I’m not sure if this should go here cos it has significant overlap with Sunless Sea, but I thought I might as well put this here. So, when zailing past the Dawn Machine to the far west, off the map, it says that the revolutionaries are trying to bring about the end of the Great Chain. Now, that slightly confused me. Why was the Bazaar opposing them? Wasn’t its love with the Sun forbidden because of the Great Chain? So if the revolutionaries succeeded, wouldn’t it be able to return to the Sun and leave poor earth alone? I know the Dawn Machine is used to kill the Bazaar, but couldn’t the bats, if they could drag London to the Neath, drag the Bazaar out just before the machine activates? If I was the Bazaar, I would subtly help the Cause make the Dawn Machine as powerful as possible, planting my agents within it, but just before the machine activated, flee the Neath, then return to my love. Any thoughts?
Okay, major spoiler territory here!
The Chain-breaking of the Revolutionaries and the Chain-breaking of the Dawn Machiners are somewhat at odds, and both are at odds with the Bazaar. My interpretation, though I can’t pretend to be an expert: the Bazaar wants to bend the rules of the Great Chain, to love above its station. The Calendar Council want to destroy the chain and all of its representatives - the Judgements, the Bazaar, the Masters, the Mountain of Light, all of them. The Dawn Machiners… I’m not entirely sure, but they basically seem to want to carve out a place for themselves on the chain, with a Judgement under their own control. Rather than destroying the existing power hierarchy, they want to give humanity a superior place in it.
[color=000000]After the resounding success of Sunless Sea comes the next spin-off: Escape from the Center of the Earth 1911
Plot the Bazaar, Race to the Sun before the Liberation of Night catch up to you! Evade Lorn-Flukes with GRACEFUL [color=000000]MANEUVERS [/color]and collect TOUCHING LOVE STORIES along the way.[/color]
I thought the Dawn Machine was connected to the Revolutionaries, and that the Machine itself was what caused the “lights out” event in the future. If that is not the case then I have completely misjudged the storyline of the game.
I totally though that too. But no - there’s two factions working on secret light-based devices, and they don’t get along. One’s traditional military values, the other’s bleeding-edge anarchism. One’s the rule of light and law, the other’s the liberation of darkness. And they would make one hell of an odd-couple sitcom or hijinks buddy movie. Also, considering the recurring themes of the Calendar Council, I’d not be the least surprised if all these lines I’m drawing were crossed and re-crossed a hundred times behind the scenes.
When it comes to the Calendar Council and the Masters it seems each is worse than the other. But what is the purpose of the Dawn Machine and the people working on it? Destruction, control, or a little of both?
Wait, if the revolutionaries don’t control the Dawn Machine, then why do they keep assisting its construction, like seeking the Nadir to empower it? Are the Dawn Machiners a kind of secret society with a different goal within the revs? And since London is annihilated, and not a Judgement imprisoned, in the ‘The Lights are Out’ destiny, does that mean the Council seized control? For that matter, who do most of the people in the Cause support?
Again, they’re different devices - the Dawn Machine is a kind of articial sun, while the revolutionaries’ Device is some sort of bomb, which they seem to be constructing, at least in part, somewhere within London. The Dawn Machiners, the New Sequence, are part of the Admirality - they seem to be almost a reactionary element, trying to reclaim London’s greatness from before the Fall, and they can’t stand the Council’s radicalism. You might make the parallel to the three schools in Neathy art - the New Sequence are the Celestials, the Bazaar is, naturally, the Bazaarines, and the Calendar Council are the Nocturnals. As for their ultimate goals? Yeah, the Liberation of Night destiny seems to show a Council-controlled London. What do the Machiners want to see? Hard to say - they’re a new and rather obscure group, but I imagine it’s something like the Bazaar’s role in London being taken over by mortal powers.
[quote=Sir Frederick Tanah-Chook]You might make the parallel to the three schools in Neathy art - the New Sequence are the Celestials, the Bazaar is, naturally, the Bazaarines, and the Calendar Council are the Nocturnals. [/quote]Very nice!