Ah yes, there they are! I think my Shadowy was probably at 119 or something. I put on my ratskin suit and now I can see the two options. Thank you!
I’m looking forward to playing this storyline! I tried not to see anything I didn’t want to know while skimming through this thread, but what I did see was well intriguing!
Why would anyone choose the first option of siding with Mr. Stones? It wants the Bazaar to move on to the next city, which will cause the destruction of London, just like the Fourth City… unless I missed something.
edited by Voodoo Master on 8/2/2012
[color=00ffff]Some people…[/color]
[color=00ffff]
[/color]
[color=00ffff](and obviously I’m not pointing any fingers at any esteemed members of this forum. Perish the thought.)[/color]
[color=00ffff]
[/color]
[color=00ffff]…but some people are troublemakers.[/color]
Apparently not, considering I haven’t seen anyone yet who’s chosen that option.
[color=00ffff]Some people…[/color]
[color=00ffff]
[/color]
[color=00ffff](and obviously I’m not pointing any fingers at any esteemed members of this forum. Perish the thought.)[/color]
[color=00ffff]
[/color]
[color=00ffff]…but some people are troublemakers.[/color][/quote]
But it’d be a terrible idea for them, too. I mean, we’re not sure what happens to citizens in the previous City, but we’ve seen some of the previous people in power. The Duchess went from being the [color=#ffffff]Pharaoh’s daughter[/color] to hosting society events, having a cat-astrophic amount of felines, and having a love interest that would make the directors of “forbidden love” movies blush and go into comedies. The Gracious Widow went from being a powerful figure in the Fourth City to running a criminal ring in Spite, which is like running a ring of devils in Hell. Yesterday’s King lives in some godforsaken ruin, constantly living in fear of devils. If the powerful people are ruined, what happens to the normal ones?
When troublemakers have a loaded gun, they tend not to point it at their foot.
I would like to point out that the reason that I chose Mr. Stones was the same reason that I Seek the Name - Both my character and myself have a boundless curiosity, and since nobody else seems to have taken that route, I had no choice. I had to take it.
It’s debatable whether it’s a bad idea for my character. You see, he knows full well that whoever rules a City will fall when the City is dropped, but he’s also heard something rather intriguing - before London, the Masters worked alone. Now though, they have people working for them. Employees. Lieutenants. Agents. If handled correctly, there’s the hint of a possibility that he’d be in on the ground floor. He’s gambling against the possibility of a great deal of power. Not to mention that acquiring a Sixth City will take a lot of work Above, and you can hardly use Clay Men for that. He has ambitions.
[quote=Twoflower]
When troublemakers have a loaded gun, they tend not to point it at their foot.[/quote]
[color=00ffff]I dunno, the figures on accidental self-inflicted gunshot wounds are a little alarming. :)[/color]
[color=00ffff]I’m being flippant, but this is a really interesting thing we’ve discovered while writing Fallen London. When a game has as many players as this one there’s always someone, even a sizeable number of someones, who will take the option that seems self-destructive. Travellersside has explained his motives above, very clearly, and this is what the Mr. Eaten storyline is all about. [/color]
[color=00ffff]When Alexis wrote the Face-Tailor story and included an option that let you throw the idol in the river I confidently predicted that no-one would ever do it. Who would pass up cool story like that? Here’s how wrong I was.
And beyond the minority of people that will choose these options, there’s a more significant point about choice in interactive narrative, here. If Nigel hadn’t provided the Mr. Stones option, the choice that you’d be presented with would be much more shallow. The fact you chose not to do it makes the choice you did make more meaningful. If that makes sense. It’s especially interesting in a game with a community like this one, where people swap the results of their decisions like trading cards. The consequences of the Mr. Stones choice have become a hot commodity![/color]
Well I’m a bit slow on these new-content business things… I just did my first carousel, but I have no doubt, that’s viable option for one of my characters… I think Chris Said it best
[quote=Chris Gardiner]
[color=rgb(0, 0, 204)]…but some people are troublemakers.[/color][/quote]
Ironically enough… for being such a character, he isn’t really pursuing, The Name…
Gah. For a story which finally gives so many answers, it seems there are even more loose ends. Regardless, it has found a place in my favorite storylets of all time. I have quite a few theories, but the nothing seems to explain every single detail we’ve been given. Perhaps (spoilers and mad guessing EVERYWHERE) [color=rgb(255, 255, 255)]the Masters only value a city based on how much love they can, erm, harvest, specifically the greatest source and reason they stole the city in the first place, the love between the current ruler and his or her consort, and the Masters curse the consort to speed the process along. The Widow said that, when the game of the box finally ended, her city fell; while the crab was in there, which was never actually explained how it got in there, there were also the love letters, allegedly stolen from Mr Fires by Mr Stones. If the box was opened and the city fell, that may imply that the love letters were found by Yesterday’s King, thus ending the romance (assuming that they were from another lover, although I’m truly praying Mr Fires only stole them, not wrong them gags). Thus, if my absurd theories are correct, the love of the rulers are what keeps the city together, and is why Mr Fires is trying to get this “moon milk” to rekindle the romance, which may be why he has so many dirigibles, thus saving the city and keeping the Bazaar there. Of course, this doesn’t explain why Fires does want the Bazaar there, nor why most of the other Masters don’t, and practically nothing else. [/color]
[color=rgb(0, 0, 0)]Excuse the length of the previous ramblings. In other news, I’d love to know about the Mr Stones ending… If anyone were to have it, I would be incredibly grateful to be messaged it, given a link to their journal which has said ending echoed, or given a place to find it, perhaps the wiki or something. Doing so would grant my eternal gratitude. Although I’m not quite sure that’s a good thing. [/color]
For me it’s completionism, mainly. I was going to take the story if nobody else did, because the main point of playing Fallen London for me isn’t to be in-character, it’s to collect all the things that the FBG team is writing. Reading a book where the main character does self-destructive things isn’t necessarily any less interesting than reading a book where the main character is a paragon. And of course, this isn’t like a book, it’s more like a mystery - I’m curious to find out what’s going on, why would I pass up a chance to collect clues? I don’t particularly care about whether my CHARACTER is curious, he’s a hapless pawn for me to find out what’s going on in the game :)
edited by M_L_G on 8/2/2012
edited by M_L_G on 8/2/2012
[quote=Voodoo Master]Why would anyone choose the first option of siding with Mr. Stones? It wants the Bazaar to move on to the next city, which will cause the destruction of London, just like the Fourth City… unless I missed something.
edited by Voodoo Master on 8/2/2012[/quote]
Ah, but why would anyone side with Mr. Fires:
[quote]Help her escape
Mr Fires has a particular savagery reserved for unionists. It’s best not to think about the ones it captures.[/quote]
Or for that matter think that publishing the story in a paper would accomplish anything.
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. And it’s not like the box is of any benefit to Stones now, with [color=#ffffff]the miser dead and the letters returned to the Widow.[/color]
[color=#ffffff]
[/color]
All that said, on my next run through the carousel I’ll see if I can gain an audience with Stones.
[quote=wlerin][quote=Voodoo Master]Why would anyone choose the first option of siding with Mr. Stones? It wants the Bazaar to move on to the next city, which will cause the destruction of London, just like the Fourth City… unless I missed something.
edited by Voodoo Master on 8/2/2012[/quote]
Ah, but why would anyone side with Mr. Fires:
[quote]Help her escape
Mr Fires has a particular savagery reserved for unionists. It’s best not to think about the ones it captures.[/quote]
Or for that matter think that publishing the story in a paper would accomplish anything.
.[/quote]
Well, none of the Masters are saints, scarlet or otherwise. I mean, they’re not running the Orphanage to help out the poor parentless urchins, and they didn’t drag London down to the Neath for tea and scones.
Oi, I’m trying to talk myself into taking the Stones option here. >:U
[quote=]Voodoo Master wrote:
Why would anyone choose the first option of siding with Mr. Stones? It wants the Bazaar to move on to the next city, which will cause the destruction of London, just like the Fourth City… unless I missed something.edited by Voodoo Master on 8/2/2012
Ah, but why would anyone side with Mr. Fires:
Help her escape
Mr Fires has a particular savagery reserved for unionists. It’s best not to think about the ones it captures.
Or for that matter think that publishing the story in a paper would accomplish anything.[/quote]
Well, Mr. Fires is a terrible… thing, indeed. It does things that should not be talked about. But. It doesn’t want to destroy London for some reason, which is a relief for most of us. I think that makes it a little better choice than Mr. Stones.
About publishing the story in a paper - I didn’t talk about that earlier, but I think it’s not a good choice too. I don’t know what happens if we choose this, because I want to avoid spoiler, but I assume it has something to do with very angry Masters… this is probably the silliest thing to choose. At least in my opinion. It’d only help unify the Masters against us and will make them seriously consider destroying the city right away before another rebellion begins. The writers would need a really good excuse to prevent these from happening.
So I think I’ve decided. Siding with Mr. Fires is maybe a stupid thing to do, but it’s the best option for me currently. I’ll choose this as soon as I get out of prison.
EDIT: wlerin, I didn’t know you’re trying to convince yourself. Ignore what I’ve said then.
edited by Voodoo Master on 8/3/2012
No… it just wants to enslave it.
Stones doesn’t want to destroy the Fifth City, he wants to move on to the Sixth. And while the Fourth City doesn’t seem to have fared very well following the arrival of the Fifth, it does seem at least possible that the cities before that carry on a sort of existence elsewhere in the Neath, beyond the meddling of the Masters.
edited by wlerin on 8/3/2012
No… it just wants to enslave it.
Stones doesn’t want to destroy the Fifth City, he wants to move on to the Sixth. And while the Fourth City doesn’t seem to have fared very well following the arrival of the Fifth, it does seem at least possible that the cities before that carry on a sort of existence elsewhere in the Neath, beyond the meddling of the Masters.
edited by wlerin on 8/3/2012[/quote]
Actually, if the other Cities somehow made it across the Zee, what if the Second City was North? It’d certainly explain why the Masters hate it so much.
Fascinating. I always feel a bit guilty whenever I look up storylets online - but they’re generally those that I have sealed off by my own choice. But the Stones ending -[color=#ffffff] especially the bit about the Master’s servitude[/color] - is a tantalizingly new piece of information. So there’s a larger game at stake…
…we must not be using the same wiki. To which one did you post this delightful piece of information?
I have an issue here. You see, I was once a good man, a gentleman, who would do what was right, no matter the cost to me. That changed. I came to the 'neath to avenge my only daughter. Once here, I have been consumed by my lust for revenge, and nothing would be to low for me to not sink to it’s level and use it in my quest for vengeance. I have stolen, seduced, trapped demons, dealt in souls, lured people to damnation, taken the mantle of a mob boss, with my own entourage of flunkies, … all to improve my chances on making retribution come to those that ruined my life. I can no longer return to the surface, not unless I procure a bottle of that apple spirit that everyone speaks about but no one has actually had.
The thing is, I found the killer. He was hiding in the Iron Republic. In the end, he was just a pawn, a hired hand. I saw that, and saw that his own actions had reduced him to a state where life would end up being worse than the deliverance of death, so I let him live, once he told me everything he knew. He had been hired to kill my dear Esmeralda to lure me to the 'neath. Well, it succeeded. I am now trapped here. He didn’t know who had hired him, but he gave me hints. Those, along with the ones I picked on the way, are starting to form a picture. I think that the Masters were behind it. Now, my sense of justice tells me to bare it all for the people to see, but in doing so, I fear that I would alert them that I suspect what they did. Playing one against the other does sound much sweeter though, but collaborating with them repulses me…