November Exceptional Story: The Sinking Synod

Fallen London
21

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]

22

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.

23

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

24

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.

25

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.

26

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.

27

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.

28

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.

29

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

30

[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.

31

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.

32

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

33

I found the story rather intriguing – this was one of the ones I found more enjoyable, and I’m rather curious if we unlock any permanent effects from our choices – I sided with St. Fiacre’s.

I also wonder if one could use this story to raise one’s Church renown a considerable amount above what is possible with the normal route (i.e. the tiny jewelled reliquary).
edited by trajing on 10/27/2017

34

It does not seem to have a cap, so yes.

35

Can you change your preferred form of address to Bishop again if you decide to switch it back to what it was before?

36

[quote=Sir Frederick Tanah-Chook][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.[/quote]

Ah! Thank you for sharing this. Now I know. :)

37

Yes, Southwark is south of the river. One of the spires of the Bazaar is still there today, even though we have brought London back to the surface. Folks generally call it the Shard nowadays, and have forgotten its original nature and purpose.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shard

38

Exceptional friendship?
About $7.06 a month.
Dosing an ecclesiastical synod with psychedelics?
Priceless.

39

[quote=Plynkes]Yes, Southwark is south of the river. One of the spires of the Bazaar is still there today, even though we have brought London back to the surface. Folks generally call it the Shard nowadays, and have forgotten its original nature and purpose.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shard[/quote]

Okay. First of all, that was awesome. I want to get that right out of the way because I don’t want to forget to say it. I almost did, and it was because when I opened the link (I’ve only seen it on TV, as I live on the other side of the Atlantic. That’s right, the underside. It’s quite damp at the bottom.) I saw something hilariously perverse. The architectural style - neo-futurism. Neo-futurism? Is that redundant, oxymoron, or both?
It’s certainly a very modern building, except of course that we’re well past post-modern now which may be why we need a new future. Probably because even though what’s modern is now and what comes after now is the future, the future was before the modern and thus well before after modern, which is like the future, except that it wasn’t.
This modern future we live in now is vastly different from the future a hundred years ago, that much is certain. The future’s modern, (that is, the futurist’s future, which was modern) was likewise very different from our modern modernism, which is that new future, so expecting now to be like now begins to seem foolhardy. Or it certainly was, now that I’m looking back at now from now.

40

Am I doing something wrong? I started the storyline with the cartographer last night, pursued an urchin and saw the new diocese map. Then went to Watchmaker’s Hill and saw there was a storylet there to continue but it was late and I left it. Today I can’t see how to pick it up again - am I missing something?

Edit: I figured it out, i.e. through the Season of Sceptres. I must have clicked on the urchin storylet last night, it was late and I may have been drunk…
edited by Julius de Poisson on 10/28/2017