Lawful or Unlawful Combatants?

[Webstral]

My first thought it that playing-it-safe violence would be very widespread. Conventions for estabishing peaceful contact between armed strangers would develop over the course of time, but even then there would be a great deal of bloodshed between people who don't necesarily mean each other harm.

Regarding this, I have been thinking more and more than even within a small cantonment, there will be law enforcement and there will be combat specialists. Fairly quickly, some governors (not implying state governors) with a group of armed combatants will realize that keeping the peace and enforcing the law is quite distinct from active combat. Dealing with thievery and muggings is different than dealing with twenty or fifty guys with small arms raiding the silos.

Getting back to the subject at hand, I think one of the biggest risks to PCs is unintentional combat. While the best military units often look like a bunch of bandits (who know how to take care of their weapons), those same troops appearing in a new locale are certain to alarm the local scavengers, hunters, trappers, and militia--to say nothing of the actual bad guys (supply your own definition for who that might be). One of the big skills in Twilight: 2000 will be making peaceful contact with strangers.

Webstral