#i will ABIDE by the union's decision but I DON'T have to be happy about it and I'm DEFINITELY allowed to kick up a fuss if I want!

[captainjonnitkessler]

"American individualism has a lot of problems and can lead to a loss of supportive community networks" - true, a problem worth talking about

"Individualism is a poison and anyone who wants to maintain a level of independence from their family, culture, or community is suspect" - BAD. WRONG AND BAD. THIS IS EXTREME CONSERVATISM DRESSED UP IN A PROGRESSIVE HAT

[morgana-ren]

How hard is it to get Reaver to negotiate with you? If you're doing the nasty stuff he wants and bratting appropriately, will he give you more of a leash (heh)? Would he be willing to let you influence business matters if you showed an interest and a knack for it? (I've not played Fable yet so I'm totally in the dark)

Thankfully, playing Fable isn't pertinent to our Reaver outside of establishing a baseline personality (him being a complete jackass.) We really took the characters and ran with them.

Truthfully, Reaver in Fable is more of a minor character. He's one of the four heroes (and you get him at the very, very end and he has maybe a singular page of dialogue.) Most of his mythos and lore is built around the commentary that others have to say about his character. In Fable 3, he's a minor villain that has two or three cutscenes, one mission based around his house that you don't even really see him outside of the few cutscenes, and as a vehicle for the more reprehensible moral decisions in the game. He's hedonistic, licentious, cruel, amoral, greedy, and ruthless. That's it.

Now, don't get me wrong. That was more than enough to give the fandom some pretty heavy opinions on him that would sway either which way, but speaking realistically, he's a minor part of the game franchise. He's a beloved minor character that we established further out of pure love.

Our Reaver is very heavily based on that Reaver, but we developed him way beyond that. We gave him other traits and characteristics. So everything I say is more or less just our ideas of his character as opposed to his established lore from Lionhead and the Fable franchise.

Reaver, above all, is a businessman. Before he was a businessman, he was a pirate. It all very much influences each other. What I'm saying is he's going to be more than willing to negotiate, but at the end of the day, he will be getting what he wants out of the bargain, even if that means he has to take it.

If you took an interest in his business, he'd be absolutely delighted. He loves showing off his factories and his control over the workers-- but the girls he takes are more concerned with unions and working conditions, usually, which he couldn't give a shit less about.

For Reaver to consider you having a knack for it, you'd have to think exactly like he does. Money first, humanity later-- if at all.

Now, he's willing to barter with you for these things, but you will be giving him things that he considers of equal value. Meaning if you want him to pay his workers even minimum wage, you are going to make it worth his while, and even then, he will usually undercut you somehow. The issue in getting involved with his businesses is that you are putting other lives at risk. If you slip up and say:

"I was talking to some of the workers, and--"

He is going to want to know who, and when you won't tell him, he will start shooting until either everyone is dead, or until someone else talks. He needs complete control over his work force. He does not abide brewing mutiny, whether it's on his ship or in his factories.

You can totally go to bat for people. You can try to have a hand in his business. Keep in mind, though, Reaver already has things working at what he considers to be at 100 percent efficiency. If you want him to crank those numbers, you will be making it worth his while-- and you're not going to like it.

As for obeying him, he will give you leash insofar that he believes you are safe. You will never get to a point in the relationship with him where you will have the control and the upper hand openly, but you can make him so moon-eyed that he'll do stupid shit to make you happy. You will never have full autonomy, but you can manipulate him in ways that other people cannot. You can get him to occasionally act against his own interests.

Ultimately, he does want someone with their own mind, and weirdly, the people he gets attached to most are strong-willed women who do not obey him (has to do with his background and also the fact he is just a sheer bully and he likes a challenge.) He is an underhanded fuck and he is always going to expect the same from you.

You can get to the point where he won't shove you in 'the cage' every time you irritate him, or maybe he won't threaten every person that passes, and even be seen as a sort of 'free and independent' person, but you won't ever escape him. You can think whatever you want, but you don't make the rules. He does.

I guess what I'm saying is, he, as a business man, will negotiate. But he enters things of this nature the same way he approaches business arrangements. He will be coming out on top.