Our people are a proud stock and many stories have been told about them! This is the story of the priest-king Reenk Roink and the unusual circumstances of his “tribe” if it can even be called that.

Reenk Roink was a young man of many talents: he honored the gods, he respected his people, he killed many enemy men, he loved many friendly women. He demonstrated his capability in all matters that are important to a priest-king distinguishing himself as a fearless warrior and brilliant tactician against his enemies and a responsible and benevolent ruler to his friends.

However, men like Reenk Roink were becoming increasingly rare in a world where the peoples grew more numerous and the lands grew smaller and the priest kings grew greedier...

The king of kings decided that young priest kings like Reenk Roink would not be able to rule over ever fragmenting pieces of the old lands anymore. They would have to venture out somewhere else, taking the many displaced with them.

And so Reenk Roink prepared himself to leave his palace before he could ever rule from its splendid court. He gathered the only belongings he needed - his sword, his shield, his armor, his horse, and, along with a group of his loyal Bronze Companions, Reenk Roink cut a path through his now dangerous homeland to the shores of the Sea of Wine where a ship waited to carry him to a new chapter of his life.

It was at the sandy beaches that, for the first time, he met the refugee people he was going to make a new life with - his new tribe. They came from all walks of life; what stories they had to tell! And yet Reenk Roink knew nothing about them. After examining their faces, obviously grizzled from the arduous journey they undertook, Reenk Roink asked the gods blessings for them. As he leaned on his sword hilt, watching them board the ship, Reenk Roink could not help but feel a great sense of admiration for these noble folk.

What a misguided sentiment he would soon realize it was!

This is a game in which all players have some role which gives them some abilities and some goals. Though each role is unique in some way, there may be classes of one of more players who share similar goals.

Note: For the purposes of the story, female players are men. No misogyny intended.

The settlers: Every player is a settler. The settlers are divided into two groups:

The men: The men make up the majority of the people in the settlement. They come from different backgrounds, have different lives, act different ways, and do different things. The one thing that unites them is the pact they made with the priest king Reenk Roink in which they pledged loyalty and obedience to his rule for a degree of influence in decisions.

The good men: The good men make up the minority of the people in the settlement. Like the men, they come from different backgrounds, have different lives, act different ways, and do different things, but they also possess two things in more quantity then the men, status and wealth. They also made a pact with the priest king Reenk Roink in which they pledged loyalty and obedience to his rule for a degree of influence in decisions - a greater degree of influence then the men.

All settlers have two abilities:

Voting: In every day period, the priest king Reenk Roink will hold a council to decide which settler to lynch.

Each settler may decide to vote or not vote (there will be no penalty for not voting).

The priest king Reenk Roink requests that settlers inscribe their vote (or have it inscribed for them) in the manner specified: Vote: [name].

The settlers may change their vote as many times as they wish.

The settlers may not vote no lynch. The settlers may abstain.

In the event of a majority of abstain votes, the matter is wholly up to the discretion of the priest king Reenk Roink.

The men will have a vote rating of 1 (their vote counts as one tally) while the good men will have a vote rating of 2 (their vote counts as two tallies).

The settler with the largest tally count will be executed.

In the event of ties, the matter is wholly up to the discretion of the priest king Reenk Roink.

Dueling: In every day period during the priest king Reenk Roink’s council, a settler may challenge one other settler to a fight to the death for whatever reason.

Each settler may decide to duel or not to duel (there will be no penalty for not dueling).

The priest king Reenk Roink requests that settlers inscribe their challenge (or have it inscribed for them) in the manner specified: Challenge: [name].

The duel proposal may be accepted by the challenged in which case it is added to the list of challenges or rejected in which case it is not added to the list of challenges. The list is handled in first come - first served order.

The list remains throughout the game.

The priest king Reenk Roink requests that settlers accept or reject a challenge by inscribing (or having inscribed for them) Accept: [name] or Reject: [name].

If a challenge is not responded to it will be considered as if it was rejected.

A settler may challenge at most one other settler each day period. A settler may be challenged more than once by several other settlers each day period and he may accept or reject as many of them as he likes.

No redundant challenges will be accepted (if player 1 challenges player 2 then player 2 cannot challenge player 1 while the original challenge remains on the list).

The fight will take place at dusk before the execution. There is only one fight each round.

Each settler will receive a battle rating in his role message based on his role background. The battle ratings of the combatants will decide the outcome of the fight.

If a settler who was to be executed is killed in a duel, then the matter becomes wholly up to the discretion of the priest king Reenk Roink.

The usurpers: Among the settlers are the usurpers. Very little is known about them aside from the fact that they exist.

The way the roles will be handled is as such. First the players will be grouped into the men and the good men. The list of each settler’s status (as one of the men or one of the good men) will be made public. Then the roles will be assigned. Some roles are only available to men, some roles are only available to good men, and some roles are available to both. Everyone will get a role message.

The day period will last anywhere from 20 to 30 hours usually. Whenever the day period begins, an announcement will be made as to the exact time of the end of the day period (Eastern Standard Time – military format). Any activity (votes or challenges) will be accepted up to the deadline inclusive (the Org time will be used). I will give an extension if three or more people ask for one. The deadlines will be staggered at different times throughout the day so that it is fairer to people from different time zones.

The night period will last anywhere up to 30 hours (hopefully shorter). I will allow a little more leeway for everyone to get their orders in, though I will end the night without all the orders if I have to. I will end the night as soon as I get all orders and finish the writeup.

There will be a punctuality system in place which will handle interleaving orders. It is thus in your best interest to get your orders in fast.

There is no penalty for inactivity in this game, I’d rather you join up and not be active then not join up at all! I hope the nature of the game will push you to be active in some way. Suicides will be granted only in exceptional cases.

I’m looking for the number of players to be in the mid twenties or more. More people are always easier to accommodate than less people.

You must:
-Obey the rules of the Org and the Gameroom (laws and good manners)
-Have fun

You must not:
-Post screenshots of anything game related (private messages, quicktopics, the game thread itself, chatlogs)
-Quote or forge any game related private messages once dead

You are allowed to do anything else (quote and forge private messages or quicktopics or chatlogs while alive, reveal your role while dead (as long as you don’t quote and or lightly paraphrase private messages), private message other players dead or alive, etc…)

Lastly but most importantly, I would like to mention some of the games (and their hosts) that have been most influential in making this one possible.

Of course, I have to start by mentioning GeneralHankerchief who brought Mafia games here. His original Mafia series had the story base which is the main reason I play and my game is story based.

Gotta have more Mafia by Sasaki Kojiro was the first game where many roles were added (I think). Since then, I have always liked games with a lot of roles and my game has a lot of roles.

Interficio quod Scrupulosa by Sir Moody was a monumental game in influencing me. Before that, I believe most games had similar (though richly detailed) settings based on modern towns. Interficio quod Scrupulosa was then the first uniquely “themed” game which really inspired me to roleplay and get into character. The game itself had a basic setup, but the immersion factor made it my favorite game. After playing Interficio quod Scrupulosa, I first seriously entertained the idea of hosting a game - this game (over two years in the making ).

That special place for Interficio quod Scrupulosa was soon to be joined by another game when Sigurd hosted The Midgard Saga. Sigurd had taken the idea of a themed game and ran with it. The immersion factor of The Midgard Saga was magnificent; every role was crafted in the setting of the game. Sigurd also introduced a new mechanic of dueling, the Holmgang, which I thought was brilliant, and is the clear influence of my own duel system.

Very recently, yet another game has arrived among Interficio quod Scrupulosa and The Midgard Saga – Whispers in the Night by YLC (with some design help from Sigurd). The setting was more modern and typical, but the immersion factor was again top notch. Whispers in the Night had the mechanic of the dead continuing as ghosts which was the first time I had encountered such a thing, and it influenced me as much as it entertained me.

Of course, the fact is, I have been greatly influenced by every game I have played and every player and host. I don’t mention everyone not because of lack of love, but lack of brains and large amounts of laziness.