Long Game 65: Dancing through Life

[GreenRover he/him]

Knighter was in a sour mood when he checked into his apartment. The first reason in his mind was that this university, so highly esteemed and filled with all range of talents, had farm vendors in front. He looked kind of funny at the one he saw, not to be rude, but to give that subtle but well-known expression of the eyes that meant  I might have bought some of your beets if you sold them in the marketplace and not at the school for the smartest minds of the generation. He hoped they understood the meaning. 

The second reason was he realized he had no friends here, but he was always used to working quietly anyway, so he felt better pretty quick.

The third reason was that once he unpacked, he decided to get reading all the books his Uncle Cotte, his father's twin, had given him from his time at the University. Knighter was excited, because he looked up to his uncle, nutcase as he was. But before he started the books, he read his first letter from home. It was from his father, and it was short. Be careful, my son, it read. There are reasons you never heard much of the Arcane Arts growing up. Have you ever wondered why Uncle Cotte acts a little off? He studied Naming here, he went a bit nuts, and was never the same since. Same thing happened to your great-grandfather Tratoff, and I think we've inherited that part of his genes that went nuts. Watch yourself, have fun, and don't do anything your uncle did. Love you son --Dad 

So that was a bit of a rip. It rendered most of his uncle's notes untrustworthy, and to top it off, Knighter came to the University at a time Skinwalkers lurked the halls. He would simply study well and do the Nune family name proud. His other uncle, the non-crazy one, used to be a detective. He figured after he read all Uncle Cotte's textbooks, first thing he would do is ask for advice. Then it was time to fight the Skinwalkers.

---

Tomorrow I'll try and do more analysis. And a poke vote on Shard to get @Experience on the voting bandwagon train of funness.

[Kynedath]

"Welcome young lady, can I interest you in some handsome beets? I see you have a coin in your hand, I assure you that it's a good purchase! My beets are grown naturally and without any artificial/magical preservatives. I could keep going about my beets for hours on end if you let me!" The young woman in front of Traelynn stopped and seemed frozen in place. Traelynn cocked her head and decided to take it as an opportunity to do just what she said she would do, talk about beets!

"Beets are not only nutritious, but also delicious! The strain me and my family grows is called a Ruby Queen beet, although lately I've been trying to experiment with Red Ace beets, Bull's Blood beets, Boltardy beets, Early Wonder beets - which happen to be my favorite kind because of their gorgeous inner layers. Gosh they're amazing, and real lookers too, if I had any Early Wonders I'd be selling them faster than I could grow 'em!" Traelynn casually walked up and swapped the coin in the lady's hand with a beet, although she seemed to be more fixated on Traelynns fast talking and blurry lips than on her hand and the trade happening there. "Yellow beets are an untapped market, but that market doesn't have a lot of demand in it. Nobody is selling, but even if they were hardly anybody would be buying. And they're pretty runty too, despite their awesome color."

Traelynn noticed that the kind patron standing in front of her had a sort of puzzle in her hands, one of the ones that her brother had once fancied. The notes and papers in here arms indicated that she was a student here at the University as well. This lit a match for Traelynn, giving her a brilliant idea.

"Say, what's your name oh generous patron of mine? I have a rather interesting proposition for you."

[Zillah she/her]

The young woman looked at her expectantly, and Amila cursed herself for being unable to form words. Why did people have to be so darn difficult and complicated? Part of her regretted moving from the isolated safety, but the beautiful beet in her hand almost convinced her it was worth it. It had definitely convinced her stomach though! She half expected the woman to go off on another tangent about these strange foods. She had never seen someone so invested in a mere vegetable, although admittedly they looked absolutely exquisite. Amila could feel the eyes of some of the noble men and women staring them down, almost as if they were comparing them to the rats that scurried around the marketplace floors back home. Something about this woman seemed to intrigue Amlia more than most others did.

Finally she managed to get the words "I'm Amila Tays, I'm going to be attending the university, and I'm guessing you will be as well. What would your name be?" She internally breathed a sigh of relief, she may hate human interaction, but the cheery girl seemed pleasant enough, and she had of course been trained her whole life to be socially competent when she needed to be.

 

Edited May 1, 2020 by Zillah
Spelling. . .

[Kynedath]

"Traelynn Weeks from Weeks Beets! Nice to meetcha! I like you already, and I can tell that our bond of friendship will never break!"

"Let me let you in on something: this here University is hypocritical! I have been petitioning and sending letters in for years trying to get agriculture as a proper field of study just like arithmetics or Artificery. It should be up there! The chemistry behind growing plants and the composition of soil and meteorological patterns is enough to make two whole curriculums! As of yet my voice has gone completely unheard. I can't make them recognise the legitimacy of my craft! It's because of my upbringing, I'm sure of it. As an Edema Ruh, of course nobody at the University is going to listen to me, they're all hoity toity silk swaddled nincompoops who can't tell a tuber from a grain.

My plan is to flood the University with my beets! I'll get everyone around here hooked on them and the higher ups will have to pay attention to the purple wonders! I'll become a master of Agriculture and lead the industry to new heights! The problem is that I can't get anyone but you to buy my amazing products. I need a team, a distribution network, a real concerted effort to bring the campus around to my beets! So if you are willing, I'd love to get your help spreading the good word of Beetroots! Whaddya say Amila? Partners?"

Edited May 1, 2020 by Kynedath

[Elandera she/her]

3 hours ago, Burnt Spaghetti said:

It hadn't taken Bryn too long to find her classroom, well, it did, but she wasnt late so she wasn't going to mention the exact amount of time it took. She was on time, infact a minute or so early so therefore it didn't take as long as it could have. She settled down as a desk not too close to the front, not too close to the back and started pulling her things out of her bag and arranging them.  

"Hello,"

A voice startled her out of her focus on making things neat. She wasn't ocd or anything, just bored and finding something to do while waiting for class to start. She turned her head to see another student had taken the seat by her and was offering her hand.

"I’m Athdara Tolmach. You can call me Athy. What’s your name?

"Ah, hey! I'm Bryn, " she clasped the offered hand, oof thats a cold hand  "Bryn Aria, nice to meet you Athy! Found your way here easily enough then? I admit I walked into a few wrong classes before finding the right one. Mind you I was a tad tempted to stay in the class of namers to see if i can learn the name of fire to stay warm but that would take forever and that master is scary so I figured I better not haha"

3 hours ago, Karnage said:

Ditching the thought that he might be included with the musicians, he decided to quickly get to his first class. Impressing a (master/teacher) couldn't be too bad right? Not seeing any assigned seats he jumped into the one that called out to him. The desk that was both middle in the middle row and the middle column, the exact middle. That's exactly how he felt he was, the middle of the pack. "This is the year to fix that" he thought to himself. Hopefully, his ending at the school would be met with a celebration for his graduation instead of the Crockery and being humiliated in front of his family and all of the University.

After a little waiting with a few students sliding into desks into desks around the room, Lasko was attempting to find anything that he could about the other students based on where they sat. Interrupting his analysis a girl sat to the desk next to him saying, "Hello, I'm Athdara Tolmach. You can call me Athy. Whats your name?".

"Who, me? My name is Lasko Vietch, it's pretty cold outside isn't it?" he said noticing some snow left on her shoes. She must have come directly from outside to our class. Well, at least she was timely and nice.

@Elandera

"Nice to meet you both!" Athdara looked at each in turn, repeating their names in her head to help memorize who they were, starting with Lasko. "Definitely cold outside. I'm not quite used to this kind of winter. Where I'm from, it's mostly just mildly colder, but no snow. Snow is so pretty, isn't it? At least when it's not blizzarding."

Turning to Bryn, she said, "I found this class easily enough. I guess I just got lucky, since I didn't really find any directions anywhere. Do you think you'll start studying naming eventually? It sounds fascinating, but I think I'll stick to less dangerous pursuits. Like alchemy."

 

[Devotary of Spontaneity]

Back home, the arcane arts had been shunned. No individual would be willing to admit knowing the secrets of alchemy, much less sharing them to a young member of a noble family. Very few books and recipes had been available, all highly illegal, all incredibly expensive. Luckily, Vol hadn't needed to ask for the money required to procure such resources. Indulging their child's interests in Alchemy just once might have been enough to shut down that line of inquiry upon finding out firsthand how difficult the field was, but refusing ten year old Vol's request all those years ago had guaranteed a lifelong pursuit of Alchemical knowledge. At the time, the outward response had been the same smile and accepting nod of perfect obedience in response to all parental declarations, especially that as an only child, it would be necessary to marry and preserve the lineage. Up until then, Vol had assumed that this was just something people did. Looking up at two full adults treating the pursuit of knowledge as absurd and dangerous, Vol had made two private declarations. One: Nothing would prevent the uncovering of the secrets of Alchemy. Two: There would never be another member of this noble house, by blood, marriage, or title. Two years later there had been a third declaration, to renounce all given names in favour of Volatile, in honour of the first successfully created incendiary device, and to go by that name or its truncation exclusively until such time as a title signifying Alchemical knowledge could be earned. In the years that followed, Vol had never regretted any of these personal vows, and here at the University was the opportunity to fulfill the second part of the third declaration.

We've got votes on 12 people now, but with an estimated three of those going away we're still looking at a ~57% chance of someone accumulating 5 DP, with Lopen having a higher chance unless he's at the Golden Pony. Young Bard, @Young Bard, don't miss out on the cycle.

[DeTess she/her]

7 hours ago, xinoehp512 said:

Something I notice when looking at the vote count is that no one has used both of their votes except for me, which seems... interesting. Are people just used to casting one vote, I wonder?

I originally cast two, but since I was voting mostly for tuition reduction so far, only one vote was enough (and so there was no reason for me to vote twice). Is there a reason you think it'd be better to vote twice?

On other things, yeah, I'd missed that expelling the skindancers was a win-con, as I seemed to remember a fairly dangerous expelled skindancer in a previous game. Either way though, I don't think expelling reveals someone's alignment, so if you're suspicious of someone being a skindancer, it's best to start planning for a way to permanently eliminate them, both to get the alignment flip and to stop them from making use of Imre's facilities, such as the assassins.

I don't think there's too much more for me to add at this point. 

***

Evelyn was sitting in the stacks, surrounded by all manner of books on rhetoric, politics, economics, ethics and similar subjects as she did her research for her next pamphlet. There was just so much knowledge here to work with that she’d barely left the stacks for the last several days. Still, the archives could have been vetted better. There had been more than a few books that disagreed with her views, which meant that these books were not only useless to her, but wrong in general. She’s reported those books to the students keeping the place organized, of course, but they hadn’t appeared particularly thankful.

As she went through her study material, she suddenly found herself holding a book on alchemy. She was about to put it back, when she remembered why she’d come to the stacks in the first place.

‘Oh, right… that assignment…’

With a sigh, she put the notes for her pamphlet aside and grabbed some new paper to get to writing. It wouldn’t do to get in trouble with her teachers after all, she could barely make tuition and a place to stay as it was, due to the universities inequitable tuition system…

‘Come on, stay focused.’ She shook her head as she started working on her alchemy paper.

[Burnt Spaghetti she/her]

3 hours ago, Elandera said:

"Nice to meet you both!" Athdara looked at each in turn, repeating their names in her head to help memorize who they were, starting with Lasko. "Definitely cold outside. I'm not quite used to this kind of winter. Where I'm from, it's mostly just mildly colder, but no snow. Snow is so pretty, isn't it? At least when it's not blizzarding."

Turning to Bryn, she said, "I found this class easily enough. I guess I just got lucky, since I didn't really find any directions anywhere. Do you think you'll start studying naming eventually? It sounds fascinating, but I think I'll stick to less dangerous pursuits. Like alchemy."

 

"Hmm... Maybe later on I'll give it a go, but yeah, as you say, its fairly dangerous sounding. I feel like you have to be really ambitious and kinda crazy to pursue it. Its a tonne of power for someone to have, and I don't think i'm quite ready for that much responsibility" Bryn let out a nervous chuckle, her mind going through everything she knew about naming so far and how dangerous it could be. I gotta admit... it sure is tempting... the possibilities that would open to a naming student would be limitless. There would be so many things she could do with it. So many things. "I didn't come to university to learn that kind of power though, I came to learn how to use my money better and maybe pick up skills that can help me earn more in the future. It sure isn't interesting, and honestly quite headache inducing, but when you're a commoner without the biggest income, what can you do" she shrugged. Her eyes flickered across Athdara's garb briefly. "I'm sure you can appreciate having more money has its benefits. Maybe further down the road I may venture into another subject area that's much more interesting. What that might be I don't know. Kinda just going to see what sticks and what doesn't if i'm honest. I admire you going alchemy though. Gotta be pretty creative with a sharp mind for that! What got you interested in it, if I may ask?"

Edited May 1, 2020 by Burnt Spaghetti

[Haelbarde he/him]

10 hours ago, Elbereth said:

Elevation levels are not a secret. Fields are. Writeups will say something like "Queensteph, PK, Aonar, and Venture Mistborn were elevated!" - unless the elevation is to Master, in which case the writeup will say something like "Elbereth is now the Master Rhetorician!" (so there Hael ). 

I don't think I truly appreciated how invested in becoming Master Rhetorician you were...

8 hours ago, Elkanah said:

Also @Haelbarde, did you find a last name for your character?

I did not, but I think I shan't either. The wiki didn't have any examples of Ruh with last names, so I think it's probably appropriate to leave Seoras without one.

---

Well, I'm finally here with time to write a proper post.

I had intended to link my post on the financial hardships of the Ruh from LG33, but I think the other Ruh have already covered that quite well enough. If anything, the only thing I'd add would be to lean back the other way - complaints on Ruh hurt, both just the immediate tuition inflation from the complaint, and then further so by being brought on the horns. But all that means is to be mindful when placing votes on a Ruh. If you're only Complaining to get a tuition reduction, then please don't put a vote on a Ruh. However if you are suspicious of a player being a Skindancer, do not let them being Ruh stop you from putting a complaint on them. And don't let them guilt you out of it by playing the "Oh, but I'm so poor and barely scraping by... D:" card. 

I know others have already done vote tallies, but I like to keep track of the history of votes throughout a cycle, so I've done my on version:

Vote Tally
Elandera(1): DeTess{1}, Elkanah{1}
Devotary(1): DeTess{2}
Lumgol(1): Zillah{1}
Karnage(1): Straw{1}, Headshot{1}
Headshot(1): Karnage{1}
Rover(1): Xino{1]
Araris(1): Xino{2}
Straw(1): Elandera{1}
Coda(1): Lopen{1}
Lopen(2): Silberfarben{1}, Straw{2}
Exp(1): Rover{1}
Bard(1): Devotary{1}
Rathmaskal(1): Hael{1}

I need to reread thread to see if there were other things I wanted to respond to, but that'll come later, along with some attempts at RP. For the moment, I'll just finish by putting a tuition-decreasing poke complaint on Rathmaskal (@Rathmaskal) for not having posted yet.

[Elandera she/her]

48 minutes ago, Burnt Spaghetti said:

"Hmm... Maybe later on I'll give it a go, but yeah, as you say, its fairly dangerous sounding. I feel like you have to be really ambitious and kinda crazy to pursue it. Its a tonne of power for someone to have, and I don't think i'm quite ready for that much responsibility" Bryn let out a nervous chuckle, her mind going through everything she knew about naming so far and how dangerous it could be. I gotta admit... it sure is tempting... the possibilities that would open to a naming student would be limitless. There would be so many things she could do with it. So many things. "I didn't come to university to learn that kind of power though, I came to learn how to use my money better and maybe pick up skills that can help me earn more in the future. It sure isn't interesting, and honestly quite headache inducing, but when you're a commoner without the biggest income, what can you do" she shrugged. Her eyes flickered across Athdara's garb briefly. "I'm sure you can appreciate having more money has its benefits. Maybe further down the road I may venture into another subject area that's much more interesting. What that might be I don't know. Kinda just going to see what sticks and what doesn't if i'm honest. I admire you going alchemy though. Gotta be pretty creative with a sharp mind for that! What got you interested in it, if I may ask?"

Athdara was pleasantly surprised by how much Bryn talked - it was similar to how her sister talked when she was excited or nervous.

"My mom studied alchemy when she studied here, and her work always fascinated me. She didn't teach me much, though. Said I was too young. But now's my chance. And if that doesn't work out, I'll probably try something in arithmatics or maybe in physicking. At least when we start, they give us plenty of variety. Oh, have you been to Imre yet? I've heard so much about it from my mom."

[Karnage]

7 hours ago, Burnt Spaghetti said:

Now that Bryns attention was already away from arranging her books, she also noticed the person sitting on the other side of Athy. As Athy extended a greeting to her other neighbour, Bryn leaned forward to give them a wave as well. "And I'm Bryn, hi!

"Hello Bryn, my name is Lasko Vietch" feeling suddenly tired he decided to just listen to some of their conversation for a bit while he rested. . 

 

1 hour ago, Elandera said:

Athdara was pleasantly surprised by how much Bryn talked - it was similar to how her sister talked when she was excited or nervous.

"My mom studied alchemy when she studied here, and her work always fascinated me. She didn't teach me much, though. Said I was too young. But now's my chance. And if that doesn't work out, I'll probably try something in arithmatics or maybe in physicking. At least when we start, they give us plenty of variety. Oh, have you been to Imre yet? I've heard so much about it from my mom."

Bryn did seem excited about something. There is something about starting a new school year that is both terrifying and exciting at the same time. The terrifying part being especially relevant, this year having so many rumors about Skindancers dancing through the school. Alchemy? Naming? Too much mysticism, he would stay to the less arcane arts. 

Athdara turned to Bryn and asked "Oh, have you been to Imre yet? I've heard so much about it from my mom.". Lasko decided to enter the conversation, lifting his head from the desk. "I have not, it sounds kind of dangerous in a back alley way. My parents didn't talk much about it, they just talked mainly about the schooling part of the University. How about you, have you heard much about Imre, is it as dangerous as I think it may be?". Lasko said hoping that is didn't sound too much like he was butting in. These two students seemed nice though. I wonder what Bryn's history with the school might be? Lasko noticed how Athdara has taken out her books, while his classmate answered he decided to take out his books as well, organizing them by relevance, he then took out his (quills/pencils/writing/utensils) and organized them is agonizing temperment on the very edge of the table. "Just for a challenge" he though to himself.

@Elandera

@Burnt Spaghetti

Edited May 1, 2020 by Karnage

[Elandera she/her]

25 minutes ago, Karnage said:

"I have not, it sounds kind of dangerous in a back alley way. My parents didn't talk much about it, they just talked mainly about the schooling part of the University. How about you, have you heard much about Imre, is it as dangerous as I think it may be?"

"Oh, she definitely told me to be careful at night." Athdara turned toward Lasko again. This was exciting. It was the first day of term and she was already making new friends. "But there's this place I want to visit. They're supposed to host some of the best musicians alive there. I do love music. Besides, I bet it's nice to get away from all the school stresses once in a while. I know I would need some time off. Maybe we could all go together sometime. So, what do you want to study here? You seem pretty organized. I bet something like rhetoric or linguistics."

[Straw he/him]

I will change my vote from Lopen to Burnt Spaghetti. I'm doing this to further spread out the votes.

@Haelbarde I believe your vote count is missing Coda's vote on Walin.

Currently, we have a vote on every noble. We still need votes on these commoners: DeTess, Xinoehp, Lord Silberfarben, Zillah, Sart, Stink.

Some thoughts on the Edema Ruh:

Edema Ruh are in a lot of trouble. A few complaints and/or being taken on the horns can essentially cripple their ability to attend the university. If an Edema Ruh completes the basic activity checks and bunks in Mews, they’ll end up with a net loss of two talents, nine jots, and three drabs. In order to break even, an Edema Ruh would have to make six RP posts. A Ruh could theoretically make a lot of game discussion posts instead, but they’d have to make ten game discussion posts to equal just one RP post. Ruh also have better odds at the Loaded Dice, but they’re barely scraping by, so they probably won’t want to risk it. The best option for Ruh is to try for the talent pipes as soon as they think they can win them.

Something that I just thought of is that for Edema Ruh (and commoners to some extent) who are planning on going into any field that causes insanity, the streets might actually be preferable to Mews. Without any field insanity bonus, the chance of going insane while staying in Mews is the same as the odds of getting killed on the streets. With the field insanity bonus, Mews starts getting more and more dangerous. 

[Coffeecat she/her]

32 minutes ago, Elandera said:

"Oh, she definitely told me to be careful at night." Athdara turned toward Lasko again. This was exciting. It was the first day of term and she was already making new friends. "But there's this place I want to visit. They're supposed to host some of the best musicians alive there. I do love music. Besides, I bet it's nice to get away from all the school stresses once in a while. I know I would need some time off. Maybe we could all go together sometime. So, what do you want to study here? You seem pretty organized. I bet something like rhetoric or linguistics."

Hey, I think I can do two RPs at a time, being at two different times. maybe?

Also sorry if I'm intruding, but that's just my character, feel free to dislike him, he is a prick and strife makes for better RP

Hmm, Who could have thought his first class would be so…

dull.

The teacher was saying something important, that was for sure. The problem was that he didn’t even know what class he was in at the moment. The teacher was saying something about numbers, so perhaps it was arithmetics. He certainly hoped so. But perhaps it was alchemy, didn’t alchemy require numbers too?

Perhaps it did. It would be good to know, it was a possible study path.

A more pressing path now was the one leading to any place where he could eat. He wondered if he would have to buy his own food. He hoped not. Perhaps if he made his own meal, and helped the cooks, he could get some extra money.

It was useless to try to pay attention to the person speaking at the front, he really hoped he had just entered the wrong class and that not all days would be like this.

 

The conversation happening at his back was interesting still. More interesting than whatever the teacher was muttering about anyway.

 

He turned around towards the students behind him. They were discussing their studies, and that was a topic of interest for lord.

 

“Hey,” he said when one paused for a breath, “I’m Lord Silberfarben”

“What class are we studying right now?”

 

 

[STINK he/him]

Ugfal was very lost, both figuratively and literally though he doesn't know the difference between the two. On one hand, he'd somehow ended up at this University or whatever it's called, but on the other hand he had no academic ability or foresight whatsoever. On the third hand, Ugfal knew he was special thanks to his parents always reaffirming that at any time in his life. 

He could sense that there was quite a bit of discussion going on right now (seriously people, 4 pages how on earth am I meant to read all of that) but he was unsure how, which lead to the typical conclusion of Ugfal that it must be related to his mystical third hand, of which it's powers are limitless and confusing to all including said third hand, which if it sounds confusing then it just merely proves his point. 

What time was it? Continuity-wise, Ugfal can still be considered very lost. It's truly a feat that he even managed to make it here, considering its a struggle to even attempt to make a list consisting of what Ugfal is confident in. But surely this is the place for that list to be made bigger and better than ever! If he could just figure out what it being better would even look like, or consist of, or yada yada you get the point by now I'm sure.

Ugfal is similarly confused at who keeps talking about him in the third person and if he can just be left alone for a while. Seriously, who is that? Oh, it's me. Fair enough.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh look it's not Ugfal but Stink and you can tell that because I just said that and this isn't going to be a really weird meta-RP or anything I can swear on that. But the RP won't ever lie, I did not expect to be opening up 4 pages of some big posts and like I've got some stuff to be doing I like just woke up and gotta hit my daily goals before getting back to this and maybe PMing everyone but I remember a thing about PMing everyone being punished by tuition or something like that so maybe I shouldn't and wow this sentence is really turning into a run-on one but let's keep it going so anyway whats with food on planes?

Apologies for that paragraph, but I stand by it.

So what's the deal with University food?

Apologies for that sentence.

So I think I'm gonna have to like maybe do my own thing thread-wise for now 'cause I aint going back but if people quote me or @ me I'll definitely be able to read it and probably respond but I can't imagine anyone wanting to do something like that but it's out there and fun fact when you put in the @ it just keeps trying to load people's names for like a good 5 seconds or something before giving up (this is when it gave up looking for a person).

So what's the deal with all this activity?

[Hemalurgic Headshot he/him]

The University stands as a monument to learning, as any educational institution should. It represents generations of academic tradition and excellence, infused with the ancient stone like a marinade in chicken. As silent as gravestones among the snowdrifts, the buildings of the University were truly an impressive sight.

A sight that Onur only briefly gazed upon. He was cold; a breeze had picked up on his way over and his coat didn't have a collar ridiculously high enough to protect his ears. As he speed-walked through the campus, anxious to find some warmth, he realized that he did not have a destination in mind. He had made it to the University (check), but now what? He glanced about and saw a few students briskly walking across the way to a building. Perhaps their next class? Onur wondered. It seemed as good an idea as any to tag along, so he raced off in their direction.

Onur reached the door just as it was swinging shut behind the students. He squeezed through with a swirl of snowflakes and relaxed in the fresh warmth of the interior. After a pleasant second, he looked around and spotted the students disappearing around a corner. They hadn't noticed his intrusion.

Now alone, Onur was beset with indecision. Should he follow them? He could possibly make some new friends. He did like the sound of that, but he also couldn't remember enough of about himself to make small talk. He dug through his pockets and pulled out a random paper. 3 bass, 2 perch. Fish... Onur was pretty sure those were fish--or instruments. Maybe he was a musician? Or a recreational fisherman. Both? He stuffed the slip of paper back into his pocket and followed the students.

[Burnt Spaghetti she/her]

Spoiler

 

3 hours ago, Elandera said:

Athdara was pleasantly surprised by how much Bryn talked - it was similar to how her sister talked when she was excited or nervous.

"My mom studied alchemy when she studied here, and her work always fascinated me. She didn't teach me much, though. Said I was too young. But now's my chance. And if that doesn't work out, I'll probably try something in arithmatics or maybe in physicking. At least when we start, they give us plenty of variety. Oh, have you been to Imre yet? I've heard so much about it from my mom."

1 hour ago, Karnage said:

"Hello Bryn, my name is Lasko Vietch" feeling suddenly tired he decided to just listen to some of their conversation for a bit while he rested. . 

 

Bryn did seem excited about something. There is something about starting a new school year that is both terrifying and exciting at the same time. The terrifying part being especially relevant, this year having so many rumors about Skindancers dancing through the school. Alchemy? Naming? Too much mysticism, he would stay to the less arcane arts. 

Athdara turned to Bryn and asked "Oh, have you been to Imre yet? I've heard so much about it from my mom.". Lasko decided to enter the conversation, lifting his head from the desk. "I have not, it sounds kind of dangerous in a back alley way. My parents didn't talk much about it, they just talked mainly about the schooling part of the University. How about you, have you heard much about Imre, is it as dangerous as I think it may be?". Lasko said hoping that is didn't sound too much like he was butting in. These two students seemed nice though. I wonder what Bryn's history with the school might be? Lasko noticed how Athdara has taken out her books, while his classmate answered he decided to take out his books as well, organizing them by relevance, he then took out his (quills/pencils/writing/utensils) and organized them is agonizing temperment on the very edge of the table. "Just for a challenge" he though to himself.

@Elandera

@Burnt Spaghetti

1 hour ago, Elandera said:

"Oh, she definitely told me to be careful at night." Athdara turned toward Lasko again. This was exciting. It was the first day of term and she was already making new friends. "But there's this place I want to visit. They're supposed to host some of the best musicians alive there. I do love music. Besides, I bet it's nice to get away from all the school stresses once in a while. I know I would need some time off. Maybe we could all go together sometime. So, what do you want to study here? You seem pretty organized. I bet something like rhetoric or linguistics."

4 minutes ago, Lord_Silberfarben said:

Hey, I think I can do two RPs at a time, being at two different times. maybe?

Also sorry if I'm intruding, but that's just my character, feel free to dislike him, he is a prick and strife makes for better RP

Hmm, Who could have thought his first class would be so…

dull.

The teacher was saying something important, that was for sure. The problem was that he didn’t even know what class he was in at the moment. The teacher was saying something about numbers, so perhaps it was arithmetics. He certainly hoped so. But perhaps it was alchemy, didn’t alchemy require numbers too?

Perhaps it did. It would be good to know, it was a possible study path.

A more pressing path now was the one leading to any place where he could eat. He wondered if he would have to buy his own food. He hoped not. Perhaps if he made his own meal, and helped the cooks, he could get some extra money.

It was useless to try to pay attention to the person speaking at the front, he really hoped he had just entered the wrong class and that not all days would be like this.

 

The conversation happening at his back was interesting still. More interesting than whatever the teacher was muttering about anyway.

 

He turned around towards the students behind him. They were discussing their studies, and that was a topic of interest for lord.

 

“Hey,” he said when one paused for a breath, “I’m Lord Silberfarben”

“What class are we studying right now?”

 

 

 

Not intruding at all! welcome to the group chat xD And honestly now there's a fourth member in this general chat it might make it easier for use to be able to split into pairs for less of a 3-way rp that has potential for being difficult to juggle.

Bryn had taken a peek into the Imre when she first arrived, curious to get to know the general area. As they had said, it wasn't exactly the safest of areas, but is anywhere truly safe? It was a pretty interesting place though, and she honestly looked forward to going back to spend more time there. She didn't exactly have spare change to spend at markets, but she had her hopes that maybe she could pick up some extra coin by other means there. "Oh the Eolian's definitely worth the visit! I'm hoping that they'll allow me to play a little there myself, nothing special- I'm not that good, but having a go performing there at least once would be incredible I think, even if it goes terribly wrong."

They moved on to now be discussing Lasko's studies, and as they did, one of the students sitting in front of them swiveled around. Initially Bryn worried that they might be some sort ofavid academic telling them to be quiet so he could focus on the class. Much to her relief that was not the case!

"Hey, I'm Lord Silberfarben. What class are we studying right now?"

Bryn raised an eyebrow a cheeky smirk on her face "Lord eh? In that case i'm Madame Aria, first name Bryn, it's a pleasure. And if I may be quite frank, I got no clue whatsoever! If i'm honest i've not been paying any attention at all to what they're ramblin' on about, but I think this is meant to be some intro class that everyone has to do? Like one of those classes where they tell you about all the policies and rules, and the amount of similarity in your work compared to others it takes before you get in trouble for copying, how to understand the room numbers and scheduling, financial advice, all that. Though really coulda used the how to understand what room is where thing in a pamphlet before hand or something. (I may have gotten lost trying to find this room)" she said the last bit sheepishly.  "What were you hoping it might be?"

------------------------------------------------------------

 

41 minutes ago, Straw said:

I will change my vote from Lopen to Burnt Spaghetti. I'm doing this to further spread out the votes.

@Haelbarde I believe your vote count is missing Coda's vote on Walin.

Currently, we have a vote on every noble. We still need votes on these commoners: DeTess, Xinoehp, Lord Silberfarben, Zillah, Sart, Stink.

Some thoughts on the Edema Ruh:

Edema Ruh are in a lot of trouble. A few complaints and/or being taken on the horns can essentially cripple their ability to attend the university. If an Edema Ruh completes the basic activity checks and bunks in Mews, they’ll end up with a net loss of two talents, nine jots, and three drabs. In order to break even, an Edema Ruh would have to make six RP posts. A Ruh could theoretically make a lot of game discussion posts instead, but they’d have to make ten game discussion posts to equal just one RP post. Ruh also have better odds at the Loaded Dice, but they’re barely scraping by, so they probably won’t want to risk it. The best option for Ruh is to try for the talent pipes as soon as they think they can win them.

Something that I just thought of is that for Edema Ruh (and commoners to some extent) who are planning on going into any field that causes insanity, the streets might actually be preferable to Mews. Without any field insanity bonus, the chance of going insane while staying in Mews is the same as the odds of getting killed on the streets. With the field insanity bonus, Mews starts getting more and more dangerous. 

 

Ah right, voting, I should do that. In that case i'll put mine on DeTess, just sharing it around <3

Adding on to the whole living on the streets thing, broke people (edema's and commoners with less than 6 talents) have lower death chances compared to the nobles so something to keep in mind

 

[Straw he/him]

19 minutes ago, STINK said:

Oh look it's not Ugfal but Stink and you can tell that because I just said that and this isn't going to be a really weird meta-RP or anything I can swear on that. But the RP won't ever lie, I did not expect to be opening up 4 pages of some big posts and like I've got some stuff to be doing I like just woke up and gotta hit my daily goals before getting back to this and maybe PMing everyone but I remember a thing about PMing everyone being punished by tuition or something like that so maybe I shouldn't and wow this sentence is really turning into a run-on one but let's keep it going so anyway whats with food on planes?

There are some fairly brutal penalties for PMing too much. You can get up to four talents of tuition inflation. El and Wilson really don't like people PMing a lot I guess. 

BTW @Elbereth / @little wilson, is "participation" word count or post count?

If it's the first, the PM limit should be fairly easy to handle, as you only start getting hit with penalties when 75% of your participation is in PMs.

27 minutes ago, STINK said:

So what's the deal with all this activity?

I believe that the activity is for several reasons. First of all, Fifth's game is just waiting for the aftermath, so nobody is playing any other game at the moment and can afford to only focus on this game. Secondly, the current pandemic means that a lot of us have significantly more free time on our hands, and can afford to spend more time on this game. Finally, there are tuition reductions for activity, which means that people want to be active so they can get more money. The ruleset is also quite long, so we have plenty of things to discuss at the moment. Another factor is that there are significantly more players in this game than there have been in the last few SE games. 

9 minutes ago, Burnt Spaghetti said:

Adding on to the whole living on the streets thing, broke people (edema's and commoners with less than 6 talents) have lower death chances compared to the nobles so something to keep in mind

Yeah, that's my point. 

In my opinion, insanity is only a little bit worse than death, as for someone who knows less than five names, it'd take an average of 14 turns to break out.

[Elbereth she/her]

6 minutes ago, Straw said:

BTW @Elbereth / @little wilson, is "participation" word count or post count?

Post count. Sorry, we’re not going to total up every single person’s word count in the thread and in all their PMs.  

As a reminder, the turn ends in 4 hours! Get your final whatevers in! 

[Karnage]

"Oh, she definitely told me to be careful at night." Athdara turned toward Lasko again. This was exciting. It was the first day of term and she was already making new friends. "But there's this place I want to visit. They're supposed to host some of the best musicians alive there. I do love music. Besides, I bet it's nice to get away from all the school stresses once in a while. I know I would need some time off. Maybe we could all go together sometime. So, what do you want to study here? You seem pretty organized. I bet something like rhetoric or linguistics."

Just as he was about to answer Athdara's question a student swung around right in front of Bryn's seat. Curious I wonder what he wants... He whispered something to the three of them (Bryn, Athdara, Lasko) but Lasko couldn't here what he said. Lasko would have to talk to him later. Perhaps after class. Then he saw Bryn say something back. Yes, that looks interesting. 

Focusing back on Athdara's question, Hmmm, Linquistics sounds interesting, but not Rhetoric, though both would be more interesting than studying Arithmetics. "Well, I was planning on only studying Arithmetics, but now that you mention Linguistics, that also sounds intriguing.". Maybe he could double major? "Hmmm, do you know of any fun things to do here? I was think that I might join a club or something I dunno. Also, we should head to Imre sometime, maybe spend sometime checking it out. We could invite that guy over there talking to Bryn." I probably out to listen to the introduction, I need to know how to do stuff, but maybe making friends is more important for him at the beginning of the school year though.

---

Now for voting..... Sart sounds like a good name for sharing the voting around. I am not sure if he has spoken up yet. @Sart

[Rathmaskal he/him]

Sorry for the relative inactivity this cycle.  Had an unexpected amount of work pile up on me the past couple days.

~~

Oh wow, heck of a lot to catch up on.  Trying to get a feel for this action spreadsheet first off. (Whew, just read through Elbereth's post on page 3...very helpful, thanks!)

Other than that, was concerned when I first got my 'commoner' designation.  Glad to see it isn't as bad as I expected it to be.

This game definitely has a fun way to encourage activity.

I guess I'll throw a complaint at xino here.

[Burnt Spaghetti she/her]

49 minutes ago, STINK said:

So what's the deal with all this activity?

What straw said  In my case its definitely to do with reducing that tuition, fun, and so my post:pm ratio means that I now have almost 30 pms to pm before I start having ratio issues   (not that i've made good use of that at all, but feels like there's not enough cycle left for that to be worth it) Post 7 times in a cycle and you'll be able to pm everyone once without inflation!

[Haelbarde he/him]

1 hour ago, Straw said:

I will change my vote from Lopen to Burnt Spaghetti. I'm doing this to further spread out the votes.

@Haelbarde I believe your vote count is missing Coda's vote on Walin.

Currently, we have a vote on every noble. We still need votes on these commoners: DeTess, Xinoehp, Lord Silberfarben, Zillah, Sart, Stink.

Some thoughts on the Edema Ruh:

Edema Ruh are in a lot of trouble. A few complaints and/or being taken on the horns can essentially cripple their ability to attend the university. If an Edema Ruh completes the basic activity checks and bunks in Mews, they’ll end up with a net loss of two talents, nine jots, and three drabs. In order to break even, an Edema Ruh would have to make six RP posts. A Ruh could theoretically make a lot of game discussion posts instead, but they’d have to make ten game discussion posts to equal just one RP post. Ruh also have better odds at the Loaded Dice, but they’re barely scraping by, so they probably won’t want to risk it. The best option for Ruh is to try for the talent pipes as soon as they think they can win them.

Something that I just thought of is that for Edema Ruh (and commoners to some extent) who are planning on going into any field that causes insanity, the streets might actually be preferable to Mews. Without any field insanity bonus, the chance of going insane while staying in Mews is the same as the odds of getting killed on the streets. With the field insanity bonus, Mews starts getting more and more dangerous. 

Thanks for pointing that out.

Updated tally (including your vote):

Vote Tally
Elandera(1): DeTess{1}, Elkanah{1}
Devotary(1): DeTess{2}
Lumgol(1): Zillah{1}
Karnage(1): Straw{1}, Headshot{1}
Headshot(1): Karnage{1}
Rover(1): Xino{1]
Araris(1): Xino{2}
Straw(1): Elandera{1}
Coda(1): Lopen{1}
Lopen(2): Silberfarben{1}, Straw{2}
Walin(1): Coda{1}
Exp(1): Rover{1}
Bard(1): Devotary{1}
Rathmaskal(1): Hael{1}
Burnt(1): Straw{3}
DaTess(1): Burnt{1}
Sart(1): Karnage{2}
Xino(1): Rathmaskal{1}

---

Building on Straw's comment about Ruh - I was a Ruh last game. I moved to the Mews for Term 2, and at the end of month 1 of Term 2 I went insane. But equally keep in mind that going insane still leaves you with a (tiny) chance of breaking out of the crockery and returning to the game. Getting unlucky on the streets is just being dead.

---

Seoras, wearing his best raggedy coat, wound his way toward the university. It was not exactly hard to find. He'd found his way there the week before to enrol. The hard part had been talking his way in, securing a place among the soon to start cohort of students. It wouldn't surprise him to having sweet talk his way back in again this morning. This time, he wouldn't even have the coin he'd paid to enrol to back up his claims. Fortune favoured him however. There were enough other new students trecking through the snow in coats of varying degrees of newness for him to fade into the crowd and walk in as one among many, just another set of wide eyes hoping for knowledge or power to take back home.

He heard the sounds of music, notes of a voice ringing out in the distance accompanied by a flute of some kind. He smiled. He knew he'd have time for music later. For now, he needed to orient himself and sift fact from fiction from the tales he had heard of this place. After all, one particular tale had insisted the school featured a tower that reached so far into the sky that it's peak was lost in the clouds. Seoras could already see the tops of all the towers in sight - that was one tale for the fiction column. 

Watching the movment of the other students, he noticed a notice near the pathway to an introductory session of sorts. Pulled that way by current of students, it seem as good a place as any to begin this journey.

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Maern snuck a quick glance at the other students of the lecture hall. Most were writing furiously, although a few appeared to be done. He quickly turned back to his work.

School this first two weeks had been... not hard, exactly, but overwhelming. So many of the other students had already been here for multiple terms, and knew their way around. He... didn't. He barely knew anything, in fact. Why, he'd nearly gotten swindled by a dishonest Archives worker! That had bothered him more than he really cared to admit.

He sighed as he finished up his work and leaned back in his seat. What was he going to do? He could hardly go home- not now. He'd started this journey, so he might as well finish it, right? He just needed to get used to being at University. He had another two weeks before the term ended, after all. Perhaps by that time he'd have gained enough experience to truly feel ready for what the University had to throw at him.

Of course, at that point he might have already been raised into the Arcanum- and that would be a whole different can of worms. Best not to worry about that now, not when he had so much to worry about already.

-----

It seems that people have beat me to the probability punch.  Perhaps I can still contribute...?

According to my calculations, as things currently stand (ten votes on nobles, four on commoners) each person not staying at the Golden Pony has a 44.5 percent chance of getting On the Horns. This percentage is composed of a 23 percent chance that the person will get their charges dropped, 13 percent chance of getting charged with Undignified Mischief (apology), 6 percent chance of getting charged with Reckless Use of Sympathy (lashings), 1.8 chance of getting charged with Conduct Unbecoming a Member of the Arcanum (lashings) and a 0.1 percent chance of getting charged with Conduct Unbecoming a Member of the Arcanum (expulsion).

In total, each individual person only has a 7.9 percent chance of having something happening that affects them gameplay-wise. I don't have time to calculate what the chance is that any particular punishment might fall to anyone, unfortunately; luckily, the way things appear doesn't look too bad.

I'm glad that so much activity is going on in this game, even if it means it could be hard to keep up.  A lot of time I fall behind; I'll try my best this time to stay on top of things. (I do have motivation- I'm going to need quite a bit of tuition reduction if I want to afford my current lodgings!)

[Experience he/him]

Well, I'm finally here. I don't really have much to say that hasn't been said yet, and I don't really have very much time to post right now. Just something to throw out there, because I'm not really sure: Is it better for the student to say what field of study they are going into, or would that help the skindancers more? I'm guessing that the skindancers are going to try to become masters of certain fields, and not spread their EP around, so we probably need to do that as well in order to stop them. I also think that there is probably at least one noble, commoner, and one Edema Ruh that are skindancers, probably more because of the number of players. I personaly think that it is best to try and figure out who the noble skindancer(s) is because the student nobles are going to be able to help us the most with their funds. I'll have more next cycle, and it seems like this game requires a lot more activity, but for now I'm going to put a vote on Araris for now, because they are noble, and haven't really talked that much. I realize that I have also not been very active, and am sorry for that, but I will try to post more in the future.

~~

Shard made his way towards the university, excited to start a new life. As he wound his way, he took in the sights and scents of the streets. Turning another corner, he stopped abruptly. In front of him stood the university, a giant of a building. Shard realized he was gaping, and began to walk again. It was so much... bigger then he had imagined. He had lived in a small house for most of his life with a large family, never having enough room or time. He wouldn't ever have to get up before dawn to start work on the farm. He would have all the time in the world to study, and more room then anyone ever needed. 

Shard walked through the doors of the university, and followed a group of students who were making their way down one of many passages. He quickly lost interest, and wandered through the hallways, trying to decide what to do. He chose turns at random and tried to figure out what happened in different rooms. Eventually, he made his way to his rooms and was again amazed at how much space he had to himself. He crashed down on the bed, and his mind drifted off to dreams of everything he would be able to do in his new life.