Assasin's Patois

[Spooks]

Do assasin's have a secret language? They aren't "theives" so they cant really qualify for Thieves Cant.

Cant would be to express "the top left window is unlocked" or "the second box in is heavily trapped"

Assasin's would have an entirely different agenda to develop in their vocabulary, such as. "He is favoring his left leg... take him out on that side" or "Get in position while I cover the bodyguard."

They have two different goals in mind when in development of the languages.

And I can hardly believe the Fire Knives dont have a language they can speak in when they need to. I would like a reasonable ruling on this by someone who has the sources.

If they dont hav a name for the language.. I think Assasins Patois (pronounced Pa-twuh) or Death's Patois is a nice flowing name for it ^_^

[Booze Hound]

I thought it was pronounced "Pa-twa"...but I'm probably a little drunk...

[Spooks]

it is, but its an "uh" sounding A. not an "Ay" sounding A... so Fine... its pronounced "Pa-twah"

[kenny26]

i don't think assasins have a secret language. it may vary from guild to guild, and i can think of two good reasons why assasins don't need a secret language as much as rogues:

1) they plan ahead whenever they can. assasins rarely need to stay in a crime scene for as long as rogues, because the assisins just need to take out the mark and then disappear. in and out.

2) assasins are solitary and never trust anyone besides themselves. this is why they have to be evil, and have no bonds to other people, because they have to be ready to assasinate anyone if the situation calls for it. so they generally wouldn't work together unless they had to, and therefor you wouldn't have many situations where there will be a need to use a secret language.

my 2 cents.

[moulinous]

killers are solitary creatures and i would think every assassin guild would have its own cant if there is a guild. i mean, assassin's seems to thrive on secrets and i cannot see two assassins talking shop from two different guilds.

[Spooks]

Well look at the Fire Knives? They are a massive assasin's guild. I am sure they have a language they can use to communiacte with eachother in "undercover" missions.

An Assasin gets a job as a bodyguard, for the person they need to kill. They have a fellow assasin be the decoy assasin, and then the Bodyguard assasin works it so that he can be alone with the target, and thus kill him.

Now the two would need to coordinate in a non suspicious way... a Sercret language similar to Theives Cant would be perfect.

[Munroe]

Somebody already said it above though, assassins would be planning in advance moreso than on the fly and don't really need a language of their own because they do their planning in private anyway. In the rare occasion that they might have to meet someone in public, such as a client, their client isn't likely to speak the language anyway so having a secret language would not serve a purpose there.

Thieves, on the other hand, are, generally speaking, a much looser sort. They may have to meet additional hands for the job in a public setting, other thieves who they're looking to involve in their work. They would also need ways to communicate intentions more at the scene of an event such as a daylight robbery without tipping off people as to their activities. The idea of the cant is also to prevent anyone from hearing them say anything incriminating such as "Meet me at the docks this evening and I'll show you where the target house is." Instead they might say "The sunset looks beautiful on the wooden sidewalk by Uncle Joe's." They didn't say to meet them, they didn't give a location, and they didn't say why. Thieves cant itself is a somewhat limited language. People sitting around having conversations in Cant could only carry it so far. For instance, how do you say a Proper Noun in theives cant? Generally you either say it or you don't.

Of course, since a number of assassins are recruited from former thieves, I don't think it's unreasonable to think that assassins would understand various dialects of thieves cant.

[Spooks]

I was more on the "silent language" notion. Coughing a certain way, blinking 7 times in 20 seconds, picking something out of your teeth with your tongue, etc etc.

I figured that this is a silent way for the assasins who will evertually need to work together on certain jobs would be able to communicate without their target hearing them.

[kenny26]

drow speak a sign language when they're patrolling the underdark because they need to move in perfect silence down there to avoid the dangerous beasts and aberrations.

some drow assasins could be using that language, but apart from that and thieve's cant i'm not aware of any silent language.

i'd think it against the assasin's ways to develop such a language, because it could only be used to inform allies of a last minute change of plans, and any self-respecting assasin will be too professional to need a change of plans.

[soulfien]

obviously you've never played an assassin.

Trust me, NOTHING goes according to plan!

An assassin sets up a series of contigencies- plans of actions for every possible scenario he can think of and he improvises the rest.

You're given an assignment to kill Sharita. You have to stalk her to get a mesure of her abilities, match them to your own abilities, decide how much elp you're going to need, then seek her out without drawing attention to yourself.

Do you know that she will make camp by this tree? Or pass by this road? Nope. you never know what a PC will do. You never know when they will even be around.

Assassins don't plan. They improvise. And no good assassin will be too shamed to change his plans, call it quits, and try again another day. Sometimes an oppertunity just doesn't present itself and you NEVER want to try and fail because then your target goes into hiding.

[Munroe]

It's always bothered me that Thieves Cant is treated as a silent language in NWN. It has silent signal components, yes, but one rogue should not be able to say "I think we should hit-up the armouror in Suzail this evening because I heard he's making gold gilted armour for a client" by blinking and twitching his elbow, even if he blinks 17 times (which would be pretty obvious), he's not going to be able to convey something so specific but with the DMFI Thieves Cant widget the game lets him say whatever with an emote of *scratches his elbow*.

A much better example can be seen here: php.iupui.edu/~asimmon/thief.html

Unfortunately, players can't really be expected to learn enough period slang to use Thieves Cant effectively.

I still see no reason assassins need their own language, silent or otherwise. Understanding the Cant would be more likely.

[kenny26]

wow that´s a neat link.
i like that version of thieve's cant alot better.

[DM Justicar - Creator of FRC]

Wow... that is an awesome link!

I noticed many of the terms were used by the thieves and brawlers in the movie "Gangs of New York".

Cant strikes me as a vernacular rather than an actual language. You could even actually hear someone speak it, but you might not know what they were talking about!

[Mr. Baboon]

Well, where did you think they got it? Innuendo (or Thieves Cant, as it's called by WotC) is used in local conversation moreso than body language. That link was definitely a good referance, so I need not give examples... but everyone knows exactly what us poor thieves are doing when we start twitching our eyes, nodding, so on so forth. Makes for some very obvious targets.

[DM the Usurper]

Assassins communicate by performing shadow puppets with each other.

[♥Zach♥]

LOL

"Okay as soon as jhon gives the signal we attack and kill him in his sleep"

*A assassin does a small puppet show for the signal*

*Qwerks a brow* "What the hells? is that a monkey humping a coconut? whats going on here?"

[Panros]

People who train in the arts of the assassin only communicate with others to get the proper information and tools to complete their assignments. Once they embark on the mission they tend to act solitary. Of course things might go wrong, but since they calculate every possibility that might happen before they leave, they always have more than one backup plan. Trained assassins would not really need their own can't, rather they would learn the cant of the streets to aqquire their information.

[DM the Usurper]

ninja's don't cant...they just flip out and kill EVERYBODY!

[catmage]

Oh dear god no, not Ultimate Power. The one site I've come across that makes me agree with imposing limits on free speech

[Panros]

catmage said:

Oh dear god no, not Ultimate Power. The one site I've come across that makes me agree with imposing limits on free speech

Good lord, I thought that site would be dead by now.

[DM the Usurper]

heck no! it's like the almighty cockaroach.

[racestark]

They even got a book out.

[dogface]

mjolnirsbane said:

Cant strikes me as a vernacular rather than an actual language. You could even actually hear someone speak it, but you might not know what they were talking about!

Funny you should put it that way, because that's just how Travelers' Cant works in the real world. It sounds like English, but it means something other than what you or I are likely to think.