Arraenae

Alev whirled around, ready to gut the source of that noise. But, of course, it was only Neris, smug, smiling, far too clever for her own good Neris. Nothing dangerous. Alev relaxed. "It's not the Cthaeh, that's supposed to be in a medow," Alev said, "but you know what the elders say. You're not supposed to be out here. Go back to camp." Alev took a look at the tree -- entrancing, beautiful, swaying in the wind -- then back at the girl in front of her. She didn't trust Neris to get back to camp by herself. First Locke and now Neris. When did I become the baby-minder?Alev grumbled to herself. "Don't you have a stage to build? I'll walk you back," she said.

On C1, Devotary started with RP and placed a random vote on Snipexe. C2, Devotary really seems to pick up in effort and activity. They also look like they've read the thread C1, because they vote on Fifth based off of his C1 actions. Interestingly, Wonko voted on Devotary C2. Based off of their interaction, where Devotary attacks Wonko for what looks like a genuine elim slip, I think Devotary is probably village. Then Devotary votes on Snipexe, for something that looked really suspicious without knowing Snipexe and I were lovers. They also remove the vote too, appearing pretty responsive to evidence (not that it would've mattered for an elim, since Steel was village). I also trust Eternum for starting that lynch train on Wonko, even if it didn't go anywhere. Honestly, I don't want to vote on Wonko now because I'm scared that he might have some sort of Jester ability that kills everybody who voted to lynch him. Maybe not rational, sure, but this game has secrets, and I remember QF25 >.>

In Azir, the Voidbringers are suing the Azish for using them as slaves, so they clearly have other possible actions. The Voidbringers that are attacking are generally from areas with cultures that promoted going to war as solutions. By this point, I think the best solution, morally, might be for the Voidbringers to form their own countries, or be integrated into the countries that they've worked in as full citizens, but that's probably not going to happen immediately.

...bah, I thought all of the elim roles had secrets. I should go reread them >.>

Uh, how do you know these things?

...okay, maybe it doesn't have to be the Cthaeh's tree Maybe it's just a nice, innocent tree standing all by itself that looks like the Cthaeh's tree enough for some troupemembers to panic at the sight of someone willingly walking towards it...

“You are dismissed,” the Master said. He didn’t bother to disguise the impatience lacing his voice. “Should I decide to admit you into the University, I will call you back after interviewing the other candidate.” Alev nodded and scrambled out of her chair, out of the interviewing booth. The moment she left the room, she breathed a huge sigh of relief. “Hey, what did he ask?” Azlin asked. Like Alev, she’d cleaned up for the interview, but anybody could see that Azlin cleaned up much, much more nicely. Her red hair framed her face in soft curls, instead of a limp mess, and she wore one of Ma’s dresses, the nicer type set aside for events like this. It fit Azlin well, accentuating her neckline and narrow waist. Alev, who was too tall and gangly to fit in Ma’s clothes, had to make do with a borrowed, old dress about twenty years out of fashion. But, well, there was no sense in holding that against her baby sister. “Some weird questions,” Alev said. “He, uh, wanted me to describe the wind for him? Lots of math, too, I think I failed those…” Alev thought back to the interview and cringed. “He asked what Therodion said about ‘the power relations between inanimate objects and sapient beings as illustrated by the chair.’” “Next!” the Master called. Azlin blanched. “Don’t worry, you’ll do fine,” Alev said. She hugged Azlin. “Go.” The next ten minutes were agony. Alev paced around the waiting room, from wall to wall to wall. She tried breaking out into a jog, but the borrowed dress tangled around her legs too much to properly widen her stride. The answers she’d given to the Master echoed in her mind, the inadequacies within becoming more and more clear each time she ran over her answer again. “The wind is, well, different depending on time and location,” was that really the best Alev could come up with? She cringed. Demonsin, this had been such a mistake. Alev wiped her palms on her dress. She’d roped Ma into spending money for this interview, and then had roped Ma into letting Azlin accompany her to Imre so she wouldn’t be alone. Azlin’s interview had been an unexpected bonus, too, but nobody expected her to get in. Not that anybody expected Alev to get in either. “Alev? I would like to see you again.” Alev froze. Then, she ran back to the interview room, tangling old-fashioned skirts be damned. “Please take a seat,” the Master said absentmindedly. His eyes were fixed on Azlin with a faintly pleased look. “After giving the matter much consideration, I have decided to admit you both to the University.” Alev broke out into a grin and hugged Azlin. She wanted to jump on the table and dance a victory jig. All those months and months of studying had paid off after all! And Azlin too, that was a nice surprise. “Your tuition, Alev Zehradaughter, will be nine talents eight jots this term,” the Master said. Alev’s grin slid off her face and to the floor. Her mind whirled, trying to calculate how to pay for that -- maybe if Alev took a job or three here, sweeping the stables or working in a nearby tavern and living out in the streets…but no, there was no fooling herself. Alev wouldn’t be able to afford it, not if she worked herself to the bone. The missed opportunity felt like a knife to the gut, cutting far deeper than if she’d just been rejected outright. She blinked back hot tears. “And your tuition, Azlin Zehradaughter, will be four talents nine jots this term,” the Master said. He sent a sleazy smile towards Azlin, which Azlin returned. “I hope you will join us at the University this term, my dear.” Alev woke with a jolt, her knee aching with pain. Demonsin, she wanted to strangle that smug sonofa[redacted]! And Azlin too, what had she done? Alev had always suspected something was up, but she’d never thought Azlin would have resorted to that! Alev scrambled out of her tangled bedroll and reached for a practice machete. No, no, not a practice one, a real one! She snatched it out of its sheath and stalked out to the night, where she was ready for -- ready for -- The cool night breeze doused her anger a little. Ready for what, exactly? Master Elodin wasn’t here with the troupe in Fae, and Azlin was studying at the University, under his tutelage...no, Alev wouldn’t think of it that way. She refused to. Azlin was her sister, and that dream hadn’t shown the real version of events, just the insecurities that only plagued her when it was pitch-black and raining outside. Master Elodin had been bored and disinterested with both of them, she had to remember that. Alev went back and tucked the machete away. She didn’t feel like going back to sleep. Somehow, Fae had a way of bringing out the worst of her in these dreams. At least this wilderness was calming to look at. Alev looked around at the dark trees surrounding the camp, swaying softly in the wind, and at random picked one to walk to. It was the biggest one, black against the navy sky. Tiny lights -- fireflies, maybe? -- floated around its boughs, barely illuminating large, beautiful flowers. Colorful butterflies flashed around the tree. Alev set off at a stroll, ignoring the pain in her knee. Maybe by the time she walked to that tree and back, she’d shake off the effects of that dream. Alev is about to do something very stupid Anybody want to help an ignorant citygirl out? Also, what if we left Wonko for the kill roles and lynched someone else today? We're not going to get much more discussion out of lynching him.

Why would Drought's lover, if they were elim, put a vote on another elim and create a tie? That doesn't make any sense. Sure they might gain some trust, but at the same time they lose a powerful role (or what I'm assuming is a powerful role). Wonko PMed me (2nd in the chain, apparently), saying that Encanis has a limited but powerful kill and that the Cthaeh can heal. Later he clarified that he heard about Rhinna flowers and assumed they were from the Cthaeh, because of what he knew about the KKC books. @Orlok Tsubodai, does that match what he told you?

Bah, sorry about that. My motivation got completely stolen by a fanfic binge. I'll have something up later today. Off the top of my head, people I might look at: Devotary, Cadcom, Wonko, Eternum.

Very well then, I am completely suspicious of you and everything you stand for, you dirty, evil, lying, slinking shadow monster. Of course you're up to no good, I knew it all along! Alvron for most evil person ever! CHANDRIAN! Lemme go find my cold iron knife and stick it in you over the internet...

TBH, I'm being distracted by fanfic, which I probably shouldn't be, considering I still have school... Steel, I suppose, because I'd rather not have Snipexe die, and he's focusing on the Cthaeh a lot more than the elims. For some reason I'm getting a lot more village readings than elim readings this game, when usually it's the other way around. Tentative trust of Alv, because he at least feels like he's putting effort in to solve the game. Voting on me, pursuing Snipexe this cycle, etc. Of course, Alv's known for deliberately being hard to read, but at least his effort feels genuine. After getting Locke to go back to sleep, Alev went to her tent to retrieve her practice gear. Encanis...the Cthaeh...no, she shouldn't think about these things. Best to concentrate on practicing instead. She went to a mostly empty space and started shooing everybody else away. If anybody noticed that she was much closer to the reassuring light of the campfire than a few days ago, they didn't comment. After all, it was a perfectly natural reaction to being accidentally injured while juggling in the dark. It had nothing to do with the half-remembered superstitions of the Chandrian. Right? Alev was not a sissy, and she glared at all the troupemembers looking her way, as if she could prove it with the force of her eyes alone. First came the practice knives. Alev put two knives in her left hand, one in the right, and then tossed her right hand gently into the air. As the knife tumbled in an arc through the night sky, she transferred one of the knives in her left hand to her right hand. She tossed that one too, then caught the knife falling through the air, then transferred another one, slowly building up speed. Each knife flashed with the orange glow of the campfire, almost like little spurts of flame themselves. After a while, Alev's attention faded from the whirling blades and turned again to the rumors she'd heard around camp. Somebody had said that Elandera, -- Elandera! -- had actually been Cyphus in disguise. And others said that the rest of the Chandrian also lurked among the troupe. Alev, of course, didn't believe a word of what they said, but here in the dark, in the wilds of Fae, well, anything could happen...

Okay, it's fairly close to rollover now. I didn't want to do this, but it looks like I have to. Snipexe and I are lovers. When he put his vote on Steel, he wasn't doing it to swing the vote off of Elandera, he was doing it to swing it off of me. When he gets off of his plane in about 5 hours, he can verify this. @Alvron, @Steeldancer, @Devotary of Spontaneity, would you mind taking your vote off of Snipexe? I'd prefer to live this cycle.

I looked up rhinna flowers in the KKC wiki. They're flowers grown on the tree of the Cthaeh that can heal. Some people in the comments section speculated that they have something to do with the Chandrian and change people, so maybe the rhinna flowers can change alignment? Exact comments inside the spoiler:

Really, I think the real problem with that is that Orlok dislikes mayoring with a fiery passion, dating all the way back to his first few games of SE. Tragic story, from what I've heard. Though, maybe @Orlok Tsubodai should tell it himself

The Ciridae is confirmed village and starts out with another troupe role, so I don't think they're likely to be involved in an elim plot. Besides, what sort of elims want to kill one of their own D1? The only way I can think for the Ciridae to be working with the elims was if they were possessed by a Skindancer, and I think the chances of that happening D1 is almost 0.

I asked Orlok for a KKC city, and he gave me that. Edit: he says it's spelled Ralien, not Ralian. Going to edit that in my RP now.

Alev sighed. "I grew up in Ralien, Locke. You probably know more about these things than me." She thought about the stories Ma had told, but the more she tried to remember details, the more they slipped away from her. All she could remember was scraps of Ma's low, comforting voice, telling her and Azlin about how Encanis, for all his murderous power, was still limited, or how the Cthaeh could heal, somehow. But...no, it didn't matter, the little bugger was trying to distract her! Alev firmly clamped her arm around Locke's shoulders and herded him towards the tents. "Anyways, you should go to sleep now. If you're quiet and don't run away, I won't tell your parents. Fair?"

Looking back at C1: The biggest lynch trains were on Elandera, Steel, and me. Unfortunately, I don't think the Steel train and the one on me will give us sure reads, since most of them formed before Elandera was put up for the lynch. In the pre-manipulation vote count, Bort and Orlok voted on Elandera. Orlok called out Elandera for acting like an elim, so I'd say he's pretty much cleared of being an elim. I don't know if Bort was online during rollover, but if he was, he's probably not an elim either. The face that he threw a joke vote on Elandera and never took it off means that he's probably not an elim. Of course, it's possible that he's an elim who didn't expect vote manipulation or that the Ciridae would step in, so he's not as cleared.

Alev thrust the spear forward. "Kill!" she yelled. A dozen men shouted alongside her in unison. They moved together, as if they were one person, one mind, one body. Alev thrust the spear forward. "Kill!" she yelled. The ground shook with the force of their ferocity. They were together, as one, here under the hot sun in bootcamp. Unstoppable. Bravo Squad thrust their spears forward. "Kill!" they yelled. A dozen imaginary enemies were pierced by spears. Their corpses collapsed to the ground, utterly vanquished. "What is the spirit of the spear?" The drill sergeant asked. "Kill! Kill! Kill!" they yelled. "Alright! Drill's over. Put your spears away and give me four laps," the drill sergeant said. Alev groaned, but she followed the rest of the squad to the track. Once her feet hit the rough dirt circle, her stride widened, her breathing deepened, and she shook off the remains of the drill. Her legs complained, but she ignored it -- she was used to pain now, and anyways it was better than another mind-numbing spear drill. Out here, running on the track, she was free, as long as she kept pace with everyone else. Another few weeks in bootcamp and she'd be done. Then Alev could start sending money back to Ma and Azlin. And if Alev had to put up with a few pointless spear drills in the process, so be it. Alev woke with a start. Spear drills, ugh. But in the end, she'd put those lessons to good use. In the midst of battle, she'd thrust out with her spear, just as trained, and it had found soft flesh -- Alev wrenched herself away from that line of thought, trying to look away from the image in her mind's eye. Her mouth twisted, and she opened the tent flap to go outside. The night air caressed Alev's skin, cool and soothing. She walked out, looking up at the stars...but of course she couldn't recognize any constellations. Still, the sight caused her hands to unclench and the tightness in her mouth to smooth out. She couldn't quite run anymore, not after...well, after that incident, but she'd take advantage of the scenery around her. Alev closed her tent and set off at a brisk walk.

@Bort, I got it too.

Orlok's pretty obviously village, for the way he jumped on Elandera. I'd say the person who did the vote manipulation and the person who chose Elandera to die are probably village, though there is the issue of how the Ciridae knew there would be a tie to choose between. @Drake Marshall @randuir, is the Ciridae immediately contacted in case of a tie to decide at rollover, or do they have to send in the order during the cycle to have it take effect at rollover?

Alright, I'll admit, I don't like leaving the votes so close between me and the highest lynchee candidate Drought, Steel. Guess we'll see if you're the Cthaeh or not in ~2 hours.

Right. Just letting you know, depending on how the vote tally is closer to rollover, I might vote on you too. I don't particularly want you dead, but I know I'm village and I can't be as sure about your alignment >.> At least C1 ties don't kill anybody this game?

You had two options for a vote to save yourself at the time, Steel and me. Out of curiosity, why did you pick me over Steel?

@Alvron, it's probably the gap between AG4 and this. Nailing a lot of the elim team can do wonders for one's confidence. I am being aggressive now because I want to find the elims. The way I do that is by trawling over the previous cycles and looking at previous content. Now, usually that only happens during mid to lategame, since there isn't much content early game. Maybe I'm just being impatient, but I would prefer to generate content for analysis earlier so I can get started on heavy analysis sooner rather than later. And yeah, you could say I'm trying to appear village by doing this. I can't really respond to that, because historically, it seems like I gain trust by doing heavy analysis, which requires time and significant content to analyze. So...sure. I'm being aggressive. Why don't you see if that aggression helps net a few elims first?