Fifth Scholar

You. Barring that (and because I have residual Mat paranoia) I would go for Turtle or...probably Xino himself. Xino isn't a bad vote, really--I was willing to kill him last cycle and am still happy to do so--but I also don't want to get locked into a vote before I've reread things. At the beginning of the cycle, I remember feeling better about him, but that was also when I thought the vote manip was directed at the secondary wagons and not Szeth, so things have changed a bit >>

The answer to this still hinges on when the manipulator was on relative to the end of the cycle, which is unknown, but given the confusion it's created around Mad and Xino I would tentatively ascribe this to the Sith simply because I can't see how the Jedi benefit from indirectly strengthening the main wagon, unless one of them was a side wagon target and panicked. My remaining reservation with this being a Sith action is something I would PM you if PMs were open, because I think the Jedi still (mostly) have a door open with their actions to do something based on who is doing vote manipulation here, but it's kind of ruined if I tell the Sith how to counter it. (Also, if anyone responds to this with "are you suggesting the Jedi should..." you have missed the point of the secrecy. ) Hamartano waltzed into the bar, and brushed up against the midget. His eyebrows narrowed at the mention of "death sticks," and he contemplated putting the target practice to use on someone who obviously was selling him poison, but his good mood was still thrumming within him from his bike ride, and he grinned at Moff instead. Flicking up his sleeves, he plucked the bundle of sticks from Moff's hand and took two for each hidden knife on his person. When he'd gotten past the teens in his reckoning and was reasonably satisfied he'd taken enough, he tossed the bundle back with one of the knives, the handle of which was really too small for him to wield effectively. "Here's your payment, shortie. Feed the death sticks to the Sith, not me. I'll get some death stick powder on the rest of these knives and stab someone for you. Return the favour, why don't you." "Oh, it's the smart tin can again. Not really sure I understand it either, pal, given that I got no reason to be both shooting Seth and shoving people around with the Force to shoot him as well if I'm in league with this "dark side" stuff. You'd think a single blaster bolt would put paid to any man, and attract a lot less hate." He frowned. That needed elaboration. "Not that I'm afraid of the hate. I'll take the lot of you in combat if you mess with me." OORP: I will likely vote for Xino eventually (especially since the alternative is me ) but would rather not get locked into an either-or before it's strictly necessary. Not really sure that Fadran merits my vote anymore, though. I would switch to Silho for his vote on me, which is arguably the worst of the four, but also don't trust that wagon because Mat >> tonight, I will have reread D1 and given proper attention to things, and I will cast a better vote then.

Thank you Xino, very helpful. Also, if you're trying to get me to retread my vote from last cycle, this is a good way to go about it >> Care to elaborate what you mean by this? I have missed the last couple of games. Will respond (?) to stuff in more detail when I am not in class.

If more people than just you and me had been voting Xino, I would have stayed, but with the way things were I didn't want the Sith pulling off a lot of vote manip to make us paranoid of v!Szeth by directing a lot of votes away from him and saving him. Obviously the opposite happened, which isn't ideal either, but I was happier keeping some distance between the leading candidate and the two or three people trailing him. As for my long post, the greater part of the actual analysis in it is now irrelevant (thank you Mat, I think) but fire away Surely you can't say that pressure applies the same to everyone even in the context of voting though. If a person is being minimally helpful and goes from 0 to 2 votes, that's a more significant application of pressure than splitting those votes between lower-actives; similarly, putting a candidate in the lead by more than one vote creates a set of incentives as well (especially in this game, where both factions have single actions that produce two-vote swings). I don't trust Mat, but on a purely intellectual level, putting one of his suspect's names in red to see what he does about it makes sense to me.

I swear the vote count changed from the beginning of the cycle then because it looks different but it seems you are correct, and I completely misidentified what actually took place. In that case most of what I said is nonsense because I misinterpreted the interactions, though my point about manipulation to stoke paranoia perhaps still stands if it was your vote that was shifted, since you were on Mad for a while. But still we have to look a little more closely at an e!Mad world, even though I don’t think she was under enough actual pressure to need the manip. Unfortunate.

Multiquote!Fifth has returned from the grave (he never really died; he was just waiting for schoolwork to give me less opportunity to respond in real time >>) I was also initially thrown by the DST switch, which meant I couldn’t do the AM/PM switch I normally do with Kas’ time zone, though this kind of comment, while I would normally chalk it up to being an attempt to be Village-read (as your doc-mates would presumably correct you on rollover times), I can actually believe, because I think e!Devo would hesitate to make this kind of argument precisely because it is so flimsy. (Side note: This is the most I’ve village-read you since you’ve burned me in LG54, which…I don’t know how I feel about that.) I would tentatively suggest this is Jedi manipulation—one of the Sith have to be using Force Drain to kill, and I doubt the other one would let themselves get action-pinned by something as obvious as vote manip to try and protect Szeth, who’s village. The alternative is that before the cascade of Szeth votes, a Sith decided to stoke paranoia on Szeth by killing Mad with manipulation instead; in this universe, Mad is likely Village (which is aligning with my general read of her) and the manip is to mess with our heads. The problem with this theory is that there aren’t a ton of people who would be active enough to see that Mad was up for shrekking 6-8 hours earlier but not active enough to withdraw the unnecessary manip once Szeth was in a clear lead. (Tbf, this is also a problem for the Jedi! Manip side of things as well, so I likely shouldn’t be hinging too many AI considerations on it anyway.) It’s just odd. Yeah this vote does not make me feel good about Fadran, sorry Fadran defenders I am not completely sold on e!Fadran but this gave me a good chuckle. Though if you do win SE quote of the year for two years running, I think that’s a bit unfair A few notes on this admittedly amusing analysis: 1) As I think has already been pointed out, votes were manipped away from a majority Szeth train (assuming intent to kill Mad), not towards him. This suggests either that the Jedi believed Szeth was innocent/Mad was guilty, or that the Sith wanted to frame Szeth (this assumes v!Mad). A third very risky but still plausible world is that Mad was Sith and shifted a vote onto herself once the Szeth train took off to deflect suspicion, which would be a stroke of genius but hopefully one which the late voting prevented. That seems too risky a C1 play for even me to stomach 2) (this is more addressed at Jedi who are possibly doing this) there is no such thing as a “harmless” vote switch, especially with how volatile things are. If you want to be harmless with your manip, move it onto someone with no votes, not someone in second place. If the Jedi are doing this…okay, fine, but recognise that these sorts of gambits cut both ways. 3) vote manip go brrrr is definitely not something to be discounted—I was guilty of this myself at several points in my SE career, so I actually appreciate your analysis for taking this into account Madagascar is by no means new. She played in AG3 (and won the CR competition with her drunken crazy cat lady). So I wouldn’t exclude her from the pool based on that (and Kas likes giving power roles to newbies anyway)—I might do so based on the vote manip analysis above, but since the Jedi are presumably not outing themselves to tell us whether that was their fault or not, we can’t do even that at this juncture. Your logic on Xino is fair—I’m not discounting him from being evil, but I don’t think he’s a priority target. Can’t speak to either Fadran or MR60, but obviously I’m not really clearing either group. I mean, if you’re gonna vote me for being evil in 74, I can’t really refute you other than pointing out that this is a different game, unless you have certain things that are pushing your paranoia buttons. Actually solid logic from Mad here, only slightly undercut by the fact that Wizard was an existing wagon (thank you Drake) and this could be read as opportunism. As a whole though, this corresponds with my largely village impression of her. I will toss my vote on Fadran for the time being; I think he’s getting away with suspicious behaviour on the grounds that eliminators want to avoid looking obviously suspicious, which I have a long record of opposing as an argument. I still want to look more into Mat’s interactions with him, but I should go and actually do RP/work now, so sadly that will get tabled and probably eventually forgotten unless @Ookla the Tall is kind enough to remind me to begin an inquisition on him later The bar, and its ungrateful residents, were left choking in a cloud of dust as Hamartano accelerated at high speed away from the town, swoop bike skilfully weaving between terrified pedestrians. He had nearly joined in on the sabaac table just to crush everyone and take all their money, but he could do that at any time. Best to avoid that chittering hunk of metal calling itself a droid which would inevitably consider his creative shuffling and extra decks of cards in his belt “cheating.” It was obnoxious enough that the droid thought it was a better marksman, or a faster one. Hamartano sped into the open desert, honking at a passing creature which simply stared at him, and went to the “course.” It was simple: an open stretch of land with stone pillars of various heights, with blaster-proof steel balls atop each of them. The gang knew to set them back up after his practice sessions, and this time was no different. He executed a perfect wheelie on the bike, coming down with a buzzing of rubber and two targets now perfectly knocked down. He then braked, drifting into a spinning U-turn, and knocked down four new “enemies” with his free hand, and judiciously placed shots from the trusty blaster in his hand. As he brought himself back up to speed and continued practicing on targets while moving at breakneck pace, Hamartano felt a surge of justification. Sure, a droid could be programmed with more useless knowledge that he’d never need, like how to speak languages that weren’t Common. And perhaps it had more potent weaponry and machine-perfect aim. But none of that calibration could ever beat out human instinct. If the HK drone tried what he was doing and failed? It’d be discontinued, picked apart, reassembled, designated as a waste. But him? Every shot which went astray from one of the metal balls (there were not many of these anymore) was proof that he could achieve greater mastery, that he would never misjudge an angle like that again, that he would keep his bike better attuned to the needs of his shooting. And when the algorithms failed to hold back the Sith threat when they pulled something out of their back pocket? Hamartano would be there. And, as he assured himself knowingly, he would crush them.

About to go to class, but Hamartano would like to note that his draw speed certainly exceeds that of any flimsy protocol droid Remind me to look at the vote counts. I think someone might have tried to kill Mad but my brain is fuzzy with Old English and I don’t trust its immediate analysis >>

I think it would be fun to let Xino live and condemn Szeth in case the powers that be want to try any last minute chicanery

Hmm, okay. I guess neither of the votes were really necessary. I got an opposite tone read, though, which is probably why I was struggling with it yeah my opinion of Szeth changes with every post he makes. And trust me, I’m just as uncomfortable about the agreement as you are >>

If you get time, I would appreciate your elaborating on this. You and Fadran’s interactions across the cycle have felt incredibly weird throughout my reread of the thread—it’s one of the most consistent things I’ve noted—and I’d like to know where you’re getting this impression. He’s felt rather opportunistic to me. (As have many of the Szeth voters.) @Devotary of Spontaneity Since I never got back to you earlier—I think more apprentices is fine as long as the apprentices aren’t obvious about giving names and speech patterns away in the doc. It’s pseudonymic, so I’d actively encourage anyone recruited, if the Jedi end up going that route, to actively lie about and/or obfuscate their identity, so that a Sith entering the doc would have to work for their meal. But expanding powers to the rest of the village is good, I think, since it gives more cover to the Jedi. Also I may or may not want cool powers (this statement is not meant to imply I do not have cool powers already (restrictions may apply, void where prohibited, call 1-888-CYA-STET for less information)) Between Szeth and Xino I still want Xino dead, though I don’t know if Szeth’s weird flip-floppy hesitance to shrek him reflects badly on Xino or on Szeth. It might be a bit of both. Right now I find both Mad and the Mad train a little weird, but I don’t want her dead both because she’s returning and because I feel her death would yield less information than either Szeth’s or Xino’s. Finally, I kind of want to issue a blanket condemnation of all the random poke voters and let them know that they’re on my radar

If I’ve been poked once and there’s someone sitting at 2+ votes, I have little incentive to respond. If someone doubles it up and puts me in a tie for the lead, I might get off my chull and post something Also, if you’re going to poke vote, don’t poke where you’re scared that the person you’re voting on might actually die. Your vote is a weapon of death. Use it as such. I, for one, am still interested in what Xino thinks about the current state of affairs (Wizard)

I have reread the entire thread and have one (1) soft-village read (JNV) for suggesting a good strategy for the Jedi. I am also moderately positively disposed towards Devotary for consistently calling attention to the Sith vote manipulation potential, though because this is Devo, I am not sure whether to read this as “she’s thinking about this as a villager and staring down the barrel of the eight-vote gun” or “she’s an eliminator who is somewhat gleefully horrified with how much power is at her fingertips and wants to hedge her bets now.” Anyways, this much apathy towards the general populace is probably not a good thing. I will vote for Wizard for the crime of not having made a single post whose content I remembered. Whether this is my fault or his is largely immaterial right now. I kinda just want more people to talk

A high-pitched screeching, followed by an abruptly silenced engine stutter, were heard from within the bar. A faint shudder suggested that one of the walls had received a glancing blow from something which had managed to brake only at the last moment. Its owner could be guessed fairly easily, though, when Martano Hamartano swooped in with an almost royal air, and grabbed a shot from behind the counter over the sputtered protest of the bartender. “Thanks, Sahje,” he winked, then turned to face the small, subdued crowd which mostly seemed to avert their gazes. “Well?” he demanded. “Nothing worse than a comms disruption, eh? Cheer up, you lot. It’ll all clear over soon. I’ll see to it personally. We’ve got the best mechanics around, eh, eh?” He buffeted a drunk-looking midget on the back of the head. “And you, Moff, was it? Good title, that used to be. Well, get your syntax in order and the rest just kinda falls into place after that, y’know what I’m saying? Cheer up, cheer up. A Sith comes charging up, I put a blast through his skull. No better marksman around.” He flourished a double-barrelled blaster for all to see. A few ducked. He grinned again and slammed something in front of a now highly affronted Sahje which might pass for payment. “Well, anyone with an idea, come tell it to me. We gotta make things HAPPEN here, folks! And till then let’s not walk about with our tails between our legs.” A note that due to Thanksgiving and friends and family I will be less active today and tomorrow. Hello all! Don’t think I’ve played with a few of you before, so this should be a fun first experience. My only point of advice would really be that I am going to treat any public speculation on Jedi identity divorced from shrek discussion and/or claims as an automatic eliminator tell. Even if you’re a villager doing it to misdirect, it really does not pay to be giving the Sith any help with that. @Haelbarde Query: What is the protocol to fix a communications spike?

Nalan Dicaeo stood wearily in his field, leaning on an old implement and shielding his eyes against the red glare of the sun. Dreshdae was normally quiet at this hour, no soul bothering to cross the desert expanse which he laboured over, painstakingly, to grind out his daily bread. He sighed and dug it into the soil again, churning up yet more sand. It was necessary to clear some of that out of the way before he tried to plant - even those crops which tolerated the dust clouds which it kicked up couldn’t absorb water fast enough if the soil wasn’t at least somewhat thicker. A faint humming noise shook Nalan out of his reverie. It seemed to be coming from the west. He peered into the dying sunlight, and swore as he saw a faint black speck against it, growing alarmingly larger. The hum of some infernal engine grew suddenly as he heard a loud “YAHOOOO!” and the sound of a blaster discharging. Two shots, and the tops of two of his fence-posts behind him went up in smoke, sending the barrier crashing to the ground. He threw himself to the side just in time as a wild-eyed figure on a swoop bike launched himself off a short ledge with a hearty bellow, jumping one side of his plot’s fence and trampling a row of his mushrooms as he cruised through the newly made hole on the other side. A whirl of dust later, and he was lost to sight. “The Force forsake that man,” Nalan spat. “Hamartano will be shot dead in a week, if he keeps this up, and I won’t be taking the blast.” Signing up as Martano Hamartano, a marksman and Swoop Ganger still working on his aim who intends to bring his vivacious spirit and reckless disregard for the law to bear against the Sith and the forces of evil in the valley which is, of course, his natural domain. Nalan Dicaeo, a Farmer, may make an occasional guest appearance.

Sure. You can get your answer in 24 hours (the village won)

I will save that for the actual aftermath, I think—I’ll leave the elim doc open at the very least—and release them and the spreadsheet in a batch. Gotta have something to discuss after this amnesty period

Okay I was joking the game is over I announce the next 24 hours as an amnesty! All dead players, spectators, and people who would have died this cycle (Devo, Symph, Shining) can talk, RP, meme, commiserate, do anagrams, and whatever else in this thread as I prepare to give you a decent writeup for the aftermath (and give people death scenes who didn’t get them earlier). Thank you all for playing! This was definitely one of my favourite GMing experiences and that is entirely thanks to y’all.

Manwë save our gracious King, Long live the noble King, Manwë save the King. Send him victorious, Stress-free and glorious, Long to reign over us, even when he should have died four turns ago Manwë save the King! Oh Lord Eru arise, Scatter his enemies And make them fall. Confound their politics, Frustrate their knavish tricks, On Thee our hopes we fix, Eru save us all. Thy choicest GIFs in store On him be pleased to pour, Long may he sleep. May he defend our laws And ever give us cause To sing with heart and voice Manwë save the King! Cycle closed!!

"It is told that for a time Melkor was not seen again in Valinor, nor was any rumour heard of him, until suddenly he came to Formenos, and spoke with Fëanor before his doors. Friendship he feigned with cunning argument, urging him to his former thought of flight from the trammels of the Valar; and he said: ‘Behold the truth of all that I have spoken, and how thou art banished unjustly. But if the heart of Fëanor is yet free and bold as were his words in Tirion, then I will aid him, and bring him far from this narrow land. For am I not Vala also? Yea, and more than those who sit in pride in Valimar; and I have ever been a friend to the Noldor, most skilled and most valiant of the people of Arda.’ Now Fëanor’s heart was still bitter at his humiliation before Mandos, and he looked at Melkor in silence, pondering if indeed he might yet trust him so far as to aid him in his flight. And Melkor, seeing that Fëanor wavered, and knowing that the Silmarils held his heart in thrall, said at the last: ‘Here is a strong place, and well guarded; but think not that the Silmarils will lie safe in any treasury within the realm of the Valar!’ But his cunning overreached his aim; his words touched too deep, and awoke a fire more fierce than he designed; and Fëanor looked upon Melkor with eyes that burned through his fair semblance and pierced the cloaks of his mind, perceiving there his fierce lust for the Silmarils. Then hate overcame Fëanor’s fear, and he cursed Melkor and bade him be gone, saying: ‘Get thee gone from my gate, thou jail-crow of Mandos!’ And he shut the doors of his house in the face of the mightiest of all the dwellers in Eä. Then Melkor departed in shame, for he was himself in peril, and he saw not his time yet for revenge; but his heart was black with anger. And Finwë was filled with great fear, and in haste he sent messengers to Manwë in Valmar." - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion Matrim's Dice was driven away! He was Melkor, He Who Arises in Might! Mat (5) TUN (1) Devo (1) JNV was killed by the Corrupted! He was Curufin the Crafty (Faithful Son of Feanor Smith). Cycle Five has begun! It will end in 22.5 hours' time on Friday 9 September at 10:00 PM EDT. Get in your votes and actions! The Queen is dead; God save the King. PMs are CLOSED. There is an exe today. Good luck! Player List: 1. The Unknown Novel as Aegnor, son of Finarfin 2. Araris Valerian as Findor, star-watcher and boat-builder Faithful Messenger 3. Matrim's Dice as TBD Melkor 4. Shining Silhouette as Sircyn, son of Tellyn 5. JNV as Menelir of the Sea and Sky, a concerned wanderer Son of Feanor Smith 6. Conquestor as Sethryn, son of the Rememberer Son of Feanor Noble 7. The Wandering Wizard as TBD Galadriel 8. da[n=??]ex as TBD Messenger 9. Devotary of Spontaneity as Nienna, a Vala committed to criminal justice reform 10. SymphonianBookworm as TBD 11. Archer as Tarell the Toothsayer Son of Feanor Orator 12. Kasimir as Tulkas the Valiant

cycle closed! Results in a bit.

I’ve checked with Mandos, and he’s not trapped in his dungeons anymore, so yeah, sorry, he’s still around Five and a half hours, people!

Writeup to come. I hate it more than any of you but y'all will want results before tomorrow morning >> Da[n=6]ex was imprisoned! He was a Faithful Messenger! Dannex (3) TUN (3) Devotary (2) Archer was killed by the Corrupted! He was Celegorm the Fair (Faithful Son of Feanor Orator)! The Unknown Novel was attacked, but survived! Cycle Four has begun! It will end in 22.5 hours' time on Thursday 8 September at 10:00 PM EDT. Get in your votes and actions! PMs are CLOSED with the death of the last Messenger. Do not PM anyone except me. There is an exe today. Good luck! Player List: 1. The Unknown Novel as Aegnor, son of Finarfin 2. Araris Valerian as Findor, star-watcher and boat-builder Faithful Messenger 3. Matrim's Dice as TBD 4. Shining Silhouette as Sircyn, son of Tellyn 5. JNV as Menelir of the Sea and Sky, a concerned wanderer 6. Conquestor as Sethryn, son of the Rememberer Son of Feanor Noble 7. The Wandering Wizard as TBD Galadriel 8. da[n=??]ex as TBD Messenger 9. Devotary of Spontaneity as Nienna, a Vala committed to criminal justice reform 10. SymphonianBookworm as TBD 11. Archer as Tarell the Toothsayer Son of Feanor Orator 12. Kasimir as Tulkas the Valiant

THATS IT PLEASE STOP THE MADNESS

“But the Teleri were unmoved by ought that he could say. They were grieved indeed at the going of their kinsfolk and long friends, but would rather dissuade them than aid them; and no ship would they lend, nor help in the building, against the will of the Valar. As for themselves, they desired now no other home but the strands of Eldamar, and no other lord than Olwe, prince of Alqualonde. And he had never lent ear to Morgoth, nor welcomed him to his land, and he trusted still that Ulmo and the other great among the Valar would redress the hurts of Morgoth, and that the night would pass yet to a new dawn.” - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion More specific tribute to Araris and Conq's characters coming shortly. Figured y'all want results. Araris Valerian (Findor) was imprisoned! He was a Faithful Messenger! Vote Count: Araris (4) Devo (2) Mat (2) TUN (1) Conquestor (Sethyrn) was killed by the Corrupted! He was Maedhros the Noble (Son of Feanor)! Cycle Three has begun! It will end in 23 hours' time on Wednesday 7 September at 10:00 PM EDT. Get in your votes and actions. PMs are open. Please include me and @Elbereth in all of them. There is an exe today. Good luck! Player List: 1. The Unknown Novel as Aegnor, son of Finarfin 2. Araris Valerian as Findor, star-watcher and boat-builder Faithful Messenger 3. Matrim's Dice as TBD 4. Shining Silhouette as Sircyn, son of Tellyn 5. JNV as Menelir of the Sea and Sky, a concerned wanderer 6. Conquestor as Sethryn, son of the Rememberer Son of Feanor Noble 7. The Wandering Wizard as TBD Galadriel 8. da[n=??]ex as TBD 9. Devotary of Spontaneity as Nienna, a Vala committed to criminal justice reform 10. SymphonianBookworm as TBD 11. Archer as Tarell the Toothsayer 12. Kasimir as Tulkas the Valiant