Wyrmhero

I still want to hear a response from phattemer, but I'm sure I don't have to place a vote there to get that out of him. I'm interested in Sir Jerric's thoughts, considering he flagged up a group of people but never made direct accusations or votes for them. Well, obviously Wyrmhero. . Other than that, I would say RavenRadiant7 for the Day 1 lynch of Shallan and... I'm a bit stuck on a third, must be said. My dice suggest Lightsworn Panda, but I wouldn't go for him considering his inactivity. Really, I'd just go for someone who has been posting that you're at least a little sure of. Maybe OrlokTsubodai, as he has raised points and at least isn't too inactive? Edit: While your studies do of course come first, that's an interestingly large amount of RP posted elsewhere, Adamir...

Well, we didn't get a vote from The Mighty Lopen. We got a little bit from him about why he voted as he did on Cycle 1, but I must admit to hoping for a bit more from him. He raises a good point that his head was on the chopping block during the first Cycle. I had forgotten that, it must be said. But regardless of that, I was hoping for something more regarding today's events - There have been quite a number of them, and ignoring them just seems odd. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt though, and press him again for more information next Cycle. As he's often around at this point in the day, I'm going to vote for Lightsworn Panda. Wait, no. Lightsworn Panda. Didn't realise he already had two votes on him, thanks for making me realise that, phattemer. I'll get to my vote later. Prepost Edit: (since he posted while I was posting) In a tie, usually no lynches occur, or one is chosen at random. Usually the latter, in the case of a QF or MR game, it's at random from the tied players. Also, you've posted more, so you're off my radar for today . In the meantime, I'm just going to briefly respond to a few quiet accusations that people don't seem to want to say seriously, which is an interesting way to approach them. I admit I probably was a little too aggressive responding to Meta. ...Actually, I really should try toning that down a bit. I think this makes three games in a row where I've been too aggressive (excluding Kas' game)... But regardless of that, I'm not trying to 'guide' the thread in any way. People are free to do as I suggest, but they're also free to completely ignore me and do otherwise. It's entirely up to them, I'm not threatening or forcing people to go along with me. If you've played with me in previous games, you should know that I hate the idea of one player acting as a central hub, and I try to avoid that wherever I can. If I appear to be steering the conversation in any way, it's just because I'm online a lot of the time while I'm at home, and that happens to be most of the day right now (some evenings excluded, like tonight). I'm not refreshing the forum ever five seconds or anything, but I do tend to drop in whenever I have a small bit of time. Essentially, all I want to do is to promote discussion. Doesn't matter what (or who!) it's about, as it all helps us find Eliminators. I spend most of my time in this game attempting to coax information out of people, which usually involves directly responding to people and focusing on things which may be regarded as key points at that stage of my investigation. Not called the Wyrm Inquisition for nothing, you know Again, I've been accused of trying to get people to follow my lead, and of being active (not that he's said it outright at the start). Well, the latter is supposedly a good thing (why are we voting for the less active players to spur them into activity, if it's not?), and I've always been active. Doesn't matter which side I'm on, active is how I play the game. Admittedly, saying I do that as an Elminator as well doesn't help my case, but it's true . And I've said what I think about accusations of trying to play the leader now Meta's dead. I'm trying to cajole people into discussing more, but I'm not making people follow my lead or anything like that. The second part, your analysis, I disagree with. It's very... Odd, how you've looked at it, I would say. Perhaps you'll accuse me of being biased, but I think your comments about me voting and immediately retracting my vote on Vauhsoj are incorrect. I voted for him to get information, then retrieved it when I was satisfied with what I got. I let him off a little more easily because he's new, yes, but this is essentially what I do at the start of the game. Nothing strange about it. You then say 'the same 3 names crop up again and again'. Seems to me, looking at your list, that everyone's name crops up multiple times. Let's run a tally of how many times people crop up each line. Wyrmhero: 2 Vauhsoj: 2 OrlokTsubodai: 2 Venture Mistborn: 4 The Only Joe: 1 Lightsworn Panda: 2 Alvron: 2 Adamir: 1 Shallan: 1 RavenRadient7: 1 Sir Jerric: 1 The Mighty Lopen: 1 Bort: 1 So the only person who stands out more than anyone else is Venture Mistborn. Saying that the three people who stand our are 'Wyrm, Bort and Vauhsoj' is a falsehood. Bort isn't even second with regards to people who have been mentioned the most. Unless you meant 'including separating people into lists' as well, but that doesn't make any sense. They could easily be arbitrary teams you've picked. Your apparent evidence for the first is 'Wyrm acted like Wyrm does, and Bort voted for Orlok who was suspicious of Wyrm, and then never posted last night after he did'. Not exactly damning stuff there, considering I know Bort's on GMT and it was getting on for 10 at the time Orlok posted. For the second team, it's 'Three people want more than a sentence from a fourth player'. You can't blame them for wanting more, and you even say you agree with them! Hardly Eliminator material... At least, not for them. To me, it sounds more like confirmation bias on your part. You either know what you want to find or you think you have one piece of the puzzle so you fit the rest around it. The second is perhaps more excusable, but the first makes you an Eliminator. You also don't actually vote for me in the end, which seems odd when your 'Team A' acts with me as the lynchpin. I think it would be pretty handy if Bort was innocent but you could still point fingers at your 'main suspect', right? Incidentally, Shallan's posts are nonexistent. The reason she got lynched is because she never said anything on the first Day. Pretty easy to find that out if you look back at the thread. I could maybe understand where some confusion comes into it though, if she was in on your doc a bit. I am accusing phattemer of being an Eliminator.

If I don't know where it's built, how can your people get there to start building...?

It includes things like purchasing property, upgrading property, bribery and stuff like that. It should probably also be the amount you spend/get whenever you train your troops, really... Building/upgrading two related Properties now costs 10 Wealth, by the way.

Seems like we're getting some RP done, so I might as well do some too Redcross sighed as he took his place in the courtroom. He surveyed the line of people waiting to ask him to die for them. "Get this over with," he muttered to Kirias. Kirias nodded and motioned for the first one to be let forward. The man bowed to Redcross, but before he could speak, Redcross was holding a tin in his hand, and jingling it. It sounded like there were coins inside. "Donation," he said. "I... sir?" "A donation is mandatory for every appeal heard," Redcross said. "The church of Redcross and its teaching hospitals thrive by your donations only." "I... I am a poor farmer, sir. I am here to ask for food for my village. There has been a terrible famine, and it was all I could afford to make the journey here." "You see this, Kirias?" Redcross asked, turning in his seat to his assistant. "How are these people going to get anywhere in life if all they ever do is take? So selfish of them. Next!" "Sir!" the man shouted in protest. "I said next!" Redcross repeated, raising his voice again. Two guardsmen dressed in red and white took the man away. The next petitioner was a woman, and she seemed reluctant but otherwise paid the donation fee. "Sir, I appeal to you on behalf of my husband. I would not come to you if I had any other choice, but medicine has failed him. If he should... If he should pass on... My family and I would be unable to support ourselves." "So?" Redcross shrugged. "What do I get out of this?" "What do you get out of this?" The woman asked, taken aback a little. "Well, yes. You're asking me to die for him. So it stands to reason that I must get something pretty good for doing it, right?" He asked, looking her up and down. The woman instinctively covered herself up a little, though she was very conservatively dressed. Idrian, judging by the dull and heavy clothes. Interesting that she came to ask his help, in that case. Redcross shook his head. "Don't worry, I won't ask for what you are worried about. You're not pretty enough for me to even consider, not when there are the other gods to consider. Besides, doesn't even look like you'd be willing to do that. I'm sure your husband would love to know about this act of selfishness. Come back when you have a deal to make. Next!" The woman stormed off, a combination of anger and embarrassment, and the next applicant brought forwards. "Sir," he began, after depositing a coin in the box, "my wife is also deathly ill, and we have two young children that need looking after. My wife, she means the world to me. Been with her ten years. Known her since I was a small boy." He smiled a little. "Is there anything you could do for her?" "...I stubbed my toe yesterday," Redcross began, ignoring the flesh-on-flesh sound of Kirias slapping his own face in exasperation. "But no-one seems to care about that. We all have problems. Why should I care about your wife?" "I am sorry to hear that, sir," the man said without missing a beat. "I am sure that must have been very painful. But my wife, you see, she's everything I have." "So? She isn't everything to me, is she?" Redcross replied. "Returned are Returned for a reason. I highly doubt my noble quest is to save a woman from some unknown backwater. It's selfish of you to even consider that. Next!" The man left, head bowed. The next one came forward, put his coin in the box, but Redcross stood up before hearing anything. "Kirias, we're going to check on the samples." Kirias looked back at the people waiting to see him. "But-" "I told you what we're going to do," Redcross replied. "Maybe we can discover something to stop these people asking me to kill myself for their petty problems." Kirias sighed and hung his head in defeat. It would not be possible to argue against him, not in public. Or even really in private, sadly. "As you wish." Thank you Vauhsoj for your reply. It's important to state your suspicions and your reasoning in a game like this, even if it is retreading old ground. At the very least, we have that reasoning now, which is useful to know. Bandwagoning is not generally a good idea in a game like this, because there are no vote manipulation Roles, and it stifles discussion. Late in the Cycle, perhaps (which it was for you, I admit), but for future reference, it's far better to have discussion than an early lynch confirmation. Just running down the list of people who didn't vote last Cycle, I think the only ones who haven't been poked are Haelbarde, Venture Mistborn and Alvron. I'm a little hesitant to throw a poke vote on at this point, but with so little discussion occurring so far this Cycle, there may not be too much choice. I saw The Mighty Lopen on here when I first started posting this, but he seems to have vanished, so I wouldn't mind knowing why. Really, have you nothing to contribute right now?

So I was going to put another vote on Orlok, but since Bort got there before me it doesn't seem necessary. Someone's also voted for Jain already as well. I feel like my thunder has been stolen :\. I'd like to hear from all the people who either didn't vote or were absent last Cycle, as there's a worryingly large number of them. I'm also curious as to why Vauhsoj joined the 'bandwagon' last Cycle (if three votes even is a bandwagon). I know you're new, but there must have been a reason for it, particularly when the lynch was already confirmed at the time. Why did you vote for Smart Guy?

Bit of clarity with regards to what your Houses want: I am pretty much dividing Goods into Resources, Weapons, Luxuries and Food. Tier 1 Goods are all resources. Your Houses want Tier 2 Goods which can be placed in 'Food', such as Meat, Bread, or anything else along the same lines. Luxuries include things such as Clothes, Wine and so on. Also, note that the penalty if you do not as severe as you might think. This is intended to be a House Rep sink for people reaching maximum House Rep (or who are willing to take the penalty). There is no penalty to your Actions or any other stats if they do not get what they want. So if you don't get this to work, don't worry about it. You may not even notice a change.

For reference, Smart Guy, I am male . Hmm... No response from Jain. I am not sure whether leaving my vote on him is worthwhile late in the day. Certainly I don't want to put him up for the lynch if he is actually too ill to post on the forum (not that he is in any danger, it must be said). Removing my vote for now, though I don't know who else is on at this point in time. With the Cycle ending soon-ish, the only thing I might be able to do is ask about something for next Cycle. We have a lot of people this Cycle who haven't made votes, or even posted. Haelbarde and Kipper haven't placed lasting votes anywhere, but I'm far more concerned with Orlok, Venture Mistborn, Adamir, Alvron and Panda all being absent this Cycle. Oh! I know someone who might be awake now. Orlok. You posted quite a bit during the first Cycle, but appear to have dialled it down to nothing this time around. Are you very busy, or just letting things develop as they will without your influence?

Thanks Mailliw. It's good to know not only the reason for your somewhat inactive nature last Turn, as well as what your current thoughts on the status of the game are. I must admit to hoping for a little more here, but we got something tangible and that is good. Hopefully we get even more discussion going on overnight. Make use of those votes, people! I am now heading off to bed, so I am placing my vote on Jain to see what he says this Cycle, since I gave him a slight benefit of the doubt last time round.

I'm not trying to brush them off, I'm trying to respond to them. I wasn't trying to derail his plan - When/while we were told it worked, I was all for it. I just wanted to make sure things worked out properly before we agreed to it in case it wasn't going to work how we thought it was. I wasn't aware that advising caution and getting confirmation from the GM was bad now. And as for being deliberately paranoid, that's a bit of an odd thing to say. This entire game is about looking at people closely and examining them for innocence or guilt. Paranoia is naturally a part of that. I was probably overcompensating since it's Meta, I admit that. Probably not alone in thinking about things like that. For that matter, I wasn't trying to sow dissension either, just voicing my thoughts for people to discuss. It seems to have worked, no?

I feel the same way about people posting while I'm posting . Mostly because I was examining the strategy he was proposing and arguing against it before we had a ruling. We had a bit of back and forth about things as well, and were antagonising each other a little (if that's the right word for it). What he meant was 'if I die, it's one of the naysayers who did it'. Honestly though, I'm not 100% certain as to why he put it like that, or so openly. Admittedly, this is a game where you can't tell people things in private, but all that's done is give the Eliminators an obvious place to point fingers (not that I'm accusing you right now, I'd rather hear from Haelbarde and the less talkative players first). People should be able to figure out 'Wyrm and Meta were arguing a bit, maybe look there?' on their own, rather than have it explicitly spelt out and have that line of argument be open to exploitation. Frankly though, I wouldn't say Meta's death on the first Cycle tells us anything - It happens almost every game to him, unfortunately (well, every one there's no easy access to protective Roles). If anyone was going to die on the first Cycle, it was going to be Meta, regardless of who makes up the team (unless he's on it). Oh, thank you Haelbarde then . That's a much better response than I was hoping for, and thank you for being so thorough. Yes, asking questions and following up is crucial to this. It doesn't really matter what line of inquiry you pursue, the act of discussion generates a lot of evidence for or against a player's innocence (and sometimes both). My next thought is that I would like to hear from Mailliw73. I know he's around right now from PMs, so he's got a bit of time on his hands at the present. He's also a really experienced player. So why didn't you vote during the previous Cycle?

The change in the ruling is disappointing, but at least it came early on when it doesn't matter too much. I'd guess there was either discussion on the Eliminator doc or the Spec doc about it. Maybe even both. To answer Bort's question in the previous Cycle's thread, the WGG is a Wounded Gazelle Gambit. Basically, the Eliminators target one of their own with the kill, but at the same time use defensive roles to save them. The idea is that this makes them appear Village. We haven't seen this plot for over a year now (in the very second game played here, LG2). I must admit that I'm surprised that Shallan was actually an Eliminator, with that inactivity there. Guess it makes sense though; she's not the most active player at times. In which case, I'm going to go back and pull the votes from last Cycle. Kipper (1) - OrlokTsubodai Shallan (3) - Kipper, Adamir, RavenRadient7 Lightsworn Panda (1) - Wyrmhero Vauhsoj (1) - Bort Venture Mistborn (1) - Sir Jerric Metacognition (1) - The Only Joe The Only Joe (1) - Metacognition No votes: Haelbarde (removed after Alvron made a meaningless post), Venture Mistborn (not coloured so didn't count), phattemer, Shallan (never seen), Alvron, Lightsworn Panda, Vauhsoj (Adamir at least made a post, so), Mailliw73, A Smart Guy and The Mighty Lopen (removed from Metacognition). Raven's vote change is very interesting as well, considering it turned it from a tie on Kipper and Shallan to a lynch on Shallan. Unless, somehow, both Kipper and Shallan are Eliminators (in which case, why put a second vote on Kipper in the first place?), I would say this clears Raven. The only other alternative is that they did to Shallan what we did back in MR3 with our absent Eliminator, which is possible, but probably not likely. That's a lot of people who decided not to vote, which is really disappointing, particularly those who never voted at all. I'm almost spoiled for choice as to who to place a poke vote on... I would like to know why Alvron's post was good enough for you to remove your vote, Haelbarde. There is no point in a poke vote unless you actually get them to contribute, and removing it without even responding to their post is very weak. The lynch isn't a register, it's a forum for an exchange of ideas. We want to generate discussion, not just say 'oh, there you are, seems you are present'. Edit: Hm, for some reason it didn't tell me there were posts before I posted. Oh well, not too important, since Haelbarde said others could provide more info. Responding to Raven, generally the distribution is 1/5-1/4, depending on the rules of the game. There are 19 players, but it's slightly balanced in our favour with the Breath mechanic, so I would guess 4, maybe 5 if Gamma picked a less experienced team, but I very much doubt that. Four would be my bet.

The first point I just wanted to reiterate. Sure, saying it makes you seem very Village, but I didn't want people to go away thinking it was certain. Claiming to be 100% certain about anyone in this game based on what they're saying is a dangerous way to play, considering we can only ever get somewhat final confirmation with regards to Alignments. I'm not accusing you, or attempting to insinuate 'Meta is clearly an Eliminator, let's lynch him'. I am saying 'Meta is a clever player, and may be bringing this up because he's either an honest Villager, or an Eliminator banking on it getting more than it costs'. Probably the former, sure, but the latter should still be something we keep in the back of our minds. I think you'd be disappointed in us if we didn't consider this from multiple angles. Your second point I never actually gave much thought to. My point there was that as an Eliminator it would be handy for you to know where some of the saves are headed, so you can divert your kills elsewhere. It didn't even cross my mind (other than outright dismissal) that anyone would attempt a WGG in this game. There's just simply too much that could possibly go wrong with it to even attempt getting the Village to save even you reliably. I'm of the opinion that anyone saved is confirmed Village. Anything else is just too convoluted and difficult to construct without way too much risk.

If it helps, you're the only one I know of, basically. And... Hmm... I'll let it slide for now, if you're feeling a bit off at the moment, but I expect actual discussion when you return, pandawan. Lots has happened, and you must have an opinion about something. My poke vote remains. I am, I will admit, somewhat surprised by Gamma's ruling, but we should definitely use it now we know what's happening with it. As a minor point, Meta, you say there is no point to a Rebel suggesting it. What if one of them happens to suggest it (arguing that it makes them clearly Village) and be the most likely person people save? It could be very beneficial, if you know where the Breath will probably go. Just a thought, but nothing serious . So, speaking of thoughts, my current ones on what's happened overnight: I don't like it. Lynching inactives is not a good idea in such a fast format as this, as it wastes our most valuable moments of time, which is the early game. Coupled with that, it's very rare for Eliminators to actually be inactive. The danger is that people hide within the inactives, but this early on that isn't exactly a problem we can observe. Sure, we want to threaten and poke them into posting, but we always want to lynch another player because their defence (and the votes of others) give us more information. We get comparatively little information from the lynch, and we're just hoping for blink luck to have targeted an Eliminator with it. Day 1 lynches are never about trying to actually hit an Eliminator, but generating discussion. We've had a lot happen in such a short space of time, and I am very concerned that people think it's still more worthwhile to lynch an inactive than anyone else. Not only have certain people (myself included) been rather outspoken, but we've also had a spate of people who have posted just to basically say they're here. They contribute nothing other than appearing to not be inactive, when in actual fact that's exactly what they are. We need to actually promote discussion in this game - Going for inactives is a safe vote, because they can't defend themselves or counter your arguments. For that matter, you don't need to place arguments to get them lynched. It's incredibly easy to do, and gets us almost nowhere. My remaining thoughts this Cycle, should the worst occur, is that we should be looking at people who have seriously proposed going for inactives, as well as the people who have not actually contributed yet, despite being online. Both of these neither help us nor incriminate them, which overall means that (in the latter's case specifically) they appear to be helping generate information, despite not actually giving us anything to use.

I'm going to do something that will surprise you here, Meta: I'm going to admit Joe's thoughts influenced me. Of course, it wasn't in a doc but on here. He responded before I did, and I read his small comment on it before making my post, and I thought to myself about it. My immediate thought along those lines was 'We need this clarified before we decide on doing this, just in case Joe's right.'. It was then followed by 'Do we really get a free shot at preventing the Eliminator's kill like that? Seems a bit like it's not quite in the spirit of the rules. Best to check'. I admit, I didn't think about it too closely at the time, as it wasn't meant to be a large part of my post. I would assume that you don't give your Breath away until the player dies. In which case, if the lynch occurs first, as it has done in many QF games before, you can't stick around to save someone with your Breath. However, if they occur simultaneously, then it seems rather strong to say that, as your dying act, you are able to give your Breath away to a person of your choice. The obvious balance then would be that this moves down to the second person instead. Of course, there is a minor issue with the Eliminators getting someone else lynched with their Breath giveaway, now that I think about it a bit more, so I don't think that would happen. My assumption would be the first case, that the lynch happens first.

Meta is, of course, completely correct about the fact that discussion is absolutely the best way to go about this - Indeed, it's the only way to go about this, without any seeking Roles (well, other than completely random chance, but I'd hope we are better than that). Been a while since we've had to rely solely on our wit, but I'm sure we can manage . I said I'd RP a bit, but I'm a bit worn from changeover for Heirs, so I'm going to leave that for tomorrow and give a brief bit of a look at what's happened so far. Interestingly enough, this little conversation between Meta and Joe reminds me all the way back to LG5. Aspren voted for himself, and Meta jumped on the first person who voted for Aspren as well. Meta was, however, innocent back then, so I don't think this really tells us anything other than mainly leaning towards innocence. But on the other hand, he says 'I didn't want to share it in case I was an Eliminator' with his second point. Seems a mite too 'I'm a Villager, honest!' to me. Can a player give up their Breath if they're going to be lynched, Gamma? I would have guessed that if a player gave up their Breath, the person second in line for the chop would get lynched instead. Otherwise it seems rather strong, though I won't complain if that's the case. It'd be good to get confirmation on this. We definitely do not want a bandwagon. Even when we're fairly sure of an Eliminator (though I doubt we'll ever be in any situation to be 100%), we should always still promote discussion as much as possible. We certainly don't want to lock in targets within the first 12 hours of the Cycle on the first day. Now, while it's true that we have little to go on at the start, already we have a lot of information on who is voting and where they are voting. We have several people confirming lynches, appearing to bandwagon, and discussing. We need to keep that up. Lynchtrains shouldn't really be encouraged until we are certain that a player is the one we definitely want to lynch. My vote on Jain was probably a bit silly, since he's not on at that time usually, but I'll keep it there to ensure he pokes his head in and gives a response. I'm a little suspicious of Kipper (note, *very* little) for his saying that he's okay with Day 1 lynches this game because there's no Roles, which I would disagree with (in that I think they're handy in every game), but that's probably just due to us having somewhat conflicting playstyles, and previous games creeping in a bit too much into a very different game. For now, my vote on Jain stays until I get a response. Has anyone been seen yet on this thread who haven't posted?

Generation 3: To Govern an Empire Turn 1 Lord Erikell grimaced as he looked out a window of his House's Keep onto the grounds. "There must be hundreds of men there. No, thousands. At least twenty times our number! What the hell is he playing at?" "I was told it was revenge," his wife, and the head of his House, said. She too scowled. "Three of theirs dead, and they think they can just waltz into our grounds with an army?" "The doors have been barricaded, as you requested, My Lady," guard said as he entered the room and saluted. "Good," Lady Erikell replied. Then she sighed. "We should, perhaps, talk to them. Show that we are not intimidated by them enough to simply hide in our Keep. Perhaps see if they can be made to disappear. We cannot afford a siege anyway." A coin dropped to the floor before Lord Tekiel, and Lady Erikell dropped to the floor shortly afterwards, followed by her husband. "What," she asked without preamble, "is the meaning of this?" "Is it not obvious?" Lord Tekiel asked. "You attacked my Keep and killed my men. I am here to kill you, your children, your House... Your House will be scattered into the wind, and forgotten. Harsh, perhaps, but examples must be made." "So you march an army to lay siege to our House?" Lord Erikell spat on the ground at his feet. "As The Lord Ruler said, a House that cannot defend itself does not deserve to exist." "So that's why you've got twice as many soldiers with you as your Keep employs? What did you do, grab skaa off the street and force them into uniforms?" Lady Erikell asked. "They are from concerned interests," Lord Tekiel replied. "But they could perhaps be made to... vanish... with the right payment." "You've already stolen enough from us with that damned scheme of yours. Why any of our people thought it sounded like a good idea, I don't know. But enough is enough." "Then I shall accept blood," Lord Tekiel shrugged, "in lieu of gold. There will be enough to paint your Keep with it, I promise you of that. Will you die here with some of your dignity? Or must be starve you to death inside like a coward?" "I wonder how long you can pay your army," Lady Erikell asked. "We'll see who fades first. House Erikell will not be moved from this spot." "Suit yourself." Lord Tekiel said. He moved his hand slightly, and a crossbow bolt flew through the air, striking Lady Erikell in the chest. A second hit Lord Erikell in the arm shortly afterwards, knocking him to the ground. "Y-you bastard!" He shouted, looking over at his wife. He clutched at his arm, pewter giving him the strength to remain focused. "You chose this course," Lord Tekiel responded. "Be thankful at least you won't have to watch your children die before you." He nodded again, and his men raised their crossbows again. "Give my regards to your wife when you see her again." There was a great sound of wood smashing against steel, followed by Lord Tekiel's men hitting the ground with excessive force. Raynah dropped into the circle of collapsed soldiers, before burning steel and sending the men flying once more in all directions. Shortly after her appearance, another pair of black-clad shapes dropped to the ground: The Lord Ruler, and Benedict. "Lord Ruler?" Lord Tekiel asked, somewhat taken aback by the sudden appearance. "I- My Lord, it's an honour for you to-" Suddenly, he was hurled to the ground by a steelpush, his metal rings threatening to break his fingers. The Lord Ruler picked him up by the collar, as though he weighed nothing, holding him close. "This I will not stand," he hissed. "You gather an army to yourself, you march thousands of men through my streets, and you declare open warfare on one of my nobles. What were you thinking?" "My-My Lord!" Lord Tekiel spluttered in his grip. "He attacked my keep! I thought you approved of retribution! You said you didn't care if we sought vengeance!" "I said I didn't care if you did that privately. This is tantamount to declaring a civil war within my Empire!" He dropped Lord Tekiel onto the ground. "Not to mention that you apparently need twenty times the men he has for your vengeance." "I... Thank you, My Lord," Lord Erikell said, pushing himself up a bit. He tried not to look at his wife's body. "Be quiet. I am not doing this out of any obligation to you. Your House was stupid enough to take part in this when you couldn't deal with the backlash." He looked back to Lord Tekiel. "Get up," he commanded. "Both of you." Lords Tekiel and Erikell stood carefully, the latter still clutching at the crossbow bolt is his arm. "Erikell, go wait in your Keep." Lord Erikell nodded and dropped a coin. He hesitated and took a step towards her body. "No. Leave her." "I... As you wish, My Lord," he said, before pushing back up to climb the Keep. Lord Tekiel waited, flinching as The Lord Ruler turned his gaze onto him. "As for your treasonous actions today..." "My Lord, I meant no disrespect-" "And yet you have shown that you disrespect my rule, and care little for the stability of my Empire." "My Lord, give me the chance, and I will make this right for you!" "I'm glad to hear that," The Lord Ruler smiled cruelly. "Then I want you to decimate the army you brought here." "...My Lord?" "Divide your archers, your soldiers, your officers and so on into groups of ten. Determine one of them at random. The other nine will beat the tenth to death. You will leave the bodies here to rot. Do I make myself clear?" "...Yes, My Lord," Lord Tekiel nodded. "Perfectly." "Good. Benedict will make sure it is carried out to my specifications," The Lord Ruler responded. "There will be even more repercussions if I am defied again." Lord Heron stepped down from his carriage, and his gaze immediately shifted upwards to examine the twisted mass of iron spires that made up Kredik Shaw. It was not the first time that he had seen it, but it was always an impressive, if somewhat ugly, sight. Another carriage rolled up behind his, and Lord Heron waved his own onwards. Out of this one, Garek Urbain stepped out, giving Lord Heron a wide and informal grin. "Don't suppose you know why I've been dragged out of bed?" Lord Heron sighed and bit a comment back about the lateness of the hour. "No, Lord Urbain. I suspect The Lord Ruler wishes to keep things close to his chest, for the time being. But when he calls for us to attend a meeting, who are we to deny this?" "Ha! You're right about that!" Lord Urbain slapped him on the back, causing him to stumble a little under the weight of it. Lord Urbain was clearly burning pewter almost constantly, if he was doing it now, and here. "Nothing like a bit of mystery, eh? Now that's something we can't deny!" "Well, yes, quite," Lord Heron muttered as he straightened his suit. "Shall we then?" He gestured towards the door. Lord Urbain nodded and went ahead, whistling to himself. Lord Wair arrived at the designated meeting room from a different door to the rest. He was early for the meeting, but it seemed he was the last to arrive; The only ones absent were Lord Erikell and Lord Tekiel, but that was understandable in the circumstances. Lord Wair entered the room from further in Kredik Shaw, and took one of the seats. He looked around at all his peers, counting as he did. "We are all here," he said. "So who are the other seats for?" "I was wondering that myself," Lord Queade said. "I doubt The Lord Ruler has a meeting room of this size for no reason... Has anyone heard anything?" "If we had, do you think we would tell you?" Lord Farrsolin asked. "Use your head, Lord Queade." "I hardly think now is the time for secrecy," Lord Queade replied. "We will find out, in a few minutes." "I'd rather spend this time trying to find a match for my daughter," Lord Izenry replied. "It baffles me that my daughter, as a direct descendant of Aodhan Izenry, has so few suitors." "Perhaps they feel that she isn't quite the match you feel she is..." Lord Elariel commenteed. "It's all very well to have pride in your House, Lord Izenry, but-" "Quiet!" Lord Queade hissed. "Can't you feel his approach?" The room fell silent, as a feeling of dread started to encroach upon each of them. In the flickering torchlight of the corridor into the heart of Kredik Shaw, a silhouette started to take form. No, several shapes appeared, closely following The Lord Ruler as he entered the room. "What are these kandra doing here?" Lord Zerrung asked. "Are these bodysnatchers meant to be our equals now?" "I did not give you leave to speak," The Lord Ruler said as he took his place. His bodyguard stood behind him, silent. She was getting on in years, but looked surprisingly young for them. Beside her, a younger gentleman recognisable as Benedict Elariel stood quietly. He was dressed in the same black attire as Raynah, and watched the proceedings nervously, scratching at his chest a little. "I... apologise, my Lord," Lord Zerrung muttered. The Lord Ruler sat there for a brief moment, taking a sip of the wine provided for them, before he started to speak. "It has been brought to my attention that many of you have been taking control of these... 'kandra', as they call themselves. Well, perhaps not necessarily those present. I doubt Lord Heron would even get up in the morning if his wife didn't tell him to." "Some of your people have also been making sport of them, I gather. Treating them as though they were mere Mistwraiths. Kandra are not the beasts that their cousins are; a delegation of them arrived from their homeland recently, and appealed to me for help. I have decided to be gracious enough to hear them." "My Lord, this is the first we have heard of your opinions on this matter," Lady Wilson said. "If you had made your views on this known to us earlier-" The Lord Ruler raised his hand to silence her. "I have no quarrel with your making use of them," he said. "But we must come to a compromise. We are here to make a deal. You shall purchase the services of kandra, rather than taking command of their will." "And what, exactly would kandra need? They can't exactly go down to the marketplace and purchase baywraps, can they?" Lord Protegat asked. "And for that matter, what about the fact that they have been killing our people as well?" "That is what we are here for," The Lord Ruler smiled slightly. "To decide on the terms of this contract between the nobility of Luthadel and the kandra." "So what can they be paid in?" Lord Penrod asked. "I have no idea if they even eat." In response, The Lord Ruler placed a silvery bead before him on the table; a bead that many recognised from the prize given to Lord Wilson at the games. "This metal is known as atium. I did not disclose this to your ancestors, but atium and gold are Allomantic. The Mistborn amongst you can burn them, and I think the effects of atium will be of most use to you." "I've never heard of this 'atium'," Lord Artorius said, though he regretted saying that very quickly. "Uh, I apologise, My Lord. I just mean that it must be very rare." "You may only purchase atium through my aides," The Lord Ruler replied. "I do not wish it to be widely available, nor will I reveal its source to you. You are correct in saying that it is rare, but its power certainly makes up for that fact." "And which aides would these be, My Lord, if you don't mind me asking?" Lord Artorius asked. "Recent events have shown me that I may not be able to rely on you keeping each other in check," The Lord Ruler said. "I am currently in the process of designing an organisation for that. You will be informed, when that is ready, so that you may purchase atium from them." He smiled. "I look forward to seeing what you do with the ability to see through the currents of time." Generation 3, Turn 1 has begun! It will end at 6PM BST on the 8th of August. The weakening of the Allomantic lines prevents new Allomancers taking control of kandra. All currently placed kandra have become free from their bonds and have disappeared. You will still gain information from G2T4. I am now changing how public Actions work slightly. If you have no public Action, then I will select one at random from your Actions this turn to publicise. I will also only accept 'Try for an Heir' publicly once per Generation, from now on. I also hope to see a bit more RP. Gold and atium have been revealed to be Allomantic when burnt by Mistborn. The Steel Ministry has been founded, and Steel Ministry Reputation is now a visible statistic. Your people have become more demanding. At the end of the Generation, your House will consume food and luxury items. If your House does not own either or both, your Reputation will take a hit. The Canton of Resource Atium cannot be produced by Mines. You may instead purchase atium directly from the Canton of Resource, at the same cost of a Tier 2 Good (currently 7 Wealth). A contract may be purchased through the Canton of Resource for the purchases of a kandra. This currently costs one shipment of Atium every four Turns, though that can be paid with Wealth rather than with Atium. The Canton of Resource also wishes to take control of trade routes. Each Turn, they will take one Canal or Road off each player, compensating them above market rate. The Canton of Hegemony The Canton of Hegemony is in charge of the laws and ruling of the Empire. Players may apply to this Canton for Governance of cities, as well as for other particularly high-up, unique positions in the Empire. These are known collectively as Stewardships, and a player may only have one Stewardship at a time. Some may be granted to a player due to prior actions (though you can always turn it down if you wish). The Canton of Orthodoxy The Canton of Orthodoxy is now your method to reach The Lord Ruler's ear. All requests to him now go through his church, and they oversee the organising of the other Cantons. Contracts must be signed with a member of the Canton of Orthodoxy present, though this is mostly flavour and does not affect your Actions. This Canton is also in charge of maintaining skaa-noble relations; i.e., that no-one has children with them. The Canton of Finance This Canton is now where the vast majority of your Wealth is stored and moved around in. Players may donate money to the various Cantons via the Canton of Finance. The player who donates the most each Turn will gain respect and reputation points. The rest, sadly, get nothing. This Canton also oversees inflation and prices in The Final Empire. This Generation, there are no increases in prices for Goods, but the Standard Action Cost is now 4 Wealth. Due to the Urbain fashion show, the buy and sell price of Clothing have each increased by 1 Wealth for this Generation. House Tekiel's long-term investment scheming has cost members of every House; Each other House has lost 1 Wealth. Generation 3 Player List PMs all sent out.

Well, since last time went so well, I'm gonna begin by accusing Jain . I may even do some RPing when I've got my game's stuff done.

You are... Just in, I think. I've sent a PM to you about this, please describe your House and its specialisation to me in there.

I am putting my foot down from now on with regards to late Actions. None of them will be accepted.

Right, the Turn is over. Any events needing a response will be sent out, and then the new Generation will begin tomorrow in 24 hours' time.

That's fine, if you're playing burn with a low curve (I believe monored legacy burn runs 18 lands, of which half are fetches), or with a lot of ramp. I doubt the lower land-count would be a reason though. Either it had more redundancy (likely, if it's burn), or it was just a hard counter with its speed (such as if you were playing any kind of control or very high CMC deck). It could also have been that his deck worked with itself better than yours. But outside of burn, you definitely do not want that few. What sort of games did you play though? If the games lasted until turn 10, then your deck simply wasn't fast enough and he had more value out of his cards when he actually had the lands to cast them. Practically every deck should be able to win by turn 10 against a mana screwed opponent. Unless he never actually shuffled properly, of course, which would be my concern if a friend ran that many lands but never had difficulties casting more expensive spells. This is the deck. There are 26 lands (in the current build. It's fluctuated between 24 and 30 at times), but 4 of those are Dryad Arbors, so they're also creatures as well and I can get away with it a bit. Generally speaking, the deck attempts to build a strong defensive position by using Dryad Arbors (in combination with Terra Eternal), Karametra and Sapling of Colefenor. When effects like Dictate of Heliod get online, I start smashing into my opponents with my other man-lands. At the same time, I also attempt to gain small advantages via Landfall effects. They give me stuff like life, card draw and creature tokens. Note that there is actually very little ramp in the deck (and any that is comes from Green Sun's Zenith for X = 0). Mostly, this is due to the fact that there are very few basic lands in the deck, and non-basic ramp is sadly hard to come by. If I was able to change the deck, there are really two things I would like to add - Crucible of Worlds (expensive, sadly) and another Oracle of Mul Daya (also expensive, but not anywhere near as much). BFZ should give me some nice new tools for the deck though, so I'm interested in seeing what changes there..

What do you mean by 'anonymous actions'? Edit in response to Adamir's edit: You must have at least one public Action each turn. If they are all private, none will go through unless I make a mistake >>. That Action cannot be accepted. You need to state all the terms of the contract, though you do not need to state quantities. For example, you could say 'in exchange for Wealth' or something like that, but not 'some other things'. *raises hand* Edit: There are 24 22 hours left in the Turn from now.

Venser was first seen in the Time Spiral block as one of two neowalkers. He was last seen in Scars of Mirrodin, which occurred ~ 150 years later or something and . I believe the other events near Time Spiral, such as the Planeswalker novels, were that long ago too, but with Origins now setting the standard, it's questionable how much that's canon. The standard number of lands you are meant to use is 2/5ths of the size of the deck. In limited with 40 cards, you use ~16, in constructed with 60 ~24, and in EDH ~40. Now, this number can change quite a bit depending on the average converted mana cost of the deck, and the amount of ramp or fixing within it. The vast majority of my 60 card decks have 23 lands in them, either due to a little bit of fixing, or due to it being multiplayer a lot of the time when I play. My monored Elementals has 20 lands, whereas my Land deck has around 28. Speaking of my Land deck, one of my favourite wins was against a deck like this . Opponent managed to Lifelink themselves up to ~400 life, by bouncing his creatures off my indestructibles. He didn't have trample though (couldn't draw into Nylea), so he couldn't actually break through. Being able to better-than-chump-block his creatures for a while allowed me to find my own answers to his big creatures, before starting to swing into his life total with my unkillable but still rather tough critters. Unfortunately, big creatures and massive life totals mean nothing if you can't finish the game with them

That's a good question, and not one with an easy answer, I'm afraid . Back in the past, the MtG 'fatpacks' used to contain 6 booster packs from a set, and a novel based on the set as well. The novel's now been taken out, and the story's done differently. There are four primary places to get the lore: The cards themselves. There is a surprising amount of story on the cards themselves, both flavourtext and the artwork. A lot of it is tangential to the main plot-line, but it's all about the world and the story in general. The books. While these have now been discontinued, the vast majority of the storyline can be found in the books they used to bring out with each set. The writing is of... dubious quality. They ended with Theros. The Planeswalker Comics, a short enterprise in graphic storytelling. From the bottom travelling upwards, timewise, this tells a few stories from the Shards of Alara block, up to Innistrad. Uncharted Realms. Since discontinuing the novels, Wizards of the Coast have decided to contain all their actual story in the Uncharted Realms section on their website. The current stories on there are about the five Planeswalkers contained in Origins, and comprise of their youth and first Planeswalk, followed by their current situation. The MtG Wiki also contains some information, though it can be difficult if you don't know what you're looking for. It's difficult to explain the Magic storyline, a lot of the time because it's questionable how much the sets interact. The main turning point, however, was the Time Spiral block. Within this story, a lot of the old Planeswalkers died, including people on the Weatherlight. New Planeswalkers have been brought down to a more 'relateable' level by an event known as The Mending, and the first block with the new setting is Lorwyn - Though Planeswalkers didn't feature within it. Shards of Alara is the first block to actually contain Planeswalkers within the story. My suggestion would be to read a synopsis of each block, more than anything. Generally speaking, there are three, maybe four, current plots to follow: Nicol Bolas was a draconic Planeswalker from before The Mending, and he got just a little miffed at losing his powers after reappearing in Time Spiral. His storyline begins in Shards of Alara, and then briefly touches on Zendikar and Scars of Mirrodin. This plot-line has, arguably, been the least progressed at the moment, and it's quite possible that Wizards is just having him be this ominous shadow that sets things in motion without doing anything. The Eldrazi appeared in Zendikar, great eldritch abominations that literally go around eating Planes. Their story is the most developed right now. The characters follow on to briefly touch down in Innistrad and Return to Ravnica, before going to Khans of Tarkir. The next block, Battle for Zendikar, continues this storyline. New Phyrexia is a continuation of the Weatherlight plotline, in essence, with a new version of Phyrexia that does not follow Yawgmoth. This plot begins in Mirrodin, pre-Mending, and then cameos on Time Spiral before happening again in Scars of Mirrodin. After this, one of the characters flees to Theros. This is likely to be developed post-Battle for Zendikar. Liliana's Demons are a group of four incredibly-powerful demons who bestowed the Planeswalker Liliana with power, after she got a bit whiny about no longer being immortal and ageless following the events of the Mending (as she existed beforehand). This plot is a tentative fourth, because there is only one other recurring character involved so far. This story visits Innistrad, and forms the basis for M15, and is mentioned in Origins. Something important to note; The Magic timeline is *screwed up*. The events of the Mending of Time Spiral block occurred perhaps 150 years before the events of the current blocks. Despite this, at least one of the mortal, human characters survived all that time with no explanation. Don't expect amazing writing or consistency here, is my warning. The Magic story is interesting, but I feel it's better in broad strokes rather than specific minutiae. If you have more specific questions, feel free to ask.