(02-01-2014, 05:28 PM)Natalie Mcbeef Wrote: As far as analogies go, I view Ul'dah as the following, using real world equivalents in my home city.
Brass Blades = LAPD
Sultansworn = FBI
Flames = Military.
Depending on the situation, all 3 groups can and have done law enforcement in the city. As an example, obviously US troops are not police, but they were called in to patrol the streets during the LA riots. FBI don't normally have jurisdiction, but can act in special cases.
I agree with Mcbeef on this view. We see its all in the situation. As a former rl military officer I can tell you that the military can, in times of strife and war, arrest. That said it requires special situation. Any arrest made buy a military person is little more then a citizen arrest in normal situations. That said it can happen. Keep in mind that the separation of local police, nation police, and military is not universal. In many countries they are one body, or multiple bodies with equal powers. In Russia for example even though there are three bodies as in America, but each has the ability to arrest you for crimes. To view the game nation Thanalan in the frame of the US or some other real life nation is flawed as they are different things entirely.
As some of you know, my character's story is heavily steeped in the fact that he is a soldier of the flames that was given the rank of Sultansworn after 2.0. I play in the way that he is both an active flame and a paladin. The status as a paladin adds to his rank in a ceremonial way, much in the way a knighthood in pre20th century England did. He is at his core a soldier, this is because at my core I am a veteran and so I rp as such.
As to arresting other players, I have done it once in the heat of the moment when another sultansworn was attacked, this I think is not unreasonable because as it happened I was in PM contact with the "criminal" and we worked out what was to happen and it was logical to the two of us as it is common in other real life countries that if you attack or kill an official of a powerful government agency, that is the group that comes for you, and the other groups get out of the way. That said, had I been approached with this idea of it I would not have been part of it. I think of arresting other players as godmoding if it is not completely worked out by both parties in advance.
That is the reason behind my Red Wings being originally a external spy unit then later transitioned into a Thanalan wide and external threat response unit (ie border attacks, natural disasters, aid delivery). This format allows me to rp as a soldier as I wish, but with power and authority over no other PC except those who give me such powers, as in members of my unit.