[color=#cc0099]It’s 1895 and Jenny’s time as Mayor is up—a new Mayor will be chosen!
The Election is free and is open to all players. It will begin Monday 26th June. Players will have two delicious weeks to choose an Election career and bolster support for their chosen candidate through a variety of actions. At the end of the first week of Election, we will announce which candidate is ahead. The final day of Election will be Monday 10th July.
This year, as part of the Fallen London Reworks, there will be new ways players can amplify their vote through social activities. Some methods will allow players to work cooperatively together to support their candidates, while others are more competitive in nature.
Join the revelry through the "An Invitation to a Ball" storylet, available throughout London. The three candidates up for the 1895 Election are:
The elected Mayor will reign for one year, after which another election will be held. The winning candidate will have a Mayoral influence in your Opportunity Deck until next year’s election, so consider who you support carefully. After the festival, there will be an opportunity to suggest candidates you’d like to see take up a Mayoral campaign for 1896.
No Election is complete without fliers, political cartoons, and other such materials. We invite you all to create and share your own!
This year we are also trying something new with the 1895 candidate posters, which we will be thrilled to announce next Monday when the festival opens.
We cannot wait to see who you will choose, delicious friends… [/color]
Damn them all! I hope those of a revolutionary bent get to disrupt this farce - This election where the geese get to vote for what flavour of sauce they are served in at Christmas.
I just realized that the Dauntless Temperance Campaigner has on numerous occasions “lead campaigns against me”. Clearly I was innocent of whatever scandalous incidents she accuses me of.
And here I thought Feducci, and the other hard-core Black Ribboners, engaged in duels to the True Death because they really want to die, and are trying to figure out how. That being said, Feducci certainly has multiple loyalties, and that’s enough reason not to vote for him (though one of my characters might anyway). :-)
Feducci:I’m an immortal foreign spy who kills people for fun. My platform is incredibly self-serving.
Detective:I’m a defender of the Masters and part of a faction with many dark secrets.
Campaigner:I think alcohol and honey consumption is bad for you.
THEY’RE ALL EQUALLY TERRIBLE!! . edited by Anne Auclair on 6/23/2017[/quote]
As much as I’m juggling support between Feducci, the Campaigner, and nobody (viva la revolution!) in the pre-election season, I actually think you’ll have a point when the election itself begins. The Dauntless Temperance Campaigner is the most interesting candidate because she serves as not just a progressive candidate but a historically progressive candidate. Like how last year when we were discussing how everyone could vote for the Major while in the lore technically women still don’t have the vote? I know others have mentioned it, but the DTC works really well to ground Fallen London as still existing in a history where the temperance movement is going on, and a prevailing sentiment around drugs and alcohol was that they were both moral and economic evils that led to poverty, violence against women and children, and the breakup of the family. Only in Fallen London, you can also tack on ‘selling your soul’ to the list.
So we get a character who, honestly, by the standards of the setting is probably one of the more beneficent characters around - on the level of the Kind-Hearted Widow certainly. AND one who is also very politically and actively motivated. Her only real moral failing is campaigning against the Calendar Council, as what is inevitable may only be temporarily delayed, never stopped. And yet the player character, depending on how they are played, can be full up in all kinds of sleazy hedonistic alchohol and honey-fueled fun even as they try to be magnanimous. And then there are the real-life parallels and our OOC knowledge of history and how Prohibition went compared to the IC lack of knowledge - sure, we know how well it worked, but the people of Fallen London don’t…and who’s to say that history wouldn’t turn out different, since so many other facets of the world have?
The Dauntless Temperance Campaigner’s ethical dilemma won’t be some kind of hypocrisy on her part - it will expose the ethical dilemma in ourselves, and how we justify "not being able to have fun" against "indirectly supporting a system that leads to the cyclical economic ruin, harm, and death of other people not as well off as our characters". edited by Hotshot Blackburn on 6/23/2017
[quote=Mordaine Barimen]Oh goodie. Someone is continuing their tired shtick in the next election as well. I think I shall give up on the forums altogether.
One person’s "fun" is many others’ "continual irritant and reason to avoid this place."[/quote]I’d just like to put on record here that, even though we probably won’t ever support the same candidate, I love reading Ms. Auclair’s posts - indeed, they’ve inspired me to join in the fun this year :P
(One thing I seem to remember from last year is that there were different threads, one for in-character role-play stuff and one for mechanics/story discussion. We should probably do this again, to minimize disruption.)
What I actually came here to say: I might be wrong but I think we’ll see a much closer race this year, with Feducci and DTC slightly ahead. I think the Detective’s law-and-order stance isn’t too popular among FL players in general, even though she is an awesome character.
Feducci/DTC mirror the Jenny/Bishop contrast from last year, but the lines are far blurrier this time around. Feducci’s plans for social progression seem like an echo of Jenny’s, but he’s a far shadier character than her. Jenny is the kind of beloved celebrity who can slip up any time she wants and will always be forgiven. While the opacity of Feducci’s actual goals will turn away many voters, that same opacity will also appeal to many who supported the Contrarian last year. (In fact, just wanting to find out what he’s really going to do is the main reason why I’m voting for him)
The Bishop of Southwark is, at the end of the day, just a weirdo. Whether you agree that abstinence and pulling up socks will actually solve any problems or not, the DTC represents a far more likeable and reasonable option than he ever did, and many voters will see her as the lesser evil.
I think the various little secrets that we’re going to unearth in our investigations during the Election might have a greater impact this year than they did last year. Just an example, if the Detective were shown to keep to a strict code of honour and hold the more corrupt elements among the constables in check, it would increase her chances a lot. edited by phryne on 6/24/2017
The Bishop of Southwark is, at the end of the day, just a weirdo. edited by phryne on 6/24/2017[/quote]
Yes.
And…
A weirdo that wanted to wrestle Hell.
In other words, the perfect candidate #bishopshouldawon#ifthebishopcantwrestleitfeduccicanstabit#votefeducci
Huh. Not enthusiastic about any of those choices. DTC and Detective too law-and-order for my liking. Feducci a literal foreign agent.
I’m with Anne here.
I think I’ll campaign for the DTC though, her policies wouldn’t sit well with the Masters (they like wine and honey and soul trade and things) so her winning would probably cause the most chaos.
Feducci would screw over London but not the Masters, Detective is just a straight up law and order candidate.
[quote=Amalgamate]Detective is just a straight up law and order candidate.[/quote]She’s also a member in good standing of the Dlimun Club, so whatever she is she isn’t ‘straight up’ anything.
[quote=Amalgamate]Huh. Not enthusiastic about any of those choices. DTC and Detective too law-and-order for my liking. Feducci a literal foreign agent.
I’m with Anne here. [/quote]
Oh dear, um, I wasn’t actually arguing that all the candidates are equally bad ^_^ I was gently mocking those who have been bemoaning the darkness around Feducci and the Detective, but can’t bring themselves to vote for the Campaigner because temperance is annoying. Maybe I should have added a funny face at the end, like this :P
Anyway, part of me suspects that temperance will only be one part of the DTC’s campaign. The diversity of her support and the way she describes her program, it sounds a bit more ambitious than simply taking on Big Gin (Wines) and Big Honey (Spices):
So of all the platforms, campaign speeches, and companions, I’m anticipating hers the most.
[quote=Anne Auclair]
Anyway, part of me suspects that temperance will only be one part of the DTC’s campaign. The diversity of her support and the way she describes her program, it sounds a bit more ambitious than simply taking on Big Gin (Wines) and Big Honey (Spices).[/quote]
I just laughed right out loud at work. Big Gin and Big Honey…I love this and will continue to think of them that way!!
[quote=Mordaine Barimen]Oh goodie. Someone is continuing their tired shtick in the next election as well. I think I shall give up on the forums altogether.
One person’s "fun" is many others’ "continual irritant and reason to avoid this place."[/quote]
There is no escape! The tedious, persistent ubiquityisn’t confined to the forums. This customer can find you anywhere! They found me in the game! I’m being nagged at now in the Game! There is no respite!
Aaaargh! Where to go to lie low until the election is over? The Tomb-Colonies? Probably not far away enough. Polythreme? No, it’s bad enough to be lectured to, without it being done by pamphlets that actually harrumph, poke your chest, and kick you in the shins. The Iron Republic? …Maybe. Or what if I just park my zubmarine on the zee-bed for a fortnight?
No, wait. The only safe place is… North! Surely they can’t reach me there? ;)
[quote=phryne][quote=Mordaine Barimen]Oh goodie. Someone is continuing their tired shtick in the next election as well. I think I shall give up on the forums altogether.
One person’s "fun" is many others’ "continual irritant and reason to avoid this place."[/quote](One thing I seem to remember from last year is that there were different threads, one for in-character role-play stuff and one for mechanics/story discussion. We should probably do this again, to minimize disruption.)[/quote]
All I remember was every thread being debate, no exceptions for things like mechanics. Because I could never find posts I wanted, IE: posts on mechanics/new content.
It also cured me of ever wanting to listen to anyone debate anything ever again. So for the love of god, let’s have a thread somewhere that isn’t debating along with all the hundreds that are debating.