Roleplaying In the Big Red

New Russians "New Russians" is a name commonly used for what other countries would call "nouveau riche", people who have recently risen to the top of the society. They have become a large feature of the Russian cultural landscape and deserve special mention. Until very recently, you could pick out a New Russian anywhere by simple telltale signs: a dark magenta blazer, thick gold chain around the neck and gold rings, a cellphone dangling from their belt, and the huge jeep. In fact, you still can, though the smarter portion of them have gained some experience and abandoned the blazers in favour of more tasteful attire. These people tend to come from criminal circles, from which they brought the thief's cant which is slowly seeping into common language today, the thugs dressed in Adidas sporting clothes as if they were uniforms. The New Russians are renowned for their unheard of stupidity, thinking exclusively in terms coming from their criminal past and flaunting their wealth as much as possible. They also brought the gesture which is in wide use now: middle and ring fingers held to the palm, all other fingers extended. This gesture, as well as it's name ("fingers") is used in modern slang to denote someone's social status in unofficial situations, though it seems to be seeing wider use. If someone is of a high status and has connections, he has "big fingers". If someone flaunts his connections for status value or uses them, he is said to be "throwing fingers". Normally, when someone flaunts his connections, especially with criminal groups, or his personal prowess in something, he makes the "fingers" gesture while speaking. If the fingers in question are really big, both hands are used, and the resulting gesture sometimes looks like one Sailor Moon does when speaking her characteristic line "Tsuki ni kawatte..." Bribes A large number of state officials will take or even demand bribes. This is a known fact, which very little can be done about. One category of official which is known for consistently taking and actively seeking bribes are traffic cops, who will frequently flag down a car with the sole intention of soliciting a bribe. Instead of parking tickets, they concentrate on speeding tickets, unfastened seat belts and other minor violations. A typical bribe at the time of writing is a 100 rouble note. Law and Order A Russian over 16 years of age always has a passport, which contains his name, date and place of birth, marriage and children information, space for three large pictures (16, 30 and 50 years old) a residence registration stamp and some pages left empty for other stuff. In Moscow, the local residence registration stamp or a special registration paper is required to obtain legal employment, which is an exception to the common rules for the rest of the country. Possession of firearms is illegal in Russia, the only exception being hunting weapons, which require special registration. Getting one is easy, but it does not give one permission to carry a loaded weapon within 200 meters of populated areas. No such thing as "concealed weapon permit" exists for firearms, and generally catching a person with one amounts to a prison sentence. Pellet guns are legal for anyone with a passport, there are no restrictions on carrying one. Permits to carry a concealed gas weapon can be obtained, but require medical examination and some other unpleasant bureaucracy. Most agencies which hire out guards outfit them with gas weapons. While the police in Russia are called "militia" they are still police, with all the trappings of such - paramilitary organisation, legal use of weapons, plainclothes investigators and uniformed beat cops. It's not an army, despite that when they do crowd control, they carry AK-74s. The traffic police are a totally separate branch. A policeman is not required to notify a person of their rights in regards to the arrest, though it is coming into fashion under the influence of Western movies. Only beat cops have badges, which they are supposed to wear on the uniform, the IDs police officers carry are small red booklets with no pages - rather similar to the standard Russian ID design, used by just about any organisation which has IDs. Among other things the law requires Russians to do is compulsory military service. Any person above 18 and below 27 stands a chance to get drafted; draft evasion is not just common but almost universal. Students in higher education are exempt from the draft. Students of universities have the option of military education, which usually both gets them out of draft and bestows them with a lieutenant's rank, which is handy if they do actually get drafted for whatever reason. Fenians... er... Chechnya Terrorists In the southern parts of the country, a not infrequent occurrence is a kidnapping of a person by citizens of the aforementioned rebel republic, for purposes of ransom or even slavery. The whole war is an attempt to remedy this problem, as well as an attempt to placate the public opinion after several recent terrorist bomb explosions which took out apartment buildings. If it were not for these events and the deaths of Russian soldiers, actually, most of the Russian public would not notice this small piece of land even exists. Study of history shows that it's a problem just a little less old than the problem of Northern Ireland, although, a lot less famous, and somewhat less directly severe. (More indirectly bloody, however.) The recent events spawned a lot of public contempt for people of Caucasian descent (the word meaning not the race of white people but denizens of the region around Caucas mountain range) which, incidentally, feature prominently in the criminal world of most major Russian cities. The slang "people of caucasian nationality" which used to be a neutral umbrella to gather all the different nationalities living in the Caucases under became a mainstream way of naming them. That's probably the most immediately useful information required for making an adventure set in major Russian cities. There's still, however, issues that need to be touched on for a longer term campaign - education, religion, detailed information on crime... well, I hope that if there's a demand for that, you'll let me know.

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