September’s Exceptional Story: For All The Saints

[harpermargrave]

@Skinnyman

[quote=Optimatum]It looks like it uses whichever of Church and Hell you have higher, so the 41 is just based on your current Church level. No clue what happens if they’re the same.

[/quote]
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Harper%20Margrave?fromEchoId=14715294
That’s with both Hell and Church at 40. The difference is subtle, just a reference to needing a neutral party.

[earthbourn]

@PSGarak

Yeah, about that. There are many details in this story that whet my curiosity, and a few that really need a follow-up. This is the at the top of the latter list.

Right? The image is interesting enough, but the Condotierre’s comment is really striking. The description of the violets says &quotglass,&quot not mirrors, explicitly, but maybe it’s possible to see Parabola through them? So maybe it could refer to a (now defunct) infernal embassy in Parabola. Potentially from before the devils settled in the Neath. Or maybe it’s somewhere else entirely! It’s definitely intriguing.

[notawalrus]

This is the best exceptional story (not named ‘Lost in Reflections’) yet. I absolutely adored the writing, lore revelations and the character of the deacon. Hell is one of the most interesting factions and it’s great to see it get more development.

[jolandaswan]

Come on Failbetter… give us the Deacon’s card. Who do we have to bribe? Should we invade Hell? Seduce random train people? Drink weak ta? Whatever it is, I am in!

Sorry, I am over-enthusiastic, I know, I know…
edited by Jolanda Swan on 9/8/2018

[Hieronymus]

I’ve bothered to make a community account simply to express my love for this story. It’s some of the best writing on the site outside of the destinies, or perhaps some of the Light Fingers content. I was too engrossed to notice any typos.
My only disappointment is that no ending lets you stay in the Deacon’s life. In character, he would have been a fitting companion for me. I echo the many in hoping he returns in some way. In another story, maybe, where added continuity adds a few extra actions.
I also am saddened that no one in the Embassy ever recognizes I live there, but this is a perennial problem. Granted, this is a story in which lodgings and affiliations could have been used to additional effect. Perhaps in a reprise . . . ?

[absintheuse]

[quote=Jolanda Swan]Come on Failbetter… give us the Deacon’s card. Who do we have to bribe? Should we invade Hell? Seduce random train people? Drink weak ta? Whatever it is, I am in!

Sorry, I am over-enthusiastic, I know, I know…
edited by Jolanda Swan on 9/8/2018[/quote]

[color=#cc0099]We were perhaps a bit unprepared for how much you’d all enjoy this, heh[/color]

[jolandaswan]

It’s all right. The Deacon taught us the ways of forgiveness.

[dov]

This was one of the best Exceptional Stories for me. Absolutely wonderful from start to finish. The lore, the locations, the characters, the art, the writing (&quotThe house is shuttered, and hidden behind high walls, where it gathers its disappointments like dust.&quot). Everything was superb.

Two very minor points:

• At one point the text refers to the Deacon’s hair as being blond, which contradicts the chosen art.[/li][li]A missed opportunity early in the story, when the Deacon laments the lack of Church advancement opportunities in the Neath since there aren’t many bishopric spots. This would have been a perfect place for the game to acknowledge my character’s title of Bishop, earned via &quotThe Sinking Synod&quot story.

It was clear to me this story is easily in the top-5 of ES, and it was difficult to give it its final ranking. Eventually, I’ve decided to place it just a hair below Hojotoho, just because Hojotoho had more great characters and had a followup option on a card.

Well done, James, and all others in FBG who have worked on this!

Personal ranking of all Exceptional Stories:

Excellent:

• Lost in Reflections[/li][li]Cut with Moonlight[/li][li]Hojotoho![/li][li]For All The Saints[/li][li]The Frequently Deceased[/li][li]The Waltz that Moved the World[/li][li]Steeped in Honey[/li][li]Flint[/li][li]All Things Must End[/li][li]Written In The Glim[/li][li]The Century Exhibition[/li][li]The Twelve-Fifteen From Moloch Street[/li][li]The Persona Engine[/li][li]Where You and I Must Go[/li][li]The Sinking Synod[/li][li]The Attendants

Good:

• The Murgatroyd Formula[/li][li]Lamentation Lock[/li][li]The Web of the Motherlings[/li][li]The Pentecost Predicament[/li][li]The Calendar Code[/li][li]The Rat-Catcher[/li][li]The Art of Murder[/li][li]The Chimney Pot Wars[/li][li]The Final Curtain[/li][li]The Bones of London[/li][li]The Heart, the Devil and the Zee

OK:

• Our Lady of Pyres[/li][li]Required Repairs[/li][li]The Clay Man’s Arm[/li][li]Five Minutes to Midday[/li][li]Discernment[/li][li]The Haunting at the Marsh House[/li][li]The Pursuit of Moths[/li][li]Factory of Favours

Meh:

• Trial and Error[/li][li]The Last Dog Society[/li][li]The Seven-Day Reign[/li][li]The Court of Cats

Terrible

• The Stone Guest

[winthropx]

After playing this ES and thinking about it more, I really want the Playing with Soul or The Blind Pianist and the Sallow Spirifer story to continue. Why was she thrown out of the Brass Embassy.

[annalibertas]

@Absintheuse

[color=#cc0099] We were perhaps a bit unprepared for how much you’d all enjoy this, heh[/color]

Honestly, I’d assumed you’d released this one while cackling & going ‘oh we’re gonna make them cry’

[jolandaswan]

@annalibertas

[quote=Absintheuse][color=#cc0099] We were perhaps a bit unprepared for how much you’d all enjoy this, heh[/color]

Honestly, I’d assumed you’d released this one while cackling & going ‘oh we’re gonna make them cry’[/quote]

…and beg!

[stebuu]

This is very not Fallen Londonish, but the Intrepid Deacon totally looks like Ewan McGregor to me, so that’s the Intrepid Deacon’s voice in my head.
edited by stebuu on 9/13/2018

[ladykarnstein]

I (and Caroline) really enjoyed this one. Despite being intensely anti-Hell, she did not take an oppertunity to screw over a devil, something she almost never does. I really had to think about the ending, and it put me into a situation where what I would do and what Caroline would do were very much at odds, so good on them. It is absolutely one of my favorites.

[ixc]

I think this story has bad implications for those against the Fingerkings. If you believe in a Parabolan creature enough, it can become real. And where else is the unreal believed more than the theater?

[nepeta]

Okay, I don’t think this has been echoed yet, but I sided with the Church and against that devil as much as I could without blowing my cover. I did commit violence against the devil at the end, which had a strong effect on our deacon friend.
Echo for our deacon’s new profession here: http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Nepeta

[lordqwert]

@earthbourn

[quote=PSGarak]Yeah, about that. There are many details in this story that whet my curiosity, and a few that really need a follow-up. This is the at the top of the latter list.

Right? The image is interesting enough, but the Condotierre’s comment is really striking. The description of the violets says &quotglass,&quot not mirrors, explicitly, but maybe it’s possible to see Parabola through them? So maybe it could refer to a (now defunct) infernal embassy in Parabola. Potentially from before the devils settled in the Neath. Or maybe it’s somewhere else entirely! It’s definitely intriguing.[/quote]

I connected the description to Exile’s Rose and thought &quotThat’s a devil bee dressed up as a flower instead of a human&quot, which then made me wonder if Exile’s Roses are sentient. Then it came to me that if they are, there’s no difference between entering a memory through gaoler’s honey and entering Parabola through prisoner’s honey, because you’re really just entering the Exile’s Rose’s memory.

[ginneonthursday]

Just chiming in to say how much I loved this story, the characters, the choices, and the writing! I’m actually a fan of the Church faction and really loved seeing the Church as a backdrop and the ensuing grappling with devilish designs. Also, the most affected I’ve been by an outcome for a character in an ES for a good while. Bravo!

[kukapetal]

It’s been a long time since I played an Exceptional Story that had a character I cared about. This one did, and as a result, I was more invested in this story than I had been in an ES for a long time.

So of COURSE it ended horribly. An agent for the Brass Embassy? That’s probably the absolute LAST thing Fleshy would have wanted for that sweet little deacon. Think it’ll be a long time before he talks in all caps again.

God DAMN it.

salutes the writers

Think it might be time for another Fallen London break

[jolandaswan]

We will always have the resets.
I almost don’t want this Thursday to come and wipe the story off!

[gonen]

I… am most embarrassed, for I have not understand… quite a lot.

1. On this topic you mentioned Lucifer. Is the Chandler Lucifer? The lover of Lucifer? A servant of Lucifer? How do you even relate the name Lucifer?
   (&quotyou were first among servants&quot)?
2. What or who is the love of the Chandler? A being? Heaven?
3. &quotAnd then the rebellion; the flight through glass… The loneliness of exile…&quot. Are we talking about the primal rebellion of the fallen angels against Heaven? Or the rebellion of devils against the monarchy of hell?
4. Who is the king that &quotall your days you may gaze upon the face of your king&quot?
5. Who… is &quotyou&quot this paragraph keeps mentions? The Chandler?
6. What about the star which weeps red? A Star (Judgement)?
7. The Failed Embassy as glass violets (at The Lamentations of Violets)?.. And the title to that echo reads &quotOld spies&quot. What is the story there?

I do feel like a fool, seeing lore zooms above my head, unable to grasp many details. This hinders my enjoyment of the ES, alas.
But would very much appreciate your help with unveiling the picture, so I can go &quotOhhhhhhhhhh! That IS a brilliant lore&quot.

Thank you,
me.
edited by Gonen on 9/24/2018