Mini 1630: Edgar Allan Poe uPick GAME OVER!

[fferyllt]

Mini 1630: Edgar Allan Poe uPick

Moderator: fferyllt
Back Up Moderator: GuyInFreezer

A Dream Within a Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow --
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand --
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep -- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Thus begins this journey through a bewildering concatenation of Poe's characters and stories, combined in ways that not even his imagination could have spanned.

Players

CaskOfAmontillado (a hydra of TellTaleHeart and Sthar8)
Medea the Alien (a hydra of Cabd and Penguin_Alien)
Faster Than Light (a hydra of Metal Sonic and Varsoon)
Ghatokaca (a hydra of f-16_fighting_falcon and Nachomamma8)
TierShift

PurloinedLetter (a hydra of Tiershift and fakespeare)

Policy Lynch (a hydra of Cephrir, Orcinus, and notscience)
Catastrophe (a hydra of toolenduso and TSO)
Krystal Bald (a hydra of Mantisdreamz and Nikanor)
BRantz
Kthxbye
xRECKONERx

Bookitty

Copper223

Spoiler: Still trapped within the madness (Alive)

Ghatokaca
Catastrophe
xRECKONERx

Spoiler: Shuffled off this mortal coil

LynxKuroneko, the

Morbid-aligned Black Cat

was lynched on day 1.
Policy Lynch, the

Morbid-aligned Raven

was killed on night 1
Kthxbye, the

Morbid-aligned Conquerer Worm

was lynched on day 2
BRantz, the

Morbid-aligned House of Usher

was killed on night 1
Krystal Bald, the

Miasma-aligned Madeline Usher

was lynched on day 3
Faster Than Light, the

Morbid-aligned Orangutan

was killed on night 3
Medea the Alien, the

Miasma-aligned Crypt.

was killed on night 3
copper223, the

Morbid-aligned embers

killed on night 3
CaskOfAmontillado, the

Morbid-aligned C. Auguste Dupin

killed on night 4
Tiershift, the

Morbid-aligned Marie Roget

killed on night 5

Spoiler: Exiled to distant forbidding wastes (Modkilled)

None ever please!

Spoiler: Vote Counter Settings

LIVING PLAYERS

Ghatokaca
Catastrophe
xRECKONERx (replaces Bookitty)

LINKS

Day 6, Post 1668

[fferyllt]

This uPick game is under development, and should be ready to launch within a couple days. This thread will be updated as the design is approved and the game moves inexorably toward launch.

General Rules:

Voting and Deadlines:

1. Voting must be bolded in the form

Vote: Player

or VOTE: Player, or else they will not be counted. Unvotes are not required to change your vote, but they are helpful.

2. I don't mind if you use nicknames/abbreviations when you vote someone. But if I have no idea who you're voting for, then the vote won't be counted.

3. Lynches require a majority of votes: (numberoflivingplayers/2) +1, rounded down.

4. If there's no majority at deadline, there's no lynch.

5. When the hammered vote is cast, it is officially twilight. All players may continue to talk about the game, but no votes/unvotes will count after a majority vote has been reached.

6. After you are lynched or night killed, you may make one "bah" post with no game-relevant information on the following game day. Nothing more.

7. Deadlines are set at two weeks and extensions will only be given in the event of site down time or a player replacement occurring within 3 days of deadline.

Prods and Replacements:

1. Prods will be given if you do not post in 48 hours. Weekends count as a single full day in determining if a prod is due.

2. You will be replaced if you either do not respond to a prod, or need to be prodded more than 3 times total. You may request for a player to be prodded at any time, but the less you request, the happier your mod is. Prods requested when a player has been absent for less than 48 hours do not count for replacement purposes.

3. If you're V/LA, make sure I know. If you are V/LA for more than a week, I'd suggest requesting replacement, but that's not required. If a lengthy V/LA is adversely affecting the game (e.g., if you are not able to post minimally during that time), then your mod may replace you.without penalty.

Misc.

1. Dark Blue (#004080) is the color I will use for mod posts. Please don’t use this color or otherwise try to make your posts look like mod posts.

2. You can talk about the game in the private threads given to you via PM. Otherwise, please refrain from talking about this game outside of this thread, and don't talk about other

ongoing

games inside of this game thread. This is a sitewide rule. (edited to add the word "ongoing")

3. No editing, deleting, using invisible texts, etc...

4. Don't quote

or talk about any

mod-recieved PMs.

Your flavor is for you to enjoy and you only until the end of the game.

. If you're unsure where the line is drawn re discussing role PMs or other mod-received communications, please check with me before making a post you think could be questionable. (edited for clarity)

5. I make mistakes. Show me them where you see them.

6. Questions are vastly preferred over Modkills. If you're about to do something that you're unsure about, then tell me about it first and I'll let you know if it's ok.

Please note: I am using an automated vote counter to generate the vote counts. There could be a glitch here or there. Please let me know if you notice any votes that are missed or incorrectly assigned.

Game Specific Notes:

Due to the game mechanics, the dead thread won't be started right away. Until you are invited to the dead thread, you are completely and utterly prohibited from talking about this game with other dead players.

Sample VT Role PM

Welcome! You are

The Sleeper

! You are one of the

Morbid

.

You have the following abilities ~

- Your vote and your wits.

Win Condition:

You win when all threats to the

Morbid

have been eliminated or nothing can prevent that from occurring.

The game thread is here.

Please confirm by replying to this PM with your alignment. Day 1 will start when at least 10 players have confirmed.

[fferyllt]

Role PMs will go out tonight!

Role PMs are out! Game will start when 10 players have confirmed.

Confirmed count: 10!

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 1.1

In May 1829 Poe wrote to Isaac Lea, of the publishers Carey, Lea & Carey:

"I send you, for your tenderest consideration, a poem . . .

Its title is “Al Aaraaf” — from the Al Aaraaf of the Arabians, a medium between Heaven & Hell where men suffer no punishment, but yet do not attain that tranquil & even happiness which they suppose to be the characteristic of heavenly enjoyment . . .

I have placed this “Al Aaraaf” in the celebrated star discovered by Tycho Brahe which appeared & disappeared so suddenly — It is represented as a messenger star of the Deity, &, at the time of its discovery by Tycho, as on an embassy to our world. One of the peculiarities of Al Aaraaf is that, even after death, those who make choice of the star as their residence do not enjoy immortality — but, after a second life of high excitement, sink into forgetfulness, & death — This idea is taken from Job — “I would not live always — let me alone” . . . I have imagined some well known characters of the age of the star’s appearance, as transferred to Al Aaraaf — viz Michael Angelo — and others — of these Michael Angelo as yet, alone appears."

Day One of this game is dedicated to Al Aaraaf, Edgar Allan Poe's longest and also considered his most difficult poem.

Not Voting

(12): CaskofAmontillado, Medea the Alien, LynxKuroneko, Faster than Light, Ghatokaca, PurloinedLetter, Policy Lynch, Catastrophe, Krystal Bald, Brantz, Kthxbye, Bookitty, Copper223

With 12 alive, it takes 7 to lynch.

Deadline: January 16, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-01-15 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

- Brantz is on V/LA until 01/04.
- The players who have not confirmed have 48 hours to post before I will seek replacements.
-

[fferyllt]

Is there a sample VT role pm?

Added to the 2nd post.

[fferyllt]

@Lynx

LynxKuroneko (a hydra of )

Is this a typo then?

fixed!

[fferyllt]

@Ffery: We can still talk about our role PMs under rule 4, right? Claiming is not forbidden? Also, rule 2 in the same category should be no talking about ongoing games, not ANY games, right? Otherwise meta can't be used.

I've edited Misc rules 2 and 4. If this is still ambiguous, let me know.

[fferyllt]

O! Nothing earthly save the ray
(Thrown back from flowers) of Beauty's eye,
As in those gardens where the day
Springs from the gems of Circassy—
O! nothing earthly save the thrill
Of melody in woodland rill—
Or (music of the passion-hearted)
Joy's voice so peacefully departed
That like the murmur in the shell,
Its echo dwelleth and will dwell—
Oh, nothing of the dross of ours—
Yet all the beauty—all the flowers
That list our Love, and deck our bowers—
Adorn yon world afar, afar—
The wandering star.

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 1.2

Twas a sweet time for Nesace—for there
Her world lay lolling on the golden air,
Near four bright suns—a temporary rest—
An oasis in desert of the blest.

(A star was discovered by Tycho Brahe which appeared
suddenly in the heavens—attained, in a few days, a
brilliancy surpassing that of Jupiter—then as suddenly
disappeared, and has never been seen since.)

LynxKuroneko

(3): copper223, Faster Than Light, Policy Lynch

Krystal Bald

(1): CaskOfAmontillado

copper223

(1): LynxKuroneko

Not Voting

(8): Krystal Bald, Catastrophe, Brantz, Ghatokaca, Kthxbye, Purloined Letter, Bookitty, Medea the Alien

With 12 alive, it takes 7 to lynch.

Deadline: January 16, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-01-15 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

- Brantz is on V/LA until 01/04.
- The players who have not confirmed have 48 hours to post before I will seek replacements.
-

[fferyllt]

A

way—away—'mid seas of rays that roll
Empyrean splendor o'er th' unchained soul—
The soul that scarce (the billows are so dense)
Can struggle to its destin'd eminence—
To distant spheres, from time to time, she rode,
And late to ours, the favour'd one of God—
But, now, the ruler of an anchor'd realm,
She throws aside the sceptre—leaves the helm,
And, amid incense and high spiritual hymns,
Laves in quadruple light her angel limbs

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 1.3

Now happiest, loveliest in yon lovely Earth,
Whence sprang the "Idea of Beauty" into birth,
(Falling in wreaths thro' many a startled star,
Like woman's hair 'mid pearls, until, afar,
It lit on hills Achaian, and there dwelt)
She look'd into Infinity—and knelt.
Rich clouds, for canopies, about her curled—
Fit emblems of the model of her world—
Seen but in beauty—not impeding sight
Of other beauty glittering thro' the light—
A wreath that twined each starry form around,
And all the opal'd air in color bound.

All hurriedly she knelt upon a bed
Of flowers: of lilies such as rear'd the head
*On the fair Capo Deucato, and sprang
So eagerly around about to hang
Upon the flying footsteps of—deep pride—
**Of her who lov'd a mortal—and so died.
The Sephalica, budding with young bees,
Uprear'd its purple stem around her knees:

* On Santa Maura—olim Deucadia.

LynxKuroneko

(4): copper223, Faster Than Light, Policy Lynch, Kthxbye

Krystal Bald

(1): CaskOfAmontillado

copper223

(1): LynxKuroneko

Kthxbye

(0):

PurloinedLetter

PurloinedLetter

(0): Catastrophe

Not Voting

(5): Krystal Bald, Brantz, Ghatokaca, Bookitty, Medea the Alien

With 12 alive, it takes 7 to lynch.

Deadline: January 16, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-01-15 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

- Brantz is on V/LA until 01/04.
- The players who have not confirmed have 48 hours to post before I will seek replacements.
- [/area]

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 1.3

**And gemmy flower, of Trebizond misnam'd—
Inmate of highest stars, where erst it sham'd
All other loveliness: its honied dew
(The fabled nectar that the heathen knew)
Deliriously sweet, was dropp'd from Heaven,
And fell on gardens of the unforgiven
In Trebizond—and on a sunny flower
So like its own above that, to this hour,
It still remaineth, torturing the bee
With madness, and unwonted reverie:
In Heaven, and all its environs, the leaf
And blossom of the fairy plant, in grief
Disconsolate linger—grief that hangs her head,
Repenting follies that full long have fled,
Heaving her white breast to the balmy air,
Like guilty beauty, chasten'd, and more fair:
Nyctanthes too, as sacred as the light
She fears to perfume, perfuming the night:
**And Clytia pondering between many a sun,
While pettish tears adown her petals run:
***And that aspiring flower that sprang on Earth—
And died, ere scarce exalted into birth,
Bursting its odorous heart in spirit to wing
Its way to Heaven, from garden of a king:

* This flower is much noticed by Lewenhoeck and Tournefort.
The bee, feeding upon its blossom, becomes intoxicated.

** Clytia—The Chrysanthemum Peruvianum, or, to employ a
better-known term, the turnsol—which continually turns
towards the sun, covers itself, like Peru, the country from
which it comes, with dewy clouds which cool and refresh its
flowers during the most violent heat of the day.—B. de St.
Pierre.

*** There is cultivated in the king's garden at Paris, a
species of serpentine aloes without prickles, whose large
and beautiful flower exhales a strong odour of the vanilla,
during the time of its expansion, which is very short. It
does not blow till towards the month of July—you then
perceive it gradually open its petals—expand them—fade
and die.—St. Pierre.

LynxKuroneko

(4): copper223, Faster Than Light, Policy Lynch, Kthxbye

copper223

(2): LynxKuroneko, CaskOfAmontillado,

PurloinedLetter

PurloinedLetter

(0): Catastrophe

Not Voting

(5): Krystal Bald, Brantz, Ghatokaca, Bookitty, Medea the Alien

With 12 alive, it takes 7 to lynch.

Deadline: January 16, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-01-15 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

- Brantz is on V/LA until 01/04.
- The players who have not confirmed have 48 hours to post before I will seek replacements.
- [/area]

[fferyllt]

Who livest—that we know—
In Eternity—we feel—
But the shadow of whose brow
What spirit shall reveal?
Tho' the beings whom thy Nesace,
Thy messenger hath known
Have dream'd for thy Infinity
*A model of their own—
Thy will is done, Oh, God!
The star hath ridden high
Thro' many a tempest, but she rode
Beneath thy burning eye;
And here, in thought, to thee—
In thought that can alone
Ascend thy empire and so be
A partner of thy throne—

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 1.4

Who livest—that we know—
In Eternity—we feel—
But the shadow of whose brow
What spirit shall reveal?
Tho' the beings whom thy Nesace,
Thy messenger hath known
Have dream'd for thy Infinity
*A model of their own—
Thy will is done, Oh, God!
The star hath ridden high
Thro' many a tempest, but she rode
Beneath thy burning eye;
And here, in thought, to thee—
In thought that can alone
Ascend thy empire and so be
A partner of thy throne—

LynxKuroneko

(4): copper223, Faster Than Light, Policy Lynch, Kthxbye

copper223

(2): LynxKuroneko, CaskOfAmontillado,

PurloinedLetter

PurloinedLetter

(0): Catastrophe

Not Voting

(5): Krystal Bald, Brantz, Ghatokaca, Bookitty, Medea the Alien

With 12 alive, it takes 7 to lynch.

Deadline: January 16, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-01-15 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

- Brantz is on V/LA until 01/04.
- [/area]

[fferyllt]

@Mod Lady, am I allowed to paraphrase my post-lynch ability? Just being safe.

Players paraphrasing their role PMs is ok.

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 1.5

She ceas'd—and buried then her burning cheek
Abash'd, amid the lilies there, to seek
A shelter from the fervour of His eye;
For the stars trembled at the Deity.
She stirr'd not—breath'd not—for a voice was there
How solemnly pervading the calm air!
A sound of silence on the startled ear
Which dreamy poets name "the music of the sphere."
Ours is a world of words: Quiet we call
"Silence"—which is the merest word of all.
All Nature speaks, and ev'n ideal things
Flap shadowy sounds from visionary wings—
But ah! not so when, thus, in realms on high
The eternal voice of God is passing by,
And the red winds are withering in the sky!

copper223

(3): LynxKuroneko, CaskOfAmontillado,

PurloinedLetter

, Kthxbye

Catastrophe

(1): Policy Lynch

Kthxbye

(1): Faster Than Light

CaskOfAmontillado

(1): copper223

Not Voting

(6): Krystal Bald, Catastrophe, Brantz, Ghatokaca, Bookitty, Medea the Alien

With 12 alive, it takes 7 to lynch.

Deadline: January 16, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-01-15 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

Medea the Alien is v/la through Jan 6.
-

[fferyllt]

CaskOfAmontillado has been prodded.

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 1.6

"What tho' in worlds which sightless cycles run,
Link'd to a little system, and one sun—
Where all my love is folly and the crowd
Still think my terrors but the thunder cloud,
The storm, the earthquake, and the ocean-wrath—
(Ah! will they cross me in my angrier path?)
What tho' in worlds which own a single sun
The sands of Time grow dimmer as they run,

Up rose the maiden in the yellow night,
The single-mooned eve!—on Earth we plight
Our faith to one love—and one moon adore—
The birth-place of young Beauty had no more.
As sprang that yellow star from downy hours
Up rose the maiden from her shrine of flowers,
And bent o'er sheeny mountain and dim plain
Her way—but left not yet her Therasæan reign.

copper223

(2): CaskOfAmontillado,

PurloinedLetter

, Kthxbye

Kthxbye

(2): Faster Than Light, BRantz

Catastrophe

(1): Policy Lynch

CaskOfAmontillado

(1): copper223

Not Voting

(6): Krystal Bald, LynxKuroneko, Catastrophe, Ghatokaca, Bookitty, Medea the Alien

With 12 alive, it takes 7 to lynch.

Deadline: January 16, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-01-15 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

- [/area]

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 1.7

Part II.

HIGH on a mountain of enamell'd head—
Such as the drowsy shepherd on his bed
Of giant pasturage lying at his ease,
Raising his heavy eyelid, starts and sees
With many a mutter'd "hope to be forgiven"
What time the moon is quadrated in Heaven—
Of rosy head, that towering far away
Into the sunlit ether, caught the ray
Of sunken suns at eve—at noon of night,
While the moon danc'd with the fair stranger light—
Uprear'd upon such height arose a pile
Of gorgeous columns on th' unburthen'd air,
Flashing from Parian marble that twin smile
Far down upon the wave that sparkled there,
And nursled the young mountain in its lair.
*Of molten stars their pavement, such as fall
Thro' the ebon air, besilvering the pall
Of their own dissolution, while they die—
Adorning then the dwellings of the sky.
A dome, by linked light from Heaven let down,
Sat gently on these columns as a crown—
A window of one circular diamond, there,
Look'd out above into the purple air,

copper223

(2): CaskOfAmontillado,

TierShift

, Kthxbye

Kthxbye

(2): Faster Than Light, BRantz

Catastrophe

(1): Policy Lynch

CaskOfAmontillado

(1): copper223

Not Voting

(6): Krystal Bald, LynxKuroneko, Catastrophe, Ghatokaca, Bookitty, Medea the Alien

With 12 alive, it takes 7 to lynch.

Deadline: January 16, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-01-15 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

TierShift has replaced PurloinedLetter
- [/area]

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 1.7

And rays from God shot down that meteor chain
And hallow'd all the beauty twice again,
Save when, between th' Empyrean and that ring,
Some eager spirit flapp'd his dusky wing.
But on the pillars Seraph eyes have seen
The dimness of this world: that greyish green
That Nature loves the best for Beauty's grave
Lurk'd in each cornice, round each architrave—
And every sculptur'd cherub thereabout
That from his marble dwelling peeréd out
Seem'd earthly in the shadow of his niche—
Achaian statues in a world so rich?
*Friezes from Tadmor and Persepolis—
From Balbec, and the stilly, clear abyss
**Of beautiful Gomorrah! O, the wave
Is now upon thee—but too late to save!

Sound loves to revel in a summer night:
Witness the murmur of the grey twilight

copper223

(1):

TierShift

, Kthxbye

LynxKuroneko

(1): copper223

Catastrophe

(1): Policy Lynch

TierShift

(0): Ghatokaca

Kthxbye

(1): Faster Than Light

Faster Than Light

(1): BRantz

Bookitty

(1): CaskOfAmontillado

Not Voting

(5): Krystal Bald, LynxKuroneko, Catastrophe, Bookitty, Medea the Alien

With 12 alive, it takes 7 to lynch.

Deadline: January 16, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-01-15 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

- [/area]

[fferyllt]

Note to hydrae: Please do not copy directly from your hydra communications into the game thread. Obviously this is on the honor system, but paraphrasing is ok; direct quotes of blocks of conversation/discussion/analysis are not.

Thanks!

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 1.8

That stole upon the ear, in Eyraco,
Of many a wild star-gazer long ago—
That stealeth ever on the ear of him
Who, musing, gazeth on the distance dim.
And sees the darkness coming as a cloud—
Is not its form—its voice—most palpable and loud?

But what is this?—it cometh—and it brings
A music with it—'tis the rush of wings—
A pause—and then a sweeping, falling strain
And Nesace is in her halls again.
From the wild energy of wanton haste
Her cheeks were flushing, and her lips apart;
And zone that clung around her gentle waist
Had burst beneath the heaving of her heart.
Within the centre of that hall to breathe
She paus'd and panted, Zanthe! all beneath,
The fairy light that kiss'd her golden hair
And long'd to rest, yet could but sparkle there!

Young flowers were whispering in melody
To happy flowers that night—and tree to tree;
Fountains were gushing music as they fell
In many a star-lit grove, or moon-lit dell;
Yet silence came upon material things—
Fair flowers, bright waterfalls and angel wings—
And sound alone that from the spirit sprang
Bore burthen to the charm the maiden sang:

Kthxbye

(2): Faster Than Light, Catastrophe

LynxKuroneko

(1): Bookitty

Catastrophe

(1): Policy Lynch

TierShift

(0): Ghatokaca

Ghatokaca

(0):

TierShift

copper223

(1): Kthxbye

Faster Than Light

(1): BRantz

Bookitty

(1): CaskOfAmontillado

Not Voting

(4): Krystal Bald, LynxKuroneko, Medea the Alien, copper223

With 12 alive, it takes 7 to lynch.

Deadline: January 16, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-01-15 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

- [/area]

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 1.9

"'Neath blue-bell or streamer—
Or tufted wild spray
That keeps, from the dreamer,
*The moonbeam away—
Bright beings! that ponder,
With half closing eyes,
On the stars which your wonder
Hath drawn from the skies,
Till they glance thro' the shade, and
Come down to your brow
Like—eyes of the maiden
Who calls on you now—
Arise! from your dreaming
In violet bowers,
To duty beseeming
These star-litten hours—
And shake from your tresses
Encumber'd with dew
The breath of those kisses
That cumber them too—
(O! how, without you, Love!
Could angels be blest?)
Those kisses of true love
That lull'd ye to rest!
Up!—shake from your wing
Each hindering thing:
The dew of the night—
It would weigh down your flight;
And true love caresses—
O! leave them apart!

[

LynxKuroneko

(5): Bookitty, Faster Than Light, copper223, Policy Lynch, BRantz

TierShift

(0): Ghatokaca

Kthxbye

(1): Catastrophe

Bookitty

(1): CaskOfAmontillado

Not Voting

(5): Krystal Bald, LynxKuroneko, Kthxbye, TierShift, Medea the Alien

With 12 alive, it takes 7 to lynch.

Deadline: January 16, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-01-15 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

- [/area]

[fferyllt]

@modlady, would Tier's theoretical vote count as a vote by my ability? Totally understand if you cannot answer.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,



Only this and nothing more.

[fferyllt]

Krystal Bald has been prodded.

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 1.10

They are light on the tresses,
But lead on the heart.

Ligeia! Ligeia!
My beautiful one!
Whose harshest idea
Will to melody run,
O! is it thy will
On the breezes to toss?
Or, capriciously still,
Like the lone Albatross,
Incumbent on night
(As she on the air)
To keep watch with delight
On the harmony there?

Ligeia! whatever
Thy image may be,
No magic shall sever
Thy music from thee.
Thou hast bound many eyes
In a dreamy sleep—
But the strains still arise
Which thy vigilance keep—
The sound of the rain
Which leaps down to the flower,
And dances again
In the rhythm of the shower—
The murmur that springs
From the growing of grass

LynxKuroneko

(5): Bookitty, Faster Than Light, Policy Lynch, BRantz, Ghatokaca

Kthxbye

(1): Catastrophe

Bookitty

(1): CaskOfAmontillado

Not Voting

(5): Krystal Bald, LynxKuroneko, copper223, Kthxbye, TierShift, Medea the Alien

With 12 alive, it takes 7 to lynch.

Deadline: January 16, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-01-15 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

-

[fferyllt]

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

Faster than Light has been prodded.

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 1.11

Are the music of things—
But are modell'd, alas!—
Away, then my dearest,
O! hie thee away
To springs that lie clearest
Beneath the moon-ray—
To lone lake that smiles,
In its dream of deep rest,
At the many star-isles
That enjewel its breast—
Where wild flowers, creeping,
Have mingled their shade,
On its margin is sleeping
Full many a maid—
Some have left the cool glade, and
* Have slept with the bee—
Arouse them my maiden,
On moorland and lea—
Go! breathe on their slumber,
All softly in ear,
The musical number
They slumber'd to hear—
For what can awaken
An angel so soon

O! were there an island,
Tho' ever so wild
Where woman might smile, and
No man be beguil'd, &c.

Whose sleep hath been taken
Beneath the cold moon,
As the spell which no slumber
Of witchery may test,
The rythmical number
Which lull'd him to rest?"

LynxKuroneko

(5): Bookitty, Policy Lynch, Ghatokaca, copper223, LynxKuroneko

Catastrophe

(1): Faster Than Light

Kthxbye

(1): Catastrophe

Bookitty

(1): CaskOfAmontillado

Not Voting

(5): Krystal Bald, BRantz, Kthxbye, TierShift, Medea the Alien

With 12 alive, it takes 7 to lynch.

Deadline: January 16, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-01-15 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

-

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 1.12

...A few stanzas must go unquoted...

"But, list, Ianthe! when the air so soft
*Fail'd, as my pennon'd spirit leapt aloft,
Perhaps my brain grew dizzy—but the world
I left so late was into chaos hurl'd—
Sprang from her station, on the winds apart,
And roll'd, a flame, the fiery Heaven athwart.
Methought, my sweet one, then I ceased to soar
And fell—not swiftly as I rose before,
But with a downward, tremulous motion thro'
Light, brazen rays, this golden star unto!
Nor long the measure of my falling hours,
For nearest of all stars was thine to ours—
Dread star! that came, amid a night of mirth,
A red Dædalion on the timid Earth.

"We came—and to thy Earth—but not to us
Be given our lady's bidding to discuss:
We came, my love; around, above, below,
Gay fire-fly of the night we come and go,
Nor ask a reason save the angel-nod
She grants to us, as granted by her God—
But, Angelo, than thine grey Time unfurl'd
Never his fairy wing o'er fairier world!
Dim was its little disk, and angel eyes
Alone could see the phantom in the skies,
When first Al Aaraaf knew her course to be
Headlong thitherward o'er the starry sea—
But when its glory swell'd upon the sky,
As glowing Beauty's bust beneath man's eye,

LynxKuroneko

(7): Bookitty, Policy Lynch, Ghatokaca, copper223, LynxKuroneko, Kthxbye, Catastrophe

Catastrophe

(1): Faster Than Light

Bookitty

(1): CaskOfAmontillado

Not Voting

(4): Krystal Bald, Medea the Alien, TierShift, BRantz

With 12 alive, it takes 7 to lynch.

Deadline: January 16, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-01-15 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

A lynch has been achieved!

- [/area]

[fferyllt]

...Upon the fourth day of the assassination, a party of the police came, very unexpectedly, into the house, and proceeded again to make rigorous investigation of the premises. Secure, however, in the inscrutability of my place of concealment, I felt no embarrassment whatever. The officers bade me accompany them in their search. They left no nook or corner unexplored. At length, for the third or fourth time, they descended into the cellar. I quivered not in a muscle. My heart beat calmly as that of one who slumbers in innocence. I walked the cellar from end to end. I folded my arms upon my bosom, and roamed easily to and fro. The police were thoroughly satisfied and prepared to depart. The glee at my heart was too strong to be restrained. I burned to say if but one word, by way of triumph, and to render doubly sure their assurance of my guiltlessness.

"Gentlemen," I said at last, as the party ascended the steps, "I delight to have allayed your suspicions. I wish you all health, and a little more courtesy. By the bye, gentlemen, this -- this is a very well constructed house." (In the rabid desire to say something easily, I scarcely knew what I uttered at all.) -- "I may say an excellently well constructed house. These walls -- are you going, gentlemen? -- these walls are solidly put together;" and here, through the mere phrenzy of bravado, I rapped heavily, with a cane which I held in my hand, upon that very portion of the brick-work behind which stood the corpse of the wife of my bosom.

But may God shield and deliver me from the fangs of the Arch-Fiend ! No sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, than I was answered by a voice from within the tomb! -- by a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman -- a howl -- a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the dammed in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation.

The hideous shriek improbably resolved into syllables! --- words! Icy dread seized my heart as the fell words pierced my soul:

One, at least one! There are at least one non-Morbid betrayer involved in my demise!

[/i]

Full short story here: http://poestories.com/read/blackcat

LynxKuroneko was the

Morbid-aligned Black Cat

Role PM:

Spoiler:

]Welcome! You are

The Black Cat

! You are one of the

Morbid

.

You have the following abilities ~

While Alive:

- Your vote and your wits.
- You are a self-voyeur. After each night, you will learn all (if any) actions that targeted you, but not who performed the actions.

While Dead:
- If you are lynched, the number of scum who voted you will be revealed in your cardflip.

Win Condition:

You win when all threats to the

Morbid

have been eliminated or nothing can prevent that from occurring.

The game thread is here.

Please confirm by replying to this PM with your alignment. Day 1 will start when at least 10 players have confirmed.

[fferyllt]

Night One begins now!

Deadline for night actions: December 18, 9 AM US Eastern Time

Countdown: (expired on 2015-01-18 06:00:00)

[fferyllt]

12 hours remain to send me night actions.

[fferyllt]

...Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door-
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door-
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore.
"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore-
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

Then methought the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor.
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee- by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite- respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"
Quoth the Raven,

We forgot to act last night, apologies. Feel free to neighborize us if you want to, but to be honest we aren't all that engaged right now, and for my part I kinda want to sign up for another game and not have to worry about this one, but if you want me, just know you're probably getting me, Cephrir, the mediocre scumhunter,. It might have a better use in the future. Sorry we played so badly here and didn't do more. My reads are basically still as I last gave them with Cask as my best scumread. Please don't give Ghato a free pass, however.

i suck

CHESSKID

that is all

Only this, and nothing more.

Policy Lynch was the

Morbid-aligned Raven

Full poem here: http://poestories.com/read/raven

Role PM:

Spoiler:

Welcome! You are

The Raven

! You are one of the

Morbid

.

You have the following abilities ~

While Alive:

- Your vote and your wits.
- You are a 1-shot Loverizer. Once during the game at night you can select 2 players to become lovers. If one player is lynched or night killed, the other player will also die.
- You are a 1-shot rolestopper. Once during the game you can select a player to protect from all night actions.

While Dead:
- If you are lynched or night killed, you can give me a message to post in the next day's opening post.

Win Condition:

You win when all threats to the

Morbid

have been eliminated or nothing can prevent that from occurring.

The game thread is here.

Please confirm by replying to this PM with your alignment. Day 1 will start when at least 10 players have confirmed.

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 2.1

Originally titled "Heaven," "Fairy-Land" was written while Poe was at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Poe first offered the poem to Nathaniel Parker Willis, who wrote in an edition of "The Editor's Table" of the American Monthly of how he threw the submission into the fire and joyfully watched it burn.[16] Nonetheless, it was soon published in the September 1829 issue of The Yankee and Boston Literary Gazette. The journal's owner and editor John Neal introduced the poem and others by Poe as "nonsense". He did, however, admit that the work showed great promise in the author. His introduction read, "If E. A. P. of Baltimore — whose lines about 'Heaven,' though he professes to regard them as altogether superior to any thing in the whole range of American poetry, save two or three trifles referred to, are, though nonsense, rather exquisite nonsense — would but do himself justice, might make a beautiful and perhaps magnificent poem. There is a good deal to justify such a hope." It was first collected in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems in 1829. In that collection, Poe dedicated "Tamerlane" to Neal.

Day Two of this game is dedicated to a few of Edgar Allan Poe's less well known poems, starting with Fairy-Land.

Not Voting

(11): Krystal Bald, Catastrophe, BRantz, TierShift, Ghatokaca, copper223, Kthxbye, CaskOfAmontillado, Faster Than Light, Bookitty, Medea the Alien

With 11 alive, it takes 6 to lynch.

Deadline: February 3, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-02 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

-

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 2.2

Dim vales- and shadowy floods-
And cloudy-looking woods,
Whose forms we can't discover
For the tears that drip all over!
Huge moons there wax and wane-
Again- again- again-
Every moment of the night-
Forever changing places-
And they put out the star-light
With the breath from their pale faces.

CaskOfAmontillado

(2): Faster Than Light, Bookitty

BRantz

(1): Kthxbye

Faster Than Light

(1): CaskOfAmontillado

Not Voting

(7): Krystal Bald, Catastrophe, BRantz, TierShift, Ghatokaca, copper223, Medea the Alien

With 11 alive, it takes 6 to lynch.

Deadline: February 3, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-02 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

-

[fferyllt]

Mod: Is the vote-count you posted correct--IE: was my vote on Catastrophe despite me voting CaskofAmontillado intentional or a mistake?

The automatic vote counter couldn't handle "Cask". I've fixed the vote count, and also fixed the vote counter parameters so it won't happen again (I hope!).

[fferyllt]

@Mod: Is your wording meant to indicate that there is more than one scum on the wagon? You said one initially and then amended it to "at least one." The role PM you gave Lynx indicated that it would tell EXACTLY how many scum were on his wagon. Was this flavour? If you cannot answer, please say so.

I won't answer this question.

[fferyllt]

"One -- two -- three -- and -- away!"

Medea the Alien have been poked.

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 2.2

About twelve by the moon-dial,
One more filmy than the rest
(A kind which, upon trial,
They have found to be the best)
Comes down—still down—and down
With its centre on the crown
Of a mountain’s eminence,
While its wide circumference
In easy drapery falls
Over hamlets, over halls,
Wherever they may be—
O’er the strange woods—o’er the sea—
Over spirits on the wing—
Over every drowsy thing—
And buries them up quite
In a labyrinth of light—

Kthxbye

(1): Faster Than Light

BRantz

(1): Kthxbye

Bookitty

(1): copper223

Medea the Alien

(1): CaskOfAmontillado

Not Voting

(7): Krystal Bald, BRantz, Catastrophe, Ghatokaca, TierShift, Bookitty, Medea the Alien

With 11 alive, it takes 6 to lynch.

Deadline: February 3, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-02 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

-

[fferyllt]

MOD: If you have to modkill for any reason, does the day end or continue?

This question can't be answered with a yes or no.

My philosophy is to make this choice based on which option negatively affects the modkilled player's team more than it negatively affects the opposing team.

Otherwise, seeking modkills could become strategic.

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 2.4

And then, how, deep! —O, deep,
Is the passion of their sleep.
In the morning they arise,
And their moony covering
Is soaring in the skies,
With the tempests as they toss,
Like—almost any thing—
Or a yellow Albatross.

Kthxbye

(4): Faster Than Light, TierShift, copper223, Bookitty

Krystal Bald

(1): Kthxbye

Medea the Alien

(1): CaskOfAmontillado

Not Voting

(5): Krystal Bald, BRantz, Medea the Alien, Ghatokaca, Catastrophe

With 11 alive, it takes 6 to lynch.

Deadline: February 3, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-02 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

-

[fferyllt]

@ffery: can scum kill and perform another targeting action in the same night?

Generally speaking, no.

[fferyllt]

Last scum left could both kill and use another targeting ability.

[fferyllt]

Ghatokaca has been prodded.

[fferyllt]

I have to consult the listmod about something that has occurred. I'll reopen the game as soon as I can. The countdown clock is paused for now.

Sorry for the delay!

[fferyllt]

The clouds roil like silken grey sheets, filling me with fantasmagoric terrors never felt before. To still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating

"Bookitty must begone, and I must await the entreating tapping of some visitor on my chamber door."

Portentious ripples blow through the curtains.

"Surely that is something at my window lattice: Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore- Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;- 'Tis the wind and nothing more!"

I am seeking a replacement for Bookitty.

Thread reopened. I'll decide how much time to add to the countdown clock after a replacement is found.

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 2.5

They use that moon no more
For the same end as before,
Videlicet, a tent—
Which I think extravagant:
Its atomies, however,
Into a shower dissever,
Of which those butterflies
Of Earth, who seek the skies,
And so come down again
(Never-contented things!)
Have brought a specimen
Upon their quivering wings.

Kthxbye

(5): Faster Than Light, TierShift, Bookitty, copper223, Kthxbye

Medea the Alien

(1): CaskOfAmontillado

Not Voting

(4): Krystal Bald, BRantz, Medea the Alien, Ghatokaca, Catastrophe

Not Voting

(5): Krystal Bald, BRantz, Medea the Alien, Ghatokaca, Catastrophe

With 11 alive, it takes 6 to lynch.

Deadline:

February 3, Midnight US Eastern Time.

SUSPENDED pending replacement

Countdown:

(expired on 2015-02-02 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

- Seeking a replacement for Bookitty
-

[fferyllt]

xRECKONERx replaces Bookitty. Please welcome him!

New Deadline: February 4, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-03 21:00:00)



Ghatokaca and Krystal Bald have been prodded.

[fferyllt]

Searching for a replacement for Krystal Bald.

[fferyllt]

Searching for a replacement for Krystal Bald.

canceled

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 2.5

Sonnet to Science

Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art!
Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.
Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart,
Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?
How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise,
Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering
To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies,
Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing?
Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car?
And driven the Hamadryad from the wood
To seek a shelter in some happier star?
Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood,
The Elfin from the green grass, and from me
The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?

Kthxbye

(5): Faster Than Light, TierShift, BRantz, xRECKONERx, Kthxbye

Medea the Alien

(1): CaskOfAmontillado

Not Voting

(5): Krystal Bald, Medea the Alien, Ghatokaca, Catastrophe, copper223

With 11 alive, it takes 6 to lynch.

Deadline: February 4, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-03 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

-

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 2.5

Evening Star

'Twas noontide of summer,
And mid-time of night;
And stars, in their orbits,
Shone pale, thro' the light
Of the brighter, cold moon,
'Mid planets her slaves,
Herself in the Heavens,
Her beam on the waves.

...

Kthxbye

(5): TierShift, BRantz, xRECKONERx, Faster Than Light, Catastrophe

Medea the Alien

(1): CaskOfAmontillado

Not Voting

(4): Krystal Bald, Kthxbye, Medea the Alien, Ghatokaca, copper223

With 11 alive, it takes 6 to lynch.

Deadline: February 4, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-03 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

-

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 2.6

...

I gazed awhile
On her cold smile;
Too cold- too cold for me-
There pass'd, as a shroud,
A fleecy cloud,
And I turned away to thee,
Proud Evening Star,
In thy glory afar,
And dearer thy beam shall be;
For joy to my heart
Is the proud part
Thou bearest in Heaven at night,
And more I admire
Thy distant fire,
Than that colder, lowly light.

Kthxbye

(6): Krystal Bald, TierShift, BRantz, xRECKONERx, Faster Than Light, Catastrophe, copper223

Medea the Alien

(1): CaskOfAmontillado

Not Voting

(3): Kthxbye, Ghatokaca, Medea the Alien

With 11 alive, it takes 6 to lynch.

Deadline: February 4, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-03 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

-

[fferyllt]

Lo! 'tis a gala night
Within the lonesome latter years!
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
In veils, and drowned in tears,
Sit in a theatre, to see
A play of hopes and fears,
While the orchestra breathes fitfully
The music of the spheres.

Mimes, in the form of God on high,
Mutter and mumble low,
And hither and thither fly-
Mere puppets they, who come and go
At bidding of vast formless things
That shift the scenery to and fro,
Flapping from out their Condor wings
Invisible Woe!

That motley drama- oh, be sure
It shall not be forgot!
With its Phantom chased for evermore,
By a crowd that seize it not,
Through a circle that ever returneth in
To the self-same spot,
And much of Madness, and more of Sin,
And Horror the soul of the plot.

But see, amid the mimic rout
A crawling shape intrude!
A blood-red thing that writhes from out
The scenic solitude!
It writhes!- it writhes!- with mortal pangs
The mimes become its food,
And seraphs sob at vermin fangs
In human gore imbued.

Out- out are the lights- out all!
And, over each quivering form,
The curtain, a funeral pall,
Comes down with the rush of a storm,
While the angels, all pallid and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy, 'Man,'
And its hero the Conqueror Worm.

And Lo, even the angels grow more pale
In a hushed silence of bated breath
For the Conqueror could not but fail
And Death untimely, has met his death.

Kthxbye was the

Morbid-aligned Conqueror Worm.

Night 3 begins now and will end on January 30 at Midnight U.S. Eastern Time

Countdown: (expired on 2015-01-29 21:00:00)

[fferyllt]

Night ends in less than 24 hours.

[fferyllt]

From that mansion, I fled aghast. The storm was still abroad in all its wrath as I found myself crossing the old causeway. Suddenly there shot along the path a wild light, and I turned to see whence a gleam so unusual could have issued; for the vast house and its shadows were alone behind me. The radiance was that of the full, setting, and blood-red moon which now shone vividly through that once barely-discernible fissure of which I have before spoken as extending from the roof of the building, in a zig-zag direction, to the base. While I gazed, this fissure rapidly widened --there came a fierce breath of the whirlwind --the entire orb of the satellite burst at once upon my sight --my brain reeled as I saw the mighty walls rushing asunder --there was a long tumultuous shouting sound like the voice of a thousand waters --and the deep and dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the "HOUSE OF USHER."

Full story here: http://poestories.com/read/houseofusher

BRantz was the

Morbid Aligned House of Usher

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 3.1

Printed in the New York Evening Mirror on January 23, 1845, the poem Epigram for Wall Street is generally accepted as being written by Poe, though it was published anonymously. Interestingly, the title neglected to capitalize "street." The humorous poem of four rhyming couplets advises savvy people interested in gaining wealth. In recent years this poem's authorship has been called into question.

Day Three of this game is dedicated to more of Edgar Allan Poe's less well known poems, starting with Epigram for Wall Street.

Not Voting

(9): Krystal Bald, Catastrophe, xRECKONERx, TierShift, Ghatokaca, copper223, CaskOfAmontillado, Faster Than Light, Medea the Alien

With 9 alive, it takes 5 to lynch.

Deadline: February 13, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-12 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

-

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 3.2

Epigram For Wall Street


I'll tell you a plan for gaining wealth,
Better than banking, trade or leases —
Take a bank note and fold it up,
And then you will find your money in creases!
This wonderful plan, without danger or loss,
Keeps your cash in your hands, where nothing can trouble it;
And every time that you fold it across,
'Tis as plain as the light of the day that you double it!

Krystal Bald

(3): Ghatokaca, copper223, xRECKONERx

Not Voting

(6): Krystal Bald, Catastrophe, CaskOfAmontillado, TierShift, Faster Than Light, Medea the Alien

With 9 alive, it takes 5 to lynch.

Deadline: February 13, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-12 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

Medea the Alien is v/la until Sunday, Feb 1.
-

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 3.3

Lines on Joe Locke


As for Locke, he is all in my eye,
May the d—l right soon for his soul call.
He never was known to lie —
In bed at a reveillé roll-call.”

John Locke was a notable name;
Joe Locke is a greater: in short,
The former was well known to fame,
But the latter’s well known “to report.

Krystal Bald

(5): Ghatokaca, copper223, xRECKONERx, TierShift, Krystal Bald

Not Voting

(4): Medea the Alien, CaskOfAmontillado, Catastrophe, Faster Than Light

With 9 alive, it takes 5 to lynch.

Deadline: February 13, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-12 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

Medea the Alien is v/la until Sunday, Feb 1.
-

[fferyllt]

Completely unnerved, I leaped to my feet; but the measured rocking movement of Usher was undisturbed. I rushed to the chair in which he sat. His eyes were bent fixedly before him, and throughout his whole countenance there reigned a stony rigidity. But, as I placed my hand upon his shoulder, there came a strong shudder over his whole person; a sickly smile quivered about his lips; and I saw that he spoke in a low, hurried, and gibbering murmur, as if unconscious of my presence. Bending closely over him, I at length drank in the hideous import of his words.

"Not hear it? --yes, I hear it, and have heard it. Long --long --long --many minutes, many hours, many days, have I heard it --yet I dared not --oh, pity me, miserable wretch that I am! --I dared not --I dared not speak! We have put her living in the tomb! Said I not that my senses were acute? I now tell you that I heard her first feeble movements in the hollow coffin. I heard them --many, many days ago --yet I dared not --I dared not speak! And now --to-night --Ethelred --ha! ha! --the breaking of the hermit's door, and the death-cry of the dragon, and the clangour of the shield! --say, rather, the rending of her coffin, and the grating of the iron hinges of her prison, and her struggles within the coppered archway of the vault! Oh whither shall I fly? Will she not be here anon? Is she not hurrying to upbraid me for my haste? Have I not heard her footstep on the stair? Do I not distinguish that heavy and horrible beating of her heart? MADMAN!" here he sprang furiously to his feet, and shrieked out his syllables, as if in the effort he were giving up his soul --"MADMAN! I TELL YOU THAT SHE NOW STANDS WITHOUT THE DOOR!"

As if in the superhuman energy of his utterance there had been found the potency of a spell --the huge antique panels to which the speaker pointed, threw slowly back, upon the instant, ponderous and ebony jaws. It was the work of the rushing gust --but then without those doors there DID stand the lofty and enshrouded figure of the lady Madeline of Usher. There was blood upon her white robes, and the evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame. For a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold, then, with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, and in her violent and now final death-agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated.

Kristal Bald was the

Miasma-aligned Madeline Usher.

Night 3 begins now and will end on February 4 at Midnight U.S. Eastern Time


Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-03 21:00:00)

NOTE: There will be no Day 4. After Night 3 has been resolved, we'll proceed directly to Night 4.

[fferyllt]

As the ape approached the casement with its mutilated burden, the sailor shrank aghast to the rod, and, rather gliding than clambering down it, hurried at once home --dreading the consequences of the butchery, and gladly abandoning, in his terror, all solicitude about the fate of the Ourang-Outang. The words heard by the party upon the staircase were the Frenchman's exclamations of horror and affright, commingled with the fiendish jabberings of the brute. The Orang-Outang leapt with its grisly burden, and scrabbled in desperate imbalance on the stair. It teetered and toppled, and there followed an almost human, yet beastial bellow that ululated to an incomprehensibly high pitch - a scream, cut off forever by a sickening thud far below.

Faster Than Light was the

Morbid-aligned Orangutan

from Murders at the Rue Morgue.

Full story here: http://poestories.com/read/murders

We continued our route in search of the Amontillado. We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame.

At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner. From the fourth side the bones had been thrown down, and lay promiscuously upon the earth, forming at one point a mound of some size. Within the wall thus exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior crypt or recess, in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven. It seemed to have been constructed for no especial use within itself, but formed merely the interval between two of the colossal supports of the roof of the catacombs, and was backed by one of their circumscribing walls of solid granite.

...

It was now midnight, and my task was drawing to a close. I had completed the eighth, the ninth and the tenth tier. I had finished a portion of the last and the eleventh; there remained but a single stone to be fitted and plastered in. I struggled with its weight; I placed it partially in its destined position. But now there came from out the niche a low laugh that erected the hairs upon my head. It was succeeded by a sad voice, which I had difficulty in recognizing as that of the noble Fortunato. The voice said--

"Ha! ha! ha! --he! he! he! --a very good joke, indeed --an excellent jest. We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo --he! he! he! --over our wine --he! he! he!"

"The Amontillado!" I said.

"He! he! he! --he! he! he! --yes, the Amontillado. But is it not getting late? Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo, the Lady Fortunato and the rest? Let us be gone."

"Yes," I said, "let us be gone."

"For the love of God, Montresor!"

"Yes," I said, "for the love of God!"

But to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply. I grew impatient. I called aloud --

"Fortunato!"

No answer. I called again --

"Fortunato!"

No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so. I hastened to make an end of my labour. I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up. Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!

Full story here: http://poestories.com/read/amontillado

Medea the Alien was the

Miasma-aligned Crypt.

from A Cask of Amontillado.

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;- vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost Lenore-
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore-
Nameless here for evermore.

Though dead, the ember remains were charred wood, not ash,
that would persist and remain upon the cold hearth, for evermore.

copper223 was the

Morbid-aligned embers

from The Raven.

Night 4 begins now and will end on February 7 at Noon U.S. Eastern Time


Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-07 09:00:00)

NOTE: There will be no Day 4. Night 3 has been resolved, and we proceed directly to Night 4.

[fferyllt]

We gave the Future to the winds, and slumbered tranquilly in the Present, weaving the dull world around us into dreams.
But these dreams were not altogether uninterrupted. It may readily be supposed that the part played by my friend, in the drama at the Rue Morgue, had not failed of its impression upon the fancies of the Parisian police. With its emissaries, the name of Dupin had grown into a household word. The simple character of those inductions by which he had disentangled the mystery never having been explained even to the Prefect, or to any other individual than myself, of course it is not surprising that the affair was regarded as little less than miraculous, or that the Chevalier’s analytical abilities acquired for him the credit of intuition. His frankness would have led him to disabuse every inquirer of such prejudice; but his indolent humor forbade all farther agitation of a topic whose interest to himself had long ceased.

The tranquility of the Present was fleeting, though the slumber was long.

Full story here: http://www.eapoe.org/works/tales/rogetb.htm

CaskOfAmontillado was the

Morbid-aligned C. Auguste Dupin

from a trio of detective stories.

During Day 4, Medea the Alien can make up to 30 posts, but cannot vote.

For the duration of the game, Copper233 can continue to post at will, but cannot vote.

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 5.1

Tamarlane, an epic poem, was originally published anonymously in 1827 in a collection called "Tamarlane and Other Poems". Only 50 copies were printed and the author simply called "A Bostonian".

Day Five of this game is dedicated to Tamarlane and perhaps a few other smaller works.

Not Voting

(4): Catastrophe, xRECKONERx, TierShift, Ghatokaca

With 4 alive, it takes 3 to lynch.

Deadline: February 22, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-21 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

-

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 5.2

Tamarlane


Kind solace in a dying hour!
Such, father, is not (now) my theme-
I will not madly deem that power
Of Earth may shrive me of the sin
Unearthly pride hath revell'd in-
I have no time to dote or dream:
You call it hope- that fire of fire!
It is but agony of desire:
If I can hope- Oh God! I can-
Its fount is holier- more divine-
I would not call thee fool, old man,
But such is not a gift of thine.

Not Voting

(4): Catastrophe, xRECKONERx, TierShift, Ghatokaca

With 4 alive, it takes 3 to lynch.

Deadline: February 22, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-21 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

-

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 5.2

Know thou the secret of a spirit
Bow'd from its wild pride into shame.
O yearning heart! I did inherit
Thy withering portion with the fame,
The searing glory which hath shone
Amid the jewels of my throne,
Halo of Hell! and with a pain
Not Hell shall make me fear again-
O craving heart, for the lost flowers
And sunshine of my summer hours!
The undying voice of that dead time,
With its interminable chime,
Rings, in the spirit of a spell,
Upon thy emptiness- a knell.

Not Voting

(4): Catastrophe, xRECKONERx, TierShift, Ghatokaca

With 4 alive, it takes 3 to lynch.

Deadline: February 22, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-21 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

-

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 5.3

I have not always been as now:
The fever'd diadem on my brow
I claim'd and won usurpingly-
Hath not the same fierce heirdom given
Rome to the Caesar- this to me?
The heritage of a kingly mind,
And a proud spirit which hath striven
Triumphantly with human kind.

On mountain soil I first drew life:
The mists of the Taglay have shed
Nightly their dews upon my head,
And, I believe, the winged strife
And tumult of the headlong air
Have nestled in my very hair.

So late from Heaven- that dew- it fell
(Mid dreams of an unholy night)
Upon me with the touch of Hell,
While the red flashing of the light
From clouds that hung, like banners, o'er,
Appeared to my half-closing eye
The pageantry of monarchy,
And the deep trumpet-thunder's roar
Came hurriedly upon me, telling
Of human battle, where my voice,
My own voice, silly child!- was swelling
(O! how my spirit would rejoice,
And leap within me at the cry)
The battle-cry of Victory!

Not Voting

(4): Catastrophe, xRECKONERx, TierShift, Ghatokaca

With 4 alive, it takes 3 to lynch.

Deadline: February 22, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-21 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

- Ghatokaca has been prodded.
-

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 5.4

The rain came down upon my head
Unshelter'd- and the heavy wind
Rendered me mad and deaf and blind.
It was but man, I thought, who shed
Laurels upon me: and the rush-
The torrent of the chilly air
Gurgled within my ear the crush
Of empires- with the captive's prayer-
The hum of suitors- and the tone
Of flattery 'round a sovereign's throne.

My passions, from that hapless hour,
Usurp'd a tyranny which men
Have deem'd, since I have reach'd to power,
My innate nature- be it so:
But father, there liv'd one who, then,
Then- in my boyhood- when their fire
Burn'd with a still intenser glow,
(For passion must, with youth, expire)
E'en then who knew this iron heart
In woman's weakness had a part.

I have no words- alas!- to tell
The loveliness of loving well!
Nor would I now attempt to trace
The more than beauty of a face
Whose lineaments, upon my mind,
Are- shadows on th' unstable wind:
Thus I remember having dwelt
Some page of early lore upon,
With loitering eye, till I have felt
The letters- with their meaning- melt
To fantasies- with none.

O, she was worthy of all love!
Love- as in infancy was mine-
'Twas such as angel minds above
Might envy; her young heart the shrine
On which my every hope and thought
Were incense- then a goodly gift,
For they were childish and upright-
Pure- as her young example taught:
Why did I leave it, and, adrift,
Trust to the fire within, for light?

No Lynch

(2): Ghatokaca, xRECKONERx

Not Voting

(2): Catastrophe, TierShift

Deadline: February 22, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-21 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

-

[fferyllt]

@mod: given the way Ghatokaca described his role, how would a standard redirect resolve?

In theory, a standard redirect would succeed if it targeted a dead player Ghatokaca could successfully target.

If they keep their vote there it's going to result in an NL, but to hammer it early you need the same votes as any other lynch.

Correct. To end the day early with a no lynch, a majority of living players must vote for no lynch.

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 5.5

We grew in age- and love- together,
Roaming the forest, and the wild;
My breast her shield in wintry weather-
And when the friendly sunshine smil'd,
And she would mark the opening skies,
I saw no Heaven- but in her eyes.

Young Love's first lesson is- the heart:
For 'mid that sunshine, and those smiles,
When, from our little cares apart,
And laughing at her girlish wiles,
I'd throw me on her throbbing breast,
And pour my spirit out in tears-
There was no need to speak the rest-
No need to quiet any fears
Of her- who ask'd no reason why,
But turn'd on me her quiet eye!

Yet more than worthy of the love
My spirit struggled with, and strove,
When, on the mountain peak, alone,
Ambition lent it a new tone-
I had no being- but in thee:
The world, and all it did contain
In the earth- the air- the sea-
Its joy- its little lot of pain
That was new pleasure- the ideal,
Dim vanities of dreams by night-

No Lynch

(2): Ghatokaca, xRECKONERx

Not Voting

(2): Catastrophe, TierShift

Deadline: February 22, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-21 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

-

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 5.6

And dimmer nothings which were real-
(Shadows- and a more shadowy light!)
Parted upon their misty wings,
And, so, confusedly, became
Thine image, and- a name- a name!
Two separate- yet most intimate things.

I was ambitious- have you known
The passion, father? You have not:
A cottager, I mark'd a throne
Of half the world as all my own,
And murmur'd at such lowly lot-
But, just like any other dream,
Upon the vapour of the dew
My own had past, did not the beam
Of beauty which did while it thro'
The minute- the hour- the day- oppress
My mind with double loveliness.

We walk'd together on the crown
Of a high mountain which look'd down
Afar from its proud natural towers
Of rock and forest, on the hills-
The dwindled hills! begirt with bowers,
And shouting with a thousand rills.

I spoke to her of power and pride,
But mystically- in such guise
That she might deem it nought beside
The moment's converse; in her eyes
I read, perhaps too carelessly-
A mingled feeling with my own-
The flush on her bright cheek, to me
Seem'd to become a queenly throne
Too well that I should let it be
Light in the wilderness alone.

I wrapp'd myself in grandeur then,
And donn'd a visionary crown-
Yet it was not that Fantasy
Had thrown her mantle over me-
But that, among the rabble- men,
Lion ambition is chained down-
And crouches to a keeper's hand-
Not so in deserts where the grand-
The wild- the terrible conspire
With their own breath to fan his fire.

No Lynch

(3): Ghatokaca, xRECKONERx, TierShift

TierShift

(1): Catastrophe

Not Voting

(0):

None.

Deadline: February 22, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-21 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

-

[fferyllt]

Spirits of the Dead

Thy soul shall find itself alone
'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone;
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry
Into thine hour of secrecy.

Be silent in that solitude,
Which is not loneliness- for then
The spirits of the dead, who stood
In life before thee, are again
In death around thee, and their will
Shall overshadow thee; be still.

The night, though clear, shall frown,
And the stars shall not look down
From their high thrones in the Heaven
With light like hope to mortals given,
But their red orbs, without beam,
To thy weariness shall seem
As a burning and a fever
Which would cling to thee for ever.

Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish,
Now are visions ne'er to vanish;
From thy spirit shall they pass
No more, like dew-drop from the grass.

The breeze, the breath of God, is still,
And the mist upon the hill
Shadowy, shadowy, yet unbroken,
Is a symbol and a token.
How it hangs upon the trees,
A mystery of mysteries!

Day 5 ends in No Lynch!

Night 5 begins now and will end on February 25 at Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-02-24 21:00:00)

[fferyllt]

The anticipations of the shopkeeper were realized, and his rooms soon became notorious through the charms of the sprightly grisette. She had been in his employ about a year, when her admirers were thrown into confusion by her sudden disappearance from the shop. Monsieur Le Blanc was unable to account for her absence, and Madame Rogêt was distracted with anxiety and terror. The public papers immediately took up the theme, and the police were upon the point of making serious investigations, when, one fine morning, after the lapse of a week, Marie, in good health, but with a somewhat saddened air, made her re-appearance at her usual counter in the perfumery. All inquiry, except that of a private character, was of course immediately hushed. Monsieur Le Blanc professed total ignorance, as before. Marie, with Madame, replied to all questions, that the last week had been spent at the house of a relation in the country. Thus the affair died away, and was generally forgotten; for the girl, ostensibly to relieve herself from the impertinence of curiosity, soon bade a final adieu to the perfumer, and sought the shelter of her mother’s residence in the Rue Pavée Saint Andrée.

It was about five months after this return home, that her friends were alarmed by her sudden disappearance for the second time. Three days elapsed, and nothing was heard of her. On the fourth her corpse was found floating in the Seine,* near the shore which is opposite the Quartier of the Rue Saint Andrée, and at a point not very far distant from the secluded neighborhood of the Barrière du Roule.†

The atrocity of this murder, (for it was at once evident that murder had been committed,) the youth and beauty of the victim, and, above all, her previous notoriety, conspired to produce intense excitement in the minds of the sensitive Parisians. I can call to mind no similar occurrence producing so general and so intense an effect. For several weeks, in the discussion of this one absorbing theme, even the momentous political topics of the day were forgotten. The Prefect made unusual exertions; and [page 155:] the powers of the whole Parisian police were, of course, tasked to the utmost extent.

Full story here: http://www.eapoe.org/works/tales/rogetb.htm

Tiershift was the

Morbid-aligned Marie Roget

from The Mystery of Marie Roget

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 5.1

Because of its early placement in Poe's career, the protagonist of "Tamerlane" can be read in many ways as a prototype for the tormented and sorrowful narrators of his later poems and short stories. Like the main characters of "The Raven," "Annabel Lee," and "Ulalume," Tamerlane suffers because of the death of his young and beautiful lover, and he is unable to move away from her memory, instead remaining dependent upon it for the remainder of his life. However, he differs somewhat from these other male characters in that whereas they often lost their beloveds for reasons outside of their control, Tamerlane lost his because of his own errors of judgment..

Day Six of this game will see the completion of Tamarlane and perhaps a few other smaller works.

Not Voting

(3): Catastrophe, xRECKONERx, Ghatokaca

With 3 alive, it takes 2 to lynch.

Deadline: March 12, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-03-11 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

-

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 6.2

Look 'round thee now on Samarcand!
Is not she queen of Earth? her pride
Above all cities? in her hand
Their destinies? in all beside
Of glory which the world hath known
Stands she not nobly and alone?
Falling- her veriest stepping-stone
Shall form the pedestal of a throne-
And who her sovereign? Timour- he
Whom the astonished people saw
Striding o'er empires haughtily
A diadem'd outlaw!

O, human love! thou spirit given
On Earth, of all we hope in Heaven!
Which fall'st into the soul like rain
Upon the Siroc-wither'd plain,
And, failing in thy power to bless,
But leav'st the heart a wilderness!
Idea! which bindest life around
With music of so strange a sound,
And beauty of so wild a birth-
Farewell! for I have won the Earth.

Ghatokaca

(1): Catastrophe

Not Voting

(2): Ghatokaca, xRECKONERx

Deadline: March 12, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-03-11 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:[/b]
-

[fferyllt]

Vote Count 6.3

When Hope, the eagle that tower'd, could see
No cliff beyond him in the sky,
His pinions were bent droopingly-
And homeward turn'd his soften'd eye.
'Twas sunset: when the sun will part
There comes a sullenness of heart
To him who still would look upon
The glory of the summer sun.
That soul will hate the ev'ning mist,
So often lovely, and will list
To the sound of the coming darkness (known
To those whose spirits hearken) as one
Who, in a dream of night, would fly
But cannot from a danger nigh.

What tho' the moon- the white moon
Shed all the splendour of her noon,
Her smile is chilly, and her beam,
In that time of dreariness, will seem
(So like you gather in your breath)
A portrait taken after death.
And boyhood is a summer sun
Whose waning is the dreariest one-
For all we live to know is known,
And all we seek to keep hath flown-
Let life, then, as the day-flower, fall
With the noon-day beauty- which is all.

I reach'd my home- my home no more
For all had flown who made it so.
I pass'd from out its mossy door,
And, tho' my tread was soft and low,
A voice came from the threshold stone
Of one whom I had earlier known-
O, I defy thee, Hell, to show
On beds of fire that burn below,
A humbler heart- a deeper woe.

Father, I firmly do believe-
I know- for Death, who comes for me
From regions of the blest afar,
Where there is nothing to deceive,
Hath left his iron gate ajar,
And rays of truth you cannot see
Are flashing thro' Eternity-
I do believe that Eblis hath
A snare in every human path-
Else how, when in the holy grove
I wandered of the idol, Love,
Who daily scents his snowy wings
With incense of burnt offerings
From the most unpolluted things,
Whose pleasant bowers are yet so riven
Above with trellis'd rays from Heaven,
No mote may shun- no tiniest fly-
The lightning of his eagle eye-
How was it that Ambition crept,
Unseen, amid the revels there,
Till growing bold, he laughed and leapt
In the tangles of Love's very hair?

Ghatokaca

(2): Catastrophe, xRECKONERx

Not Voting

(2): Ghatokaca

Deadline: March 12, Midnight US Eastern Time.

Countdown: (expired on 2015-03-11 21:00:00)

Mod Notes:

A Lynch has been Achieved!

- [/area]

[fferyllt]

The City In The Sea
Lo! Death has reared himself a throne
In a strange city lying alone
Far down within the dim West,
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best
Have gone to their eternal rest.
There shrines and palaces and towers
(Time-eaten towers that tremble not!)
Resemble nothing that is ours.
Around, by lifting winds forgot,
Resignedly beneath the sky
The melancholy waters he.

No rays from the holy heaven come down
On the long night-time of that town;
But light from out the lurid sea
Streams up the turrets silently-
Gleams up the pinnacles far and free-
Up domes- up spires- up kingly halls-
Up fanes- up Babylon-like walls-
Up shadowy long-forgotten bowers
Of sculptured ivy and stone flowers-
Up many and many a marvellous shrine
Whose wreathed friezes intertwine
The viol, the violet, and the vine.
Resignedly beneath the sky
The melancholy waters lie.
So blend the turrets and shadows there
That all seem pendulous in air,
While from a proud tower in the town
Death looks gigantically down.

There open fanes and gaping graves
Yawn level with the luminous waves;
But not the riches there that lie
In each idol's diamond eye-
Not the gaily-jewelled dead
Tempt the waters from their bed;
For no ripples curl, alas!
Along that wilderness of glass-
No swellings tell that winds may be
Upon some far-off happier sea-
No heavings hint that winds have been
On seas less hideously serene.

But lo, a stir is in the air!
The wave- there is a movement there!
As if the towers had thrust aside,
In slightly sinking, the dull tide-
As if their tops had feebly given
A void within the filmy Heaven.
The waves have now a redder glow-
The hours are breathing faint and low-
And when, amid no earthly moans,
Down, down that town shall settle hence,
Hell, rising from a thousand thrones,
Shall do it reverence.

Ghatokaca was the

Miasma-aligned City

from The City in the Sea

The Morbid Win!

[fferyllt]

Mod Notes: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=60300
Dead Thread: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=60416
Miasma Thread: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=60304
Ghatokaca/Lynxkuroneko neighborhood: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=60498
Ghatokaca/copper223 neighborhood: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=60709:

From the mod notes: The overarching theme here is morbid, melancholy miasma. Some players embody death. Some are dead. Some are sure to die. Some mourn the dead and want to join their beloveds in death. So death (lynch/nk) has afterlife implications. I want nearly every player to have an after-death aspect to their role.

This made the game difficult to balance, and I knew the design was quite swingy. If town PRs had all done the most optimal possible things, town could have won the game by the end of day 2. Day 1 and Night 1 were a little scary to watch as a result!

Regarding Bookitty's replace out, this was due to no fault of hers. Although I didn't announce it as such, she was force replaced after she let me know she had been contacted by a dead player who could still potentially impact the game, and as a result she surmised the dead player (LynxKuroneko) had been neighborized by Ghatokaca. I saw all the PMs, and although I don't think the PMs necessarily supported that conclusion, it was still an influence on the game that shouldn't have happened.

After discussion with the listmods, I patched the game with the following:

- replaced bookitty, but didn't announce it as a force replacement
- Removed LynxKuroneko from the game completely
- gave Ghatokaca their one-shot neighborize back

Regarding the infamous "One! At least One" - when I began designing the game after all the uPick choices were in and the alignment rolls were done, I had two slots whose rolls dictated they would be either town or 3rd party depending on how I felt about the game balance. Those two slots were Faster than Light and BRantz. I would up making them both town, but used the wording I had settled on to indicate the possibility of 3rd parties. I'm not sure I like the impact this had on player morale, so it's probably the one part of my game design I'd most want to reconsider by either modifying Lynxkuroneko's role pm or by changing the wording of the result.

There are probably a couple other notes about the game I'll remember and mention later!

Thanks so much to everyone for playing, and for your absolutely amazing picks from elements of Poe's works. I loved the way so many of the various mechanics came together as the game played out, and how some things I designed wound up being more true to the original works than I even had intended.

[fferyllt]

What happened with the first neighborhood?

Lynxkuroneko contacted Bookitty to ask why Boo voted her. After talking with the listmods, I concluded that the least disruptive way to solve the problem of Bookitty "knowing"* Lynx and you were neighbors was to replace Bookitty and to close the neighborhood. Strictly speaking, the neighborhood didn't have to be closed, because there was no way Lynx would be able to communicate legitimately with any player but you, but I decided to handle the situation the same way I would have if the neighborhood had been town-town. To make up for that, I gave you back the neighborize.

*I say "knowing" because although from the PM convo (which was forwarded to me), there was no proof of the neighborhood, Bookitty's takeaway was that the neighborhood existed.

[fferyllt]

@Ffery
What's the design idea behind Ghato's role?

The City in the Sea is a sort of way station for dead souls, so the dead neighborizer would have been part of the role regardless of what alignment I'd rolled for them.

Basically, my design of the scum team was to provide scum with different ways to meddle with the ordinary progression of the game.

- the delay and roleblock for the Crypt, which was brute force and gave no PR-based method of looking town.

- the post restriction and beloved princess for Madeline Usher. The PR gave potential town cred because "why would the mod give such a horrific restriction to scum?", but also gave the team reason to bus. GiF and I talked through this role a bit. My thought was that with a fairly PR-heavy town, scum would be risking town PRs romping through two consecutive nights for the benefit of getting two kills in before the next lynch. This was also one of the methods I used to penalize town for claiming unnecessarily or mass claiming early.

- the City role was designed to be scum's "go deep" role with the dead neighborize. Ghato also had the same ability to send anonymous messages when they died. The plan there was to potentially sow paranoia about anonymous messages if they flipped early.

One thing I thought as the game progressed, was that another role or two that could send messages back from the dead might have been interesting.

I once played a game where all the dead players were allowed to keep posting in the game thread, and had a "while dead" goal to achieve, that could have potentially brought players back to life with a random chance of their alignment changing. It was a lot of fun, but the game thread was pretty chaotic.

I did something somewhat similar in a game I designed a few years ago, and some of the players still bring that game up as one of their favorites.

I think we all hate getting lynched or NK'd early and then sitting and watching the game from the sidelines. Instead of using that same mechanic here and making the game outright bastard, I decided to try out a variety of different ways to give players a chance to keep playing after they died.

[fferyllt]

I've taken up design of my first MS large theme game again. It's based on Tarot card meanings. Won't be a uPick. As always, hydrae welcome. If you'd like a pre-in, let me know.

I designed and modded a Tarot-based uPick micro a few months ago, if you're curious what the theme might entail.

[fferyllt]

Next thing I wanted to talk about is how thoroughly loved the self-sensor/self-watch role: I appreciated the symmetry of the day/night abilities because it took me a while to get (I had a moment in the apartment with SleepyKrew where I was like OH HOLY SHIT), and I appreciate it in that it's a very high risk/reward type of role with the chance to seriously help or seriously hinder a town. I want to nominate it for a scummy when my words work better because tired and they are currently failing me.

The role was totally and completely inspired by the Black Cat's cruel fate. Edgar Allan Poe might very well be the best literary inspiration/source for mafia themes, roles and mechanics in the universe.

Most of the roles were fairly easy to develop from their stories/poems.

[fferyllt]

I have a hard time believing Ffery picked Annabel Lee as scum role and it kind of makes sense as a VT

I know there were other posts I wanted to comment on, but this post sticks out in my mind because when I saw it I reminded myself to describe how I do uPick designs in the postgame.

1. resolve the 3 picks for each player. The first person to request a pick as #1 gets it if there are duplicates. In this game, I had one duplicate, which happened to be Tier's. His first choice went to CaskofAmontillado and he got his 2nd choice.

2. roll the alignments via random.org. The player's choice is irrelevant to the alignment they get. In this game, the numerically lowest 8 rolls were town, the 9th and 10th rolls were either town or 3rd party depending on the ultimate design, and the 11-13th rolls were scum. Sometimes 1 to n is town and n+1 to total is scum, and sometimes I put scum at the top of the list. I make sure to decide which numbering system I'll use before I run the random sequence generator. When I have pre-set roles (not uPicks) the process is a little different.

3. design the roles based on the players' picks and their alignments.

Anabel Lee could have been a maisma role. She would also have made sense as a beloved princess, like Madeline Usher, but I can't say exactly what I would have done with her because the role had to make sense to me both on the micro level (fits flavor, should be fun/challenging/interesting to play) and the macro level (results in what I think are decently balanced teams).

I'm not sure if anyone really cares about the details of the process. The result is a game where the player's alignment can't be figured out by their uPick choice.

[fferyllt]

I'm capturing pre-ins via spreadsheet. Once I advertise the game, I'll send out PMs to make sure pre-ins are still interested. I can accept 13 pre-ins, and currently have 7.

Klingoncelt
House
copper223
brantz
TierShift
LynxKuroneko
BooKitty

There's one other person who's expressed interest but I need to check back and see if he actually pre-inned, so...either 5 or 6 pre-in slots still available. If you decide you want to play as a hydra, just let me know sometime before/during sign-ups. I probably won't be ready to put the game into sign-ups until about a month from now.