MR74: The Politics of Gods

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

Elsecaller sat with her priests, the ones she and Ivory had determined were the most Loyal to the Courts. They discussed options. They read reports. They sent missives. They noted each and every gasp and wince as the poison worked its way through her divine body.

Ekkar argued long that D'delaier was the most suspicious, but Elsecaller sided with others of her court, and called for Matrim Cauthon to be exiled. She did not get her way, for Willshaper agreed with Ekkar, The Court of the Gods stripped D'Delaier of his wealth and authority, and sent him far from Hallandren.

Elsecaller examined Ekkar, and thought through each and every argument he had made. Though she disagreed with his choice, she had been wrong before, as with Kabsal. "Ekkar Loral, I have decided. You will be the one to receive my Divine Breath. Come before me please.

Slowly, carefully, decisively, Ekkar Loral knelt on the harsh wooden floor before the dying breaths of his Goddess, and awaited the most important command of his life. She placed both hands upon his shoulders. "Be more careful than I was. My life to yours, my Breath become yours." He felt the divine connection suffuse his body and soul, and knew that his deity was gone forevermore.

:-**-:

Leucosia Thalassa flowed through the halls. Her long priestly robes obscurring whatever foot movements she performed to maintain her poise and fluidity. When she had first become a priest, many had watched her with fascination, but many soon learned to do nothing more than watch. She hadn't tolerated being courted.

This night, after Elsecaller's demise, she was heading down into the tunnels, to where the Lifeless armies were stored like so many discarded dolls. She was on the hunt. She was certain now that there were Pahn Kahl among the priests of Lightsong, who commanded these armies. She intended to ferret them out.

She heard voices inside the bunker, and entered. She carried no light, being of a high enough heightening to be able to see by the faintest touch of light from far above. So in the darkness, she could see a lone priest walking through the ranks of lifeless by torchlight. He was stopping at each one, and speaking with them. Changing their orders?

Leucosia pulled a long scarf from her robes, long enough to hang a man, and headed for the light. This traitor would die this night. Whoever they were, they didn't hear her coming. She stalked him up and down the rows, moving around and through still figures until she was close enough to strike. She flung the rope at his neck with a whisper of "Strangle things."

By the sheerest of bad luck, the priest raised their hand in a yawn, and the rope wrapped around their neck and wrist, allowing them to keep breathing. They panicked and lurched away from her, but she followed, pulling out a knife to finish the job.

"Cyan!" The traitor screamed. "Kill everyone but me! Cyan!"

She paused, eyes flicking to each side, as abruptly a hundred lifeless surrounding her awoke, turned, and pulled out their swords. Well, this wasn't good odds.

 

In the morning, all that was found in the hangar was a pool of blood, believed to be far too large to come from one person. Leucosia was never seen again, alive or dead.

:-**-:

Bondsmith had always felt a kinship with Elsecaller. One of the gods he respected the most among the Courts. He was sad to hear of her murder. He had long suspected that she had known him when he was mortal, many years ago. With her passing, he was now the seniormost of the Gods. And his dreams had been calling him away for years now. He wanted to follow her, but not yet. He couldn't leave the Courts in their current arrangement. His fellows needed to be organized against whatever conspiracy was afoot.

"Tana, summon my priests. I too shall give up my breath soon, but first, the others must be taught a lesson.

MR74 - C2: Tana

Cycle 2 begins!

The Unknown Hammerer has been exiled from Hallandren on suspicion of Corruption and Murder! They were not Pahn Kahl.

xxGaea has been murdered in the night!

Bondsmith has announced that he will give up his breath this cycle!

Final Vote Count:

Araris Valerian (2): The Unknown Hammerer and IcedOut Penguin
BigBadBagsworth (2): Twinstorm and Bondsmith the Pious
Doc12 (2): ThatOneWorldhopper and Stoneward the Resourceful
The Unknown Hammerer (5): Araris Valerian, xxGaea, Amanuensis, Hoid Slayer and Willshaper the Resolute
TwinStorm (4): BigBadBagsworth, CoderDrag0n8, Doc12 and Elsecaller the Careful

Players in order of Seniority:

1. @ThatOneWorldhopper as As If
2. @TwinStorm as Matrim Cauthon
3. @KelsierApologist as Zyvoxid Linezolid
4. @IcedOutPenguin as ___________
5. @Doc12 as Evi
6. @Amanuensis as Kosm
7. @Araris Valerian as Arlun
8. @KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren as Lharir
9. @CoderDrag0n8 as CD
10. @Hoid Slayer as Ekkar Loral
11. @BigBadBagsworth as Iggdraz the Confused

[Amanuensis he/him]

Yeah, that one is on me  sorry TUN

Gaea kill is interesting  did a lot of people v-read them or something?

Edited September 5, 2025 by Amanuensis

[TwinStorm He/Him]

Best of luck to the village

[TwinStorm He/Him]

Huh, okay, my computer was lagging, so the last post I made was when I thought I was about to die, disregard it.

Gaea kill is weird, doesn't seem like people had too many opinions on them.

man . . . I don't know what to think rn

too tired to do anything rn, but hopefully tmrw I can look back through D1 and see what's going down

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

I think everyone now has their updated Court docs. If anyone can't speak somewhere, please tell me.

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

11 minutes ago, Amanuensis said:

Yeah, that one is on me  sorry TUN

Gaea kill is interesting  did a lot of people v-read them or something?

I did 

5 minutes ago, TwinStorm said:

Huh, okay, my computer was lagging, so the last post I made was when I thought I was about to die, disregard it.

Gaea kill is weird, doesn't seem like people had too many opinions on them.

man . . . I don't know what to think rn

too tired to do anything rn, but hopefully tmrw I can look back through D1 and see what's going down

I mean...

That post wasn't right. As in, you shouldn't have made it.

However, if you're being honest here, we can probably assume your Villa

I wasn't truly expecting to kill an elim this cycle, but I was pretty sure that with the time the TwinStorm train simmered, the elims were okay with his death

For now, I'm gonna leave a poke on Polly for when she decides to show up and try to sift through stuff later

Yes, I have Elsecaller's breath now. And I have an idea for how to use it. I namedropped the fellow members of my Court last cycle just in case they tried to kill me, but honestly, I do think the more transparent we can be with this the better.

Tomorrow will probably be a busy day for me, like today and yesterday. I do think I'll have all of Saturday free though to do some solving.

[OoklaApologist She/her]

25 minutes ago, Hoid Slayer said:

For now, I'm gonna leave a poke on Polly for when she decides to show up and try to sift through stuff later

Hey slayer! I forgot about the game yesterday lol. I guess we're getting down to business. 

@Amanuensis, care to share your read from this post? I'm as curious as slayer was.

I'll wait at least 12 hours for reads, because I want to get back into the swing of things, and re-read c1 (5 pages, wow!) but I'll leave you with a bit of info, mostly because I think this knowledge benefits the village more. 

I'm a member of Willshaper, and so was Gaea. There are currently 4 players in Willshaper. So far I am the only person who has talked in my doc.

Also, since some people asked last cycle, I'm "always an elim" because three out of four of my first games with default alignments were elim games.

That game history means I recommend Slayer get a pass for poking me, because we played together in the only other Nalthis game of last year, and were notably v/e.

Finally, @The Unknown Hammerer, a word of advice: when choosing names, consider those that don't remind me of geometry class. I'm getting flashbacks

[Araris Valerian he/him]

I'm curious if Penguin can muster anything other than a retaliatory vote this cycle.

My other initial vote thoughts would be CD, Doc, and Polly. The former 2 (along with BBB, who I have a light village read on) voted on TwinStorm, and that train seems like a decent place for an elim to hide. And Polly is pretty self-explanatory I think.

[BigBadBagsworth He/him/his]

9 hours ago, A Jo in the Bush said:

Araris Valerian (2): The Unknown Hammerer and IcedOut Penguin
BigBadBagsworth (2): Twinstorm and Bondsmith the Pious
Doc12 (2): ThatOneWorldhopper and Stoneward the Resourceful
The Unknown Hammerer (5): Araris Valerian, xxGaea, Amanuensis, Hoid Slayer and Willshaper the Resolute
TwinStorm (4): BigBadBagsworth, CoderDrag0n8, Doc12 and Elsecaller the Careful

A large possibility: 

A train was started on Twin, and a rival train was started on TUH to save Twin. No reason was given for the execution on TUH besides, and I quote “sus vibes” and poke attempts. I’m Sus of anyone who voted TUH, especially @Hoid Slayer and @Amanuensis. I think there was someone who voted and unvoted Twin; this to me feels like trying to distance and then realizing you could actually c1 exe your fellow elim.

[IcedOutPenguin He/Him]

I'm a little suspicious of the vote switch from Twinstorm to TUH. But that does seem to be something that has happened in past games, I don't know why, and I don't know who's responsible for it.

[Amanuensis he/him]

I was indifferent between TUN and Twin. I didn't see anyone coming to Twin's defense, so I felt like it was a low hanging fruit situation and decided to put someone else ahead. I don't know if Hoid Slayer voted before or after me, but people were posting as I was writing mine and at the time I thought it was just Araris and Gaia. After work tonight I will look at the people who were present and their reactions, as well as respond to Doc's RP (sorry friendo). My guess rn is i was a V/V situation but that's mostly because I don't remember why people were voting Twin in the first place, which is generally an indicator that it wasn't convincing.

Edited September 5, 2025 by Amanuensis

[Araris Valerian he/him]

4 hours ago, IcedOutPenguin said:

and I don't know who's responsible for it.

As BBB said, Aman and Hoid were the last 2 votes on TUH. Certainly an e!TwinStorm flip would implicate one or both of them, and that’s worth keeping in mind as we decide who to exe today.

[BigBadBagsworth He/him/his]

My only read was, and still is, e! Twin, so…

TwinStorm

 

17 hours ago, TwinStorm said:

Huh, okay, my computer was lagging, so the last post I made was when I thought I was about to die, disregard it.

Another possibility. Not saying that this happened, or even that it probably happened, but just to consider that it happened.

Twin may have posted this as “proof” that he’s Village, but overdid it.

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

11 hours ago, BigBadBagsworth said:

A large possibility: 

A train was started on Twin, and a rival train was started on TUH to save Twin. No reason was given for the execution on TUH besides, and I quote “sus vibes” and poke attempts. I’m Sus of anyone who voted TUH, especially @Hoid Slayer and @Amanuensis. I think there was someone who voted and unvoted Twin; this to me feels like trying to distance and then realizing you could actually c1 exe your fellow elim.

9 hours ago, IcedOutPenguin said:

I'm a little suspicious of the vote switch from Twinstorm to TUH. But that does seem to be something that has happened in past games, I don't know why, and I don't know who's responsible for it.

6 hours ago, Amanuensis said:

I was indifferent between TUN and Twin. I didn't see anyone coming to Twin's defense, so I felt like it was a low hanging fruit situation and decided to put someone else ahead. I don't know if Hoid Slayer voted before or after me, but people were posting as I was writing mine and at the time I thought it was just Araris and Gaia. After work tonight I will look at the people who were present and their reactions, as well as respond to Doc's RP (sorry friendo). My guess rn is i was a V/V situation but that's mostly because I don't remember why people were voting Twin in the first place, which is generally an indicator that it wasn't convincing.

5 hours ago, Araris Valerian said:

As BBB said, Aman and Hoid were the last 2 votes on TUH. Certainly an e!TwinStorm flip would implicate one or both of them, and that’s worth keeping in mind as we decide who to exe today.

I'm inclined to believe this. TwinStorm, for now anyway. 

After that, my next highest suspect is Aman, because, no offense, but Hoid Slayer does strange things, like saving Penguin last game. 

 

Another thing, I'm mostly certain Storm is the senior most priest in Bondsmith. 

Edited September 5, 2025 by KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren
Added s'more

[Araris Valerian he/him]

3 hours ago, BigBadBagsworth said:

My only read was, and still is, e! Twin, so…

TwinStorm

Suppose TwinStorm flips village. Who would you go for next?

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

Alright

Don't have time for a real post tonight

Will try to be very active tomorrow

I WILL make a full analysis

I'm disliking how inactive this thread is becoming; we need to pick up the pace

And finally, I think we are wasting our time on TwinStorm

Aman, I voted before you

See ya tomorrow, folks 

[TwinStorm He/Him]

4 hours ago, BigBadBagsworth said:

My only read was, and still is, e! Twin, so…

TwinStorm

 

Another possibility. Not saying that this happened, or even that it probably happened, but just to consider that it happened.

Twin may have posted this as “proof” that he’s Village, but overdid it.

still not liking this as your "only read" what are your other thoughts and opinions? Nobody else strikes you as !elim? Still seems very single minded, and very much like an elim trying to get a kill.

BigBadBagsworth prove me wrong pls

3 hours ago, KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren said:

I'm inclined to believe this. TwinStorm, for now anyway. 

After that, my next highest suspect is Aman, because, no offense, but Hoid Slayer does strange things, like saving Penguin last game. 

 

Another thing, I'm mostly certain Storm is the senior most priest in Bondsmith. 

Yep, I am the highest priest among the Bondsmiths, but will not be active for the EoD tmrw

[Araris Valerian he/him]

56 minutes ago, Hoid Slayer said:

And finally, I think we are wasting our time on TwinStorm

This reads like elim foreknowledge to me. I don't have strong feelings on TwinStorm one way or another, but that's a far cry from thinking that exeing them is a waste.

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

46 minutes ago, Araris Valerian said:

This reads like elim foreknowledge to me. I don't have strong feelings on TwinStorm one way or another, but that's a far cry from thinking that exeing them is a waste.

Fair, and perhaps I spoke too harshly

In the end, all my thoughts could change tomorrow when I go over everything

[Through the Living Hopper He/Him]

Sorry I haven't been super active lately.

My school's wifi is down, but tomorrow's Saturday, so I should be able to catch up then.

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

Lharir shook his head. He'd lost two gods. Of course, Starseeker hadn't died, and he'd barely known Elsecaller, but still. This would not do. And now Bondsmith the Pious would give up his Divine Breath, and Lharir was inclined to believe that his new god would follow soon. The news had already spread to the rest of T'Telir and things were not looking bright. On top of all this, he had the Pahn Kahl rebellion to worry about.

Lharir! a voice whispered. Lharir looked around, startled, but couldn't see anything.

"Who's that?" he asked. He heard nothing else after that.

He dismissed it as his imagination.

Edited September 6, 2025 by KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren
Typo

[BigBadBagsworth He/him/his]

Just as a note, my school doesn’t allow easy use of phones at all during the school day, so expect me to be on infrequently.

12 hours ago, Araris Valerian said:

Suppose TwinStorm flips village. Who would you go for next?

I’d be hard-pressed for an awnser. Mabye Hoid Slayer? But that’d be partially contradicted by the Twin flip. Really don’t know. I’d probably try to get the people who haven’t been on as much to talk more, and wait for my brain to give me another e! read.

[TwinStorm He/Him]

6 minutes ago, BigBadBagsworth said:

Just as a note, my school doesn’t allow easy use of phones at all during the school day, so expect me to be on infrequently.

I’d be hard-pressed for an awnser. Mabye Hoid Slayer? But that’d be partially contradicted by the Twin flip. Really don’t know. I’d probably try to get the people who haven’t been on as much to talk more, and wait for my brain to give me another e! read.

Can we have any other reads from you right now besides e!me? Surely you have thoughts, opinions?

Edited September 6, 2025 by TwinStorm
spacing

[BigBadBagsworth He/him/his]

V! Ararais

V! Coder

E! Hoid Slayer (see above)

Don’t have a read on K-Sause or TOW

Amaneuensis’s interactions feel village, but their actions, especially if Twin ends up as Elim, feel more Elim.

I think that’s everyone. It’s not that I don’t have reads, it’s that I don’t have E! Reads that would still be valid after a E! Twin flip.

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

Alright

So

I've taken my time to go over everything in C1, and I'm finally ready for that analysis post I've been promising for a while

Warning: This will be long

First, let's go over the story of the train on TwinStorm, and the surrounding events, that led us into this whole situation:

The train on TwinStorm first arose shortly past midway through the cycle with Doc's vote on Wednesday night, and was quickly backed up by me. At this point, it was tied with a train on Penguin (Araris and Aman), also with two votes.

Nothing big happens until Thursday afternoon, when the train on Penguin quickly dissolves to be replaced by a train on TUH (Araris and Gaea) - at least one member of which we know was Villa (Gaea). Whatever is going on here, the elims don't seem worried.

Then, BBB joins the train on TwinStorm. This move garners attention from TwinStorm, who votes BBB - a weird vote if his aim is self preservation, as no one else was attacking BBB.

KSauce also expresses that he's leaning towards a vote on TwinStorm, but doesn't vote.

TUH makes a retaliation vote on Araris (who already has a vote from Penguin), which I found a little weird, but TUH has just been acting weird in general.

The current VC, nearly four hours before rollover, looks like this:

    Penguin: (1) Aman

    Doc: (1) TOW

    Araris: (2) Penguin, TUH

    TwinStorm: (3) Doc, Me, BBB

    TUH: (2) Gaea, Araris

    BBB: (1) TwinStorm

Then, CD joins the fray and votes BBB, using logic I personally agree with upon further review, even if I was skeptical yesterday.

HOWEVER, CD likes BBB's response to his push and later retracts his vote and switches it to TwinStorm.

Our VC, a mere hour before rollover:

    Penguin: (1) Aman

    Doc: (1) TOW

    Araris: (2) Penguin, TUH

    TwinStorm: (3) Doc, Me, BBB, CD

    TUH: (2) Gaea, Araris

    BBB: (1) TwinStorm

I notice that the train on TwinStorm has been allowed to reign supreme for a long time, and decide to back the train on TUH instead. Following my move, Aman quickly switches his vote from Penguin to TUH, without explanation - although presumably because he realized Penguin is not dying today. He claims not to have noticed my vote.

Our final VC:

    Doc: (1) TOW

    Araris: (2) Penguin, TUH

    TwinStorm: (3) Doc, BBB, CD

    TUH: (4) Gaea, Araris, Me, Aman

    BBB: (1) TwinStorm

From this, I see two main worlds: One where TwinStorm is elim, and one where he is not.

If TwinStorm is elim:

First and foremost, this would clear everyone on the TwinStorm train at the end (so Doc, BBB, and CD) because no matter what you tell me, that finale was too close for the elims to have any reason there to resign themselves to a death of one of their own.

Second: what the heck were his buddies up to?

TwinStorm's vote itself rested on BBB - a terrible strategy for self preservation, considering it stands alone. He didn't even vote TUH at the end - which, actually, is just weird. @TwinStorm, care to elaborate?

As for his buddies - there's probably two or three of them.

Let's assume they backed TUH at the end:

Of the four people on that train (Araris, Gaea, Me, and Aman) I know at least two of us were Villa (me and Gaea). That would place Araris and Aman as elim. It would also explain why the elims backed the TUH train at the end instead of the one on Araris: Araris was a fellow elim. The only question is why TwinStorm didn't vote with them.

Let's assume they backed literally anyone else at the end:

I don't see any possibility. That would just be sloppy elim behavior.

If TwinStorm is villa:

Put quite simply, the elims let things play out as they did and stood back to watch the chaos unfold.

The only person I see this clearing is Aman: the elims have absolutely no reason, at this point when a village train is so far ahead, to mess up events, even if the alternate train is also village.

The elims could be hidden literally anywhere, and the village is in a worse place than if TwinStorm is elim. As the last one to join the train, and a weird vote and switchback with BBB, CD could be considered e!leaning. Projecting even further, e!CD could lead into e!BBB due to that weird behavior as potential distancing - although maybe that's my own read against BBB projecting.

So, in conclusion, if TwinStorm is elim, that clears Doc, BBB, and CD, and incriminates Araris and Aman as his allies.

If TwinStorm is villa, it likely clears Aman, and the elims could be anywhere.

...

My reads, regardless of TwinStorm's alignment:

BBB reads elim to me. Like CD pointed out in C1, his first vote is just weird: he calls me out for making blind accusations, but everyone else was doing pretty much the exact same at the start. He then backed me on TwinStorm, although if his reasoning is my own then I naturally agree with it.

Also, addressing this post of yours:

On 9/5/2025 at 6:39 AM, BigBadBagsworth said:

A large possibility: 

A train was started on Twin, and a rival train was started on TUH to save Twin. No reason was given for the execution on TUH besides, and I quote “sus vibes” and poke attempts. I’m Sus of anyone who voted TUH, especially @Hoid Slayer and @Amanuensis. I think there was someone who voted and unvoted Twin; this to me feels like trying to distance and then realizing you could actually c1 exe your fellow elim.

It's worth mentioning the train on TUH arose, started by a villa, before the TwinStorm train became a real threat - so while it could've turned into a rival train to save TwinStorm, it didn't start as one. And btw, that someone who voted and unvoted Twin was me, and it most definitely wasn't to distance myself and then realize he could end up exed .

Araris also reads a little elim to me, just because I don't understand much of his C1 logic behind his attack on Penguin - a lot strikes me as contradictory. His C2 thoughts are also a little odd to me:

On 9/4/2025 at 11:25 PM, Araris Valerian said:

I'm curious if Penguin can muster anything other than a retaliatory vote this cycle.

My other initial vote thoughts would be CD, Doc, and Polly. The former 2 (along with BBB, who I have a light village read on) voted on TwinStorm, and that train seems like a decent place for an elim to hide. And Polly is pretty self-explanatory I think.

While I agree the TwinStorm train was a good place for an elim to hide if he flips villa, it's worth mentioning Doc started it - and left before it became that good hiding place. As for Polly, I don't think it's self explanatory, and would like to hear why you say it is.

KSauce has been popping up every now and then, but not provided anything meaningful to the discussion. Not sure whether that's e!indicative or not, but stood out to me.

With a single post, Polly instinctively rubs me as Villa, particularly with how forthcoming she is about Courts - something I'm still awaiting from other people.

Will try to get some RP in later, but I need a break.

1. @ThatOneWorldhopper as As If
2. @TwinStorm as Matrim Cauthon
3. @KelsierApologist as Zyvoxid Linezolid
4. @IcedOutPenguin as ___________
5. @Doc12 as Evi
6. @Amanuensis as Kosm
7. @Araris Valerian as Arlun
8. @KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren as Lharir
9. @CoderDrag0n8 as CD
10. @Hoid Slayer as Ekkar Loral
11. @BigBadBagsworth as Iggdraz the Confused

Let's hear some more interaction. I don't want this to go quiet.