November Exceptional Story: The Sinking Synod

Fallen London
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[quote=Robin Alexander]The ending made no sense to me?

I was given an option of what to do, but none were to side with the mysterious man . . . I thus chose to rule myself, in hopes that I could get rid of them from Watchmaker’s Hill, thus sating said mysterious man, but still no mention of him or nothing to do with him? It said &quotthis is almost certainly the end&quot, but sign of an opportunity card?

What happened to him? :-S[/quote]

[li]
Same here and…same reaction, honestly. Out of all the ESes I’ve played this year, this one ended the most anticlimatically.

I just sort of, became Bishop? Except apparently I…probably won’t? One little level of Renown: The Church hardly seems appropriate for a prospective Bishop. Is there a card enroute that will show Swamp Guy’s reaction to the whole fiasco?

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I wonder if becoming bishop unlocks a new term of address.

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Yes it does.

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Also I feel it fitting and comical to refer to this mysterious figure as Bugsby

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The text for supporting St. Fiacre’s can be found here.

(The material reward is a Diary of the Dead).
edited by Passionario on 10/26/2017

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So now I must double post but here we go:

To support either of the Bishops’ candidates you need a minimum of 8 Synod Influence, to choose yourself you need 12 (which I did not have, whoops!)

The ending for supporting the candidate of Fiacre’s is a Diary of the Dead reward and some points of Church Renown (too low to raise a level for me but I’m in the high twenties)

EDIT: AHHHHHH the second time today I took too long to write my post and was beaten to the punch!
edited by Cthonius on 10/26/2017

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I do not, it turns out, have sufficient Synod influence to choose the option of becoming a Bishop. Nor would my character wish to do so–she prefers shaping opinion from the shadows. (That doesn’t mean she’s a criminal! Not at all!)

I considered each of the “hospital” options but honestly, neither she nor I can see any good coming from building a hospital in a marsh! So I will go for delay (which is closest to what the mysterious Marsh Man wants) and hope for the best.

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By the way, is it just me or does the art for this ES look uncannily like a fetus?

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I have completed the ES. I chose delay, in accordance with my perception that it’s stupid to build a diocese, or medical facilities, in a marsh. The text of the final outcome can be seen on the profile of cathyr19355.

The rewards are in the spoiler box below:

[spoiler]The synod is over!

[ul][li][/li][/ul]Your ‘Synod Influence’ Quality has gone!

[ul][li][/li][/ul]Your ‘Ecclesiastical Affairs’ Quality has gone!

[ul][li][/li][/ul]An occurrence! Your ‘Proceedings of a Synod’ Quality is now 1!

[ul][li][/li][/ul]You’ve gained 1 x Primaeval Hint (new total 12).

[ul][li][/li][/ul]Renown: The Church is increasing…

For what it’s worth, I suspect that the letter in the &quotarchaic script&quot referred to in the finale is that of the Marsh Man. I was already at 50 Renown for Church, It looks as though I got a 3-point increase in Renown: Church. &quotProceedings&quot is an actual item in inventory–you’ll see it on cathyr19355’s Mantelpiece. [/spoiler]

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Yes it does.[/quote]

Could you possibly link to some indication of this? I completed the ES by becoming Bishop and am presently staring at the Urchins change of address storylet; no new options appear to be present.

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How does one generate the necessary influence to become bishop? Is one able to generate more once time for deliberation runs out?

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You get three sessions of seven time slots - more than enough time to max out your influence! So if you’ve just come to the end of the first gathering, don’t worry.

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Yes it does.[/quote]

Could you possibly link to some indication of this? I completed the ES by becoming Bishop and am presently staring at the Urchins change of address storylet; no new options appear to be present.[/quote]

You need to wait for a card from your deck where they will ask you if you want to stay with whatever name you have or become a bishop, I will post a update when I find a storylet which call your name.

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Yes it does.[/quote]

Could you possibly link to some indication of this? I completed the ES by becoming Bishop and am presently staring at the Urchins change of address storylet; no new options appear to be present.[/quote]

You need to wait for a card from your deck where they will ask you if you want to stay with whatever name you have or become a bishop, I will post a update when I find a storylet which call your name.[/quote]

Ah, many thanks! I figured there had to be something more. I appreciate the update.

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How strange! I went from a Deacon to a Bishop in one leap.
I really enjoyed this story. It might be one of my favorites.

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A thoroughly interesting story! Not, I’ll admit, thrilling, or deeply revelatory about the cosmos - just a fascinating extended discussion about the practical role of religion in contemporary society, with tea and finger-sandwiches. Being a mild old pagan, I didn’t have a deeply personal stake in the debate, but in the end, I thought a Hospital for the Unusual was a worthy endeavour. London’s bishops remain a fascinating pair… well, trio, now.

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I appreciated the opportunity to finally learn what the two Bishops think of each other. One is subtle, the other is forceful… I always got the impression the Bishop of St. Fiacre thought the Bishop of Southwark was faintly ridiculous, but it seems like they have some amount of respect for each other.

Also, I got to spar the Bishop of Southwark again. : D

Choosing one of the two options, a hospital or a place to study the soulless, was actually more difficult than choosing not to sabotage the project. I can’t say with any certainty what Hell would have wanted my character to do. After all, the last two times I assumed I knew, I was wrong. (Five Minutes to Midday and the first election season, for instance.)

L.L. is personally interested in both helping nonhuman people and learning more about soullessness, even if, officially, she’s not supposed to be.

I eventually sided with the Archdeacon, although I wish I had collected enough Synod for L.L. to elect herself. I’m pretty sure it would have put her in an advantageous position to guide churchly affairs in a more infernal direction. But L.L. herself is interested in why soullessness affects different people in different ways, so I’ll just have to imagine that her job did not extend beyond spying on proceedings and making a report.

A list of other things I liked, in no particular order:

-The slow, ominous sinking of the tents into marsh water as a way of measuring time.

-The guy who just plain disappeared, and his friends having to search for him with a stick.

-The introduction of two new interesting characters, the Matron and the Archdeacon. I particularly liked the Archdeacon’s backstory.

I’m hoping that this story results in some game-wide changes, like perhaps the new building will actually appear at Watchmaker’s Hill?

Edit: Oh! It was also good to have confirmation as to where the Bishops’ respective churches actually are in London. I’m sure it’s probably mentioned elsewhere in different stories, but I didn’t know Fiacre’s was in Spite or Southwark’s was in Ladybones until this ES.
edited by Lamia Lawless on 10/26/2017

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[quote=Lamia Lawless]I didn’t know Fiacre’s was in Spite or Southwark’s was in Ladybones until this ES.
[/quote]

Southwark Cathedral is actually a real place - it would be right by the Bazaar Sidestreets - but, because only POSI have access to that area, I imagine the Bishop was in residence at a West End boxing gym to make him more accessible. St Fiacre’s is very likely a renamed St Paul’s, which more or less marks the boundary between Veilgarden and Spite.

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I loved the story. We got to see well known characters in depth and the setting was atmospheric. Though I had enough progress to make myself Bishop, I found the St Fiacre mission quite worthwile. I also liked Southwark’s agenda, but nothing beats a nun in chainmail.

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I enjoyed this one.

As a player with some fascination, at a polite distance, for the ecclesiastic, it made for a fascinating read. I had a lot of questions in my mind about rank and protocol, but still found it easy to follow and very interesting. Mildly disappointed my characters renown never came up, it is pretty high.

But I had a good time, Caroline sort of drifted whispering here, nudging there. She got enough pull to become a Bishop but that involved a level of…scrutiny…she did not find desirable. So she backed St. Ficars nun, feeling a sort of kinship, as someone not &quotnormal&quot on more than one level.
edited by Lady Karnstein on 10/27/2017