=Overview=
Politics as a skill is concerned with forming ties to people, factions, and ideologies, convincing others to follow those paths with promised results, and managing a government or other political entity. Whether these entities encompass entire nation-states, factions within such a nation-state, an entirely independent organization outside the purview of any particular nation, or other similar entities, is merely a matter of scale. Similar principles apply across the board, and there's rarely widespread agreement when it comes to the correct method of implementing and executing a policy, whether it concern governance, the legislation, implementation, and interpretation of the law, or supporting activist forces for change. It's the challenge of finding compromise or resolution between parties, in order to achieve one's goals, that is the central challenge of any political agent.
Interpersonal politics, between solitary individuals, is a central building block of broader political action. Often enough in the cases where diplomats, ambassadors or representatives of organizations gather for any purpose, such encounters can and do influence much greater entities, encompassing more than the individuals themselves.
What distinguishes a skill like Politics from a skill like Logistics, is that Politics is focused on the management of people, their beliefs, their allegiances and their actions. Logistics typically only deals with the management and movement of resources.
=Political Knowledge and Awareness=
Awareness of a political situation, both within one's own political entity, within the subordinates, and external organizations can be vital to the execution of policy and political action/management. Knowledge of treaties, political alliances, agreements, and where one's allegiances, and more can only enhance one's political skill. More often it's a mix of Intelligence and interpersonal communication that lead one to uncovering such information. Yet, skill at politics confers an understanding of how that information may be applied to the situation at hand, as it concerns political action and management. That is what sets intelligence knowledge apart from politics knowledge.
=Political Management=
Political Management concerns the methods, mechanics, and influence over the apparatus of power, by those who are a part of the power structure. Typically, political management is within the sphere of councilors, monarchs, advisors, and generals, although those outside the power structure can also benefit from skill and knowledge of these methods.
==Warfare==
Often the default mode of political relations for when two entities cannot see eye to eye, are ideologically opposed, and/or are in direct competition for resources. Warfare as a form of political management is the purview of soldiers both great and small, from the lowliest enlisted to the highest Marshal. A politician skilled at war can bring conflicts to a close with minimal application of force and loss on their own side, with maximal gain assured from their opponents.
Complimentary skills:
* Leadership
* Tactics
* Detection
* Logistics
* Intelligence
* Deception
==Diplomacy==
Diplomacy concerns the creation of Treaties, Pacts, Agreements and the means by which they can be maintained. Diplomacy is different from Legislation, in that it concerns bodies outside the entity which is proposing an accord. This is the arena of diplomats, ambassadors of a nation-state as well as representatives of smaller factions and actors within a greater whole.
Complimentary skills:
* Negotiation
* Deception
* Rhetoric
* Persuasion
* Detection
* Tactics
* Etiquette
* Psychology
==Governance==
Concerning systems of rule and organization of subordinates, and systems of controlling an overarching political entity. This is the purview of Monarchs and heads of state, as well as the leaders and administrators of factions. Those who are skilled in Governance can run complex governments and operations that control wide swathes of influence.
Complimentary skills:
* Leadership
* Tactics
* Logistics
* Intelligence
* Persuasion
* Rhetoric
==Legislation==
Concerning the drafting, enforcement, and interpretation of laws and contracts on behalf of a political entity. Skilled lawyers can draft effective laws that are enforceable and easily understood. They can navigate complex legal systems, allowing them to find quirks that grant them needed flexibility when interpreting the law, in order to bend it to their will. They can also write great contracts that reflect and enforce the intent with which they are written.
Complimentary skills:
* Writing
* Rhetoric
* Investigation
* Research
* Logistics
* Sociology
=Forms of Political Action=
Activism, is a method by which a political entity may be altered, reordered, or given new direction by organizations or individuals that are external or subordinate to it. There are many forms of activism, not limited to those listed below.
==Patronage==
A form of political action concerning methods of generating resources, support, or wealth in furtherance of a specific cause or agenda. Examples of Patronage include fund-raisers and other legitimate functions that drive up support for a political cause. A skilled patron may salvage a political entity from the brink of bankruptcy, all while currying favor with the power structure. Of all the forms of activism, Patronage tends to be the friendliest with the power structures that be, and supportive of the status quo.
Complimentary skills:
* Negotiation
* Persuasion
* Logistics
* Socialization
* Etiquette.
==Corruption==
A form of political action that can undermine political entities, most typically for the purposes of personal gain. By way of exploitation or degradation, a corrupt politician can turn an embezzling operation into a personal enterprise, or funnel support and resources into the hands of an opposing entity. Whether corruption occurs by design, neglect, or incompetence, one who is familiar with the apparatus that leads to corruption is often enough well poised to counter or correct it.
Complimentary skills:
* Tactics
* Intelligence
* Intimidation
* Persuasion
* Deception
* Forgery
==Terrorism==
A form of political action that is more or less covert, which employs tactics such as asymmetrical warfare, sabotage, larceny, assassination, and other extra-legal activities. It is often intended to intimidate, destabilize, and render an organization less capable of fulfilling its agenda. A skilled terrorist can bring a political entity to its knees, destabilizing the most deeply entrenched entity, and bringing it to the brink of disaster.
Complimentary skills:
* Stealth
* Cryptography
* Tactics
* Leadership
* Intelligence
* Intimidiation
* Poison
* Deception
==Revolution==
A form of activism that is concerned with uprisings, riots and various forms of civil disorder meant to alter the destiny of a political entity. As opposed to terrorism, which is focused on destroying or disrupting it. Nevertheless, at times terrorism, patronage, and revolution may go hand in hand. A skilled revolutionary can forge a lasting change in society, with a careful balance of application of disorder and acceptance of compromise.
Complimentary skills:
* Leadership
* Tactics
* Cryptography
* Persuasion
* Intelligence
* Negotiation
* Logistics
* Deception
=Skill Ranks=
==Novice (0-25)==
<p style="font-size:14px">The Novice politician is only beginning to understand the ways and means of influencing an organization, let alone running it. The laws they draft, while perhaps well-meaning, will often prove unwieldy, vague, and/or unenforceable. The treaties, agreements, and alliances they form will prove ineffective, if not accidentally detrimental and often work against the goals of their organization. However, occasionally they may find success in one area of political management or activism. Their early successes will often determine their later aptitudes and inform their careers as political actors.</p style>
==Competent (26-75)==
<p style="font-size:14px">Influenced by their early successes, at Competence a politician will have found they have an aptitude for perhaps two categories of political management or activism, which are often influenced by their own particular skill set. A competent diplomat will find their agreements and treaties with other entities are to their own organization's advantage more often than a novice. An activist will find their efforts to change the status quo gain more traction, and even enjoy success for the purposes of furthering an agenda, or have a greater effect upon a political entity that has a modicum of stability.</p style>
==Expert (76-150)==
<p style="font-size:14px">An expert politician often enough will have a flawless understanding of, if not influence over, political mechanisms that they are acquainted with. The expert legislator or lawyer will be able to draft meticulously detailed laws that are simple to implement and navigate even the most byzantine legal systems. The expert governor will have near-absolute control over their immediate subordinates, as well as a good understanding of the levers of power.
An expert terrorist will be able to destabilize a deeply entrenched organization. Their ability to destabilize and influence entities from the outside is nearly unrivaled, while still being able to step back far enough using subterfuge, to negotiate the furtherance of own their agenda by sheer intimidation and the creation of an atmosphere of uncertainty and terror.
A corrupt politician at this level will be able to embezzle from their organization almost undetected to the point where resources, power, and wealth flows to them like a river into the sea, all while maintaining a balance in their political entity, so that it may support their acts of graft in perpetuity.</p style>
==Master (151-250)==
<p style="font-size:14px">With mastery of politics and associated aptitudes, a pauper could rise to become a monarch, a rank and file soldier could rise to the level of general. A simple country lawyer could become a renowned judge or councilor. There are few positions in society that are out of reach of the master politician, and few can maneuver around people, entities, and nations quite as well as they can. There is no change that is too difficult for an activist to achieve, no height that an empire can't rise to with a master politician at its helm.
Those who push the boundaries of mastery, make impossible compromises look easy, all while ensuring that their agenda is perfectly served. There are few things that are beyond a master politician, with the appropriate amount of support and backing.</p style>
[[Category:Skills]]
Old Write-up pre-edits
=Overview=
Politics as a skill is concerned with forming, coordinating, and governing groups of people. Whether these entities encompass entire nation-states, factions within such a nation-state, an entirely independent organization outside the purview of any particular nation, or other similar entities, is merely a matter of scale. Similar principles apply across the board, and there's rarely widespread agreement when it comes to the correct method of implementing and executing a policy, whether it concern governance, the legislation, implementation, and interpretation of the law, or supporting activist forces for change. It's the challenge of finding compromise or resolution between parties, in order to achieve one's goals, that is the central challenge of any political agent.
Interpersonal politics, between solitary individuals, is a central building block of broader political action. Often enough in the cases where ambassadors or representatives of organizations gather for any purpose, such encounters can and do influence much greater entities, encompassing more than the individuals themselves.
=Political Management=
Political Management concerns the methods, mechanics, and influence over the apparatus of power, by those who are a part of the power structure. Typically, political management is within the sphere of councilors, monarchs, advisors, and generals, although those outside the power structure can also benefit from skill and knowledge of these methods.
==Warfare==
Often the default mode of political relations for when two entities cannot see eye to eye, are ideologically opposed, and/or are in direct competition for resources.
Complimentary skills: Leadership, Tactics, Detection, Logistics, and Intelligence.
==Diplomacy==
Treaties, Pacts, Agreements and the means by which they can be negotiated.
Complimentary skills: Negotiation, Persuasion, Detection, Tactics, and Etiquette.
==Governance==
Concerning systems of rule and organization of subordinates, and systems of controlling an overarching political entity.
Complimentary skills: Leadership, Tactics, Logistics, Intelligence, and Persuasion.
==Legislation==
Concerning the drafting, enforcement, and interpretation of laws and contracts on behalf of a political entity.
Complimentary skills: Writing, Rhetoric, Investigation, Research, Logistics, and Sociology
==Corruption==
Concerning how political entities might go astray, by way of exploitation or degradation. Whether by design, neglect, or incompetence. By the same token, one who is familiar with the apparatus that leads to corruption is often enough well poised to counter or correct it.
Complimentary skills: Tactics, Intelligence, Intimidation, Persuasion, and Deception.
=Forms of Political Action=
Activism, is a method by which a political entity may be altered, reordered, or given new direction by organizations or individuals that are external or subordinate to it. There are many forms of activism, not limited to those listed below.
==Patronage==
A form of political action concerning methods of generating resources, support, or wealth in furtherance of a specific cause or agenda.
Complimentary skills: Negotiation, Persuasion, Logistics, Socialization, and Etiquette.
==Terrorism==
A form of political action that is more or less covert, which employs tactics such as asymmetrical warfare, sabotage, larceny, assassination, and other extra-legal activities. It is often intended to intimidate, destabilize, and render an organization less capable of fulfilling its agenda.
Complimentary skills: Stealth, Tactics, Leadership, Intelligence, Intimidiation, and Poison.
==Revolution==
A form of activism that is concerned with uprisings, riots, and various forms of civil disorder meant to alter the destiny of a political entity. As opposed to terrorism, which is focused on destroying or disrupting it. Nevertheless, at times terrorism, patronage, and revolution may go hand in hand.
Complimentary skills: Leadership, Tactics, Persuasion, Intelligence, Negotiation, and Logistics.
=Skill Ranks=
==Novice (0-25)==
<p style="font-size:14px">The Novice politician is only beginning to understand the ways and means of influencing an organization, let alone running it. The laws they draft, while perhaps well-meaning, will often prove unwieldy, vague, and/or unenforceable. The treaties, agreements, and alliances they form will prove detrimental to their agenda, and work against their organization. However, occasionally they may find success in one area of political management or activism. Their early successes will often determine their later aptitudes, and inform their careers as political actors.</p style>
==Competent (26-75)==
<p style="font-size:14px">Influenced by their early successes, at Competence a politician will have found they have an aptitude for perhaps two categories of political management or activism, which are often influenced by their own particular skill set. A competent diplomat will find their agreements and treaties with other entities are to their own organization's advantage more often than a novice. An activist will find their efforts to change the status quo gain more traction, and even enjoy success for the purposes of furthering an agenda, or have a greater effect upon a political entity that has a modicum of stability.</p style>
==Expert (76-150)==
<p style="font-size:14px">An expert politician often enough will have a flawless understanding of, if not influence over, political mechanisms that they are acquainted with. The expert legislator or lawyer will be able to draft meticulously detailed laws that are simple to implement and navigate even the most byzantine legal systems. The expert governor will have near-absolute control over their immediate subordinates, as well as a good understanding of the levers of power.
An expert terrorist will be able to destabilize a well and deeply entrenched organization. Their ability to destabilize and influence entities from the outside are nearly unrivaled, while still being able to step back far enough using subterfuge, to negotiate the furtherance of own their agenda by sheer intimidation and the creation of an atmosphere of uncertainty and terror.
A corrupt politician at this level will be able to embezzle from their organization almost undetected, to the point where resources, power, and wealth flows to them like a river into the sea, all while maintaining a balance in their political entity, so that it may support their acts of graft in perpetuity.</p style>
==Master (151-250)==
<p style="font-size:14px">With mastery of politics and associated aptitudes, a pauper could rise to become a monarch, a rank and file soldier could rise to the level of general. A simple country lawyer could become a renown judge or councilor. There are few positions in society that are out of reach of the master politician, and few can maneuver around people, entities, and nations quite as well as they can. There is no change that is too difficult for an activist to achieve, no height that an empire can't rise to with a master politician at its helm.
Those who push the boundaries of mastery, make impossible compromises look easy, all while ensuring that their agenda is perfectly served. There are few things that are beyond a master politician, with the appropriate amount of support and backing.</p style>
[[Category:Skills]]
