GTW 38

The War Between the States

_

It's been six months since the bombs fell.

We weren't expecting the first attack to come from within, but it did— and the results were devastating. Washington, D.C. was the first target. New York was next. Over 30 more U.S. States were destroyed in an instant.

From those places that could still gain Internet links, we heard worse news. The other major superpowers— China, India, even the aging Russia— were experiencing similar crises, torn apart from within by their own missiles.
It was a few weeks later that we found out the cause.

A new world power had emerged, or so said the voices on the radio, and TV, broadcast from who knew where. They said they'd cleaned the world of the corruption of our nations. They said they'd build a new order. They said the war was already over. They said it was time to accept the fate of our world.
Instead, we're fighting back.

The U.S. Government, what's left of it, moved across the country. We're now in a bunker, somewhere in Washington— the state, that is. Exactly where is a secret.
There's about 5 or 6 other states that still have the infrastructure to fight. They're also different in another way: Each state had their own set of nukes, hidden away, just in case.

There's only one problem: Someone's trying to wipe us all out.
And, like before, it's coming from within._

~

Welcome to Global Thermonuclear War 38: The War Between the States! You are all members of the few remaining states of the U.S., trying to track down the traitor among you.

The following roles are in the game:

Innocent x4 ~ An ordinary state. Has nukes. Paranoid. Having the rest of your country reduced to slag'll do that to you.

Defender x1 ~ You own a missile-defense system, and can protect people! However, if your chosen protection target takes a direct hit, you cannot protect them from any further ones on following days. (The defense system protects a target from both the day vote and the action(s) of the traitors.)

Traitor x1 ~ You, on the other hand, desire nothing more than to discover the secret location of the New States Government.

An important note: As we have 6 players and only 1 traitor, the balance of play is a bit lopsided in favor of the innocents. Thus, the following rule is in effect:

If the Traitor receives the majority of the vote on Day One, he will be shielded from the hit. This only applies to Day One, and not any later days. The shielding, if triggered, will appear as though it was a regular defense by the defender. If someone is protected on Day One, it's up to you to figure out what happened.

Rounds last 48 hours, closing at midnight PDT. Role assignments are random. Ties will be settled by coin flip.

~

_In a deep bunker, the man behind the desk checked that all the screens were working properly. Nuclear blasts would ruin any electronic equipment they were let near. They'd ruin the users too, but that was incidental. Fortunately, plain old copper wire still worked— and there was enough of it left for unsteady links to remain.

The sixth screen flickered, video appearing with a slight dusting of static.
Faces appeared on all of them, people in sober clothing in bunkers halfway around the continent.

"Can you hear me?" said mrxak , as the static faded. Maine had escaped the devastation just by its location. Alaska and Hawaii had also been untouched, but from what reports there were, they had been taken over already.
The man in the Washington bunker nodded. "I can. Is everyone else's audio working?"

Mackilroy nodded, tapping the microphone as a check. Deep beneath the deserts of New Mexico , what had started as a group of 'crazy conspiracy theorists' had turned out to be a group of far-sighted individuals when the bombs fell. "We're doing fine here, for now."

There was silence from retep998 , who held up a sign. 'NO AUDIO— WE ARE WORKING ON IT.' Wyoming had somehow missed the devastation completely. retep998 was one of the few people who actually transmitted from somewhere with natural light. The screen showed a forest.
Of course, where in Wyoming was a well-kept secret.

prophile cleared his throat. For some strange reason, he was surrounded by animals. The man in Washington looked at him balefully, just as a parrot flew onto his shoulder.
" Rhode Island never had any famous pirates," the man said.
prophile shrugged. "We've had to keep the surviving animals somewhere. They won't be any trouble."

The man in the suit nodded, and turned to jrsh92. jrsh's feed was more staticky, and the camera was still being aimed. However, he said, "I can hear you; you can hear me, right?" when prompted. Georgia hadn't been as lucky, and only the extreme depth of jrsh's bunker was protecting him. Signals were always a little difficult traveling there, though.
The man nodded. "We hear you."

That left Crow T. Robot. The representative for Michigan cleared his throat. "I'm ready."

The man nodded. "We have a problem," he said. "One of you is a traitor. We will hold sessions of elimination to find who. Those ousted will be nuked." He paused, to take a breath. "I understand this sounds severe, but we lost contact with JacaByte this morning. If we do not find this traitor, it's likely we'll all die. One, by one."
The man folded his hands, indicating a moment of silence. The state of Virginia would be missed. One more patch of land turned to glass. One more shot at fighting back, eliminated.

The man spread his hands. The silent moment was over.
"Gentlemen," he said, "begin."_

Dirigo!

The Pine Tree State would like to object to the early start to this thing. Yeah, we said we would be ready on Monday, but not 5 AM on Monday! Also, we're a high tech state with extensive destroyer and nuclear submarine building facilities, and we are insulted at not being targeted for nuclear destruction.

As clearly this was an attack that came from within our own military, let us point the blame where blame belongs, the traitors in the Naval War College in the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Surely they must have infiltrated the state government by now.

As Maine goes, so goes the nation. Vote for prophile , and when our nukes bounce off his shields, nuke him again unto death.

I shall start off by voting for mrxak because he is evil in 9/10 games (yes, that's hyperbole).

On behalf of the people of the Michigan, we agree with our friends from Maine that there is a possibility that the terrorists were based out of Rhode Island and thus will vote for prophile.

Gestures wildly trying to make the others understand who he's voting for

@retep998, on 19 June 2012 - 04:39 AM, said in GTW 38:

Gestures wildly trying to make the others understand who he's voting for

The audio thing was merely flavor text, I assure you. Speak as you please.

I'm agreed with New Mexico, mrxak has to go.

Although the round nominally ends in around 7 hours, I'm tempted to wait until jrsh92 shows up, or at least makes some sign of his presence.

EDIT:

Here's my decision: The round will end:

• At midnight tonight, if jrsh92 and retep998 have voted, (too late for that)
• After midnight tonight, when jrsh92 and retep998 vote,
OR • At midnight tomorrow night (about 29 hours from now),

whichever comes first.

This post has been edited by SoItBegins : 20 June 2012 - 05:32 AM

Testing, testing, can anyone here me?
Looks at the others and notices they're all asleep, except for one gamer. He gives Retep998 a thumbs up.
Alright, now that we've got audio in order...
*Grabs a piece of paper and scribbles "I vote for mrxak ", and sticks it up in front of the camera."

prophile, because bandwagoning only ONE person at a time would be silly

This post has been edited by jrsh92 : 20 June 2012 - 07:07 AM

If I'm killed, and when it turns out I'm innocent, you need to vote out retep998 next. Saying this now in case SoItBegins ends the game early.

So, are we at a deadlock vote then?

No, three votes for mrxak and two for prophile.

@mackilroy, on 20 June 2012 - 10:37 AM, said in GTW 38:

No, three votes for mrxak and two for prophile.

It depends upon whether or not you count jrsh92's un-bolded vote. I guess it's up to the discretion of the host.
jrsh92, if you're there, please bold your vote so we know who you're voting for.

@retep998, on 20 June 2012 - 12:05 PM, said in GTW 38:

It depends upon whether or not you count jrsh92's un-bolded vote. I guess it's up to the discretion of the host.
jrsh92, if you're there, please bold your vote so we know who you're voting for.

That was the premise I was going under.

I'll count it. Round ends early. jrsh92, please bold your votes in future.

_"Have you reached a decision?" the man in Washington asked.

"We have," came two separate sets of voices. "We choose to nuke—"
"—prophile!" from three monitors. At the same time, "mrxak!" came from three others.

There was a pause.
The man at the center of all screens said, "You're sure?"
Affirmation from every screen. The man shrugged. "We'll have to settle this the old-fashioned way."
From somewhere, he took out a large coin. Light glinted off the polar bear on the underside. Canada had somehow been spared, and its currency was a perfect medium of exchange— if you managed to get past the now-closed border.

"Here is how it will be. Heads— prophile. Tails— mrxak."
He tossed the coin. It flashed in the dim lighting, fell to the desk, bounced, and lay still. The head of the queen faced upwards.

" prophile , you are to be nuked on suspicion of being our traitor." An aide set missile coordinates for Rhode Island.

The man pushed the button, and nuclear missiles slid out of their silos somewhere in Washington, flying across the country. Their warheads armed, ready to reduce another state into slag.
As they approached Rhode Island, though, something went wrong.
For a few seconds, a set of hidden pylons around Rhode Island's edge projected a field, thick as a sphere of water. The missiles smashed into the field, were trapped, and consumed.

"Sir!" the aide said to the man in the bunker. "An experimental missile defense system has been activated! prophile's state has survived!"

The man didn't reply. He was watching the map.
"Sir?"
Then, the aide saw what he was looking at. From an undiscernable location, the traitor had launched missiles of their own. The rockets arced towards the state of New Mexico— and this time, no defense system stopped them.
Mackilroy's video feed showed a giant flash of white— then, only static.

The man in Washington sighed. "Hmm. We can put the coin away, at the least." He spoke to the remaining five states.
"You have all seen what has just happened. Choose wisely."_

Result

prophile ~ mrxak, Crow T. Robot, jrsh92
mrxak ~ Mackilroy, prophile, retep998

Coin toss via random.org chooses prophile.

Vote against prophile blocked by defense system.
Traitor attacks Mackilroy. Mackilroy was innocent.

Roster:

mrxak
Crow T. Robot
prophile
retep998
jrsh92

Round ends in about 60 hours (48 hours plus time until midnight)

This post has been edited by SoItBegins : 20 June 2012 - 02:21 PM

@mrxak, on 18 June 2012 - 05:41 AM, said in GTW 38:

As Maine goes, so goes the nation. Vote for prophile , and when our nukes bounce off his shields, nuke him again unto death.

The great state of Maine again votes prophile. We shall nuke him again as promised, unto death.

So either prophile IS the traitor, or the guy with defense missiles defended him.
Please, if you were a defender and you defended him, let us know somehow so we don't suspect prophile.
Otherwise, he must be guilty.
So, until further notice, I am voting for prophile.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again. Let's go nuke prophile.

With my last breath I blame Zoidberg!