!".

The gruff demeanor of a the hardened space pirate tells through.

There's an old saying: "Breeding will tell" - For him to fit in, first they have to get him past the guards at the port gate, which requires ID he doesn't carry, and if found, will result in an attempted arrest on warrants from 3 sectors' IMoJ top officers...
Second, he's going to flub the social pleasantries.
third, he doesn't dress the part - it's far easier to dress down than up.
fourth, his reactions to situations are going to be very different from the social elites.

I forget the bit about lipstick on a pig...

So, to pull it off, he's making acting rolls, difficulty by difference of soc and by duration of interaction.

 

[whartung]

The gruff demeanor of a the hardened space pirate tells through.

Guard: "So, your name is...Sam? Is it?"
Quint: "Yar"

 

[bookwyrm]

I forget the bit about lipstick on a pig...

For some reason I'm seeing Miss Piggy as a Pirate.

(doing some search-fu)

Not sure about any pictures, but I discovered that Miss Piggy might have dressed as a Pirate in the film 'Muppet Treasure Island' from 1996.

 

[TamsinP]

For some reason I'm seeing Miss Piggy as a Pirate.

(doing some search-fu)

Not sure about any pictures, but I discovered that Miss Piggy might have dressed as a Pirate in the film 'Muppet Treasure Island' from 1996.

Here you go:

 

[Badenov]

Here you go:


View attachment 5427

So is the full saying: "You may not be able to put lipstick on a pig, but the pig is free to choose to apply it herself."