An election themed story idea, given how electoral politics in Fallen London have yet to truly be explored. Like, we know the player’s representative (once free of surface ties) is the Northbound Parliamentarian, who is something of a Seeker and apparently very good at her job. But we don’t know much about her personally, her career, or her politics (save her skill at asking questions and an inordinate fondness for candles).
We know Parliament has parties, hearings, meetings and debates, which may or may not amount to anything given just how much of the government bureaucracy is in the hands of competing supernatural forces with their own agendas. We also don’t know how elections are conducted or the usual issues involved.
We know London women can’t vote, because that just isn’t proper, though there are plenty of radicals who think otherwise and presumably cause a stir now and then.
So, an unexplored character, an under explored subject, and the suffrage question…seems like there’s plenty of material there. Also, I’d like the opportunity to protest for the right to vote, or at least to vote illegally :P
[quote=Anne Auclair]An election themed story idea, given how electoral politics in Fallen London have yet to truly be explored. Like, we know the player’s representative (once free of surface ties) is the Northbound Parliamentarian, who is something of a Seeker and apparently very good at her job. But we don’t know much about her personally, her career, or her politics (save her skill at asking questions and an inordinate fondness for candles).
We know Parliament has parties, hearings, meetings and debates, which may or may not amount to anything given just how much of the government bureaucracy is in the hands of competing supernatural forces with their own agendas. We also don’t know how elections are conducted or the usual issues involved.
We know London women can’t vote, because that just isn’t proper, though there are plenty of radicals who think otherwise and presumably cause a stir now and then.
So, an unexplored character, an under explored subject, and the suffrage question…seems like there’s plenty of material there. Also, I’d like the opportunity to protest for the right to vote, or at least to vote illegally :P[/quote]
I always assumed londoners voting was marginally less effective than writing to santa down here. That the masters are allowed the honor of ‘counting’ the votes. That even if the masters elected them correctly, they have marginally more power than a single master, much less the bazaar.
Well, officially London is still a constitutional monarchy with a parliament. Also, parliament does control the government’s official purse strings and presumably raises money through some form of taxation. They’re also supposed to provide oversight…and the absence of any reasonable degree of oversight over the navy and foreign ministry seems a story unto itself.
I should probably chime in and say
"The Northbound Parliamentarian is actually based off a real person! Really really! They were a high level Silver Tree backer. The Paronomastic Newshound is a similar individual. However, fleshing out of their characters would still be appreciated and pretty cool. I do also believe that Sunless Sea backers at the Officer level and above are owed some content…
As per the SS kickstarter page:
Our artist will create a character (crew, pirate, mysterious stranger…) based on your likeness. The resulting character will appear in both Sunless Sea and Fallen London!
The Merciless Modiste I know popped up as an offhand mention during this charitable bundle but that was an offhand mention without even referencing the Modiste’s full name. Going from the Kickstarter, eight people backed at the Officer level or higher, so we should see at the very least references to the others somewhere. Does anyone have the full list of the Kickstarter officers laying about?
It’s also worth pointing out that the backer reward description is vague as to exactly how much text each character will be getting in FL, it may be worth for one of those eight persons to just send an email to FBG just asking out of curiosity."
The Paronomastic Newshound would also be a natural character for an election themed story. Come to think of it, the Jovial Contrarian would also be a natural fit, as an election would allow him to be at his most annoying with minimal effort.
So we have:
The Alarming Scholar
The Cladery Heir - Does The Surgeon’s Child count?
The Irrepressible Cannoneer
Maybe’s Daughter
The Tireless Mechanic
The Merchant Venturer
The Merciless Modiste - A Charitable Bundle
The Sigil-Ridden Navigator
The Voracious Diplomat
The Monkey Foundling
Where else have we seen SS Officers in FL? edited by Cecil on 3/13/2016
I’m actually not too keen on the idea. Four reasons.
One. I can think of no good way to have Fallen London deal with the mechanics of elections without a totally unnecessary amount of research and studying of archaic legal code. This would be a metric ****ton of work for a short-middle length story. The research alone might take more time to do then some Exceptional Stories. I’d rather FBG spend more of that time on other things (ambitions, abandoned plots, content barrier pushing).
Two. The power of the Masters is not absolute, but its limits are wide and uncertain. While some individuals may hold office, their authority is clearly tightly constrained. Being arrested, for example, can have the Masters dictating innocence like a local Party Official. While in another game, this might make a good theme to explore, Fallen London (both game and namesake) thrives on ambiguity, ambiguous threats to life and sanity and unambiguous threats to life and sanity. This would, either, make the role/limits/lack-thereof of the Masters too unambiguous or be much too flimsy a story to justify the work.
Three. There’s only one way for the story to end. It could end with crooks in charge or honest folk beaten down, but Fallen London permits no hope. Either the Liberation comes or things that make the Liberation look like a real option come. There is little hope in spans: short or long. This would make the election story pathetically predictable and FBGs would have to feel ashamed of themselves for putting so much work into such a tired cliché.
Four. Topicality. Either the story would have applicability (in which case it would be divisive and with a ridiculously short span of relevance) or it would not (in which case point one would be even more relevant). Also, people would read allusion into it, even if such was not the intent. The term “needlessly divisive” would then be taken to new heights; Americans (of which I am one) can get tired of non-Americans writing American-election related fiction during an election cycle. I’m not saying it would be “American-election related.” Some people would insist on taking it that way no matter how clear FBG was on the issue. edited by MrBurnside on 3/14/2016
If usurping the masters’ hold is a concern, an election story wouldn’t necessarily have to be for a political office. An artisan guild, worker union, private club or some other private institution could be electing a new president.
Or the election could be for a political post that doesn’t challenge the masters at all. For instance, if you ran for sewage comissioner different factions like criminals or urchins might be interested in the outcome, but it would be beneath the masters’ notice.
[quote=Anne Auclair]An election themed story idea, given how electoral politics in Fallen London have yet to truly be explored. Like, we know the player’s representative (once free of surface ties) is the Northbound Parliamentarian, who is something of a Seeker and apparently very good at her job. But we don’t know much about her personally, her career, or her politics (save her skill at asking questions and an inordinate fondness for candles).
We know Parliament has parties, hearings, meetings and debates, which may or may not amount to anything given just how much of the government bureaucracy is in the hands of competing supernatural forces with their own agendas. We also don’t know how elections are conducted or the usual issues involved.
We know London women can’t vote, because that just isn’t proper, though there are plenty of radicals who think otherwise and presumably cause a stir now and then.
So, an unexplored character, an under explored subject, and the suffrage question…seems like there’s plenty of material there. Also, I’d like the opportunity to protest for the right to vote, or at least to vote illegally :P[/quote]
Data points!
[ul][li]There’s no reason that women must remain not allowed to vote in the setting, given the massive societal upheavals which have already taken place.[/li][li]I support any storyline that involves the Northbound Parliamentarian, also known as "the best character ever." :)
[/li][/ul]
We’ve actually seen an election themed story already, with the Last Dog Society. Obviously not a public election, like you are proposing, but clearly doable.
I think it sounds like an excellent event, and I’d love the chance to make vast campaign contributions for political favours down the line (or to just remove/upgrade the Northbound Parliamentarian card.)
I’d also be all for a Fate-locked (or free) option to put yourself in as a candidate. Gotta unlock some sort of “Honorable” Title or similar if you win…