About our nameless Candidates....

… I know of some of these faces well enough to recognize them, but for the life of me cannot remember ever hearing their names… Do most influential people need to hide behind a title down here in London? Considering the amount of sneaks down here who can dig up lots of dirt I am amazed their real names are not revealed to the public yet. I am surprised this hasn’t came up at all in the past.

As Londoners we should not be left in the dark about such little details like names, well most names, but the names that won’t drive you mad to know about! Is proper etiquette a dying thing, or are names becoming less in important!?

Two annoyed constables begin drag Naomi out of the building Oh come on, not again! this is the fourth time already! All this because I ask simple questions!? My readers will hear about this!

[quote=Naomi Barlett]… I know of some of these faces well enough to recognize them, but for the life of me cannot remember ever hearing their names… Do most influential people need to hide behind a title down here in London? Considering the amount of sneaks down here who can dig up lots of dirt I am amazed their real names are not revealed to the public yet. I am surprised this hasn’t came up at all in the past.

As Londoners we should not be left in the dark about such little details like names, well most names, but the names that won’t drive you mad to know about! Is proper etiquette a dying thing, or are names becoming less in important!?

Two annoyed constables begin drag Naomi out of the building Oh come on, not again! this is the fourth time already! All this because I ask simple questions!? My readers will hear about this![/quote]
It’s more or less an aesthetic choice with a character here or there stepping outside it, like Feducci or The Cheesemonger’s name (Alice). It also leaves the opportunity to place both real and fictional people into the story without outright specifying their name, like a clever easter egg that makes sense once you think about it. Dr. Schlomo is Sigismund Schlomo Freud, aka Sigmund Freud, Mr Huffam is Charles John Huffam Dickens aka Charles Dickens, and the Honey-Addled Detective is a reincarnation for everyone’s favorite detective Sherlock.
As for the coppers, well, I’ll put in a good word for ya!

It’s not just aesthetic. Adjectives and nouns makes for a stronger impression.

You hear &quotDauntless Temperance Campaigner&quot, you immediately get a strong idea of what the person is and does even without any additional development. &quotI caught the DTC in bed with a devil&quot speaks more than &quotI caught Alice/Feducci in bed with a devil&quot if you haven’t met them before.

I think it shines best in reverse, actually. Feducci is shrouded in mystery. It doesn’t really fit as well if you call him the Murderous Mummy or some such. Or Sinning Jenny. You try using a noun for that one :P

Note: Please don’t actually talk about the merits or further discuss the mayoral candidates here.
edited by Estelle Knoht on 6/28/2017

The naming convention also allows some of the narrative ambiguity necessary for a game like this. You can befriend the Repentant Forger in prison, drive him mad and permanently ruin your friendship, then go befriend him again. Having descriptors rather than real names makes things vague enough for suspension of disbelief - you might just be befriending a different Repentant Forger after all, but befriending someone with the same behaviors and the same name would be a bit much.