The Malloreon: GAME THREAD and FINAL ROLE DESCRIPTIONS

[VoraciousReader]

<u>THE ROLES</u>

The Malloreon is the tale of the Struggle between the Prophecy of Light and the Prophecy of Dark. As such, there will ALWAYS be a Child of Light and a Child of Dark living as long as the game is running. If the Heirs to the prophecy die, one of the remaining ordinary players on that team will inherit the voting powers of the Child they follow. However, only the original Heirs inherit the additional powers (Divination or Clemency) that the Children of Dark and Light wield.

Followers of Light:

Belgarion, The Rivan King and Child of the Prophecy of Light. One extra vote for the person he openly voted that day. Sorcerer power: Clemency. He may stop a lynch, once. If he does so, there will be no lynch that day. If he is killed, Eriond inherits the mantle of the Child of Light, along with his voting powers and Clemency, if unused.

Polgara: Sorceress. Power: Divination. Standard seer powers, one peek per night, including night zero. She is immune to the powers of Mengha, and will kill him if he targets her and her name is rand()ed.

Belgarath: Sorcerer and Aldur's First Disciple. Powers : Sanctuary and Augury. Sanctuary may be used just once, and grants kill protection to one player for an entire day and night cycle. They may not be killed via Sorcery during that timeframe, although the player may be killed by votes. Augury works as Divination, but may only be used once per game.

Beldin: Sorcerer. Power: Obfuscation: He submits a target each night. That person is shielded from peeking by Dark or by Neutrals.

Poledra, Beloved Mother of Polgara and Wife of Belgarath: Woman Who Watches: knows the identities of Polgara, Beldin, and Belgarath.

Silk: Prince Kheldar, Beloved of Liselle and Master Spy. He controls an additional vote, which he casts in private by Pming the mods. Also, he may revoke his public vote, if he chooses. If Liselle succeeds in locating him, they form a masonry and may communicate outside the thread.

Liselle: Hunter, Beloved of Silk and Master Spy. Once a night, she may look for Silk. If she finds him, they form a masonry and can communicate outside the thread at any time. Also, if she fails to find Silk, she has a 1/3 chance of learning if her target is good or evil.

Sadi: Secret Assassin: Has 1 vial of poison and 1 deadly snake (total kills: 2) that he may use at any time on any person. He may take either kill as a day kill or a night kill. If he chooses a day kill, the kill will happen as soon as the mods can post the kill writeup, unless he specifies a later time, which he may do if he chooses. The deadly snake kill will not work against a good power character or against Toth or Zakath, as Sith (the snake) won't bite someone she knows (if this happens, Sadi uses up his snake kill). It will be effective against all other evils and regular good players, however. The poison will work on all players, good and evil. A submitted kill is irrevocable. If he targets the Seeress of Kell, his kill fails and he learns that he targeted Cyradis.

Durnik: Interpreter: May receive communications from Toth, via the mods. Communication is all one-way and is limited to one pm per night cycle.

Eriond: Chosen of Garion. Is told he is an ordinary character. Upon Garion's death, learns who he is and assumes the powers of the Child of Light.



Followers of Dark:

Zandramas: Child of the Prophecy of Dark. One extra vote for the person she openly voted that day. Sorcerer power: Divination. Standard seer powers, one peek per night, including night zero. If she is killed, Geran becomes the Child of Dark and assumes her powers of voting and Divination.

Naradas Grolim Priest: Power: Corruption. May change one other player's vote each day. The other player must actually vote that day and the vote must be valid. (So if he names Silk and Silk has nullified his own vote, the vote is a no-go.) Also, if he corrupts a double voter (such as Belgarion) then only one vote is corrupted. In addition, he may nullify his own vote if he wishes. This would be effectively unvoting in private.

Mengha: Grolim Priest: Power: Summoning. May summon a demon any night or day. He must give the demon 3 targets. The kill will be rand()ed between his 3 targets and himself, giving him a 25% chance of death on any given summoning. Polgara is immune to this kill. If he targets Polgara and her name is rand()ed, he is banished back to hell along with his demon. (i.e., he dies)

Kal Zakath, Emperor of Mallorea: Power: Imperial Privilege. On any one day may assert imperial privilege and choose the lynch that day. He uses this power in private, but it is announced in the day-end writeup if Imperial Privilege has been asserted. He does not take part in night chat and is not given any dark roles at the beginning of the game. If the evils choose to communicate with him they may do so, but by doing so they expose of one their number to him. He may be converted by the Seeress of Kell at any time and become a Follower of Light. In the event he is converted by Cyradis, that will be announced in thread as it happens, or in the Day post if it she chooses to convert him at night. If he has chosen to assert Privilege and is converted later that day, he may revoke it.

Geran: Chosen of Zandramas. Is told he is an ordinary good character and is unknown to the baddies. Upon Zandramas's death, learns who he is and assumes the powers of the Child of Dark.

Additional Unpowered Bad Guys: 3

The Dals (Neutrals):

Cyradis: Seeress of Kell. Power: Virtually Unlimited. Is given the identity of the original Children of Light and Dark. (Belgarion and Zandramas are given to her in her role PM. If they are killed, she does NOT learn who inherits) She is also given the identity of Zakath, and has the option to turn him good at any time. Gets 1 seer peek per night, with a 50% chance of a second peek. Masonry with Toth, with whom she can communicate at any time. She may also “appear” to either the current Child of Light or the current Child of Dark once per day...which may be during the day or during the night. She “appears” via pm submitted by the mods, in which she can make a short communication to them. If she chooses to make an appearance, however, she sacrifices her chance at her second peek that day. Cyradis does not know which side she wins with, dark or light. She is a true neutral, and serves Balance. Her win condition is to bring the endgame to 3 people: herself, one good player, and one evil player. If she is successful, she is told which side she is on, and she and that side win the game. Cyradis is invincible. If she is targeted for night death, there will be no death and the evils will learn they targeted the Seeress of Kell. If she is lynched, the player with the next highest vote total will die and the players will learn they attempted to lynch the Seeress.

Toth: Masonry with Cyradis and shares her win condition. He also has an uncorruptable double vote: his counts twice and is not available for sale to Naradas. Note: he does NOT count as a good or evil character for the final 3. He must die at some point for his team to win. They may communicate outside the thread at any time. Additionally, he may secretly pass information one-way to Durnik.

Light Win Condition: All followers of the Dark Prophecy are dead.

Dark Win Condition: Voting power of Dark is equal to or greater than that of Light.

Neutral Win Condition: Only 3 players remain: one Light, one Dark, and the Seeress of Kell.

In the event the Neutrals meet their win condition, there will be a mod coinflip to determine which side the Seeress chooses. Light or Dark may still win, but their fate is in the perfectly balanced hands of the Seeress (as determined by rand() )

[VoraciousReader]

<u>THE PLAYERS</u>

amplify
areinitz
BluffBlank
BobOjedaFan
Boiler
chuckleslovakian
Dmk
Durron597
TruFloridaGator
IronYuppie
LuckayLuck
Madtown
mornelth
nicholasp27
OurHouse
patton4
Shortline 99
sighing
soah
spook
StephenH
tabako
Tokyo!!
traz
wdcbooks
Xorbie
z e r o
Zurvan

alternate:

metsandfinsfan

[VoraciousReader]

<u>THE FRAMEWORK</u>

(1) Game days will run 9 am EST to 10 pm EST, Monday through Friday, and 10 am EST Saturday to 10 pm EST Sunday on the weekends.

(2) Players with the ability to cast secret votes, change votes, or choose/avert the lynch must do so no later than nightfall at 10 pm.

(3) Out of thread communications are as follows:

Evil players that have chat access may communicate only at night.

Neutrals may communicate at any time, in whatever manner they prefer.

Cyradis may "appear" to Zandramas or Belgarion during either day or night, but only via mod pm.

Toth may communicate with Durnik only at night, only one way (Toth to Durnik), only once per night, and only via mod pm.

The Liselle/Silk masonry, if formed, may communicate at any time, in any manner.

The Evils may communicate with Zakath if they choose, only at night and only via one-way mod pm. If they do so, they must choose one player to be the communicator. Zakath will be given that player's name.

All other communication must take place in the game thread, and only during Day hours.

(4) Night actions MUST be pmed to the game mods no later than 7 am EST. Any actions not completed by 7 EST are forfeited. This is non-negotiable because there is a dark seer in this game, and all night business must be concluded before we will release Zandramas's "see". Once Zandramas has received the results of her peek it is, for all intents and purposes "day", in the sense that the Evils may no longer night chat.

[VoraciousReader]

<u>THE PHILOSOPHY</u>

We designed The Belgariad around the ideas of force and power. It was the first game to use multi-voters, secret voters, and vote-buyers. We also gave it a win-condition based on voting power, rather than on strict body-count.

Belgariad 2 will be designed to further explore the concepts and strategies of bringing force to bear, and most power characters will have multiple powers where they must choose which power they use on any given day.

Malloreon, in contrast, is centered around information. All werewolf-style games ultimately come down to information: an informed minority vs an uninformed majority (knowledge vs numbers). However, in Malloreon, we have purposely structured a game where there are many ways players can obtain information outside of the game thread. All 3 factions have seers. One good power role shields his target from peeks by Dark/Neutral. There is potential for a Light masonry, and for one-way private communication from Neutral to Light, Neutral to Dark, and Informed Dark to Uninformed Dark.

In Malloreon, Neutral is the ultimate Informed Minority. The neutral team is tiny, but starts with the most information, and has the most chances to acquire new information, and also the most ways to share that information privately.

Any player may at some point in the game inherit the mantel of Child of Dark/Child of Light. When that happens, they will also have the opportunity to receive communications from Neutral.

In contrast, Eriond and Geran constitute the ultimate Uninformed...at least until their primary counterparts die and they learn their true role.

Malloreon is designed to be won or lost based on: "who knows what about whom".

Of course, high-falutin' thoughts on game-design and expectations often tend to get thrown out the window on Day 1.

Thank you for playing Malloreon. We hope you enjoy playing it as much as we enjoyed planning it.

[VoraciousReader]

[ QUOTE ]
We have known you all since the book of the heavens was first opened to us, for your names are writ large in the stars.: Burk, a Dal of Kell, from the David Eddings book: <u>The Seeress of Kell</u>

[/ QUOTE ]

Excerpt from the Dal <u>Book of Ages</u>:

...IN the First Age was man created, and he awoke in puzzlement and wonder as he beheld the world about him. And those that had made him considered him and selected from his number those that pleased them, and the rest were cast out and driven away. And some went in search of the Spirit known as Ul, and they left us and passed into the west, and we saw them no more. And some denied the Gods, and they went ino the far north to wrestle with demons. And some turned to worldly matters, and they went atway into the east and built mighty cities there.

But we despaired, and we sat down upon the earth in the shadow of the mountains of Korim, and in bitterness we bewailed our fate that we had been made and then cast out.

And it came to pass that ...a woman of our people was seized by a rapture, and it was as if she had been shaken by a mighty hand...And with the touch of her vision still upon her, she spoke unto us, saying:

“Now we are the Feast of Life, and ye sorrow that no guest at the feast hath chosen ye. Despair not, however, for one Guest hath not yet arrived at the feast. The other Guests have taken their fill, but this great Fest of Life awaiteth still the Beloved Guest who cometh late, and I say unto all the people that it is He who will choose us. Abide therefore against his coming, for it is certain...Put aside thy grief and turn thy face to the sky and to the earth that thou mayest read the signs written there, for this I say unto all people. It is upon yethat His coming rests. For, behold, He may not choose ye unless ye choose Him. And this is the Fate for which we were made...Take up the task which lies before ye and prepare the way for Him who will surely come.”

End Excerpt

We have learned much since the Belgariad. When the Gods first created this universe, there was a Great Accident. Out of that Accident were formed two prophecies, two purposes, and two destinies. Since the beginning of time, the two destinies have been locked in a struggle to become the sole voice of the universe. Direct confrontation between the two prophecies would destroy all of creation. Thus, they have periodically chosen Children of Light and Dark to battle upon their behalf. Most recently, Dread Torak, the Child of Dark, fell to Belgarion, the Child of Light. This was not the end, but merely one more skirmish in the struggle.

This is the endgame. Soon, where there have always been two, there will remain only one. The dueling Prophecies of Light and Dark have chosen their champions: two small bands of adventurers upon whom rests the fate of the Universe.

A third group is also active. The mysterious Dals of Kell have a tradition that states the final outcome is in the hands of the Seeress Cyradis. They have been godless since the dawn of time, and it is whispered that they believe the new, unified order will mean that they will finally have a God of their own, cherishing them as Ul, Nedra, Belar, Mara, and Issa guard their children. They await the Choosing of Cyradis.

Upon the cliffs of Korim the two bands meet. They are not yet to the cave where the Dals believe the Choosing will occur. Each member of each band has their own choices to make. Followers of Light must choose the most likely adherents to the Prophecy of Dark, and eliminate them. Followers of Dark must obscure their identities, and seek to overpower Light through guile and force.

Will Light eliminate Dark? Will Dark overpower Light? Will the Two Prophecies once again deadlock, leaving their fate resting in the hands of the Seeress?

The time is upon us.

It is now,

Day.

[chuckleslovakian]

As a diehard UK fan, I see no choice but to lynch TruFloridaGator. This vote may not change

[Zurvan]

Lynch z e r o

For making me use the damn space bar so much

[sighing]

Lynch bobo, just so I have the vote in before Toyko cut-and-pastes his "we have to lynch bobo right now" speech.

[BluffBlank]

lynch tabako because I've never heard of them.

[Spook]

revenge vote chuckles