Out of character thread XIX

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Originally Posted by AussieGiant

PK it was only 6 of us in the end.

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Well, fighting against the 6 of you feels like taking on the whole game. :P

:laugh4:

I always figured you 6 were in a political alliance but I didn't know exactly who was in the Order or their rank. I had my guesses and I was mostly right.

I see now why Jan had such a difficult time as King. You guys threw roadblock after roadblock in my way. I tried to reconcile by making that one CA for the 1300 Diet. But Elberhard shared the Order's letter to Siegfried with Jan and everything changed. Once Jan realized there really was an Order, and they were trying to get him fired, all bets were off. Which is why the 6 of you noticed a major IC change in how Jan interacted with your characters. :yes:

I'm sure you didn't pick me and Grand Master...and yes the 6 of us where pretty resourceful...it's quite a collection of minds when we all started strategising (is the a word?) together.

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Originally Posted by GeneralHankerchief

PM me the specifics.

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GH, I'll send you a PM once the General's have given me their feedback.

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Originally Posted by TinCow

If you're willing, I think that's a perfect solution. Without Herrmann, the sides look about even, so it actually balances things out. We can simply say that Herrmann will share the fate of the Illuminati. If they win, he can triumph in whatever way you think right. If they lose, he gets the chop along with dear old Dad.

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lair! :clown:

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Originally Posted by AussieGiant

I'm sure you didn't pick me and Grand Master

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No, that was one part I got wrong. I figured you were in the Order but I thought Lothar was in charge. I didn't know about NN being in the Order. I just figured he was being loyal to Arnold. GH and OK were obvious as members after a little while. The last surprise was Fritz being in the Order. I figured him for an ally but not an Order member.

I did the best I could with very little information to go on. There was even less IC information to work off of. I tried hard not to meta-game.

The thing is, it ended up as active players versus less active players. You may have won the battle, but we have won the social life. HEYO! :clown:

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Originally Posted by AussieGiant

it's quite a collection of minds when we all started strategising (is the a word?) together.

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Eh. . .we made mistakes too. In hindsight we backed the wrong horse in one or two Chancellorship elections, which is when we decided things would run better if we just ran for the postion ourselves.

PK, the full weight of the order was never against you. In fact Matthias argued against having Jan "liquidated" a few times because he served as a convenient lightning rod. The more trouble that you stirred up, for example the brou-ha-ha with Ansehelm, which we stayed out of, the more we could accomplish under the radar. Jan's "Agent Mulder" investigations were alarming, but if Jan died under mysterious circumstances, that would have proved more damaging to the order than his accusations. Jan was discussed several times though.

Also, I want to make clear that the Illuminati were not affiliated with any of the other various "Black Cloak" organizations that seemed to run rampant in the game. We had nothing to do with Dusan Kolar and his pagan magicians, the assassins who seemed to plague the von Salzas, or any of the other shadow networks.

Just as a vanity question, did anyone buy the animosity between Lothar and Matthias, particularly earlier in their careers? TC and I worked hard on the "Fighting Steffens" routine to discourage linking Matthias and the Voice. It was a lot of fun to write. Did it actually work?

Well, Elberhard told me who he thought was in the Order: "Lothar, Arnold, Matthias, Dietrich, and maybe more"

He wanted me to infiltrate it to find Siegfried's killer. I, being the genius I am, went to Lothar, who Elberhard thought "was the head and would be wise to the plan" and said Dietrich would have been a better choice but it's too late.

Even in the Inquisition against Lothar and Arnold, I told Fritz I didn't want Matthias dead because he was a good man.

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Originally Posted by gibsonsg91921

Well, Elberhard told me who he thought was in the Order: "Lothar, Arnold, Matthias, Dietrich, and maybe more"

He wanted me to infiltrate it to find Siegfried's killer. I, being the genius I am, went to Lothar, who Elberhard thought "was the head and would be wise to the plan" and said Dietrich would have been a better choice but it's too late.

Even in the Inquisition against Lothar and Arnold, I told Fritz I didn't want Matthias dead because he was a good man.

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Yeah we picked that up immediately...it was pretty obvious to most of us that you where trying to infiltrate (at least that is what I can remember).

Being in a secret order seemed to make us all fairly sensitive to counter spying. :clown:

And yes OK is correct, we where not very good at a few things and they we a constant throughout the whole game. We found solutions to most of them...picking a winner in the elections was a crap shoot until we started running ourselves.

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Originally Posted by Elite Ferret

hmmmm lets see, in the MPC I'll attack Poland, in the BC hotseat I'll attack the Rajputs, in the successor to this game I'll murder any character you get and really annoy you at any opportunity on these forums :clown:

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You should totally do that! Killing you over and over again will make sure Fritz is laughing in his grave after he dies of old age. :2thumbsup: :laugh4:

:egypt:

Yeah, I think even if I asked Dietrich it wouldn't have worked. Maybe if I fought for your side in the Swabian Civil War. I could have totally pwned Hans that time at Metz.

I take consolation in the fact that I screwed you over for the Swabian Civil War.

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Originally Posted by OverKnight

PK, the full weight of the order was never against you. In fact Matthias argued against having Jan "liquidated" a few times because he served as a convenient lightning rod. The more trouble that you stirred up, for example the brou-ha-ha with Ansehelm, which we stayed out of, the more we could accomplish under the radar. Jan's "Agent Mulder" investigations were alarming, but if Jan died under mysterious circumstances, that would have proved more damaging to the order than his accusations. Jan was discussed several times though.

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It sure felt like it sometimes. Take it as a tribute as to how tough you 6 are as political opponents. :2thumbsup: It was actually physically and emotionally draining to go against you guys. I felt like I was swimming upstream most the time. :yes:

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Originally Posted by OverKnight

Also, I want to make clear that the Illuminati were not affiliated with any of the other various "Black Cloak" organizations that seemed to run rampant in the game. We had nothing to do with Dusan Kolar and his pagan magicians, the assassins who seemed to plague the von Salzas, or any of the other shadow networks.

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I always wondered what the relationship was, if any, to the other shadow organizations. My only real IC link was Larisa. EO and I did some IC correspondence and she hinted that she worked for both the "Dusan" group and the Order. It was that IC information that allowed me to go ahead with my "find Salier's murderer plot".

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Originally Posted by OverKnight

Just as a vanity question, did anyone buy the animosity between Lothar and Matthias, particularly earlier in their careers? TC and I worked hard on the "Fighting Steffens" routine to discourage linking Matthias and the Voice. It was a lot of fun to write. Did it actually work?

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When Lothar threw the Chancellorship to Matthias, I knew something was up. So, I figured the two brothers disagreed on some things but worked together on others. When Matthias executed those Byzantines and Arnold wrote Jan warning him not to punish Matthias for it, I knew Matt was in the Order. Hence why Matt got his career sidelined. I had planned on it going on for longer but then Siegfried gave away Outremer (much to my IC and OOC surprise) and everything changed.

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Originally Posted by gibsonsg91921

Well, Elberhard told me who he thought was in the Order: "Lothar, Arnold, Matthias, Dietrich, and maybe more"

He wanted me to infiltrate it to find Siegfried's killer. I, being the genius I am, went to Lothar, who Elberhard thought "was the head and would be wise to the plan" and said Dietrich would have been a better choice but it's too late.

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I was in on those PM's and it was hilarious how frustrated we got IC with Peter. Econ, FH, and I were trying to organize political resistance to the Order and Peter goes and gives himself away in the most obvious fashion possible. :laugh4:

Not really, I still got what I wanted in the end.

Dead Popes and a lot of blood? :clown:

Well, that too. :laugh4:

Just as far as gibson was saying how he screwed me over. I did sort act in the role as "Order's Assassin" since the previous strategy of having Hans sink didn't play out.

Peter is his own, self-made man. He's not really a silver-spoon baby and he really has nothing to do with any secret societies. He's an outsider, lives by his own rules, and doesn't get told what to do. He'll do whatever he wants or feels is best for his country. He's a crusader, but exactly a holy man himself. And, worst of all, he's completely oblivious to all of his surroundings.

Next game, I want to be part of the inner workings. I can be pretty adept as long as someone holds my hand along the way to get me started. CAPO CAPO CAPO GH GH GH! THE PARALLELS ARE EVERYWHERE!

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Originally Posted by OverKnight

Dead Popes and a lot of blood? :clown:

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I think GH is alluding to getting revenge for Jens's death. Jan let Hans stage a lopsided battle against the Mongols for glory and sport. Jens died due in part to Hans being outnumbered. Dassel, who was Jens's friend, killed Jan and Hans. Of course Matthias allowed Jan and Hans to go through with their lopsided Mongol battle for political reasons but Matt never was blamed by Dassel for that.

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Originally Posted by GeneralHankerchief

Just as far as gibson was saying how he screwed me over. I did sort act in the role as "Order's Assassin" since the previous strategy of having Hans sink didn't play out.

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Ok, this is something I always wondered. What was the deal with the assassination attempt on Hans? How were you guys going to kill him? Larisa told Jan about the attempt but I never could figure out OOC or IC how you guys were actually going to kill the avatar. Was Chancellor Matthias going to let the boat sink?

The idea was to put him on the dumpiest, 1-stack fleet we could find and hope the AI attacked.

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Originally Posted by GeneralHankerchief

The idea was to put him on the dumpiest, 1-stack fleet we could find and hope the AI attacked.

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What went wrong?

Did Larisa warn him?

Take a wild guess.

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Originally Posted by Privateerkev

Ok, this is something I always wondered. What was the deal with the assassination attempt on Hans? How were you guys going to kill him? Larisa told Jan about the attempt but I never could figure out OOC or IC how you guys were actually going to kill the avatar. Was Chancellor Matthias going to let the boat sink?

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Yes the boat was to be lost at sea. Unfortunately this is where the RL leak came in with EO who after hearing Tamur's story (they are friends) about the game, on her own PM'ed FH saying his life was in danger. FH was confused who was really sending him the warning.
It took us a day to figure what happened Tamur explained himself and that is how she go involved.
It explains itself in the chronicles.

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Originally Posted by GeneralHankerchief

Take a wild guess.

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Hey, no need to get snippy. I was just asking. :laugh4:

It's been stuff I've been wondering about for months. Now I can finally ask so I'm asking. :yes:

Dry humor not coming out again... :wall:

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Originally Posted by GeneralHankerchief

Dry humor not coming out again...

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Welcome to my world. I've learned the hard way to put emoticons along with everything I say or people end up taking it far more seriously than I meant.

No harm, no foul. I'm just fascinated with this stuff. It's frustrating to get glimpses and peeks into this whole new layer of the game but never really know what was going on.

I can't wait to read the letters... :2thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by Northnovas

Yes the boat was to be lost at sea. Unfortunately this is where the RL leak came in with EO who after hearing Tamur's story (they are friends) about the game, on her own PM'ed FH saying his life was in danger. FH was confused who was really sending him the warning.
It took us a day to figure what happened Tamur explained himself and that is how she go involved.

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Interesting. Hans wrote Jan right afterwards asking if he knew anything about it. I didn't know anything OOC or IC at the time so I shrugged it off. Then the whole Larisa thing happened with Jan so I got some small amount of IC information but never the whole thing. EO wrote herself into both the Hans's assassination plot, and the plot on Salier (she claimed Larisa was an operative in Salier's camp who helped with the planning of his death). Hence, I always wondered if it was the Order that killed Salier. I'm impressed with her ability to jump into multiple plots like that. She's a good RP'er. :yes:

You guys were really going to kill an avatar? Econ told me once that he was so against it in principle, that he thought he would never even have to write a rule forbidding it. He made it seem as if there was some sort of unwritten rule against it. He said he only made an exception for the cataclysm because he trusted TC to make it fair.

There's so much irony in you guys...and it's just not working until someone explains themselves...it's pretty funny.

I could only imagine what we'd all be like in person.:2thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by AussieGiant

There's so much irony in you guys...and it's just not working until someone explains themselves...it's pretty funny.

I could only imagine what we'd all be like in person.:2thumbsup:

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I have a feeling we'd drink, talk, laugh, drink, and then drink... :2thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by Privateerkev

I have a feeling we'd drink, talk, laugh, drink, and then drink... :2thumbsup:

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I believe you are correct PK!! :balloon2:

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Originally Posted by Privateerkev

You guys were really going to kill an avatar? Econ told me once that he was so against it in principle, that he thought he would never even have to write a rule forbidding it. He made it seem as if there was some sort of unwritten rule against it. He said he only made an exception for the cataclysm because he trusted TC to make it fair.

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There was a lot of OOC discussion about it. I think the last proposal we had before the SNAFU screwed up all the plans were to give FH an OOC choice: simple death or being 'shipwrecked' in North Africa with a small army, having to fight his way home with very limited resources. The latter would probably have been fun for him.

We were always cautious about doing things that would make the game less fun for everyone else. We certainly had the power to do things like that if we had wanted, but the point of the game is to have fun, not to 'win' (if there is even such a thing in a game like this). Annoying other people in the process just hurts the game.

Boy am I glad I got left out of all these crazy hidden political fights. Apart from Fritz but he's just a big girls blouse really :clown: