I posted this earlier on the Bazaar announcement thread, but it goes much better here.
I voted for this when the card came up and I’m absolutely thrilled I wasn’t the only one. I’ll happily join the kickstarter effort when it happens ^_^
What was the Sunless Sea kickstarters like anyway? I wasn’t around when those happened.
For me one of the most intriguing details is that the Empress is there and personally leading the whole thing. I wonder how the Empress came to make her decision to travel into the High Wilderness. Up to now she’s been perfectly willing to let her Empire rot away while she nurses the Consort in her silent, shuttered up palace. Presiding over a massive new imperial project is a pretty big change. Did the Merchant Venturer come back and, much like Christopher Columbus and his stories of gold, bring the Empress tales of otherworldly power or medicine that would improve the Consorts state (this would be my first guess)? Or did something happen to drive her from the Neath? Well, whatever the reason, Her Enduring Majesty is about to take a big step into the limelight.
One thing though, with the Empress there it’s not hard to see how the New Empire quickly becomes authoritarian:
[quote=]Why is the Empress’ Palace shuttered?
Apparently the Empress doesn’t like light. Or sudden movements, loud noises, foreigners, treason, peaches. When you’re Empress, you can do this kind of thing.[/quote]
I’m not sure that the Judgments dying is all do to the Liberation btw. Naturally the Revolutionaries will do whatever they can however they can - but the High Wilderness is so UNCOMPREHENDINGLY VAST. I think in one of FL’s Destinies Earth ends up likened to a little speck of sand on a large beach? The Judgments probably have many enemies, some of them fellow stars (the Judgments can kill one another after all), and the Neath isn’t the only dark place in existence. The Sorrow Spiders came from one of those dark spaces, after all. Then there are all the things that are behind the mirrors (we only see some of the border places of that other place, which is just as vast as the High Wilderness).
Contemplating the High Wildernesses vast scale, I was also very much intrigued by this detail here:
Trains: everything having to do with trains! Like, that influence kind of stands out, doesn’t it? And in a science fiction romance set in outer space! Normally when one imagines exploring outer space its with space ships. But trains are clearly going to be an important element.
Does the High Wilderness have what amounts to a gigantic intergalactic railway network? Or is the New Empire building one? This wouldn’t be out of character for the Victorian time period - the British Empire in India, Canada, and Africa was very much an empire of railroads, which allowed the overcoming and conquest of vast spaces (and destruction/plundering/enslavement of indigenous peoples by the British elite). Moving around in some sort of space railroad would allow Failbetter to represent the High Wildernesses sheer expanse and spacial diversity while at the same time ensuring that the time spent traversing said expanses and diversity won’t become detrimental to the players enjoyment of the game.
The trains might be the means of traveling between game/story locations, 80 Days style (taking the train being a story in itself). Or they might be the means of traveling between multiple game maps, which would then be explored Sunless Sea style (like, one map for the places around the Egg and another map for the Forge of Souls, with you zailing your ship around after getting off the train). Whichever it is, I’m sure it will be a lot of fun.