[S/Lay w/Me] Introducing the Lover

[Mauro]

Hi Ron!

While playing with Meme we had a doubt: on his first Go, "I" "must introduce the Lover"; the Lover must be described, also if maybe it's not obvious who (s)he is (like "A mob of people is in the jail"), or can be in the scene, but undescribed?
This was first Go in my game with Meme: "The battlefield is covered by corpses as far as the eye can see, warriors piled up in hills of corpses, lakes of blood, rivulets of bodily fluids.The battle created a place on its own, where all is composed by deads. Mobs of Demons prowl in the valley, plundering the corpses of their wealth and their organs".

The Lover was a Succubus, who were flying above the battlelfiled, but that doesn't appeared at all in the description; is that ok?

P.S.: I'm the same Mauro of INC, here I forgot to say this...

[Meme]

I'm shocked of how much my Go in English is awesome!
Damn! Your language is the coolest!

And thanks, Mauro, for the question! ^^

Read you soon
Meme

[Ron Edwards]

Hi guys,

I apologize for not replying earlier. I posted an immediate reply then lost it, then my connection at home was demolished by a power outage ... I shall now stop whining and reply for real.

It seems to me that you are confusing two very different things: (i) the two descriptive statements made by the two players before the Goes begin, and (ii) the first Go. Your statement that you quoted above seems to me to be your first descriptive statement, not the first Go. The Lover must be included in the first Go, but that will occur the second time the "I" player speaks, not the first time.

To be as clear as possible:
----
OPENING DESCRIPTIONS
1. "I" describe the immediate location. No particular characters or events need to be included.
2. "You" describe how your character enters into this location, or is first seen in it.
----
GOES
3. The first Go: "I" move the narrative forward using the standard rules for Goes. The Lover must be included.
4. The second Go: "You" move the narrative forward, using the standard rules for Goes.
... and it continues.
----

That point may resolve the issue that led to your question. If your quoted statement above was in fact your opening description, #1 above, then the Lover doesn't have to be in it.

However, let's now discuss the first Go, in which the Lover must be present. There are two issues to clarify, one of which always applies to the first Go, and one of which is optional.

The first issue concerns the Lover's description, must be its own, concrete contribution to play. The Lover must be individually distinctive and either individually active or placed in some kind of identifiably-individualized situation. In your case, saying "Succubi are flying above" is not enough.

Regarding the second issue, you are correct in your understanding that it may not be obvious who the Lover is. Therefore, given the obligatory point I just explained, if the "I" player wants the identity of the Lover to be ambiguous, then this player's only option is to include more than one character in this Go who is described in this kind of detail.

For example, when I was playing with Claudia at InterNosCon, I was the "I" player and she had chosen the Crystal Court as the location. After our opening descriptions, my first Go described a group of robed intellectuals, with one of them speaking, as well as a row of big people kneeling in submission, and one of the big persons hanging in a punishment rack. So in terms of immediate perceptions based on my Go, the Lover could have been either the person who was speaking or the one who was being punished. It so happened that I knew that the latter was the Lover, but Claudia did not.

In your case, perhaps more than one succubus swoops down to look at the character, or perhaps different succubi are doing different things.

Let me know if that makes any sense.

Best, Ron

[Mauro]

Thanks, Ron! That helps a lot, and yes, it makes a lot of sense.

In order to give complete informations, what I quoted above was indeed "I"'s first Go; the description was this: "The last battle tearing the Lands of the Alliance was devastating. Humans who slay other Humans. Such an atrocity can only summon Demons from the Hell. More tha 120 000 dead are piled in these lands, and the Sun is colored by blood color".

"I"'s first Go was the one I already quoted.

His second Go was this: "Mobs of Demons prowl silently in the valley, as testing the air in order to feel if someone is still alive. Luckily, you're downwind. The Demons are carrying a cage full of survivors towards the other side of a greater hill of corpses. They are led by a hude and very beautiful Demon, bloodthirsty and heavily armed".

Third "I"'s Go: "It's a slaughter. The Demons are wounded [they are figthing among themselves due to my songs; NdM], and fled scared. Their leader, without understand what happened, takes the cage full of screaming persons, and disappears in a blaze, that flashes in the sky towards the other side of the hill. A flying figure in the blood-red sunset goes in the same direction".

The lover was the flying figure in the third Go.

So, I think that the Lover wasn't included in the first Go; but that her description was indeed right, also if in the wrong Go, because she was the only flying figure, so she was clearly identifiable.

[Mauro]

"NdM" means "Nota di Mauro", "Note by Mauro".