But yes, two Kif, alone, are not a stable equilibrium. (Among other things, they only eat living food, and not plants. Two Kif with no other live animals around are the only source of food for each other—they have no qualms about cannibalism). Depending on the individuals, however, they may well decide to cooperate temporarily, and rebuild, in order to increase their long-term odds of survival. (They don’t care about their legacy, however. Being killed is The End. It’s a bit of a mystery why they would ever try to have children). Long-term survival beats a temporary sfik gain.
Good point. I meant something more along the lines of a small post-apocalyptic group, but you take my point; rebuilding is useless if it requires, say, your death, or would prevent you from frustrating other Kif. They can co-operate, but they don’t want to; it’s unnatural and inherently bad—like a human killing other humans.
Not directly—that’s a trivial aim. But it’s perfectly within the Kif character to offer the disadvantaged a deal, something along the lines of “Join my followers, and I will help you now in order to obtain your labour later; betray me later, and I will kill you” and then use the extra footsoldier to gain sfik in some way. (If the disadvantaged was disadvantaged by a common enemy, they might simply turn up, help the poor fellow back on his feet, let him heal a bit, then give him a gun and point him at the guy who originally hurt him).
I’m not sure that it’s possible to have negative sfik without dying. It’s certainly possible to have zero.
So if I take something corpse wanted to keep (grave goods?) I achieve positive infinity sfik? Or do they have to be actively resisting? Could they set up traps?
They can co-operate, but they don’t want to; it’s unnatural and inherently bad—like a human killing other humans.
The usual Kifish model of society is one powerful leader forcing everyone else to do as he says (in a post-apocalyptic situation, if only one Kif has got hold of a gun, then he will be the leader until such time as someone takes it from him). It’s more subjugation than cooperation (and there’s always a certain amount of competition to be the leader) but it does result in everyone moving in the same direction, at least when the leader can see.
So if I take something corpse wanted to keep (grave goods?) I achieve positive infinity sfik? Or do they have to be actively resisting? Could they set up traps?
What could a corpse possibly want to keep? Besides which, yes, they have to be actively resisting. They could set up traps, but it’s hard to see any reason why a Kif would bother; he doesn’t care what happens after he’s dead. I guess a Kif could go after the grave goods of another species (non-Kif individuals can gain sfik—specieism is one of the evils that the Kif do not usually practice) but they’d only gain the (finite) sfik for defeating the traps, not the infinite sfik for defeating the dead person.
Kif will often threaten to eat the hearts of their enemies. This could be considered as taking something (the heart) from a corpse. However, one gains only a finite amount of sfik for doing so (some for killing the enemy in a clear and public manner, more for doing so at close range instead of employing a sniper (note that all Kif dress alike, in dark robes, presumably in order to confuse snipers; in the last book, one Kif appears in a silver-trimmed robe, which instantly marks him as having extremely high sfik—high enough to be identifiable from a distance and get away with it)).
The usual Kifish model of society is one powerful leader forcing everyone else to do as he says (in a post-apocalyptic situation, if only one Kif has got hold of a gun, then he will be the leader until such time as someone takes it from him). It’s more subjugation than cooperation (and there’s always a certain amount of competition to be the leader) but it does result in everyone moving in the same direction, at least when the leader can see.
[emphasis added]
Sure, but humans can maintain co-operation on a much larger scale by simply having compatible goals.
What could a corpse possibly want to keep? Besides which, yes, they have to be actively resisting. They could set up traps, but it’s hard to see any reason why a Kif would bother; he doesn’t care what happens after he’s dead. I guess a Kif could go after the grave goods of another species (non-Kif individuals can gain sfik—specieism is one of the evils that the Kif do not usually practice) but they’d only gain the (finite) sfik for defeating the traps, not the infinite sfik for defeating the dead person.
That was exactly what I was thinking of; humans are known for our reluctance to part with worldly possesions, even in death.
Kif will often threaten to eat the hearts of their enemies. This could be considered as taking something (the heart) from a corpse. However, one gains only a finite amount of sfik for doing so (some for killing the enemy in a clear and public manner, more for doing so at close range instead of employing a sniper
It sounds like the sfik of the defeated individual is being used merely as an approximation of the difficulty of overcoming them.
(note that all Kif dress alike, in dark robes, presumably in order to confuse snipers; in the last book, one Kif appears in a silver-trimmed robe, which instantly marks him as having extremely high sfik—high enough to be identifiable from a distance and get away with it)).
I had assumed they would try and hide, generally, from becoming well-known. Why was this one in identifiable clothing? For the challenge? Seems risky.
It’s more subjugation than cooperation (and there’s always a certain amount of competition to be the leader) but it does result in everyone moving in the same direction, at least when the leader can see. [emphasis added]
Sure, but humans can maintain co-operation on a much larger scale by simply having compatible goals.
Probably true. A Kif might claim that they make up the difference by not having irrational personality clashes, and refusing to follow a charismatic leader who is a total idiot (both known failure modes of humanity). Though I don’t think that that would actually make up the entire difference. (It’s probably also worth mentioning that while Kif have jump-drive-capable spaceships, several varieties of weapons, good knowledge of torture and truth serums capable of working on even non-Kif biologies, they do not have doctors. A Kif is expected to heal his own wounds, or die, more or less. This probably means that the truth serums they have were stolen from other species).
It sounds like the sfik of the defeated individual is being used merely as an approximation of the difficulty of overcoming them.
Exactly correct.
I had assumed they would try and hide, generally, from becoming well-known. Why was this one in identifiable clothing? For the challenge? Seems risky.
Because he (Vikkhtimakt) actually did have the sfik to get away with it. Having massively positive sfik, means that he’s massively difficult to kill; wearing the identifiable robe means that he has massively positive sfik (with a side chance that he’s an idiot, but in that case why is he still alive?). Any Kif who’s not a total idiot would hesitate at this point, and find out why he’s so identifiable before pulling the trigger; and it turns out to be well-known among the Kif (and thus easy for a potential assassin to find out) that this particular one is the top lieutenant of someone with even higher sfik (spoilers if I define that more exactly—the question of exactly who Vikkhtimakt is working for is a major plot point in that book), who will be Most Displeased if Vikkhtimakt gets killed. (The prudent Kif will therefore only kill Vikkhtimakt as part of a plot to supplant—and kill—his leader; whose extreme sfik means that a prudent Kif will have second, third, fourth, and fifth thoughts before attempting that challenge, and will certainly give due consideration to killing the leader first, without warning, instead).
A Kif is expected to heal his own wounds, or die, more or less. This probably means that the truth serums they have were stolen from other species
And not, say, become the bonded slave of his healer? I guess such submission would be damaging to one’s sfik, but not so much as dying.
it turns out to be well-known among the Kif (and thus easy for a potential assassin to find out) that this particular one is the top lieutenant of someone with even higher sfik
Ahh. So the trick is to kill him and not tell anyone.
And not, say, become the bonded slave of his healer? I guess such submission would be damaging to one’s sfik, but not so much as dying.
Once he’s healed, if the healer is not strong enough to keep him subjugated, he’ll simply go away (possibly killing the healer in the process). If the healer is strong enough to keep him subjugated—well, then said healer can probably more easily subjugate healthy Kif to start with.
All Kifish negotiations consider the possibility of either party reneging at any stage in the future (and Kif will renege immediately if they gain some advantage in the process)
Ahh. So the trick is to kill him and not tell anyone.
What’s the point of that? If you don’t tell anyone, then you don’t get the sfik. A Kif has only as much sfik as he can persuade others that he has.
Once he’s healed, if the healer is not strong enough to keep him subjugated, he’ll simply go away (possibly killing the healer in the process). If the healer is strong enough to keep him subjugated—well, then said healer can probably more easily subjugate healthy Kif to start with.
Explosive collars, or equivalent if they lack heads.
What’s the point of that? If you don’t tell anyone, then you don’t get the sfik. A Kif has only as much sfik as he can persuade others that he has.
In practice, sure, but I got the impression that they valued actually gaining sfik, not merely pretending to have it (like a human valuing actually saving orphans, even though pretending to accrues benefits as well.) Was I mistaken?
Explosive collars, or equivelent if they lack heads.
Okay, that’s a good idea. Not mentioned in the book, but I can see a Kif going for it.
In practice, sure, but I got the impression that they valued actually gaining sfik, not merely pretending to have it (like a human valuing actually saving orphans, even though pretending to accrues benefits as well.) Was I mistaken?
They value sfik in more like the way as a human values reputation (which bears a lot of similarity to sfik). If no-one knows about it, it doesn’t count either way (a Kif may try to suppress knowledge of some failure, if this seems possible).
It is also common among Kif to claim to have more sfik than one has; in the process, one may in fact gain the extra sfik (say, by attracting followers with the bluff, and then using them to succeed in some task). Of course, if one bluffs too hard, then one gets a task that one cannot complete; and if one fails, or admits an inability to complete the task, one likely gets killed, so there’s an incentive not to bluff too high. (If one succeeds in the task, then one is assumed to have had sufficient sfik all along; the bluff becomes fact through general agreement).
It’s also worth noting that a Kif does not need to know who pulled the trigger to take revenge. In the absence of that knowledge, Kifish “revenge” might simply mean killing everyone present on the space station or other area in question (so everyone else nearby suddenly has a very strong motive to find out who did it before the Leader gets back, and present said Leader with the assassin’s disembodied head in the hope of turning away any further indiscriminate wrath, and possibly even gaining the Leader’s favour in the process). Whether the Leader would actually do this or not is irrelevant; the assassin’s head will anyhow be removed (if he can be identified), just in case.
Irritatingly, if a Kif does do this and get away with it, then six months later some ambitious underling several solar systems away might claim to be Vikkhtimakt’s killer, and get away with the sfik in any case.
Fair enough, I just assumed it was more of an honour code. I guess there’s no such thing as a low-key Kif that rules from the shadows, then. Chalk one more victory up for the human resistance I postulated earlier.
EDIT: It probably says something about me that just sort of assumed explosive collars were in common use. It might be seen as somehow “cheating”, though; it’s a lot easier to subdue someone with an implant than a stick.
Fair enough, I just assumed it was more of an honour code. I guess there’s no such thing as a low-key Kif that rules from the shadows, then. Chalk one more victory up for the human resistance I postulated earlier.
If there was, he’d still claim responsibility for his actions—possibly in the form of a note left at the scene claiming that “The Crimson Shadow did this!”. He doesn’t ever need to associate the name of the Crimson Shadow with his face; he can just as easily deliver orders to his underlings remotely, with voice-distorting telephones. (Of course, this means that he clearly doesn’t have the sfik to show his face; he fears someone stronger, and a fair majority of his followers will defect to the “someone stronger” instead. So, you’re right, it’s not really practical in the end).
EDIT: It probably says something about me that just sort of assumed explosive collars were in common use. It might be seen as somehow “cheating”, though; it’s a lot easier to subdue someone with an implant than a stick.
Also, an external collar may be removeable; it’s also worth noting that the only way to send a signal faster-than-light in this universe is in a jumpdrive-capable ship (and that has a few other disadvantages, mainly in that it takes some time to dock safely), so if a follower can get to another solar system and knows that his boss won’t be visiting for the next twenty-four hours, then he has twenty-four hours to try to get the thing off.
An internal collar largely evades this problem, as long as the underling isn’t willing to take a bit out of his own neck to escape. (But how much sfik would that sort of dangerous escape be worth?)
That’s true, you can always get far enough away that the boss can’t hurt you, no matter the tech level; radio and such merely extends it (yet another advantage of humanity.) In fact, since presumably the implant would need to be surgically inserted in the first place, so it’s never perfect. Although most fictional explosive collars react adversely to tampering, and once portable brainscans become available treachery is impossible; luckily this destroys narrative in any case.)
EDIT: wait, how does a Kif with a secret identity work?
That’s true, you can always get far enough away that the boss can’t hurt you, no matter the tech level; radio and such merely extends it
I realised after typing that up that I’d managed to miss what would probably be the obvious Kifish solution to the problem—kill the person holding the detonator (a quick draw and an explosive bullet to the brain would do just fine). Tamper-proofing on the collar doesn’t matter in that case, as it is not removed; and the collar can’t stop a long-range sniper.
and once portable brainscans become available treachery is impossible; luckily this destroys narrative in any case.
Portable brainscans are not available in the series (and I don’t see the Kif using them in any case. Sure, I can make more copies of me, but each copy would want to kill the original and take over, so it’s kind of risky...)
EDIT: wait, how does a Kif with a secret identity work?
I’m not entirely sure. They all look fairly similar to each other and usually dress to hide the differences (the protagonist simply cannot tell them apart at all, a significant disadvantage—worse yet, their smell makes her sneeze) so anonymity is simple enough; it would be fairly straightforward for a Kif to claim to be a different Kif, perhaps with the help of some makeup to fool his fellow Kif. (It would be kind of harder to claim to be human).
I realised after typing that up that I’d managed to miss what would probably be the obvious Kifish solution to the problem—kill the person holding the detonator (a quick draw and an explosive bullet to the brain would do just fine). Tamper-proofing on the collar doesn’t matter in that case, as it is not removed; and the collar can’t stop a long-range sniper.
Well, yeah. It’s a weapon; a highly effective weapon. That depends on you having the target at your mercy at some point.
Portable brainscans are not available in the series (and I don’t see the Kif using them in any case. Sure, I can make more copies of me, but each copy would want to kill the original and take over, so it’s kind of risky...)
No, like checking to see if someone’s plotting against you.
EDIT: wait, how does a Kif with a secret identity work?
That is to say, how does it work for a race who’s chief value is reputation if they have two (or more) separate identities?
Well, yeah. It’s a weapon; a highly effective weapon. That depends on you having the target at your mercy at some point.
At all points. Just because he’s wearing an explosive collar now doesn’t mean he won’t shoot you—it just means that he’ll do so very suddenly.
No, like checking to see if someone’s plotting against you.
Oh, right. Yes, I can see that getting a lot of use; just be careful when using the machine (anyone who was thinking about plotting will likely start shooting at about that point).
That is to say, how does it work for a race who’s chief value is reputation if they have two (or more) separate identities?
I do not know. The question did not come up in the series.
At all points. Just because he’s wearing an explosive collar now doesn’t mean he won’t shoot you—it just means that he’ll do so very suddenly.
He has to be at your mercy to get the collar on. After that, you have a powerful weapon against him. Not a perfect weapon, but it should be at least as good as your fists, eh?
Oh, right. Yes, I can see that getting a lot of use; just be careful when using the machine (anyone who was thinking about plotting will likely start shooting at about that point).
Not if it’s attached to their head and contains a bomb, set to go off if they betray you!
But that kind of thing sort of destroys narrative tension, so it’s not going to happen.
I do not know. The question did not come up in the series.
If I had to guess, I would say that the highest-value ID is the “real” one, and the other is merely a cover to throw off suspicion. Otherwise the whole “dressing all alike” thing could cause problems.
He has to be at your mercy to get the collar on. After that, you have a powerful weapon against him. Not a perfect weapon, but it should be at least as good as your fists, eh?
Very true. Even a little better than a gun, because it’s harder to miss and you don’t have to bother to aim. (Just don’t use the wrong detonator, that would be embarrassing).
If I had to guess, I would say that the highest-value ID is the “real” one, and the other is merely a cover to throw off suspicion. Otherwise the whole “dressing all alike” thing could cause problems.
That seems reasonable. One would expect all successes to be claimed by the “real” identity, and all failures to be shunted to the “false” identity; though this may result (if handled poorly) in people asking why Real Identity hasn’t yet had Fake Identity killed as an example to the others?
Good point. I meant something more along the lines of a small post-apocalyptic group, but you take my point; rebuilding is useless if it requires, say, your death, or would prevent you from frustrating other Kif. They can co-operate, but they don’t want to; it’s unnatural and inherently bad—like a human killing other humans.
So if I take something corpse wanted to keep (grave goods?) I achieve positive infinity sfik? Or do they have to be actively resisting? Could they set up traps?
The usual Kifish model of society is one powerful leader forcing everyone else to do as he says (in a post-apocalyptic situation, if only one Kif has got hold of a gun, then he will be the leader until such time as someone takes it from him). It’s more subjugation than cooperation (and there’s always a certain amount of competition to be the leader) but it does result in everyone moving in the same direction, at least when the leader can see.
What could a corpse possibly want to keep? Besides which, yes, they have to be actively resisting. They could set up traps, but it’s hard to see any reason why a Kif would bother; he doesn’t care what happens after he’s dead. I guess a Kif could go after the grave goods of another species (non-Kif individuals can gain sfik—specieism is one of the evils that the Kif do not usually practice) but they’d only gain the (finite) sfik for defeating the traps, not the infinite sfik for defeating the dead person.
Kif will often threaten to eat the hearts of their enemies. This could be considered as taking something (the heart) from a corpse. However, one gains only a finite amount of sfik for doing so (some for killing the enemy in a clear and public manner, more for doing so at close range instead of employing a sniper (note that all Kif dress alike, in dark robes, presumably in order to confuse snipers; in the last book, one Kif appears in a silver-trimmed robe, which instantly marks him as having extremely high sfik—high enough to be identifiable from a distance and get away with it)).
Sure, but humans can maintain co-operation on a much larger scale by simply having compatible goals.
That was exactly what I was thinking of; humans are known for our reluctance to part with worldly possesions, even in death.
It sounds like the sfik of the defeated individual is being used merely as an approximation of the difficulty of overcoming them.
I had assumed they would try and hide, generally, from becoming well-known. Why was this one in identifiable clothing? For the challenge? Seems risky.
Probably true. A Kif might claim that they make up the difference by not having irrational personality clashes, and refusing to follow a charismatic leader who is a total idiot (both known failure modes of humanity). Though I don’t think that that would actually make up the entire difference. (It’s probably also worth mentioning that while Kif have jump-drive-capable spaceships, several varieties of weapons, good knowledge of torture and truth serums capable of working on even non-Kif biologies, they do not have doctors. A Kif is expected to heal his own wounds, or die, more or less. This probably means that the truth serums they have were stolen from other species).
Exactly correct.
Because he (Vikkhtimakt) actually did have the sfik to get away with it. Having massively positive sfik, means that he’s massively difficult to kill; wearing the identifiable robe means that he has massively positive sfik (with a side chance that he’s an idiot, but in that case why is he still alive?). Any Kif who’s not a total idiot would hesitate at this point, and find out why he’s so identifiable before pulling the trigger; and it turns out to be well-known among the Kif (and thus easy for a potential assassin to find out) that this particular one is the top lieutenant of someone with even higher sfik (spoilers if I define that more exactly—the question of exactly who Vikkhtimakt is working for is a major plot point in that book), who will be Most Displeased if Vikkhtimakt gets killed. (The prudent Kif will therefore only kill Vikkhtimakt as part of a plot to supplant—and kill—his leader; whose extreme sfik means that a prudent Kif will have second, third, fourth, and fifth thoughts before attempting that challenge, and will certainly give due consideration to killing the leader first, without warning, instead).
And not, say, become the bonded slave of his healer? I guess such submission would be damaging to one’s sfik, but not so much as dying.
Ahh. So the trick is to kill him and not tell anyone.
Once he’s healed, if the healer is not strong enough to keep him subjugated, he’ll simply go away (possibly killing the healer in the process). If the healer is strong enough to keep him subjugated—well, then said healer can probably more easily subjugate healthy Kif to start with.
All Kifish negotiations consider the possibility of either party reneging at any stage in the future (and Kif will renege immediately if they gain some advantage in the process)
What’s the point of that? If you don’t tell anyone, then you don’t get the sfik. A Kif has only as much sfik as he can persuade others that he has.
Explosive collars, or equivalent if they lack heads.
In practice, sure, but I got the impression that they valued actually gaining sfik, not merely pretending to have it (like a human valuing actually saving orphans, even though pretending to accrues benefits as well.) Was I mistaken?
Okay, that’s a good idea. Not mentioned in the book, but I can see a Kif going for it.
They value sfik in more like the way as a human values reputation (which bears a lot of similarity to sfik). If no-one knows about it, it doesn’t count either way (a Kif may try to suppress knowledge of some failure, if this seems possible).
It is also common among Kif to claim to have more sfik than one has; in the process, one may in fact gain the extra sfik (say, by attracting followers with the bluff, and then using them to succeed in some task). Of course, if one bluffs too hard, then one gets a task that one cannot complete; and if one fails, or admits an inability to complete the task, one likely gets killed, so there’s an incentive not to bluff too high. (If one succeeds in the task, then one is assumed to have had sufficient sfik all along; the bluff becomes fact through general agreement).
It’s also worth noting that a Kif does not need to know who pulled the trigger to take revenge. In the absence of that knowledge, Kifish “revenge” might simply mean killing everyone present on the space station or other area in question (so everyone else nearby suddenly has a very strong motive to find out who did it before the Leader gets back, and present said Leader with the assassin’s disembodied head in the hope of turning away any further indiscriminate wrath, and possibly even gaining the Leader’s favour in the process). Whether the Leader would actually do this or not is irrelevant; the assassin’s head will anyhow be removed (if he can be identified), just in case.
Irritatingly, if a Kif does do this and get away with it, then six months later some ambitious underling several solar systems away might claim to be Vikkhtimakt’s killer, and get away with the sfik in any case.
Fair enough, I just assumed it was more of an honour code. I guess there’s no such thing as a low-key Kif that rules from the shadows, then. Chalk one more victory up for the human resistance I postulated earlier.
EDIT: It probably says something about me that just sort of assumed explosive collars were in common use. It might be seen as somehow “cheating”, though; it’s a lot easier to subdue someone with an implant than a stick.
If there was, he’d still claim responsibility for his actions—possibly in the form of a note left at the scene claiming that “The Crimson Shadow did this!”. He doesn’t ever need to associate the name of the Crimson Shadow with his face; he can just as easily deliver orders to his underlings remotely, with voice-distorting telephones. (Of course, this means that he clearly doesn’t have the sfik to show his face; he fears someone stronger, and a fair majority of his followers will defect to the “someone stronger” instead. So, you’re right, it’s not really practical in the end).
Also, an external collar may be removeable; it’s also worth noting that the only way to send a signal faster-than-light in this universe is in a jumpdrive-capable ship (and that has a few other disadvantages, mainly in that it takes some time to dock safely), so if a follower can get to another solar system and knows that his boss won’t be visiting for the next twenty-four hours, then he has twenty-four hours to try to get the thing off.
An internal collar largely evades this problem, as long as the underling isn’t willing to take a bit out of his own neck to escape. (But how much sfik would that sort of dangerous escape be worth?)
That’s true, you can always get far enough away that the boss can’t hurt you, no matter the tech level; radio and such merely extends it (yet another advantage of humanity.) In fact, since presumably the implant would need to be surgically inserted in the first place, so it’s never perfect. Although most fictional explosive collars react adversely to tampering, and once portable brainscans become available treachery is impossible; luckily this destroys narrative in any case.)
EDIT: wait, how does a Kif with a secret identity work?
I realised after typing that up that I’d managed to miss what would probably be the obvious Kifish solution to the problem—kill the person holding the detonator (a quick draw and an explosive bullet to the brain would do just fine). Tamper-proofing on the collar doesn’t matter in that case, as it is not removed; and the collar can’t stop a long-range sniper.
Portable brainscans are not available in the series (and I don’t see the Kif using them in any case. Sure, I can make more copies of me, but each copy would want to kill the original and take over, so it’s kind of risky...)
I’m not entirely sure. They all look fairly similar to each other and usually dress to hide the differences (the protagonist simply cannot tell them apart at all, a significant disadvantage—worse yet, their smell makes her sneeze) so anonymity is simple enough; it would be fairly straightforward for a Kif to claim to be a different Kif, perhaps with the help of some makeup to fool his fellow Kif. (It would be kind of harder to claim to be human).
Well, yeah. It’s a weapon; a highly effective weapon. That depends on you having the target at your mercy at some point.
No, like checking to see if someone’s plotting against you.
That is to say, how does it work for a race who’s chief value is reputation if they have two (or more) separate identities?
At all points. Just because he’s wearing an explosive collar now doesn’t mean he won’t shoot you—it just means that he’ll do so very suddenly.
Oh, right. Yes, I can see that getting a lot of use; just be careful when using the machine (anyone who was thinking about plotting will likely start shooting at about that point).
I do not know. The question did not come up in the series.
This is why you invent the deadman switch.
Indeed. It’s an arms race.
He has to be at your mercy to get the collar on. After that, you have a powerful weapon against him. Not a perfect weapon, but it should be at least as good as your fists, eh?
Not if it’s attached to their head and contains a bomb, set to go off if they betray you!
But that kind of thing sort of destroys narrative tension, so it’s not going to happen.
If I had to guess, I would say that the highest-value ID is the “real” one, and the other is merely a cover to throw off suspicion. Otherwise the whole “dressing all alike” thing could cause problems.
Very true. Even a little better than a gun, because it’s harder to miss and you don’t have to bother to aim. (Just don’t use the wrong detonator, that would be embarrassing).
That seems reasonable. One would expect all successes to be claimed by the “real” identity, and all failures to be shunted to the “false” identity; though this may result (if handled poorly) in people asking why Real Identity hasn’t yet had Fake Identity killed as an example to the others?