Anniversary Game 7/Anonymous Game 9: From Embers, A Flame

[Plum Rhinoceros]

Journal of Solemnheart, Day Four Post-Illumination, Taldain

Aldonalsium is dead.

I never thought such a sentence would invoke such a... reaction. Aldonalsium was... God. Unknowable, uncontainable, unkillable.

But they are dead all the same. Not "dead" as in having never truly existed, but killed. Shattered into components known as Shards, with infinite power but limited capability. I had heard of Odium and the terror he invoked in the hearts of men, but those three words give me much, much more. I should have asked about Odium's origins much sooner.

I suppose if Aldonalsium can be killed, they never were the final answer to the question of life. Already there is talk of the God Beyond; one, or three, omnipotent beings that will never walk among us after we killed their envoy.

But I digress. The powers of the Shards are all quite equal (or as equal as infinities can be), save for the four that were Splintered by Odium. Their Intents, however, shape that power in different ways, allowing them to apply the power themselves or Invest a different form in others. Splintered Shards are broken to the point where they can only grant others power. Odium seeks the eventual destruction of all who will not bow to him, and most Shards will oppose this - with the exception of three, who have their own goals to fulfil.

I will attempt to write about each Shard in time, as the poet Hyena has done prior. I also wish to get more involved in the discussion of identies of these Champions, as one has evidently been already discovered.

However, while Taldain limits my ability to regulate my sleep, I sense its need approaching. I will tackle these projects at a later date.

Edited December 31, 2020 by Plum Rhinoceros
We do not actually know Ado's gender

[Chartreuse Penguin]

I will attempt to write if Odium and the terror he invoked in the hearts of men can be killed,  such a... reaction. 

But I digress. soy sauce is a veritable godsend.

[Violet Axolotl]

Spoiler

 

If I die, one or both of Indigo Weasel and Mint Heron are likely of Odium.

If I am attacked, but survive, both Indigo Weasel and Mint Heron are likely not of Odium.

If I am not attacked at all both Indigo Weasel and Mint Heron could be either, but are more likely to not be of Odium.

If I survive rollover I'll explain why, but if you've been following along it should be decently clear. This is my precaution to help the good in case of my demise, though of course I'd also recommend looking at Turquoise Gorilla and Taupe Gecko, but only Gecko if Heron is good, and vice versa. I trust Kangaroo.

Yelling this at the last second so Odium and investee can't change their targets in response.

 

^Ignore that. Please ignore that... mistake... nothing in that matters now...

Edited December 31, 2020 by Violet Axolotl

[Amber Vulture]

So, Crocodile was dead. Unfortunately, it seemed to be some kind of an alias for a person, not an actual crocodile Mendra could cook. A shame. Still, apparently they were actually an supporter of this Odium fellow or something, so Mendra supposed it was good that they were stopped.

Even so, it was now night, and Mendra still lacked her ingredient from Scadrial. Night had fallen, and she'd already made arrangements to leave Scadrial with the dawn, so she didn't have much time left. She went back to the tent she'd noticed earlier, only to find it packed up like most of the other stalls. Storms.

She passed two others - she vaguely recognised them from the mob earlier that day, talking about... soy sauce?

Mendra paused. Soy sauce was hardly the most exotic ingredient. Still, she needed to move on.

"Excuse me, but neither of you happen to have some of that soy sauce on you, do you?"

---

When dawn came, she was ready to go, a bottle of soy sauce in her backpack. It wasn't exactly what she'd had in mind, but nothing ever was. She had many more planets to visit before her journey would be done, and many more opportunities to find the exotic ingredients she was searching for. Despite her failure here, she felt optimistic for the future of her quest.  Queue Mendra's death scene...

---

In case it's not obvious, I am actually on Scadrial right now (there are two others with me), and I intend on moving to a different planet each cycle for RP reasons. I'd intended to have more substansive RP this cycle, but I ran out of time, and Mendra won't complete her quest if she doesn't move on, sorry. (I mean, she probably won't complete her quest anyway, depending on her survival and my patience, but I want to give her a fighting chance.)

I strongly suspect the extra vote on Kangaroo to be the work of the Elims for obvious reasons, so I'll be keeping an especially careful eye on vote manipulations in future turns to try and figure out who the Elims are trying to save and why. The last minute shifts away from Crocodile also look particularly suspicious now that Croc's flipped, but I'll do a more thorough analysis of that next cycle so I get this out on time. To be honest, Crocodile nearly convinced me they were genuine with their response, so I'm very glad I wasn't on to remove my vote last minute.

[Ivory Dragonfly]

Fun fact people...

 

Night cycles are like 48hrs long in this game.

so uh. Yeah.

[Violet Axolotl]

1 minute ago, Ivory Dragonfly said:

Fun fact people...

 

Night cycles are like 48hrs long in this game.

so uh. Yeah.

Brilliant.

Just brilliant.

Edit: I don't suppose I can hide that post and repost it tomorrow? 

Edited December 31, 2020 by Violet Axolotl

[Amber Vulture]

4 minutes ago, Ivory Dragonfly said:

Fun fact people...

 

Night cycles are like 48hrs long in this game.

so uh. Yeah.

...Wait, really? Oops. OK, I need to do some actual analysis this turn, then.

Edited December 31, 2020 by Amber Vulture

[Azure Mouse]

6 minutes ago, Violet Axolotl said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

If I die, one or both of Indigo Weasel and Mint Heron are likely of Odium.

If I am attacked, but survive, both Indigo Weasel and Mint Heron are likely not of Odium.

If I am not attacked at all both Indigo Weasel and Mint Heron could be either, but are more likely to not be of Odium.

If I survive rollover I'll explain why, but if you've been following along it should be decently clear. This is my precaution to help the good in case of my demise, though of course I'd also recommend looking at Turquoise Gorilla and Taupe Gecko, but only Gecko if Heron is good, and vice versa. I trust Kangaroo.

Yelling this at the last second so Odium and investee can't change their targets in response.

 

^Ignore that. Please ignore that... mistake... nothing in that matters now...

[OOC: So, uh, do you want us to completely ignore it, or only start doing it after the Night  ]

[Violet Axolotl]

Just now, Azure Mouse said:

[OOC: So, uh, do you want us to completely ignore it, or only start doing it after the Night  ]

Ignore it until Day. It was meant to be posted in case I died, as a 'here's what might have happened' but now probably is useless anyway because Odium & Co. likely aren't going to ignore it like I ask. So it's meant to be seen tomorrow, but it won't be as useful as it might have been.

[Ivory Dragonfly]

3 minutes ago, Violet Axolotl said:

Brilliant.

Just brilliant.

Good job lol, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. So now begins the game of ikyk?

3 minutes ago, Amber Vulture said:

...Wait, really. Oops. OK, I need to do some actual analysis this turn, then.

You know what? Same.

[Onyx Flamingo]

oh this isn’t over yet?? well that’s surprising!! what can we even talk about for another 24 hours???

[Chartreuse Penguin]

can we even talk

[Ivory Dragonfly]

22 hours ago, little wilson said:

This turn will end in roughly 46 hours, on January 1st at 8 am MST. Get your orders in!

 

10 minutes ago, Chartreuse Penguin said:

can we even talk

 

Yes. 22hrs ago we were told we have 46 hours. You can talk for another 24 hours. Go crazy. Cycle is not over. The night is long. Still would recommend having actions in, lest you forget when the clock hits 0.

Of course, I cannot comment on your ability to vocalise, so if your question is more around the potential for the group of us to communicate and discuss, that will depend greatly on the motives and thoughts of you and those around you.

Trust me, if cycle was actually over, and we were not to speak, a gm would have yelled at us by now  At least, I would certainly hope so because otherwise, that would mean they'd all overslept with a severe oversight.

 

 

[Elbereth]

1 hour ago, Ivory Dragonfly said:

Fun fact people...

 

Night cycles are like 48hrs long in this game.

so uh. Yeah.

 

1 hour ago, Amber Vulture said:

...Wait, really? Oops. OK, I need to do some actual analysis this turn, then.

 

1 hour ago, Onyx Flamingo said:

oh this isn’t over yet?? well that’s surprising!! what can we even talk about for another 24 hours???

Y’all. The OP was like twelve lines long before the writeup went in. And this is in the rules. Reading shouldn’t be this hard.  

[Sapphire Elephant]

20 hours ago, Charcoal Hyena said:

The Elephant let go of the Crocodile in a drunken stupor
And snatched up the Flamingo with its trunk.
No reason offered, none proffered
Of which I find this slightly y of funk.

"hey hey, no reashuns offerud? didchya read ma poshht? i thought im s'posed ta be the drunk one!"

Quote

ive seen sooooooooo many votes with no proper reashuns?? hecking heck? shure its da fursht day, but moshht of them dont even make no sense! like someone jusht voted for iguana who has shpoken like twice? hol on lemme jusht go check all dem votes."
"thats been done, heres a few. mistah schorpion jushht poken dingo. dingo shpoke sumthin. mistah schorpio jushht retracted? then didnt add anythin to the convo? when main votingsa happenin? mouse pokes iguana, fair enough early in the day, then reiterated theyd vote for iguana? makes no sense ta me. compels me though. then of course theres da dodgy posht i menshund earlia bout albatroaz. dees da peepal, when i look at them, i see a biiiiig O shape. coming ta voters on crocy - lion and flamingo seems hoppin ta me. maaaaybe vulshur too, but hafta see moh. so - schorpion, mouse, albatroaz, lion (u lyin hahahaha), and flamingo. focusin on voters on crocodile coz i think them be hoppin, flamingo be da mosht sushpishus.

"sho i began with lishtin out them lads whom i found sush. with all them votes flyin around with no reashuns. tis included schorpio, moushe, lion n flamingo. with all them votes flyin out without a speck of reashun, me startin ta doubt maself n start thinkin maybe OCs be hoppin on the wagon ta falshly kill crocy, so i think some OCs are votin on crocy. flamingo wash da mosht sush cosh they shaid kanga hashnt done much ta anyone yet. implyin crocy had? but no talk bout croc. votesh on crocy were flimshy. also also if wanted ta save crocy, i woulda put ma vote on kanga meaning kanga diesh an crocy shurvivesh. ya know what happens when someone shurvivesh fursht day close exequshun dontchya? have ya obsherved it befow? they ushually jusht fall off da radar, we tend ta ignore them far quite a few cycles unlesh they do shometin very sush. alsho alsho alsho i had a good reashun ta vote on crocy and wash da fursht ta vote for dem. i coulda kept ma vote on crocy for a huuuuuge village read dontchya think?"

18 hours ago, Opal Lion said:

At the end they retracted their vote on Mauve, and basically shaded everyone else on the wagon, saying that they all jumped on opportunistically. could have been a last minute attempt to get people off, but- okay, probably unlikely, seeing as that would be a risky play. the jump to a completely different target was strange to me. 

"ya tellin ya felt gud bout votes on crocy, lion? bee square with me na, didntchya feel somethin wron bout all dem votes flyin without a darn reason? i thought we had 2 more hours ta discuss it, didnt realise twas 46+2 cycles. thought itwas 48 the first time, then 2+46 the reshta the game. 

18 hours ago, Opal Lion said:

I will say that Mauve's Appeal to Emotion did work on me, and if I was online at the time, I would have moved my vote off. 

"seee, issa bit hippocritical dontchya think? feelin aint right on me but youda moved off crocy. ish naat jusht you, shir bucketts ash well, and now vulsher too, hmmm too many fellas tellin same thing. twas the AG thing aint it? when they told its their fursht one? feel like a lotta fellas here playin thems first AG themself, and been able ta shympathize with a fella dyin on the fursht day of AG." 

"now letsee bout how the votin went about. whats da mosht important is such exequshuns ish the timingsh of them votesh. to began with, i was da fursht ta vote on croc, and im village. so da person who votes for croc da 2nd is more likely ta be village as well, as i reaaaally don think them OCs be puttin one of their own up their early in da cycle. so who dis second fella ta vote for crocy? mistah kinga da jungle, da lion. so my read is mistah lion is village (twas one each ta crocy an kanga, lion put crocy in da lead). next crocy makes it two each. da next vote is from mistah hyena is varry much sush. dis a critical time ash it puts kanga in da lead, protectin' crocy. see? timin is everyythin'. shir buckets then makesh it 3 each. flamingo now puts crocy in da lead again. after crocys flip, dis vote looksh vary good on flamingo. now big O and other other OCs know at dis point dat the killin is still a tie even deshpite crocy leadin da vote coz crocys on braize. seems much less likely dat da next vote on woulda been from an OC. meanin da next vote was from mistah vulcher bee good aswell. mkay dis be da order of ma trust outta votersh on crocy
axe guy > king lion > flamingo > vulcher. oh course mistah kanga comes out lookin' very much like a sage from dis voting."
"outta voters on kanga, hyena ish more sush ta me dan gecko. itd be varry foolish moov far gecko ta do, in an attempta create a tie, expose another of dem OC. wont write it off though, jusht dat hyena votesh timin is more sush dan geckos."
"other reeds hmm dingos lasht posht i very much liked, seemsta bee village. oh oh and schorpion is big O. not one of dem OCs, but the big bad himself rayshe. naggin feelin."

[Melon Dingo]

3 hours ago, Sapphire Elephant said:

"hey hey, no reashuns offerud? didchya read ma poshht? i thought im s'posed ta be the drunk one!"

"sho i began with lishtin out them lads whom i found sush. with all them votes flyin around with no reashuns. tis included schorpio, moushe, lion n flamingo. with all them votes flyin out without a speck of reashun, me startin ta doubt maself n start thinkin maybe OCs be hoppin on the wagon ta falshly kill crocy, so i think some OCs are votin on crocy. flamingo wash da mosht sush cosh they shaid kanga hashnt done much ta anyone yet. implyin crocy had? but no talk bout croc. votesh on crocy were flimshy. also also if wanted ta save crocy, i woulda put ma vote on kanga meaning kanga diesh an crocy shurvivesh. ya know what happens when someone shurvivesh fursht day close exequshun dontchya? have ya obsherved it befow? they ushually jusht fall off da radar, we tend ta ignore them far quite a few cycles unlesh they do shometin very sush. alsho alsho alsho i had a good reashun ta vote on crocy and wash da fursht ta vote for dem. i coulda kept ma vote on crocy for a huuuuuge village read dontchya think?"

"ya tellin ya felt gud bout votes on crocy, lion? bee square with me na, didntchya feel somethin wron bout all dem votes flyin without a darn reason? i thought we had 2 more hours ta discuss it, didnt realise twas 46+2 cycles. thought itwas 48 the first time, then 2+46 the reshta the game. 

"seee, issa bit hippocritical dontchya think? feelin aint right on me but youda moved off crocy. ish naat jusht you, shir bucketts ash well, and now vulsher too, hmmm too many fellas tellin same thing. twas the AG thing aint it? when they told its their fursht one? feel like a lotta fellas here playin thems first AG themself, and been able ta shympathize with a fella dyin on the fursht day of AG." 

"now letsee bout how the votin went about. whats da mosht important is such exequshuns ish the timingsh of them votesh. to began with, i was da fursht ta vote on croc, and im village. so da person who votes for croc da 2nd is more likely ta be village as well, as i reaaaally don think them OCs be puttin one of their own up their early in da cycle. so who dis second fella ta vote for crocy? mistah kinga da jungle, da lion. so my read is mistah lion is village (twas one each ta crocy an kanga, lion put crocy in da lead). next crocy makes it two each. da next vote is from mistah hyena is varry much sush. dis a critical time ash it puts kanga in da lead, protectin' crocy. see? timin is everyythin'. shir buckets then makesh it 3 each. flamingo now puts crocy in da lead again. after crocys flip, dis vote looksh vary good on flamingo. now big O and other other OCs know at dis point dat the killin is still a tie even deshpite crocy leadin da vote coz crocys on braize. seems much less likely dat da next vote on woulda been from an OC. meanin da next vote was from mistah vulcher bee good aswell. mkay dis be da order of ma trust outta votersh on crocy
axe guy > king lion > flamingo > vulcher. oh course mistah kanga comes out lookin' very much like a sage from dis voting."
"outta voters on kanga, hyena ish more sush ta me dan gecko. itd be varry foolish moov far gecko ta do, in an attempta create a tie, expose another of dem OC. wont write it off though, jusht dat hyena votesh timin is more sush dan geckos."
"other reeds hmm dingos lasht posht i very much liked, seemsta bee village. oh oh and schorpion is big O. not one of dem OCs, but the big bad himself rayshe. naggin feelin."

I think this is a worse read than the poetry, at least, when it comes to trying to figure out what’s actually being said.

[Charcoal Hyena]

4 hours ago, Sapphire Elephant said:

"hey hey, no reashuns offerud? didchya read ma poshht? i thought im s'posed ta be the drunk one!"

My apologies, Loxodonta.
Your dialect is slightly confusing
And deciphering your words is a chore.
Note that's fine, I'm not accusing.

I hereby rescind my suspicions
On the blue Elephant that gleams like jewels.
I apologise for my thoughts of sedition
And hope I was not overly cruel.

Edited December 31, 2020 by Charcoal Hyena
Typo

[Chartreuse Penguin]

Nut

[Violet Axolotl]

I've finally finished my ISO of Mauve Crocodile. My aged hands are cramped, I hope this was worth it.

Spoiler

First Post:

Spoiler

Siena Ashao, the unluckiest person alive, was on Braize. How had this happened?!?! "It's perfectly safe", they'd said. "You'll have so much fun, travelling the worlds," they'd said. "The vibrant cultures, the food, the different magic... worldhopping is the most wonderful experience!" they'd said. Why had she listened to them? She had figured that with her luck, she'd end up in some backwater ash-logged town on Scadrial, but this was just ridiculous. Trembling slightly, she glanced out from behind the rock formation where she'd found some concealment (although even the stones here were blisteringly hot, and she had to be careful not to burn herself on them).Those things were still there, looking for her. I have got to get out of here, she thought. Though, given how things generally went for her, she'd probably end up some place even worse. 

She tensed up as she heard them getting closer. A few more seconds and they'd find her. She shoved her carving tools hurriedly into her bag and counted down in her head. 3... 2... 1. She took off running just as the hideous creature rounded the formation and caught sight of her. 

Hello everyone! I'm here, though I haven't read the rules in a week and didn't really understand them when I read them the first time. I should have time to remedy my cumbersome ignorance this evening, but in the meantime I figured I'd pop on and say I'm here  

Immediately claims Braize, which I find interesting. Makes me wonder if some of the other OC's did the same. Otherwise, just a good RP.

Second Post:

Spoiler

@Prudence I'll request PMs with Sapphire, Opal, and Charcoal. And then I'll go read the rules, finally

Croc's PM requests. I think it's possible there's a fellow evil in here as distancing, though I read the three listed as good so I don't know. 

Third Post:

Spoiler

Are we seriously having a discussion on the efficacy of poke-votes again? Seems like every time I play a game I get to read through post after post debating the merits of voting someone off C1, or the merits of voting with little to no evidence, or what have you. Personally, I think it's just a playstyle thing. 

(I would include something about how my RP character is severely unfortunate to have ended up on Braize--which incidentally I know next to nothing about, since I don't recall what was said about it in SA off the top of my head, so apologies for any inaccuracies that appeared in my previous post--but I feel like I've said enough already.)

Complaints about voting discussion, which, granted, was fair. Even if the discussion shouldn't have even been about votes. Them thinking it's just a playstyle thing was probably NAI.

Fourth Post:

Spoiler

Sorry if I didn't make it clear, but that was kind of my point. Gorilla provided an actual reason for their vote, which is rare indeed during the first cycle. 

Anyway, I say "poke-vote discussion" because you were arguing against hasty voting (aka poke-voting? idk the inside of my head is weird sometimes). But in my own humble and ill-informed opinion, all voting is somewhat hasty during C1, so arguing against it is futile unless you're arguing for us to just not exe anyone this Day. 

Aaaannnddd here I am getting sucked into one of the vote discussions I was just complaining about. 

Here, Croc defends Gorilla indirectly by disagreeing with me. What I find interesting is that Gecko did the same thing, and both ended up voting on Kangaroo. I think it's probable that early D1 they figured agreeing with a teammate wasn't the worst thing that could happen; at this point Croc was in no danger of getting exed.

Immediately following this post Gorilla asks for a PM with Crocodile. Earlier I was theorizing that OC!Gorilla did this as a form of distancing, but looking at Croc's posts before it's also possible they just saw someone who agreed with them and wanted to chat. Lessening this possibility is Gorilla's PM request with me, as I was at this point Gorilla's main accuser, perhaps the only one. The whole interaction evens out as null for me, in that I'm not confident in saying that Gorilla wanted to distance from Croc for sure, but it's definitely a possibility I'm keeping in mind.

I'm trying not to be hedgy. It's not working very well.

Fifth Post:

Spoiler

Violet said something about hasty votes being a problem. Having skimmed the posts that started the discussion, I figured as I was writing my post that Violet was referring at least in part to the poke votes that had appeared earlier on, since the vote that Violet was responding to was not what I would call hasty. 

And no, of course votes with reason aren't immune to scrutiny, but attacking someone for voting with a reason because they were "hasty" just kind of doesn't make sense? 

This is perhaps the biggest my vote was misunderstood. Crocodile heavily takes Gorilla's side in this discussion, and they still weren't in any huge danger- only one vote on them had been cast. I found it odd how many people supposedly disliked and misunderstood my reasoning for my Gorilla vote, and now one of those has flipped OC. The other? Only time will tell.

Sixth Post:

Spoiler

Er... well I guess? I mean, you do you I suppose  but I think past D1 it's probably not a great idea to tell people who give reasons for their votes that they're being "hasty", since then it makes everyone a little less likely to vote. And from what I've seen in recent games, we need more people to vote, not less.

They somehow morphed my vote into sounding like a personal attack, which I'd be more annoyed about if they had been good. Since they were of Odium I'll hope it was an exaggeration. But it's still a continued defense of Gorilla, and Croc hadn't received their second vote at this point.

Seventh Post:

Spoiler

I'm... afraid you must be confused? I've never met you before in my life. 

In response to Lion's vote. They focused on the RP aspect literally, but there's nothing of importance here.

Eighth Post:

Spoiler

I don't really understand what you mean by that... though I guess that's probably the point. 

(have you used up your free Shadesmar PM?)

Says they don't understand Lion's vote, when it's pretty clear to me that it was a gut read (the use of the word 'vibes' gave that away) but again nothing of importance now.

Ninth Post:

Spoiler

I wholeheartedly agree with this bit... Unfortunately, though, the person with the most votes is me, so there's not much I can do to condense. Except... come to think of it, it does seem a bit odd to me that Sage Kangaroo would suggest that the neutral Shards claim. Their identities are not information that we want in the elims hands (who are we kidding, we don't want any info in elim hands ), and from what I've seen, games are generally set up so that claiming is never beneficial during the first few cycles. Later on and under specific conditions, claiming can be a good strategy, depending on the situation, but it's not a thing to recommend D1.

Is this really just a long-winded way for me to attempt to not die? Well duh, that should be obvious. But in my totally unbiased opinion, the reasoning for exeing Sage is infinitely stronger than the reasoning for exeing me, since the latter is practically nonexistent (I believe the first vote was a poke edit: not quite a poke but it was lending weight to a rather small objection to something I said, and the second was apparently due to "my vibe" and "past grudges", in an anonymous game no less).

Now, I'm getting off for the night 'cause sleep exists, as Violet pointed out. Please try not to kill me too much, okay? Oh, and I might as well mention that I'm on Braize, so my vote counts twice. Maybe Siena wasn't so unlucky to end up there after all...

Jumps after Gorilla's vote, and I recall them later saying this vote was self pres. At this point there was still 12+ hours left in the cycle, so I wouldn't say that was necessary, but I'm not really going to get much out of analyzing why I think Croc is OC . This further convinces me that Kangaroo is good because Croc wouldn't vote on a teammate in self pres this early, they would have waited to vote in self pres on a good wagon.

Tenth Post:

Spoiler

I voted on Sage because I don't want to die C1. This is my first AG, and I'd rather get to actually play it, thank you very much. When I voted I was the only one with more than one vote, and I was about to go to bed, and you had just called on everyone to condense the votes. Natural conclusion? People would probably pile on me. I wanted there to be an alternative since I wouldn't be there to defend myself.

The first vote on me was @Sapphire Elephant saying they didn't like my poke vote post. Which. Like. I get it, the post didn't make the most sense in context, but like I've said that was because I wrote it after skimming the thread. I've explained what I meant by that post, and Sapphire hasn't responded. 

The second vote on me was from @Opal Lion. In their original post about it they said the following: "Anyways- I've seen one too many people hide sinister plans behind smiles,  Mauve.  Just like back when-". This is literally not a reason. When pressed, their response was that the vote was based partially on past grudges and partially on my vibe. Which is still not a reason.

The third vote on me is from you, @Violet Axolotl. You voted on me because I self-presed after the second (purely nonsensical) vote.

The fourth vote is from @Onyx Flamingo. Your post said: "and now, i vote we exe mauvy crocy. mostly because i don't think our pal the kangaroo has done much to anyone yet, and i just don't like how that counterlynch came out of nowhere." Two objections to this: I haven't done anything to anyone either, and the counterexe didn't come out of nowhere, it came from me because I don't want to die.

The fifth vote on me is from @Amber Vulture. You say that "Crocodile's gave me the worst gut read (though he was the leading candidate at the time, so I can also see it being a self-preservation vote, but... eh, it's Day 1, and I don't have any better ideas, unfortunately.)" I've already addressed this like five times in this post, but I'll say it again: I voted on Kangaroo in self-pres, because this is my first AG and my first anonymous game and I want a chance to actually play it. Kangaroo seemed to be the best choice of counter-exe, because as far as I could tell, theirs was the only vote that actually had some amount of reasoning to it, rather than being a poke or based on a read. (Edit: also I'm a she lol)

Would you all please reconsider your votes? I would have responded earlier to each of you and explained myself but I was asleep so it would have been kinda hard for me to do that.

Edit: Also I am in fact on Braize. Why would I lie about that? 

Edit edit: Besides that, it should be obvious to you guys that I'm not elim. I'm currently leading in the vote, and only two people have voted on my closest competitor apart from myself. There are likely at least five elims in this game, possibly six, so if I were an elim wouldn't my teammates have been working to bail me out? And really, if I were elim, I'd have just asked my teammates to start a counter-exe in the first place, rather than doing it myself at the risk of drawing more votes onto me (which is exactly what happened). I'm just a normal villager with an item and a role, neither of which involve vote-manip that I could use to save myself! Basically: I'm working alone. If you guys don't take your votes off, I will die, and it will be a mis-exe. 

In fact, why aren't you looking with suspicion at each other, the people who've randomly hopped onto my train with little to no reason. All I've done is attempt to self-pres, whereas they're actively condemning me to death.

Queue panic mode. They actually make good point here, though perhaps they were reaching a bit with their 'edit edit'. In fact, I think this is pretty funny, because they say 'wouldn't my teammates be bailing me out?' and then almost immediately Gecko votes Kangaroo. I can imagine OC!Gecko seeing this and being like 'Oh, I should do that.' This post is actually the one that I was basing my planned unvote on, so they did a good job defending themselves. It was too late, however. 

Overall, I find a Croc-Gorilla-Gecko team very possible, though maybe a bit... too good to be true? I almost don't want to believe it and go running with it because seriously, how often to D1 team comp predictions turn out right? But I would have to go with it. They have been linked from the beginning, back before any of them were ever in danger of getting exed and it would have been safe to have a common opinion. I don't doubt that the other OC's, if this comp is correct, were very distanced. In fact, I have a bad feeling about Mint Heron, but that truly is just my paranoia. If I'm dead next cycle, look into them. I don't doubt they'd bus Gecko.

[Opal Lion]

7 minutes ago, Violet Axolotl said:

but I'm not really going to get much out of analyzing why I think Croc is OC

I attempted to go back through, but I kept always going back to things that didn't sit right with me about mauve, and then remembering that thinking about those things was useless  

[Plum Rhinoceros]

Journal of Solemnheart - Annotation, Day Four Post-Illumination, Taldain

I wish to preface this by saying I did not vote for anyone in the executions. I did not really get the chance, due to Connection issues, and a personal misunderstanding on when the actual removal would take place. However, I cannot honestly say I was planning to vote before my source of information was cut off, as from what I could see in the moment both Mauve Crocodile and Sage Kangaroo had poor reasoning for their respective execution mobs.

The voters for Mauve Crocodile were Sapphire Elephant, Opal Lion, Violet Axolotl, Onyx Flamingo, Sage Kangaroo. The voters for Sage Kangaroo were Turquoise Gorilla, Mauve Crocodile, Charcoal Hyena, Taupe Gecko. Sage Kangaroo and Mauve Crocodile are irrelevant as their votes were self-preservation, although Mauve Crocodile's decision to vote for Sage Kangaroo (with the abilities of Braize behind them) of the available one-vote players makes me trust Sage Kangaroo.

Sapphire Elephant retracted their vote on Mauve near the end of the round, and Opal Lion and Violet Axolotl both expressed that they would have removed votes if they had the chance. This makes me... nervous. On the note of Mauve's Appeal to Emotion, while I agree that it is unfortunate to be the first person to be executed, the ugly truth is that there must always be a first. Would Sage Kangaroo not also wish to live? This makes me a bit more hesitant about Opal Lion than Violet Axolotl, as Violet had a pre-prepared written document about their near-disaster and their original vote was in a solidifying position, while Opal Lion only had a hesitant statement that they "would have taken off their vote" and their original vote was in an earlier position. But Sapphire Elephant is the most suspicious of that group, for an early "poke" on an Elim that was removed at the last minute.

Of the voters for Sage Kangaroo, Taupe Gecko was the last vote in the last minute. I believe Charcoal Hyena's vote was early enough in the cycle not to be incriminating (on its own), and Turquoise Gorilla's was before Mauves.

So I am suspicious of Taupe Gecko and Sapphire Elephant, wary of Opal Lion. Unfortunately the chaos of each individual adventure makes it hard to extrapolate more. I will have to do further research, and the passing of the standard cycle will hopefully carry further information.

[Sage Kangaroo]

BTW, if anyone is willing, I'd appreciate some protection, since I'm rather worried about being attacked tonight.

[Violet Axolotl]

18 minutes ago, Sage Kangaroo said:

BTW, if anyone is willing, I'd appreciate some protection, since I'm rather worried about being attacked tonight.

I've already said this, and I don't want to continue the trope of a forgetful repetitive old man, but I also would like this. We're both on the Rosharan system and to be honest I find it likely that we'll both be attacked, one by Odium and one by an Investee. Protectors, you have targets now.

[Coral Swan]

Last AG the elims just blatantly murdered a teammate D1 by having one of their members break a tie against the elim, but this time they left it up to a tie. Not a strong effort to save Mauve, but unlikely that they put a lot of resources behind exeing them.

I don't think Taupe and Amber are both elims, as setting up for a tie would be bad for one of them. Either committing to bussing a teammate or putting in the effort to save him would be the more likely play. Sapphire retracted their vote, but I'm not putting that much higher than the other people who said they might retract votes as Sapphire helped ensure the exe would come down to Mauve/Sage, and potentially would have seen that Sage was around to vote in self-preservation. If the elims had Whimsy or some other role/item that allows for vote power, they didn't bother to use it.

[Ivory Dragonfly]

My thoughts on violet and opal saying they would have removed votes:

It is Sus to want to not vote on an Elim. But. Why would an Elim express this?  Why bring extra suspicion because they didn't want to kill a teammate? At the end of the day the votes were there, mauve died. Maybe was evil. Why, if evil, would they bring mauve to have many votes in the first place? Perhaps if sage was evil as well with a more important role, that could be a good idea. But I do not suspect sage, so I do not suspect those voting on mauve were intentionally forcing a tie between two evils. I would be inclined to trust all who had votes on mauve at the end.

Of course if sage died and was also corrupt, my mind would be changed on this matter.