Civil Disobedience

An effort that can be undertaken by any character who has gained the rapt attention of a crowd in excess of 30 persons. Rapt attention is defined as a pre-established willingness of the crowd to willfully acknowledge the character's desires. Rapt attention may be gained through deed, personal authority over the crowd or an attempt to initiate a grassroots movement.

Civil disobedience is the passive unwillingness to obey laws established by authorities, most commonly paying taxes but also including any participation in socially approved activities. To encourage the crowd to participate, the character must make a constitution check.

If this check fails, the crowd will express their agreement to take part - but 90% of them will have returned to their usual behavior within 1-4 weeks. There is nothing that can be done about this - it indicates the crowd simply does not believe strongly enough in the character's will.

On the other hand, if the check is successful, the number of participants will increase by 20 to 50% weekly until the state hears of what's going on and sets out to take action. This will take from between 4-10 weeks, and typically manifests as the arrival of an army or similar military appearance.

Resolution

The grievances of the disobedient will have aroused the state to address the crowd through an intermediary, who will by now have become aware of the situation. The overseeing authority (the king, local noble or premiere bureaucrat) must make a morale check to resist the change. A -1 adjustment to the morale check is made for each 250 disobedient persons.

Should the morale check fail, the addressed individual will make a well-meant concession towards the crowd's desires. This concession will likely not be a complete agreement, but should be sufficient to indicate a change in attitude and belief, compelled by the populace.

If the morale check succeeds, however, the crowd will be forcibly compelled to obedience by whatever means the state possesses, with the likely arrest of several persons including the rallying character. It may not be possible at this time for the character to speak again with the crowd, either to rabble-rouse or disperse them.