Thank you for answering my question. I’ll just wait right before they switch out stories to get a subscription, and see if the Christmas story is worth it based on other people’s responses.
Wait, what option unlocks on the Capering Relicker’s card?[/quote]
One of the gifts…I can’t recall what they specifically give you. Most of the earlier fate stories open some option.[/quote]
I’m pretty sure you’re confusing The Gift’s cards with the Capering Relicker ending to Trade in Faces.
I was mistaken I apologize profusely. Just the options in the Finishing School and the Opportunity Card. Sorry.
No time like the present to discuss pertinent matters. How many Echoes is your property insured for?
Also, does anyone else find this appropriate (accidental, probably, but oh, so appropriate) to be announced on the day we get [redacted] from the Advent Calendar?[/quote]
We have so many NPCs in Fallen London. The Intense Notary. The Panicked Solicitor. The Melancholy Curate. But what we haven’t had was an insurance broker! I’d go with the Imperturbable Broker, myself.
If this marriage goes through, knowing what the "happy couple" is like, how long until the Captivating Princess becomes the Captivating Widow?
[li][/li]
edited by Six Handed Merchant on 12/17/2017
[quote=Six Handed Merchant]If this marriage goes through, knowing what the "happy couple" is like, how long until the Captivating Princess becomes the Captivating Widow?
[li][/li]
edited by Six Handed Merchant on 12/17/2017[/quote]
Best case: few hours. Worst case: couple months. Ethier way: too long.
edited by ProfessorDetective on 12/17/2017
[quote=Six Handed Merchant]If this marriage goes through, knowing what the "happy couple" is like, how long until the Captivating Princess becomes the Captivating Widow?
[li][/li]
edited by Six Handed Merchant on 12/17/2017[/quote]
Hard to say on, one hand she’s going to try very hard to kill him, on the other hand we have all tried killing him and it doesn’t really stick. So its an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. I can’t wait to see what happens.[li]
edited by Sajach on 12/17/2017
[quote=Sajach][quote=Six Handed Merchant]If this marriage goes through, knowing what the "happy couple" is like, how long until the Captivating Princess becomes the Captivating Widow?
[li][/li]
edited by Six Handed Merchant on 12/17/2017[/quote]
Hard to say on, one hand she’s going to try very hard to kill him, on the other hand we have all tried killing him and it doesn’t really stick. So its an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. I can’t wait to see what happens.[li]
edited by Sajach on 12/17/2017[/quote][/li][li]
[/li][li]He probably hopes she will try to kill him, but his indestructable immortality may have been what attracted her! [/li][li] Imagine how she could trawl through his memories! How much torture of that type he could withstand! It must be strongly alluring to her.
[/li]
[quote=Sajach][quote=Six Handed Merchant]If this marriage goes through, knowing what the "happy couple" is like, how long until the Captivating Princess becomes the Captivating Widow?
[li][/li]
edited by Six Handed Merchant on 12/17/2017[/quote]
Hard to say on, one hand she’s going to try very hard to kill him, on the other hand we have all tried killing him and it doesn’t really stick. So its an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. I can’t wait to see what happens.[/quote][li]
Perhaps the Captivating Princess is counting on Feducci’s immortality to enable her to feed him to all her siblings.
edited by Lady Sapho Byron on 12/17/2017
[quote=Lady Sapho Byron][quote=Sajach][quote=Six Handed Merchant]If this marriage goes through, knowing what the "happy couple" is like, how long until the Captivating Princess becomes the Captivating Widow?
edited by Six Handed Merchant on 12/17/2017[/quote]
Hard to say on, one hand she’s going to try very hard to kill him, on the other hand we have all tried killing him and it doesn’t really stick. So its an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. I can’t wait to see what happens.[/quote]
Perhaps the Captivating Princess is counting on Feducci’s immortality to enable her to feed him to all her siblings.
edited by Lady Sapho Byron on 12/17/2017[/quote]
I wish I could say that I find your theory implausible…
[quote=Harlocke]For all we know, he may be some Elder Continent prince.[/quote]Among players of the Great Game, Feducci is sometimes called "the bandaged prince". The name comes up in Doing Business in Wilmot’s End, if memory serves. In his Hallowmas confession, Feducci recounts having a large number of supporters and admirers during his life in the Presbyterate. Seventy accompany him on a quest of personal penance, and he’s the only one who makes it back alive. Feducci may well be of noble birth; perhaps one of the Replete?
[quote=gronostaj]in ambition:nemesis it’s revealed that her hunger for red honey is sated by having a garden of caged prisoners who are used as living hives.[/quote]By "having a garden" do you mean that Nemesis reveals that the Captivating Princess oversees and manages the Palace’s cage-gardens? Other stories mention her ties to red honey, but as a user and not a producer of the stuff.
[quote=gronostaj]the bees crawl inside their skulls, gathering the "pollen" of memories from their brains as they would from a flower. pleasant.[/quote]The creation and harvesting of red honey isn’t even the worst thing about the stuff. The worst of it is the extreme mental and physical agony experienced by a victim when someone else uses the honey, as their memory is torn out of their mind and consumed. Even a short while in the cage-gardens leaves a person a hollow, tormented shell of their former self.
Only one character has gotten anywhere near to a full recovery after time in the cage-gardens. The Acclaimed Beauty, after his escape and release, was taken in by rubbery men. Down in the amber halls of Flute Street the rubbery men used their devices and arts to heal him, shaping what was left of the man into an almost entirely new person. The damage inflicted by crazed lamplighter bees apparently cannot be undone, and can only be patched over with alien magitech. The Acclaimed Beauty wasn’t born with his looks, kids. He’s had his nose done, his chin done, his everything done.
[quote=PSGarak]One seemingly-minor detail about the Captivating Princess is that she is the only of the Traitor Empress’ issue to be born after the Fall. This implies, among other things, that she was sired by the Prince-Consort in his current state.[/quote]O.O I hadn’t considered that before. More specifically, it would be the Prince-Consort around the time of the Fall. By 1895 he’s a pallid, greying old fellow who doesn’t seem even halfway present, mentally. His only direct appearance in free content is if the player presents a symphony which includes a cannon. I’ve heard he’s also in one of the Face-Tailor endings, making a mess of drinking his tea. His continued existence seems much more for the Traitor Empress’s sake than for his own.
[quote=Lady Sapho Byron]She’s got her father’s venom.[/quote]If you’re referencing the Cantigaster, that’s, uh, part of a different family.
[quote=PSGarak]Not sure where you got that, but in any case: I’m under the vague and un-sourced impression that the Fall was in February. Her birth could be 9 months later and still in the same year.[/quote]Unsourced no more! Take a gander at this mock headline of the London Gazette announcing the Fall, dated February 14 1862. Not primary-source game material, but no less reliable than any other ancillary content from FBG (e.g. the comic, or the assorted lore-posts on the Failbetter website).
[quote=PSGarak]So either the Prince-Consort sired her in his current state… or not. Given the timing of things, I think the most likely other scenario is that the Captivating Princess was, for reasons unknown, one of the conditions of the Contract by which London was taken.[/quote]Ooh, that’s a very interesting thought. Conception on February 14, plus 40 weeks, is November 21. Give or take (specifically give) a few weeks for eldritch space-magic, and Sacksmas could be right around the Captivating Princess’s birthday.
[quote=Akernis]All the royal children who stayed in London after the fall have - through red honey - become changed into horrible monsters.[/quote]Their shapes are probably not an effect of using red honey, or not entirely. The Kaiser of Prussia may be learned about in The Empress’s Shadow. He was born to the Shadow after the Fall, he has never been to the Neath, and there are things about him which are reminiscent of the Traitor Empress’s issue and their… conditions. I think it more likely that the issue use red honey to forget about their present circumstances and remember what life was like as ordinary humans.
[quote=Akernis]Which hints that the Captivating Princess already went through this process herself since she is human again, at least in physiology if not sentiment.[/quote]The Empress’s Shadow mentions "the powers that repaired the Captivating Princess", so the Captivating Princess has definitely been, well, repaired.
[quote=Akernis]But feasting upon the potential of an exceptional person can reverse the process.[/quote]I don’t recall any sort of revelation of what the player may offer of themselves in The Gift. That’s my main quibble with the story, in fact; the story text doesn’t say very much at all about what happens. The Captivating Princess tells the player character "the virtues that I so regard in you are what my sister needs. Your curiosity, your determination. They will make her all she can be." The player character doesn’t actually lose anything, though, so "dined on something less replaceable" might sound weird and spooky but it just doesn’t work for me. Other than that, though, The Gift is great fun and I’m glad to have played it, for its own merits and for what it adds to The Empress’s Shadow.
[quote=Lady Sapho Byron]Perhaps the Captivating Princess is counting on Feducci’s immortality to enable her to feed him to all her siblings.[/quote]Events in The Gift seem to imply that after a certain age (the end of puberty, or thereabouts), the Traitor Empress’s children cannot shed their monstrous forms. The Captivating Princess wants to save her sister from a life as an abomination hidden in the depths of the palace, while the older among the issue seem to abhor the thought. I think their mentality is something along the lines of "I have to suffer this form, so you should to even if your being spared it would cost me nothing." For once at least, the Captivating Princess is doing the right thing.
edited by Anchovies on 12/18/2017
@Anchovies; no, I just meant the garden is there for her (and the rest of the royal family’s) benefit. Mental shortcut, sorry for any confusion it might’ve caused.
I’m more shocked that Beauty had his nose done than the bees thing, honestly.
Amazing new facts about the lore that I didn’t know or missed by accident so I must thank you all for this lovely thread!
I avoided spoilers well enough, but I must ask in which stories do we learn more about red honey (“manufacture” and effects); I know there is in SS, but last time I managed to play it was about 1 year ago. Mostly interested in Anchovies spoiler text as that is totally new to me!
Few more hours…
True, it might well be a leap of logic to assume that the honey is responsible. But I went with that interpretation after extrapolating from the Destiny where you are with the Captivating Princess:
"There is a thrilling and dramatic primacy to your existence together. You barely need to speak to each other: words become as redundant as sight. Your smell and hearing are astonishingly keen. The red honey, you think, is working its changes."
I never got that impression. Especially since the Playful Prodigy is older than the Captivating Princess is now, so well past her puberty and we can still reverse the process for her and turn her normal. Which to me implies that the you can change back at any time, but the act to do so is considered very morally reprehensible. Which, I think, is also implied in the story:
The Captivating Princess specifically tell Alfred / the Brooding Captain / the shadow with teeth,
"It is very selfish of you to keep her like this, Alfred. You are forcing your own foibles on her. She could be better, so could you."
And asks the rest of them:
"I miss you all so. Will we ever be as we were before?"
And if you don’t let the Playful Prodigy feast on you, the Brooding Captain sends you a letter expressing his gratitude that you. "Saved what innocence remains to her."
[color=#ff9900]Delicious friends! The Marriage of Feducci premium story is now live. Look for the story entitled A Wedding Announcement, available now throughout London. We hope you enjoy what is undoubtedly going to be one of Fallen London’s most memorable social occasions.[/color]
[color=#ff9900]
[/color]
[color=#ff9900]After all, isn’t it a delight when two hearts come to beat in harmony? Or, lacking hearts, whatever heart-substitutes the individuals in question possess.[/color]
I wish ti ask: Is there any sort of time limit or something on how long we can investigate? I would imagine that since we are the driving force behind the planning we can take as long as we wish to look at cards, but I did somewhat get caught up in the planning before realizing there were cards.
I am agonizing over the very first choice. I hope you do not need to decide your course so early on!
I’d suggest perhaps a one off donation to Mr Chimes to peruse the fairly interesting opportunities in his house, but beyond that to just pick and choose which opportunity you prefer most when they present themselves.
I am also glad that someone else balks at this sadly very capitalist attempt at wrestling more of my most precious fate from me. Why isn’t this option already free, being an exceptional friend? Why must I spend more? I feel less exceptional and more foolish, truth be told.
And If there is one thing I detest is to be made a fool; it seems like such a delightful story, but unless us so called friends can partake in it without donating more to the cause, I’ll leave it to my esteemed colleagues.
Disappointed,
Arden
The story is good, although I felt the ending I went for let the marriage fall through EDIT: Although finding out that there’s only one ending no matter what you do (letting the wedding continue leads to exactly the same thing) is rather irritating, and very much lowers the quality of the story in my eyes was a little lackluster, and there didn’t really seem to be much in the way of permanent effects, apart from one storylet in the palace. So, in conclusion, excellent writing, but not quite as good as the Gift or the Empresses’ Shadow. Still, a good story overall.
edited by Omega8520 on 12/18/2017
edited by Omega8520 on 12/18/2017
edited by Omega8520 on 12/18/2017
To add to that, I know that a ton of things cant be altered in london and whatnot, but I expect SOME things to happen. In any other game this would be a big game changing event. In real life sometimes a Royal Wedding is a big game changing event. In Fallen London, may tales revolve around love. Everything does to extent, from the plots of The Masters to the small couple. A Royal Wedding should shake the status quo, hit things up. Here, nothing happens.
If it’s true that there is only one way this thing can go, that is has no real effect on London despite it being two of the games most prolific characters, despite that love is THE key theme in the neath… to be honest the entire story premise not only overpromises and underdelivers, but sabotages a key component of the game.
edited by Kylestien on 12/18/2017