[quote=MrEvil135]Jovial Contrarian - Has some… Interesting ties to the revolutionaries. May be one of Months, Is currently running against his last ideals. Currently claims to stand for law and order.[/quote]The Jovial Contrarian isn’t running against his ideals; he’s advancing the revolution by advocating a restoration of rule of law and separating the constabulary from the Ministry of Public Decency. In doing so, he not only gathers intelligence for revolutionaries to use, particularly regarding secret departments within the constabulary, but he weakens the ability for the Masters to enforce their rule on the city, especially with regards to supposedly indecent or seditious texts. This is precisely the platform he ran on in 1894: a London of free thought. He’s simply being more subtle about it this time around.
[quote=MrEvil135]Slowcakes - Is in charge of measuring a persons respectability. Somehow. Is never seen in public. Some claim he isn’t even a real person. May be a conspiracy by Devils. Currently claims that respectability should determine your place on the political ladder. (which it does already, even if indirectly)[/quote]Not merely respectability. Mr. Slowcake also cares about how dreaded and bizarre you are. Besides, Mr. Slowcake might be cold, but a society organized by these standards of exceptionalness rather than class is more meritocratic and socially mobile than traditional British society. Even foreigners, newcomers, the poor, and the downtrodden can rise to renown through Slowcake’s Exceptionals.
And, after all, supporting Mr. Slowcake means supporting the much-appreciated research by Hell into the effects of politics on the soul, which is a genuinely admirable cause.
[quote=MrEvil135]The Captivating Princess - Is the only child the of the Traitor Empress to be seen in public. She may be some kind of monster anyway. Has a… Stange effect with bees. Currently claims to stand for… herself. Mostly.[/quote]She offers an artistic renaissance for London. Sure, it might be because she doesn’t like the way London looks, but she has an eye for talent and controversy, and she’s immune enough from the law and the people to break societal boundaries and rid London of the anodyne menace.
I mean to say: the choices aren’t as bad as they seem on the surface. They are questionable individuals in service of arguably good causes, but it isn’t a dualistic moral question. You will see characters all over the spectrum from good to evil and from chaotic to lawful supporting each of the candidates because they transcend these classifications to instead ask what vision of London.
Failbetter chose well when naming each candidate. The Captivating Princess - Pride of London. A more beautiful London, reminding people of better days when the ships of Britain ruled the seas and the city was something other than industrial squalor. Mr. Slowcake - Editor of London. A London divided not by class or birth but by notability, a power in the hands of the editors of Slowcake’s Exceptionals. And finally, the Jovial Contrarian - Restorer of London. His vision is the beginning of a London where the Masters and the Bazaar hold no power, like a prelapsarian London, where the rights of the citizenry are protected and liberties hold the powers that be at bay.