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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack Simth" data-source="post: 5693974" data-attributes="member: 29252">The distinction doesn't matter.  Whether it's one person or a group of individuals, the same questions will apply.  A group of individuals will have a goal (or set of goals) in mind for applying their resources.  A group of individuals will have a limit to the resources available to expend towards that goal (or set of goals).  The "personality" of a group of individuals will be a bit different from that of a single individual (slightly less subject to whimsy, generally), but it's still definable (as much as a personality can be defined, anyway).  Regardless, though, the resources for the border patrol are coming from somewhere - and those resources are under the control of someone (possibly a group of individuals), that (one way or another) ends up with a very strong say in the matter.  If this group of individuals was not thrown together specifically for this, then they'll have a history of doing other stuff.  What's the "other stuff" they've done?  What have they done successfully, and how did they do it?  What have they failed to do successfully, and what did they blame their failure on (true or not)?  What set of circumstances produced this border?  What set of circumstances created the border patrol?  Was it a random number of elves who thought "Hey!  This border needs patrolling!  I'm going to go do that myself!" and eventually ended up working together (or independently) on that?   Was it a random number of elves who thought "Hey!  This border needs patrolling!  I'm going to hire someone to do that!" and eventually ended up working together (or independently) on that?  Was it some segment of the 'ruling elite' (however called, and however defined) who thought "Hey!  This border needs patrolling!  I'm going to have someone do that!" and then followed through?Sure, I'm making some assumptions in doing this - but that's a consequence of the way you asked the question.  You're asking about outposts, patrols, and what the organization should look like - which implies an organization that's setting things up, and in turn, some relatively small group that's ultimately making those decisions.  Taking for a short example US government - someone writes up a bill, and proposes it be put into law.  Other people will propose amendments (pieces to add), and they'll be accepted or rejected.  Eventually, the entire thing is put to a vote (a couple, but that's irrelevant to what we're discussing), and the thing passes, or not (note: I'm skipping a lot of steps).  But the general character of the thing comes from the person who wrote it.  In a lot of cases, it'll have some set of provisions for selecting a few individuals to be responsible for actually doing the work, and gives them an amount of leeway in how they go about it.  But ultimately, the major character of the result is decided by either the person who writes the bill up in the first place, or the person in charge of enforcement.</blockquote>

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