Jump to content

Araris Valerian

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    4721

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Araris Valerian

  1. Araris Valerian
    Actions:
  2. Araris Valerian
    Ok then. I guess that makes sense, and yeah, you did tell me otherwise, so I'm glad that is all cleared up by now.
  3. Araris Valerian
    Ok, so I am fairly confident at this point that there is a PC Master Archivist, since I have 21 EP in the Archives and haven't been elevated yet (as in, none of my elevations have been in archives) :/. So one of the thrice elevated students probably studied exclusively in archives, had 15 EP, got elevated to El'the and gained 5 EP for studying a single area, and then became a master.
  4. Araris Valerian
    I am not a skindancer. I am really swamped with life (mostly homework and midterms) right now, and probably will be through this week. I will use the abilities that I have in the best way I can think of to help the village, and definitely not die from mercenaries. But I probably won't file any complaints unless I have way more time than I suspect I will.
  5. Araris Valerian
    I am not a skindancer. And I really hope that this game doesn't have standard elimination proportions, because if that is the case we are kinda sunk, unless the skindancers keep failing to hit people (or hit people that die from mercenaries).
  6. Araris Valerian
    There is a possible exception to that, Wonko. If a player has 20 EP in a field, and gets elevated to El'the then they immediately become a master (from having 15 EP). I'm not sure if that is treated differently in the writeup, but I asked Wilson about it and got that response.
  7. Araris Valerian
    Amari was really worried. People at the University were dying. It wasn't fair that his opportunity to make something of himself, to learn of the world, would become entangled in an effort to preserve the largest institution of learning central to humanity. He still hadn't really met anybody at the University, and didn't know how to actually justify his being at the University during such a time of crisis. - Ok, I started to try and RP a bit, but got busy with life, so it didn't really happen. I do think that the no complaint thing would be a good idea, except isn't there a power that lets you file a complaint in secret? So if a skindancer had that, they could get somebody expelled almost for certain
  8. Araris Valerian
    Wow, I am really losing track of time, haha. For some reason I thought that this was the second week of last turn, and that I didn't need any new actions... Araris sat in his study, excited. His son Aradel was visiting from the Ministry to collect some minor amount of funds from House Penrod, and had indicated that he had a bit of spare time on his hands. It was a perfect opportunity to introduce the Ministry to his new project, and to get Aradel and Alelin to meet each other, now that the latter had come of age. Araris's steward came into the study. "Your son is here, Mi'lord." "Very good. Bring him on up." When Aradel entered the room, Araris noticed that his eye-tattoos had grown since their last meeting. It had been a shock to him at first, seeing the mark of the Ministry on his son. Aradel was actually the first direct descendant of Hadrian that had joined with the Ministry, and that lack of unity was a problem Araris had seen quickly. Why should two groups, each united in scholarship, not share members in addition to resources? "Lord Penrod, your steward gave me your payment, and he also mentioned you had something that would be of interest to the Ministry." Despite the tattoos that changed his appearance, Aradel's voice had not changed over the last several years; it was still the voice of Araris's son. Araris motioned for the obligator to take a seat across from Alelin. "Alelin, this is your brother Aradel, who you know is now an obligator." The two exchanged a brief greeting, and Araris motioned to the contents of the table, the ultimate purpose of the meeting. "This here is what I call House Elevation. It is a game to play, kind of like chess, but several people can play at once and there are elements of luck and player interaction in addition to pure strategy. Basically, we all control a single House, trying to please the Ministry and expand our financial base to eventually enter the High Nobility. We start out with two plantations each, and we will put them where these hexagons intersect, so that each plantation touches three tiles." Araris placed one of his plantation markers down on the board and gestured to the three spaces around it. "So this plantation will produce Lumber, Allomantic Metals and Food. Each round we roll some dice, and the result of the roll determines which plantations are productive that turn. Plantations can be upgraded with a Ministry office to increase their effectiveness and the amount of Influence Points the player has. Once a player reaches ten influence points, it means that the are accepted into the High Nobility and win the game." The three began to play, with Araris continuing to explain different nuances of the rules. Aradel caught on quickly, and his economic experience from working in the ministry ultimately paid off. He made an initial gamble by focusing all of his plantations on producing Allomantic Metals, but that quickly paid off as he connected to a neighboring city that allowed him to efficiently trade the metals for whatever he wanted. The combined monopoly and ease of trade that Aradel possessed led to him winning solidly. He nodded in acceptance of his victory, then rubbed his chin. "I will take a copy of this to the Ministry. I think they will approve of how victory comes from gaining influence through their offices. Additionally, the threat of an inquisitor shutting down your plantation is a very real fear that I suspect the Ministry will not be averse to promoting in the nobility. Good game, and good day, Lord Penrod."
  9. Araris Valerian
    Bother, the cycle is almost over and I just got done with life for today. I also agree with Danosaur, since as I mentioned in my most recent post (whenever that was), voting for people actually creates a net tuition increase if any person places more than a single vote. Not to mention that I am a little frustrated about being roleblocked this cycle. I guess I will also vote on Elbereth, since I am really out of time, and it enforces that we shouldn't be voting just for tuition.
  10. Araris Valerian
    I'll get on and contribute a bit tomorrow, I've been bogged down today studying for a Chinese exam. I am not a Skindancer.
  11. Araris Valerian
    Well, sorry guys but I totally lost track of time for this game and now I guess the cycle is pretty much over. Since I haven't really been keeping track of things, I am not going to vote this cycle. The tuition reduction isn't really that helpful and overall we have actually been increasing tuition as a group because of double-votes. I'm not saying it is a bad thing, more just to point out how I feel kind of lost as to strategy in this game so far. And just to say something concrete, regardless of how unhelpful, I attempted for talent pipes during Term 1, Month 2 and failed, and my character was very confident in his musical ability.
  12. Araris Valerian
    My bad. I was confusing the ranks of elevation, and I'm not a Re'lar yet (who have to pay 1 talent extra). So don't mind that bit of my post.
  13. Araris Valerian
    I kinda wanted to write my advice in RP form, but I don't know your character's name/gender Silverblade, since it isn't in the player list for some reason :/. @Silverblade: The way I understand it is you have 5 (or less, if already elevated) EP to assign to the different fields of study (This is what impressing Masters means, and you do it in your PM with the GM). You could put 1 point each in 5 areas, all 5 points in Math or something, or go in between. Then, when the Masters assign DP, your EP that is in that field will get used up to counteract that. DP assignment is kinda random right now, so if you get voted for expect a risk of losing some. Then there is a random choice made by each master to elevate a student. Say I have 5 EP in Math, you have 3 EP, and two others each have 1. There is a total of 10 EP in Math, so the Master has a 1/10 chance of elevating each player per EP they have. So I have a 5/10 chance, you have a 3/10 chance, and the two other players each have a 1/10 chance for elevation. And if you get elevated you lose all your EP in that field unless you had more than 5, in which case you lose 5. That actually is a good point Lopen. If only a couple people end up getting voted on then the DP from Masters would almost certainly end in their expulsion. Which then makes me sad that I am being voted for, especially since I already have a higher tuition compared to others... So I guess I'll place two votes for now, and come back and remove one of them if there seem to be a decent number of people with votes by the end of the cycle. I'm gonna vote for Hael for doing quicklinks and RP while not really discussing the game directly (maybe a bit hypocritical, but I'm trying to fix that with this post) and on Mailliw, for PM phishing. By the way, I practice PM safety, so if somebody contacts me asking to trade info or anything of the like, I will not respond in a positive fashion (mostly just with a no and possibly a complaint).
  14. Araris Valerian
    I'm just going to put one complaint on Neo, for the lack of posting.
  15. Araris Valerian
    "I'll be fine. I just- it's been a long day." Well, I can't force her to be happier, or to share her life with me. Actually, that would be kind of terrifying. A stranger walked up, apparently having noticed the incident and asked if the girl Amari had knocked down was okay. "Why do I keep getting asked that?" It seemed that the girl's day really was long already. "Somehow I seem to be unintentionally telling the world that I need help! Well, I don't," she said, turning on both of them. "Don't try to trick me into thinking you're nice and generous and all that! I know what this world is like, and I don't want any part of it. I'm fine." She moved to go past Amari in her original direction, obviously not wanting any help. Amari was relieved that he had an easy out of his conversation, and moved aside so she could leave. "I hope your day gets a bit brighter, and that the rest of your encounters aren't nearly so violent as ours was. Good day." Bother. I could have spent that time reading... Amari ignored the stranger that had come up to them and headed back towards Anker's. Edit: Well, I just got RP ninja'd haha. Amari is a little absentminded, so I guess he just didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Also, I agree with Lopen on the lynch system being weird. Basically, our votes can serve to (kind of) roleblock people, and eventually keep them from participating in the University. But to actually win the game, we have to kill people, and I'll need to check up on how to do that, I know at least that you can hire assassins, so accumulating money is important for us to do. I'm probably going to spend my votes this cycle on inactives, if there are any by them time I get to it, although I also find the people with RP only votes to be worthy of complaint as well.
  16. Araris Valerian
    Amari was jogging back to Anker's when he crashed into a young woman, sending both of them tumbling to the ground. He quickly picked himself up, then offered her a hand. "Sorry!" She accepted his hand and pulled herself to her feet. Amari was intending to leave without getting himself entangled in a long conversation when he noticed she was crying. I suppose my studying can wait a bit. After all, I probably should try and get to know some people in town a bit in case I get into some trouble of my own. "Woah there, did I hurt you?" - OOC: I might not be able to be here to be back and forth super frequently, just as a heads up.
  17. Araris Valerian
    The University was a strange place to Amari, but recent events had only served to increase that feel. When his parents sent him off, they told him that he was smart enough to succeed there. And truth be told, they had been right. Classes were hard, but not overly so. Unfortunately, the current crisis didn't fall under any of Amari's strong suits. Mathematics wasn't a particularly useful way to kill somebody, regardless of how you looked at it. I guess I'll go try and read up on the subject. It wasn't that reading was hard, in fact, Amari enjoyed reading immensely. But reading and actually learning something, that was a different matter. On the way to the Stacks, Amari picked up bits and pieces of conversations between other students. He didn't care to spend time around them too much, and as a result nobody confided in him directly. But the Masters were promoting open discussion, and it was easy to overhear what people were saying. Really only two things stuck out to him; speculation over the number of invaders, and the open hostility between some of the students. It wasn't super relevant how many Skindancers were around, because once they were all gone, people would just stop dying, at least in (relatively) unusual ways. Fortunately, Amari had been out of the way enough to both avoid complaints against him, and he also hadn't been treated poorly by anyone in particular.
  18. Araris Valerian
    Araris sat in the ballroom of Keep Penrod following the convention. The last several years had been good to his House, all things considered. The Ministry was still disgruntled, but it was nothing that a little time and money couldn't fix. Furthermore, in the period between Hadrian's murder and his own ssumption of House Lord, the House funds had sat stagnant, increasing steadily with no place to go. Soon, that money would go toward a grand project, an undertaking that would leave House Penrod memorialized as long as the Final Empire lasted. But tonight was a night to relax, not to stress about plans for the future. Araris left the Keep and began burning tin. Luthadel was so empty at night, despite its overcrowded population, and he could walk for hours without seeing another soul. And everywhere were the mists, curling around rooftops and hugging the streets. Araris knew what the mists had once been, back during the Deepening. That was part of why House Penrod was loyal to the Lord Ruler, despite his inflexibility with the skaa. Whatever he had done, the Lord Ruler had saved the world from destruction. But despite the histories and records it was hard for him to see the mists as something to be feared. The cool dampness from their swirling was comforting in a way that nothing else could be. Eventually, Araris reached the city wall, and found a place where, with flared tin, he could just barely make out the Arena. Hadrian had told him about that day, and several records of it were stored throughout different Penrod libraries. Initially, following the outbreak of the rebellion, the Ministry had sought to destroy the record of the event, and Hadrian's resistance to those efforts had been part of why he ended up on the wrong side of an Inquisitor's axe. But House Penrod was dedicated to history, and the Ministry had eventually given up in that area. Araris often came to this place now, both to remember his father and what the skaa rebellion was really about. Why would the skaa die killing each other if they could bring down a few noblemen instead? Araris pulled a book from his pocket, and stared at the cover for a while. This copy was special, made with expensive paper and ink to withstand the mists. The Deepness still retain a small vestige of its former destruction; books quickly became illegible after a short time out at night. The Last Speech: An Ending, this was called, and perhaps it would be Araris's greatest legacy. It was probably the greatest unchallenged attempt of House Penrod to disagree with the Ministry in all of its history. The premise behind the book was fairly simple; Hadrian simply was unable to finish giving the speech that had led to his death. Later, Araris had discovered the manuscript for that speech, and discovered that Hadrian had been about to declare renewed efforts towards killing skaa-noble children and their parents. From there, it was fairly straightforward to create a text that the Ministry could not easily fight against, at least not without undermining their efforts to prevent skaa from getting noble blood. And it had worked. Hadrian was redeemed and the Ministry was appeased, for the moment. Only when the sun began to rise, pushing the mists away to wherever they slept during they day, did Araris go back to Keep Penrod. He was tired, but excited for the new days ahead. Edit: I have some actions as well:
  19. Araris Valerian
    I'll try this one, seeing as I just died. My character will be called Amari, and I'll try and spend some more time to develop him when I'm not quite so busy.
  20. Araris Valerian
    Well, the if my post was confusing to you Lopen then I apologize, although I can't really offer any defense for that. That was due more to time constraints than anything else. Also, that post probably shouldn't exist, so I'll be sad if it gets used as a basis for lynching me . But what I was trying to get at there, is that if the eliminators knew STINK had come upon info about one of them, and had well connected, then early on one of them could have changed a vote to him right away. The backdrop to that discussion was the assumption that the person with well connected might have only been on at the start of the cycle, and thus unable to respond to what happened in the thread. So that is pretty much all I can say here. This is also a perfect time to push the CC. Before me, you guys didn't really have any discussion besides revisiting LUNA, who we also haven't heard from today. So the lynch wasn't likely to give any new information, and that is largely due to the lack of posting. Yes I used some strong language, which was partly due to me being really tired, but I still agree with that statement. I was really sad to lose the first Steelheart LG in part because of an inactive player, and I want to deal with that right now. As for SilverDragon, well there were two reasons behind that vote. The first was that STINK didn't want us bandwagoning on LUNA, and that makes sense, and my first vote on her was just to let you guys know I didn't have anything in particular against her and that I wanted to vote for someone. My vote on LUNA wouldn't have the same emphasis on inactivity as one another player we haven't heard from as much. The other reason is that it is something solid you guys can look at and get a read on me from. I think that is one of the most important parts of this game, is being honest on open about your opinions, and not being afraid to yya something you don't know 100%. When I am busy as a villager, I try and make sure to do this. As a result, you guys have several (somewhat) solid points to consider for my lynch. (Btw, the font thing was just a copy-paste deal from the player list. I picked a name that I didn't want to bother spelling at the time ). I am glad that at least I have been able to spark some discussion about myself, and I should be able to follow this for at least a couple more hours this morning before I have work. Edit: Darn, this probably puts me on STINK's hit list haha.
  21. Araris Valerian
    Ok, I am still really busy right now, so yeah. But I think that with so many people not speaking up, we should just pick one of them to lynch. Anaximander has at least posted, even if it wasn't a contribution, so we know he has been following the thread somewhat. I am going to vote for The Silver Dragon. This is when we need to really enforce the Contribution Crusade, guys. Right now the village is on the road to destruction, and I wish my schedule had more time in it to help with that.
  22. Araris Valerian
    My new semester just stared at school, so my RP time has been pretty much non-existent, but I'll try to do some tomorrow. Actions: Action 1: Who: Araris Penrod What: Hosting a gathering of scholars from across the Empire Where: Luthadel, in Keep Penrod When: First Action Why: To give House Penrod connections to other parts of the empire and to potential new ideas Action 2: Who: Araris Penrod What: Writing and distributing a biography of Hadrian Where: Luthadel When: Second Action Why: To clarify some of the confusion about Hadrian and House Penrod in general, and to demonstrate some of the policies House Penrod was about to instate before Hadrian's death to the rest of the Empire.
  23. Araris Valerian
    I love you too STINK . But actually, my time is a bit limited today/tonight, so sometime tomorrow afternoon I'll be back to give my thoughts.
  24. Araris Valerian
    You know, that is a good point. When you said that, I was lazy and didn't actually look up at the vote tally. That makes me think what you said, about a player sending in an order earlier and not getting back on, is more likely to be true. And them being an eliminator might make sense if they were aware STINK might be going to reveal something like what he did.
  25. Araris Valerian
    Well Lopen, it is possible someone just wanted a way to potentially prove that they aren't an eliminator at a later point, or that they do indeed have the Well-connected role. That would be my best guess.
×
×
  • Create New...