You can only spoiler once per post, just for future reference, theodor_gylden. Seems a bit silly, but no matter.
edited by Zharend on 12/12/2013
[quote=Zharend]You can only spoiler once per post, just for future reference, theodor_gylden. Seems a bit silly, but no matter.
edited by Zharend on 12/12/2013[/quote]
salutes Noted and updated.[li]
Whoops…
I only just came across this thread, after a break from the forum due to my typically insane irl job.
Here’s one more voice/vote to the 'less likely option, that it comes back - and also, isn’t de-fanged in any way.
[color=#ffcc00]FWIW, getting as far as St. Destins Candle, (SMEN 8 and Marsh Mired, with 4/7 candles earned - can be done without any permanent loss or negative effects that can’t be recouped or life that can’t be rebuilt. Even Scarred, Stained and Chained effects can be lost at the ‘nightmare carnival’, if you want to truly ‘free of the name’. This to me is very fair, and makes you stay at the SMEN effort that much harder like a bad gambler tbh). [/color]
[color=#ffcc00]I can’t speak for ‘E’, no-one figured out Cyriacs code, Forthigans… well we all know, and Gawain never unlocked. But still.[/color]
The lore offsetting the unbridled brutality of it, is so compelling, and even with SMEN, you can prepare yourself accordingly, (and even within characters).
For all the ‘irreversibly damned’ stuff - my character never was. Got to SMEN 8, and 3/7 candles, (so close to 4/7, was literally about to devour my slowcakes entry, when the lock came in). And so far no permanent losses I couldn’t re-earn, and still on 180 stats across the board.
Whatever happens, SMEN has been an absolute riot. Literally… my eating habits have caused a couple of riots in veilgarden ;)[li]
Thanks very much for making it - especially seeing as it was a side-project.
edited by Kravan on 12/12/2013
Regarding the speculation…
[spoiler]Since reading the Veils-Velvet text, I’ve had a bit of a theory forming. Remember Halloween, with all the Masters flying to Judgement? It proves two very important things. One, other creatures can become Masters. Two, Mr Veils was of ‘lowly origin*.’
So, I wonder, was Mr Veils the Pharaoh? Did he betray Candles so he could replace him?
*This does, of course, raise the question of whether any of the Masters started out how they are, but that’s beside the point.[/spoiler]
[quote=Alexander Feld]Regarding the speculation…
[spoiler]Since reading the Veils-Velvet text, I’ve had a bit of a theory forming. Remember Halloween, with all the Masters flying to Judgement? It proves two very important things. One, other creatures can become Masters. Two, Mr Veils was of ‘lowly origin*.’
So, I wonder, was Mr Veils the Pharaoh? Did he betray Candles so he could replace him?
*This does, of course, raise the question of whether any of the Masters started out how they are, but that’s beside the point.[/spoiler][/quote]
I’m increasingly gutted I missed Hallowmas, (stupid jerk irl clients).
That’s intriguing. Especially seeing how
[spoiler]
‘the duchess we despise’ was mentioned on winking isle - I just read it on your excellent reddit write-up. And prior lore has more than given away that she is almost certainly ancient Egyptian nobility, or at least nobility from somewhere exotic with a lot of poisonous snakes and a deep love of cats.
That there used to be a Mr. Candles… I think you’ve hit pretty close to the mark here Alex
[/spoiler][li]
edited by Kravan on 12/12/2013[/li][li]
edited by Kravan on 12/12/2013
Mm, I don’t think that [spoiler]Mr Veils was the Pharaoh. No, he was something else before he became a Master. Not to mention, I don’t think the rest of the Masters would take kindly to one who tried to chain their employer.
Additionally, part of Winking Isle’s text said that Mr Veils betrayed Mr Eaten because he wanted to return to his hunt and his stars. Which would imply the ending of the Bazaar’s contract, so… unchaining the Bazaar again, I guess. But again, I highly doubt that Veils was ever human, no.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]
The order of nuns that hunt the Vake did something to defeat the Masters, and this something was undone by the "feather-wearing heathens" of the third city. We know Veils betrayed Eaten. We know Eaten hates "Vake-the-betrayer". We know the Bazaar owes it to one of its servants the joy of its hunt and the sound of its voice. I propose the Veils, the Vake, lost its freedom to hunt due to the second city and regained that power by betraying Eaten. Perhaps the Vake was something else before it was a Master and that is why it alone hunts. Perhaps all the Masters lost the power to hunt and only Veils can because of the betrayal.
Remember how you drown yourself with beer? And Wines tells you of the sour beer of the second city? How Mutton Islanders decorate the well with jugs of sour beer? How Eaten rose to the top of the well where the priest would "only take a little"? I think Eaten was drowned in the second city and eaten in the third.
We also know that Candles had some power over dreams and perhaps Parabola.
I also think there might be a connection between the Wax wind that rends flesh and consumes and Mr. Candles. Especially after all the times you end up stuffing your mouth full of wax during the Eaten quest. [/spoiler]
[li][/li][li]
edited by MaskedGentleman on 12/12/2013
I must say, being away for a few days to study for finals, I seem to have missed quite the kerfulffle. Its a pity it ended as it did with regards to SMEN, even though I’ve only ever been a spectator to the whole thing.
[quote=MaskedGentleman][spoiler]
The order of nuns that hunt the Vake did something to defeat the Masters, and this something was undone by the "feather-wearing heathens" of the third city. We know Veils betrayed Eaten. We know Eaten hates "Vake-the-betrayer". We know the Bazaar owes it to one of its servants the joy of its hunt and the sound of its voice. I propose the Veils, the Vake, lost its freedom to hunt due to the second city and regained that power by betraying Eaten. Perhaps the Vake was something else before it was a Master and that is why it alone hunts. Perhaps all the Masters lost the power to hunt and only Veils can because of the betrayal.
Remember how you drown yourself with beer? And Wines tells you of the sour beer of the second city? How Mutton Islanders decorate the well with jugs of sour beer? How Eaten rose to the top of the well where the priest would "only take a little"? I think Eaten was drowned in the second city and eaten in the third.
We also know that Candles had some power over dreams and perhaps Parabola.
I also think there might be a connection between the Wax wind that rends flesh and consumes and Mr. Candles. Especially after all the times you end up stuffing your mouth full of wax during the Eaten quest. [/spoiler]
[li][/li][li]
edited by MaskedGentleman on 12/12/2013[/quote]
Have you read the "Uncle Archibald" story that someone got from backing the silver tree?[/li][li]
[/li][li]I haven’t heard of that.
[/li][li]
Two things:
First, this was always going to be the case. The warnings are genuine and plentiful.
Second, intrinsic value is a thing, and a great one. The case could be made that the entire story is a paradigm of intrinsic motivation.
A reckoning will not be postponed!
http://www.failbettergames.com/?p=1331
I am very happy that SMEN will continue. And it seems like it won’t be changed too much, and what does change probably won’t be as bad as we’d think. But it appears that Winking Isle might be gone for good given “And the chunk of content which kicked off this particular drama is already gone.” But this is still something to celebrate and I’m looking forward to 2014 even more now.
I’m a bit confused on the RL details leading to the lock, something about bugs and threats of legal action?
edit Ah, read the blog post. Silly me, should’ve checked that first.
In any case, while I’m obviously not thrilled, what with all the eating there was bound to be some… well, results come up. Out. Whatever.
While I do hope things will be reopened in reasonably short order and I can continue merrily destroying everything I hold dear, I find something bizarrely delicious about this (hopefully temporary) "ending" to the story - it was always promised to be truly unsatisfying and not worth the effort, and what could fit the bill better?
(With best wishes to Alexis and no disrespect intended for any issues going on behind the curtain. Merely commenting on the bizarre poetry of happenstance. Looking forward to the reopening in its due time!)[li]
edited by Zyxx on 12/12/2013
Well, the blog post was reassuring, although I lament the months I will spend without so much as an incident at a restaurant or a rat drowned in a pail of lacre. Ah, insanity, how I shall miss thee.
An_ocelot had a decent summary of the events leading up to the lock: http://community.failbettergames.com/topic5912-in-quiet-contemplation-a-question-on-mreaten.aspx?MessageID=49787#post49787
Some of the Sun theories make me even more contemplative of the destinies contained in “Liberation of Night”.
If Winking Isle really is gone for good, that’s a pity. Now we’ll never know what was behind all those branches. I suppose it’s necessary, though. Perhaps the story ideas will be transplanted to an area with less dangerous mechanics?[li]
edited by Little The on 12/12/2013
Sorry to hear that about Winking Isle. It sounds like it was the same sort of bug that hit the first people to get into the Cave of the Nadir mixed with the rumour that it was ephemeral content that created such a big problem for Alexis.
I’m sure that whatever he decides to do next year will be for the best. Of course all this hit at the same time as the Seasonal content and I am sure that there is also a lot of time being spent on Sunless Sea as well.
So the last thing that was needed was all this … oh well time for us all to cool down and build up resources and stats for any future content.
[li]
Somewhat tangentially, while I know the revolutionaries aren’t particularly popular around these parts, my alignment with them definitely comes from a similarly nihilistic and self-destructive place as my Seeking does. Of course, my destiny is to realize what horrors I’ve helped to bring about, so maybe I’ll come to my senses regarding the Name as well.
Many hurrahs indeed for SMEN continuing in the new year!