“Arrayed behind you is the chivalric might of Burgundy. And here, Burgundy’s two heads, like Gog and Magog, stand side by side, their gazes fixed on the forest. The Last Duchess and Maximilian, would-be Duchess and Duke of Burgundy. A horn-blow splits the silence: the hunt is up.”
Firmament Chapter Five has arrived! Win the support of the Duchy of Burgundy, pursue a mythical creature across the Neath, and embark upon a Grand Hunt to decide the fate of a city. Burgundy hangs in the balance…
As part of this chapter, you’ll also unlock a selection of new opportunities within Burgundy, a medieval city translated into the Neath. Cast a bell, employ the glazier’s arts and seek out the fabled Mint, wellspring of all the Roof’s stuivers. For those flush with currency, there are even a handful of fashionable new additions to the local shops.
Firmament is Fallen London’s current major expansion, a main story arc that’s free to all players. It begins once you have progressed the Railway story arc as far as Ealing Gardens, although will require more progress in the Railway as chapters progress.
Continue the story of Firmament from Burgundy. If you’ve not yet begun Firmament, look for a card in London named ‘The Fire in the Looking Glass’.
Haha, I’m halfway done with Chapter Four (just after the feast), had to go back to London to deal with menaces and do other stuff first before I fly back up to the Roof/Burgundy again. According to the wiki I should raise the cap for my Chthonosophy before proceeding further… so that will take a while.
So, the game presents a smorgasbord of choice for who will represent Maximilian. I am inclined to pick either Beltane—we do have a familiarity, as I endeavored to make his double the City of the Tracklayers in my game—or, I might pick Bizarro Stones because that’s too interesting a choice not to see how it plays out. As for the others, I am not familiar with most of them.
I attempted to choose the King (to have a shot at murdering an ex-Judgement), the Last Priest (mercy killing) and the Princess (to take out a key asset). Unfortunately the Calendar rejected all my choices and forced me to pick Summer anyway.
This has been, overall, my favourite instalment of Firmament so far. While yes, in large part that is due to Parabola Shenanigans I also finally feel like I have agency in the ongoing story (the acknowledgement of certain ESes is also very much appreciated!). The usual sore spot is the fact that ONCE AGAIN, MAXIMILIAN WALKS AWAY WITH ZERO CONSEQUENCES, WHEN DEFEATED because the game is hellbent on designating him as your Team Rocket figure and refuses to acknowledge the possibility of just stabbing him in the back or something. I’m not even mad about soliciting help from the Calendar at the end, that’s a reasonable necessary evil in the face of the Vulgate war finally starting, I’m just annoyed that the game physically prevents you from doing anything about this chummy moustache-twiddler.
At the rate things are proceeding, I’m going back to Irem to sell London to the Sapphir’d King out of spite for how hard Maximilian is trying to make the Liberation seem like anything except a cavalcade of atrocities perpetuated by particularly spiteful higher powers. I was vaguely annoyed at being stuck with the Duchess at the start of the story, but she’s pulled her weight at my side while Maximilian has been spouting empty platitudes nonstop so I guess I’m a Burgundian Royalist now.
I was le stuck at this point ALL DAY and missed at least one actions refill because I didn’t want to screw up. Imagine my face when I found out what actually happens to your choice! Lol.
I wasn’t so dead set against the LoN but yeah I’m finding them really aggravating in this installment. All for the Duchess!
Alright, since a few people seem to be through with this by now:
Is the outcome pure binary Duchess or Maximilian rules Burgundy?
I absolutely despise the Duchess, but I think I hate Maximilian even more. If I could I would love to screw over both of them. Or at least make the winner suffer/lose as much power as possible.
This is the first chapter where I am willing to risk spoilers. Usually I would just go with my guts and help who I like more, but the last chapter really killed what little sympathy I had for the Duchess. If my character could they would stick with their attitude towards nobility in general: Off with the title or off with the head.
No, I was able to have the Duchess take the throne but rule with Maximilian alongside her but apparently a little secondary. It seemed like there were other options, too, though I don’t remember the details, I’m afraid.
My choices to get there:
all 3 factions supporting the Duchess, had her in less-tyrannical mode from prior chapters (may not have mattered to getting them to rule together, though it had effects on how), and chose all progress towards her but had them meet with me assisting and gave each of them doubts.
I enjoyed that this one was a bit more straightforward than the previous ones, and generally felt like a change of pace. Some creepy atmosphere, and I found the decision pretty satisfying and not too opaque what would happen. And I really like staying in one place for a second chapter and instead expanding the city more, it’s feeling really substantial and solid now (though I hope we’re going to get more roof-places in the future too).
50e of materials for +2 rare stat boon. dunno, might be useful for specific grinds.
Any ideas who is the dead god, that became the spirit of Burgundy? It sometimes sounds like Salt (dead storm dragon), but do not remember him commanding undead servants (guess we meet them in next catacombs chapter), also no connection to thunder or urchins.
Without reviewing the echoes in depth, while playing I came to the conclusion that the Spirit of Burgundy communed with some deep chthonic entity, possibly Storm, which was a rough peer but not the same as it. The Spirit of Burgundy seems to be the Mind of the City, analogous to the Mind of London and the Mind of TLC, a connection made even more clear by the custom header art. So I think the Spirit predates the Translation of Burgundy.
I think the Spirit of Burgundy may have been transformed by this connection, possibly even merged, and is now substantially different than the Mind of London. It already was kinda different since it’s a Duchy and gets embodied in its Duke in a way that London never did, but now it’s even Neathier.
