Survivor: Surviving the Minor Works

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

Chryssy isn't a real dragon... ~Ang

Out of all of Tolkien's dragons, he's the only one that made it to the end of the story. ~Kuru

And therefore a real survivor.

++ Chrysophylax

[Diamond18]

Yes, Sauce, they're retractable.

[Anguirel]

Wait! Everyone! Reconsider! You're about to openly vote for the favourite of the Moddess!

Now, some time ago Smaug won this game. He has the Dragon-power factor. He destroyed a Dwarven kingdom, gained a priceless and bewitching hoard, talks in riddles, and dies in an iconic confrontation with an epic hero.

The last especially is a vital prerequisite for a proper dragon.

Chryssy is a parody of a dragon, up against a parody of a hero. He eludes death, causes no serious damage, and is part of no noble, dramatic tragidy, but a burlesque comedy. His name is cod-Greek, not Nordic and scary.

There is another choice, my friends!

The Faerie King! The King in the Wood!

One of the most spinechilling and haunting images of folklore. The Erlkonig, Oberon, Herne the Hunter, William Rufus. The Rider of the Wild Hunt!

His disguise as a Prentice only emphasises his power. The King is no goody-two-shoes or mysterious cook; but these are his guises. His actual power is very real and terrible. He's the dark side of Faerie!

And yes, Celeborn and Thranduil are variants on him, taking different aspects.

No King has won Survivor yet. But I think this is a very opportune moment to break the trend, rather than voting for a second, inferior, Dragon.

[Formendacil]

Face it, Anguirel... Most Tolkien fans think dragons are cool. Most Tolkien fans AREN'T necessarily King-fans. You are, I can be, and the Phantom seems to be... but the majority are in it for the Frodos, not the Fëanors.

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by D18

Yes, Sauce, they're retractable.

Thanks. Just checking.

All in all, I am not disappointed with the three finalists. Each are secondary characters in their tales and it is fitting that they should be given the opportunity to shine rather than their title counterparts. But which is most worthy of the title of Minor Works Survivor?

Alf the Prentice, the Faerie King: Not my personal choice, but I respect anyone capable of ruling over the chaotic and perilous realm that was Faerie. Ang's comparison of him with Celeborn strikes a chord with me, but for the wrong reasons I'm afraid. Like Celeborn he was bland and characterless, and like Celeborn he was given the run around by his more interesting wife. But even Celeborn was a more impressive chap than this fellow. The comparison with Thranduil is apt, I suppose, but whoever saw Thranduil as a worthy Survivor winner?

Goldberry: Tuor makes a good point that she must have had the patience of a saint to put up with old Tom's foolery. But she was forcibly captured by a faintly ridiculous engima in a blue coat, yellow boots and a feather in his cap, which does not speak well of her as a worthy Survivor winner. Either that or she surrendered willingly to him, in which case she only has herself to blame.

Chrysophlax Dives: Now here we surely have a worthy winner. Not a real Dragon you say, Ang? I rather disagree. He was just as capable of vanquishing knights, distressing damsels and terrorising villages as the next Dragon. What marks him out from the others is that he was astute and pragmatic enough to realise that flying about in a hissy fit, bellowing smoke and breathing flames, was not always the appropriate thing to do. Perhaps not your steroetypical Dragon, but a real enough one nonetheless, and smarter than your average specimen. The thinking man's Dragon, no less. A true Survivor, and so worthy of the title.

+ + CHRYSOPHLAX DIVES

Originally Posted by Ang

Wait! Everyone! Reconsider! You're about to openly vote for the favourite of the Moddess!

Maybe so, but he also happens to be my favourite. And besides, us Entish Bow types should stick together.

[Anguirel]

Glory supporter...

And "whoever saw Thranduil as a worthy Survivor winner?"

Think, Sauce, do you really have to ask that question? The answer is quite obvious, and it's talking to you now...

[Diamond18]

Winner:
CHRYSOPHYLAX DIVES -- 7 votes

Second place runner-up:
Goldberry -- 2 votes

Third place runner-up:
Alf the Prentice, King of Faerie -- 1 vote

All hale the champeeeeeeeeeeeen! Chrysophylax Dives, pragmatic dragon, true survivor, super cool REB character, and moddess favorite!



Goldberry and Alf are awarded by not being eaten, brutilized, humiliated, or otherwise maimed.

Thanks to all who participated over the last 40 or so days. It was great fun for me, and I hope for all of you.

I was going to write something more elaborate for the ending but I've had a certain WW game taking up my mental energies, so... yeah.

[Kuruharan]

And the Alliance of Ultra-DOOM has its revenge!!!

Boo-YAA!!!

[Anguirel]

I still won my private game and very narrowly managed to post the most...

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Anguirel

I still won my private game and very narrowly managed to post the most...

Pah! You were anti-Chrysophylax! "Won your private game" indeed. Sounds like rhetoric to make us think that you aren't downright furious about him winning, and ready to kill us all with very messy and bloody deaths.



I, on the other hand, am basking in the sweet glow of victory... Chysophylax making the finals was very much one of my hopes (newbies, take note that I never once mentioned him or anything to do with him negatively or positively thus far). And a worthy winner he is!

Kudos to Diamond for excellent modding! The game started out a little slow, but it built towards a fine finale, and was tons of fun.

The Mega-Survivor is next, right?

[Anguirel]

Aha. Yes. Now who are we going to persuade to mod it?

Alright. Revelation time. All Survivor Mods convened in a Guild and decided that we'd have a final season of Mega-Survivor.

Mega-Survivor will have thirty contestants-the top and bottom three from every game played so far.

If you're interested in modding it, please apply to this thread. The Signoria dei Moderatori will then select the most suitable candidate.

[Formendacil]

We are, of course, reserving the right to turn down any and all candidates on whatsoever grounds we desire.

Of course, that's highly unlikely to happen, seeing as that would mean Moderation by Commitee, and that would be truly a nightmare. *Formendacil has had troubles of late regarding commitees, and would assign them to Mordor were he not so lazy. Fortunately, they're probably already there*

Hmm... we're not going to have any duplication of candidates from one game or another, I hope? I mean, Elrond's all very nice and all, but I hope he doesn't have two shots at the crown.

~Michael A. Joosten - Survivor Moderator Emeritus~

[Diamond18]

This is the roster, which I copied from a PM from Ang and added the appropriate MW peeps:


From LOTR

Merry
Gimli
Hama
The Witch-King
Gandalf
Arwen

From Silmarillion

Maglor
Sauron
Elbereth
Osse
Manwe
Ingwe

From Hobbit

Smaug
The Bullroarer
Gloin
Durin
Ori
Bofur

From Second Age

Tar-Miriel
Celebrimbor
Celebrian
Thorondor
Tar-Aldarion
Ar-Pharazon

From Minor Works

Chrysophylax Dives
Goldberry
Alf the Prentice, King of Faerie
Perry-the-Winkle
Princess Pam
Tom Bombadil

[Diamond18]

Originally Posted by Anguirel

I still won my private game and very narrowly managed to post the most...

Posting the most is a worthy aim. And what exactly is the private game?

[Anguirel]

Oh sorry, that was it. And let me tell you it was tricky! I managed to outstrip you, Diamond, only to face competition from Sauce...

[tom bombariffic]

I'd like to do it but can't really, as I'll be away for a couple of days in about 2 weeks' time, which would be slap in the middle of the game period.

I've got quite a nice idea of how to organise voting though - vote for a character from each of the first 3 games one day, and the last 2 games the next (so you have 5 candidates, one from each game). On the 3rd day, vote for who you want out of those 5, and the bottom 3 leave. At this last stage, each member could have 2 votes to assign as they please (both to one character, or 1 x two different characters), meaning you can choose to campaign against one character, or spread the vote out. Makes tactical voting to save one character easier too. And hopefully will keep all the groups in it, at least for a while.

On this basis you'd get down to the last 9 characters after 21 days, after which the game could proceed as normal for the finale.

just an idea.

bombariffic

[The Saucepan Man]

Hurrah!

I would have been happy with Giles or Garm winning, but Chrys was my favoured candidate right from the outset.

Originally Posted by Ang

Glory supporter...

Hardly. It would not have been difficult to decipher from my comments on this thread that I wanted a contestant from Farmer Giles of Ham to win. Nor would it have been difficult to work out from my general approach to these games exactly which contestant that would be.

Still, my main objective throughout much of the game was to eliminate Smith and that was successfully accomplished, albeit a little later than I would have liked.

Originally Posted by Kuru

And the Alliance of Ultra-DOOM has its revenge!!!

Quite So.

Originally Posted by Ang

Oh sorry, that was it. And let me tell you it was tricky! I managed to outstrip you, Diamond, only to face competition from Sauce...

Er, given that no one was aware of this little private competition of yours, it was hardly a challenge for you ...

Hmm. Had I known that the first three evictees in each game would be eligible for Mega-Survivor, I might have made some different choices in the opening stages of each. Still, there are some welcome returns there. And also some favoured candidates for early eviction ...

Nice to see that Elrond hasn't made the grade. I had thought him a runner up in one of the shows. He had enough shots at it.

I'd love to mod, but I am afraid that I really would be unable to spare the time. A suggestion, though. I wonder if there is any way of working tasks into the game, as in the real Survivor. As part of the contest I mean, rather than simply as spurious voting rationale.

[Anguirel]

Calm down Sauce, I must have my little solace...

Interesting how well the Dwarves have done due to the culling in the Hobbit! Talk about long-term gain!

[Tuor of Gondolin]

A suggestion:

At some time in the distant future it might be
interesting to have an all-orc Survivor. There
are a surprising number of orc/goblin
candidates, most named. Although the
island would probably be in a terrible state
after the contest. (As PJ might say: "Looks
like meats back on the table, boys.")

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Diamond18

Ah ha! Di came up with this game just so she could use that way cool dragon smiley!

Originally Posted by Formendacil

We are, of course, reserving the right to turn down any and all candidates on whatsoever grounds we desire.

Of course, that's highly unlikely to happen, seeing as that would mean Moderation by Commitee, and that would be truly a nightmare. *Formendacil has had troubles of late regarding commitees, and would assign them to Mordor were he not so lazy. Fortunately, they're probably already there.

Fortunately, Eru so loved Middle-earth that he sent not a committee but a wizard.

Cheers, all.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

As so often happens, having more time to vote means I also had more time to forget to vote. Sorry - though my vote wouldn't have changed the outcome significantly anyway...

[littlemanpoet]

I've been stewing and brewing on a Survivor game of a completely different nature, more along the lines of reward challenges and immunities, and all that stuff, with 16 BD members fighting it out for the right to receive the big pot at the end of the game: reps from 50 volunteers. The challenges could be stuff like: "find three posts in Books in which Bethberry and davem agree; first member to report them wins the reward." and so forth..... Yeah, I know the 50 volunteers all repping one individual at once might skew the rep system, but heck it was an idea.

[Lhunardawen]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

I've been stewing and brewing on a Survivor game of a completely different nature, more along the lines of reward challenges and immunities, and all that stuff, with 16 BD members fighting it out for the right to receive the big pot at the end of the game: reps from 50 volunteers. The challenges could be stuff like: "find three posts in Books in which Bethberry and davem agree; first member to report them wins the reward." and so forth..... Yeah, I know the 50 volunteers all repping one individual at once might skew the rep system, but heck it was an idea.

A fantastic one, Elempi, but it's too much of a, ehem, good thing...

Nilp once wanted to mod Survivor: The Ignored, but I don't know if he's still up to it. Seems like he'll have to abandon the idea, anyway.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

The challenges could be stuff like: "find three posts in Books in which Bethberry and davem agree; first member to report them wins the reward." and so forth.....

Is this a desperate attempt to increase the traffic in Books? Truly, you must be a sadist, LMP, really. And you think the rest of us are masochists. Or, you think we have too much time on our hands. Oh, wait, don't answer that one!

OR: What Lhunardawen said!

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Elempi, tasks shouldn't be impossible! The moderator of Books doesn't think there are three posts in which those two particular members agree...

[Formendacil]

Well, other than potential Moderatorly problems, I see no reason why LMP couldn't run his Survivor concurrently with the more tradition kind. His Survivor is more of a BARROW-DOWNS survivor, as opposed to this tradition which is more of a MIDDLE-EARTH Survivor. A fine distinction, but an important one, like the difference between "Your LotR Dream" and "Barrow-Downs Dreams".

Personally, I'd find LMP's idea to be hard, because of the effort involved. The real charm, to my way of thinking, regarding these Survivor games, is the lack of effort involved. One doesn't have to post a lot, have reasoning that requires a great deal of thought, or even commit to every day. You can pop in and out, you can be silly, you can have fun. Really, a no-effort game (except for the Mod, but he/she is a special case).

[Diamond18]

Well, it seems that so far we have zero (0) people wanting to mod Mega-Survivor. I think you should just do it, Ang, since it is your brainchild, and all.

As to the Barrow-Downs Survivor, it's quite the idea. I'm not sure I'd really be up for it, though, for much the same reason as Form outlines above. Also, I'm not sure any amount of rep points would be incentive enough for me to comb over davem's posts.

Or... if neither of these seems to get off the ground, maybe Tuor wants to try out his Orc game...?

[The 1,000 Reader]

I could mod (or at least help mod) Mega-Survivor. I'm not for the BD Survivor though.

(What the heck? When I looked at this post yesterday I clearly remember the word not was in it. what happened?)

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Diamond18

Well, it seems that so far we have zero (0) people wanting to mod Mega-Survivor. I think you should just do it, Ang, since it is your brainchild, and all.

As to the Barrow-Downs Survivor, it's quite the idea. I'm not sure I'd really be up for it, though, for much the same reason as Form outlines above. Also, I'm not sure any amount of rep points would be incentive enough for me to comb over davem's posts.

Or... if neither of these seems to get off the ground, maybe Tuor wants to try out his Orc game...?

If we willing to reuse an old mod- and Ang DOESN'T want the helm, I'm willing to do a second round- or at least the vote counting, lynching (er... voting off posts), and day iniating... but I'll leave setting up the rules to the "committee". Probably the best in light of the past.

We should, in my opinion, do the Mega-Survivor prior to the next (Ork?) incarnation. Because otherwise we'd have to incorporate the winners/losers into the Mega-Survivor, and it's at a nice size right now...

[Bêthberry]

I'd be interested in playing a Mega-Survivor game or an Orc game, but that Barrow Downs game just sounds to me like too much work. And I've never been a rep-hog anyway. I agree with Formy (Does anyone have any idea how many times I initially type out that nick as 'Foamy'? ) that the fun point of these survivor games are their ease. Yeah, definitely put me 'down' for games lite.

Oh, and, yeah, about modding it:

VOTE FOR ANG + +

[Bêthberry]

By the way, I can't resist posting this little snippet about Garm, that I found in one of davem's links to Norse mythology:

Originally Posted by old Norse gods

Tyr would fight Garm, the hound of Hel at Ragnarok.

The link: Tyr, old Norse gods

And we all thought he was just a widdle old Gram-ma.

[Anguirel]

I feel not unlike Raymond of Toulouse when offered the crown of Jerusalem.

Ahem. If I'm to do it, you'll have to wait for a sec for it to get started. Till at least Jun 10th when my exams are over...

I'm still hoping a volunteer will jump into the breach. I think for instance that Kuru would make a brilliant mod, and, were she not far too good for it, I'd suggest Lalaith in the quiver of an eyelash.

[Diamond18]

Have you considered PM'ing them with your proposition?

[The 1,000 Reader]

I'll help you if you need it. Mega-Survivor sounds interesting, at least more interesting than BD Survivor.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by The 1,000 Reader

I'll help you if you need it. Mega-Survivor sounds interesting, at least more interesting than BD Survivor.

Well, in case you, or any other potential mods are wondering what this entails... it's simple: you have to be on every day (or as close thereto as you may), at approximately the same time, to count all the votes, post who's being evicted, and preferably write up something short and funny about that eviction (this last is optional). The list of candidates, the rules, and all other formal arrangment will be provided by the College of Moderators Emeritus, unless they should choose to delegate that authority to their approved Mod.

It's work, don't let the apparent easiness of the job fool you there. It's not HARD work. Such hardness as I had when I did it was my own silly doing. But it is a regular commitment- day in and day out. And you need a level head on your shoulders and as great a lack of partiality as you can contrive.

[The 1,000 Reader]

So basically I just show up to work everyday and tally votes, refusing bad reasons?

[Diamond18]

The refusing bad reasons part is optional. I didn't use it in this game, and boy were some of the reasons baaaaad.

[Tuor of Gondolin]

Bethberry

I'd be interested in playing a Mega-Survivor game or an Orc game, but that Barrow Downs game just sounds to me like too much work. And I've never been a rep-hog anyway. I agree with Formy (Does anyone have any idea how many times I initially type out that nick as 'Foamy'? ) that the fun point of these survivor games are their ease. Yeah, definitely put me 'down' for games lite.

Ditto. (It's not that I'm lazy, it's just that I don't want to do the work).

Although BD Survivor does sound challenging.

[Lalaith]

were she not far too good for it, I'd suggest Lalaith in the quiver of an eyelash.

Why, what a nice thing to say. Was it my superior morals you were referring to, dear boy, or my technical merit?
Actually I'd feel a bit out of my depth starting the game off on my own but I'll happily be a back-up mod if I'm needed. Waiting for your exams to finish is no problem for me, at least.

[Anguirel]

Superior morals. Wouldn't want them besmirched by the sordid business of moderation!

Though I must admit I'd give quite a lot to see you run a Werewolf game...but I suspect you'll take some persuading...