Nuncio and the Empire of Hands discussion thread

Beware the rat-catcher!

(also did you see the tireless mechanic) [li]
(what why how could he think that was a good idea OnO)

I briefly saw an interaction for speaking to the Tireless Mechanic, but a bunch of non-announced story updates hit after the initial update – that, or my New Stories button is malfunctioning – and it got removed.

FTR, it required twenty Tireless Mechanics. I have no idea if this was a typo in a still-under-development storyline or whether the Tireless Mechanic’s storyline actually involves cloning himself nineteen times for 20x Tirelessness, but… um.

(No, don’t spoil me, I’m just going to sit here and entertain myself with imaginings.)

First city reference on Nuncio, just a small object

Bronze tablet

I like the levitating bound-sharks, and the rest of this goes under the cut:

[spoiler] There are also papyri in the basement, and a vision of the silver tree (which I’ve started replaying from sheer desire for content). Neither sno nor rain nor glom of nit, etc.
And the tireless mechanic is gone now. Has the picture of the Admiral only changed because I gave over the Memento Mori to him, or is it like that for all games? He looks a little like Norm Lewis. [li][/li][li]
edited by fortluna on 1/22/2015

The Admiral’s portrait changed for everyone.

Nuncio is definitely a reference to Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal. Doesn’t seem to be any long storyline though.

Thinking of my child at Ash Isthimus in the Empire of Hands resulted in a monkey foundling stealing my clothes. I threw a rock at her.

Exploring all of the Empire results in a comprehensive port report. Interestingly enough the monkeys wanted to buy my soul. (devils in disguise?)
edited by nameless on 1/22/2015

Yeah, I was having major, major Going Postal flashbacks.

Mrs Cake would do so well in the Neath - but I thought it was the ratsender game being referenced too? My mind went straight to peregrine mendicant once we met the hairless postmistress, even though we learned how she lost her hair.
Also, my delightful adventuress just disappeared from my hold. Maybe she leapt overboard.

That would be because I’m responsible for both of them! I didn’t write the island itself, but I did come up with the actual design. I can’t discount Going Postal as a subconscious influencer, but the actual thought behind it was &quotman it must really suck to be a postman in the Neath&quot. Some of the stuff you can find on the beach is a pretty good case study on that, I think. alart; lethal levels of rambling ahead

[spoiler]The parallels to the Bazaar, that grand interstellar postman (which also betrayed its sacred holy duty!) occurred to me about six months afterwards, which made me laugh quite a bit. I don’t know how I came up with that entirely by accident, but good work, me from october 2013, you did good. I then went back and elaborated a bit more heavily on all that when I did my Ratmas fangame thing. You can find a version of the original design doc I sent in there as well; bring a Rat of Glory with you to Nuncio to get that. All thanks to Nitebrite, who backed high enough for me to unleash the idea and send it to Failbetter to get put into Sunless Sea.
Nuncio as it exists in Sunless Sea is, in a lot of ways, extremely similar to the thing I came up with about six hours before my own self-appointed deadline; though, often, similar yet opposite. For example one of the big things in Sunless Nuncio is the Pull, that mysterious force that draws postmen- but, more accurately, their messages- to the island; what I came up with in Ratmas Nuncio, on the other hand, was more like a Push, compelling postmen to leave London for Nuncio instead. I think the Sunless Sea version fits the underlying lore a bit more neatly, and the final reveal is much cooler than a ramble about the metaphysical demands of an indescribable delivery-commandment in a canteen, on the whole. Neither version ever bothers to explain the statue at all, though, but I’m going to give myself a point in favour because I called it &quotThe Royal Male&quot. Not sure I’ll ever devise a pun of that caliber ever again.

wow that went on way longer than I really intended! still, only one spoiler tag per post, so rip[/spoiler]

Enough self-indulgent rambling about the thing which I did, though. How bout that Empire of Hands, huh? It’s pretty great. The archaeology adventure especially has some nice meta gags.
edited by Spacemarine9 on 1/22/2015

Just encountered the monkey foundling in the Empire of Hands.

I’m laughing so hard there are tears rolling down my face.

Yes, that was glorious.
My low veils score made it all the more amusing.

I’m just glad that you still end up providing such amusement to your crew, even if you talk her around.

Anyone figure out the map yet? I swear there’s something I’m missing.

I have the most adorable mascot ever now.

Are you talking about what I think you’re talking about? I assume a second expedition must be mounted for actual obtention*. How I itch to set it in motion!

  • I know it is not a word. However, it should be a word, or something like it – why is it that the noun form of “maintain” is “maintenance”, “attain” is “attainment”, “retain” is “retention”, and “obtain” is null? Some consistency, please!

You could go with “acquisition”, there.

And I’m not sure if it was from a second expedition, or the proper choices on the first one, as the actual acquisition happened shortly after my second trip, but with no new developments, there, as a sea event shortly after I left.

I’m finding the map puzzle quite awkward: I’ll repeat it here in case it’s useful to others

North for each city the bats have brought down (5, presumably)
Then right to the river where no man fears to drown
Step back once for each island the Empire can claim (there are 6 islands in the Empire of hands)
And west for each bearer of the Emperor’s name (perhaps 10, since he’s ten-souled?)
Head for the Horizon, then take a step more
Where west ends your search, with a one two three…
Next to an X stands a seaker misled
Nothing but eternity belongs to the dead

The second line should be 1 to the east.

overly specific puzzle speculation: [spoiler](the emperor might be fifteen souled - it’s the seneschal who’s ten souled, and his name is Crispin IV) I actually did find treasure, but it involved me flailing around until I got to a good square, so I have no idea if we were meant to step backwards (west) at line three, and further west at line four. I took the last line to mean that you die if you step off the grid? I didn’t test more that trip; just gave thanks for good fortune and slunk off with the ink and sapphires.[li]