dramatispersonae | STERLING

STERLING

You find yourself inside an elegant room, lit with a crystal chandelier shaped like a swan’s wings. Inside, there are just enough couches and chairs to seat you all. The room is bracketed on all sides by glittering golden bars, which flare inward and taper off at the ceiling. All along the bars hang the portraits of your fellow Heroes and Knights, each with an indentation along the bottom of the frame.

In the middle of the room, there is a table, and on that table are several clusters of perfect tear-shaped rubies. Four for each of you. As with memories, you instinctively know which of the gems are yours. If someone should touch one that isn’t theirs, it will disappear from their hand, and appear in that of their rightful owner.

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From up above, you hear Odile’s voice.

“To rule, adored by one’s subjects, is the lot of a kind or a queen, just as servitude and suffering is the lot of those less worthy. But which of you is which? Some shine, catching the eye of all who know them. Some are better ignored. Others, well, perhaps they would better the world by removing themselves from it.

Which of those gathered here will you favor? Which would you do anything to protect? Give your gems to them, and them only.

Ah, I can see some of you hiding behind your teams, hoping for others to shield you. That won’t do. That won’t do at all. You may converse, but the decisions you make tonight shall each be your own. And, what’s more, you are not allowed to give a gem to a member of your own team just yet.

Then, there are knights, of course. Sworn to protect, not to rule. Some may seek to rise above their station, but their path is harder. It will take a gift of two gems for them to advance.

At the end of the night, those with wealth and acclaim to spare shall be crowned, and those forgotten by their peers shall fall. Less than three gems, and you are nothing. Ten or more, and you rise above all the rest.

- By placing a gem in the indentation of a portrait, you are giving that person one point of protection.
- With knights, however, you need two gems for one point. (Please don’t put single points on knights; they won’t count. The exception to this is if you ‘split the cost’ with a teammate by each putting a gem on the same knight.)
- If someone is at zero points by the end of the game, they will die horribly and not revive unless quested for. Three points gets you a painless death. Ten points means you’re completely unharmed. Anything between three and ten is progressively less severe amounts of injury.
- You may not place gems on your own portrait.
- You may not place more than one gem on any hero, or more than two gems on any knight.
- All choices are individual, though teams can discuss.

[Comment here with which portraits you're placing your gems under. Please make sure to note if you're splitting the cost of putting two points on a knight with a teammate. Please use the name listed with the portrait, to make tracking easier.]

Odile’s voice echoes from above: “At long last, you may step in to save your teammates from untimely, if deserved doom.”

Four more gems per person appear on the table.

This time, you may give the gems to anyone you desire, though you still may not use them for your own selfish ends.

[OOC note: you may still not use more than one gem per hero/two gems per knight. This includes ones you voted for last round.]

“And now, it is time for the kings and queens among you to take the throne and begin your rule. A sovereign can give the orders for execution, but they can also grant pardon to even the most hopeless.”

Those of you who have more than ten points are whisked away and reappear in a different room.