[color=#009900]What, this old thing?[/color][li]
There’s some very interesting information in this post. I never thought of the Masters as space bats, neither was I aware of the quarrel between the foxes and Mr Cups.[li]
edited by Voodoo Master on 2/6/2014
Apples, Cups, Stones, Fires, Iron, Wines, Veils, Spices, Pages and Eaten makes 10…
And Rats makes 11!
Pretty sure my naming of them is accurate and complete.
I’d love to have been sitting in on the foxes negotiating with Mr Cups.
“Yurf snuff elp grrr?”
“No, that is completely out of the question!”
“Yiff gnnng ilf!”
“Chip shop bins are not the issue here! Chip shop bins are off the table!”
These answers are all very interesting. But I do feel somewhat stupid for not making the space bat/echoes connection.
Nevertheless I hope there will be more mysteries to solve in the future.
Edit: Also I’m surprised ther is a question for which ‘Because of rats’ would have actually been somewhat correct.
edited by Martial Canterel on 2/6/2014
I did make the batty connection, and am a bit chuffed about it. I wonder if they can sense every cash transaction that takes place in the city, and locate people by their pocket change. I wonder if this is why so many people trade in precious metal and jewels.
For all the Bazaar’s machinations, to an outside observer, Albert looks like he’s doing the best of the royal family. A tad wan, certainly, but he’s the only one I’d willingly enter into a conversation with.
I would not have picked up that Apples is Hearts. I mean, it makes sense - no reason you can’t have livestock on the same farm as an orchard - but Apples has never offered me a choice of figs or livers, y’know.
Ohh. My favorite part for this has to be the hinting of the Liberation of Night! Looks like there’s foreshadowing to be seeing more of that in the future. Admittedly I was surprised to learn Apples is Hearts, Cups = Mirrors is kind of a fact at this point, so it was a definitely reveal.
And, of course being a fan of Victorian history, I’m kind of curious about what really is going on with Albert since the entry says ‘after the typhoid took him’ meaning, to me, he was dead by then. So far the lovers of the rulers have not fared well in terms of the deals that were made from what we’ve seen.
Well, I’m happy to have seen the conclusion, and I’m quite satisfied of the result. A great many thanks to all who provided me with insights either on mIRC or the forum, there are several answers I got right only because someone pointed me to them ^^
Reads:
o_O
Nope nope nope nope nope.
< Is still scarred by my Liberation of Night destiny.
Bats and echoes! Hah! I didn’t think of that.
Forever bitter that I changed some of my answers at the last moment, that’ll teach me for listening to rumor and gossip. Ah well. At least we have the answers now (well, most of them) and very tasty they are.
Most intrigued to hear of the dispute between the foxes and Mr Cups, I’ve always wondered why rats have such sway in the city, and here is at least part of the reason. I’d love to hear the rest of that story!
(As an aside, why are there so many talkative creatures in London, of any sort? Cats and rats weren’t known for their conversations pre-fall, so did they suddenly gain new abilities as soon as the fall happened? Was it gradual? Or were they never rats from London at all, and arrived with the Masters?)
I hope we get more mysteries to try and answer eventually, this has been a great deal of fun 
I do wonder about this! Cats seem to have the run of the land behind the mirrors, which no doubt plays some part in their speaking… though so do spiders, and we only hear them getting chatty when they’ve colonised. I have a private theory about rats and souls, but precious little to support it. Only some rats talk, while it seems that all cats do. What about other animals? Bats seem intelligent but not verbose, Apes, too, though that’s true of the real world as well. Dogs and horses just seem to be their regular selves. As do weasels, aside from additional explosivity. Birds vary by species. And goats… discussion of goats is dominated by exceptional examples.
I’m particularly surprised by the official assertion that Hearts and Apples are one and the same, given that
one storylet in the Nadir seems to indicate that they were separate (Hearts and Roots) in the Fourth City… unless, of course, the estimable Master traded under two names in that city, as well, and the storylet content reflects the Fourth-City public’s ignorance of that fact? Hmm…
Also, various pieces of art around the Neath do indeed depict eleven Masters standing together… as in, eleven distinct physical persons (e.g. in the Shrine of the Deep Blue Heaven’s murals). I must be missing something, because it seems like the total of eleven has to include the duplicates: Wines, Veils, Iron, Fires, Stones, Pages, Spices, Apples/Hearts, Cups/Mirrors. Eaten can’t be one of the ones depicted, since he didn’t make it to the Fourth City.
So, I’m stumped. How do nine bodies become eleven?
edited by ShinWalks on 2/6/2014
edited by ShinWalks on 2/6/2014
Not to mention that, in the Long Road destinies, both Apples and Hearts are named… though not, admittedly, ever talking together in the same scene, exactly. It’s all terribly mysterious.
[quote=ShinWalks]I’m particularly surprised by the official assertion that Hearts and Apples are one and the same, given that
previous spoiler
[/quote]
I think The Kahn of Roots might have been Mr Spices. All the named Kahns seemed to have taken related names as Masters and according to wikipedia "A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetable substance primarily used for flavouring, colouring or preserving food.", so it wouldn’t be too big of a stretch.
[quote=ShinWalks]So, I’m stumped. How do nine bodies become eleven?[/quote]Through representation? As in, either they put a body inside a cloak to represent themselves a second time, or the artist didn’t depict a physical scene, but rather a representation of all the Masters together.
I have to thank hwango for coming up with the bats. The "Albert" clue appeared in the same storylet, so it felt like a confirmation of a popular choice. The webcomic told me that there were snuffers (just one?) in New Newgate, and since they apparently steal faces, I figured that’s why the prisoners had masks. I studied the wikia to learn about the King with a Hundred Hearts, since I’ve been taking my time and haven’t made it to Polythreme in the four months since I started playing. I’d like to think that if I’d been playing for four years I would’ve gotten more than twelve of the answers right. But probably not that many more.
As for the "Royal Bethlehem", I figured "a state of some confusion" was a more correct answer as I considered that to be the ‘Nightmares aspect’ of the hotel. I certainly didn’t think that it was a mystery that they were the same place. But I suppose that if the Mirror-Marches also throws out the player into the Royal Bethlehem when Nightmares reaches zero, then the physical hotel would be more correct, as it would encompass both of the Nightmares menace areas. I suppose I should now lament that it’s too easy to stay sane in Fallen London…
Was sorely tempted to make some sort of joke on the “Between stars?” one, like, “What’s a love story here and there between stars?”
As to the chatty fauna of the neath, it is much easier to carry on a Correspondence with them than it used to be, eh?
Also, has anyone encountered the Empress’s Consort in person in the Neath? The Dutchess’s husband, of course, requires, ah, special access to visit, but my character finds the goings-on at the Palace tedious and best avoided. As such, I’ve never encountered the Consort.
Or have I?
Has he been sneaking about on all fours this whole time?[li]
edited by Trodgmey on 2/6/2014
It seems so:
He pops up here and there, particularly when one is staging performances for the Court.