Winners and Losers

[reallymean]

[It's a day or two after the return to Liminal Space that Allura's voice sounds across the Network - long enough for people to regain their bearings, and hopefully long enough for most to realize the effects of the sunflower-floor.]

It seems clear enough which of the Arcana won this round, but is anyone certain who lost? Or, more importantly, which of them is left to play? There can't be more than one or two Jaunts left in this bracket.

[Depending, she's fairly certain, on whether or not the re-admittance of one of the Arcana to their game after Yensid meant an extension of this portion of the competition.]

Comments

[runs]

Do we even know how often a specific Arcana plays each round? Sun has played twice now.

[reallymean]

When was the first time?

[runs]

I'm pretty sure he played in the music jaunt in California, too.

[She was infiltrated both jaunts, and in a dungeon after Showtime, but she thinks that it was him then and now, at least.]

[reallymean]

I'm fairly certain that was actually Justice, given both the aftermath and simple process of elimination.

[runs]

What do you mean about the process of elimination?

[She obviously can't judge the aftermath at all, she wasn't present for that Liminal, so she doesn't even bother to ask.]

[reallymean]

So far, each of the Arcana has played once. There are a limited number who would fit as the Moon's opposite during the festival, and of those, Judgment has been confirmed as one of the ones responsible for our visit to Questing Country, and the winner here is almost certainly the Sun, given both the appearance of this space and the sunlight marking new Travelers before the Jaunt.

It's possible one of them has taken two turns, but it seems very unlikely - though I suppose one of...her? Chosen could confirm whether or not Justice was the one who won the bout with the Moon.

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

It was. The liminal effects were a lesser version of a gift she grants her chosen.

It would not terribly surprise me if Sun could also compel honesty, but Justice offered that ability.

[reallymean]

I wouldn't be surprised if all of them offered one form of compulsion or another.

[runs]

Why do you think that her "chosen" could confirm?

[That's actually more interesting than who played when to her. Can't really be the liminal effects now, can they? Though then she has no idea what gifts Sun grants, considering that she stays as far away from him as possible...]

[reallymean]

Aside from the apparent similarity in effect, they could speak to her.

Although...hmm. There's a thought.

[runs]

You're going to speak to someone now?

[She'd rather stay as far away from the Arcana as possible, personally, but other people talking to them can be useful.]

[reallymean]

Mmm, probably. But not one of the Arcana.

[thornsofmalkav]

I think it might have been Priestess who lost. They like to put their symbolism in the liminals before a Jaunt and that veil around that one was a Priestess kinda thing.

[reallymean]

Honesty versus mystery? I suppose that would be fitting. Again.

[thornsofmalkav]

For all that the bad guys got away, we did find out who they were.

[reallymean]

Which isn't the worst outcome for the people of that world, but it's hardly ideal.

[rustyhonesty]

I'm pretty sure at least Empress and Magician are left in the roster.

Lovers, too, if they need to compete again after re-entering.

[reallymean]

Which means at least one more Jaunt in this stage, perhaps two.

We need to be more careful. Too many Jaunts seem to have been won for one side or another entirely by accident.

[rustyhonesty]

I suppose reading the Liminal Spaces has gotten harder. Especially with the Arcana who like to keep to themselves.

[reallymean]

It's possible. Or we're getting less inclined to discuss who might be playing.

[rustyhonesty]

No one really wants to start the conversation, since there's no way we can come to a mutual agreement on who should win.

[reallymean]

Maybe not the overall contest. But on a per-Jaunt basis, at least, it would be better than continuing to swing blindly.

[rustyhonesty]

I can see even that ending up badly, considering how some of us may want to push for their patron to win, depending on what the Arcana have talked with them about.

Though, it's not like we can affect anything if we fear conflict.

[reallymean]

No, we can't.

And refusing to discuss it will only make the conflict worse when avoidance ceases to be an option. Our options - assuming those so inclined can't find a way around one of the Arcana triumphing over all the rest - have already been cut nearly in half.

[rustyhonesty]

That's true. We're slowly running out of options and sooner or later we'll have two that aren't either worth the prize. Possibly even the last pair, if we don't do something.

[awitchdidit]

I'm fairly positive my patroness hasn't played yet in this round, for what that's worth. Magician playing near the end is an irony of some sort, but then, the Arcana don't view time or perhaps even causality in the same way we do.

[reallymean]

They don't seem to be playing in any order at all, unless the books in the library are completely misleading.

[thornsofmalkav]

My theory is they RNG'd it.

[reallymean]

They do what to it?

[She's not familiar with the acronym. At least, she thinks it's an acronym; it could just as easily be an Earth word that's slipped through translation somehow.]

[awitchdidit]

Random Number Generator. Determining order by chance, which would fit with Fortuna's influence on the game and the enormous roulette wheel that appears to have been her contribution to its organization.

I've done the same thing with many magical rituals in the past: adding an extra facet of chance and risk can increase the potential benefits of almost anything magical.

[thornsofmalkav]

I wouldn't be surprised if they went to her old place to draw the brackets up. It looks like that's where they hold group meetings.

[awitchdidit]

I can actually show you myself nodding seriously at that now. See?

[Image Projection, woo.]

It's one of those things I like about the Arcana. They're as morbidly appropriate as I am.

[reallymean]

Ah. I'm familiar with the concept, then, just not that particular term.

[Interplanetary adventures in communication.]

It's interesting - even if the order has been determined through chance, the matches themselves seem as though they must have been designed with the resolution of particular thematic conflicts in mind.

[awitchdidit]

Any given Arcanum can find opposition with any other if you try hard enough, and I assume the multiverse provides an infinite number of conflicts, large and small. It's a matter of any given pair of Arcana finding the right one to have a duel over.

[reallymean]

And yet they've had secrecy versus blatancy twice. And isolation versus integration twice as well, if I'm not misreading the accounts of that haunted island. Possibly three times, depending on how you look at the events in Questing Country - I wasn't involved enough in the situation with the Harbingers to say either way.

[awitchdidit]

Questing Country was complicated a great deal by the Arcana as a group engaging in a side project of sorts. I wasn't a big fan of them playing multiple games, but given how very Liminal Questing Country is, I'm not surprised.

I suppose you can think of every Arcanum encompassing a variety of archetypes, some of which they hold in common with each other. Moon and Priestess, for example, both deal with "secrecy" and "obfuscation" in their respective archetypes. Some of these common points are easier to frame a conflict or contest around than others, hence the repetitions.

[reallymean]

I suppose it might be that simple. We're unlikely to get a straight answer from our patrons either way, more's the pity.

[awitchdidit]

Personally, I enjoy being handed a puzzle every time I ask a question, but I understand I have strange tastes.