variations of characters?

[nidpants]

i'm making compiling a comprehensive guide to ancillaries, and i'm wondering what kind of characters people have? by that i mean specific and mostly discreet purposes.

these of course need to be dumbed down into larger causes in case a death leaves a hole in duties
-general
-governor

but for more specific tasks, i have the following archetypes right now:
-attack general (siege attacks included)
-defense general

-trade governor
-troop-production governor
-growth governor (for getting new settlements up to production speed)

-electoral candidate (Roman character trying to win a senate position)

then every time you get a new character, assign two or three of the classifications to him, and try to build on those.

[Kekvit Irae]

You mean different combinations of ancilleries we use for maximum effect or whatever purpose we have? I honestly havent thought about that myself, as am glad to get ANY character in my retinue (except for the obvious Drunken Uncles and such)

[nidpants]

well i'm writing a guide about how to, er maximise their proliferation and effect. i see them as an extension of the empire's health and strengths, rather than the characters' themselves. they're less personal (therefore less powerful) than traits due to their ability to be traded, but are more mutable. the only real problem occurs in undesirable ancillaries. how do you get rid of a undesirable? you pawn him off to a general that won't be affected, of course! give all your Slubberdegullions and Tax farmers to field generals, because they'll have less effect on their command ability than, say, the Pontifex Maximus you're trying to keep in office.