So when I play Sunless Sea, my favorite challenges tend to involve a primary stat called "Veils." There are 5 such stats, each named after a Master, with three of them (Dangerous/Iron, Persuasive/Hearts, Shadowy/Veils) corresponding rather closely with an in-game stat from Fallen London. Mirrors is rather like the investigative interpretation of Watchful, while Pages is rather more like the University interpretation. I won’t go on at length about my playstyle in another game, but I’m fond of avoiding combat entirely and relying heavily on commerce that doesn’t require hold space. Information tends to be my best cargo, and while port reports are just broth, funding spy networks tends to pay for itself many times over once you’re well-prepared for all of the checks involved, and know which ones are a bad deal. Knowing that my favorite stat was named for somebody, I figured they must be impossibly stealthy.
As somebody who first experienced the Neath through Sunless Sea, my imagining of each Master was quite different than the reality - I thought of Iron as a massive, bristling figure with a heroic voice, somebody who could lose a lot of blood and keep on battling. (Nope nope nope). I thought of Pages as a prescient scholar, whereas the character in truth is some combination of censor and voyeur. I thought of Mirrors as a savage investigator - with all the knowledge and persistence of Hell, but with skill sets more closely resembling those of the Implacable Detective, and the general priorities of the Masters. Just as Jasper is a sort of shadowy/dangerous minion of theirs, I figured an investigation by Mirrors would be illuminating and inescapable - that even hearing Mirrors was on your trail was a great moment to surrender, and that the ensuing interrogation could take only a few minutes, so well chosen were its questions. Given the nature of the checks, I imagined Hearts as rather like Wines, with less of a focus on debauchery - somebody who dealt primarily in the loyalties of others. I, ah, misinterpreted the whole "hearts" bit.
Finally, I thought of Veils as a patron saint of spies - the sort of fellow who would take a sharp interest in the Foreign Office, and who through disguise and deception could tell you whatever it wanted as whoever it wanted. I figured Veils would have the athleticism to rob anybody almost any time, but would consider most heists a waste of time, perhaps robbing your possessions (as somebody else) to cover up an investigation of what you know. The true nature of Veils is confusing to me. I tend to do business with whatever Masters show up in my deck - I will not supply Wines’ revels if I am already acquainted with the Masters, although he is a major supplier of my own cellars. And I release certain materials to Pages, incrementally, so that relentless gossip will be more positively inclined towards me. I don’t do much business with the Relickers - what they ask for is too precious, and I have more reliable means of seeking everything they sell. I’ve tried having my scraps recertified, and in the long run I usually come out ahead - but by such small margins that I wish I’d spent the turns differently.
I couldn’t help but notice that the Relickers who deal in the rag trade have Dangerous checks to do business, rather than Shadowy, suggesting that Veils does business with those of great martial ability. And I’ve heard those rumors that he has an, ah, violent alter ego. Quite appalling, those rumors, but you know how they get about.
I enjoyed seeing Wines and Pages both staring at me at once from my opportunity deck - I ground and converted some honey to do business with one, then gave contraband to the other to clean up the resulting scandal - and I wondered what sort of business Veils might do. They’re hard to make a profit with, but the Masters do business in volume, which gets to be an asset. What Wines and Pages both "want," in the most short-term sense, I understand as much as can be expected. Veils, though? Perhaps in keeping with my expectation of them, I have absolutely no idea what they’d want if they showed up in my deck.
edited by Gerald Edgerton on 7/30/2015
edited by Gerald Edgerton on 7/30/2015