Early Speculation



FBG. DO IT.

Thinking about it Mr. Huffman may be a good successor for Jenny and the DTC’s social reform stances. His one downside is that he’s based on a real person, but that didn’t stop the Bishop of Southwark. Besides, the idea of Charles Dickens becoming mayor of London to fight against the evils of society he addressed in his serials has a certain charm to it.

A Charles Foster Cane style Paper tycoon candidate could be interesting, but I’d guess its unlikely as FB rely on him too much as a neutral party to report and interview during these things. If the player base started developing strong opinions about him it could throw a lot of things off.

I can’t believe I’d come to support Anne in something, but Slowcake for mayor![/quote]
I feel obligated to mention that Slowcake for Mayor wasn’t my idea. It was first proposed by Frederick Metzengerstein. I was just really taken with it.

The hardest part isn’t picking a character, it is picking three characters who are on even footing. As we learned this year, name recognition is a beast of a boost to votes. Also, we proved that people who actually have names tend to be better remembered (see both Jenny and Feducci)

I don’t envy FB in trying to find another three candidates that are equally popular among all players.

For example, Ms. Plenty is a great choice, but who could possibly stand toe to toe with her without it being a landslide? Everyone knows her and she is a great character.

Only person offhand I could think of would be the Royal Beth Manager and I doubt he would run. He is someone who knows how hard it is rule and I don’t think he has much interest in it…

I’d like to propose basically the best 3 candidates for an election: Dr. Schlomo(Or the Manager), The Duchess, and, wait for it… a Clay (that’s capital-C Clay, like the Men) sculpture of snake, with a Fingerking inside!

Glasspeople, rejoice! It’s time to fight your conflict in the form of a fair democratic process!

Say we want three named characters, to really even the odds… how about… Snake, Red Bird and Cat no that’s dreadful. I’ll try again. Phoebe, Lucy and Cynthia… no. Jasper, Frank and Lyme sorry I’ll stop. Who’s named and hasn’t yet run? Huffam, Inch, Plenty, Clathermonts of various stripes, Edward, Orthos, Schlomo, Bagley, Catherine, Hathersage, Pleat, Silas, Virginia, Grace, Lettice, Molly, Slivvy, Sophia, Soap, Villein, Pommery, Chi Lan, Norton… okay, at this point, I’m just trying to figure out which names would look funny next to each other. Inch, Soap and Molly for London!

well, with Villein as mayor, at least we could all righteously complain that people of London keep picking villeins as their mayors ;) I, for one, would love to see a devil (though I suppose they aren’t really citiziens of London, so they can’t compete. unless… an immigrant devil.) or a rat running for mayor. or like, an assembly of rats, real well-bred L.B.s, in a trenchcoat. Something that would look cool on a mayoral card. Or a tomb-colonist. A real tomb-colonist.
edited by gronostaj on 7/12/2017

Nothing has been proven. Correlation is not causation, and with only two elections so far, it could have been mere coincidence that the named candidates won.

Molly who? Never heard of her. How about you have Doctor Taupe-Wainscot run for Mayor? I’d like to see my ‘don’t be boring’ theory disproved by having the Most Boring Man in Fallen London not end up dead last in the election. I’d even campaign for him. Might even make an effort! I’m sure he’s surrounded by friends and acquaintances (from the forum) who would vouch for his suitability for higher office. The Sensible Choice!

Emelia Hathersage 1896

Ooh, you are a flatterer.

(Funny thing is… most of the candidates have had at least a suggestion of a name. Reginald, Mrs Dauntless, probably August…)

Listen here, I would DEFINITELY consider voting for Schlomo, Huffam, Plenty, or Lettice. They’re all familiar and have interesting stories with potential development…which, now that I think of it, is exactly the landslide problem repeated. Though, the possibility of using 3 named candidates with roughly equal notoriety is a very real solution to the problem.

I also realized that, even though the Last Constable’s candidacy would be a stellar return for her, I’d much prefer her to come back in a new story rather than running the risk of her running for mayor but losing so we end up not seeing her again indefinitely. And for the rubbery, while that would be awesome of FB, I’m pretty sure it would be a landslide unless the other mayors were equally surprising.

As for the criminal underlords, I wouldn’t put it past FB to use them. Our past candidates have been a religious escort actively out to kill one of the Masters and a spy that runs duels to the death for fun. Hardly conventional politicians, so I would certainly keep the possibility of the Topsy King or the Gracious Widow running open to possibility (that is, if she can run without anyone seeing her face).
edited by Sir Joseph Marlen on 7/13/2017

Nothing has been proven. Correlation is not causation, and with only two elections so far, it could have been mere coincidence that the named candidates won.[/quote]

Too, we all know the Bishop of Southwark’s name is

Reginald

[quote=Gillsing]

Molly who? Never heard of her.[/quote]

:eek:

Colonel Molly. Leader of the Regiment (One of the Urchin gangs). Holds up Dock workers with a cannon. Steals Mr Sack’s sack at Sackmas.(Now there’s an odd sentence.)

Unless, Sir Fred was simply suggesting we improve FL’s hygiene while worsening its drug problem?

.
edited by Charlotte_de_Witte on 7/13/2017

I think His Amused Lordship would be a fun candidate :D

[quote=Charlotte_de_Witte]
:eek:

Colonel Molly. Leader of the Regiment (One of the Urchin gangs). Holds up Dock workers with a cannon. Steals Mr Sack’s sack at Sackmas.(Now there’s an odd sentence.)[/quote]
Well, that explains it! I’m not very well connected with the Urchins. I used to just give them lizards in between selling them out to Devils, Dockers and the Gracious Widow. And I’ve never been tempted to investigate Mr Sacks sack.

re: whether folks we encounter in stories are more likely to get our votes or not…I like the idea of a panel of all completely new and unknown challengers, characters and backstories cooked up exclusively for the election and revealed on that first day of the campaign, before we move on to trying a panel of all Established Names.

I think a good test for whether Established Names have more pull is to have Mrs. Plenty run against a Rubbery Man and another named character we dig dirt up to discover gasp they’re September of the Calendar Council!! (please be the Gracious Widow, please be the Gracious Widow)

I’d love to see a slate of candidates where 2/3 (or even 3/3!) were Othered for deviations from Fallen London human &quotnorms&quot (such as they are) for 1899’s or 1900’s election, like a &quotprogressive new millennium!&quot kind of feel.

But dang if it wouldn’t be nice to see folks both Rubbery and Clay pop in before then! Maybe in 1896 we can have a Clay Man with a super progressive platform…but when we dig up dirt, it turns out one faction or another with a very different agenda is making him OBEY GRUDGINGLY all the way to the highest electable office to perform an about-face on the electorate!

Then in 1897, an Unfinished Scholar trying to make it legal to become a Professor with the support of the most radical Benthic academics, Revolutionaries and the Docks where he self-taught working hard labour to support his education…opposed by Summerset and Society alike, who field a candidate they think is ideal to oppose him…who is also a French agent in the Great Game!

Also when are we going to see a high-ranking member of The Kaleidoscopic Church for that awkward Bohemian/Church backed candidate?

I get excited dreaming about slates of candidates in this game far more than any slate of candidates any country puts forward in real life.

I think the job of the writers is a bit more difficult than picking three balanced and interesting candidates.

First, they have to pick candidates who make sense in-universe, who would want and be able to serve as Mayor. The character has to logically fit the role.

Second, they have to pick candidates who sort of click with each other and have interlocking themes, so the election is about actual issues and has a sort of story. In 1894 we had the Bishop and the Bohemian, with the Contrarian cocking a snook to them both and the Masters. In 1895 we had Feducci paired with the Detective in Elder Continent lore and Feducci squaring off with the Campaigner in ideology.

Third, they have promised to consider player nominations (go back to the first nominations thread and you’ll see that a lot of people wanted Feducci to run).

Fourth, they need to have, in theory, a competitive election, where each candidate has a shot.

It’s a pretty hard job.
edited by Anne Auclair on 7/13/2017

Given these requirements, I am not positive it is actually possible to create a perfectly balanced election.

But then, they never promised that London was fair.

[quote=G N]I think a good test for whether Established Names have more pull is to have Mrs. Plenty run against a Rubbery Man and another named character we dig dirt up to discover gasp they’re September of the Calendar Council!! (please be the Gracious Widow, please be the Gracious Widow)

I’d love to see a slate of candidates where 2/3 (or even 3/3!) were Othered for deviations from Fallen London human &quotnorms&quot (such as they are) for 1899’s or 1900’s election, like a &quotprogressive new millennium!&quot kind of feel.[/quote]
Those are very interesting ideas! I doubly support the Calendar Council reveal, but even that isn’t necessarily limited to revolutionary characters. It could be an established Snuffer character in disguise, or a character serving as proxy for another character that doesn’t wish to be known by the voters. At first I’d be worried that players would overlook them when compared to the other known candidates, but there’s also the possiblity that players would be drawn to them for wondering who even is this person? You’d probably have to have some heavy implications of their true identity from their supporters, their platform/character traits, and the secrets you get from investigations and flash lays. On the second week, you could either add further insight to who they are or just outright say it in a reveal or from more investigations.

The great thing is that we’ve come up with some great predictions and yet there are plenty more out there. The Amused Lordship and the Presbyterate Adventuress have been suggested, and I love those since they’re such interesting characters with plenty of room to grow. If I had to think of two other possibilities, one would be the Captivating Princess, if royalty can even run for office, that is. As for the latter…what about our Aunt? Your Aunt. My Aunt. The cumulative concept of our Aunt has come back to the Neath to haunt us and make our lives more of a hell than they already were with her fresh Surface politics. We’ve already seen her work borderline-diplomatic work during our time as governor of Port Carnelian, so it isn’t too much of a stretch.
edited by Sir Joseph Marlen on 7/13/2017