Seonid

This is not the mistake you were looking for. Move along.

Writeup is up! Thanks to Chartreuse Penguin for providing their death scene. Current Roles (including any Shardworld roles that were used that cycle or investment roles that would expire at the end of the cycle) and Shards are revealed upon death.

And now the writeup has been edited in! You all ought to go give Joe upvotes for the work he's putting into this game.

Day 2 - A Watchful Peace The thief slipped silently through the darkened halls and empty rooms of the Silverlight Polytechnic Shardic Research facility. The buildings were derelict, of course. It had been generations since the Silverlight War, when worldhoppers with more chutzpah than sense had locked the very Shards of Adonalsium away for research and experimentation. Inevitably, of course, containment had failed, and pandemonium had broken loose. The study of the Shards themselves was now banned at SilverPoly, encouraged by the isolationist rule of Autonomy. But times were changing now. The university, the Shardworlds, perhaps even the Shards themselves were all pawns in a great game, and the moves were drawing towards its end. And these ruined buildings were a treasure trove of hidden and sequestered data that could change the way the game was played. Who knew what some graduate student's research might have uncovered, only to be left here to rot after the research ban came down? The blinking lights on the computer console slowed her down. These buildings weren't even supposed to be hooked up to the emergency power system. She had brought a portable power pack with her, just to get one of them turned on long enough to search for useful data. Lights meant trouble, a trouble she wasn't sure she was prepared to deal with. Circling the chair and the desk it sat underneath, she examined the network of power and etherrealm cables. None of them looked out of place, but they were all new-looking and well-maintained. As she approached the console, lights flickered on all across the broad room. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a human shape appeared. Standing next to the desk, the apparition smiled. His skin was metallic, the color of polished steel, and his body language exuded confidence. "Thank you for visiting SIlverlight Polytechnic! I am Jesenesh, an AI and probability manifold created to explore Shardic resonances." The image flickered a little, as if one of the hologram filters was misaligned, but it remained at the scene. "How may I assist you?" This was too much for the thief. The AI could know priceless secrets, far more than she would ever need to sell to turn a profit. But the mere fact of its existence in its non-dormant state was proof of something. Somebody or somebodies had had the same idea, but had gotten there first. And this was no impromptu affair either, but a coordinated effort to bring this computer back to life. But who could have done it? She was the best hacker in the school, and even she had only been willing to give herself even odds at bringing it back. Stepping forward, she gave the avatar a command. "Jesenesh, I need all available information on the Silverlight Wars, and the Shardic wars of ambition before that." "I am sorry, mistress, but that information is restricted." Restricted? What security systems could still be operational after all this time? "Please flag all unrestricted information on Shardic powers, and prepare it for download." "I am sorry, mistress, but that information has been placed under restricted status." With frustration burning slowly within her, the thief glared threateningly at the avatar, though he simply stood, smiling, his metal skin sending soft reflections onto the nearby walls. "Who restricted this information?" The avatar made no response, but the console screen came to life, with a single name displayed in neon letter. Dropping her thieves tools and hacker kit, the thief backed away slowly from the console. As soon as she was outside the room, she ran as fast as her legs could carry her. It didn't matter where she went, but she was never going near that cluster of buildings again. Player List: 1. Amethyst Scorpion 2. Azure Mouse 3. Amber Vulture 4. Charcoal Hyena 5. Chartreuse Penguin 6. Coral Swan 7. Cream Tuatara 8. Emerald Falcon 9. Fuschia Ostrich 10. Indigo Weasel 11. Ivory Dragonfly 12. Magenta Albatross 13. Mauve Crocodile 14. Melon Dingo 15. Mint Heron 16. Onyx Flamingo 17. Opal Lion 18. Oxblood Beagle 19. Pearl Chameleon 20. Plum Rhinoceros 21. Quartz Zebra 22. Saffron Iguana 23. Sage Kangaroo 24. Salmon Meerkat 25. Sapphire Elephant 26. Scarlet Octopus 27. Sunburst Toucan 28. Taupe Gecko 29. Turquoise Gorilla 30. Violet Axolotl Shardworld Tracker: Yolen: 1/8 charges The day will last until Saturday, January 19th, 12:00 AM, Mountain Time IMPORTANT REMINDER: Cycles will be ending one hour before rollover. Rollover will still be at 1:00 AM, Mountain Time, but all cycles will close at 12:00 AM, mountain time, on their designated day. The intervening hour will be used to manage the rollover. Thank you for your understanding.

And the cycle is closed! The new cycle will be posted in 1 hour.

Minor edit to correct a timing mistake. The writeup originally noted that the game would end at midnight, Thursday the 16th of January. This is incorrect, as Thursday is the 17th of January. Apologies for the mistake. You have roughly 7 and a half hours left to get your actions in!

Night 1 - Reflections in a Darkened Mirror Like a soft murmur in the grasses, a breeze rose over the oceans of Roshar. Drawing strength from the waves below it, it grew in power and fury, blending with other winds like riders of some apocalyptic Hunt. By the time it reached the Purelake, the winds had joined the highstorm, and it scoured the land before it. The people of Vedenar huddled in their houses as the rain lashed their city, lightning and thunder splitting the night sky with awful power. Vedenar was a powerful city, lights and colors lit by the power of man's science buttressed by the investiture of the gods, but this was no ordinary storm, not even an ordinary highstorm. Beyond the sky, powers clashed together, the first signs of a great struggle. The Long Peace was at an end. - - - - - - - - - - - - On Scadrial, the first notice the local inhabitants had of anything out of the ordinary was an influx of Worldhoppers. During the reign of Autonomy, such had tried carefully to blend in to avoid notice, keenly aware that they were violating her ban on interplanetary travel. But suddenly, worldhoppers began to appear out of thin air, taking no pains to hide their presence. In nearly every bar in Elendel, worldhoppers drank, swapping stories of narrow escapes and harrowing adventures. A discerning eye, however, would notice that the worldhoppers kept to certain groups, and kept a wary distance of others. - - - - - - - - - - - - The Cognitive Realm on Sel boiled hotly, the chaos of the Dor churning in wild fantasies. Across and around it, skirting the edges of the madness, flew the transport ships that carried worldhoppers to and from Sel, in evident disregard for their own safety. Carefully screened lest the passengers glimpse the madness outside - three flights had been lost last year to careless Dor-gazing - they charted the only reasonably safe path to the Shardworld. Slowly but surely, trade routes were opening and communication was passing along old networks. - - - - - - - - - - - - And on far-off Yolen, a dead world scoured clear of even the foul fain life that had once inhabited it, sparks of power flew through dormant lines, criss-crossing the world with lights. Across the Cosmere, things stirred and strained against their bounds. The age of Autonomy was coming to an end. Player List: 1. Amethyst Scorpion 2. Azure Mouse 3. Amber Vulture 4. Charcoal Hyena 5. Chartreuse Penguin 6. Coral Swan 7. Cream Tuatara 8. Emerald Falcon 9. Fuschia Ostrich 10. Indigo Weasel 11. Ivory Dragonfly 12. Magenta Albatross 13. Mauve Crocodile 14. Melon Dingo 15. Mint Heron 16. Onyx Flamingo 17. Opal Lion 18. Oxblood Beagle 19. Pearl Chameleon 20. Plum Rhinoceros 21. Quartz Zebra 22. Saffron Iguana 23. Sage Kangaroo 24. Salmon Meerkat 25. Sapphire Elephant 26. Scarlet Octopus 27. Sunburst Toucan 28. Taupe Gecko 29. Turquoise Gorilla 30. Violet Axolotl Shardworld Tracker: Yolen: 1/8 charges The night will last until Thursday, January 17th, 12:00 AM, Mountain Time RULES CLARIFICATIONS: My apologies for not making sure that the posted version of the rules had all of the kinks worked out. Joe and I were working on rules tweaks up until shortly before the game started, and some of those tweaks ended up causing conflicts with basic framework stuff that we hadn't checked until the conflicts started getting pointed out to us while the game was going. We have now gone over everything, and believe that we have cleared up all the contradictions. Any faction specific rules that needed updating have been announced to that faction. Here is the updated portion of the rules text, for reference: Factions and Win Conditions: The players will be divided into several different factions, each with its own unique and secret win condition. In addition to the secret win condition, however, any faction can also win the game in the following ways: Last Faction Standing: If the living members of your faction outnumber all other players in the game, you win the game. Adonalsium Reborn: If your faction controls all available Shards of Adonalsium at the end of any Turn, you win the game. Unless otherwise specified, any faction reaching one of the win conditions will end the game. If multiple factions reach their win conditions on the same round, all of the factions with completed win conditions win together. A faction with a win condition that does not end the game must have reached that condition before the game ends. IMPORTANT NOTE: Cycles will be ending one hour earlier from now on. Rollover will still be at 1:00 AM, Mountain Time, but all cycles will close at 12:00 AM, mountain time, on their designated day. The intervening hour will be used to manage the rollover. Thank you for your understanding.

And that's a wrap! The turn is over, and the new cycle has been posted. PMs are going out as we speak. Enjoy the Night Turn!

Autonomy's aspects do not count towards the Last Man Standing win con. I make no promises about whether they may or may not count towards a faction's secret win condition.

Day 1 - A Shadow of the Past The wind blew across what passed for plains, here in the Spiritual Realm. The man who had called himself Sheon Idris in life turned his face from his contemplation of a steel and gold crown, now worn with the use of many years. The single word etched into the metal was practically worn away now, though his eyes could see it as clearly as the day he had carved it himself. Unforgiven. He looked to his left, expecting a visitor to appear, as had often come when moods like this came upon him. But that was right, she had moved on. Or had she? He couldn't remember. With a flicker of his will, his attention turned back to the Physical Realm. The Shards were preparing for war again. Incredible devastation. Incalculable destruction. All because of him and his meddling. A universe torn apart, just like its god. And every time he had attempted to put things right, things had only gotten worse. The Shardic Coalition and the wars against Odium, the great Civil War, where his own followers had torn the power of the Shards from his grasp and held them in containment. And then the Silverlight War, which had ended with Autonomy ruling the entire Cosmere for...how long had it been now? Time passed slowly here, or at least the perception of it did. And he was so old now, and so tired. Was it time to give up? Time to admit that he could not put back together what had been broken, and each time he tried it only broke things further? Time to go on into forever, and...well, whatever came after? Maybe. After all, how long had it been since he'd actually tried to pull the strings of the cosmos? Longer than it should have been, for sure. But the thought of just giving up and giving in awoke his old stubbornness to something like a sullen fire, deep within. He had failed many times, seen death and destruction and pain and loss and hate and horror so many times. And he would not sit back and let that win. He had a job to do, tired or not. Old or not. Once more into the breach, this time counting for all of them. He called up his avatar, the body he used to walk the realms. It had a name, didn't it? Something...stirring. Something that reminded him of...of colors on the flags of Hallandren, or electric lights in the night of Scadrial, or the smell of freshly fallen rain after a Highstorm. What was it, again? Ah, that was it. Hoid. The Wanderer. King's Wit, once, if he recalled right. He had probably been a storming good one. And with another little flicker of will, he stepped into Silverlight. The Shards were about to go to war again, for whatever reason. It would be chaos, and he could use chaos. Khriss was still out there, and she would try and stop him, and he would use that too. With a little laugh, he went off to play with their war, one last time. Unforgiven. But not yet broken. - - - - - - - - - - - - Welcome to AG 5: One Final Blaze of Light! As a reminder, Day 1 will not have a lynch, but you may otherwise use any Day Turn actions freely. You should all have received role PMs by now - if you haven't, please contact @A Joe in the Bush or myself immediately. Player List: 1. Amethyst Scorpion 2. Azure Mouse 3. Amber Vulture 4. Charcoal Hyena 5. Chartreuse Penguin 6. Coral Swan 7. Cream Tuatara 8. Emerald Falcon 9. Fuschia Ostrich 10. Indigo Weasel 11. Ivory Dragonfly 12. Magenta Albatross 13. Mauve Crocodile 14. Melon Dingo 15. Mint Heron 16. Onyx Flamingo 17. Opal Lion 18. Oxblood Beagle 19. Pearl Chameleon 20. Plum Rhinoceros 21. Quartz Zebra 22. Saffron Iguana 23. Sage Kangaroo 24. Salmon Meerkat 25. Sapphire Elephant 26. Scarlet Octopus 27. Sunburst Toucan 28. Taupe Gecko 29. Turquoise Gorilla 30. Violet Axolotl The day will last until Wednesday, January 16th, 1:00 AM, Mountain Time

There are a little over 11 hours left until signups close!

Because there are only 30 anonymous accounts and we have 31 people who want to play the game, one of the signed up players will have to pinch hit instead. If anyone volunteers, we'll take them. Otherwise, we will take the last 16 people on the signups list and put their names in a random number generator, and randomly pick which player is a pinch hitter.

Alright, we now have 31 signups. Since there are only 30 anonymous accounts, that means that we will putting all but the first 15 people on the signup list into the Randomizer3000, and filling the last 15 spots randomly. Anybody not picked will be a pinch hitter instead. If anyone wants to volunteer to be a pinch hitter, we'll exhaust all of our volunteers before we move to the Randomizer3000.

Welcome to the community! We're glad to have you.

Glad to have you, Drake!

Other questions/rules clarifications: Ruin's planet destruction happens at the end of the round. A roleblock cannot block other roleblocks, but you can redirect a roleblock unless you were roleblocked yourself. Order of actions: Roleblock/redirect Protect/ extra life All other actions Kills Action scans EDIT: I reserve the right to update this if I forgot something

Yep - each player is only a member of one faction. Also, each faction will have a doc to communicate in. Other rules clarifications from PMs: Ambition will be listed in the Cognitive Realm doc as Ambition. If they choose to provide their account name, that's a choice that is up to them. Returned count as living players, while Shades do not.

I'm happy to see all the interest in this game! We're drawing close to the minimum number of players to run this game, which is excellent (this game has a minimum of 21 players). Unfortunately, there are only 30 anonymous accounts. So, in the event that we have more than 30 players who want to play this game, the following procedure will be followed: If we get more than 30 players, the last 15 people to sign up and anyone who joins after 30 people will be grouped together, and players from that group will be randomly chosen to fill the last 15 slots. Any who are not chosen will be signed up as pinch hitters. Also, some slight edits have been made to the rules. First, Dominion's investment role, the Dakhor Monk has been brought back into line with the remainder of the investment roles. It now lasts only until the end of the following Day Turn instead of lasting until the player uses the ability. Second, the Factions and Win Conditions section has been edited to clearly communicate that any faction reaching a win condition will trigger the end of the game, and if multiple factions reach their win condition on the same turn, all of the factions with a completed win condition win.

Sneaky, @Alvron, slipping in to sign up while the post was still hidden. Welcome to the game, though! To @everyone else, signups are now open for AG 5! Get your phenomenal cosmic power while you still can! To those who don't want to announce that you are playing the game (because anonymous game and so on), please include both @A Joe in the Bush and myself in your signup PM!

AG 5: One Final Blaze of Light Hello, and welcome to the 5th Anniversary Game! This game is special for a lot of reasons. It marks 5 years that we've been a community here on the Shard, and 4 years since I signed up for my first long-form game. It's been a crazy wonderful ride, and I've loved the community that we've built here, even if I haven't been around as much recently. This game is also significant for at least one other reason: over the past few months, I've been less and less involved in the Shard and the SE Community. When I started here, I was a college student, newly married, and full of energy. Now I'm graduated, with a full-time job and two children (and another on the way), and I'm finding it increasingly difficult to carve out space and time for SE games. I have writing projects I want to get to, children I want to spend time with, and ever-increasing responsibilities. Rather than keep telling myself that I'll be coming back in a month or two and eventually drifting off into full-fledged inactivity without ever saying goodbye, I've decided to officially retire. That way, I can do it on my own terms, instead of leaving you all in the lurch. So this game is sort of my swan song, and I have chosen to have one last Shard game, to wrap everything up. Bring the whole ponderous story of Hoid and the Shards of Adonalsium (first started by @A Joe in the Bush, who will actually be co-GMing this game with me) to a thrilling and stunning conclusion. But to do that, I'll need your help. These games are long, and complicated, and incredibly fun! But they don't work very well unless everybody stays active. So, if you sign up for this game, please stay active. This game will be an anonymous game, so please follow all of the rules for anonymous accounts: Reminder: Rules for Anonymous Accounts: At the start of the game, you will be issued an anonymous account. There are a number of rules associated with the use of an Anonymous Account. Please follow them carefully. Given the potential for abuse of Anonymous Accounts, any rule breaking using the accounts will be dealt with harshly. 1) Do not change the password of the anonymous account you are issued. Orlok, Joe and I will have access to all anonymous accounts for the duration of the game. 2) Do not use the anonymous accounts to PM any non-anonymous account, other than the accounts of the GMs. Please do not use your normal accounts to PM anonymous accounts. 3) Do not change anything cosmetic about the accounts, including member title, username, signature, and avatar. 4) Do not reveal your identity or explicitly claim to be another player. Without any further ado, I give you AG5: One Final Blaze of Light. Rules: Current Signup Count: 31 Pinch Hitters: 3 Signups will end at 1:00 AM, MST, January 14th: Quick Links:

I might actually be able to make it - I'll have to see if I can get work off, but I'll try

Due to not having internet yet at my new place, I think I might need to withdraw my offer to pinch hit atm.

I'll sign up as a pinch-hitter. Like Bard, if you don't have 25 players by the end of signups, I'll join the game.

Yep, I started doing that later. But it was still hit-and-miss. BTW, you getting logged out of your account happened because I changed the password on it. So, as long as passwords get changed before the new cycle is posted, nobody will have access to accounts they shouldn't have. It's still good to establish that before the start of the next game, so that players will expect that they might be randomly logged out of their anon account at rollover because they got bodysnatched.