Influence (political)

A value used to describe a character's ability to be placed in a role of responsibility. The total influence which a character possesses is determined by the amount of political knowledge the character has, augmented by the value of bribes and graft.

Therefore, the base value of a character's influence equals political knowledge squared - thus, 10 knowledge points would give a base influence for the character of 100.

Further influence can then be purchased at a total of 1 point per 10 g.p. spent. For example, if the character above wished to be appointed to a position requiring 144 points of influence, the character would have to spend 440 g.p. over their base influence in bribes in order to achieve the point total needed.

Note that there is a limit as to how much influence can be purchased. Individuals may not increase their total influence to a total more than twice their base influence. The character above, therefore, would be unable to achieve more than 100 additional points (200 total) through the use of bribes.

See Functionary