My first question is fairly straightforward. I’ve introduced the Chorus of Cats to every cat on the current wiki except the August Feline, the Princeling of the Wakeful Court, the Short-Tempered Shorthair and the Pink-Painted Cat. Frustratingly I appear to be literally one cat off from the Sacrificial Lion’s acquintance despite having all the ES cats. Is there truly no other way to gain more cats?
Second question, why does rejecting the King of Cats’ bargain increase Oneironaut instead of Cultivator? Ideologically shouldn’t it be the opposite?
Not sure about the first question, but I’ll take a stab at the second. I believe it’s mostly about passive vs. active. Oneironauts allow parabola to act upon them and prefer to observe, while cultivators shape the world around them. Although the King of Cats is related to the Fingerkings, doesn’t the Exceptional Story reveal that:The King of Cats is neither a cat nor a Fingerking. It is the result of a deal between a cat that desired a true monarch to lead the cats in times of strife and a Fingerking. If I’m reading my journal correctly, it tried to learn what it was like to be a cat, but learned too late and the cats figured out that the King was a construction of the Fingerkings because it was too similar in nature and was subsequently abandoned. There’s nothing to say that the King of Cats is a Fingerking pawn, only that it feels a desire to fulfill the wishes of those it sees as it’s subjects even if it comes at a cost. For reference.So, taking that into consideration, the deal with the King of Cats is an active change to the fabric of Parabola that also supports the cats’ goals without furthering those of the Fingerkings. Rejecting the deal keeps Parabola as is and changes virtually nothing. You have regained the Palatinate, but the ruins that were continue to be. Based on the text that you get for leaving the Palatinate without taking the deal, it isn’t getting the support it needs to be restored anytime soon.
I had to re-read ‘Go Tell the King of Cats’ because of this question and now I really miss that damn Tabby. Great story.
edited by Mulligan on 5/16/2021
[quote=Mulligan]Not sure about the first question, but I’ll take a stab at the second. I believe it’s mostly about passive vs. active. Oneironauts allow parabola to act upon them and prefer to observe, while cultivators shape the world around them. Although the King of Cats is related to the Fingerkings, doesn’t the Exceptional Story reveal that:The King of Cats is neither a cat nor a Fingerking. It is the result of a deal between a cat that desired a true monarch to lead the cats in times of strife and a Fingerking. If I’m reading my journal correctly, it tried to learn what it was like to be a cat, but learned too late and the cats figured out that the King was a construction of the Fingerkings because it was too similar in nature and was subsequently abandoned. There’s nothing to say that the King of Cats is a Fingerking pawn, only that it feels a desire to fulfill the wishes of those it sees as it’s subjects even if it comes at a cost. For reference.So, taking that into consideration, the deal with the King of Cats is an active change to the fabric of Parabola that also supports the cats’ goals without furthering those of the Fingerkings. Rejecting the deal keeps Parabola as is and changes virtually nothing. You have regained the Palatinate, but the ruins that were continue to be. Based on the text that you get for leaving the Palatinate without taking the deal, it isn’t getting the support it needs to be restored anytime soon.
I had to re-read ‘Go Tell the King of Cats’ because of this question and now I really miss that damn Tabby. Great story.
edited by Mulligan on 5/16/2021[/quote]
See, that last part is precisely the puzzling bit to me. I’m…not entirely sure what the cats GET out of taking the deal at face value that they don’t when being given the Palatinate by the King? To my knowledge all interactions with it are identical save a very specific one. If you enter it with a Fingerking when you didn’t take the deal, the Fingerking curses the place for being forsaken (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Enter_in_the_company_of_a_Fingerking_(Lost)) while if you took the deal then let in the Fingerking it just leisurely recounts how their kind used to keep the cats in their. Which is striking to me because either way, the cats seem identically happy to have regained their lost home, the cub/Chorus of Cats/Lion Sacrificial manifests there-but with the deal, the Fingerkings seem to imply they’re potentially getting something out of it too.
It hits harder because I too remember that story, and from reading other people’s mantelpieces I distinctly remember all the examples of cats getting their wishes granted by the King distinctly resemble, well, people being shaped by Parabolan forces? If you slay the Burnished Champion while she’s under the effect of the King’s wish snakes literally erupt from her. The Tabby is actually refashioned into a small kitten by his wish. And so on. The King may not be a real Fingerking but his entire MO seems to be wielding the forces of Parabola to act on behalf of others. It doesn’t help that giving your reflection what you wants and all the outcomes of the Chessboard war raising Oneironaut seems to prove the point that you don’t necessarily need to shake hands with a Fingerking for Parabola to act on you.
It’s just very odd to me in this case that taking back the Palatinate by force of arms without cutting a deal first apparently counts as choosing to let Parabola “act on you” when you still fight your way to it and everything
Compelling case. Although my main point was that it was primarily a passive vs. active distinction rather than a Cat vs. Fingerking one, those that took a deal with the King of Cats might have been acted upon by Parabola but it was also an active choice that made a change, and in all cases of the Parabolan campaigns we fight our way to the destination so it’s rough to include that as a reason for why it should be cultivator as it’s a matter of mechanics taking priority over narrative.
However, looking back at my argument now I see that the idea of passive vs. active doesn’t really work either as I would consider advising someone to be an active position and that ends up garnering oneironaut no matter what (although I can’t speak for the ‘sacrifice her’ option). I don’t think it’s as simple as Cats vs. Fingerkings because of the Chessboard, but a clear-cut distinction eludes me. The one that throws me for a loop, personally, is the Ophidian Gentleman’s ending where waiting for him grants cultivator and observing him grants oneironaut. I’m not sure how waiting for the Gentleman causes Parabola to respond or change in any way, but sure.
Maybe we’re putting too much weight on these titles, and they’re ultimately just a very loose way of showing loyalty to the Is (the Cats, the Khatun, the ‘true self’) rather than the Is-Not (the Fingerkings, the Chessboard, the ‘other self’ that only exists behind the mirror)?
[quote=Mulligan]Compelling case. Although my main point was that it was primarily a passive vs. active distinction rather than a Cat vs. Fingerking one, those that took a deal with the King of Cats might have been acted upon by Parabola but it was also an active choice that made a change, and in all cases of the Parabolan campaigns we fight our way to the destination so it’s rough to include that as a reason for why it should be cultivator as it’s a matter of mechanics taking priority over narrative.
However, looking back at my argument now I see that the idea of passive vs. active doesn’t really work either as I would consider advising someone to be an active position and that ends up garnering oneironaut no matter what (although I can’t speak for the ‘sacrifice her’ option). I don’t think it’s as simple as Cats vs. Fingerkings because of the Chessboard, but a clear-cut distinction eludes me. The one that throws me for a loop, personally, is the Ophidian Gentleman’s ending where waiting for him grants cultivator and observing him grants oneironaut. I’m not sure how waiting for the Gentleman causes Parabola to respond or change in any way, but sure.
Maybe we’re putting too much weight on these titles, and they’re ultimately just a very loose way of showing loyalty to the Is (the Cats, the Khatun, the ‘true self’) rather than the Is-Not (the Fingerkings, the Chessboard, the ‘other self’ that only exists behind the mirror)?[/quote]
As someone who did sacrifice the Heiress, I recall that too gains Oneironaut. But yeah, it’s all rather arbitrary at a certain point. Evoking a memory of death with a Thorned Ribcage is considered pro-Cultivator while using a Horned Skull to sow some dream-aurochs is considered pro-Oneironaut despite both involving bones.
I always saw it as the difference between forcing your will upon Parabola, and going along with the grain of Parabola’s nature. Of course, I haven’t been paying too much attention to what gives which, so I might be totally mislead.