The morning was a morning much like any other, aside from the noteworthy detail that the Jade Palace was on fire. Despite the efforts of the palace guard, pumping water from the royal aqueduct, the unholy, purple flames consumed the Council Chamber.
The guard scraped away ash and broke apart charred furniture, and discovered what they all feared to find - the Jade Council had been incinerated, only fragments of bone remaining.
One of the guards, an astute captain, noticed something unusual underneath the Chamber's central table. After removing scorched wood, he retrieved a small pouch, and sneered in disgust.
It seemed this was no ordinary fire, but the creation of some rogue alchemist. Or rather... the creation of the Onyx Cabal, for only they knew the secret of all-consuming purple fire.
You were a new generation of Court electors, ready to play your part to elect a new Emperor, and it is almost certain that the Onyx Cabal are once more among you.
Or were you, perhaps, one of them? A member of the Cabal, eagerly waiting to turn your silvered tongue to the Court and split it in two?
Welcome to Jade Court 2! I don't think
the previous game really got its chance to shine, so here we are.
Jade Court is an election mafia. The goal of this game isn't to execute the traitors among you, or murder the innocent, but rather to make sure that the position of Emperor goes to a member of your alignment. After all, the Emperor rules the palace, court, and kingdom. Normally I prefer games where every player has some sort of role ability, but Jade Court is an exception. The emphasis here is on your vote, and who you choose to support, or garner support from.
There will be
some role abilities, however - do not disregard them.
Core Rules:- The game shall possess at least ten players. In the case of a ten-player game, seven of those ten players will possess the
Jade Court alignment, and the remaining three will possess the
Onyx Cabal alignment. In the event that there are more than ten players, the number of players of each alignment will increase according to my best judgement.
- Each player role will have one or more
Factions attached.
Factions are not alignments, and are only relevant for
Sects and potentially some abilities. The potential
Factions are: Agriculturist, Militarist, Merchant, Enlightened, Artisan, and Noble.
-
Onyx Cabal players share a private chat together which may be used at any time. Since Quicktopic is dead, we'll use Discord for this. They may submit actions via this private chat, as well.
- If all three Nominated players are of the
Jade Court alignment, they will form a Jade Council and the
Jade Court-aligned players will
win. If all three Nominated players are of the
Onyx Cabal alignment, they will lead a coup, seize control of the Jade Palace, and the
Onyx Cabal will
win immediately. Otherwise, the
winning alignment will be whichever alignment has one of its members elected Emperor.
- The game will occur over four Day phases. There will be no other phases, nor will the game last longer than the end of the fourth Day phase. Each Day phase will last for 72 hours, not counting time spent on weekends.
- During the first three Day phases, the players will vote for
Nomination. At the end of the Day, whichever player has received the most
Nomination votes will be Nominated. In the event of a tied
Nomination, the Day will continue until the tie is broken and no further. Once a player has been
Nominated, they cannot be
Nominated again.
- On the final Day phase, assuming no alignment instantly wins, the players will then vote for
Election. All players who were not
Nominated may now vote from among the
Nominated players to select an Emperor. At the end of the final Day phase, whichever player has received the most
Election votes will become Emperor. In the event of a tied
Election, the Day will continue until the tie is broken and no further. Whichever alignment has one of its members
Elected Emperor will then
win.
- Please vote in
blue for
Election and
Nomination. Votes may be freely moved between players or removed, under normal circumstances. Each player has only one vote, assuming normal circumstances.
- Vote counts will be released every 24 hours, at 8 PM Central time. Active-use abilities that do not resolve at the end of the Day will also resolve at this time. I may also post other vote counts on request or when appropriate, when I have the time to make them, though abilities will not resolve at those times.
- Please also try to be reasonably civil to your fellow players. Some aggression is understandable, but we're all playing a game here. If you feel the need to take a breather, please do so.
- I shouldn't need to say this, but no quoting mod communications, including your role PM, in the game thread. If you're a member of the
Onyx Cabal, you may quote mod communications in your private chat.
- I may increase the number of Day phases if the number of players reaches 13 or higher, to allow for additional Nominations. Such an increase will be announced before the game starts.
- If you need a replacement, please either let me know or post it in the thread, or both.
- If you die, you may not continue to post in the thread beyond a single humorous 'bah' post. A player's death will result in their role and alignment becoming publicly visible. Considering there are no executions, and the ability to kill is extremely rare, this isn't especially likely, but it could happen.
- I may opt to extend the Day phase's duration in the event of a replacement or rough IRL circumstances for myself or one or more players.
- In addition to their alignments and Factions, players may possess abilities. There are two categories of abilities - [Direct] and [Influence]. Players are informed of what abilities they possess within their role PM. Not every player will possess an ability, and possessing more than one is especially unlikely - though much more probable for a member of the Onyx Cabal or a Sect member.
- [Direct] abilities must be explicitly used to take effect. In contrast, some [Influence] abilities must be explicitly used, and others have a passive effect. Some abilities that are explicitly used must be publicly declared, others may be used in private.
- [Influence] abilities trend towards influencing the vote - providing advantage, creating disadvantage, or rarely more drastic effects. [Direct] abilities tend to interact with players directly. If a player possesses both a [Direct] ability and an explicit-use [Influence] ability, they may utilize both during the same Day phase.
- Nominated players may no longer use or be affected by [Direct] abilities, though they may still use or be affected by [Influence] abilities.
Example Abilities:
[Direct] Sage's Discernment [target1][target2]: You select two players, and at the end of this Day, learn whether they possess the same alignment or not. Sect membership counts as a separate alignment, and overrides someone's actual alignment, for the purposes of this ability. You may only use this ability once.
[Influence] Rule of Law: Once you use this ability, all abnormal votes cease to count at the end of this Day. You may only use this ability once.
[Direct] Imperial Imprisonment [target]: You select a player, and imprison them. Any [Direct] ability they would use that would resolve at the end of this Day, fails. If they attempt to use a [Direct] ability with that quality, you are informed of that, and they are informed that their ability failed due to being lawfully imprisoned.
[Direct] Factional Investigation [target]: You investigate your target's political qualities, and learn what Factions they belong to.
[Influence] Growing Control: You possess normal Nomination votes equal to the current Day phase's number. This does not grant Election votes.
- Sects are groups within the Jade Court. They may be infiltrated by Onyx Court members, so beware. There will be at least one Sect, though more may exist.
- A Sect may be made of up to four players, and may possess additional win condition requirements that must be fulfilled in order for their members to claim victory. A larger Sect will be more likely to possess additional win conditions.
- Rarely, a player may be a member of multiple Sects, as long as none of them have private chats. If this is the case, then they will only need to fulfill one Sect's win condition requirements in order to win.
- Onyx Cabal players are not bound by any additional win conditions a Sect imposes.
- In the event that every Nominated player is a Jade Court member, they will count as Emperor or not-Emperor for the sake of Sect win conditions which require that, whichever is more favorable.
- Sect members may also possess group-assigned abilities which require cooperation to utilize. Sects are more likely to possess private communications within their Sect if it is smaller in terms of player count or weaker in terms of role abilities.
- Sects may benefit from secrecy.
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Signups will close Tuesday, October 10th.