Mafia: Beyond the Stars

***Mafia: Beyond the Stars*** is the thirty-fourth season of *The Mafia Series*.

This exciting game following the lore from *The Great Beyond* and *Star Cruise* presented players with challenges and a unique way to obtain advantages - a shop! While this twist was unfortunately not utilized too much, the gameplay in this season was still engaging. While all seven evils were still alive up to the final 14, the Mafia made an unfortunate mistake to kill the alien, which only spelled defeat for both the Mafia and 3rd Party - causing the villagers to win their fourth consecutive game in a row!

This game lasted from November 14, 2022 up to November 30, 2022. This was a relatively active season. A very notable aspect to this game is that there was always a noticeable town leader (or town leaders) who took control, even after the past ones died over and over again. While the Mafia put up an impressive fight, communicating decently, it was the town's greater instinct, led by Enrique, that brought them to victory.

# ***Roles & Twists***

**Twists**
* **Challenges & Coins:** Every night, players were given the opportunity to compete in a challenge. The first placer in the challenge obtained 2 Star Cruise Coins, while the runner-up obtained 1 Star Cruise Coin. The top scores were revealed, but the actual players who earned the scores were kept secret. These coins allowed players to buy from the Alien Arms Market.
	+ **Stored Funds:** The two commoners in the game were both given a secret twist of having two extra coins given to them at the beginning of the game. This twist was secret and only revealed to the commoners in their confessionals.
* **Alien Arms Market:** Players, after obtaining Star Cruise Coins, were able to purchase all-new Mafia items from this market. All the advantages were either 1, 2, or 3 coins in price. When purchased, the buyer was not given the item until the next results ceremony, and it was then announced that the item was purchased (but not *who* purchased it). The items available in the market were shown in two stocks, and they were as follows:
	+ **Stock 1**
	+ **Fake ID:** *(1 Coin)* "An unassuming looking piece of plastic with a photo that resembles you exactly, but a name that’s certainly not your own. Fairly cheap, and considering their ubiquity on the station, it’s a miracle there are IDs used at all. Could easily be used to fool the voting systems and obtain an extra vote in an elimination trial, but only usable once."
	+ **Hacking Chip:** *(1 Coin)* "A small, subtle navy-blue device purchased under the counter from a shady-looking dealer. Just slip it onto the person you're aiming to sabotage, he says, and it'll get into their personal systems and do all the work for you. They're plenty illegal, but with the station in chaos, who's going to be looking at a little black market dealings? The hacking is temporary, but it will prevent the affected player from voting in the trial you choose to use it."
	+ **Counteractive Poison:** *(1 Coin)* "A deadly substance renowned for its inability to be detected, able to continue to kill a person in the crushing abyss of space. If a member of the mafia lurking on this ship were to get a hold of one of these, they could ensure their kill was lethal. However morally questionable, the dealer refuses to take the item off of stock."
	+ **Weighted Die:** *(1 Coin)* "A small, gilded six-sided die that feels odd in your hands. It appears gambling is a problem no matter where humanity travels. This die, when used at the right tables, would allow a person to gamble their life on a benefit at the station, with 6 possible ‘rewards’ available. While he hasn’t stated what could be won, you’re sure he would know if you asked."
	+ **Corpse Scanner:** *(1 Coin)* "It’s a small device, in sleek slate-blue with a golden logo of the alien manufacturer on the front. Advertised as a state of the art, fully functional scanner able to learn the entire life of any dead person who would be scanned by it. While you doubt it is all it’s made out to be, you do believe that it would be able to determine the occupation of whoever would be scanned."
	+ **Lie Detector:** *(1 Coin)* "A strange, clunky machine that hums when you place it near someone’s head, attached to a headband. Apparently, it can discern truths from lies on the person it’s attached to. If one were to purchase and use the Lie Detector, if they were interrogated by a sheriff the following night, they would receive a pair of truths, instead of one truth and one falsehood."
	+ **Warp Stones:** *(2 Coins)* "A pair of shimmering stones from some far-off alien world, which shifts between vivid hues and hums subtly. They say it’s got unconventional properties in terms of bending the spacetime continuum. One could place the two of them at the doorways of two individuals at night, and any actions performed on one player would instead be performed on the other, and vice versa, warped to affect a different individual."
	+ **Healing Nanites:** *(2 Coins)* "This old jar’s lid is screwed tightly on, with an ever-shifting mass of black dots inside of it. If the lid were to be opened, these nanites would swarm out, seeking out whoever they were directed towards, covering their body and making their way into the bloodstream in case it would be damaged."
	+ **Regal Crown:** *(2 Coins)* "A glistening golden crown of antique status, with a prominent ruby gemstone sealed in the centre that seems to glimmer with a strange energy of authority. It’s worth much less than it would have been a few years back, but will still cost a bit. They say the dominating aura it gives the wearer grants them unusual powers in the voting ballot, allowing them to expend its power to completely nullify all votes against a player of their choice."
	+ **Sales Records:** *(2 Coins)* "A pile of old, yellowing papers. You actually want these old things, the vendor asks you quizzically when you question the price. While useless to her, she can see their worth in your eyes, and won’t give them away for cheap. These records detail every purchase made in the arms market, and she is willing to sell the information from one of them to you. By purchasing these, you can learn who bought ONE item already sold from the shop, but it will cost you."
	+ **Stock 2**
	+ **Star Cruise Ticket:** *(2 Coins)* "A pair of crisp purple tickets, one for an Expedition to an extraterrestrial planet, and another for the voyage back. These are at a premium, considering the chaos going down at Star Cruise Enterprises, but they say the trips are amazing! You can use the tickets during the night, and in the morning you will set out on a day-long Expedition, during which you will be immune to votes but unable to vote yourself. After the conclusion of the Expedition, you will receive a random reward as a souvenir, though one different from ones that might have been seen on past cruises!"
	+ **Phoenix Ash:** *(2 Coins)* "The ash of a mystical bird capable of countless revivals, said to originate from the ancient Terran city of Bonereach. Apparently, sprinkling this ash on yourself while grievously wounded allows a person to return to life as an ashen, able to continue on in the main room of the space station, though lacking the ability to do much more than due to the method of rebirth."
	+ **Lycanthropic Serum:** *(2 Coins)* "A syringe of acidic green liquid, which has an acrid aroma. Supposedly, upon ingestion, it will alter the DNA of the individual, bestowing upon them the abilities of the mythical creature known as the werewolf. Upon purchase and use, the player will gain the werewolf secondary role, which allows the holder to bite another player each night. If the bitten player performs an action during the night, then the player whom they perform their action on will be randomised."
	+ **Updated Sales Records:** *(2 Coins)* "The same type of papers as before are scrawled in front of you, with names of more buyers listed on them. The dealer put these out especially for you this time, offering to tell you about who bought ONE item from his newest stock. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to get any information about items bought before the unveiling of the new wave of stock."
	+ **Volatile Ectoplasm:** *(2 Coins)* "A glob of viscous, semi-translucent sludge that sometimes seems to phase out of existence altogether, kept in a special purple cage. The consumption of this substance is latent to cause nausea and vomiting, but will also provide a particular sticking power to the user, allowing them to assume the role of the Restless Spirit upon death."
	+ **Mysterious Herbs:** *(2 Coins)* "This silvery grey plant seems to have seen better days. By sprinkling these on your food, you could potentially gain the ability of a wise old wizard, able to teach allies the ways of gaining additional sway on votes, as long as they remain successful each trial."
	+ **Mercenary Contact:** *(2 Coins)* "A long, wordy scroll of paper, one of the few fragments left of the old era of contracts. All you’d need to do is write the name of the person you want the contract on and they’d get their very own mercenary on them, unable to vote differently from their fellow crew members or else risk instant death."
	+ **Alien Nanoplating:** *(3 Coins)* "A slim, form-fitting garment made from strong yet light alien alloys that are extremely flexible. It’s a costly purchase, but it can be well worthwhile, as it will protect the user from either being killed or being voted out for as long as it is in their possession - however, after taking damage due to either of these happenings, it will be rendered useless."
	+ **Replicative Goop:** *(3 Coins)* "A cylindrical canister filled with viscous green sludge, which has a consistency not unlike treacle or honey. If removed from the high-tech container, it would shift in hue to mimic whatever it may be touching, some alien form of camouflage. When used, the Replicative Goop has the ability of the Alien role, able to copy almost any other role’s power through sinister extraterrestrial means."
	+ **Legendary Gavel:** *(3 Coins)* "A glistening golden judge's hammer, stored in a glass case engraved with ancient symbols in some long-forgotten language, supposedly glorifying the deeds of legendary heroes from eras past, all famed for their skills of deduction and deception. It will cost you a lot, but they say it's got magical properties. Perhaps it would even have the ability to trigger a mythic double elimination round when beckoned, causing two voting rounds to happen in a row."

# ***Game Summary***

*Written by **Emmi**.*

*Mafia: Beyond the Stars* began with very few claims, especially from evil players. The majority of strategising was from the 2 knights, each taking a different route to their role. While Alec tried to get killed (and thus fight off) the mafia night 1, it was **Lego** the mayor who was killed, not for his connection to the corrupted judge but due to his renown as a player. Here, the 2 commoners used their *stored funds* twist to purchase a heal and vote block to confirm themselves to town. There were not many leads during the first day, with suspicion mostly going towards Daichen for his weird choice of players he spoke to, alongside Capy for his inactivity and lack of claim. While Capy had claimed to Calvin, the bartender, the fact that he wasn’t on when town decided resulted in the majority vote being for **Capy**, the sheriff. In his style, Capy left very dubious final words that resulted in many players believing him evil, even some evils themselves.

At the start of night 2, most claims had been gotten. However, Swaggy, the head mafia, was not included in the role list by accident, resulting in a very easy game for mafia at that point. Despite that, a crazy theory by Jelk resulted in getting suspicion right on Lax, the corrupted judge. This suspicion grew after the Mafia killed **Life**, the confirmed commoner, with a slight mistake from Lax resulting in the suspicion that Lego was a Mafia member, sacrificed to confirm his accomplice and corrupted sheriff. Jelk additionally suspected that the only reason the Mafia did not kill him (and die to the knight’s sword) was because their kill was randomised by Havoc the hunter, who targeted Lax. However, Jelk eventually compromised and led the town to vote out **Daichen**, who was suspected of being the 4th Mafia member on account of only speaking to Lax and Smk.

While the nights grew calm, with Swaggy still winning a large majority of the nightly challenges, secretly winning his team many coins to use at the twist shop, the next kill was on **Alfie** the healer, to gain complete dominance over the night. Town began to doubt their leader at that moment, doubting Jelk over his multiple claim switches that game and eventually decided to blindside him in a vote of *16-2*, removing **Jelk** from the game. Shortly after, the next in line for town leader, **Smk** was killed as well. It was here that the mafia came under fire as Calvin the bartender, began revealing that Swaggy was not on the role list and threw sus onto him, Brainz and Akunor, all members of the Mafia.

With one round left before his team crumbled, Akunor put together a plan in an alliance chat, intending to vote out Calvin with the idea that his personality change was similar to that of an evil and his leading style was hated amongst the town. With the support he gathered in secret, alongside his methods causing the vote to split between himself and Swaggy, one of 2 baker claims at the time, the mafia managed to gather a blindside on **Calvin**, removing their biggest threat in the game, securing a dominant position in the daytime as well.

With Calvin’s apprentice, Logan, inheriting the role and taking on his leadership position, Swaggy led the mafia team to kill **Logan** as well, before getting an easy vote on **Havoc** the next day, an accomplice to Jelk in the early game and unable to gain any success as a hunter so far. With the town ignoring Calvin’s suspicions, the Mafia used their coins to replicate another Mafia kill, after removing the ability for town to track their purchase history a previous night. These kills targeted **Hades**, the revealed priestess who town had left for the Mafia to handle (though the Mafia believed in his innocence as a lawyer), alongside **Jet**, the almost confirmed sheriff claim hiding his true alien self. These kills removed most of 3rd party’s strength in one night, leaving the alien PK alone.

With the coins from their continued victory in the challenges that night, mafia decided to purchase single use votes, meaning that they only needed to survive one more vote to have voting majority over town. However, Enrique the aristocrat had decided to start repeating Calvin’s ideas, trusted by town after using his 2nd vote when Calvin was voted (an idea everyone now agreed was a bad, honest mistake by Akunor). In a close vote, the town decided to vote out **Diego** the healer, deciding to trust Brainz’s confirmation through Lax, his teammate. The Mafia had voting majority now, and simply needed to remove the final 3rd party to win, the correctly suspected **PK**. However, upon death PK decided to replicate the maniac’s drag ability, bringing **Swaggy** down with them. With the town lacking in options and already suspect of Brainz, the Mafia’s loss of a teammate and extra votes left them defeated, unable to think of a way to fight back from **Brainz** being voted out. With the only Mafia members left being Akunor and Lax, their inexperience led them to kill **Phantom**, the well trusted jester, removing their only hope at an extra teammate as he took the role of **Alec** the knight. With the dying words of Alec and the growing suspicion of town, **Akunor** was promptly voted out, leaving the game with a **TOWN VICTORY**, as **Enrique**, **Eternal**, **Kae**, **Meli** and **Phantom** all won, leaving **Lax** to die.

# ***Awards***

Because this season had more than ten players and three rounds of executions, awards were handed out at the end of the game. They were given to the following recipients.

# ***Trivia***

* Eevee won the viewing lounge prediction game for this season.