Slave Master 'Sly' RubenReport
English：Slave Master Ruben · Characters
A Traders Guild slaver noble who runs the South Stone Camp; his mine supplies Heng, Trader's Edge and Heft all at once.
Slave Master 'Sly' Ruben is a noble member of the Traders Guild, living at the South Stone Camp in the Heng region.
A slave master on the supply line
The South Stone Camp is a settlement that runs on slavery from top to bottom: a stone mine, ore processors, an iron refinery and drills, with the entire workforce drawn from slaves kept in cages. Ruben lives in the Noble House at the centre of the camp and is its master.
The camp's significance extends beyond itself. It is simultaneously the supply line for Heng, Trader's Edge and Heft, and by some accounts it also sustains part of the samurai forces in the south. Put differently, what Ruben runs is not a quarry but the source of building material and iron for the southern half of the empire.
Guards and difficulty
Like the other Traders Guild nobles, Ruben lives inside a Noble House, watched over by 4 hooded Imperial Noble Guards plus 4 Heavy Samurai. They wear Specialist grade armour (10% chance of Masterwork), with weapons out of the Catun Scrapmaster or the Skeleton Smith.
Ruben's own numbers place him mid-table among the nobles:
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Strength / Toughness / Dexterity | 30–50 (adjusted slightly by race) |
| All weapon skills | 30–50 |
| Melee Attack / Melee Defence | 30–50 |
| Random variance | ±10 |
After he falls
- The South Stone Camp turns straight into a ruin.
- If Haga and Grande are cleared out along with him, the whole of Heng falls into a malnourished state, so long as it is still in United Cities hands.
- If Wada is also cleared out, Heft likewise falls into malnourishment.
- If the slave mistress Ren is also cleared out while Emperor Tengu remains alive and free, patrols of 4–13 malnourished samurai bandits begin to appear around Heng, the Skimsands and The Eye.
- If Ren is cleared out while Tinfist remains alive and free, Heng switches to producing patrols of the Anti-Slavers instead.
- Dealing with Ruben alone is enough to bring about a marked drop in the patrol frequency of slave traders and Thrall Masters in Heng.
Ruben belongs to the "northern slave masters" group, which also includes Longen, Lady Kana, Haga, Wada, Ren and Grande. Kill or capture all seven and Thrall Master and slave hunter patrols disappear from the world entirely.
A special case in the setup
Among all the Traders Guild nobles, Ruben is the only one with a chance of spawning as either male or female, and his race is one of four: Greenlander, Scorchlander, Shek or Hive Soldier Drone.
His internal name in the game editor (FCS) is "noble stone boss / Sly" — the nickname "Sly" comes from his squad codename, and his personality happens to be set to "Traitorous" as well.