My character didn’t really care for the thought of destroying Naples (she rather likes the city). But I’d be lying if I said that was a deal breaker for her because, well, it’s not, not even close. It’s just that attaining power in London is more important than knocking a little hole in the roof.
edited by Anne Auclair on 3/1/2017
The deal with Hell was for a new law to protect "an area the size of the fifth city". This won’t protect the entire Neath. Even if the devils stay true to the original intent (and they might not - i.e. create a law which protects somewhere other than London, but of the same size), this will be disastrous to most Neath people/creatures/societies.
With the Judgements’ law poring down into the Neath, lots of "illegal" things will die. Think of the Khanate, anyone on the Elder Continent, the Mountain of Light herself, all sort of talking animals, etc. etc.
It also won’t restore London to the surface. Just let starlight reach down to London, which will still be stuck in a huge cavern in the Earth.
The deal with Hell was for a new law to protect "an area the size of the fifth city". This won’t protect the entire Neath. Even if the devils stay true to the original intent (and they might not - i.e. create a law which protects somewhere other than London, but of the same size), this will be disastrous to most Neath people/creatures/societies.
With the Judgements’ law poring down into the Neath, lots of "illegal" things will die. Think of the Khanate, anyone on the Elder Continent, the Mountain of Light herself, all sort of talking animals, etc. etc.
It also won’t restore London to the surface. Just let starlight reach down to London, which will still be stuck in a huge cavern in the Earth.[/quote]
So what was the most moral choice?
I liked the epilogue. It tied things together, though not too tightly with some loose threads still.
Like others, it was incredible to see the text reflect our character’s choices and position. More of this, please!!
(it was also a unique experience to see how someone else views our character).
The choices at the end were… OK. I would have really liked there to be a fourth option:
[spoiler]How about an option to keep the Polymath’s research for ourselves, for possible future use?
In such an option, you decide that you won’t support the Polymath and the Widow, but that her research has some merit you would like to pursue. You also decide that in her current condition she is no longer a threat and won’t be able to repeat what she’s done. You leave her there and take all her notes and instruments. Gains 1 x Semiotic Monocle (worth 312.5 echoes, like all the other rewards).[/spoiler]
Overall conclusion - an excellent season, both in term of individual stories and in tying them all together into a single narrative with overreaching implications. Kudos!
I gave it to the Gracious Widow. She is clever and wise, and I generally trust her judgement. I really hope we can evacuate Naples, though…
[quote=dov]This won’t protect the entire Neath. Even if the devils stay true to the original intent (and they might not - i.e. create a law which protects somewhere other than London, but of the same size), this will be disastrous to most Neath people/creatures/societies.
With the Judgements’ law poring down into the Neath, lots of "illegal" things will die. Think of the Khanate, anyone on the Elder Continent, the Mountain of Light herself, all sort of talking animals, etc. etc.[/quote]
Unlikely, a hole the size of Naples in the roof would not shine down light on an area much bigger than London. We already saw this phenomenon in action on Aestival. The rest of the Neath would do just fine.
That’s not how I interpreted it. I didn’t think the Polymath was merely sentimental; I thought she was practical. I thought the plan was to bring London back up to the surface, or perhaps even launch it into space - maybe even using Mount Vesuvius as a Jules-Verne-esque Space Cannon.
I took the passages from Job as hints that we might be able to enslave the Bazaar and use her as a mobile space station. (Of course, we might need to develop anti-Dragon artillery.) Cruel? She deserves no better from us.
Yes, it’s a desperate plan, but if we stay down here we’re all going to get crushed and melted into lacre.
As for the fate of the Neath, isn’t it protected more by the the Nadir than by the cavern roof? And the Neath is geologically impossible anyway - a four-million-square-mile cavern with a roof much less than a mile thick. Either it’s much more than one mile below the Surface, or else the Neath doesn’t really exist in the same space-time as the Surface.
Okay, practically speaking, moving London would require extensive rewriting of the Fallen London game. But so would destroying the rest of the Neath. Unless Sunless Skies is set far in the future - e.g. in 2017.
But then again, there’s a lot of lore I don’t know, so my assumptions may be faulty.
[quote=dov]
The deal with Hell was for a new law to protect "an area the size of the fifth city". This won’t protect the entire Neath. Even if the devils stay true to the original intent (and they might not - i.e. create a law which protects somewhere other than London, but of the same size), this will be disastrous to most Neath people/creatures/societies.
With the Judgements’ law poring down into the Neath, lots of "illegal" things will die. Think of the Khanate, anyone on the Elder Continent, the Mountain of Light herself, all sort of talking animals, etc. etc.
It also won’t restore London to the surface. Just let starlight reach down to London, which will still be stuck in a huge cavern in the Earth.[/quote]
I don’t think the Blue Kingdom is our fallen… flyaway London.
All the scenes in the blue light are tremendous, fearful, and a little outlandish. The consort sounds different from “a vanquished king”, and I doubt the Empress will bury him among a lot of “pyramids”. And “the butcher who worked down the lane from where you grew up”, is very probably a surface-dweller, not a Londoner, judging from our past. And all that deathmask thing, is extremely weird.
But I have no idea what it is. In my opinion, the blue kingdom is slightly more likely the Judgements’ Kingdom, or a Judgement’s Kingdom, or a metaphor of Gods’ dominion and the Great Chain, or that is what the Stars see. (And the butcher, is he dead?)
EDIT: Sorry, loredeluxe has already mention that hypothesis but I neglected that. :(
http://community.failbettergames.com/topic24020-the-season-of-skies-item-tradein.aspx?Page=1#post185934
edited by Fadewalker on 3/1/2017
I also found this an incredible ending to the story, I had to stop and think about what to do.
I would also have liked theoption to keeps the reasearch to myself as well.
But I suppose as a new dweller in Fallen London (only been playing 3 months), I thought it best to give it to the Widow
The deal with Hell was for a new law to protect "an area the size of the fifth city". This won’t protect the entire Neath. Even if the devils stay true to the original intent (and they might not - i.e. create a law which protects somewhere other than London, but of the same size), this will be disastrous to most Neath people/creatures/societies.
With the Judgements’ law poring down into the Neath, lots of "illegal" things will die. Think of the Khanate, anyone on the Elder Continent, the Mountain of Light herself, all sort of talking animals, etc. etc.
It also won’t restore London to the surface. Just let starlight reach down to London, which will still be stuck in a huge cavern in the Earth.[/quote]
You make a good point, dov. You’re right that what we know about the deal with Hell only applies to London. That further strengthens the argument that proceeding with the work would have been a selfish thing to do. What persuaded me was the clear implication that people on the Surface would die if the Polymath’s plan proceeded; that was more than enough collateral harm to turn my main away from the proposal (and me as well!).
[quote=dov]The deal with Hell was for a new law to protect "an area the size of the fifth city". This won’t protect the entire Neath. Even if the devils stay true to the original intent (and they might not - i.e. create a law which protects somewhere other than London, but of the same size), this will be disastrous to most Neath people/creatures/societies.
With the Judgements’ law poring down into the Neath, lots of "illegal" things will die. Think of the Khanate, anyone on the Elder Continent, the Mountain of Light herself, all sort of talking animals, etc. etc.[/quote]
The protection of Dawn’s Law or Parabox only extends to Aestival, yet the rest of the Neath survives just fine. I imagine exposed London would be fairly similar. The darkness over Unterzee is more than just the absence of light and it does not yield easily, not even to Judgments.
[SPOILERS]
Ive sent the police on the Polytherme. She must pay for her crimes. And killing another city so that London could have their night sky is insane.
[/SPOILERS]
edited by Tofan Bogdan on 3/1/2017
[quote=Passionario][quote=dov]The deal with Hell was for a new law to protect "an area the size of the fifth city". This won’t protect the entire Neath. Even if the devils stay true to the original intent (and they might not - i.e. create a law which protects somewhere other than London, but of the same size), this will be disastrous to most Neath people/creatures/societies.
With the Judgements’ law poring down into the Neath, lots of "illegal" things will die. Think of the Khanate, anyone on the Elder Continent, the Mountain of Light herself, all sort of talking animals, etc. etc.[/quote]
The protection of Dawn’s Law or Parabox only extends to Aestival, yet the rest of the Neath survives just fine. I imagine exposed London would be fairly similar. The darkness over Unterzee is more than just the absence of light and it does not yield easily, not even to Judgments.[/quote]
The hole over Aestival is rather small and there is no Neath life on that island. Well, at least until you release a Blemmigan - those things are tough.
btw, was anyone else reminded of this? It seems that neither that Polymath’s desire nor plan were all that original.
Maybe that was the Polymath. Frustrated with the lack of official support, she turned to private enterprise to address the issue.
Maybe that was the Polymath. Frustrated with the lack of official support, she turned to private enterprise to address the issue.[/quote]
Possibly, though the Polymath’s plans were very precise and this letter is explicitly described as "raving," which makes me somewhat doubtful. Also, the Polymath shows no evidence of being involved with the New Sequence.
Wasn’t there another letter to the Functionary proposing lamplighter beeswax searchlights be placed on the roof? I think there was.
Is it normal that I still have “The Season of Skies: Return to Your Study” storylet active after completing this trade-in?
Yes I believe so.
Like dov and DrLight, I would also have liked the option to keep the research to myself.
This particular story was difficult for me, because in many cases, I felt there weren’t many ‘take a third option’ alternatives that rang true to me or my character.
Also as shown by the Polymath’s (the writer’s) views on my choices, apparently my decisions were inconsistent and perhaps poorly planned.
[ul][li]I would have liked to save the Machine without alienating the deceived.[/li][li]I would have liked an option to keep the research and plan.[/li][li]I would have preferred an option to destroy the work without killing the Polymath — implicitly with permanent results.
[/li][li]I definitely would have wanted to be able to leave the Observatory room and come back later — it’s not like she was going to be going anywhere.[/li][/ul]Despite London’s destined doom, it is singularly unkind, perhaps even morally repugnant, to damn another city in its place. In this dark place where the measure of our souls is visible, to strike down the helpless — even if no longer truely innocent, must be done only in greatest need.
I have no trust in Hell, and did not wish to kill the Polymath. Therefore I took the only option remaining, and surrendered her and her work to the Constabulary.
Ultimately, the Intriguer’s Compendium was not worth the pain.
[i]
Post posting: I have left the broken spoiler tag, because it is the lesser of the two. Subsequent edits have failed to provide function.
edited by Will It Work on 3/6/2017
[/i]
edited by Will It Work on 3/6/2017
Oh, only one spoiler tag works per post. Dunno why, but that’s the problem.