Alexis Kennedy's Cultist Simulator

Fallen London
521

The Geminiad has 2 Knock, so once you burgle Strathcoyne you’ll only need level 6 lore to upgrade cultists.[/quote]

I assumed the upgrade process was going to eat up my trappings, as it eats the Injury, and I didn’t want to lose the Geminiad just for upgrading a disciple. For the same reason, I’ve been shying away from using it in rituals.

This is one area where the game might need a little more incluing to hint what will or won’t be consumed in a process.[/quote]
If the slot doesn’t say &quotthis will consume a thing&quot, it should not consume a thing. I haven’t tried upgrading with Injuries, since I used the Geminiad until I got a Meniscate Invocation, but if that’s eating the Injury then it sounds like a bug. You should probably report it to support@weatherfactory.biz.

522

Man, so much changes in just a few days.

It’s really interesting how we’re now getting hints of Hours that might share traits with several of the big names at once. I figured it would have to happen at some point, as traits like &quothunger&quot and &quotto continue living and not die&quot are too general to not be shared by any other Hour, especially when there’s like thirty of them.

On the Ivory Dove, I’m certain it’s some sort of Hour now. At first I thought it might be the alternate name of the SiR, but then we got the Wolf and the White, implying that there’s more than one winter Hour. Alexis was very sneaky in how he did it, but he indirectly confirmed it. The exploration preview Alexis gave us on the weather factory website demonstrates several hazards, which must be defeated by using a cultist with a certain aspect. When using Forge to open a Door, it displays the text &quotwe call upon the Forge of Days, who ends what will not change&quot. Another obstacle is a swarm of Dead, which can be defeated either by Edge or Winter. On the website he only shows the result for Edge, but on twitter the tweet the Ivory Dove is invoked in includes it &quotpenetrating the Dead&quot, meaning the Ivory Dove must be the winter affiliated Hour used to command the Dead.

That would also play into that &quotThree Princesses of Whiteland&quot art he retweeted a while back, where there’s a man with bird wings portrayed right next to what is clearly meant to be the SiR.

Very interesting how the Sun-In-Rags was at first assumed to be THE winter Hour, and now we’re seeing all these other Hours on its turf. Perhaps the &quotAspect Hours&quot (The Forge, Heart, Grail) are the bosses of the Hours that they share these traits with?

It’s safe to assume that the Wolf Divided is the other half of the Sun-in-Rags, unless the Forge has been splitting other Hours we don’t know about in addition to the Sun (whose proper name might be the &quotSun-in-Splendour&quot now). Which begs the question: What exactly is the Sun we see in the mortal world? What is living in the Glory if what’s left of the Sun is going around in multiple pieces down here?

Also, the Wolf is totally a Fenrir reference. Immediately prior to the release of Fenrir and the beginning of Ragnarok, there is the Fimbulwinter or &quotGreat Winter&quot that will end all life on earth. Also, they just quoted Beowulf on the Weather Factory site, adding Norse Mythology to the ever-increasing number of mythos’ involved in CS.

Also from that update: Lionsmith, Ring Yew, and finished Beachcrow tarots are coming soon!

Want to avoid speculating too hard on the Beachcrow until it’s card is finished, but already there’s so much going on there’s just a few things I wanted to point out.

Tarot 10 is the Wheel of Fortune, which represents change, luck and destiny.

  • We clearly see the Crow placing people shaped figures alongside game pieces in its nest. It seems to play a role in deciding who will amount to mere pawns, and who will be pieces of greater significance.[/li][li]It’s wearing some manner of jewelry, which isn’t surprising considering crows like shiny things.[/li][li]It’s wearing a plague doctor mask with straps behind it’s head. It’s surprisingly unsettling imagining what’s really under there, or if there is anything under there.[/li][li]It’s combing a beach for trinkets. Is this the Painted River area of the Mansus portrayed at last, the same way the Velvet gave us a look at the Wood?
523

Double post, but the update deserved it’s own separate post.

Behold: The Lionsmith and Forge of Days!




Can’t believe I didn’t see these. Scrolled through Sarah Gordon’s twitter right before bed and these were right in my face.

Lionsmith is either Strength or Judgement, which is odd as it would mean it’s sharing a number with the Forge of Days, implying there’s some manner of relationship between the two, backed up by the Rite of the Rebel Striving and the fact it’s lion monsters are literally robot lions now.
edited by Edward Warren on 3/11/2018

524

The robot lions were always implied by &quot[t]he Lionsmith makes monsters, that he may grow strong and stronger.&quot Granted, there are lots of ways to make monsters, but a smith would smith them into existence. Of course said robotic appearance is merely a symbolic image of their underlying nature, so they aren’t literally robots. But then, since everything in the visible world ultimately originates from the invisible world, the mortal idea of robots and mechanical beasts would presumably originate from the Lionsmith’s servants… Hmmmm.

525

Nice find! I guess I need to start paying more attention to her twitter; apparently those were shared a day before The Beachcomber’s draft was posted. And I have a suspicion that the second one may actually be The Colonel, even though the tweet itself suggests otherwise.
edited by Alice Lutwidge on 3/11/2018

526

The Adept’s Build is beatable. So has anyone gotten a victory without cheats?

527

https://twitter.com/alexiskennedy/status/973163342738096128 I was right, it was Shadowless Kings!

&quotThe Nature of the Lionsmith is to be stronger; to be seamless; to make monsters. It has been suggested that his flesh became dust in the Tombs of the Shadowless Kings.&quot

Also, there will be a release livestream here: Kickstarter
edited by illuminati swag (Benthic) on 3/12/2018

528

The robot lions were always implied by &quot[t]he Lionsmith makes monsters, that he may grow strong and stronger.&quot Granted, there are lots of ways to make monsters, but a smith would smith them into existence. Of course said robotic appearance is merely a symbolic image of their underlying nature, so they aren’t literally robots. But then, since everything in the visible world ultimately originates from the invisible world, the mortal idea of robots and mechanical beasts would presumably originate from the Lionsmith’s servants… Hmmmm.[/quote]

In the Tarot (at least as Waite realized it) XIII is Death. XX is Judgment, and that’s the number on the Forge of Days, which is shown in a later post. But then, I would not expect anything Alexis might write to follow any existing system too closely (though he is certainly mining existing systems for symbolism and nuance).
edited by cathyr19355 on 3/12/2018

529

So, Lionsmith is definitely the Strength Tarot. Figured I got my numbers mixed up there.

Strength usually has a lion somewhere in the depiction, so it makes sense. The subversion here however is that Strength typically promotes a sort of inner strength, not the physical sort. In the art for a Strength Tarot, the lion is usually shown as submissive towards a woman, denoting the greater value of compassion and determination over brute force.

Here the Lionsmith is dominant over the lion because he just finished beating the thing senseless with a massive hammer.

Those towers in the background clearly are meant to look like knives, denoting the Edge. Biplanes in the sky definitely gives the card a WW1 feel, but the robotic lions running around definitely make it clear the war going on here is not of this earth. Perhaps this is a war from another History, or what the Edge portion of the Mansus looks like?

In one of the older drafts of the card the Lionsmith has a broken sword at his feet in a reference to the Rite of the Rebel Striving, where he supposedly broke his sword to &quotachieve his greatest goal&quot. There’s still some sharp-looking bits sticking out of the sand behind him, perhaps that’s where the sword is now? Also note that the same triangular symbol engraved on the Forge of Days is on his hat, meaning there’s definitely some sort of relationship between those two (and possibly the Knock, as the Key is their defining symbol). Also note that the Golden General’s physical body supposedly turned to dust in the Tombs of the Shadowless Kings, yet he casts a shadow in this depiction.

And finally, we learn he wants &quotto be seamless&quot. No wonder, considering what Alexis just revealed about the Worms on twitter.

530

I’ve managed a Sensation and an Enlightenment victory without cheating (The Sensation one was by far the harder - Grail cult and BYT legacy does not lend itself to fast acquisition of tools)! There is indeed only one way (one rite, really) that allows it to be done without cheating, so far as I know. A very suitably desperate way.

531

[quote=illuminati swag (Benthic)]https://twitter.com/alexiskennedy/status/973163342738096128 I was right, it was Shadowless Kings!

&quotThe Nature of the Lionsmith is to be stronger; to be seamless; to make monsters. It has been suggested that his flesh became dust in the Tombs of the Shadowless Kings.&quot



[/quote]
He’s dressed like a WWI officer and those are WWI planes flying in the background. Yeah, I think the Great War happened.

The story of the Rebel’s Striving indicates that the Lionsmith traded his sword for that hammer, though he has yet to achieve what he desires, because the Colonel hasn’t been defeated yet.

532

I’ve managed a Sensation and an Enlightenment victory without cheating (The Sensation one was by far the harder - Grail cult and BYT legacy does not lend itself to fast acquisition of tools)! There is indeed only one way (one rite, really) that allows it to be done without cheating, so far as I know. A very suitably desperate way.[/quote]
Where the hell do you get the necessary power?!

533

Rite Intercalate has enough slots to give one enough power to reach the Seventh Mark, as long as you have enough cards to fill every/almost every slot.

534

I somehow seem to have gotten the Fourth Mark. I’m not sure how this happened, although I have my suspicions. I wonder if this will keep progressing on its own or if I have to intervene now.

edit: holy shit a Caligine broke free so I fed it the Detective and I got something even stranger out of it, this is a great development

edit 2: wow looks like i can basically multiply these things infinitely, although i suspect they’re at a high risk of breaking free and eating people. either way i doubt i’m going to have to worry about Detectives again.

final edit: I have confirmed that getting to the Fifth Mark is pretty easy, and the Sixth will probably be similar. The Seventh is the hard part and I’m going to need a LOT of Lantern.
edited by illuminati swag (Benthic) on 3/12/2018

535

Rite Intercalate has enough slots to give one enough power to reach the Seventh Mark, as long as you have enough cards to fill every/almost every slot.

The Rite what now? confused

536

Rite Intercalate has enough slots to give one enough power to reach the Seventh Mark, as long as you have enough cards to fill every/almost every slot.

The Rite what now? confused[/quote]
The one that recapitulates the Division. Not sure how you get that one, personally, but that’s what it does.

537

I have yet to have a Caligine summoning where the smokey daemon didn’t try and break free of my control :P Like, the Dead, the Hinter, and the Raw Prophets sometimes try and break free, but Caligines always try and break free. They’re bad eggs, those Caligines.

538

I have yet to have a Caligine summoning where the smokey daemon didn’t try and break free of my control :P Like, the Dead, the Hinter, and the Raw Prophets sometimes try and break free, but Caligines always try and break free. They’re bad eggs, those Caligines.[/quote]
They always try, but this one managed it even with Passion. And then gave me a Hinter when I fed it the Detective. What I like about Hinters is you only need to add Knock to summon new ones, so you can get new ones without any sacrifices other than time.
edited by illuminati swag (Benthic) on 3/12/2018

539

…holy shit the Geminiad is powerful as hell. I thought it would be giving me another little piece of Knock lore, which would have been cool, but no, it goes way further. And you get to keep the book when you’re done, too.

540

Somehow, I totally confused my roman numerals and thought that the X was five and not V. I was right the first time, Lionsmith is Death. That makes more sense to me now. Man, how embarrassing…

Tarot XIII, Death, contrary to modern misconception rarely if ever means physical death. Rather, the card usually means a -usually painful- end to a chapter of one’s life. This can mean an interest, period of development, or a relationship. While a painful process, this transition results in a person growing all the stronger for it.

This fits Lionsmith perfectly. Every chapter of his story is marked by a significant &quotdeath&quot that made him into the near-unstoppable god of war he is today.

First, his physical &quotdeath&quot in the Tombs of the Shadowless Kings, where his body became dust presumably so he could ascend to godhood.

Then, the Rite of the Rebel Striving, where he sacrificed his most prized possession -his sword- in order to get the power to fight the Colonel.

Now, by constantly creating and then killing his own creations, he constantly increases his battle prowess.

In Tarot, Death is often portrayed in armor surrounded by the dying, usually kings as well as commoners to show his authority over all. His armor signifies his power and invincibility, as no one has ever prevailed over him. He is also often portrayed either clutching or carrying a banner emblazoned with a white rose. This signifies the new life that comes after Death and the purity that comes with it.

Here Lionsmith is decked out in full military regalia and stands triumphant over one of his lion-creatures. Lions are a symbol often affiliated with royalty. Instead of a white rose, he clutches a white hammer to his chest, reiterating both his reasons and the purpose the new life he will create will serve: to continue to fight and grow ever stronger.

Hats off to Sarah Gordon for the phenomenal job with the symbolism here. Definitely one of my favorites.

Also, violent change is territory that overlaps with the Forge of Days, which might be why it’s sigil is on Lionsmith’s hat and why he now wields a hammer, a tool often used for smithing.
edited by Edward Warren on 3/13/2018