I’ve read about Liberation of Night in the Salons and might have accidentally advanced it a few dozen times. It’s organized mainly by what I will call "February Faction" for reasons obvious to everyone who has a knowledge of some of revolutionaries’ inner workings.
As far as I understand, their goal is kill all the Judgements ( Suns ). Now, for why such thing will not kill all of us, at least, by their course of thought. One fellow Londoner offered this explanation: Judgements are not Suns, they are Light. So, stars will continue to provide warmth, just in absolute darkness. Laws of physics don’t work that way, but neither do we have comets flying from the sun to the sun to pass along messages and occasionally having illegitimate children with aforementioned Suns, so I will just assume that the universe of Fallen London works that way. (Or maybe they believe that absolutely all laws will stop working, and one’s survival wouldn’t depend on measly physics, but on their own power and will. Whatever. )
Others simply want to kill Masters and, well, revolt. Just regular revolutionaries then, no need for fancy names.
The third faction I will call Contrarian Faction, because that’s who leads it. I don’t know what goals he has, but it seems likely his goals are whatever he wants them to be at the moment, or opposite of goals of whoever else in the immediate vicinity. Somehow, he reminds me of the majority of Fallen London players. Maybe that was intentional, I don’t know.
The fourth faction consists of opportunists, not true believers in the cause. In any cause, for that matter. December Faction, maybe?
I understand that defines most of the main revolutionary directions, but, perhaps, I missed someone. Does anyone have more knowledge of the dynamite Londoners? Elaborate, please, I would like to know more.
( not the Name, though, the Name blows. )
What kills us? Law. What makes Law? Suns. Do you wish to live forever? Extinguish.
This argument is almost certainly false, and we will all die once the Mountain keels over and loonies start firing peligin harpoons in the street. But what fun we shall have!
It’s hard to say whether the Council’s different leaders have different goals. Certainly, February’s the most visible and vocal, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the others aren’t on the same page as her. We quite simply don’t see enough of them to say for sure. (That said, I do have my own private theories as to why we haven’t seen March around for a few years… there are definitely some internal tensions in the revolutionary movement.)
The Exceptional Story "The Frequently Deceased" gives us some more insight into those revolutionaries not aligned with the Council’s agenda. There are reformers and radicals of all stripes, not only those who wish to advance the Liberation. The Contrarian’s agenda - well, my guess is political reform; creating a culture of debate and deliberation, of mass participation in politics.
If the Liberation did come to pass? Perhaps the laws of nature, including mortality, really would be abolished. Perhaps we’d all become something new, something different, that we could shape ourselves. Hell of a gamble either way.
The issue with trying to define the revolutionaries is that they’re a faction built upon multiple goals and beliefs. The revolutionaries and the Calendar Council work similarly to that of the revolutionaries and the central council in "The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare", where most members of the group are all about general anarchy and reform as well as their own personal goals while the head council and those with ties to its inner circle plot to destroy all order and life. Similar to the novel, the Calendar Council’s ultimate goal of the Liberation of Night is not a widely known plan, even amongst most of their general members. While they are tied together under the same goal of destroying light, the Council members all seem to have some tension between one another and how they should reach their ultimate goal. Most members don’t know of the LoN, though there are some who do know of the Council’s true goals, and many would probably be on board for it should the be informed of it. Many, though, simply support the idea of rebellion and either don’t know of their true plan or ignore it for the general retaliation against forms of order and oppression such as the Masters and the upper class. Some are even moderates such as the Contrarian, who wish to bring reform for the freedom of London but disapprove of things such as the LoN. He’s less of their leader and more of a prominent member and supporter/figurehead of this group’s beliefs.
As for light and the LoN’s purpose, that takes a bit of spoilery explanation that I’ll add in a spoiler tag. To sum it up, though, the LoN is basically the ultimate rebellion of order. The question is whether or not what comes of that revolution is better than what we have. Basically the "gods" of the FL universe are Judgements, aka what we think of as stars. They are the creators of reality and the rules that follow it, which are enforced from the manifestation of their law: light. So why not just kill the stars but keep light from fire and electricity? It turns out that all light carries some form of law within it, though a candleflame’s light would not have as nearly as much power or influence from the Judgements as sunlight would. The Calendar Council wishes to somehow destroy all light along with the Judgements to create a universe free from order and reason, essentially a void of chaos where there are no rules. Most people hate the Judgements and prefer the Neath’s near-darkness where the Judgement’s law is very weak but still somewhat faintly present, but destroying all law means that we don’t know what will come of the darkness. It is literally unknowable to the human mind that relies on reason and thought to process when all former understanding is null and void.
edited by Sir Joseph Marlen on 7/26/2016
I just figured FBG authors tried to represent main directions of late 19th- early 20th centuries: idealists ( philosophers ), power seekers, anarchists and criminals.
What I don’t understand is why they don’t display their opinion more prominently. It’s easy to forget in all this whackiness and lovecraftian comedy-horror, but the Empress is called Traitor, there is no Parlament to speak of, and London is ruled by Space Bats. The only Ministry that has any significant influence in public control is the Ministry of Public Decency, which is hillarious considering how Fallen London differs from its real analogue of the same timeframe. ( I know the reasons, Bazaar wants stories, and Mr. Wines loves especially spisignificant ones. )
So what does stop them from publishing pamphlets under the press about apparent abhorrence of their rulers, organizing demonstrations, discussing their ideas in salons? I didn’t even hear about Masters killing anyone aside from that Nemesis thingy… and Jack of Smiles… and Bag a Legend… and Mr. Iron… Okay, they can kill stuff, but they are mortal. They can bleed. Why wait and build some strange light-snuffing device when you can just gang up on them with bricks and bludgeons? Can Bazaar even stop a rebellion?
Yes. This is why London is here and the last city only exists in the forgotten quarter. They erased it after a rebellion.
edited by suinicide on 7/26/2016
Not entirely true - Fallen London still has a Parliament, a Prime Minister, a sprawling civil government loaded with ministers and secretaries, an armed forces, a police force, and a Foreign Office loaded with agents. We don’t hear much about them - presumably because the activities of the weird space creatures serving as the powers behind the throne are more interesting than the activities of hundreds of relatively everyday bureaucrats. But they’re there, making up the population of Society, the Constables and the home team of the Great Game.
Various snippets of content - the Nadir, the Ambitions, the Destinies, and others - suggest that even a single Master is a formidable fighting force. Weird devices that bend the laws of physics might seriously be necessary just to soften them up enough to kill one.
Oh. And I just realized if people are harder to kill in the Neath, then Masters are even tougher, since they are higher or maybe even beyond on the scale of Chain.
So, basically, London is still London, just a kilometer under the ground, and revolutionaries are still revolutionaries, just with weirder philosophy. Alright, thanks for the answer.
I thought lacrization is a standard procedure, sort of like cleaning up the room after sign-off. I mean, the Third city is also nowhere to be seen… Right?
They left the leader alive so he could see what happened to his city. It was a rebellion.
edited by suinicide on 7/26/2016
Consider that when the Masters themselves have tried to kill one of their own they had to go to some… extreme measures. And though they did manage to get rid of said Master, it was not really permanent. And a reckoning is not to be postponed indefinitely.
SOME SAY* Master Iron is already dead, and September wears his cloak to eavesdrop on the other Masters.
*(Me, just now.)
It used to be that you could help bring down the natural order of things with a stick of dynamite and a strong hand. In this post-lapsarian age, authority is enshrined in metaphysics. Which should explain the necessity of finding something with a little bit more explosive power.
So. To sum up thus far, we have usual hijinks complicated by the fact revolutionaries find themselves in semi-fictional universe created by people with a sense of humor.
I don’t know anything about May, June, October and November. I heavily suspect that Jovial Contrarian is August. Why? Ugh, okay. This is all speculation, anyway, and it won’t do any good to anyone until FBG decides one way or another.
Firstly, August is opposite of February. Yeah, that’s silly, I know. Except that he and February came to blows during election. And they seem to be of different minds about Liberation.
Secondly, which is by the way only a rephrasal of the first reason, August is considered the warmest season, the end of summer before the colder autumn and winter.
Thirdly, I invoke the authority of whoever reached the same conclusion and likely posted it in the thread tentatively named Calendar Council ( although I don’t know, because the thread is old and I’m lazy. ). Their arguments need also apply.
There was also talk about some Months being placeholder in order to confuse Constables, even some of already revealed ones. I disagree, but then I know nothing of them, either.
Would someone more educated and eloquent sum up their information on this topic for the benefit of future generations? ( or at least until someone else asks the same question approximately a year in the future )
[quote=Sir Frederick Tanah-Chook]
Various snippets of content - the Nadir, the Ambitions, the Destinies, and others - suggest that even a single Master is a formidable fighting force. Weird devices that bend the laws of physics might seriously be necessary just to soften them up enough to kill one.[/quote]
Failing an attempt to burgle the Bazaar should provide all the evidence of that you’d ever need!
As for faction goals, the base Connection description for the Revolutionaries states they are "very far from united. Socialists, anarchists, foreign agents: only their hatred of the Masters unites them."
It therefore ironic that the most public-facing members of the Calendar Council are committed to a plan to sabotage the very same Judgements and Great Chain which forced the Bazaar into exile in the Neath to begin with!
So not all involvement with Revolutionaries is fanatical devotion to the Liberation of Night, any more than all Society actions are an expression of fanatical devotion to the Traitor Empress, or being on somewhat chummy terms with one or two of the Masters is the same as being in cahoots with the lot of them (particularly given their own internecine scheming…)
The Contrarian is in an odd position, in having strong connections to both the Revolutionaries and Society, and some degree of goodwill towards the Masters (regardless of whether he likes them, he at least doesn’t seem to outright hate them.) I think he is interested in altering the order of things, but not to the extreme that February is - perhaps hoping to liberate London from the Bazaar by freeing the Bazaar from its own exile? Or maybe he just likes the sound of his own voice. (Scratch that "maybe", we know the last part is a definite!)[li]
edited by Pnakotic on 7/26/2016
Make the assumption, for a moment, that you do not control your own fate. Every choice you could conceivably make has been accounted for, and the structure of society and the flow of information is controlled and manipulated such that you are incapable of taking a course of action that you alone are responsible for determining. In such a scenario, every option is equally valid, because every choice is equally restricted—equally invalid, thus, from certain perspectives. What recourse is there, then, for those who desire true self-determination? Break the system. Tear it down and stomp on the pieces.
This, I think, is what motivates the Jovial Contrarian. Every position he could conceivably argue for is an invalid position, and so he can just as easily defend one course of action as another. And if he does not hate the Bazaar and its pet Masters, why should he? Their place is higher, to be sure, but they are still bound. They are still trapped by the Law of Judgement-Light. If he opposes the Liberation of Night, and seems so compassionate, and is so gregarious, then perhaps he knows of the power of Love, so coveted by Masters and Messenger.
There are those more knowledgeable in the Lore of Fallen London, and who know the denizens of the Neath better than myself, and who may know things that would prove me wrong, but this holds up to what I know, and what I have seen.
edited by Lazaroth on 7/27/2016
If the twist is the same as Man who was Thursday I would be greatly disappointed.
[quote=Sir Joseph Marlen]The issue with trying to define the revolutionaries is that they’re a faction built upon multiple goals and beliefs. The revolutionaries and the Calendar Council work similarly to that of the revolutionaries and the central council in "The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare", where most members of the group are all about general anarchy and reform as well as their own personal goals while the head council and those with ties to its inner circle plot to destroy all order and life.[/spoiler]
edited by Sir Joseph Marlen on 7/26/2016[/quote]
Consider that when the Masters themselves have tried to kill one of their own they had to go to some… extreme measures. And though they did manage to get rid of said Master, it was not really permanent. And a reckoning is not to be postponed indefinitely.[/quote]
All you need is carpets, the Master being unknowingly trapped, an orchestra’s worth of morin khuurs, and many, many explosives.
[quote=Bertrand Leonidas Poole]
All you need is carpets, the Master being unknowingly trapped, an orchestra’s worth of morin khuurs, and many, many explosives.[/quote]
The Silver Tree, right? I did it, too, then realized that he let himself be captured on purpose, 'cause he thought it was funny.