DrakeMarshall

Uther climbed the last flight of stairs, making sure the mark on his wrist was adequately concealed. After all these years, he was used to finding ways to hide it. He was met with an impressive array of food, drink, and celebration. Everyone was more or less enjoying the festivities, some of them clumped together and some of them watching on the sidelines. Everybody seemed slightly on edge. They feel it too. Something is going to happen soon. Uther was unsure what his place in the ranks of the Knights Radiant were, but it occurred to him that standing around and waiting wouldn't help matters. But first... Was that chouta? Uther worked his way over to the table and got a double helping of the herdazian food. Better. He found and unoccupied table and seated himself, eating quickly. I'll gladly take advantage of a free meal, but I have more pressing reasons to be here... An artistically designed sphere lamp illuminated the table. Uther sucked in just a little bit of stormlight from the colorful display, not enough to perceptibly dim the lamp. A ripple of cold energy washed through him, clearing his mind and prompting him to act. Then one of the globes of light in the lamp moved. A firemark, judging by the hue and brightness. What? Uther searched for its ruby glow, but found only a mix of blue and violets in the lamp. Are my eyes playing tricks on me? At any rate, it was time to take action tonight. Uther might not be a Ghostblood anymore, but he still knew a thing or two about tactics. I'll be needing allies and friends in all this... Judging by what Kholin is doing it's pretty obvious we aren't supposed to fight the desolation alone. He decided he would try to contact some of the other initiates privately later on. In the meantime... He would try and meet some of these people. Uther scanned the room, looking or someone to start with. There. That one. I'm bored, and a discussion about the meaning of truth should be a worthy distraction. Uther approached the one now standing alone and scrutinizing the celebrations. "So... The truth. I was unaware that a particular group had taken the name for themselves... Tell me, by what do you divine what is true? At the root, do you accept a particular method as a reliable means to learn the truth? I am called Teresh, by the way." @Hemalurgic_Headshot Okay, so. first of all, I'm using the convention of putting OOC comments in purple. Second of all, in regard to tracking honor... I doubt we can do that very easily from what Aman's told us. However. If I were an elim I would totally start out by trying to bond a spren as fast as I can. There are two huge advantages to that: first of all, you are depriving the townies of some of their most useful powers. Second of all, you have access to those powers, which gives you marginal credibility and lets you use them against the ton. Thing is, an elim who bonds a spren is also going to lose that bond eventually. So. Point is... If we every confirm that someone had a bond, but lost it... We should be rather suspicious of that person. Which, in turn, might encourage elims not to bond carelessly... Hm... Anyone else have thoughts on how likely it is for an elim to try and bond? I suppose I should ask, @amanuensis (mentions are broke...), if just one of the elims bonds a spren, does that restrict the entire faction from using their powers, or just that one player? Because if it doesn't restrict the whole faction, I think that makes the elims dangerously powerful...

Uther... No, Teresh walked the halls of Urithiru, the holy city. Such a majestic city... Yet to him it was quickly becoming commonplace. Strange, how quickly everything was happening now... Without thinking about it, he had walked to the square. The square where it all happened. The square where he had died. Or failed to do so properly, anyway. A war had taken place here. The Ghostbloods, the Sons of Honor... And of coarse, the Diagramists. Always them. The murderers. The ones who offered a false peace, the ones who played off the division in our useless factions to serve a ruinous agenda... He could bring them to justice. He wasn't defenseless any more, nor was he under orders any longer to reign in his... talents. No. That is not courage. You have another purpose. The words came unbidden to his mind, almost like... Almost like they didn't come from me. And yet, at the same time, the voice was part of him. He knew it spoke truly. He had heard rumors... The Windrunner, Captain Kaladin, talking to himself in public. And then there were those visions of Highprince Kholin's... Back before the everstorm, he'd been ordered to recover a transcript of these rumored visions, but then Sadeas had gone and managed to leak them to the public. Storms. Did all radiants contract schizophrenia then? This is something I will have to ask about... There is a long journey ahead.

The way I see it, it's a little bit like a game of rock paper scissors. A huge army could beat a guy wielding nightblood, simply because he would run out of investiture before he could kill them all and nightblood would hungrily devour his spark of life. Super-powerful magic users (for example the Lord Ruler, era 2 Marsh, era 2 Kelsier, the God King of Hallandren, or one of the ten Heralds of the Almighty) are capable of destroying entire armies on their own with relatively little difficulty. A guy wielding nightblood could beat super-powerful magic users, because it seems to me that nightblood is a fantastic anti-magic weapon, being immune to all forms of investiture itself and being able to cut things in the spiritual realm (the source of all magic). So... Cosmere themed rock / paper / scissors: Nightblood / Army / God Emperor Also, on an unrelated tangent... The way I see it, there are two radiant orders that would have been a good match of nightblood. The Skybreakers and the Dustbringers. The Skybreakers because they are supposed to judge the evil and good and destroy the evil. The Dustbringers, because their primary purpose is destruction, and they hold no illusions about that and focus their destructive capabilities on obviously evil forces like voidbringers. It's sort of a shame that nightblood ultimately fell into the hands of a Skybreaker and not a Dustbringer. Because I don't think heavy-handedness is a good trait for someone carrying nightblood around...

I'm sorry, I wasn't actually aware of Naihar's history, it was just since you said "Alethela" and not "Alethkar." For what its worth, it'll still be an interesting reveal, because I for one haven't the slightest idea how you are going to explain this (nor did I look in very much detail into the game you linked).

Also... Alethela? The only person who would still be investigating something from the Shadowdays is a veristitalian scholar. Actually though nice to have ya around I liked your intro

Journey before destination, Sareth.

Aww braize, I died. Well played Desmond, well played. For what its worth though, I think I did a pretty decent job for it being my first evil role in SE. Also sheep I like your writeup. It was a fitting finale.

Hooray! I finally got around to making this. I'm sorry but it will probably be sort of long. You named this game "Journey before Destination" and set it in Urithiru right after WoR. You've made this too tempting. If there is ever any time where it is applicable to bring back a character, it is now. There was no avoiding his death. Uther understood that and accepted it. Through some twist of fate, the Ghostbloods had been defeated. He stares at the triple-diamond insignia, tattooed on his wrist. It stood for a higher cause... But the world has a way of turning those on their heads. Uther had seen it happen to plenty of other causes... Storms, he had overthrown his share of them. Now the Ghostbloods were in danger of the same. Not that he would live to see it happen. He stands up on a crate, his back to the window, elevated above the crowd. He clears his throat to address the warring factions one last time before they take him. "Diagramists. I cannot help but salute you. You were uncovered so early, and through some miracle you have manipulated the crowds into doing your bidding instead of bringing you to justice. The battle is yours. But you know what? This world is ending. Regardless of what your Diagram might tell you, you are not equipped to deal with the storm that has come. Enjoy your victory while it lasts." "Sons of Honor. My death sets you free of your obligation to the Diagramists. Our numbers are cut down, and the Ghostbloods are no longer the threat to you we were. When the Ghostbloods had the choice, most of us voted against a Bondsmith's victory. Now you have the choice. You must decide. Are you really committed to working with the Diagramists?" "Ghostbloods. All I can do is wish our edgedancer hadn't let the Diagramists know they were discovered. As it is, our forces are greatly weakened. With the losses we sustain, you will no doubt be maneuvered into a pact with the others, which is in truth our best and only chance at survival. I don't know what the future holds, nor will I live to know it one day, but... For what it's worth, good luck." "And as for the Bondsmith... Most importantly the Bondsmith... You only want to unite us. Well, perhaps I can't stop you. But after the thrill of your victory settles down, and after you return to your daily business... I want you to face yourself with a hard question. You are a Bondsmith, and you spoke an oath to unite instead of divide. But what of your means of doing so? You have built your precious peace on the corpses of people who did not agree with you. When the majority did not want to work together, you saw this as no impediment. You just killed them all. Problem solved. Journey before destination. The ends do not justify the means. It's such an easy lie to tell. Of coarse the ends justify the means; sometimes you need to make sacrifices for the greater good. The Diagramists would certainly tell you that. So too would the Sons of Honor, and, I realize, so too would the Ghostbloods. But when you tell yourselves "the ends justifies the means" you are tricking yourselves. You focus not on the end but on your ends. You choose to focus, not on the complete end result, but just on the small piece of it that you aimed to achieve. Your vision tunnels, and they see only the glory of your goals, not the price. Journey before destination, radiant. Even I know that." "I understand that nothing I can say at this point will change your mind. I don't intend to change your mind. But when the dust is settled, you will remember." Uther stands above the crowd. There was silence and blades leveled at him and anticipation for the day's end. The race was run. He draws his knife. Poisoned. A mix of powerful sedatives and a distillation of blackbane. The knife of a Ghostblood assassin. it would offer him a quick and painless death. He holds it out to the crowd, handle first. "Get it over with, then." Uther waited an agonizing eternity. He saw a triumphant glint in Sani's eye. Then she seized the knife from his outstretched hand and thrust it into his stomach. An unimaginable pain wracked his body, then... Nothingness. An unnatural numb spread from the wound as the poison quickly did its work. Uther felt his consciousness steadily draining away and his legs begin to give way. Sani's smirking face seemed to be growing more distant, and Uther realized he had been pushed out the window. For a moment, Uther felt the rush of wind in his ears as he fell through the air. Then he heard a crack as he hit the floor of the next level down, followed by a metallic thud as his knife landed next to him. The terrifying nothingness kept him from feeling the impact, the shattered ankle, or the countless cracked ribs. Tiny pinpricks of colored light scattered across Uther's blurred vision as the pouch of spheres at his side burst open and the glass balls rolled on the floor in front of Uther's head. Lights he couldn't escape, for the poison was acting swiftly and Uther could no longer move his neck. Dark, crimson-eyed forms encircled him, like carrion waiting for their next meal. Deathspren. Barely conscious, the words still echoed in his head. Journey before destination... I wonder where the journey will take me in death... Life before death. The lights in his vision extinguished all together. Uther saw only darkness... Did I just die? He wondered deliriously as consciousness slipped away. Then the light was inside him. A storm crashed through his veins, igniting his blood, purifying it. The light coming of Uther's skin was nearly blinding. The deathspren gathered around him evaporated like smoke in the wind before the relentless glow. Strength before weakness... All went dark again, and Uther slid into unconsciousness. The journey isn't finished. Uther awoke on the floor. He hadn't been very comfortable sleeping there anyway, and why was... Oh. That's right. I died. Somehow, the revelation did not surprise him. All things considered, Uther felt a remarkable clarity in thought. He readily understood what all this meant... He was one of them. He glanced at the knife-hole in his uniform and saw a scabbed over wound where a death-blow should have been. Stormfather... The diagram, the bondsmith... What of the Ghostbloods? NO. You do not return to them. I joined the Ghostbloods because they stood for a higher cause. Their destination was always worth the price, ever, always worth the price... The desolation had to be prevented. But they didn't prevent it, did they? Their bloodthirsty schemings and precarious alliances are as insignificant as cobwebs in a highstorm... Braize itself is loosed on Roshar, and voidbringers walk the earth. There is only one thing that could stand against it... One thing that has ever stood against it. The Knights Radiant have returned. Uther the soldier is dead. Uther the Ghostblood is dead. Uther the radiant is born. I wasted my life chasing a false destination, but today I have been given my life back... To dedicate to a true journey. Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination. Uther stood up, his left leg aching but still apparently holding his weight. He gathered the dun spheres strewn across the floor by him, and set his knife back in his belt. Where the hell am I, anyway? He wondered for a moment what he would do with his newfound life... Uther waited in the midst of a long line weaving through a very crowded part of Urithiru. Hopefully an emerging beard, a new outfit, and the public opinion that he was dead would keep any of his old associates from recognizing him. It's a risk... But this is the path before me. If Kholin is really refounding the Knights Radiant, then I will... must dedicate myself to it. In the last few days it has become clear to me that I am no radiant. I can breath stormlight, but... I should have known from the start. Like any discipline, it must be learned. Journey before destination. It feels strange, receiving this gift just in the right time and place to join Kholin's new order. After all I've seen, I'm not sure how I feel about Roshar's Almighty... But something out there meant for me to be here right now. Something real. "Speak the Words." a commanding voice called out to Uther. He realized with surprise that he was already at the front of the line. The crowd had their eyes fixed on him. The words. The words burnt into Uther's mind as he touched death and came back unscathed. "Life before death." Everyone meets death in the end, but the fight we fight before it takes us... That is what matters. "Strength before weakness." One day, there will be time to mourn and remember the terrors of the past. Today we face the storm, and we have to be strong. "Journey before destination." Destination is an illusion; there is only the endless journey... There is never an excuse to pursue a just goal in an unjust way. Uther met Dalinar's eyes. Storms that man has a presence. Truly, this was the one who would unite the Knights Radiant after centuries of broken oaths. "Breathe deep, and we'll know if your heart is true." I've never spoken oaths truer, or sworn to a cause more right. As he had practiced in the past few days, Uther sharply inhaled, sucking the light out of the clearmark Kholin extended. A cold surge of energy washed over him like a stormwall. He held the storm inside for a moment, experiencing the mix of clarity and frenzy it granted him, then exhaled to release it in a puff of shimmering mist. It was done. He saw a look of satisfaction cross Dalinar's face. "What is your name, that I might announce you to the world?" Dalinar asked. Aww braize. I had hoped I could explain this in a less public place... I have a feeling lying to this one would be a bad idea... Uther leaned in to Dalinar and spoke quickly and quietly. "I am called Uther... But that is between you and I. If you announce me as such, you will probably find me dead soon, radiant or no. You are to announce me as Teresh." A frown crossed Dalinar's face. He did not like the idea of deception. But he also realized Uther was dead serious, and after a pause he announced him as Teresh. Uther had no doubt a more complete explanation would be required of him soon. An explanation he was more than willing to give. Uther had a fresh start now, perhaps even a chance to atone for his past crimes. He had joined the Knights Radiant. Sign me up as Teresh (right now only Dalinar knows that my real name is Uther). I am excited to participate in this game. Aman I'll PM you my crime in the morning, I've gone without sleep for long enough to type the intro RP up and according to the countdown I should still have roughly a day and a half from now before sign-ups are closed.

Well I'll just say I'm rather glad for the extension. Things keep coming up, and while I probably could have gotten my introduction done today, it probably wouldn't have been as good as I would like.

Those calculations are a good ballpark estimate (1 breath's worth of stormlight is less than or equal to the amount of stormlight you could get in 192 hours), which is about as good as we can get for now. I would guess every two weeks you can expect at least one highstorm, and Vasher probably has a decent amount of gems to charge up but probably not an insane amount. In terms of fermi-estimation, that means the order of magnitude might be around a small pouch of charged broams. Sanderson hasn't himself made up his mind about a more precise conversion, so we can't know that much about the conversion factor though. Also... In regard to your comment on stocking up... I can't imagine how Vasher would be stocking up on breaths while on Roshar. While a Returned may be able to feed on stormlight, I doubt they can actually convert it to a breath that they can hold indefinitely. I suspect that feeding on stormlight does not require Vasher to literally transform it into a biochromatic breath.

Actually, I don't think you can say that "the innate investiture that lets you use magic" and "connection" are exactly the same thing (they are closely related). They are distinct spiritual attributes, as evidenced by the fact that they are stored in distinct feruchemical metals (duraluminum for connection, nicrosil for innate investiture). If you are an allomancer, you have both a connection to preservation and a bit of your spirit coded to allow you to use allomancy (innate investiture). As for which one keeps you around as a cognitive shadow after you die... Its quite possible that you are right about that being connection, and not innate investiture. Which has some interesting implications. If it is connection, and not innate investiture... A strong enough connection to something other than a shard should also let your cognitive shadow linger.

Okay. I'm not sure what to think of the main discussion on this theory, but I just want to say... I believe that Ishar organized the different radiant types into ten unified orders and kept them from killing each other. I don't think he institutionalized the oaths, or restructured surgebinding in any way. Those were "natural" products of the spren (after all, the nature of the oaths varies significantly between different kinds of spren; the "oaths" of the lightweavers don't even really bind them to a creed so much as it cultivates their understanding of truth and lies). Some of you have expressed some skepticism that the spren could "get together to agree on oaths." I don't think that the spren need to get together and agree on anything. I would say that oaths are inherent to the nahel bond, not something that the spren had to consciously design when they bonded humans. Some have speculated that something structured as an oath could not occur "naturally." Well, spren aren't natural. They are manifestations of human thought, particularly linked to the shards of honor and cultivation. The idea of a system of oaths arising from such beings isn't unreasonable. Just wanted to say that I'm pretty sure that Ishar did not restructure the way surgebinding works, even though that does sound like a cool idea.

To be honest, every time you post I get a pretty bad read. Is this kind of thing normal for Wilson? I literally have no idea. But the thought has popped in my head that all the bandwagons on elims you seem to have vocally opposed, and now you are supporting one on town. I don't know how much I trust your words, but those actions don't look very nice to me. You can think what you want of what I am saying about Wilson right now, but after I'm dead you'll have my role confirmed, so maybe you'll give it more consideration then. Honestly, smoking is the hardest power of them all to verify. If I was an elim and wanted to seem legit, I'd totally lie about the dodgier choices, because odds are nobody would have soothed or rioted you n3 to know that I was lying. To explain why I smoked the way I did, it is first necessary to explain that I was more concerned with vote manips than I was with bronze, because balance and current evidence indicated that there was a lot more vote manip powers than seekers in the game, and the odds of me screwing up a village seeker's results were low (evidenced by the fact that Arinian never to my knowledge complained about one of his targets being smoked) Explanation for copper on Sart: Not much had happened yet. I figured copper on someone would at least protect from vote manipulations (not an unwarranted concern, seeing as vote manipulation saved Dalinar's life and made a long affair of what should have been a lucky d1 lynch on an elim) Explanation for copper on Mage: I trusted mage, so I figured he would be best to protect from vote manipulation. I trusted him mostly because in the d1 PM he seemed trustworthy. Explanation for copper on Rae: This is strange, but I don't remember this one too clearly. I guess I'm dead anyway so it doesn't matter, you will see me as village soon enough. Pretty sure I just skimmed the posts and looked for someone who was active and relatively non-suspicious. Explanation for copper on Madagascar: Since it seems like they tunneled on an elim mistborn, I trusted them and anted to protect the vote. pity copper didn't protect from Madagascar dying that night In response to the first note: I actually put copper on someone who is voting on me this cycle, which sorta puts the nail in the coffin for me I guess. Hero why you do this I thought you were pretty trustworthy (actually I still do, you just made a mistake, but don't worry, plenty of time left in the game) In response to the second note: It's chill. I still don't quite get the reasoning on this lynch to be honest since very few people offered anything approximating reasoning on it (and none of those who did offer evidence were among the first few votes). But that's fine. Looking on the bright side of things, at least this frees me up for LG30 I was sort of excited to do some RP for my last moments, but it looks like the time has dried up and the cycle is nearly finished. Better post this now before its too late. Anyway, Meta will probably make a better write-up for Felix's death than I would have for the time just before it.

You want a will? Fine. Drake Marsall, Village Smoker (I guess smoking kills in the long run) n1- Sart n2- Magestar n3- Rae n4- Madagascar n5- Nobody, I was away for the weekend n6- Not telling

Getting voted up on "gut read". RIP. Well, I'm the most voted person now, so I suppose I should address that. If ya gotta lynch me go ahead. But I'll tell you in advance, I don't have pewter like a ton of you other villagers. I would defend myself more, but I mean my role isn't very useful and anyway there's really not a defense to "bad gut read." But anyways, if you guys do end up lynching me, do me a favor and trace back this bandwagon. Wyrmhero puts a vote on me last cycle without any reasoning, then this cycle HH says he is "quite suspicious" of me and leaves it at that. I don't like the feel of that. Also, unrelated to votes on me, Manukos voted on HH without any reasoning, and then said we basically just need to lynch everyone who isn't confirmed town (if I were an elim I would totally just murder all the confirmed town and laugh as that strategy ends badly). I realize that currently, my vote on HH aligns with his, but if, sometime, HH dies and turns up innocent... I would suspect Manukos. 'night anyways folks

Well... Arinian's dead. It's possible the village does not have a living lurcher. I can't really imagine why a living village lurcher would choose to do anything else than protect Arinian. On the other hand, it is also worth noting that nobody else was attacked tonight. Most nights include two attacks. So its quite possible that we do have a lurcher, who did protect Arinian... But the elims attacked him twice so he still died. Anyways, that means everyone who Arinian successfully scanned is 100% town confirmed. We can and should trust those people. The living person in this group that I recall is Joe in the Bush, but if someone has a complete list of the living confirmed town, it would be much appreciated. I will wait for more discussion in this cycle before I vote anyone I think. I'll try to get at least one RP post in this cycle as well.

John Marshall was lying in the back of an old pickup truck. Waiting for the right time to strike. The night vision optics on his AS50 rifle allowed him to see the countryside in perfect clarity. One pull of the trigger would send propel a large explosive round into the target of his choosing. Sometimes the only way to resolve a situation was to take a life. Scanning his surroundings, he settled his scope on... Sheep. A flock of sheep. Dastardly little creatures... John had good intel from the higher-ups of Mi9 itself that these sheep posed a threat to the agency. They hadn't really said which sheep, but John thought these ones looked suspiciously sneaky. He scanned through the flock. Now... Which one of you is the leader... The infamous ninja sheep... AHA! Gotcha. John's crosshairs settled on a largish specimen with a bell round its neck. "Target sighted," he whispered into his headset. "John, what the hell are you talking about?" a voice responded. Oh, right. This was supposed to just be a recon trip. Still, this is the ninja sheep itself. There is no time to lose. The longer I stay here, the longer I risk getting caught. I passed a "no trespassing" sign a little while back, and I'm not eager to meet whoever owns these suspicious animals. John pulled the trigger. A fifty caliber wool-piercing sniper round tore into the poor bellwether, who instantly crumpled. A crack like thunder pierced the night. Baahs of terror followed as the other sheep tried to flee. Mission accomplished. I taught those sheep a lesson they won't soon forget, and now they don't have a leader. John climbed into the front seat of the pickup truck and sped away, just as he saw a farmer running outside and yelling about his dead sheep. John hoped Mi9 would be happy. Several days later, an unusual headline hit the news. Experts and police alike baffled by what seems to have been a sniper assaulting a random flock of sheep. News agencies continually speculated about who could be responsible for such a well-funded assault on, well, sheep.

I know; I intend to write mine soon.

I suspect Adam Smith was a deist, which meant he probably still believed he'd earned it all himself, even though he believed in the existence of a God... And plenty of more formal religions including one that I suspect survivorism was inspired by do not teach that rich people are rich because God favors them. On the other hand, the Survivor was a renowned thief, which implies a belief in the redistribution of wealth. Although on the other hand the Lord Ruler didn't exactly support a free market so maybe the Survivor's thievery was in support of capitalism. The survivor is capitalist confirmed.

Purple, not blue. Pretty sure at the beginning of this game someone set up a convention for OOC comments but still game-related being purple (feel no compulsion to follow the purple-text thing though, its hardly part of the SE rulebook). I personally find it useful as a way to separate RP from just straight analysis.

If both you and headshot are innocent, there is a very high chance the elims will kill you tonight. That was a dangerous request to make.

Lets hope the survivor favors you... It's a real risk, because I'm pretty sure if they are all mistborn, that some of them can still draw steel.

You misunderstand me. I never said we would wait to lynch people until Arinian accuses someone. The entirety of what I was saying has to do with how much we trust Arinian. If he accuses someone soon, we will lynch the accused. If the accused is not evil, we will obviously lynch Arinian. If the accused is evil, we will probably trust Arinian in the future. If Arinian does not accuse anyone soon, we as the town will be forced to consider lynching him to verify his information, although I hope it doesn't come to that.

HH I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, frankly I don't find your defense very compelling... On the other hand, my guess at role distribution is that village has a lot of pewter and the elims are a lot of mistborn. This means that, while you could totally be an elim mistborn who drew pewter... It seems slightly more probable that you are one of our many village pewterarms. Also, if we got a village lurcher be sure to protect Arinian... I hope to the Survivor that he isn't an elim though. Arinian, I hope for all of our sakes that you accuse someone soon. Then, one way or another, we can resolve this issue. If Arinian goes too long without accusing someone, we might seriously need to consider lynching, though hopefully it won't come to that.

Sure. I recounted all the votes: HH (2)- Elenion, Assassin Assassin (4)- Arinian, HH, Drake, Araris, Rae Jondesu (2)- Joe in the Bush, Conquestor (assuming you meant Jondesu when you said "Jon"?) Herowannabe (2)- Jondesu, Sart Drake (1)- Wyrmhero Also, I checked the last vote count by HH and it wasn't accounting for Conq's vote. I very highly doubt this was intentional manipulation, but I'll just point it out for the town.