The Regretful Soldier's Identity

Any speculation on this? I was talking to him yesterday, and he mentioned having been a lancer. A lancer? With whiskers? Good god, it’s Harry Flashman!

– Mal

He also wrestled a tiger and fought in the failed invasion of Hell.

This guy has Fate Locked content in both Soul Trade and Imperial Redolence. Possibly more, which I don’t know about.

H[color=#c2c2c2]e’s cool.[/color]
edited by th8827 on 1/2/2016

I don’t know who (if anyone) he’s supposed to be, but out of the four “friend” characters, he’s definitely the best. The other three strike me as fairweather friends but this guy seems like he’d have your back no matter how bad things were or what mistakes you made.

Seriously, if I find out he writes me off completely for saying a bad word at the dinner table in some future story I’m going to be heartbroken :P

I like the Regretful Soldier as well. And given FBG’s tendency to incorporate literary references, I would not be surprised to discover that he really is meant to be Harry Flashman… changed somewhat by his experiences in the Neath.

Flashman’s a notorious coward i thought?. Having only read one of his books (assigned for a college International Relations class, amusingly) and otherwise read Tom Brown, I’m not as familiar with him though.

Aye, a coward, a cad, a lecher, and a liar. Nobody’s perfect.:) I haven’t seen the fate-locked stories th8827 mentions, though.
International Relations? That is amusing!

– Mal

Pretty sure said Fate locked stories are those conversational bits at the House of Chimes (which I’ve never seen). Otherwise you don’t get very much conversation with him except through his Visit actions.

Edit: the class was European Diplomatic History since 1815 until 1914, and the assigned book was Flashman and the Dragon on the Taking of Peking. I was also interested in Asian history , so the combo amused me. If I remember, I wrote my paper on that book.
edited by Parelle on 1/2/2016

@Parelle: Interesting that the prof would assign a work of fiction in a history class, but Fraser did footnote his works, and there are some good references in them. One source he cites in that book is the diary of the Doctor of Letters of the Hanlin Academy, which is no longer extant, but a school teaching Mandarin in San Francisco has appropriated the name.

– Mal

Wow, it’s been years but I do remember. Oh, very much so a coward. However, there was that one time (in Central Asia?) he was drugged into a crazed state of bravado. And he finally had an insight into all those heroes he’d known like Chinese Gordon. And was suitably terrified about it all.

But this is the Neath and things are different away from the Surface. Perhaps it drove him mad again?
edited by Jacke on 1/2/2016

There is a card in the Bound in Diocesan Intrigue storyline (which is tied to Imperial Redolence) that lets you get his opinion on the matter. There is a choice for both routes of the Soul Trade, and a choice for non-Soul Trade, with Acquaintance: Regretful Soldier 1-7 being the unlock. Maybe he has additional dialogue if you have it 8 or above, as well.
I don’t want to spoil the story, but the Invasion of Hell did not go well for him.

[li]

There’s an option when investigating the nature of devils for the Loquacious Vicar to ask the Soldier’s recollections of the invasion of Hell. He is actually quite forthcoming in that, and reveals that his squadron never even made it past the Forgotten Quarter. All of the information regarding Hell that he is able to pass on to you is second-hand stuff he got from talking to the Bishop of Southwark after all the dust settled.