Arrae

I think as long as the law doesn't prevent the Skybreakers from doing what they want, it'll be legal enough for them.

Since I don't know if the metals I've have access to beyond the starter stash are allomantically viable, I'd stick with Feruchemy. Feruchemical tin, pewter, gold, and bendalloy.

I'll sign up for this game as NeLaar, a kandra that has somehow worldhopped to First of the Sun. She has absolutely no idea what is going on and wants to return to Scadrial, but at the same time she can't resist learning more about the local culture... Does every player start with at least one Aviar? Curse my library for not having Sixth of the Dusk!

The Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson states that anybody can gain power provided they are poetic enough. To become a Knight Radiant and gain the associated powers, one must swear on the First Ideal and sincerely believe it. On a superficial level, what the First Ideal says is that life is more important than death, strong people should protect the weak, and performing an evil action with helpful consequences is not worth it. However, on a deeper level, the truths of the First Ideal are simply self evident truths spoken in a poetic manner. 1. Life before death. There was no death in the universe before there was life, because an object that was never alive can never be dead. Therefore, the first death could only occur after the first life (as far as we know, the first living thing was a cell). 2. Strength before weakness. Many things, such as computers, nails, and books start out with the most strength they will ever have and degrade over time. This means that the universe follows a pattern of strength and then weakness. 3. Journey before destination. Obviously, to reach a destination, one must go through a journey. If no journey is taken, no destination can be reached. This destination may be as simple as "one millimeter over to the right", however, to reach that spot, one must move. This movement, small as it is, is still a journey. All of the things stated in the First Ideal are quite obvious, but speaking them gives one great power. Therefore, to attain great power, one only needs to state something obvious in a poetical manner. This has huge implications, especially in the world of politics, where many unobvious and untrue things are stated to gain power. This also empowers observant people, who can state obvious things they have noticed in order to gain superpowers.

Yep, you did. The greatest irony was that Renee became the thing she fought just moments before she died... but still found a way to help the Reckoners.

To answer Kipper's question, it is totally plausible that the entire PM transcript was made up and I allowed myself to be sacrificed for the cause. And it worked beautifully.

Los Angeles was beautiful, once. It was called the City of Angels: a prosperous city of millions, home to some of the world’s most famous landmarks, the American moviemaking industry, and the summer Olympics of 1932 and 1984. Visitors from around the world traveled to see it. At night, it lit up the sky with billions of twinkling lights. Now, Los Angeles was a corpse of a city. Ramshackle tents were pitched next to the remains of skyscrapers, debris littered the streets, and the famous Hollywood sign had long been torn down by an angry Epic. At night, the only thing lighting up the sky now were the occasional fires and explosions. Renee hated the night for what it did to her city. It washed out all the progress she’d made when Perseus had handed the city to her -- the farms, the solar panels, the newly working sewage -- but left just enough light to see what was missing. In a cruel twist of fate, the only buildings left standing were the UCLA residential buildings, the Olympic residential buildings of 1984. They would have been the Olympic residential buildings of 2032, if it hadn’t been for Perseus. Renee would have competed in the 2032 Olympics, if it hadn’t been for Perseus. She shook her head and stopped staring out the window. Now wasn’t the time to get sentimental. "Lady Renee?" a voice asked. "Someone said that they wish to see you." Renee turned and saw a mortal -- no, a young girl, barely older than ten-- standing in the doorway of what used to be a student dorm. The woman wore a maid's outfit and trembled visibly. Sparks, Renee hated how everybody tiptoed around her, just because they thought she was an Epic. At her skill level, she didn't need to be an Epic to tumble the way she did, and her other "powers" were just fancy bits of tech. It was a perfect combination for infiltrating Perseus's inner circle. Unfortunately, to impersonate an Epic, one had to speak like an Epic, act like an Epic, and kill like an Epic. At this point, Renee was probably no better than the creatures that she hated so much. “Who is it?” Renee demanded. “Uh, they said that they would met you on the line. After they said that, they ran away,” the girl said. On the line. Online. Sparks, this generation of kids had never seen the internet before. Wifi had been the first thing to go when ordinary people started rampaging and turning into Epics. Luckily, the Californian branch of Reckoners knew a few people who’d worked for Google and HP. “You are dismissed,” Renee said. The girl fled from the room with a terrified squeak. Renee stood up and shut the door and windows. It was never possible to be too cautious as an Epic impersonating Reckoner, especially when surrounded by Epics with powers like Enhanced Explosions or Neural Imploding or Matter Disruption. Then she placed her thumb against the doorknob of her closet, which had a hidden fingerprint scanner, and pressed her other hand against a small pressure sensor concealed in the wall. “Down with Perseus,” Renee said. Something inside the drawer clicked and the doors swung open to reveal a closet full of clothes -- gymnastics suits of different colors, camouflage outfits designed to allow sneaking, sets of civilian clothing, an invisibility suit created from the cells of a dead Epic, and a hoodie with the words “I ❤ LA”, a last bit of defiance against Perseus’s renaming of the city. Renee reached for the hoodie and took out the cell phone hidden inside. It was a Knighthawk phone, which meant that it should be secure-- even the Google employees couldn’t hack it (not that it didn’t stop them from trying), but eventually they’d managed to find a way to create a way to connect it to the old Drive servers, which was supposedly secure from Knighthawk. Renee turned it on, typed in the password, and opened Google Drive. Anonymous Axolotl was in the doc waiting for her. She never knew who it was, or even if the same person contacted her every time. After all, it was never a good idea to tell your spy everything, even if the enemy couldn't read minds. Change of plans, Axolotl said. You’ve been summoned by Perseus. Prepare to take out as many of the Epics as you can. So the Epics had finally caught on. Renee didn’t feel surprised, just empty. She’d known this day was coming ever since Perseus started holding his little “trials”. Will do, Renee typed. She turned off the phone and crushed it under her heel. She wouldn’t need it where she was going. Five minutes later, loaded with enough weapons to supply a small guerrilla band, Renee jumped out of the window, did two backflips, and tumbled into the night. It was time to give Perseus a last parting gift from Los Angeles, the City of Angels, would-be home of the 2032 Olympics. EDIT: Added a sentence.

The kill on Araris had the signature chalk dust and explosion. I was confused because two people were mentioned. @Kipper I don't have time to respond to your post, but I wanted to know about Telepath #1 because I had a free PM at the time and wanted to establish a direct link, but I also didn't want to contact a Reckoner Telepath.

@ Adavantos why did you attack Araris? Accelerated healing protects from the lynch once. Is it possible to have double accelerated healing (and nothing else, because that would be OP)? I have a minor suspicion that Mailliw is an eliminator, because he hasn't been defending himself very much, just surviving the lynches. I feel like he's got some sort of protection from either him or the rest of his team, so he doesn't care about being lynched or not.

Mailliw seems to be really tenacious... Was Araris's death an inactive kill or matter disruption kill?

I don’t think you’re suspicious because SD thought you were suspicious and then died, I think you’re suspicious because you were in contact with SD before they died, so you could have killed them to shut down village communication. Also, I don’t want to be killed for my role alone -- what are you going to do when you find I’m innocent? Kill all of the other telepaths too? What if the Reckoners don’t have a telepath? I can’t deny that I’m a telapath, but saying that I must be a Reckoner because I’m a telepath is exactly what SD thought about you.

No, SD just said that they were suspicious of you and thought you were a telepath.

SD PMed me on C1, but stopped responding somewhere around C2. Transcript between me and SD (can I copy and paste what they said into here? If I can, I'll edit it in.) C1 SD: Confesses having telepathy and apologizes for voting for me. Asks if I have any useful information. Me: Says that the whole Anamaximder thing seems really sudden. Says that since it's for a change in behavior, I can't comment because I don't know what Anamaximder's behavior is normally like. Me: Asks if SD has read a book called The Young Elites. SD: Says yes. Denies (but probably means yes to) getting RP name from it. Asks if I have any powers or anything that could be useful. Me: Says that Renee has something equivalent to burning pewter. Doesn't want to talk about roles. SD: Says that any information would be useful, and that they are in a PM with Kipper, who has claimed Not Telepath. Expresses distrust of what Kipper says. Says that Phatt says that the Reckoners could also have a Telepath, and says that they are pretty sure Kipper is a Reckoner Telepath. Me: Asks why SD thinks Kipper is a Reckoner. SD: Repeats that they are in a PM with Kipper and says that Kipper's first post was about Telepathy. Also says that Kipper is deviating from standard playstyle. Asks if they have missed anything that suggests that Kipper is an Epic. Me: Expresses lack of knowledge of Kipper's playstyle and calls Kipper an "internet troll", references Kipper's profile picture. Has no opinion on Kipper. SD: Says that they will wait to see for Kipper to reveal himself. C2 SD: Notes that I have Enhanced Relationships. Me: Confirms what SD has said. SD: Says that I will die... what easily (not sure what this part means). Asks if I have another power. SD never mentions who the third person the PMed was, but they bring up Kipper's name a lot. Maybe SD was killed because they contacted a Reckoner? Kipper, what do you think?

I think the quote that made me say that was this one, from the MR10 Diagrammist doc:Well, in the last LG if Rae ended up being evil town would have been screwed a lot earlier since I info dumped to her on the principle alone that I would expect a traitor kill role to start killing in the very beginning. I think I misremembered the circumstances of that, and remembered it as “only traitor vigilantes kill D1”, which isn’t what you said. Sorry about that. Good thing I'm not RPing a journalist this game...

What's the "useful role" you have? In the MR10 Diagrammist doc, I think Adavantos said that he considers vigilante roles killing as soon as possible something only an eliminator would do. I'm curious why he's suddenly changed his opinion -- what if he's not actually a matter disrupter? Anamaximder was innocent, so I think someone in the bandwagon must have been an eliminator. Previously I thought that meant that Orlok must be an eliminator, but I think I might be tunneling slightly on him. I also have a history of misjudging Orlok's alignment, so any gut feelings I have are probably wrong.

Elbereth, is there a particular reason why you're voting for Elkanah? Does the writeup give hints about what type of protection people have? If it does, that means that at least one person has accelerated healing, and the other person has either accelerated healing or forcefield protection. So Anamaxinder was an epic all along. I think that points to either Orlok, Hellscythe, Bridge Boy, or Mailliw as being eliminators trying to start a bandwagon.

Since everybody seems to be confused about this: about half an hour before turnover, I voted for PK but forgot that green out Orlok's name. Kynedath pointed it out to me and I was able to green Orlok's name right before turnover. Looks like we have at least one matter disrupted here.

Whoops will fix immediately.

PK, that’s a very sudden vote switch. Why do you think Orlok is more suspicious than BB? I know that I was voting for Orlok, but I don’t like vote changes with no explanation, regardless of who the vote is changed too.

"Lo, Woman," A man dressed in white shouted. "Pardon my interruption, but I've come to kill you, you see. I do hope you don't mind; not that you really have any say in the matter." Renee stared at the man. Just who exactly was this person? He was obviously deranged, but he had wings of some type -- he must be an Epic. Or one of those mortals known as Reckoners that were so ill-equipped to handle the awesomeness of an Epic that they were driven insane. Like that Star-Rogue or whatever who’d claimed that Renee must be a mortal. “Are you sure you haven’t escaped from a mental ward?” she yelled. “Perseus’s doctors will be able to take care of you, as long as you don’t mind swearing fealty to him.” Renee stepped off of the balcony railing. “Come, I can show you the way to Perseus’s hospital.” ----- I think the whole Anamaxinder thing was pretty sudden, but I don't know his playstyle enough to judge. However, this reminds me of the Shallan thing in LG15b where an eliminator jumped onto an infrequent poster. For that, I'm voting for Orlok. Adavantos, sorry for joining in with the insults, but you decided to start this grudge. And I've been ninja'd. Humph. EDIT: color

Renee vaulted off of the ground and onto the balcony railing, landing in a perfect split, with her legs stretched out across the railing. Then, she swiveled 180 degrees raised her hands in a high V. Below, mortals cheered as they watched her. Renee waved at the crowd and did a triple turn in tuckstand while keeping her hands clear of the railing. For most tumblers, a triple turn in tuckstand on a rail this thin would mean death, or at the very least injury. However, Renee was an epic with enhanced strength-- she could do triple turn in tuckstands blindfolded with her hands tied behind her back if she wanted. Renee stood up on the railing and the crowd of mortals screamed with adoration. She took two steps forwards and paused. The mortals hushed. Renee swung her hands backwards and then exploded upwards in a roundoff and two double backflips. She landed feet first, inches away from the edge of the railing. She turned and took three steps before launching into two back handsprings, a layout full, and a korbut. The bars were hers. This was what gymnastics really was about, this freedom of movement, this defiance of gravity, this epitome of greatn-- “Lady Renee, Lord Perseus wishes to see you!” someone shouted. Renee turned and saw a young mortal, no older than ten, dressed in Perseus’s colors. He must be a messenger. “Well, tell him I’m not a dog to be summoned! I’ll go when I want, not when Perseus tells me to!” The mortal shook his head. “Lord Perseus wishes to see you immediately. He says it’s urgent.” Renee sighed. So, old Perseus was trying to flex some muscle, was he? Well, she’d go. After she finished her routine. “Perseus can wait!” she shouted. Renee turned back to the crowd and prepared to make another pass on the beam. ----- Sorry for not posting earlier Hellscythe, but I didn't want to post anything before I put an RP in here. Adavantos, you're still not here yet? I know that you're probably not an eliminator again, but I'm feeling a little paranoid. Last time you joined the thread halfway, you were evil. If you're normally asleep during this part of the day, sorry. But I want a response. EDIT: greened out name.

...says the person who has happily lied, murdered, and broken MR10. Yeah, he's definitely a trustworthy guy and not an utter slontz. Just ask his victims!

Everything hurt. Arina opened her eyes and quickly shut them again. Stormfather, everything hurt, from her eyes, which were blinded by the sunlight despite the fact that her eyes were closed, to her head, which throbbed with an aching pain, to her feet, which she could barely feel beyond the sensation of pins and needles, to her stomach, which felt like it was trying to digest itself. Arina cracked an eyelid open and saw a cocoon of orange painspren surrounding her. Stormfather, how long had she been out? She hoped the Sons of Honor hadn't noticed her disappearance. Or her editor. Storms, if she'd missed a deadline... well, dying to that blackbane would have been a better fate. Arina raised her head to look around and her muscles immediately started screaming in protest. Almighty above, that surgeon must have put enough poison in that food to kill a chasmfiend! Unfortunately for that surgeon, Arina was much more intelligent than the average chasmfiend. She hadn't spent three whole years training undercover as a surgeon in Karbranth for nothing -- with the right antidotes, the most lethal poisons could become mere annoyances. Well, first things first. Time to get out of wherever the surgeon had dumped her body and back into civilization. Arina forced herself into a semi-upright position, and started shuffling back towards her quarters. ----- For the second time in a week, Arina sat before a plate of probably poisoned food and contemplated whether eating it would be worth the risk. On one hand, she didn't want to be poisoned again. On the other, she didn't want to give the Diagrammist cook sitting in front of her any possible reason to be offended. Arina inspected the man in front of her for a moment. Despite the fact that he was shorter than her, his stocky build and missing left ear suggested that he could easily kill someone like her, and there was a deadness in those mauve eyes that suggested that he had killed someone like her -- multiple someones. Arina smiled at Agrigar. "You've mentioned a Diagram multiple times," she said. "What is it?" Agrigar frowned. "You're not eating," he said. "Don't worry, I didn't poison your food, scholar." Storms. He'd noticed. Arina dipped her spoon into the stew and cautiously tasted it. It didn't taste like there was any poison in it, but any half-decent cook could mask the taste of blackbane. At least the stew tasted good. "I'm a journalist, not a scholar. The Devotary of Truth is rather picky about these names," she said. "But you're avoiding the question. What is a Diagram?" "Loosely speaking, the Diagram is a set of instructions on how to save the world," Agrigar said. "It was created by King -- well, let's just say that it's accuracy is assured. It contains information on how to ensure the survival of the human race, including how to manage the Desolation." Arina sipped her soup as she listened to Agrigar speak. Storms, this was much more complicated than she'd imagined. Luckily, Agrigar didn't seem to mind talking to her. Maybe she could schedule a follow-up interview, if she survived until then. ----- The Diagrammists have just destroyed the remains of the Sons of Honor and the Ghostbloods, Arina wrote. She stopped writing for a moment and considered. I've found a source within the Diagrammists, and I think he can be trusted. The spanreed stayed still for a few seconds. Then it started moving. Who is it? Arina's editor, Tarah, asked. Agrigar Leiken, Arina wrote. He's an Alethi lighteyes. Kills the people that the Diagram tells him to kill. Tarah didn't respond, which meant that she was thinking. Storms, if Tarah ever learned about the risks Arina had taken to get an interview with Agrigar, or that she'd followed Agrigar around on his trips to murder people to confirm that he really was an assassin... well, it was the type of risk that either made a career, or left a journalist dead. The spanreed suddenly jerked on the paper, as if Tarah was thrashing around. theyre here, Tarah wrote. diagrammists are here weve been compromised RUN The spanreed shot away from the paper and cracked against a wall, as if Tarah had thrown it. No, not Tarah. The Diagrammists. Arina stood up and tried to ignore the frantic pounding of her heart. Storms, what was happening? How had the Diagrammists found out? Had Agrigar betrayed her? Had the Diagrammists killed him for talking to her? No, no time to think about that. She needed to move! Arina grabbed her notes and her bags of spheres. Everything else was unnecessary. She needed to storming run! But a carriage would probably be faster. Tarah's office was in Kholinar, so she still had a few weeks before the Diagrammists got here. Wait, weren't there Diagrammists here? All it would take was one spanreed message... Storm it! She burst out of the door and looked around the streets wildly. Nothing but a roiling mass of purple fearspren. Almighty, what if the Diagrammists could track Arina by following the spren? Stop it, that wasn't a rational thought, fearspren couldn't be tracked, the Diagrammists might not know she was here, that would buy her some time to escape. Or maybe it was an elaborite prank no that wasn't possible Tarah wouldn't do that. Where were the carriages? Arina could hear the sound of a chull's claws clacking on the stone floor; they had to be around somewhere! There! Up ahead, a carriage, all in black. Arina clutched her notes and her spheres and sprinted towards the chull. "Excuse me, do you require assistance?" a darkeyes carriage driver asked. Arina stopped and panted. Sweat drenched her forehead, her armpits, her feet, her -- stop, focus on the carriage driver. "Yes," she managed to say. "I need to get away." She fumbled with her pouch of spheres and waved two diamond marks. Storms, the carriage driver probably thought she was crazy. Still, he took the spheres and helped her into the carriage. "Do you have a destination in mind?" the carriage driver asked. Arina paused. Stormfather, did she know a place safe from the Diagrammists? Urithiru was in the middle of nowhere, which made it impossible to escape from. "Just circle around until I tell you to stop," she said. Hopefully this would be better than just staying in one place. ----- Eventually, the repetitive motion of the carriage lulled Arina to sleep. ----- When Arina woke up, the first thing that she was aware of was that the carriage had stopped moving. The second thing she noticed was that she wasn't the only person in the carriage anymore. She stood up and backed away from the other person. Storm it! Storm it storm it storm it storm it storm it storm it storm it storm -- "Really, if you wanted to escape you should have used the Oathgate," Agrigar Leiken said. Stormfather, there was someone else next to him, another Diagrammis, a darkeyes. Agrigar shook his head disapprovingly. "I thought you were more intelligent than that." Okay. This was a dangerous situation. Nothing Arina hadn't experienced before. She could try to pretend that. "What do you want?" she asked. Almighty, she almost sounded calm! "Why are you here?" Carriage door behind her. She could run for it. Arina shifted he weight onto her back foot. Agrigar tsked. "I wouldn't recommend doing that," he said. "See, my friend here is pretty handy with a shardblade. He can chase down a journalist fairly quickly, and he will if he has to." Storm it. Arina was already dead, departed, deceased in every way except that her soul hadn't yet left her body. Her knees threatened to buckle. By Nalan's left hand, was that a cake in Agrigar's hand? She remembered what a cake had done to Moros. Almighty, she'd witnessed Moros's death in an attempt to find observed scenes! "Just cut the pleasantries already," Agrigar's partner said. Agrigar sighed with annoyance. "Very well. You've proven your interest in the Diagram already," Agrigar said. "Unfortunately, my superior says that we can't afford to let people know about the Diagram and live unless they wish to carry it out. We'd like for you to become a Diagrammist." Wait. What? Arina must be hallucinating. Or dreaming. Or crazy. Because Agrigar most definitely hadn't said that he wanted Arina to become a Diagrammist. "Diagram or death," Agrigar prompted. "It's your choice." Storms! Storms, this was a no-brainer. "Diagram," Arina croaked out. Then she collapsed onto the carriage seat. Almighty willing, she might actually survive this. "Unfortunately, we'll have to destroy your notes," Agrigar said. How did he switch from threats to cheerfulness so quickly? "I would have been fine letting you go, but Graves here says that discovery by anyone not carrying it out will be disastrous for the world." He brought out the small festive cake. "Here, have something to eat." Arina shook her head mutely. She didn't trust that cake. Storms, she didn't know if she could trust anything or anyone at this moment. Agrigar shrugged. "Your loss," he said. Then he popped the cake into his mouth. "Get some sleep," Graves said. "Tomorrow we're officially introducing you to the Diagram." ----- Thoughts on MR10: Not much, but I think it might have gone better for the villagers if the Sons of Honor hadn't sent every single rank PM straight to a Diagrammist. It was interesting seeing a game from the dead doc. If only Seonid had more luck with the redirects... @Adavantos Be careful what you wish for. This is what happens when you say that you wish I'd been a Diagrammist. EDIT: typos in the text.