Factions and their relations with one another

So they has been bugging me for a little while I was playing Fallen London. They are varying factions with their unique goals, characters, and influence. But what are their relations with one another? It’s rather clear that Constables and Criminals oppose each other, and Benthic and Summerset are rivals, but what about the others? How do the rich and refined Society types and the London government compare with the Masters? Does the London government own the Constables or do the Masters do anyway? And do the Masters influence the government or just straight up tell them what to do? Are the neddy men gangsters or private security? Do Great Game players and Revolutionaries ever intertwine because they both are shadowy plotting types. What powers or influence does the Tomb Colonies have? Why do the Masters or Constables allow devils from hell to roam the streets and take people’s souls? And is it possible for characters to be involved in several factions, not just player characters. Sorry for this very long post but I’ve just been so curious.
edited by Desertjake on 10/5/2016

The Masters are the real power in Fallen London, they’re the ones running the show. The neddy men are their enforcers. The Tomb Colonies is where people go after they suffer some horrific death and they’re simply too disfigured to be part of polite society anymore. I don’t know much about the interaction between spies and revolutionaries. As for the devils… London gets its hydrogen and brass from Hell, so it depends economically on them.

edited by The Masked Felon on 10/5/2016

The masters control London and are the ones, who create laws and what they say goes, however the masters are very lax in their rule over London, and generally just let things happen. So the constables technically work for the masters, but in general they just do their job keeping the peace and solving crimes (as difficult as it is in the neath) like they did before London fell.

The neddy men on the other hand are the masters’ personal enforcers. They are a bunch of thugs that work for the masters and are used as bodyguards, as a means of dealing with people or things that are problems for the masters, and as general enforcers of masters’ will over London. A good of example of this being Mr. Fires’s neddy men, who deal with &quottroublesome&quot dockworkers and break up strikes via intimidation and violence.

The revolutionaries are involved in the great game, and you can see that in Wilmot’s End.

The Tomb Colonies have little influence over London.

The devils are allowed to roam London because of London’s loss in the Campaign of '68 (http://thefifthcity.wikia.com/wiki/The_Campaign_of_'68), and as such the devils have an embassy in London called the Brass Embassy. Now the masters don’t seem to have been involved in the Campaign of '68 and seemed to have just let the people of London declare war on Hell, which is something important to note.

There are some characters that are involved with more than one faction. The Sardonic Music-Hall Singer is an example of this. She is involved with the Bohemians and Society at the same time.

Hopefully this helps to clarify things a bit. :)
edited by Lord Gazter on 10/6/2016

The master’s did say that the devils couldn’t take more than 10% of the population’s souls, though I believe this information was from the devils. So take it with a grain of salt.

Society hates the Tomb-Colonies, and the feeling is mutual- likely because high-society people, or people born into that station, are the majority of those with the resources to become tomb-colonists. {not explicitly canon, but the only tomb-colonists whose backgrounds are gone into properly are formerly high society. even whoever you go to for &quotclosest to:&quot, is an ex-society bloke. }

However, it seems that (High) Society is the worse aggressor- Tomb-Colonists seldom do anything to Society, but the reverse isn’t true.

It’s hard to be sure about the constables, but I suspect they’re in the Master’s employ. That said, asking &quotdoes the government of london or the masters control the constables&quot feels akin to asking &quotwhich will get you wetter- dihydrogen monoxide in liquid form or water?&quot

Great Game and revolution seem to have few canonical dealings- which is odd until you realize that the game is all about control and manipulation - it’s a game, and if the revolution has a strategy that doesn’t involve metaphorical pidgeons[1], well, that’s news to me. They probably have terrible ideological differences, if few differences at first glance.

Tomb Colonists are basically a more moderate version of your character- or at least the ones in london are. Very good at what they do, with lots of experience, daring and bold, and with a mysterious bundle of former connections, with very little fear of danger or trouble. That said, they do not seem to possess any form of ordered power, only competence. As they have little to no political or social power, many are shipped to tomb-colonies, and tomb-colonist abductions are treated with a sort of apathy.

The Constables allow the devils to exist for two reasons- one, there’s no laws on the books against it, and non-consensual soul claiming is punished [if they can catch them- remember, for every human in london, there is a criminal in london.], and two, as my predecessors mentioned, campaign of '68 means they had to allow some things.

There are characters who are involved in two or more factions, but most characters are only really invested in one, if that- the other one is something they do because they profit, not because they truly believe in them.

[1] Debating [redacted] on the topic of [redacted] is rather like trying to play chess with a pigeon; it knocks the pieces over, craps on the board, and flies back to its flock to claim victory. [2]

[2] or, in the revolutions’ case, sets up a galactic anti-nuke and considers this to be a victory. Yay revolution, Yay liberation, rah, rah, rah.
edited by Grenem on 10/5/2016

It’s never made precisely clear to what degree the Masters dictate public policy. Sometimes it’s directly - the Ministry of Public Decency and the Special Constables are in Mr Pages’ employ. Sometimes it’s indirectly - some high-ranking officials are agents of the Masters, but only in secret, implying that their colleagues consider themselves servants of the government and not the Bazaar. The Masters are no doubt tremendously powerful and influential, but the areas they explicitly control are a very mixed bag - the secret police, customs and excise, but also, say, brothels, and rubbish collection. Even in their own city, they mostly operate in secret.

The Tomb-Colonists are an odd case - technically, you might say they’re just a group of elderly and/or unwell Londoners who happen to be taking an extended holiday. In that sense, they’re hardly a cohesive faction at all. On the other hand, they have entire cities to themselves, include among their ranks some of the oldest and strangest of the Neath’s residents, and are generally suspected to be Up To Something. Like an apocalyptic cult whose ranks consisted of grey-haired holidaymakers - The Shadow over Bognor, if you will.

Several of the factions can be said not to be very cohesive. At least two (Urchins and Great Game) are made up of distinct sub-factions that are in various styles of war against each other. It seems likely that anybody closely associated with, e.g., the Great Game will also be enemies with other parts of the Great Game.

Of course, that applies to The Masters as well…

Alright, but what about the Traitor Empress in her Shuttered Palace? How do the Masters feel about the previous head of an empire being there in the Neath with them? And does she have any real power or authority left in London besides the fact that some still suck up to her?

The doctor of anatomy is both benthic (?or maybe summerset, I’m not 100% sure) and revolutionary.

Also I’m pretty sure the masters have no problem with previous leaders, so long as they don’t fight against them.
edited by suinicide on 10/6/2016

Where do the Rubbery Men fit into all of this? Are they a fringe group or do they have their hands/tentacles into the goings of fallen london?

There’s one with society and another that seems reluctantly a part of the great game, but mostly they keep to themselves.

[quote=Grenem]Society hates the Tomb-Colonies, and the feeling is mutual- likely because high-society people, or people born into that station, are the majority of those with the resources to become tomb-colonists. {not explicitly canon, but the only tomb-colonists whose backgrounds are gone into properly are formerly high society. even whoever you go to for &quotclosest to:&quot, is an ex-society bloke. }

However, it seems that (High) Society is the worse aggressor- Tomb-Colonists seldom do anything to Society, but the reverse isn’t true.

It’s hard to be sure about the constables, but I suspect they’re in the Master’s employ. That said, asking &quotdoes the government of london or the masters control the constables&quot feels akin to asking &quotwhich will get you wetter- dihydrogen monoxide in liquid form or water?&quot

Great Game and revolution seem to have few canonical dealings- which is odd until you realize that the game is all about control and manipulation - it’s a game, and if the revolution has a strategy that doesn’t involve metaphorical pidgeons[1], well, that’s news to me. They probably have terrible ideological differences, if few differences at first glance.

Tomb Colonists are basically a more moderate version of your character- or at least the ones in london are. Very good at what they do, with lots of experience, daring and bold, and with a mysterious bundle of former connections, with very little fear of danger or trouble. That said, they do not seem to possess any form of ordered power, only competence. As they have little to no political or social power, many are shipped to tomb-colonies, and tomb-colonist abductions are treated with a sort of apathy.

The Constables allow the devils to exist for two reasons- one, there’s no laws on the books against it, and non-consensual soul claiming is punished [if they can catch them- remember, for every human in london, there is a criminal in london.], and two, as my predecessors mentioned, campaign of '68 means they had to allow some things.

There are characters who are involved in two or more factions, but most characters are only really invested in one, if that- the other one is something they do because they profit, not because they truly believe in them.

[1] Debating [redacted] on the topic of [redacted] is rather like trying to play chess with a pigeon; it knocks the pieces over, craps on the board, and flies back to its flock to claim victory. [2]

[2] or, in the revolutions’ case, sets up a galactic anti-nuke and considers this to be a victory. Yay revolution, Yay liberation, rah, rah, rah.
edited by Grenem on 10/5/2016[/quote]

While there aren’t laws against devils and the soul trade, the are laws about it. The Silent Soul option on De Gustibus mentioned that, legally, souls are considered exotic light sources. The masters not only ignore, but subtly support the soul trade in this way (no wonder, as legally souls must first go through the Bazaar, which then sells them to the devils. Becoming a spirifer allows you to sell souls to the devils directly for more echoes.)

To contradict a lot of statements made on the Tomb-Colonies; they do appear to have an overstretching governmental body of some sort. At the very least, the Tomb-Colonists have a military body, as they seem to be looking for investors that can help them stock up on ammunition and firepower for their private reserve (Temple Club content).

There’s not a real clear definition for “Tomb-Colonies”, however. The colonies are dozens if not hundreds of little ports and towns scattered all around to the North of London. Larger ones like Venderbight have their own governmental officials, like the First Curator, while others may have priests, kings, or priest kings.

Generally, the Tomb-Colonists are little-involved in London affairs, because they don’t represent a single idiological group. A Tomb-Colonist isn’t bound to think or feel in a certain way just because he’s wrapped in bandages, so there’s no telling on who’s side one will be in a conflict based on their faction.