The Dullest Individual in Fallen London

[quote=Sir Frederick Tanah-Chook]The Starveling Cat! The Starveling Cat!
Let’s see the doctor rationalise that!

I have hit a mild sort of snag - the doctor’s Watchful is high enough to start drawing the first Recalling the Surface card - and it seems to be so common as to, in fact, have a 100% draw rate. I’m holding off on resigning him to Neathy life for now - not to mention that he’s hardly the sort to have a storied history of secret knowledge and cunning crimes - but if they all exhibit this behaviour, then he’ll need a five-card lodgings to be able to draw just one card. Oh well; I shall see what happens.

I think the next episode shall involve continued investigations of death and devilry, and also some discoveries of animal oddities. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good name for his Bandaged Raven? (For that matter, does anyone have any suggestions for the doctor’s own given name? I have a few ideas, but I’d be delighted to hear yours!)[/quote]

I’m trying to remember what I said in the calling card I sent … fairly certain I’m standing in opposition to a certain Shepherd.

Well, traditional raven names are Quoth and Nevermore (considering this is Fallen London then ‘Okay Maybe’ might be appropriate, but not for the good Doctor). Ravens are of the Corvidae family, you might be able to work something from that? Vidi, maybe? (Vidi - ‘I see’, which the bandaged raven probably doesn’t do too well and -vidae from the family)? Weak, I know, but eh.

I’ve always seen the doctor as a Reginald, but I’m happy to reappraise.
edited by RandomWalker on 2/7/2014

[quote=Sir Frederick Tanah-Chook]The Starveling Cat! The Starveling Cat!
Let’s see the doctor rationalise that!

I have hit a mild sort of snag - the doctor’s Watchful is high enough to start drawing the first Recalling the Surface card - and it seems to be so common as to, in fact, have a 100% draw rate. I’m holding off on resigning him to Neathy life for now - not to mention that he’s hardly the sort to have a storied history of secret knowledge and cunning crimes - but if they all exhibit this behaviour, then he’ll need a five-card lodgings to be able to draw just one card. Oh well; I shall see what happens.

I think the next episode shall involve continued investigations of death and devilry, and also some discoveries of animal oddities. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good name for his Bandaged Raven? (For that matter, does anyone have any suggestions for the doctor’s own given name? I have a few ideas, but I’d be delighted to hear yours!)[/quote]

[li]
We think we (that is, the audience) will be able to overlook it if you participate in these storylets but leave them out of the story. We don’t really see any other way that the doctor will be able to advance.

Or you could put a spin on it. &quotWhat? I didn’t send anyone off to–are you sure you have the right house? Really, really sure? Well, okay, if you insist, I’ll take those off your hands. Only until I find their proper owner, though.&quot

As for names:
If the doctor is feeling particularly hopeful, he could just call the thing Bertram, which is Germanic for &quotBright Raven.&quot As for his own name: John. John is nice and dull, and gives the name a certain rhythm; we’ve been repeating his full name to ourselves for the last five or so seconds. &quotJohn Taupe-Wainscot.&quot It feels like poetry. John-Taupe Wain-Scot. It almost rhymes, even.[/li][li]
edited by Snowskeeper on 2/7/2014

I think the Raven should be named “Chastity” either after his dear old mum or as a reminder of rare decencies. Either is a dreadfully dull answer. Perhaps, both.

D’you know, I think there’s already a bird called Chastity in the Fallen London canon - a deviless’s parrot, or something like that? Anyhow, the reason I came to post is 'cause I’ve created an index page for all the episodes - just thought if might be handy - which you can find here.

Huh, so there is. I thought I was being clever and original. Grace, then in my suggestion, for the same reasons, although not as amusing as Chastity.

I think he should name the raven after someone he knew on the surface. Then, perhaps, when ‘someone from the surface’ comes looking for him…well, comedy could possibly ensue?

(edit: Oh, oh, name it after his aunt.)
edited by Kalixas on 2/8/2014

[quote=Kalixas]I think he should name the raven after someone he knew on the surface. Then, perhaps, when ‘someone from the surface’ comes looking for him…well, comedy could possibly ensue?

(edit: Oh, oh, name it after his aunt.)
edited by Kalixas on 2/8/2014[/quote]

Oh, that is perfect. I have an auntname in mind already. Thank you all terribly much for suggestions!
edited by Sir Frederick Tanah-Chook on 2/8/2014

[quote=Sir Frederick Tanah-Chook][quote=Kalixas]I think he should name the raven after someone he knew on the surface. Then, perhaps, when ‘someone from the surface’ comes looking for him…well, comedy could possibly ensue?

(edit: Oh, oh, name it after his aunt.)
edited by Kalixas on 2/8/2014[/quote]

Oh, that is perfect. I have an auntname in mind already. Thank you all terribly much for suggestions!
edited by Sir Frederick Tanah-Chook on 2/8/2014[/quote]

My absolute pleasure.

[quote=Snowskeeper]
As for names:
If the doctor is feeling particularly hopeful, he could just call the thing Bertram, which is Germanic for &quotBright Raven.&quot As for his own name: John. John is nice and dull, and gives the name a certain rhythm; we’ve been repeating his full name to ourselves for the last five or so seconds. &quotJohn Taupe-Wainscot.&quot It feels like poetry. John-Taupe Wain-Scot. It almost rhymes, even.
edited by Snowskeeper on 2/7/2014[/quote]

I must take exception to John, the name is much to ordinary for someone as educated as our good Doctor. How about Earnest?

Oh bloody hell, now it’s gone and happened to us. We’re terribly sorry about that. [li]

To restate:
Perhaps his given name is John, and he earned the nick-name &quotEarnest&quot during his stay at the establishment of higher learning mentioned during the forward? &quotEarnest&quot John Taupe-Wainscot? It seems like the sort of thing that would be applied to him, and the sort of thing he’d take as a compliment without considering the undertones.
edited by Snowskeeper on 2/10/2014

A handbaaaaaaag?

Hi? I sent the doctor a gift of admiration, a little less than a week ago, I think, but it hasn’t been accepted yet. Is the backlog really that big? Or did I trigger a glitch and you can’t see it? If it was accepted and the text simply didn’t appear, I would just assume you didn’t like it or there wasn’t space where to put it or something, but I’m suspicious of the fact it wasn’t even accepted

Hello! Don’t worry; I appreciate every invite, and have been shaping the story to fit them more often than not. I haven’t been accepting invites until I’m writing them in, and that hasn’t always been in the order they’ve been sent in - I suppose it would be more thoughtful of other players to simply copy out the text and accept the invite straight away, so I’ll start doing that. I do have a bit of a backlog, but I’ll make sure you got through - what’s your character’s name?

Ah, I thought you did them in chronological order, so I was getting a bit worried. (It was a rather bland message anyways, really just an excuse to send you some second chances. Maybe I’ll send something actually interesting eventually, haha)

My character’s name is Daery.

Ahh - not to worry! I generally go by themes, based on what’s been happening in the game itself - one day I’ll pick out everything relating to devils; the next, urchins; after that, breakfast!

I had seen this topic back before the first LP post was even up, but then I forgot about it. Read the entirety of it now; amusing stuff.

Sent you a calling card, and a Feast of the Exceptional Rose gift, both with a (not so) subtle Great Game/spy theme. (Spying/intriguing is also presumably why my character knows so much about the unfortunate doctor, on a tangent.) Also, though I haven’t sent the actual action yet, I’m offering my patronage. Watchful, which has already been offered, but it’s all I can provide there.

Ooh! Yes! Let us bombard the good Doctor with Exceptional Rose gifts! Glasses of teeth, perhaps? Or maybe the Liars’ Tongues.

[li]
We’ve already sent him a glass of teeth and a painted cat. The Liar’s Tongues are rather difficult to obtain, though.

We’ve already sent him a glass of teeth and a painted cat. The Liar’s Tongues are rather difficult to obtain, though.[/quote]
Sent a chess piece here, as alluded to in my post, meanwhile. So if people want to send things he’s not getting elsewhere, that’s another one taken care of already.

Edit: Though a massive amount of tongues and/or teeth to go with the rats would be rather amusing. Those should be sent no matter how many other people also give them.[li]
edited by Roland Jones on 2/14/2014