Saltwater Treehouse

> *"Nightmare and I easily fit the description of 'just a small town girl' and 'just a city boy', except you then replace the next lyrics with 'together they’re hosting a 4-dandee mafia game with their time zones separated by three hours and both suffering from boat-loads of homework'."*
>
>

> -pio\_dov
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>

Saltwater Treehouse, known by the community as "ST", was a Starmen.net Mafia game that ran from September 19th, 2021 to November 18th, 2021. The game had a difficulty of four on the Dandee meter, featured seventeen players/characters (eleven Town, four Mafia, and two Independent), and lasted for seven in-game days, ending with a seven-player Town win. The host of the game was pio\_dov, with PSINightmareEmpower as the cohost. The game's MVP was LastStarmanSuper.

## Setup

Saltwater Treehouse had a closed role setup and mostly-open flavor setup. No roles were shared at the start. However, each character was listed without their alignment and a brief biography in a thread throughout the game. ST had a somewhat complex role setup featuring a Town consisting of a Messenger, Doctor, Apportioner, Addictive Cop, Bodyguard, "Bodyguard" (a custom role to protect against affect-inducing roles), Vigilante, Watcher, Matchmaker, Escape Artist, and Captive, a Mafia consisting of a Captor, Bodyguard, Tracker, and Kidnapper, and two Independants—a Bartender and Sad Spectator (a custom role that wins by correctly guessing four Night Kills).

## Players and Characters

1. Drake Inferno was Desi Kokita, Messenger, Town-aligned, victorious as of Day 7.
2. Dielawn was Rowan Naori, Bodyguard, Mafia-Aligned, dead as of Day 4.
3. Ultimate-Gamer was Limber Hafare, Bartender, Independent-Aligned, Dead as of Day 1.
4. Quads was Liko Chosae, Bodyguard, Town-aligned, dead as of Night 6.
5. UltraBolt (replaced with Hammer7) was Jaime. Sidgiun, "Bodyguard", Town-Aligned, Dead as of Day 6.
6. FallenAither was Kosumi Anukei, Vigilante, Town-Aligned, dead as of Night 1.
7. broomweed was Rain Hilazun, Watcher, Town-aligned, victorious as of Day 7.
8. kpiozero was Marco Kogata, Sad Spectator, Independent-aligned, defeated as of Day 7.
9. DJ Neutron Star (replaced with PeanutCheeseKiwis, then replaced with TheName’sAndounuts) was Toria Solla, Captor, Mafia-Aligned, removed as of Day 5.
10. Lunch Box was Socorro Rampricalk, Escape Artist, Town-aligned, victorious as of Day 7.
11. LastStarmanSuper was Kamal Iorlo, Doctor, Town-aligned, victorious as of Day 7.
12. PKFP was Reta Nebira, Apportioner, Town-Aligned, dead as of Night 2.
13. dwain12435 was Vadin, Tracker, Mafia-aligned, dead as of Day 7.
14. Slib (replaced with UnassumingLocalGuy321) was Garret Iloo, Addictive Cop, Town-aligned, victorious as of Day 7.
15. CaptainPlanet was Indigo Hilazun, Captive, Town-aligned, victorious as of Day 7.
16. Darth\_Pokey was Arun Amega, Matchmaker, Town-aligned, victorious as of Day 7.
17. Sword of Dorks was Uku Conpit, Kidnapper, Mafia-Aligned, removed as of Day 3.

## Plot

The Ocean Shield had once been a simple and quiet city. Legends say it was created by the Gods. Surrounded by walls and located in an eerie rainforest near the ocean, the city was filled with tall trees and little log cabins held together by vines. Above the rest of the city were trees the size of small mountains connected by a complex system of stone bridges. Above the rest of the people of the city had lived a queen and her two children: a four-year-old daughter and infant twin sons.

Queen Chaka, only twenty-one years old, had been chosen by prophecy to lead the Ocean Shield when she was merely ten. And for the past eleven years, she would give speeches and check on her people regularly, proving to be a strong and faithful leader, dedicated to her people and always willing to help the city. Until recently, at least.

It was known by everyone in the Ocean Shield that the disappearance of a child wasn’t uncommon. It was tragic for a while, and if the kid didn’t return for a month, their family and friends would try to forget about them and move on. Though it wasn’t a rare occurrence, the Queen had never thought that could happen to her own child: a rowdy four-year-old named Topaz.

And for the past several days, Chaka hadn’t slept a single hour or left her room for a single second. Her oldest child was gone. And there was nothing Chaka could do about it. Nothing but shut herself away from everything until she forgot about her. Nine and a half times out of ten, children who vanished in the Ocean Shield never returned. There was no doubt that Topaz wouldn’t either.

More days passed. On a sunny afternoon a week and a half after the event, Chaka built up the strength to leave her room. Guards and custodial staff stared at her. They hadn’t seen her in over a week, and she looked different than they were used to. She had dark circles under her eyes, and her usually combed hair was tangled and messy. She ignored the attention and briskly walked to the center of the tree castle, where she announced that all staff should meet her there.

Guards, custodians, personal servants, and more headed through the bridges until they reached the central room. Looking out over hundreds of people, Chaka cleared her throat to make a speech, but only said one sentence.

“Bad people are among you.”

With that, she went back to her room.

## Constructed Language

Throughout Saltwater Treehouse, the flavor and bylines include various words and phrases written in a constructed language made for the game's universe.

*Kokita*- Ladybug

*Nahori*- Ant

*Hafare*- Coypu

*Hilazun*- Snail

*Kogata*- Human

*Solla*- Mosquito;

*Iorlo*- Squirrel

*Nebira*- Cat

*Amega*- Turtle

*Conpit*- Python

*Rain*- Thing that is impossible (rough translation)

*Animar*- Ulexite

*Alakat*- Emerald

*Manahi*- Topaz

*Leekai-* an honorific used to refer to someone older than yourself

*Dahpuh-* “goodbye”

*Hilaoham-* a formal way of saying “hello” or “greetings”

*Eyeh-* “idiot” or “dumbass”. A swear word used to call someone stupid.

*Renraeka-* f*\*\*\**

*“[hahpUnada] nati im orinai verlo ham-istae”-* “The first child is never being the same.”

*“haMaream es fortir thika haMaream Plakeye es yakna mop”-* “The sea will shout and the Ocean Shield will be dead.”

*“haNati Baji”-* “The Child Crisis”

*“loga eehoga”-* “rope-burner”. A way to call someone a coward.

*“hahpAeson-zai Pangero-Mahfdo”-* “The Monarch’s Nightmare”

*“haTrahio-zai Ingnar”-* “The Whistler’s Discussion”

*“Faeseh-mop ha-kaimon”-* “Make the evil dead.”

## Legal Issues

Two months after the game ended, pio\_dov's father brought up the idea of getting the writeups a copyright. Pio disagreed with the idea after explaining that one of the writeups had been written mostly by PSINightmareEmpower. After asking Nightmare about it, she told him she was fine with him including it in a copyright, saying "I don't give a [expletive]". Pio told this to his dad, who still claimed that Nightmare could sue him.

The issue has yet to be resolved.

## Trivia

* Combining all writeups onto a Google Doc with an average font size totals at forty-nine pages.
* One time while the hosts were discussing the game several months before it started, Pio spotted a 3-inch-long cockroach on the wall of his bedroom and punched it to death with a tissue box. A stain of the roach's corpse is still on his wall.
* The character Rowan's name was taken from that of the host.
* Vadin was apparently inspired by a teacher the host had in fifth and sixth grade.
* When Xedic Zyvis inquired if a sequel could be made, Pio responded "If you annoy me enough, *maybe.*"