Story
Some time after the conclusion of the War of Heroes, the Seven Kingdoms of Akaneia had all fallen into Marth’s hands, leaving him as the effective emperor of the world. What regions of the world didn’t swear fealty to Marth instead had requested his help in resolving their affairs. These were far-flung regions, largely unknown to the inhabitants of Akaneia. As Marth, his wife Sheeda, and a handful of others returned from the land of Aytolis, headed by a blond hothead, they chose to spend the night in an abandoned shelter.
As Marth kissed Sheeda goodnight, a sinister figure soon arrived on the scene. Garnef had returned again, and with him he brought a new scheme. The Akaneian Mafia, as it was called, replicated a game of mafia. Each day, the town had to discuss who to lynch; each night, the mafia murdered someone in cold blood. Some participants had special roles; Marth was the cop, who could check one person each night and reveal their true allegiance. Roughly one third of the players in the game were loyal to Garnef, and Marth had no choice but to play.
The Next Day
Marth, Sheeda, and company woke up to a crowded hall. They also woke up to a dead body. Machis was dead. Just who killed him? The hatred between the deceased and Julian the thief was well-known, with Princess Minerva of Macedonia blaming Julian; he in turn pointed his finger back at Minerva, accusing her of executing a deserter. Machis’s sister and Julian’s wife, Rena, was left utterly confused and didn’t know who was the perpetrator.
Marth knew Machis would not be the only victim. This game could last over a week, two people dying each day. Twenty-five had entered this room somehow, counting Machis. Roughly one-third of who was left had been turned evil, servants of Garnef. Yet some of his closest friends were with him!
Suspects
Marich is his childhood friend, or did he just use Marth to get to his sister, Ellis? Speaking of Ellis, she’s now happily married to Marich. Yet apparently rumours had been spread about Marth’s weakness. Did she do a deal with Garnef while she was kidnapped?
The divine dragon Chiki is one of the friendliest people you could meet and she adores Marth with every fibre of her being. Or was there more to Garnef’s hypnosis of her, and the breaking of that could have been nothing more than a trap to lure him into a false sense of security?
Even his beloved Sheeda, who he loves with all his heart, isn’t above suspicion. She often flew off to charm other men into fighting for his cause instead of Durhua. Who’s to say she couldn’t be cheating on him with one of those men, and joining Garnef to bury him?
These, and other doubts about valued comrades, had to be pushed to the side. Marth had to investigate Machis’s demise, and Minerva, Julian, and Rena were all suspects. Thus began the bloodbath the Akaneian Mafia would inflict on Marth…
Information
The Akaneian Mafia was my submission to Make a Fun Chapter 4, the final entry in the series hosted by Ghast. I have played a few games of internet Mafia, also known as Werewolf, and after completing one I was inspired to make a hack inspired by it. In addition, I had several assets from the ill-fated FE3GBA project, most notably portraits made by Alusq. Sme had also recently released FE3 midis, providing another important asset. With those, the stage was set in Akaneia.
This was one of my most ambitious chapters, with 60 kilobytes of conditionals fit into a single chapter. Initially, there was to have been some element of randomisation on who was or wasn’t a mafia member, but that soon proved too ambitious and the mafia was set in stone. The maze of conditionals included checks on what day’s conversation needed to be played, limited accommodation for the dead in dialogue, and ultimately determining the ending the player received. Three endings were written in total, corresponding to the fate of two characters in particular; kill both of them and the worst ending is earned.
Most of the writing was planned out, with the good and evil characters already planned out. One change was the cutting of Jeigan; he had already died after the end of FE3 and bringing him back as a ghost was considered to be nonsensical. Eight days worth of unique conversations were written for each character, but these did not accommodate character deaths beyond the scripted ones.
Project Status
The Akaneian Mafia is in a good state, and I would consider it one of my most polished chapters. It could do with a lot more, though: outside of the day start cutscenes, which has limited consideration for deaths, dead characters are frequently referred to in character talks. Fixing this would be ideal.
Gallery
Downloads and Links
Latest release (12th May 2020): Download here
Fire Emblem Universe post: here
Ghast’s MAFC4 video: