It was founded by three guys. I'd imagine it'd be silly for them to not be in the game from the get-go.

They probably don't have recruiting power, but I'd put my money on them still being out there. Interestingly, Casilu brought up that Zhang Liang could attack his enemies with rocks (as was done to Ssaliss), according to Wikipedia. Given that she's the cult leader, this might have been distraction, but the logic seems to follow for me. Thoughts?

Another thing. "All three died in 184 CE." I think Vendetta mentioned that she thought that the scum faction would change if we got rid of the cult. This...seems to backed up by history, at least. We have to kill them in this year for the game to move forward.

As far as I have been able to judge from wikipedia and TvTropes, only Zhang Jue (or Jiao) appeared as a general in the game. Whether that really means anything is unsure, however.

Can't say anything about the other games, but in RTK XI, both Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang exist as generals.

Ok, I'm back and have decided I'm going to go ahead and ORDER ARMY TO ATTACK ARIX. I'm useless with names but I think he is the Yellow Turban guy who could pray for rockslides whose name was being thrown around earlier.


This, so shortly after the rock slide at game's opening, read to me like he was looking for confirmation on what exactly his ability did.


And this seems like he's trying to train the cross-hairs on the person who killed his cult leader.

(Usual first game disclaimer, etc.)

Hmm. The first of your points (regarding people alive/dead) is just natural, if you ask me. We all have an interest in knowing who is in the game. Regarding the second... Meh. I've never been good at reading people.

I reckon that was just Arix being Arix.

@Rika: Easily could be, since I don't know him at all.

The alive/dead request is just not something that I thought would be of consequence until someone actually died. And my use of the follow up quote was obviously influenced by earlier suspicion.

All that said, no one else is really standing out to me, so if I have to vote for someone, it will be staying where it is unless new info comes to light.

I asked for the list because I had no idea who the hell was in the game besides a few names. I asked wtf happened to Casilu because I was away from the forums and came back to 'oh btw, Casilu is out of the game', and the message looked ambiguous

Ah, well if the list of players was only edited in after game start, then ok that changes things. When I first checked thread it was already there. Back to square one so!

ORDER ARMY TO WITHDRAW ARIX

Or WITHDRAW FORCES FROM ARIX to be more correct I guess.

As it is the weekend, I will be away from the computer until much later this evening.

Okay, since activity are dying...

I'm going to vote Rika, for posting this.



Not only did the opening post almost explicity say that there was a scum team, but we had already talked about it before.



And then she does this hasty retreat when called on it. It's pretty clear from our win condition that there is a scum team. Even if she had misread the opening post, she would have known it already from her role PM, -if- she was town.

ORDER ARMY TO ATTACK RIKA

I said I misunderstood what the subversive forces trying to take down/threats to the sanctity of the Han meant.

Ehh. I recall you said you were playing HoN, but it also feels like you're not following posts too closely.

The possibility of other Yellow Turban generals was brought up. I don't think it's outrageous to consider that another cult member might have inherited Casilu's brainwashing ability. But it really depends on which scum group was designed to be a bigger threat.

Not going to buy it, since the town win condition specifically separates faction-war and threats to the sanctity of Han.

After Casilu died, but before her powers were revealed, I said that Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao are probably in the game and are part of the same faction. However upon finding out that she had cult leader powers, I find it slightly less likely that they are in the game. Even if they were part of the same faction, I don't think they would inherit the cult leader power, as that would just be insanely overpowered. Note that Zhang Jiao's role did not mention being able to communicate with or being aligned with any other people, at least not until she had brainwashed somebody.

It's entirely possible that the bit about communicating wasn't included so that we wouldn't know the exact number of Yellow Turbans at the start of the game. Having never encountered a cult before, I don't know what the norm is, but I think that the other two are in the game and in the Yellow Turbans. As for them inheriting his powers... I agree with you there. Them suddenly being able to brainwash people to join the cult would likely be a bit too much.

This is what I found in the wiki relating to the powers of the three (all taken from Wikipedia):

Zhang Jiao apparently received a book in three volumes (not sure if the number of volumes have any relevance) that, when mastered, would let him "represent the heavens in spreading this knowledge, and thereby save all of mankind". It also mentions him being able to summon the wind and the rain. This, to me, sounds a whole lot like the brainwashing power (at least the first bit about spreading knowledge), supporting the idea that they wouldn't be able to bring others into their folds.

Zhang Bao was depicted as a sorcerer and was able to summon a thunderstorm, which created an apparition of an army of dark warriors. This could be something along the lines of a powerblock, perhaps, or nightkill immunity. We've seen nothing like this so far though.

Zhang Liang does not, as far as I can see, hold any magical powers. However, quoting Wikipedia, "it is said that he went to the altar, and caused a rock attack against imperial forces". That sounds a whole lot like what happened to me, as has been mentioned earlier. Unknown effects so far, but my guess is that it makes you susceptible to a duel. Another idea (can't remember whose) is that it lowers the number of votes needed to kill.

So... in closing: Yes, I think all three were in the game from the start. No, I don't think they are able to bring others in anymore.

A cult that started with three members would be stupefyingly, game-breakingly strong.

Not if there was a limit of 3 members total, ever (much like the Ronin game a while back).

Or, rather, 3 members at any one time.

Or four members. The idea's the same, though.