Kasimir

Hi there, There's been a slight technical delay, and as a result, the cycle is currently on ice. We'll get back to y'all in fifteen minutes thereabouts, please go get a cuppa or brekkie or something and don't wait on us. Cheers! -Kas & M'Hael, your GMs.

Oh Lord Ruler, seriously guys? The cycle has ended! Stay tuned for the next cycle!

Time-check! Please be reminded you have slightly under an hour and a half before the cycle closes! Further clarification: 1. The Reform Spy cannot have another role. The only roles that double up are Conspirator and Discovery Agent (and that's because those are more faction allegiances than anything else.) 2. There is only one Reform Spy.

One more clarification: 1. The lynch and the kill share priority. So the results of one cannot interfere with the results of the other.

Yes — one vote

Two more rule clarifications that have been asked: 1. The Reform Spy will not know if there is another Spy. They only know who the Eliminators are. Reform Spies also do not know roles. 2. The Reform Spy also does not know who the Embedded Operative is. See #1 for elaboration.

Please do note that as the Heritage and Glory Faction assignments are purely for flavour purposes, there are no Faction docs as a result. Anyone not Discovery who finds themselves in a Faction Doc should report to your nearest GM or IM for processing - I mean, for clarification on what in Braize is going on.

Kavela pickpocketed one during Bard's sign-up RP. I assume it's the same orange, or Kavela just went back for another one

H'okay. All role PMs have been sent out; we apologise for the delay, apparently formatting things takes more time than we'd remembered We have accumulated two rule clarifications in the meanwhile: #1. May I please draw your attention to the Order of Actions: Assassination takes priority over everything else. It is, in essence, a one-time use unblockable kill., and it cannot be used together with the regular Disco kill. #2. Please be aware that the Heritage and Glory in your Faction PMs are entirely for flavour; we wouldn't do something as nefarious as put a hidden third and fourth faction into this game, that's just messed up Now, to go make myself a cuppa... All thanks to @Haelbarde for being the master of organisation and conditional formatting. I can't wait for it to be his turn next cycle

Player List Rule Clarifications

Cycle One: Deep Shadows “As it transpired, the fifth year of Emperor Gamman’s reign was shaken by threats from without and within. For all he spoke about reform and changing the nature of Rose Empire policy, Gamman inherited the previous Emperor’s mistakes, and relations with Svorden continued to be strained throughout the early years of Gamman’s rule. Gamman, too, had a keen instinct for power, and he had inherited a devastated polity in the aftermath of the Succession Riots, which saw the Moderation Faction almost entirely eradicated. Even so, ShuWen of Ukurgi argues convincingly that policies passed in the first years of Gamman’s rule were more about the consolidation of his power and the concomitant control of internal dissent…” —Shuos KanSeun, When the Rose Blooms: The Lives of the Emperors ㄢㄋㄌ The door creaked, letting out an annoyingly loud protest as it swung open. The first person to enter the Frozen Moon stepped warily over the threshold, wondering if it was a trap. The letter that had been folded up and stuffed hastily into a coat pocket—really, he should have burned it when he first received it—felt like it was painting a target on his back. In any case, he had plenty of reason to be wary. It was a bad time to be someone with a distinctly foreign-sounding name in the Imperial Seat. It was an even worse time to be attending a meeting along the lines of what the letter had suggested. Lawrence Scholdei was fully prepared to flee if the Frozen Moon had turned up to be stuffed to the rafters with Strikers. It was a bad time to be in the Imperial Seat, really. Made a man jumpy. Made him see shadows everytime he turned his head. But there was Darela, wasn’t there? No one had heard from her for days, and then... Those were the times they were living in, and beggars made poor choosers, so Lawrence Scholdei breathed and set aside his worries and sauntered over to the counter where the lone MaiPon server was cleaning clay cups and stacking them one after another. The MaiPon server glanced over at him, a scowl darkening his face. “So early?” “No one else is here?” The server shook his head. “Booked the whole teahouse,” he muttered, disapprovingly. “Didn’t like the look of him, but he paid.” “Who was he, do you know?” The server stared flatly at him and refused to say anything more. In all fairness, Lawrence had not quite expected a response. After all, if you were soliciting those who might be interested in a matter of conspiracy against the Emperor of the Eighty Suns, you wanted a respectable teahouse that was known for a reasonable amount of discretion. Lawrence sat at a table and looked around. Normally, the teahouse would have been packed with patrons, but the mysterious letter-writer had paid for the use of the Frozen Moon, and so the teahouse was currently empty. He briefly entertained the idea that it might be a trap, and then dismissed it. If it was a trap, it had netted only a single fool. The MaiPon server came over with a cup of hot tea and a platter of steamed buns, and then left, taking up a broom with him, likely to sweep the fallen leaves from the courtyard outside. ㄢㄋㄌ The letter was nailed to the wall with a single crossbow bolt. Asterion crossed the room, glancing about him warily. It had been difficult, immediately after the Succession Riots, to be a known member of the Discovery Faction. Not any longer, however. Things had changed since then. It had helped that they had thought him dead, and afterwards, being a blasphemous scholar of the Discovery Faction meant nothing so long as he was useful. He breathed and the colourless cloak he wore shifted, slightly. A small price to pay for the precaution, even though it had not at all been easy to obtain. But there was no ambush, and as he reached out with his senses, he realised that the interloper had simply broken into the secret garret in the Gardens of the Sun, and left, having delivered the letter. He drew back. He could make out little from the letter itself, except for the startling words. The promsie of power. Or perhaps, of vengeance. Asterion was not certain he cared for vengeance. The handwriting displayed the neat, economical strokes of the current favoured calligraphic style of the Rose Empire, except—there. A slight defect: a slight flourish, as though the writer had favoured a more elaborate calligraphic style, but had mostly succeeded in suppressing their original handwriting. The crossbow bolt itself; now that was a more interesting message. He ran his fingers along the fletching. The Strikers did not use swan feathers. Not any longer. And yet, the arrow was fletched with a swan feather. He tugged the crossbow bolt free. It had been embedded by force, rather than fired from a crossbow. He would have had to cut it free if it had come from a crossbow. The letter he folded neatly and slipped into a pocket of his cloak. The writer, at least, had Asterion’s attention. He would go to the Frozen Moon, for the first time in five years. He would return and watch. And perhaps he would find out what he wished to know. ㄢㄋㄌ Everyone asked Kavela if her name was really Kavela. You’d think people would know people could more or less share the same name, Kavela thought, as she perched somewhat high up in the peach tree and watched. She watched as person after person furtively crept towards the Frozen Moon and entered; she watched as the MaiPon server went out into the courtyard to sweep the fallen leaves. He didn’t look up. People rarely did. She peeled her purloined orange thoughtfully. She had been given the letter and told to come here and report on who she saw, and what she heard. She would have to enter the teahouse, of course. Eventually. She could spy on who came and who went, but she was expected to report as well on what was discussed, and this could not be done from a peach tree outside the teahouse. The letter would win her admission. She’d slipped it from the pocket of Arbiter Raishin himself—a fortuitous bump-and-grab. Her heart was still racing at the thought. Stalking Arbiters was dangerous; pickpocketing one, even in the crowded marketplaces of the Imperial Seat, was a fast way to get her door kicked in by Strikers. The letter, though. Her fingers tingled. She had more than one buyer lined up for the information from this meeting. And already, she had seen so much that was useful. Members of the various Factions: Glory, and Heritage, and Moderation—somehow struggling at the precipice of extinction—and even Gamman’s own Reform Faction. She recognised a striker by his gait and the way he balanced himself, even though he carried no sword to the meeting, and tensed up, but then realised he wore a mask and his manner was furtive. Even an Arbiter came. It was Uskevan, Kavela thought. His build was distinctive, though it was bold of him to come without a mask. But Uskevan was of Glory; no doubt he thought a mask beneath him. That was interesting. Whoever had written the letter had been clever. She hadn’t realised what was happening at first, until she realised that the paper carried with it just the faintest whiff of crushed soybeans. A little steady heat and the words bloomed on the paper, materialising in dark brown writing. She munched thoughtfully on her orange, licked the juice from her fingers, and made her way down the tree, slipping from the last branch down to the courtyard tiles. Oof. Hard landing. The MaiPon man just raised an eyebrow at her and continued to sweep. Kavela moved past him, and towards the meeting at the Frozen Moon. Most of the others should have arrived by now. ㄢㄋㄌ Ellira nursed her tea and watched as the tea and the steamed buns eventually loosened up this evening’s visitors to the Frozen Moon. Some of them wore simple masks, meant to conceal most of their features except their mouths. Not their throats, of course. She noticed a tall Grand—she supposed he was attractive enough, in a fine-featured way, if you were in the market for meat—smiling at her, and smiled back, ducking her head a little with feigned shyness. It always helped when they underestimated you; by now, it came as breathing to Ellira. And there was a little frisson of a thrill running sharp in her veins at the beginning of this dance, and then when she killed; by preference, close enough to feel the moment the life left them. This evening, however, the Grand was not her target—not yet, at any rate. Perhaps her master would change her mind later on. Her instructions had arrived for her in a coded message tied to the leg of a pigeon at the coops. Infiltrate the meeting, mark those who were there, and report back. The promise of death to come. No one was yet admitting that they’d convened the meeting. That was fine with Ellira; she concealed a yawn behind her hand. She hadn’t expected anyone to admit to it, in any case. Those who spoke now spoke guardedly; in implications and worried glances, rather than to directly solicit conspiracy. “... they found her in her office, dangling from the ceiling,” said one of the others. Ellira decided she was either more careless, or simply more trusting. “Of course the resealers claim she took her own life, but it’s rather hard to do that with a stab wound in your own back.” “To say nothing of the...unusual circumstances under which Darela disappeared,” said the other. It was the tall Grand, Ellira realised. He folded his hands together. “You do realise that, don’t you?” he was speaking louder now, addressing the rest of the room. “If any of you were so much as followed, we’re going to disappear and then be found again in our own homes.” “Bold of you to assume we’re not even being infiltrated right now,” someone began. Which was about the point something dark appeared at one of the windows, and then there was a large, sodden thump. Far too sodden. There was a hemp sack leaking onto the floorboards of the Frozen Moon, and it was dark, and Ellira was very certain that wasn’t paint. The sack was human-shaped. The Grand pressed a hand to his mouth, eyes wide. One of the others went to the sack and produced a knife and began to saw at the rope. He wore a mask, but the colouring and the dark curly hair marked him as a Striker. The rope frayed and parted. Ellira recognised the body. It was Arbiter Urskevan, formerly of the Glory Faction, and shot through with an excessive amount of crossbow bolts, all fletched with feathers that were a striking arterial red. He had vanished for a while, ostensibly to locate more steamed buns. Clearly, he’d bitten off more than he could chew. Someone screamed. And screamed. And screamed. That was the point at which the clandestine meeting disintegrated into turmoil. ㄢㄋㄌ Cycle One has begun and will end at 9PM on the 17th October, GMT+8! Please stay tuned for further announcements, the player list, and role PMs Do note that we have made one major amendment to the use of the Assassination ability. This will be linked in the rule clarifications for ease of reference.

They are not, good catch. I felt the RS should be allowed to seppuku if they want to, as a strategic choice, but realised this morning that this could be developed into an exploit that makes this game unplayable. Currently talking with Hael and Fifth to work on a patch; will get back. Edited to add: Assassination will remain a one-time use ability but may now be used in any cycle instead of the kill. The consent of all active Eliminators will be required, with activity being defined as having posted in the doc that cycle.

1. No. 2. No. 3. No. All survivals are reflected the same way in the GM summary/statement. Otherwise, the write-up will take so many liberties that de Sade will seem a prude. (Don't worry, we're PG-9. Mostly. ) 4. I assume you are referring to an early EO defection as the late defection to Disco is fairly straightforward. Disco will know by default if the EO has joined them since they would be unable to make the kill every other cycle. They will also know who each other are—they just can't communicate. 5. The EO has to make a choice by the fifth cycle, as reflected in the rules and mechanics. The corollary is that an EO who refuses to choose (we can't force them to send in an action ) will not have a win condition and so will not be able to win or lose the game >>

Cheers - I'll put you in spec for now, but note you're willing to pinch-hit, and we'll make a decision on which list before the game begins.

Sounds reasonable to me. I'll amend my earlier vote. [X] Visit Firesoul with proposal I get your point on the network, but honestly, I'm just not feeling one particular option over the other so I'm happy to vote for anything interesting that comes up (I certainly don't consider my suggestion to be especially interesting, so I'm happy to go with something else.)

Cheers Let me know what you don't really understand? I'm happy to make sure everyone gets what's going on before the game starts. Brief tldr; under the spoilers on what makes this game different from a standard QF: Everything else is the same. The EO is the issue: adjusting the cycles upwards is okay, adjusting them downwards can be a bit tricky, though cycles 2-4 shouldn't be too bad either if we really can't do the numbers.

Not mine, but I liked this one (thanks, r/lotrmemes). LotR was my childhood, though it took me ages to get on to it. Had to read The Hobbit first as a gateway

Just get well soon, Chief >> I'm not feeling any of the particular things right now. I'm going to put down two tentative suggestions though I'm amenable to changing my vote if need be because my mind's kinda blank right now [X] Visit [Random god] with proposal The idea being to canvass the other gods and get some idea of where they stand on the dockworker proposal issue, and see if we can secure/sway a vote or two. It'll probably be dependent on charm, unless we can talk them into an arm-wrestling match, I suppose We know where Coinspender stands, and I don't think we'll sway him, but the others are worth checking out. [X] Research into establishing a network to help petitioners This is admittedly vague. But we weren't able to help the petitioner the last week, and I'm dubious about our success going forward. At least, we need to know what resources we have, and what SB's priesthood needs to be in a position to help his petitioners. Who handles our funding, do we have connections to get them work placements, or medical treatment, etc. (Off the top of my head, if we did better with the other gods, maybe we could work out a deal such that our petitioners get care from Firesoul in exchange for her petitioners getting some kind of service or other from us. I also think we don't necessarily need to run a hospice if Firesoul can already handle it quite well - we should be looking for something that SB himself can do.) Part of this research should be engaging our priesthood for ideas, I think. They're the ones who're gonna be running most of this system, which means we need to know how they think about the issue, and what they would need for it to be effective.

Hi in, adding you to the list Resistance is good fun, has to be said. Just to note: the M'Hael and I are hoping for 14-15, so we won't have to do anything weird with shifting the Lancelot - ahem, I mean, Embedded Operative cycles. So if you're interested, we could do with a few more names! But if that's not workable, we'll manage as well.

Oooh yeah, converters are great I'm partial to piston-fillers myself, but I do have quite a few c/c pens! I've yet to try using the wet paintbrush but I totally should at some point! Do you use a soft/flex/fude nib, or do you just vary your pressure for mild line variation? (Or I suppose, use the underside of the nib?) I used to use shimmer but it's a pain to clean out so not anymore. These days, I just love inks that shade well on paper, and so I favour Ku-jaku and Fuyu-syogun, Will have to check out Mont Blanc black!

I'll split the answer into points: -Yes and no: whenever bleeding is concerned, it always comes down to three factors—the pen, the ink, and the paper. Some kinds of cheap paper hold up well to fountain pens, some expensive notebooks feather and bleed like toilet paper. Some inks are dry, which helps restrict the result. Some are wet which means bleeding. Pens that are wet (put out a lot of ink) and have a very broad nib (thick lines) will result in disaster on bad paper. For best results with cheap paper, you want a dry pen with a dry ink that puts down a thin, fine line. -Mostly it's in terms of pressure. A ballpoint requires you to press down on the page. A fountain pen that is in good working condition (note: not all pens start out that way!) will write the moment it is touched to paper, due to its own weight. There are arguments that fountain pens are more eco-friendly since you refill them directly or refill cartridges but I'm not convinced and the only back of the envelope calculation we have shows it's indeterminate. Basically: you do get some special nibs, which you can't with a ballpoint. Nibs that are bouncy just gives really great tactile writing experience but that's my personal preference not everyone shares. The last thing is ink: you can get ink with remarkable shading, sheen, and shimmer, and now even multi-coloured inks. That isn't possible with ballpoints and the ink was the original draw factor for me. -How long a normal cartridge lasts depends on how thick and how wet your pen writes. As a student, I had a cartridge last for a week, but I didn't have a full course load and I was using a fine and dry nib. Other fountain pens use filling mechanisms that store more ink and can take longer to empty. I have a Moonman M2 that stores all the ink directly in the pen body. So it takes me months of admittedly sporadic writing to empty it. -Fair enough! I'll note though that while it's definitely a hobby that can get pricey, a lot of my everyday use fountain pens range between a buck or two bucks. Three tops. But the trade-off is they're cheap Chinese pens and sometimes you have to tune them because they won't write just out of the mailbag.

Any fountain pen writers out there? I fell down the rabbit hole last year after picking up a Lamy Safari with some book vouchers, and now I'm just spending even more time writing things down than before. Favourite pens/inks?

No worries, exams come first - good luck, dude! Hope to catch you around in a game sometime!

Noted with thanks — am definitely not planning on creating the spec doc until after Cycle 1 goes live.

No worries, I've shifted you to the spec doc list, though hopefully you won't be that bored Yes - bottom line is that the earliest possible choice (currently Cycle 3) gives the Embedded Operative an extra life (they chose the Thug lyfe) and if they choose to be Evil/side with Discovery, then then they get partial Evil powers but not complete ones. If the EO chooses to stick it out to Cycle 5, despite being crunchy and fragile, they either become a full Evil team member, or they become (essentially) a second Reform Spy Handler, since they will then know the Reform Spy's identity.