BlogNomic History

The First Dynasty of Cayvie

Greetings, fellow denizens of Serl. As you all well know, I have served as your Archmage for many long years. I have grown weary of the tiresome duties of my position, weary with old age. Yes, I do believe it is time for me to retire.

So, I need somebody, some willing young sorceror, to take my place. But it can't just be any young sorceror; no, it must be the best magician, conjuror, wizard, sleighter of hand, or whatever you are in Serl.

And so, I have designed this test of your magical capabilities. The winner of this test, through whatever method, shall take my position as the new Archmage, and shall take it with my blessing.

May the most potent wielder of the magical energies win.

Bluebottle, Brendan, Cayvie, ChinDoGu, Elazar, Johnny Nuke, Joranj, Keitalia, Kevan, Mal3, Mat, Orkboi, Royce, Squirrel, Wittgenstein.

Magic (Cayvie 1/12/2004) - Well, we're dueling mages, so we kind of need Magic. This proposal introduced the four elemental strands that formed the basic structure of the game.

Strongholds (Cayvie 1/12/2004) - The factions of this round, though no one realized this yet. These were later to become Schools, and ultimately the core system of Energy gain (each Sorcerer being entitled to a daily gain in the two strains of Energy of his or her School).

Light and Dark (Royce 1/13/2004) - Gave some spells a Light or Dark modifier, affecting the balance of the caster.

Six Spells (Kevan 1/13/2004) - A mix of six spells covering all the schools, including "Dust Storm", a key spell in winning the Dynasty.

Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys (Brendan 1/13/2004) - Introduced Gewgaws, magical artifacts with funky powers.

Mmm (Joranj 1/14/2004) The mighty mute. Incredible costs, including a hefty shift in Light/Dark Balance, but it had the power to prevent a Sorcerer from voting, proposing, or making any posts to the BlogNomic weblog.

Lighter Dusting (Kevan 1/15/2004) Kevan downgrades "Dust Storm" - instead of preventing all Sorcerers from casting spells, it only affects a single target.

Stop Thief (Mat 1/15/2004) Not particularly interesting in and of itself, but it could have ended the Dynasty - it timed out with no votes cast, and passed, with Mat as the Admin to enact it; he could have reworded it to "Mat wins", but didn't.

Convert Power (Bluebottle 1/16/2004) Allowed Sorcerers to convert the different strains of magic, on an expensive 3-for-1 basis.

Crystal Head Detonation Echo (Kevan 1/16/2004) Two interesting things here - Stone Head, the most proliferous Gewgaw of the dynasty, which could cast a free 1-Energy spell per day. Secondly Detonate, a spell which was able to destroy Gewgaws.

Storms in Teacups (Kevan 1/18/2004) A selection of cheap "storm" spells which affected all players, including "Rain Fall", which cost 1 Water to cast, and gave every other Sorceror 1 Water.

I'll Come In Again (Kevan 1/20/2004) Created Magi - the most powerful Sorceror in a School was its Magus, and gained additional daily Energy from it, as well as being able to make decisions on behalf of the School.

Contests (Joranj 1/21/2004) Allowed the Archmagus to call all Sorcerers to a contest of skill, with a reward to the first to perform a given task. Only two Contests occurred during this Dynasty.

School Dispersion (Kevan 1/21/2004) This proposal allowed the Schools of Magic to declare war on one another. The School with the weakest total power at the close of the war would be dispersed, and its members would have to turn elsewhere.

Please Give Generously (Brendan 1/21/2004) A relatively simple looking proposal, allowing the sacrifice of power for Energy. Combined with a few choice Gewgaws, however, this would have allowed an infinite Energy loophole. Spotted just in time by Mal3.

It's on (Brendan 1/25/2004) Not a proposal, but a declaration of war by Brendan, Magus of the Air/Water School, against the Air/Fire School. This resulted in the dispersal of the Air/Fire School, which had a low total power after its members had been infighting for the position of Magus.

Amended Dispersions (ChinDoGu 1/26/2004) A hot debate, eventually lost, over whether average power would be fairer than total, when resolving a Scholastic battle.

Inflation (Brendan 1/27/2004) This proposal finally made victory possible. Until now, a Dust Storm was dispersible by a simple Vortex spell, which a Stone Head could cast for free - this proposal put an end to that.

Finish Him (Cayvie 1/29/2004) Unaware of the dark plots being drawn up, Cayvie decided to end the Dynasty by saying that the Sorceror with the 4th highest power, after 48 hours, would win the game.

Four Sorcerors pulled off a complete lockdown of the game, through the use of the following:-

• Vast amounts of Water Energy through Rain Fall. (Two Sorcerors could cast the spell in turn, indefinitely - they'd each be spending each other's Water gain, but all other Sorcerors would gain two Water per loop.)
• Conversion to the three other elements. Given such a huge amount of Water Energy, converting it to other colours on a 3-for-1 basis was easy.
• Multiple Mutes. Creating confusion and making proposals to undo any of this incredible difficult to make.
• Multiple Dust Storms. One for each other Sorceror, preventing them from responding with any Spells.

Combined with a contest currently running, the alliance (Kevan, Joranj, Keitalia, and ChinDoGu) was easily able to choose a victor when the time came.

Joranj was chosen.