Time and chronology don’t really lend themselves to role-playing in my experience. Or at least, not for characters built around games where you cannot truly and conclusively die. So many of our characters are living one moment to the next and to bring an end to their story is never a thing of necessity… It’s a choice we would have to make. If we made it, it would mean we could no longer play. Which is grim, because we all love this game.
So, if you would, allow me to ask this of you. How does the story of your character end? Perhaps not exactly, "how do they die", but where do they end up when when the back cover of their book is closed? Of course, it need not be canon… But I’ve been thinking about this ever since Eli lost so much in the Mr. E____ story.
You could say that even me deciding to seek the name, knowing the risk as well as I could without looking it up, was me almost wanting Eli’s story to end. It seems like he deserves one.
So what is the last page of the story of some of these characters that we know so well? They’ve been as vivid and endearing (and not endearing in the best of ways) to me as any character in every book I’ve read. But I’ve never not finished book once I’ve started reading it. edited by The Absurd Rogue on 6/17/2016
Honestly, my characters’ Destinies all work fairly well for them in this regard. Sir Frederick would love to try to unlock the secret to bountiful life for humankind. Hubris will be positively annoyed if he isn’t offered immortality, infinite power and a private office by the Masters. Esther’s committed to the prospect of overturning the laws of nature and freeing the Neath from the very concept of death. And the idea of Juniper falling through a mirror, outside of time and space, and living on in the shadows of reality, well, it redefined how I see her.
If there is any justice in the Neath, Passionario’s story will end either with a gruesome final death or a fate worse than one. He is very much the villain of his own story.
Passionario is the type of villan that we all fear most: one with a goal that they know how to reach, one that feels no apparent sorrow over their choices and one we can all imagine ourselves becoming.
Rew’s motivation is quite primitive - to get rich and to get away with it. So far, he’s damnably good in not locking himself up to this bloody oversized cave with a gargantuan puddle in the middle. Once he’ll hoard enough assets, he’ll be on his way to Canada or New Zealand. (Does Tanah-chook still think he parents the dullest individual in London?) He still considers how many "types" of assets he would like to take with him.
Clem, for the other hand, has already managed to get into relationship that would be impossible in the Overworld, which pretty much forces him to make a solid decision… nah, kidding - he already decided to stay in the Neath and to try to provide the person that successfully "privatised" him with a happy family life in Port Carnelian. But that would only be possible after he helps that mentioned person to break through quite an ugly situation she managed to get into. edited by Andrew Astherson on 6/17/2016
You wander the docks, showing the photo on your smartphone to people who look like they might have ties to the less reputable population. No one admits knowing the person you seek, but some of those you question become nervous and avoid meeting your eyes. Further enquiries seem to identify these people as working for the Widow. Your employer will want to hear this.
As you head back towards your lodgings, you notice a heap of rags and bandages on the sidewalk, shaking slightly and making curious, croaking sounds. A filthy takeaway coffee cup with the odd coin in it reveals the pile to be an unusually wretched beggar. As you approach them you notice a bandaged hand that seems to be lacking fingers holding onto a small bone sharpened at one end, as if in mockery of the dreaded harpoons wielded by the Monster-Hunters’ Guild. You have trouble understanding their croaks and whispers, but think you can discern the word "eating" and in a moment of pity give them the rest of your cheeseburger. It vanishes within the heap of rags, followed by sounds you’d rather forget.
You back away slowly, and resume walking. While the figure was somewhat disconcerting, you feel a newfound appreciation for your youth and health. The absence of death is apparently not good for everyone, but this doesn’t need to trouble you as long as your plans succeed. You continue along your way, the contents of the beggar’s coffee cup jangling in your pocket. What would a beggar do with Fifth City coins, anyway? edited by John Moose on 6/17/2016
The end will come when the time comes, currently, I have no goal that will end me and I don’t plan on getting one, I have some big things that I would like to happen on this character(some that aren’t even possible and probably won’t be possible) but they wouldn’t end this story, I will just let the winds take my character until they lead him to the end of the book…
I’m afraid Absimiliard shall likely End in either Seeking the Name or in sacrificing themselves to save a friend.
Salt made them, Salt loves them for so many reasons and so many tears, and in the end to Salt they shall return – how is not important, only that it involve sufficient tears and grief to make Salt reclaim them somehow.
Spending the night thinking of it, I imagine Eli would be more likely to blow his own brains out than he would to be assassinated. He understands that he won’t get out of Newgate if he goes back, but he’s not being careful… He’s neglecting himself. He’ll be caught very soon if he doesn’t straighten out his act. If anything happens to Flowerdene… He’ll go down with the ship.
Ezekiel will either die doing something stupid or it will find a new host to inhabit. Ezekiel manages to sustain itself by draining the protein of it’s host, if it doesn’t have a host, it will age, if it ages, it will die.
I always tend to think Maria will end happily… with Eliza, in a mountain of numbers and inventing insane things… or discovering something way breaking… I just somehow… can’t imagine a bad ending for her… even if her ending is being stuck in calculations forever, that is the worst I can think up for her, she would be happy… she IS a number addict, after all…
Rysiek… that guy IS going to get buried by his job someday… that is sure…
And Agata? Hm, either she will never move on, become a succesfull author, fall in love again or any combination of those…
I’ve honestly thought about this before with Amelia. The whole crux of her story is revenge and her climax so far is realizing she has no goal afterwards. I’ve always intended for the theme of her story to be identity and lost. So far that seems to be working well in the climax since she fears not being useful after her goal and it’s posing negative results through her actions.
That said I think her ending will end up terrible regardless of what becomes of her destiny. I don’t see her future being anything but burning herself out and having a crisis of her own identity.
Soran’s, Zero’s, and Cairn’s destinies all end things off pretty well for them, I think.
Soran will become one of the bats they love so much (bats, of course, being the highest form of life), though they’ll still retain some shred of their former self. All shall be well.
After he’s hopefully taken care of the business that brought him to London (avenging the murder of his brother), Zero can retreat into Parabola to become an immortal mirror-god of the Sixth City. Even when everything he’s ever cared about has gone away, he’ll last.
And the Magpie will steal the brightest jewel the Neath has to offer, and become a less humble sort of god.
Now Thysania, on the other hand, doesn’t have a destiny yet. But she is a Seeker, and she was pretty deranged and self-destructive even before that, so her story will certainly not end well. Probably she’s the one of my characters whose tale would end in true death rather than a mere loss of humanity.
Honestly, the early and mid-game Dirae Erinyes was probably going to die after finally finishing their revenge, since it was the central point of their story.
But with late game changes (such as getting married and getting the god destiny) the happy ending is Dirae Erinyes continuing to exist to build a London safe for them and their wife.
If Evensong gets lost later on, I’ll probably end up reverting back to the first ending.
I don’t know yet where I will stop the comic. I’m planning it in small arcs, so I won’t leave much hanging if I ever stop. But wherever I stop, I suspect it won’t be even close to the Professor’s lifespan. I as planning to stop when she ended her ambition, until I discovered that ambitions are on hiatus. Now I don’t know.
Her life quest is one to end immortality, rather than to get it, which is a lot harder than it should be (see: Mr Eaten. Dude was hacked to pieces, drowned and frigging EATEN - not necessarily in this order - and he is still kinda around). The only end I can see for her at the moment (and the most amusing, because FL doesn’t need to be only suffering and darkness) is she discovering everything about Judgements and such and deciding to go to space (maybe by briddling and riding the Vake) to ask in their stupid flame-y faces why they would kill at the spot someone from the Neath for being "unlawful" and let an undead bloodsucking abomination like her roam free without so much as a "you can’t turn to mist on sunlight, we guess" handicap. That would either get her finally killed permanently for her insolence (happy ending!) or notable enough to get her soul to ignite and become a star herself (even happier ending! - and a troubling prospect to anything that should have the misfortune of being under her law).
…Seriously, though, it could change as I learn more of FL’s lore, as its universe gets expanded further. But you shouldn’t expect some tragical and/or overly serious ending to her. It’s not how I roll.
I like to imagine Aylen dying alongside some arch-nemesis (which she doesn’t have yet, if anyone’s in need of an arch-nemesis as well), a dramatic end like the intended end of Sherlock Holmes. Or maybe her life would be cut short by some murderer who gets the drop on her and slices her into sad little chunks, who knows?
The overwhelming scent of spices fills the small cellar. The Master extends a cup, and makes an offer. Without hesitation, I open my hand and release the Thief’s weapon. There is no more Master, and no more smell, and no way left to resurrect my wife. But I have my revenge.
The election proved a disaster. The Special Constables smashed the presses. The Constables deserted him. His lieutenants swing from Hangman’s Arch. No. No. Never surrender. Never compromise. The Embassy can dance over a crater. They’re on the stairs.
Feh. Praise the Lord and all his works. This is the way the world ends.