The Use of NPCs
The land of the Ribbon's crossing is as could be expected populated more than just Player Characters (PC). within our frame, you can consider any player character to be somehow standout personality within the gray crowd formed by Non-Player-Characters (NPC).
The general rules regarding NPCs are:
1) curious and tend to flock to anything out of ordinary
2) cowardly and rather flee than fight
3) twist all they witnessed into rumor treadmill and obscuring truth by imaginations, additions, exaggerations and superstition.
4) you can not use NPCs to shift balance of power within the sim. You are always only as powerful as your player character support. Exception being storyteller driven sim events.
5) no one has NPC bodyguards, hired thugs or other protection.
6) Garren's Mill's Main road, gates and square are 'Actively Guarded Areas', if you commit blatantly aggressive actions in these areas, you have to put your aggression post into the RP group, and anyone relevant is allowed to react, even if previously off sim. Other Actively Guarded Areas are Old Oak, the Heart of the Forest and the Scoia'Tael camp in Brokilon.
Of course, the density of NPCs varies per location. Here is the simple guide:
Garren's Mill:
An upstart city is the most densely populated area of the sim. It's streets are alive during both day and night, only fully emptying after midnight and towards the morning. No shop in the city is abandoned and empty, no matter if controlled by player character or not, the heart of the city -the market-, same as the main street, these are all busy with traffic day by day. It is good to consider that anything happening in these areas is seen by someone and can start a gossip, aside, as per example, crafty pickpocketing and alike.
The further from the square and the main roads, the less people can be encountered, the more room for shady business. the more remote areas, dead end streets and such are easily usable for all kinds of illegal activity any time of the day.
Keep in mind that non-humans will have harder time not to to stick out of the crowd in these areas than humans. Reversely, in ghetto, humans have very little anonymity and it is easier to blend in if you are a non-human. Exception to the rule are the dryads that will stand out anywhere in the city, and it would actually be a miracle if they were even allowed in by the city guards in any other form than being caged or leashed by someone showing them off as per example circus freak attraction.
The ghetto itself is it's own universe. It is more introverted than the rest of the city, there are stronger ties and people know each other better, including territorial claims of local gangs. the more consistent it is towards insiders, the harsher it is towards any outsiders that wander in - locals would have tendency to solve their own problems on their own rather than to call the human side city guards who mostly hold reputation of disregarding any ghetto's and using it instead for searches for scapegoats for any issues of the rest of the city. The ghettos are on the scale somewhere between the main roads and the dead end streets in regards of NPC traffic density.
Old Oak:
Being a village, the traffic in is much lower. There is always someone in the village, but mostly NPCs tending to own business. Tending to own homes and jobs, kids, the menial tasks of the day. It is way easier to conduct any business in the village unseen, however, being foreign rises much more attention of the local population than it would in a town or city. It is practically impossible to walk through the village without the rest of the population knowing about it in some manner through local gossip - after all, in a village of this size everyone knows everyone, and locals have to stick together against the harsh outside world.
The River Crossing Inn:
The traders inn is the best choice when you want to keep anonymous. None really asks much, even though the innkeeper knows a lot. The traffic varies, though there is always a trader or two present, passing south or north, bringing news from the world, either in the inn itself or in one of the rooms, spending the night. Alas, strangers coming in and leaving again is a norm of this place and none minds or cares.
Kaer Arkstan:
The mountain the keep is situated on is relatively barren of life and widely considered haunted since the slaughter of the 21 that happened in 422AR. The keep that was by now twice torn down lays in the state of decay has long ago been looted bare. And yet, stragglers at times claim that they have seen movement in the shadows of the keep, and speak of horrific visages of vengeful long time dead elven specters looking for the blood of men and women alike to satiate their insatiable hunger. They say, this was the final taunt of the Witchers who once lived there before they died, releasing the ghosts they kept enslaved for so many decades of starvation, now hungrier than ever.
The countryside:
The countryside outside of the Brokilon is pretty much void of traffic. There are of course farmers in the fields as much as hunters out for a hunt and traders moving on the roads, but they are so few that most of the time a traveler encounters nothing but the local wildlife. Deers and rabbits in abundance in the area, as much as foxes and at times wolves and bears.
Brokilon:
If there is any place to get virtually lost, it is Brokilon. Only the dryads really know their way around the place, and it is said they have eyes everywhere. How much truth there is to that is questionable, however: The forest is dense and expands over miles and miles of the land. Most visitors get to see mostly wild animals that are locally in abundance, and those unwelcome visitors are likely to never see anything at all anymore. This is however fully in hands of player characters.
The exception to the Brokilon's usual void of NPCs are the Scoia'Tael camps which always keep look outs who would either rather evacuate in haste if facing uneven odds or alarm the fighters to spring a trap. Scoia'Tael camps can be considered always populated by a few NPCs, probably either wounded or too weak to fight, but sympathizing with the movement.
The other exception to Brokilon's usual void of NPCs is the Heart of the Forest. It is actually fairly populated by the dryads, and it is virtually impossible to do much anything there without a dryad taking note of it - and twisting it through the gossip mill for the rest to know.
The general rules regarding NPCs are:
1) curious and tend to flock to anything out of ordinary
2) cowardly and rather flee than fight
3) twist all they witnessed into rumor treadmill and obscuring truth by imaginations, additions, exaggerations and superstition.
4) you can not use NPCs to shift balance of power within the sim. You are always only as powerful as your player character support. Exception being storyteller driven sim events.
5) no one has NPC bodyguards, hired thugs or other protection.
6) Garren's Mill's Main road, gates and square are 'Actively Guarded Areas', if you commit blatantly aggressive actions in these areas, you have to put your aggression post into the RP group, and anyone relevant is allowed to react, even if previously off sim. Other Actively Guarded Areas are Old Oak, the Heart of the Forest and the Scoia'Tael camp in Brokilon.
Of course, the density of NPCs varies per location. Here is the simple guide:
Garren's Mill:
An upstart city is the most densely populated area of the sim. It's streets are alive during both day and night, only fully emptying after midnight and towards the morning. No shop in the city is abandoned and empty, no matter if controlled by player character or not, the heart of the city -the market-, same as the main street, these are all busy with traffic day by day. It is good to consider that anything happening in these areas is seen by someone and can start a gossip, aside, as per example, crafty pickpocketing and alike.
The further from the square and the main roads, the less people can be encountered, the more room for shady business. the more remote areas, dead end streets and such are easily usable for all kinds of illegal activity any time of the day.
Keep in mind that non-humans will have harder time not to to stick out of the crowd in these areas than humans. Reversely, in ghetto, humans have very little anonymity and it is easier to blend in if you are a non-human. Exception to the rule are the dryads that will stand out anywhere in the city, and it would actually be a miracle if they were even allowed in by the city guards in any other form than being caged or leashed by someone showing them off as per example circus freak attraction.
The ghetto itself is it's own universe. It is more introverted than the rest of the city, there are stronger ties and people know each other better, including territorial claims of local gangs. the more consistent it is towards insiders, the harsher it is towards any outsiders that wander in - locals would have tendency to solve their own problems on their own rather than to call the human side city guards who mostly hold reputation of disregarding any ghetto's and using it instead for searches for scapegoats for any issues of the rest of the city. The ghettos are on the scale somewhere between the main roads and the dead end streets in regards of NPC traffic density.
Old Oak:
Being a village, the traffic in is much lower. There is always someone in the village, but mostly NPCs tending to own business. Tending to own homes and jobs, kids, the menial tasks of the day. It is way easier to conduct any business in the village unseen, however, being foreign rises much more attention of the local population than it would in a town or city. It is practically impossible to walk through the village without the rest of the population knowing about it in some manner through local gossip - after all, in a village of this size everyone knows everyone, and locals have to stick together against the harsh outside world.
The River Crossing Inn:
The traders inn is the best choice when you want to keep anonymous. None really asks much, even though the innkeeper knows a lot. The traffic varies, though there is always a trader or two present, passing south or north, bringing news from the world, either in the inn itself or in one of the rooms, spending the night. Alas, strangers coming in and leaving again is a norm of this place and none minds or cares.
Kaer Arkstan:
The mountain the keep is situated on is relatively barren of life and widely considered haunted since the slaughter of the 21 that happened in 422AR. The keep that was by now twice torn down lays in the state of decay has long ago been looted bare. And yet, stragglers at times claim that they have seen movement in the shadows of the keep, and speak of horrific visages of vengeful long time dead elven specters looking for the blood of men and women alike to satiate their insatiable hunger. They say, this was the final taunt of the Witchers who once lived there before they died, releasing the ghosts they kept enslaved for so many decades of starvation, now hungrier than ever.
The countryside:
The countryside outside of the Brokilon is pretty much void of traffic. There are of course farmers in the fields as much as hunters out for a hunt and traders moving on the roads, but they are so few that most of the time a traveler encounters nothing but the local wildlife. Deers and rabbits in abundance in the area, as much as foxes and at times wolves and bears.
Brokilon:
If there is any place to get virtually lost, it is Brokilon. Only the dryads really know their way around the place, and it is said they have eyes everywhere. How much truth there is to that is questionable, however: The forest is dense and expands over miles and miles of the land. Most visitors get to see mostly wild animals that are locally in abundance, and those unwelcome visitors are likely to never see anything at all anymore. This is however fully in hands of player characters.
The exception to the Brokilon's usual void of NPCs are the Scoia'Tael camps which always keep look outs who would either rather evacuate in haste if facing uneven odds or alarm the fighters to spring a trap. Scoia'Tael camps can be considered always populated by a few NPCs, probably either wounded or too weak to fight, but sympathizing with the movement.
The other exception to Brokilon's usual void of NPCs is the Heart of the Forest. It is actually fairly populated by the dryads, and it is virtually impossible to do much anything there without a dryad taking note of it - and twisting it through the gossip mill for the rest to know.