Spy

From ThreadsOfTime

The Spy is a gatherer of information. At the lowest level, he is a common informant, an eavesdropper with his ears open for salable information. The expert Spy is hired by guilds and governments to infiltrate opponents' buildings and ranks to find vital, secret knowledge.

Spies are vital in supporting any large organization such as a guild or government. Information is the key to success, whether thieves are preparing for a burglary or a nation is preparing for war, and the Spy's role is to provide that information.

Most Spies are in the permanent service of one such organization. A small number may be double (or triple) agents, but that is very risky. A few are freelance, and their main problem is this: to find employment, they must be known; but if they're known, they have difficulty being successful.

Spies may come from any background. A large percentage, in fact, are from the lower classes, close in touch with the word on the street and all the secret channels of society. A smaller number of elite Spies exist, either in permanent positions (e.g., a count who reports word on his liege's troop movements to a rival kingdom, or a treacherous castle steward).

But there are also talented individuals ready to go anywhere, risk any danger, and encounter a lot of excitement on the way to finding the knowledge they seek. They excel at infiltration, in finding information, not just in selling what they know. Exciting Spies, and player characters, are usually of this sort.

The standard penalty for spying (if the crime is beyond the low levels of spreading rumors, eavesdropping, and scoping out potential burglary targets) is death, and Spies from one nation to another can hardly expect anything in the line of "diplomatic immunity."