The Tentacled Entrepreneur for Mayor!

Fallen London
41

I have been busy digging up dirt about all of the candidates, so if anyone’s interested, here’s what I got about our rubbery friend:

[spoiler]To investigate the rumours of a rift between the Nocturnal Landscape Artist and the Tentacled Entrepreneur, you have made your way to the rooftops, and now dangle from the eaves of the Artist’s home. You have a perfect view through the window.

The Landscape Artist has, the Entrepreneur writhes, pushed his personal interest in the art itself, ignoring the goal of gaining protection for the Rubberies. The Landscape Artists fires back – combining English and near-dislocating finger gestures – that the art will pull in powerful patrons.

The noise the Tentacled Entrepreneur makes requires no translation. He sees himself out, and heads off carrying a large sack. You follow. He is met by a brace of Special Constables who escort him to the personal dirigible of Mr Fires. You move closer. They do not spot you.

It is a moment before you can find a suitable viewpoint. You peer in to see Fires and the Entrepreneur, alone. On a desk is a pile of amber. Beside that is an object which resembles a huge piece of pulled toffee. It could be art, if you were the generous kind. Mr Fires prods it with one claw. &quotWould you consider using your factories in a more—&quot The Entrepreneur has his back to you; you cannot see what he says.

&quotI see. I can’t claim to understand. But, the agreement stands. I’ll encourage the Specials to be more amenable to donations. Then you can hire them to protect whomever you like.&quot He tuts. &quotAnd if you change your mind about the fact— Very well.&quot

The Entrepreneur is leaving. You’d best do so too.[/spoiler]

Personally I’m still voting for him, because we’ve pestered Failbetter for so long about making him a candidate, I just can’t see myself ignoring him now. Still, him working with Mr Fires makes me like him a whole lot less!
edited by Phèdre Delaunay on 7/16/2020

42

[quote=Phèdre Delaunay]I have been busy digging up dirt about all of the candidates, so if anyone’s interested, here’s what I got about our rubbery friend:

[spoiler]To investigate the rumours of a rift between the Nocturnal Landscape Artist and the Tentacled Entrepreneur, you have made your way to the rooftops, and now dangle from the eaves of the Artist’s home. You have a perfect view through the window.

The Landscape Artist has, the Entrepreneur writhes, pushed his personal interest in the art itself, ignoring the goal of gaining protection for the Rubberies. The Landscape Artists fires back – combining English and near-dislocating finger gestures – that the art will pull in powerful patrons.

The noise the Tentacled Entrepreneur makes requires no translation. He sees himself out, and heads off carrying a large sack. You follow. He is met by a brace of Special Constables who escort him to the personal dirigible of Mr Fires. You move closer. They do not spot you.

It is a moment before you can find a suitable viewpoint. You peer in to see Fires and the Entrepreneur, alone. On a desk is a pile of amber. Beside that is an object which resembles a huge piece of pulled toffee. It could be art, if you were the generous kind. Mr Fires prods it with one claw. &quotWould you consider using your factories in a more—&quot The Entrepreneur has his back to you; you cannot see what he says.

&quotI see. I can’t claim to understand. But, the agreement stands. I’ll encourage the Specials to be more amenable to donations. Then you can hire them to protect whomever you like.&quot He tuts. &quotAnd if you change your mind about the fact— Very well.&quot

The Entrepreneur is leaving. You’d best do so too.[/spoiler]

Personally I’m still voting for him, because we’ve pestered Failbetter for so long about making him a candidate, I just can’t see myself ignoring him now. Still, him working with Mr Fires makes me like him a whole lot less!
edited by Phèdre Delaunay on 7/16/2020[/quote]

Of course, you are entitled to vote for whomever you please. However, it seems to me that the fact that many of us have long clamored for a Rubbery candidate should not be viewed as a reason to vote one way or another. Having a Rubbery candidate is an end in itself–it gives greater insight into Rubbery motivations in general, and much more information than we had on the Tentacled Entrepreneur. That doesn’t mean that we should automatically vote for the Rubbery candidate if, after viewing said information, doing so would not square with our characters’ objectives in the game, and our characters’ views of what’s best for Fallen London.

43

That’s the problem… I think there is some conflict between what I want as myself and as my character.
Phèdre greatly admires F.F. Gebrandt, but I am not particularly into the whole paleontology-related content, so… meh.

On the other hand, I adore the concept of Parabola and anything about it; last year I voted for Shoshana just because of the chance of more Parabolan lore. Yet as a character, I’ve made a great deal out of staying friendly with both Glass and Shroud, and making friends among cats and snakes equally. If forced to take sides, I’d probably go for the Fingerkings, so… yeah, there’s no chance I can vote for the Viscountess character-wise.

The Entrepreneur is the one that more or less makes both player and character happy… We both like the Rubberies, my character is a Bohemian at heart (although she’s closer to the Urchins nowadays) so she’s into art much more than science - and we both dislike the Masters, but I guess I can’t blame the RE for doing business with one. I’ve certainly done the same occasionally! :p

44

I think there are several things to take into consideration here:

  • Considering how downtrodden the Rubberies are, it would be hard even for a Rubbery as successful as the Entrepreneur to get anything done without resorting to some support from the Masters. And, as Phèdre has said, it’s not like my (or most other people’s, I’d wager) characters haven’t had dealings with the Masters before. That doesn’t mean they like them, but they are a means to an end.

  • Judging by the information provided by Catherine, the Entrepreneur genuinely wants to better the lot of his fellow Rubberies, and I think that that is commendable. I won’t say &quotregardless of the means he uses to do so&quot, because there are limits to what Neel will tolerate, but I don’t think that asking for help from a Master is a damning fact in and of itself. Been there, done that. They do run the show 'round these parts. Using them effectively to get what you want without triggering any bad consequences for others is an art.

Regarding the two other candidates, while I haven’t delved into the Parabolan content that much to date, the Viscountess is gorgeous, and Neel would most likely support the cats. That being said, she definitely doesn’t think that a war is a good idea. So that takes care of that. And while F. F. Gebrandt is definitely a sympathetic character, reviving dinosaurs to use as labour just seems a bit…trivial, by comparison with the other candidates’ stakes.

45

I just threw my railroad’s support behind the tentacled entrepreneur. Really hoping he wins, cause otherwise, that will be a massive mistake.

46

The TE needs to drop the scheming Landscape Artist from his campaign, or at least as soon as he takes office. That manipulative interpreter is shoving his own agendas into the conversation, quite literally, and often right in front of the real candidate. I would love to see some comeuppance in this matter!

47

Well, techically TE can easily make him into a new avant-garde sculpture, alive and conscious. And I think LA can be tricked into agreeing to this. So, petition?

48

I’m in.

49

The thing everybody seems to miss about the Entrepeneur is that he is not a tyrannical plutocrat. The rubbery don’t do hierarchies the way we do: they imitate hierarchies. The entrepreneur may not even be the same rubbery every time you meet him. Even if he is, remember the card where one of them takes the fall for another rubbery who actually did the crime? The rubberies in those factories don’t see themselves as oppressed, they’re playing a role, and that role is proleteriat, while the Entrepreneur is miserable because he has to play the role of a jerk. What they all want is to communally make their lives better. We could learn a lot from them.

50

Also: is it just me, or are all three candidates this year surprisingly altruistic? In previous years we’ve seen backroom deals and cynical profiteering. Gebrant seems only interested in science, the cat in winning a war against nightmares, and the entrepreneur about improving the status of robberies. They’re easily the three most idealistic people in London. Just feels… weird, given the tone of previous elections.

51

I definitely do not agree with that. F.F. Gebrandt want to create unhealthy and unethical experiment for profit without any oversight. The Tentacled Entrepreneur is less interested in art then he appear, and a puppet of Mr Fire. The Viscountess, while being by far the most honest candidate, has a very cavalier approach to human life. Still, she is the best candidate in my opinion. Vote Viscountess!
edited by Quidam on 7/22/2020

52

I think the Entrepreneur is trying to pull a fast one on the Masters. I think he’s likely to succeed.

My suspicion is that the Entrepreneur’s success is founded on letting everyone else assume that he’s naive and helpless. The success that he has achieved isn’t the type you can get just from being someone else’s puppet. He’s not even a good puppet! He’s a rubbery man, he has no social standing. Why would you use him as your front, when there are plenty of people with an actual face?

Rubbery Men are practically the definition of Not A Threat: a literal fish out of water, combined with the physical lack of backbone and a matching temperament, who always vaguely reminds you of a lost child. So when a Rubbery Man with a bunch of wealth wants to make a deal with you, you naturally assume that you are the one taking advantage of it. But somehow it’s the one with as much money as Mr Fires. Maybe its deals weren’t so naive after all.

The Landscape Artist is not the one driving this rodeo. He thinks he is, and his earnest belief in that makes him useful as a campaign mouthpiece. I expect the Entrepreneur to keep him around as a diversion, or possibly a fall guy.

The deal with Mr Fires… I truly, honestly, sincerely believe that if the Tentacled Entrepreneur is elected, then we’ll get to see a Master taken for a sucker. Mr Fires admitted he doesn’t understand the Entrepreneur’s motivations in the deal that they struck. I think he’s going to find out that whatever he gave up was more valuable than he realized.

For what it’s worth, I do think that the Entrepreneur’s true motivations are protections for the rest of the Rubberies. Could you imagine what would happen if…

they became self-sufficient to the point that they succeeded from the Flukes?

53

I believe the Rubberies deserve the lord mayorship after all of the persecution they’ve suffered, but it can be dangerous if they became too independent. We’ve seen with the Starved Men how problematic they or their practices can get if it spreads too much, and there is much we still need from the Flukes that will be useful in negotiating with the Lorn ones.

The Viscountess is a warmonger, and as a member of the Glass and ambassador to the Court of the Wakeful Eye, I do not look forward to picking sides in a war so I will not be in support of her, but I myself have no strong opinion about her aristocrat tendencies.

Gebrandt is very intelligent and I am interested in her research, but she is against the Masters and I can’t have that. Totally for nonbiased reasons, I assure you.

54

Oh god I hope he wins. Does anyone else worry about the cat winning?
(Not good old ff, obviously, just the cat).

55

No because she’s right

56

[quote=Jules Asimov]Oh god I hope he wins. Does anyone else worry about the cat winning?
(Not good old ff, obviously, just the cat).[/quote]

Yes. War and brain parasites.

57

I’ve seen this consistent fear that the Viscountess will spend all of her time infecting Londoners with Toxoplasma gondii. However, I feel it incumbent upon me to mention that approximately a third of humanity already carries the parasite, mostly without any definitive causal behavioral effects. The infection is mainly dangerous to the immuno-compromised or pregnant. There are, of course, outliers and special cases, as well as several studies indicating a potential (though unproven) behavioral change due to T. gondii. These changes aren’t necessarily BAD, though. Have you recently invested in, say, a Great Hellbound Railway? Your entrepreneurial spirit might not be your choice alone…

Your candidate may already be a carrier of the brain parasite you so fear. It may, in fact, account for their very identity within London society.

Vote Viscountess, for business, bravery, and a bastion of strength in the realm of dreams.
edited by The Dark Gentleman on 7/25/2020

58

[quote=Snort][quote=Jules Asimov]Oh god I hope he wins. Does anyone else worry about the cat winning?
(Not good old ff, obviously, just the cat).[/quote]

Yes. War and brain parasites.[/quote]
A war that’s already going to happen and brain parasites that don’t do anything, maybe.

59

[quote=J. L.][quote=Snort][quote=Jules Asimov]Oh god I hope he wins. Does anyone else worry about the cat winning?
(Not good old ff, obviously, just the cat).[/quote]

Yes. War and brain parasites.[/quote]
A war that’s already going to happen and brain parasites that don’t do anything, maybe.[/quote]

A war that someone’s strangely eager to have and brain parasites that make you susceptible to cats and … well, see https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/disease.html

60

What does “susceptible to cats” mean