[Phalla] Babylon 5: Game over. Vorlons, EA, B5, Rogues, and Centauri Win!

Savant · July 2009

The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace. It failed.

But, in the Year of the Shadow War, it became something greater: our last, best hope... for victory. The year is 2260. The place: Babylon 5.

-Commander Susan Ivanova

Basic Rules:

This is a Phalla game that devoted to the Shadow War portion of the Babylon 5 timeline (parts of season 2 through season 4 for watchers of the show). The standard Phalla rules (such as no anonymous communication) apply, unless explicitly said otherwise. Do not talk to dead players, even if you are also dead, unless you are explicitly allowed to do so. There will be 60 players, plus reserves. Please !sign up in lime in the thread.

Each night, you may !vote to have the village direct a player to be executed. Retractions are optional by !abstaining, only the latest vote in a day will count, and ties will be broken by RNG. For activity you should try to vote or abstain each night where permitted by the rules or be potentially replaced by reserve players unless you give the host notice.

Voting closes at 8:00 PM Pacific (11:00 PM Eastern), and only votes with a timestamp of 7:59 PM or earlier will be counted for that day.

This game will be some mixture of a regular phalla game with informed minorities against uniformed majorities and a faction game with multiple factions competing with each other. The exact mixture will not be stated, and will depend upon the individual win conditions (of which there will be a wide variety) of the players. Win conditions given to players in their role PM may not give the full and complete details of all the possible ways player may win or lose, though they should give good enough information to direct strategy for meeting their goals. Although know that it will be the case that multiple factions will be able to win simultaneously, and it is likely that there will be multiple winning factions that do not need to eliminate each other for victory.

On death each player's role and race will be revealed, although this will not necessarily reveal exactly what alignment or goals that player had. There will be no outright forced conversion mechanics, although win conditions may change for some players over the course of the game which may necessitate an alteration of strategy.

Knowledge of the show Babylon 5 will not be absolutely necessary, though it will help to figure out how the potential roles and factions will interact with each other. There will be some spoilers from the show, but I will also make the game a bit different from the plot of the show. In particular and in part due to the expansive cast there will be characters from the show omitted from the game, some of whom may be important to the plot. (Here is the D&D discussion thread about Babylon 5 from earlier this year). I'll make a few more background posts giving an overview of some of the races in the setting before the game begins.

!Clarifications can be made in thread, but there will be a number of somewhat hidden mechanics that will not be clarified. Feel free to ask though.

Rules clarifications (Understanding is a three edged sword)

1. You may send a copy of your role PM to anyone who you know you can trust that is listed in your role PM as being in the same faction. However, you may not copy it exactly with anyone else, including those who claim to be in the same faction but were not listed in your PM. You are allowed to paraphrase it to anyone.

2. Abilities given to players will change over the course of the game. Some are told this in their PM, some are not.

3. There are no generic "villager" roles in this game. Even if there are powerless roles, they got a bit of individualized flavor text.

Narrations

Day 0 - And Now for a Word
Day 1 - No One Listens to Poor Zathras
Day 2 - Unexplained Aggression
Day 3 Results
Day 4 - Point of No Return
Day 5 - Exit Morden
Day 6 Results
Day 7 - Fall of the Centauri
Day 8 Results
Day 9 Results
Day 10 - The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father
Day 11 - Beginning of the End
Day 12 - Objects at Rest

Final Results

The Victorious!

The Vorlons - Successfully eliminated the Shadows, all their allies, and everyone touched by their influence

Balefuego - Ambassador Kosh
Exarch - Ulkesh
Wildcat - Vorlon

Earth Alliance - Successfully navigated the aftermath of Clark's removal, eliminated his agents, and were prepared to deal with aftermath of war

cj iwakura - EarthForce Captain
DasUberEdward - Earth Alliance Trader
Jason Todd - EarthForce Starfury Pilot
Julius Caezure - Marcus Cole
Trust - Human Smuggler

Rangers (Anla'Shok) - Despite the death of their leaders and members, their goal of eliminating the Shadows and some of their allies was fulfilled

lonelyahava - Ambassador Jeffery Sinclair (Entil'Zha)
TehSloth - Ranger (former EarthForce Commander)

Babylon 5 - Successfully eliminated the Shadows, President Clark, and all of Clark's leftover agents

Fluffy, Our Beloved Flopsy Bunny Friend - Dr. Stephen Franklin
Nion - Security Chief Michael Garibaldi
sterling3763 - Commander Susan Ivanova

Rogue Telepaths - With all Psi Corps players defeated and the Vorlons winning the long term destruction of the Corps was guaranteed

Powerpuppies - Rogue Telepath
B:L - Lyta Alexander

Centauri Republic - Had an opportunity for peace with the deaths of Cartagia and Refa, but in the end conquest works just as well

Aegis - Minister Virini
Cantide - Ambassador Londo Mollari
MadnessBA - Adira Tyree
NATIK - Centauri Telepath
samurai6966 - Centauri Trader
Smurph - Lord Refa
WilDPanthA05 - Vir Cotto
gonmun - Centarui Royal Guard

The Defeated!

The Shadows - They sought to bring conflict, and would win by outnumbering everyone (excluding the Vorlons and Walkers players), or by surviving on a night that all of the remaining players of the younger races had eliminated all of the potential enemies in each of their win conditions. They aimed for a faction focused game

Faynor - Mr. Morden
Romantic Undead - Drakh
Dunadan019 - Shadow
Cleonicus - Shadow Vessel
Fatal3RR0R - Shadow Vessel
Zandracon - Shadow Vessel

Walkers of Sigma-957 - The Walkers needed to kill off all Vorlons and Shadow faction members

Delmain - Walkers of Sigma-957

Zathras - Zathras needed to find Sinclair with his ability (which would cause an immediate win), or have either him or Sinclair survive to the end while defeating the Shadows

Lady Eri - Zathras

The Minbari (Worker, Warrior, and Religious Castes) - With all Minbari players killed and the Gray Council broken, the Minbari are defeated despite the elimination of the Shadows

iamtheaznman - Minbari (Religious Caste)
JebusUD - Lennier
ShadowThomas - Ambassador Delenn
Fuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud - Neroon (Warrior Caste)
Pixel Blue - Shakiri (Warrior Caste)
Westforde - Minbari (Warrior Caste)
Astraphobia - Minbari Telepath (Worker Caste)
Dac Vin - Minbari Trader (Worker Caste)
doxa - Minbari (Worker Caste)

President Clark - He needed to survive to the end alive, with or without Shadow help to kill those who oppose him.

enlightenedbum - Earth Alliance President Clark

Nightwatch - Needed to have President Clark win or have a surviving Nightwatch member eliminate all humans that were not loyal to him (this excluded Psi Corps)

galenblade - Pierce Macabee, Nightwatch

Psi Corps - Psi Corps needed to have a remaining member, eliminate William Edgars, and equal or outnumber the Rogue Telepaths

Corbius - Psi Cop
Cynic Jester - Psi Corps Telepath
kime - Alfred Bester, Psi Cop

William Edgars - William Edgars needed to live to the night that all the Psi Corps players got killed, or live to the end of the game.

HamHamJ - William Edgars

Narn - Had a chance for peace with Centauri when Emperor Cartagia and Lord Refa were killed, but losing all the Narn players eliminated that chance

Bremen - Narn Trader
Celebrim - Narn Smuggler
chamberlain - Member of the Kha'Ri
CJTheran - Na'Kal, Commander of the G'Tok
gundam470 - Ambassador G'Kar
Maximus - Member of the Kha'Ri
oldmanken - Ta'Lon
Richy - Na'Toth
TehSpectre - Assassin of Thenta Makur

Emperor Cartagia - Needed to survive to end of the game and have the Shadows win or otherwise either have all of the Narns killed or the rest of the Centauri killed. No living godhood otherwise.

Kid Presentable - Emperor Cartagia

League of Non-Aligned Worlds - Had a chance for peace with Centauri with death of Emperor Cartagia and Lord Refa, but defeat of all opposition to Centauri prevented that. Drazi and Brakiri would have also lost with the Vorlons winning because of working with the Shadows (but they would have won if the Shadows won and the Centauri lost instead)

Nocturne - Brakiri Ambassador
SpectralSpork - Drazi Ambassador
MacGuffin - Pak'ma'ra Ambassador

Inactive - The main character goes inactive through most of the game? WTF?

dunedainjedi - Captain John Sheridan

Player List

1. Balefuego: Ambassador Kosh (Vorlon) - Killed by Shadow Vessel Day 7
2. Jason Todd: EarthForce Starfury Pilot - Multikilled Day 11
3. lonelyahava: Ambassador Jeffrey Sinclair (Entil'Zha) - Assassinated Day 4
4. Dac Vin: Minbari Trader (Worker Caste) - Killed by unknown forces Day 2
5. oldmanken: Ta'Lon (Narn) - Killed by Minbari fleet Day 5
6. Kid Presentable: Emperor Cartagia (Centauri) - Killed by his own fleet Day 7
7. Trust: Human Smuggler - Killed by unknown forces Day 4
8. ShadowThomas: Ambassador Delenn (Entil'Zha, Minbari Religious Caste) - Killed by Shadow Vessel Day 5
9. Fuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud: Neroon (Minbari Warrior Caste) - Killed by Shadow Vessel Day 8
10. HamHamJ: William Edgars (Human) - Killed by Centauri fleet Day 2
11. Astraphobia: Minbari Telepath (Worker Caste) - Killed by Shadow Vessel Day 5
12. Wildcat: Vorlon - Killed by Shadow Vessel Day 6
13. NATIK: Centauri Telepath - Voted off Day 2
14. SpectralSpork: Drazi Ambassador - Killed by Centauri fleet Day 5
15. MadnessBA: Adira Tyree (Centauri) - Killed by White Star Day 8
16. Cantide: Ambassador Londo Mollari (Centauri) - Killed by Vorlon fleet Day 7
17. Lady Eri: Zathras - Voted off Day 1
18. CJTheran: Na'Kal, Commander of the G'Tok (Narn) - Killed by Shadow Vessel Day 8
19. Aegis: Minister Virini (Centauri) - Voted off Day 3
20. Fatal3RR0R: Shadow Vessel - Voted off Day 11
21. dunedainjedi: Captain John Sheridan (Human) - Too inactive to win
22. kime: Alfred Bester, Psi Cop (Human) - Caught in firefight Day 1
23. enlightenedbum: Earth Alliance President Clark - Voted off Day 4
24. Dunadan019: Shadow - Killed by Vorlon fleet Day 12
25. Bremen: Narn Trader - Assassinated Day 1
26. Zandracon: Shadow Vessel - Killed by Vorlon fleet Day 9
27. MacGuffin: Pak'ma'ra Ambassador - Killed by Shadow Vessel Day 6
28. Delmain: Walkers of Sigma-957 - Voted off Day 12
29. sterling3763: Commander Susan Ivanova (Human) - Killed by Shadow remnants Day 12
30. PowerPuppies: Rogue Telepath (Human) - Killed by Narn Heavy Cruiser Day 5
31. Fluffy, Our Beloved Flopsy Bunny Friend: Dr. Stephen Franklin (Human) - Died to save the life of another Day 6
32 JebusUD : Lennier (Minbari Religious Caste) - Killed by Shadow Vessel Day 7
33. Chamberlain: Member of the Kha'Ri (Narn) - Voted off Day 9
34. Cleonicus: Shadow Vessel - Voted off Day 8
35. Faynor: Mr. Morden, Shadow "Ambassador" (Human) - Voted off Day 5
36. Romantic Undead: Drakh - Killed by Vorlon fleet Day 10
37. B:L: Lyta Alexander, Rogue Telepath (Human) - Killed by Shadow Vessel Day 8
38. DasUberEdward: Earth Alliance Trader - Survived
39. [strike]TehSpectre[/strike] warban: Assassin of Thenta Makur (Narn) - Assassinated Day 3
40. Exarch: Ulkesh (Vorlon) - Survived
41. Julius Caezure: Marcus Cole (Human) - Assassinated Day 2
42. iamtheaznman: Minbari (Religious Caste) - Killed by Centauri fleet Day 6
43. gundam470: Ambassador G'Kar (Narn) - Killed by White Star Day 12
44. Cynic Jester: Psi Corps Telepath (Human) - Killed by White Star Day 10
45. samurai6966: Centauri Trader - Voted off Day 7
46. TehSloth: Ranger (Human) - Killed by Shadow Vessel
47. Nion: Security Chief Michael Garibaldi (Human) - Killed by Shadow Vessel Day 7
48. Corbius: Psi Cop (Human) - Voted off Day 6
49. Pixel Blue: Shakiri (Minbari Warrior Caste) - Killed by Narn Heavy Crusier Day 3
50 Nocturne: Brakiri Ambassador - Killed by Vorlon fleet Day 8
51. galenblade: Pierce Macabee, Nightwatch (Human) - Killed by White Star Day 7
52. Smurph: Lord Refa (Centauri) - Killed by Narn heavy cruiser Day 7
53. Maximus: Member of the Kha'Ri (Narn) - Voted off for being an inactive schmuck Day 10
54. Celebrim: Narn Smuggler - Killed by Minbari fleet Day 2
55. Westforde: Minbari (Warrior Caste) - Caught in firefight Day 1
56. WilDPanthA05: Vir Cotto (Centauri) - Killed by Shadow Vessel Day 9
57. [strike]WMain00[/strike] gonmun: Centauri Royal Guard - Survived
58. cj iwakura: Earthforce Captain - Killed by Centauri Fleet Day 3
59. Doxa: Minbari (Worker Caste) - Killed by Shadow Vessel
60. Richy: Na'Toth (Narn) - Killed by Minbari fleet Day 6

Reserves:

[strike]1. warban[/strike]
[strike]2. Wildcat[/strike]
3. Gonmun
...

Background

"The Senate has approved funding to construct on the Babylon Station, located in neutral space between several governments. Together, we stood on the eve of destruction as a result of a terrible, terrible mistake. A mistake which none of us can afford to make again. The Babylon Station is a place to work out our problems peacefully. It is, we believe our last best hope for peace."

â€“ Earth Alliance President Elizabeth Levy, 2248

The last of the Babylon stations, Babylon 5 was constructed ten years after the Earth-Minbari War (which was caused by a violently blundered first contact situation between the humans and Minbari). Its purpose was to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully. For this reason, it was located in neutral space in orbit around Epsilon III. It served as a port and diplomatic outpost for a quarter of a million people, members of various space-faring races in the galaxy.

The prior Babylon stations, Babylon 1-4, were all either destroyed by sabotage or disappeared mysteriously during or shortly after construction.

Babylon 5 maintains artificial gravity by rotating about its central axis, and is split up into various "Sectors". Parts of the station include residential centers for the station's numerous humans and aliens, commercial centers for interstellar trade, docking bays for transport and supply ships as well as Earth Alliance Starfury space based fighters, Medlabs for medical support for both humans and aliens, and restricted areas devoted to diplomatic personnel.

One notable feature on the station is the Babylon 5 Council, which serves somewhat analogously to the UN but with representatives of the governments of the various races instead. The Babylon 5 Advisory Council is composed representatives the 5 most powerful governments on Babylon 5: the Minbari Federation, the Narn Regime, the Centauri Republic, the Earth Alliance, and the Vorlon Empire. Since Babylon 5 is an Earth Alliance station, the commanding officer of Babyon 5 is both the chair of the Council and representative of the Earth Alliance. Also represented on the Council are the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, a confederation of the independent worlds and minor races. Unlike the major powers, the League members do not have individual votes for propositions brought the council, but have a single vote for the League as a whole.

The following contains some not too serious Season 2 spoilers to bring us to the start of the game:

The current commander of Babylon 5 is Captain John Sheridan, and the former commander was Jeffrey Sinclair, who was reassigned to the Minbar recently. Tensions between the Narn Regime and Centauri Republic, sour to begin with have recently boiled over due to conflict over the Centauri agricultural colony Ragesh III and most recently the destruction of a Narn military base in Quadrant 37. Ambassador G'Kar of the Narn Regime has recently relayed that his government has declared war against the Centauri Republic as a result of the attack on Quadrant 37.

Races

Bremen wrote: »

At the time period of Babylon 5, there are 5 major races and approximately 30 minor races (controlling only a few worlds each). The five major powers are, in order of when they discovered spaceflight, the Vorlon Empire, the Minbari Federation, the Centauri Republic, the Earth Alliance, and The Narn Regime.

The Vorlon empire... well, no one knows anything about the Vorlon empire. Any ships entering space they claim are never heard from again. No one has ever seen a living Vorlon. The Vorlon ambassador on Babylon 5 wears a space suit like device called an "Encounter suit" whenever he's in public, and he's still the only Vorlon anyone's ever met in person. The Minbari might know something, but they're only slightly less mysterious than the Vorlons.

The Minbari Federation is an old and extremely advanced race of three hereditary castes (with intermarriage); the worker caste, the warrior caste, and the religious caste. They mostly keep to themselves, but are less militant about it than the Vorlons. When an Earth exploration ship met a Minbari ship, the two ships attempted a peaceful first contact. Unfortunately, when the Minbari scanned the Earth Alliance ship, the scanning device shorted out the Human Hyperdrive, and the Humans thought they were being attacked and destroyed the unsuspecting Minbari ship. This escalated into the Earth/Minbari war and the Earth Alliance got absolutely massacred until, at the final battle for Earth, the Minbari suddenly surrendered, and no one ever figured out why. The Minbari look like hairless humanoids with bony ridges in place of hair; the shape of the bone is based on their caste.

The Centauri Republic were a vibrant, energetic race that quickly expanded into a large area, colonizing and conquering a large number of planets. Lacking any real opposition, though, they eventually grew decadent and stopped expanding, preferring to stay at home holding outlandish parties and drinking lots and lots of alcohol. Now the Centauri Republic is a shell of itself, with its Royal Court mostly bickering among themselves, often using assassins and spies. When a problem or dispute happens on its border, the court often simply turns the planet loose and abandons their claim, no longer caring about anything but their internal little games. The Centauri look pretty much exactly like humans as long as they keep their clothes on.

The Earth Alliance are, well, Humans. Though quite new as spacefaring people, the Earth Alliance have been very expansionist and are quickly becoming a great power in the universe, somewhat like the Centauri Empire at its height. Although the devastation of the Earth/Minbari war (Where the Minbari lost all of two ships to the EA's thousands) shook some patience and caution into the Earth Alliance for a bit, resulting in the construction of the Babylon stations, of late human pride has started to reassert itself and the Earth Alliance is trying to acquire all the advanced technology it can find, borrow, or steal in order to compete with the other races.

The Narn were a preindustrial people until the Centauri took over their planet. Using them as manual labor and household servants, the Centauri horribly exploited them and their planet, leaving it a strip-mined wasteland. As the Centauri empire fell into decadence, the Narn were able to stage a revolution and push the Centauri off their world. Stealing the technology the Centauri left behind, the Narn Regime was established as a spacefaring power and they are now aggressively expansionist, building up their power and making use of the Centauri's internal bickering to keep biting off planets. Though small for a great power, the Narn Regime is constructing a massive military and few doubt their goal is to punish the Centauri for their past wrongs. The Narn are hairless and have a scaly appearance, almost lizardlike, though they are humanoid in shape.

Of late there have been rumors of something else out there; stories of glimpses of strange ships in hyperspace, evidence of activity on old dead worlds, strange visions by seers and telepaths. But never any hard proof.

Those of the minor races who sent ambassadors to Babylon 5 are known collectively as the league of non-aligned worlds, and combined have roughly the power and influence of one of the great powers. A broad variety of races, many not even humanoid, I'm not going to try to describe them all.

Balefuego · July 2009

!sign up

Jason Todd · July 2009

!How many Centauri does it take to screw in a light bulb? Only one. But, in the Grand old days of the Republic, hundreds of servants would change thousands of light bulbs at our slightest whim!

lonelyahava · July 2009

why not....

!signup

Dac Vin · July 2009

!Sign up.

oldmanken · July 2009

!sign up

Oh hell yeah!

lonelyahava · July 2009

Yay!

dac is here!

So, question that will get me burned alive.

Do I have to know anything about the source material?

Balefuego · July 2009

lonelyahava wrote: »

Yay!

dac is here!

So, question that will get me burned alive.

Do I have to know anything about the source material?

There is a hole in your mind.

oldmanken · July 2009

lonelyahava wrote: »

Do I have to know anything about the source material?

What... what are you trying to say here? Is it what I think you're trying to say? o_O

lonelyahava · July 2009

Balefuego wrote: »

lonelyahava wrote: »

Yay!

dac is here!

So, question that will get me burned alive.

Do I have to know anything about the source material?

There is a hole in your mind.

I just haven't gotten around to it. Started BSG first. And then only got through the first season of that. I'll fix the whole eventually.

Kid Presentable · July 2009

!Sign Up please!

Trust · July 2009

Sign Up Please

lonelyahava · July 2009

Dac and Trusty?

Whatever will I do with myself?

ShadowThomas · July 2009

Sign up

Fuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud · July 2009

!only if I can be a cylon

HamHamJ · July 2009

Oh shit sign up

Kid Presentable · July 2009

lonelyahava wrote: »

Dac and Trusty?

Whatever will I do with myself?

Also, me.

lonelyahava · July 2009

Kid Presentable wrote: »

lonelyahava wrote: »

Dac and Trusty?

Whatever will I do with myself?

Also, me.

ummm

Right!

KP Too!!!

(do i know you? :P :P)

Astraphobia · July 2009

!I'll never guess it, he's probably a character from Babylon 5.

godmode · July 2009

!Sign up

For America!

NATIK · July 2009

I will !sign up, because I really like the source material and it's getting to be a long time since my last game.

Kid Presentable · July 2009

lonelyahava wrote: »

Kid Presentable wrote: »

lonelyahava wrote: »

Dac and Trusty?

Whatever will I do with myself?

Also, me.

ummm

Right!

KP Too!!!

(do i know you? :P :P)

No, not really. I might have been in another D&D Phalla with you, maybe. Realistically though, I just wanted some attention. You faked it marvelously by abbreviating my name, as if it were some sort of cute pet name that we developed together. Keep up the good work.

SpectralSpork · July 2009

Sign up!

lonelyahava · July 2009

Kid Presentable wrote: »

lonelyahava wrote: »

Kid Presentable wrote: »

lonelyahava wrote: »

Dac and Trusty?

Whatever will I do with myself?

Also, me.

ummm

Right!

KP Too!!!

(do i know you? :P :P)

No, not really. I might have been in another D&D Phalla with you, maybe. Realistically though, I just wanted some attention. You faked it marvelously by abbreviating my name, as if it were some sort of cute pet name that we developed together. Keep up the good work.

For you, KP, anything!

I can pretend that you are my eternal love, if you want me to?

MadnessBA · July 2009

sign me up!

Kid Presentable · July 2009

lonelyahava wrote: »

Kid Presentable wrote: »

lonelyahava wrote: »

Kid Presentable wrote: »

lonelyahava wrote: »

Dac and Trusty?

Whatever will I do with myself?

Also, me.

ummm

Right!

KP Too!!!

(do i know you? :P :P)

No, not really. I might have been in another D&D Phalla with you, maybe. Realistically though, I just wanted some attention. You faked it marvelously by abbreviating my name, as if it were some sort of cute pet name that we developed together. Keep up the good work.

For you, KP, anything!

I can pretend that you are my eternal love, if you want me to?

At the very least, it might make the game more interesting. Feel free to do that!

lonelyahava · July 2009

Kid Presentable wrote: »

lonelyahava wrote: »

Kid Presentable wrote: »

lonelyahava wrote: »

Kid Presentable wrote: »

lonelyahava wrote: »

Dac and Trusty?

Whatever will I do with myself?

Also, me.

ummm

Right!

KP Too!!!

(do i know you? :P :P)

No, not really. I might have been in another D&D Phalla with you, maybe. Realistically though, I just wanted some attention. You faked it marvelously by abbreviating my name, as if it were some sort of cute pet name that we developed together. Keep up the good work.

For you, KP, anything!

I can pretend that you are my eternal love, if you want me to?

At the very least, it might make the game more interesting. Feel free to do that!