Editing Bribery & Gambling (section)

==Of Bribery, Intimidation and Gambling==
In occupied lands, especially in the cities controlled by traitor princes or false sussars, most guards are actually human, because orcs are seen as unreliable at best.

When they can afford, the Shadow rulers recruit trained mercenaries, but often they pay them at their whim: fees can be brutally reduced if the local mines don’t produce enough for said month, or a “contract” can be suddenly revoked (with ugly consequences) if the guard somehow does not bring satisfaction to his employer.

The most depraved rulers (Sameal the Eel, for instance) even take able men to train them in the guard duties, forcing them to perform their “military duty”.     Since most of these people feel no love for the Shadow or their prince, their families are taken and kept as hostages. In case of treason or even failure (a guard who falls asleep while on duty, for example), then the whole family is executed, as well as the guard. Simple and effective. So many mouths less to feed, anyway.

With these conditions, it is not impossible to have guards in occupied cities “look the other way” as long as doing so does not threaten them or their loved ones. Resistance members as well as members of criminal organizations use three methods.