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It was said that a man could not turn a corner in the Imperial Seat without stumbling upon a teahouse. There were many such teahouses; scattered throughout the districts of the capital. Some were little more than squat shops in which a labourer could grab a cup of hot tea at the end of the day, listen to the gossip that was the lifeblood of the Imperial Seat, and dice away his coin. Others were elegant affairs: towering edifices with arched roofs, where the artists and bureaucrats gathered to comment on paintings or exchange poetry.

The Frozen Moon teahouse was neither. An establishment respected for its age, the teahouse was built next to an open courtyard, with blossoming peach trees overlooking a clear, still pond. Here, in the teahouse, the Imperial Seat’s underworld diced, fought, and otherwise mixed freely with the highest-ranked bureaucrats of the Empire.

It was a typical midsummer’s night, when the whispers of the Emperor’s impending death trickled from the corridors of the Rose Palace to the crowded tables of the Frozen Moon. Storytellers, perhaps, would later make much out of the fact that a storm was rolling in over the far horizon. Looking back, Wenshon would’ve said it had been a perfectly ordinary day. Business was good, as it had always been, and with the exception of a brawl between a stocky MaiPon woman and a few small-time local thugs that had turned ugly, there was nothing to set this day apart from the others: nothing to mark the fact that the Empire’s future now dangled on a knife-edge.

Storms, after all, were common in midsummer.

Wenshon went from crowded table to table, copper kettle in hand, refilling cups of tea. Steam rose from the fired-clay cups, mingling with the sweet fragrance of the herbs. He picked up coins, swabbed tables and carried out plates of small dumplings to the customers. There was a nervous energy to the clientele of the Frozen Moon that night, and even a long-time proprietor could tell that change was in the air.

“…heard from one of the servants…” someone was saying.

“…going to die, it’s only a matter of time…”

“…gone, then, and it’ll start another faction war, and don’t tell me you think that’s good, that’s the last thing any of us wants.”

Wenshon refilled the cup of that last speaker, keeping his expression carefully neutral. He recognised the man. Of course he did. This, he thought, was the most senior arbiter of the Reform Faction, and one of the most powerful men in the Rose Empire: the Arbiter Kaleva.

Kaleva thanked him, a trifle absently, and turned the warmed clay over in his hands. Wenshon recognised the woman he was speaking to: the ruthless Arbiter Frava of the Heritage Faction. He refilled her cup as well, steeping the tea anew. She barely gave him a second glance.

Frava said, her voice sharp and nasal, “It is past time, Kaleva. Even you must realise that your faction is on its way out and has been, for a very long time.”

Kaleva murmured—oh, but that sly fox, his voice was pitched to cut through the ambient din of the teahouse—“We shall see about that, shan’t we?” His pale eyes met Wenshon’s, waiting, expectant. The clamour of the teahouse, the murmur of several conversations had died down, now, and in the lull, Wenshon knew what Kaleva was angling for.

“What news?” he asked, feigning confusion.

“The Emperor Yazad is gravely ill,” Kaleva said, sipping tea placidly from his cup. He gestured his appreciation and continued. “Expect a new Emperor to be elevated soon.”

In the ensuing silence, Wenshon heard the rumble of distant thunder, the soft crackling of the fire, the muffled sound of the pouring rain beating against the smooth stones of the courtyard. It was broken, at last, only by the sharp crack of breaking pottery; he realised the help had accidentally knocked a tray of clean cups off the counter. It was one thing to know, he thought, and another to hear it from the mouth of Arbiter Kaleva himself.

“What then?” someone asked. A low-level bureaucrat, from the looks of her. Possibly hoping for advancement, and realising the succession could dash those hopes…or reward them.

“Hope,” advised Kaleva placidly, “For a smooth succession.” This time, his steady gaze met that of Arbiter Frava.

She snorted, downed the last of the tea, and left, beckoning to the servants and guards who waited near the entrance. One of them opened an oiled-paper umbrella and stepped out into the storm first, spreading the umbrella to shelter the Arbiter.

Kaleva watched her leave, his eyes thoughtful. He said nothing.

Wenshon set down the kettle and went about locating the broom to sweep up the shards of broken clay. Emperors died, he found himself thinking, and succession crises loomed, but at the end of it all, life in the Rose Empire beneath the eighty splendid suns continued for everyone else, day after day.
 



MR7: Eighty Splendid Suns
The current Emperor of Eighty Suns, Yazad, grows weaker each day from his disease. While the resealers are working hard to stave off his impending death, it has become clear that the time has come for a new candidate to sit the Rose Throne. Already, the factions are plotting and moving against each other. Here, in the very heart of the Rose Empire, thickets of intrigue thrive and flourish; plots are executed with coin and connections, just as much as they are with crossbow bolts and knives.

The factions are growing restless. Arbiters, all of them, begin meeting in secret to discuss favoured candidates, making and breaking faction alliances. A time of great change is on the horizon. Only one faction will emerge triumphant from this struggle. And the winner will shape the future of the Rose Empire.

 

 

General Rules

 

1. This is a standard MR, with cycles of 48 hours in length. Voting (both kinds) and actions will be sent in through PMs. (Please specify which cycle this is for, to avoid GM confusion!) Whatever you say in thread and in the docs is up to you. The first cycle, however, will be 24 hours long. No lynch voting or kills will take place during this cycle. Other actions/abilities will be processed as per normal.

2. No PMs are permitted as a general rule. There are one or two roles that are exceptions to this: wounded Diplomats, and the Siblings. In these cases, the GM must be included in the PM.

3. There will be docs. Lots of docs. Each Faction will have their own doc. Unfortunately, I am after all going to have to require a Google Account from each player, in order to lock doc access to the email addresses of players in each Faction. (See MR1 for a rough idea of how this was done.) At the end of each cycle, the Faction doc for the current cycle will be set to View Only and I'll set up a new Faction doc for the next cycle.

4. My copy-and-pasting policy is simple: please don’t do it. Please especially do not copy and paste the content of previous cycles into the doc for the new cycle. I will, however, allow members of the Discovery Faction to copy and paste into their Faction doc because they are all on the same team and permanently so.

5. There are two kinds of voting done within a cycle. Within a PM to the GM, votes for the lynch should be put in red. Votes for Faction transfer should be put in orange.

6. Write-ups will be minimally informative. At this point, the only thing the write-up will announce are the roles of the deceased. In addition, the write-up should not be regarded as an accurate guide to what actually happened. I intend to take full creative liberties and will not be held responsible for any confusion, false assumptions, or damages resulting from treating the write-up like the Holy Word of Wyrm.

7. This is the order of actions:
-Role-blocks: Seal of Warding/Bureaucrat Essence Mark
-Protection: Trained Surgeon/Indomitable/Warrior Essence Mark
-Vote manipulation: Leader Essence Mark/Influential
-Kills: Lynch/Skeletal Kill/Striker Kill/Death Before Failure/Hunter Essence Mark
-PMs: Private Language/Wounded Diplomat
-Template alteration: Forbidden Knowledge/Bribery

-Seeking: Diplomat Check

Mechanics:

 

Bribery: Bribery and faction-trading is common in the Rose Empire, even at the best of times. With the impending death of Emperor Yazad, the usual faction shenanigans have reached an unrivalled frenzy. At the end of every full cycle, members of each faction will cast a private vote by PM to the GM, voting for one player from a different faction that they would like to have in their faction. At the end of the cycle, the players with the most number of votes on them (relative to each faction voting) will transfer to the faction that voted for them. While transferred players will keep their existing roles, they will take on the win condition of their new faction.

As the de facto leaders of their factions, Arbiters cannot be transferred. If a Faction attempts to bribe over an Arbiter, then instead, the person with the second highest number of bribe votes will be transferred. If there is a tie within a Faction’s votes, then the Faction responsible for the tie will not receive any player at all for that cycle. In addition, note that the faction transfer mechanic does not affect the win condition of members of the Discovery Faction.

Factions:

 

There are four factions within this game. The Heritage Faction, the Glory Faction, the Moderation Faction and the Discovery Faction.

The Heritage Faction focuses on the glories and the knowledge of the past, consistently striving to resurrect old practices and to preserve them.

The Glory Faction focuses on the Empire’s glorious conquests and seeks to further expand the military capacities of the Rose Empire and to project Imperial power throughout Sycla.

The Moderation Faction seeks to achieve balance in all things, holding that what is needed is a middle ground between respect for tradition, the dispassionate search to expand the boundaries of current knowledge and ambitions of imperial dominion.

The Discovery Faction is fascinated by branches of learning most Grands consider blasphemous, and argues that Forgery and Bloodsealing can and should be better understood and employed for the ends of the Rose Empire. Given the prevalence of Grand attitudes towards these, it is no wonder that the Discovery Faction is one of the smallest and weakest factions in the Empire. In this game, a splinter group consisting of members of the Discovery Faction have infiltrated the other factions and are seeking to bring them down. However, they do not begin with access to a faction kill.

Win Conditions:

 

-The win condition for any of the four factions, whether the Heritage Faction, the Glory Faction, (the Moderation Faction) or the Discovery Faction is total annihilation of the other three factions.

-The Siblings win if they are on the same Faction at the end of the game.

Roles:

 

Regular: While you do not yet have a role within your Faction, it is those like you who form the bulk of your Faction’s supporters. Your wits and your outstanding loyalty to your Faction are your primary tools, and they will serve you well as the power struggles rage on. Indeed, in these troubled times, it may very well be the Regulars like yourself who see to your Faction’s triumphant ascent to the highest echelons of power in the Rose Empire itself...

Arbiter: In the Rose Empire, each of the eighty factions are led by five arbiters. As one of the leaders of their faction, the Arbiter wields an enormous amount of political power.

•Incorruptible: While many among the Rose Empire’s army of bureaucrats and functionaries will happily pocket bribes to turn a blind eye to some going-on or other, the Arbiter’s loyalties to their faction are unshakeable. Any attempt to bribe or influence the Arbiter into changing their faction will fail. (If attempting to bribe an Arbiter to swap factions, the player with the second-highest number of votes will be transferred instead. So, suppose Wyrm is an Arbiter and has 3 votes on him. Instead, it will be Kas, with 2 votes on him, who will transfer factions.)

•Influential: As one of the five most powerful members of their faction, the Arbiter’s voice and connections are able to sway the most resolute opponents into at least considering their words. For this reason, the Arbiter is able to change one player’s vote every cycle. (This applies to both the lynch vote and the transfer vote.)

Resealer: It takes years of training and specialisation to be able to repair injury through the use of soulstamps. Although resealing allows surgeons to miraculously heal patients from otherwise-fatal injuries, a mistake on the part of the Resealer means the patient’s death.

•Trained Surgeon: The Resealers in the Rose Empire are among the best in the world, having been extensively trained in anatomical knowledge, among other things. As a result of this intensive training, a Resealer can save one player from death every cycle.

Diplomat: The Diplomat has been sent from one of the many nations of Sycla in order to establish closer ties with the Rose Empire...and, of course, to discreetly report on this distant power to their handlers back in their home nation. Unfortunately, they find themselves stranded in the Imperial Seat during a period of great upheaval and will have to employ their extensive resources to stay alive...if they possibly can. There are two kinds of Diplomats in this game: the Jindoeese Diplomat and the Svordish Diplomat. A Diplomat will not know which of the two they are.

Jindoeese Diplomat: Relations between Jindo and the Rose Empire have been rather rosy of late. The Jindoeese Diplomat has high-level diplomatic access to all the political manoeuvrings within the Rose Empire and given enough time, can use their resources to cross-check one player’s paperwork every cycle, allowing them to identify the faction they belong to. With access to the best medical care available thanks to their diplomat status, when mortally wounded, the Jindoeese Diplomat is able to cling to life for an extra cycle. In addition, they can send one dying PM to a trusted source.

Svordish Diplomat: Relations between Svorden and the Rose Empire have, to put it mildly, been rather troubled of late, culminating in the Svordish Diplomat being shut off from access to any of the real movers and shakers within the Empire’s government. As a result, while the Svordish Diplomat is able to use their resources to cross-check one player’s paperwork every cycle, they will not be able to detect any discrepancies and will see only what they expect to see. Otherwise, the result will be generated randomly. With access to the best medical care available thanks to their diplomat status, when mortally wounded, the Svordish Diplomat is able to cling to life for an extra cycle. In addition, they can send one dying PM to a trusted source.

Siblings: Hailing from the province of Ukurgi, the Siblings have been separated for years, but have recently found each other again in the Imperial Seat, right in the middle of the turmoil surrounding the succession to the Rose Throne. The Siblings know who each other are and have the win condition of being on the same faction by the end of the game.

•Thicker Than Water: Blood is thicker than water, as the saying goes. Because of this close connection, the Siblings cannot vote for each other. A vote placed by one Sibling on another gets nullified.

•Private Language: Stemming from a shared childhood, the Siblings have had their private ways of communicating little things beneath the watchful gaze of their parents. The memories remain with them even now. For this reason, they can send each other one PM of 100 words or less every cycle.

Bloodsealer: Pallid, with milky skin and red eyes, the Bloodsealer of Dzhamar is distrusted by most within the Rose Empire. However, no one denies the usefulness of their (blasphemous) skills.

•Seal of Warding: Using blood taken from one player, the Bloodsealer is able to confine their target within the boundaries of the ward, under pain of being hunted down and killed by skeletals. The ward lasts for a full cycle, nullifying the target’s vote and action.

•Skeletal Kill: With the use of bloodseals, the Bloodsealer can reanimate the bones of a deceased player, turning them into a skeletal and ordering them to hunt down and kill one player they have previously targeted. This ability can only be used once a game.

Striker Captain: Referred to as ‘Strikers’ by most in the Empire, the Mulla’dill are tall and lean, with curling hair. They are often deployed as guardsmen, particularly within the Rose Palace, and the capable among them may be Elevated for services rendered. The Striker Captain has advanced far for one so young, and with the recent chaos in the Imperial Seat, they see further prospects for Elevation looming.

•Striker Kill: As a trained warrior, the Striker Captain is able to discreetly execute a single kill every cycle.

•Death Before Failure: The Striker Captain is committed to their task and will not easily accept failure. Consequently, they can target one player who will be killed along with them, should they die. Every cycle, the Striker Captain may change their ‘kill-with-me’ target. This ability only works once a game.

MaiPon Forger: The Forger is the role exclusive to the Moderation Faction. A MaiPon Forger has the ability to use Essence Marks to alter their own history, conferring upon themselves skills they would otherwise never possess. This makes the Forger both a versatile and a dangerous foe. Each Essence Mark can only be used once in the game, and lasts for the duration of one cycle.

•Warrior Essence Mark: This Essence Mark turns the Forger into a seasoned warrior, allowing them to guard one player for one cycle, protecting them from death.

•Leader Essence Mark: This Essence Mark turns the Forger into a canny politician, allowing them to easily convince others of their course of action. For one cycle, the Forger’s vote counts for double. This applies to both votes.

•Hunter Essence Mark: This Essence Mark turns the Forger into a cunning and lethal hunter, and making them a deadly shot with a crossbow. For one cycle, the Forger may make one kill.

•Bureaucrat Essence Mark: This Essence Mark turns the Forger into a lawyer conversant with the various arcane twists and turns of the Rose Empire’s bureaucracy. With this gained bureaucratic nous, the Forger can bury one target in red tape and paperwork, preventing them from taking any actions or voting for a cycle.

Rememberer: The Rememberer is the role exclusive to the Heritage Faction. The line between the Forgers of MaiPon and the often half-trained Forgers working on the production lines of the Rose Empire is a thin one, and it’s really just about it’s really just about the name. The Heritage Faction refers to these government-approved Forgers as Rememberers, with their chief task being to transform ordinary items into masterpieces drawn right out of the annals of history.

•Forbidden Knowledge: The Rememberer has skills in Soul Forgery that they’ve carefully concealed. In ordinary times, this might be enough to merit execution. In these extraordinary times, however...the Arbiters might be willing to turn a blind eye. The Rememberer is able to Forge a dead player’s role and give it to another player, themselves included, for the duration of one cycle, after which the soulstamp dissolves and must be renewed. The target loses their role for the next cycle and takes on the Forged role. The dead player can be from any Faction. Once a dead player’s role has been Forged, it becomes removed from the available Forgery options.

Teullu Warrior: The Teullu Warrior is the role exclusive to the Glory Faction. Although most of the Teullu are distrustful of strangers, it is a diplomatic coup that the Glory Faction has managed to secure the services of a warrior trained by the Teullu, having lived among them for years.

•Harsh Life: The harsh life of the Teullu has conditioned the Teullu Warrior to physical hardship, allowing them to shrug off physical punishment that might break a lesser individual. As a result, the Teullu Warrior can survive one death.

•Indomitable: Every cycle, the Teullu Warrior can pick one person to guard from death. In addition, the indomitable warrior spirit of the Teullu leads the Warrior to attack one of the would-be killers, killing them instead. After blocking one such attack, the Teullu Warrior becomes injured and can no longer do so. (This ability only works once per game.)

Blasphemous Scholar: The Blasphemous Scholar is the role exclusive to the Discovery Faction. Belonging to an extreme group that have splintered off the main faction, Blasphemous Scholars have researched deeply into the capabilities of Forgery and Bloodsealing and as a result wield powers that, while unnatural, cannot be underestimated. The Scholars are seeking to undermine the other Factions from within, in order to pave the way for their Faction’s candidate to ascend to the Rose Throne. Whether they will succeed is an open question…

•Augmented Resilience: The Blasphemous Scholar is skilled with using Soul Forgery techniques to rewrite their past and to provide themselves with physical conditioning that rivals that of the Teullu Warrior. For this reason, the Blasphemous Scholar can survive one death. However, upon surviving this first death, their true loyalties will be revealed, and they will find themselves ‘spooked’, or cast out of the Faction they have infiltrated. (See: booted from the doc.) [They can be taken back into a doc through a player-trade. However, this will not affect their win condition.]

•Deep Infiltration: Armed with both Forgery as well as much more conventional means, the Blasphemous Scholar has infiltrated a different faction. In addition, this is good enough to fool the Diplomats of the Faction they have infiltrated. For this reason, a Blasphemous Scholar infiltrating the Heritage Faction can only be discovered by a Jindoeese Diplomat allied with a different Faction. Should the Scholar be transferred to the Glory Faction through the Bribery mechanic, then their true colours can only be uncovered by a Jindoeese Diplomat working with the other Factions.

FAQs:

 

General:

 

-Can I share my Faction lists?
Yeah, sure, go ahead. I’m not going to disallow this, but please do it without copy-and-pasting, yeah?

-What happens if there are two survivors left from different Factions?
I’ll consider it a draw for those two, and a loss for everyone else who didn’t make it to the finals. Unfortunately, in a game like this, it’s distinctly possible for two roles without kill abilities to survive to end-game. That’s the nature of the beast.

-Can I write my own death?
No, because the cycle has to end on time, and by ze Gott im Himmel, it veel. (However, I do take death requests, and I will do my very best to fulfill those.)

Mechanics:

 

-What happens if a Faction’s vote ties between two players they want transferred?
Then no player will be transferred over. Flavour-wise, this is the Faction’s Arbiters being so confused they don’t know who to bribe and consequently end up bribing no one at all.

-Can players attempt to bribe a player within their Faction to neutralise any attempted external bribe?
No. To be considered valid, a Bribe vote must be placed on a player external to the Faction. (And yes, this applies to members of the Discovery Faction. So, a Blasphemous Scholar infiltrating the Heritage Faction will, for all intents and purposes pertaining to the Bribery mechanic, be treated as a member of the Faction.)

-What about if two Factions try to bribe over the same player in a four-Faction game?
I flip a coin to determine which Faction gets the popular player. The other will get their second choice, i.e. the person who has the second highest number of votes from that Faction. If there is no second choice, they don’t get anyone.

-What happens if a Faction’s chosen player dies, since the transfer comes last in the stack?
If the player chosen for a transfer dies, then I’ll default to the player with the second-most number of votes and transfer them instead. If there is no clear second (i.e. a tie within the Faction), then the rules about in-Faction ties will come into play and there will be no transfer.

Roles:

 

-What happens if the Rememberer stamps themselves with the role of a MaiPon Forger?
Two different things going on here. First, anyone who gets targeted by the Rememberer as the recipient of a role loses their original role and gains the new role for one cycle, superimposed on them like a template. Their loyalties/win conditions do not change. So, an Arbiter stamped by a Rememberer temporarily loses their Arbiter abilities and gains a new set of abilities. While a stamped Blasphemous Scholar loses their second life, they retain their ability to infiltrate a doc, if their cover has not yet been blown. Second, with regard to once-per-game abilities, the cooldown remains. So if the Bloodsealer has already utilised their Skeletal Kill ability, then a stamped Bloodsealer will not be able to use that ability.

-What if one Sibling dies? Can the other still win?
Yes. The Sibling win condition is not a survival one. If one of them dies, the Siblings can still win if the other(s) manage(s) to join and remain on the same faction as their deceased Sibling(s) by the end of the game.

-What happens if an Arbiter changes the vote of a MaiPon Forger who’s used their Leader Essence Mark?
Then the Arbiter changes the Forger’s double-vote. If the Arbiter has chosen to change both the Forger’s lynch vote and the Forger’s transfer vote, then in both cases, the Arbiter adds a total of two votes to their target.

-What happens if a Rememberer’s target dies?
Given that template alteration comes last on the stack, the Rememberer would be ruled as not having given away the role. So, say the Rememberer wants to give Wyrm the role of Striker Captain. Only one Striker Captain has died, so only one such role is available. If Wyrm dies, then the Rememberer would not be counted as having used their ability. They can still choose to give someone (e.g. Gamma) the Striker Captain role in the next cycle.

-What happens if a Rememberer Forges a dead Blasphemous Scholar?
Oh boy. Okay. Technically, you can do that, but it would work slightly differently. To be able to Forge the Scholar, the guy’s got to have died. Now, since the Scholar’s extra life and infiltration are single-use abilities (so as to speak), the cooldown remains. You effectively turn the target into a Regular for one cycle.

-What happens if a Teullu Warrior guards someone from the lynch? Or protects them from multiple kill actions?
In the case of multiple kill actions, the Teullu kills a randomly-selected attacker.

-In the case of the Diplomats and the Siblings, what do you mean by ‘one PM’?
Exactly what it says on the tin. You get to send exactly one PM. The target may not reply, unless you are the Siblings, in which case if Sibling A sends Sibling B one PM, Sibling B may send back one PM as well, provided they haven’t yet used that up. In a multiple Sibling scenario, each Sibling may send one PM to the other Siblings. So if there is a 3 Sibling set-up, then Sibling A gets one PM to B, and one PM to C.

Misc Housekeeping:

-This game will begin on Tuesday, 30th June, at 11PM SGT [=GMT+8]. Cycles will end at 11PM SGT as well, and expect to see the write-up soon after.

-Spec doc is available upon request. Just drop me a PM.

-My policy on clarificatory questions is as follows: I will do my best to address these in a timely fashion. I would prefer questions that are asked in-thread or in-doc be bolded or set off in some clear way. Ultimately, for a 90-100% chance that I’ll see it and answer it in time, please ask me your questions in the role PM. Those are my first priority to check up on and answer. *Terms and conditions apply.

-As this is not Nalthis, please keep in mind that people do not Return from death. In other words, please refrain from posting in the main thread if you are dead, whatever the reason.

-I would especially like to thank Gamma, Wilson, and last but definitely not least, Wyrm for their help in debugging the game. Any remaining flaws are entirely my fault.

-I will confirm if this will be a 3-faction or 4-faction game (based on player numbers), so be sure to check the rules post for updates as the rules will reflect this! Edit: This game will be a 4-faction game.

-I’d like to gently remind all players to take a look at the Etiquette Policy and the Fair Play rules and to remember to keep to them :) In addition, please explicitly follow this game’s rules. Where in doubt, check with me or the impartial mod (who will be Gamma); preferably both of us. Thank you, and have fun!

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Edited by Kasimir
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Rule Clarifications:
 
-Will each Faction have 5 Arbiters?
PAFO.
 
-Can an Arbiter change one lynch vote and one transfer vote per cycle? Or is it one lynch vote or one transfer vote?
The Arbiter can change one lynch vote and one transfer vote per cycle.
 
-Can the Resealer save someone from the lynch?
Yes.
 
-Can the Striker Captain's 'kill-with-me' be blocked by a role-block?
Yes. It can also be blocked by a protection. However, note that if a Striker Captain's 'kill-with-me' is roleblocked, then the ability is considered to have never been used. As a result, a Rememberer bestowing that role upon a target also confers the 'kill-with-me' ability onto the target.
 
-Can the Forger's Bureaucrat Essence Mark also block votes?
Yes. It blocks both votes and actions, like all role-blocks in this game.
 
-From a RP perspective, how does the Diplomat not knowing their nationality work?
From a RP perspective, think of it as the Diplomat not knowing what level of access they have to the movers and shakers in the Factions. They could have Jindoeese-level access or Svordish-level access. I hope that helps :P
 
-If a Rememberer changes an Arbiter's role, does that mean the Arbiter can be swapped that cycle?

Yes. Exactly. Furthermore, if a Forged Arbiter (i.e. one targeted by a Forgery) ends up swapping Factions, then when the Arbiter's abilities return on the cycle after, they now apply to their new Faction. So, the Arbiter now cannot be bribed from their new Faction.

Edited by Kasimir
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Player List:
 
1. Ableah Edr (Haelbarde) - Influential cousin of refugees displaced by the Desolation of Smaug Elantris
2. Bortholemew the Blind (Bort) - Midget with mad, white hair sticking out in all directions, and a beard that is capable of anything
3. Cang Lu (Wyrmhero) - Old face at court, tasseomancer [苍鹭]
4. Baatar Zaofu (Adamir) - Slayer of the fourth wall
5. Jain (Jain) - An ordinary panda, nothing to see here, also known as Xiao Xiong [小熊]
6. Seixa (phattemer) - Shu-Korath Elantrian who re-enacted Prison Break
7. Wai ZhierSen (little wilson) - Description pending [智鹅]
8. Cation Vinid (Shallan) - Chronic optimist, killed everyone on a train but it's the train's fault.
9. Sir Edonar (Paranoid King) - Badchull ex-bodyguard
10. Hreo (Herowannabe) - The most interesting Pirate on Sel.
11. Waimin (Mailliw73) - A low-level bureaucrat who just blew his life savings on a half-bred Gurish horse, struggling with a mid-life crisis.
12. Tia (Tulir) - A skilled wanderer, a refugee from Kae
13. Locke (OrlokTsubodai) - Description pending
14. Sei Nis (Seonid) - A researcher of wormhole physics and worldhopping currently slacking off
15. Arandar (Araris Valerian) - An elderly fellow who never died and got better
16. Dow (dowanx) - Description pending
17. The Green Xienbei (Emerald101) - A northern Nomad with an obsession for green camouflage paint
18. Kartesh (Zephrer) - A former soldier who has taken up dueling due to boredom
19. Jeno (The Only Joe) - A bargeman from Arelon who came to the Empire after a pirate incident
20. Eo (spooky Eowyn) - In it for the food
21. Neo (neodymium) - Young blacksmith's apprentice under suspicion for blacksmith's disappearance
22. Pixie (Pixie) - Description pending
23. Ishtar (zas678) - A mysterious courtier with a dubious past.
24. Asterion (Alvron) - Wagon driver making deliveries of grindstone; chills out at the palace.
25. Ynla Ka (Clanky) - Crippled old man using a sword as a cane; has issues with Forgers
26. Slave (Bridge Boy) - Former runaway bridge boy suffering from Sartrean bad faith.
27. Kip Sturm (Kipper) - Description pending
28. Ashim (Aonar Faileas) - Chess-playing minor functionary

Edit: Bolded names are those whose PMs I have not yet received. Please do so at least one day before the game is to start! Thank you :)

Edited by Kasimir
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Edrab is joining

 

EDIT:

Let's make that Ableah ("Ahb'-Lee Ed-iir") Edr. The Sellish Heatherlockes fled Arelon after Edrab was incinerated by Elantrian zealots in the Great Cleansing Fire. They sought refuge in the Rose Empire with their cousin, Ableah, who had some measure of sway in the courts of the Emporer. 

Edited by Haelbarde
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I'll join. This sounds both interesting and confusing. Count me in as Bortholemew the Blind.

 

Also, you've got in your OP Kas, that the game starts on the 30th April. Slight typo methinks?

 

Edit: You need a description?

 

Midget with mad, white hair sticking out in all directions, and a beard that is capable of anything.

Edited by Bort
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I'll join. This sounds both interesting and confusing. Count me in as Bortholemew the Blind.

 

Also, you've got in your OP Kas, that the game starts on the 30th April. Slight typo methinks?

Thanks for the tip-off :) Must've confused it with this paper I was referencing... >> Fixed!

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How could I pass up an opportunity to kill Kas again play MR1 again? :P

 

Cang Lu surveryed the tea shop, listening to the news and saying very little. Hope, Kaleva said. Hope for a smooth transition. Hope sprung eternal, they said, and yet he did not feel that hope within his bones. Fifty-three years he had been part of the dangerous game of the elite of society, and not once had he seen a smooth transition, whether for the position of Emperor or just some simple pen-pusher at a desk. Even his own progression up the ranks to the higher echelons of society was not without its own, unique brand of chaos.

 

He stared at the dregs in his cup, watching them carefully for any hint of the future. The wise man did not force change, but took change and made it his own. Cang Lu had survived all this time by reading the direction of the wind and riding the inevitable storm it would unleash. Many would be unseated by the turbulence, but he would let it propel him to even higher heights - provided no-one had the exact same thoughts of grandeur as him, had their eyes on the same prize he dreamed of. It was all too easy, sometimes, to make plans and forget about the other players in the game.

 

He scowled as he saw a shape in the leaves remaining in his cup. A dark time, it said to him, a dangerous time. A warning, but a pointless one; he didn't need to read tea leaves to see that this was going to be worse than anything he had seen before. The factions were too large, too strong, to let any of them roll over and accept a new Emperor. Not without making their minds known, verbally and physically. No, he had no hope that there would be peace in the coming days. At least one body would be discovered, he thought to himself as he watched Kaleva leave the shop, he was certain of that.

Edited by Wyrmhero
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Batar clutched a thin knife in one hand, concealed beneath his cloak. He decided he was too tired to rp, and just submitted his character name and the first sentence of said rp, and finally called emergency services for the fatally wounded fourth wall.

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I'm tempted to break my rule of only playing as Jain just for this game... I really want to play with a Chinese name just to make voting for me harder. >>

Jain, an ordinary panda, is signing up. His keepers call him 小熊, for some reason (Very creative name for a bear, I know).

 

Edit: Chinese edited in. Thank you Kas for doing it already.

Edited by Lightsworn Panda
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Seixa smiled. He had barely gotten away from those horrible cultists in Kae. He'd even known a few of them. Besides, just because a man was a priest wasn't any reason to attack them! And then, once he'd almost escaped, he was brought up on charges of slander AND libel! Gah, what a nightmare... but eventually he'd broken out of the jail and made his way down here to the Rose Empire. He did stand out a bit, what with the glowing body and Shu-Korath robes, but he was sure that in this land of scholastic distinction, men would overlook such a slight issue.

 

Seixa, a Shu-Korath Elantrian, signing up!

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I'll join! I'm Cation Vinid, a chronic optimist who brought just killed everyone on a train! Not really. It crashed, it wasn't my fault..

Not in the slightest. It was mine. I am the cognitive identity of the train, and the train believes it is Hulk. It has wanted to smash things the whole game.

 

And awesome. It seems I actually get to play with all the new faces that joined QF8, which I was unable to commit to.

 

EDIT:

 

Player List:

 

1. Ableah Edr (Haelbarde) - Influential cousin of refugees displaced by the Desolation of Smaug Elantris

 

Does this mean I can call Wilson, 'Queen Smaug, Brightness Ascendant'?

Edited by Haelbarde
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Sir Edonar is joining!

 

A man noted for his skills at protection, Edonar was a fine bodyguard until he was offered a position in the rose empire. Tired of the countless attempts on his life, he accepted, not realizing that bureaucrats were far more dangerous than bandits.

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Kaleva thought he recognised the patron who had sat himself down at his table. Ableah Edr--not one of the notables at court, but with influence enough to whisper some words into the right ears.

 

"Unfortunately," he said, "Protection is not mine to arrange, should you choose to continue your current path." His eyes swept across the room, lingering on a tiny man with wild hair and a frothing beard, who perched precariously on a bamboo stool, clay teacup balanced in his hands.

 

It was true that with Yazad as the Emperor, he had come to an unparalled measure of power within the Rose Empire. But, thought Kaleva, all things ended. He, too, drank the last of the tea--drained his cup down to the dregs--and set it back on the table and nodded to Wenshon.

 

"The time of the Reform Faction, I fear," he continued, more quietly, "Is drawing to an end. And with that, I can now only do so much. My influence is waning. You might," he added mildly, "Remember that."

 

He stood up, and left the teahouse, stepping out into the storm. As the rain beat down on him, soaking the elegant robes he wore, Kaleva thought he saw--out of the corner of his eye--another old dog; another familiar face who'd survived decades of scheming at the court, watching him.

 

Ah, Cang Lu, old friend, he thought, in amusement. It was a fine dance, but all dances had to come to an end, eventually.

 

It was the way of all things, as the each day brought another of the eighty suns to reign over the empire in splendour. All in all, it had been a day for such thoughts of transience.

 

Kaleva whistled a soft folk tune to himself as he took the long, slow walk back to the vastness of the Rose Palace.

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Hreo, the unlikely son of a Ffjordel father and an Arelonic mother, was always picked on and bullied growing up. So when he got old enough he decided that he'd show them a thing or two. He ran off to become a pirate and loot and plunder to his hearts content. But, much to Hreo's dismay, nothing really changed. Not until he finally learned to take a stand and made a name for himself. After that he served for many years as first mate to the Pirate Captain Riingar. Then, after a series of unfortunate events, Hreo lost contact with Captain Riingar and had to flee for his life. After an unlikely journey, which involved losing his lucky severed-hand, being thrown in Arelonian prison, breaking out of prison seconds before it burned to the ground, stealing a panda, stowing away aboad a Svordish ship, being stranded on the shores of a strange land with no companion other than the panda, and then riding said panda for leagues through the wilderness, he finally found himself in the Frozen Moon teahouse in MaiPon, glad to finally be able to take a break from all the chaos for a while.

 


I love that so many people are transferring their characters over from my recent Elantris game. Jain- I assume the Panda you're portraying is this one here? I love it. :)

 

Sign me up as Hreo.

 

And since Kas has a tendency to break my games (not really his fault) I'll see if I can do the same to his game. :P 

 

Questions for Kas:

 

Arbiter role:

  • The flavor text says that each faction is led by 5 arbiters- does that mean that each faction in this game will have 5 arbiters or was that purely for flavor?
  • Can the Arbiter change one lynch vote AND one transfer vote each cycle? or one lynch vote OR one transfer vote?

Resealer:

  • Can the resealer save someone from the lynch vote?

Striker Captain:

  • Can his "Death Before Failure" power be blocked by things like the Bloodsealer's ward or the Forger's Bureaucrat essence mark (things that prevent actions)?

Forger: Bureaucrat Essence Mark:

  • Does this prevent the target from casting votes as well? Or just taking other non-vote actions?

Rememberer: Stamping someone into a Forger

  • Okay, I think I understand how this works, but I want to run it past you in order to be clear:
  1. Say Forger Frank has died after using 2 essence marks. Rememberer Ronald creates a soul stamp from Forger Frank and uses it on Target Tim.
  2. The next cycle, Tim is a Forger, and has access to the 3 soulstamps that Frank didn't use. I assume Tim will be told which soulstamps are available.
  3. During that cycle, Tim can use one of the remaining essence marks on himself for that cycle. For example, he could use the Leader essence mark to give himself a double vote for that cycle, or a Hunter essence mark to make a kill.
  • Right?

Self-Destructing Faction Docs:

  • Is there a reason you are deleting docs from previous cycles rather than just locking them? As their creator, you can easily go into the share settings and change it to "view only," which would allow players to reference them without editing them. This seems like a much cleaner option then allowing players copy the doc to their personal computers right before the rollover (and specifically those players whose time-zones and schedules allow them to. If you can't be online at rollover time that puts you at a distinct disadvantage over players who can).
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And since Kas has a tendency to break my games (not really his fault) I'll see if I can do the same to his game. :P 

 

Questions for Kas:

 

Arbiter role:

  • The flavor text says that each faction is led by 5 arbiters- does that mean that each faction in this game will have 5 arbiters or was that purely for flavor?
  • Can the Arbiter change one lynch vote AND one transfer vote each cycle? or one lynch vote OR one transfer vote?
Resealer:
  • Can the resealer save someone from the lynch vote?
Striker Captain:
  • Can his "Death Before Failure" power be blocked by things like the Bloodsealer's ward or the Forger's Bureaucrat essence mark (things that prevent actions)?
Forger: Bureaucrat Essence Mark:
  • Does this prevent the target from casting votes as well? Or just taking other non-vote actions?
Rememberer: Stamping someone into a Forger
  • Okay, I think I understand how this works, but I want to run it past you in order to be clear:
  • Say Forger Frank has died after using 2 essence marks. Rememberer Ronald creates a soul stamp from Forger Frank and uses it on Target Tim.
  • The next cycle, Tim is a Forger, and has access to the 3 soulstamps that Frank didn't use. I assume Tim will be told which soulstamps are available.
  • During that cycle, Tim can use one of the remaining essence marks on himself for that cycle. For example, he could use the Leader essence mark to give himself a double vote for that cycle, or a Hunter essence mark to make a kill.
  • Right?
Self-Destructing Faction Docs:
  • Is there a reason you are deleting docs from previous cycles rather than just locking them? As their creator, you can easily go into the share settings and change it to "view only," which would allow players to reference them without editing them. This seems like a much cleaner option then allowing players copy the doc to their personal computers right before the rollover (and specifically those players whose time-zones and schedules allow them to. If you can't be online at rollover time that puts you at a distinct disadvantage over players who can).

Turnabout is fair play, eh? :P

 

1. On the Arbiter: I can neither confirm nor deny exactly how many Arbiters there will be :P However, the 'five Arbiter' number came from canon, so it's a reference to canon and I'm not going to be bound by it. (Five incorruptible Arbiters is also a bit much, don't you think? ;) ) The Arbiter can change one lynch vote and one transfer vote each cycle, yes.

 

2. On the Resealer: Yes. When I say that a role can save another from death, I mean it can save from any cause of death, be it the lynch or the kill.

 

3. On the Striker: Yes. As indicated by the Order of Actions/the Stack, both role-blocks and protective actions may prevent a kill-with-me from succeeding. (Note, however, that if the kill-with-me was role-blocked, then it's not considered to have been used at all, and so a Rememberer stamping someone with the Striker's role will then confer the kill-with-me onto the target.)

 

4. On the Forger: All role-blocks come before voting, and therefore block the vote as well.

 

5. You're correct about how this would work. Tim would only have access to the remaining Essence Marks, and he would be notified of which he can use.

 

6. Y'know, I wrote a long explanation on why I was not going to allow access to faction docs from previous cycles, and Wyrm asked me to get rid of it because it was long-winded, but I told him I needed the reasons in place...

In making this decision, the strongest principle I am appealing to is to avoid having a sort of ‘objective’ public record of discussions that’s technically GM-confirmed. We try to prevent this with regard to PMs by disallowing copy-and-pasting, in order to make players rely on human testimony and all its attendant fallibilities. I felt that the same principle should be extended to the docs. The thread itself is the place for this sort of objective discussion. When it comes to the docs, what I am against is providing an easy way [as easy as combing through x number of pages is…] to check if someone is being truthful. For that reason, I have chosen to make the previous cycle faction docs inaccessible, to encourage this dependency on testimonial reports of players.

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Waimin, a low-level bureaucrat who just blew his life savings on a half-bred Gurish horse, struggling with a mid-life crisis is signing up. 

 

1. I have to ask, how come the Diplomat doesn't know which nationality they are? From a strictly RP perspective, I don't get it. 

2. If a Rememberer changes an Arbiter's role, does that mean the Arbiter can be swapped that cycle?

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Waimin, a low-level bureaucrat who just blew his life savings on a half-bred Gurish horse, struggling with a mid-life crisis is signing up. 

 

1. I have to ask, how come the Diplomat doesn't know which nationality they are? From a strictly RP perspective, I don't get it. 

2. If a Rememberer changes an Arbiter's role, does that mean the Arbiter can be swapped that cycle?

1. From a strictly RP-perspective, you can treat it as not knowing what level of diplomatic access to the movers and shakers you have: the Jindoeese level, or the Svordish level. They're treating you very well, but after all, there's always another secret...

2. Someone wanted me to say it explicitly, eh? Yes. Exactly ;)

Edited by Kasimir
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1. From a strictly RP-perspective, you can treat it as not knowing what level of diplomatic access to the movers and shakers you have: the Jindoeese level, or the Svordish level.

2. Someone wanted me to say it explicitly, eh? Yes. Exactly ;)

1. Okay, makes enough sense I guess. And I see why it's important for mechanics.

2. :P

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Of course I am signing up for this, I need another chance to infiltrate the other factions to play an Elantris game.

 

Tia fled from Kae after the fall of Elantris.  He discarded his old name when he reached places that had never heard of Arelon, and picked up the name Tia.  He has acquired a variety of skills in his travels, and hasn't stayed in one place for longer than a couple months.  The word of the Emperor's illness had reached him, and Tia made his way to the Rose Empire, confident that he could learn some secrets, and maybe even acquire some power.

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Turnabout is fair play, eh? :P

 

1. On the Arbiter: I can neither confirm nor deny exactly how many Arbiters there will be :P However, the 'five Arbiter' number came from canon, so it's a reference to canon and I'm not going to be bound by it. (Five incorruptible Arbiters is also a bit much, don't you think? ;) ) The Arbiter can change one lynch vote and one transfer vote each cycle, yes.

 

2. On the Resealer: Yes. When I say that a role can save another from death, I mean it can save from any cause of death, be it the lynch or the kill.

 

3. On the Striker: Yes. As indicated by the Order of Actions/the Stack, both role-blocks and protective actions may prevent a kill-with-me from succeeding. (Note, however, that if the kill-with-me was role-blocked, then it's not considered to have been used at all, and so a Rememberer stamping someone with the Striker's role will then confer the kill-with-me onto the target.)

 

4. On the Forger: All role-blocks come before voting, and therefore block the vote as well.

 

5. You're correct about how this would work. Tim would only have access to the remaining Essence Marks, and he would be notified of which he can use.

 

6. Y'know, I wrote a long explanation on why I was not going to allow access to faction docs from previous cycles, and Wyrm asked me to get rid of it because it was long-winded, but I told him I needed the reasons in place...

In making this decision, the strongest principle I am appealing to is to avoid having a sort of ‘objective’ public record of discussions that’s technically GM-confirmed. We try to prevent this with regard to PMs by disallowing copy-and-pasting, in order to make players rely on human testimony and all its attendant fallibilities. I felt that the same principle should be extended to the docs. The thread itself is the place for this sort of objective discussion. When it comes to the docs, what I am against is providing an easy way [as easy as combing through x number of pages is…] to check if someone is being truthful. For that reason, I have chosen to make the previous cycle faction docs inaccessible, to encourage this dependency on testimonial reports of players.

Cool, thanks.

 

re: 4. Okay, I was curious because the Bloodsealer ability specifically says "vote AND actions" but the bureaucrat essence mark only says "actions".

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2. If a Rememberer changes an Arbiter's role, does that mean the Arbiter can be swapped that cycle?

 

2. Someone wanted me to say it explicitly, eh? Yes. Exactly ;)

 

So does that mean that at the end of the cycle the forged-Arbiter reverts back to his old faction? Or does he stay with his new faction?

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