[quote=Cernunnas]Glad to see so many fellow campaigners. I’ve chosen to be an agitator, since it seems it’s the thing we’re lacking the most. I’m working on demoralising non-Feducci supporters, though that’s giving me quite a bit of nightmares. I could use some help getting rid of my suspicion, at the moment.
edited by Cernunnas on 6/27/2017[/quote]I’m so very glad that you’ve joined our side.
I’m zorgan presuming your using the same username your using here don’t forget to ask him directly if you need help with such hell be able to deal with the problem easily(provided that he’s crashed out in an alley way trying to get some well needed sleep)
[quote=Feducci’s Hallowmas Confession]"Et in Arbour Ego"
A terse confession on yellowing pages, describing a duel Feducci lost in the Elder Continent. As forfeit, he swore to complete a gruelling pilgrimage to the brambled city of Arbour. Feducci was a celebrated figure, attended by lovers, well-wishers and flatterers. Many begged to accompany him, and a company of seventy-seven embarked with pennants, wine, and song.
The roads they travelled were long-abandoned, haunted by hungry things. They skirted the fringes of the Desert of Eyes. They traversed viperous jungles. One by one, Feducci’s companions fell, but he refused to turn back. When he reached the rosebrick gate, he was alone.[/quote]
A celebrated figure, attended by lovers, well-wishers and flatterers… Some things never change :P
edited by Anne Auclair on 6/27/2017
Greetings!
I have joined as a Campaigner, but unfortunately I haven’t been focusing on enlivening my social life enough, so the circle of my acquaintances remains quite small, and none of them is a fellow Feducci supporter.
I won’t let myself get discouraged, however. I’ll take this as a chance to get to know more of my fellow Londoners, and it would be an honor to make my new acquaintances amongst the daring ones who support the only candidate with a real vision for this city. I’m sure my requests for donations will fall on kind ears here.
(Scandal and Suspicion are under control, for now, but I have no doubt I’ll be in trouble again soon enough :D).
edited by Miravia on 6/27/2017
Just like political smear campaigns ;)
[quote=Akernis][quote=Anne Auclair]
A celebrated figure, attended by lovers, well-wishers and flatterers… Some things never change :P
[/quote]
Just like political smear campaigns ;)[/quote]
It’s not a smear if it’s true :P Feducci is pretty much a powerball winner who has invested his winnings in insider trading while promising everyone else that the lottery and stock market are the roads to salvation. Feducci always does well, that’s the one constant of his life. And he always does well because he doesn’t play fair.
Feducci: "When I win there will be so much winning, believe me, a really tremendous amount of winning. There will be so much winning that you will get so tired of winning and be like ‘Feducci, can we win a little less?’ I know how unfair the world is because I’ve cheated and schemed my whole life and because of that you can trust me to fix everything. I make the best gambles, believe me, and I’ll make really good gambles for our city. So. Much. Winning."
Now that comparison is an actual smear.
That’s literally Feducci’s entire platform :P Everything would be great if everyone was a little more like him. They’d totally win more! Somehow! He’s a total egotist and a con artist.
edited by Anne Auclair on 6/27/2017
[quote=suinicide]Now that comparison is an actual smear.[/quote]To compare anyone to the esteemed Mr. T____ is a rather grievous smear, but from certain perspectives, it’s not inaccurate. Feducci is winning a lot of support from the poor and the forgotten thanks to his promises, which are also likely to harm that constituency. He is rich and has advantages from his heritage that helped protect his risk-taking. He says everything that needs to be said to win - help the poor, more freedom for everybody, fun for all - and yet he doesn’t focus much on the policy details. They both also have suspicious dealings with foreign powers, though Feducci’s is far more intense.
Of course, this is much of what makes Feducci such a fun and interesting candidate …
edited by Azothi on 6/27/2017
Having signed up as a Fixer for Feducci, I find myself with a somewhat lacking contacts list. I am open for anyone who finds themselves with uncomfortable levels of scandal or suspicion; undeserved, of course, as soon the rest of London will agree.
[quote=Anne Auclair][quote=Akernis]
Just like political smear campaigns ;)[/quote]
It’s not a smear if it’s true :P [/quote]
Of course it is.
A smear campaign is any intentional, premeditated effort to undermine a candidate’s reputation, credibility, and character. It can consist of ad hominem and straw man argument, or it can be distortions, half-truths, or outright lies; but it doesn’t have to be. Even truths - whether objective truths, or truths from a certain point of view - are smear if used to weaken the candidate’s standing in the eyes of the public.
However, that doesn’t mean that I disagree with your accusations - quite the contrary, I agree with you wholeheartedly, it just so happens that those selfsame qualities are exactly what makes me want to support him. What you see as unfair play I see as smart - I mean, why wouldn’t you want to be immortal if going into battle?, and if you had obtained immortality and exceptional fighting expertise it would be a waste not use them where they were most suited.
If he happens to win what he does regularly, so much the better; I would prefer to have a competent Mayor. And I do so love a meritocracy.
And if he happens to be allied to devils - another group I am in excellent standing with - and the Presbyterate - whom I find endlessly fascinating - so much the better.
.
edited by Akernis on 6/28/2017
[quote=Akernis][quote=Anne Auclair][quote=Akernis]
Just like political smear campaigns ;)[/quote]
It’s not a smear if it’s true :P [/quote]
Of course it is.
However, that doesn’t mean that I disagree with your accusations…[/quote]
You can’t have it both ways :P
[quote=Anne Auclair]
You can’t have it both ways :P[/quote]
Oh? And why not? I am merely saying that I (or rather the dictionary and wiki) disagree with your definition of a smear, but that even so I do not subjectively disagree with the points you are trying to make through said smearing.
Or am I merely not allowed to disagree with something you say while supporting something else? Do I have to be entirely on your side or against you to be allowed to argue something you say?
edited by Akernis on 6/27/2017
A reminder to keep discussion of contemporary politics to a minimum (preferably not at all.) The mayoral candidates are pleasingly fictitious!
My apologies, Ladies and Gentlemen. I got carried away. I will cease any further argument in this direction.
When you call something a smear you’re saying it’s not true, or not verified, or incorrectly framed and hence that it should be disregarded. You admit this information is accurate…so there’s no smear.
I think there may been a miss communication then. Because I explicitly wrote that a smear is not merely saying something untrue, but trying to undermine a candidate’s character, true or false.
(Sir Frederick, if things like this constitutes as contemporary politics discussions, feel free to delete as you see fit.)
.
edited by Akernis on 6/27/2017
I think there may been a miss communication then. Because I explicitly wrote that a smear is not merely saying something untrue, but trying to undermine a candidate’s character, true or false.
(Sir Frederick, if things like this constitutes as contemporary politics discussions, feel free to delete as you see fit.)
.
edited by Akernis on 6/27/2017[/quote]
In mainstream political discourse the word "smear" is generally used to label something as false and therefore dismiss it.
And it’s not undermining Feducci’s character to point out things that were known before the election. Those things are part of his known character, so to speak.
Both my characters have declared for Feducci. Violet Bandit is a fixer, and Dauntless Damsel is an agitator.
[quote=Gul al-Ahlaam]The way I see it, Feducci’s the only one who could actually save any lives in the long run. Sooner or later all these poor slobs are gonna get dropped into the Tear Pit™ and their souls will dissolve and so forth. The only way to survive is to get rich, powerful, or connected enough to escape across the Unterzee or to get the protection of one of the Neath’s powerful supernatural factions. I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer to help a few more of them survive than to give all of them the equivalent of palliative care.[/quote]There are few survivors within the city itself, and even then it’s only the most influential and powerful citizens. Most were the rulers and lovers who brought about the Fall. The reason why we need so many archaeological expeditions to the Forgotten Quarter is that there are so few left to tell us firsthand. The Khanate, on the other hand, rivals London in power and has continued to advance in society and technology. Suffice to say, escape across a sunless sea (or a sea more sunless) is the only good choice.
Feducci is not the candidate to keep Londoners safe and away from the Bazaar.
First of all, he’s an agent of the Presbyterate. Which foreign nation did London defeat to gain Port Carnelian? The Presbyterate. The Mithridate Office, a Presbyterate agency, continually tries to sour relations between Port Carnelian and the indigenous tigers through misinformation and lies. If cordial relations cannot be established with the tigers, Port Carnelian is left in mortal danger. We need solidarity and empathy with the tigers and the Khanate to survive, and the Presbyterate is actively working to destroy that.
Second of all, what evidence do we have that Feducci’s policies will genuinely help the poor? I can’t find any instance in Fallen London where the poor have been kept poor by statutes or regulations. Rather, the way the game is written, it indicates that social advancement is entirely possible, even for outsiders and the poor. The player character arrives a prisoner with just the clothes on their back and a little bit of capital, and they can ascend to become anything from a common brute to a notorious academic. A street urchin could go out to zee and, with a bit of risk and illegal action, become the ruler of a kingdom. Or become immortal. Or both. Now that I call climbing the chain, and that I also call the status quo.
Even for non-PCs, there are numerous examples of social advancement. The Turkish Girl is a fixture of society parties, yet she is both low-born and illiterate. She distinguished herself by her athletic talent and overcame the obstacles of her socioeconomic background and lack of education to become a notable member of society. For a more average person, the Wolfstack in the fog opportunity card allows you to find a poor person a job, and they’re taken in with barely any fuss or paperwork, which you can read about here. In The Heart, the Devil, and the Zee, the Precocious Urchin has the opportunity to be the first in her family to attend the University, despite her affiliation with the urchin gangs and her place in the third estate. The Persuasive mentor story is a similar one, where sufficiently crafty urchins are able to maneuver their way into the University. Those with the vision and skills to advance are climbing the chain without the help of Feducci or his policies. We need to get out of their way and instead help those who are truly in need: the drunkards, the honey-addicts, the utterly hopeless.
How, exactly, is Feducci to help them? Intrepid competition? These people are enslaved to their addictions. Capitalism thrives on reinvestment to improve production. It dies when you don’t have the capital to begin, and it dies if you can’t reinvest. An addict would have to choose between feeding their company or feeding their addiction. Which, then, would they choose? Furthermore, how would they secure the money and resources to begin? Most would begin with a loan. The issue is that the poor are a high-risk demographic. They likely have little experience in business and don’t have a means to sustain a floundering business, leaving them vulnerable. It would take clear vision and a promising product to get a sane investor on board, and for most, this is simply unfeasible. Who does this leave them with? Predatory lenders. People who will just exploit the poor for more and more money. Feducci does nothing to defend against this; at best, we could hope the predatory lenders bankrupt themselves, but with a bit of business acumen and a steady supply of the poor, it would take a failure of epic proportions to truly fall.
I hate to advertise my candidate in a discussion about Feducci, but I’d like to show the alternatives. The Dauntless Temperance Campaigner is fighting against exploitation, the "factory-owners, the landlords, and the bankers". It helps even the playing field, keep those in power from exploiting those beneath them. Fair pay, fair gain, fair London. By helping to rehabilitate honey-addicts and drunkards, they can become productive members of society with a job, a life - perhaps even a family - and earn their place as a survivor of the Fifth City. Remember, Feducci enjoys change. A street urchin could rise to the level of a governor’s son, but he would be just as happy to see that urchin fall into poverty again. It’s not about survival; it’s about his game.
And I think you’re misinterpreting Feducci’s investment in the trade deals with the Presbyterate. He’s not betting all of his money on the trade deal. The deals already happened. In the past, repeatedly, Feducci speculated - he invested breathtakingly risky amounts of money - and he received huge returns on the deals. And is it any surprise? He’s an agent of the Presbyterate; of course he’ll be taking advantage of these deals to turn a tidy profit. The reason why it’s significant is because of "Fair Play, Fair Game". He’s an agent of the Presbyterate with inside knowledge of both the Presbyterate (he knows the Presbyter) and London, making huge sums of money from betting on trade deals between these two nations. Fair play, fair game? It’s insider trading at best, outright bribery at worst. In a number of countries, both are illegal explicitly because they are unfair and exploitative. An inside trader could make a lot of money (sound familiar?) with this knowledge that others don’t even have the chance to gain. Again, fair play, fair game?
Sorry for interrupting the discussion, and sorry if I Seem a bit of a buzzkill, but I think none of the candidate’s policies will help the majority of the poor in London. Feducci obviously campaigns an environment free of restrictions where there’s, supposedly, an equal and fair competition between all individuals which, on paper, could help the poor but it’s not a 100% guarantee and there’s the possibility of abuse. Now, on the other hand,the Dauntless Temperance Campaigner bases her promise on help of the poor and he rehabilitation of criminal elements of London’s society and while this might sound great in paper I see two problems with her promises: on one hand while helping the poor and destitute is admirable, when you take into account the society of Fallen London chances are that they’ll either be left slightly better off -I mean, it’s not like the DTC is giving each poor person a thousand echoes to help them- and on the risk that the inherent corruption of the system will crush them again (and sorry if I sound a bit cynic, but I doubt she could do much); on the other hand, her promise to help rehabilitate criminals, while again noble and laudable, is ripe for abuse and exploitation from criminals who don’t really intend to reform and jsut look at the opportunity offered the the Campaigner as an easy way to steal for her or her associates.
I won’t comment much on the Detective since, afaik, her platform is for the empowerment and reformation of the Constables, while upholding more strict laws which, in my opinion, doesn’t address the issues that, well, keep the poor as poor as they are. I mean, less corrupt Constables won’t stop a factory owner, or a zee captain to give another example, from exploiting it’s employees, nor will it help with the issues that plague the Urchin’s situation in my opinion. So, in summary, I think all the options offer at best a bit of hope to the poor and destitute or the equivalent of a small band-aid in terms of how much those policies help and, at worst, they don’t change a thing. So, with that in mind, I prefer to support Feducci (plus, I find him more interesting than the other candidates)