[This may ultimately be the key to your future.]

Some of the qualities have this criptic addition on them (ie Bringer of Death and Empire’s Kingmaker). Anyone has any juicy speculations as to what does that mean? Future storylines? New Destinies someday? Or maybe some definite ending of the game, even? Though it seems a little weird to think that FL could have any definite character ending at all (SMEN doesn’t count. Because SMEN).

That’s odd, because I’ve always expected a very definite character ending. The day of January 22, 1901.

Of course, that’s a few years off yet.

(Like the Seven Against Nidah in Sunless Sea. There is a point where there is a time jump, and then you skip ahead to your Destiny.)
edited by Teaspoon on 7/24/2017

I hope empire’s kingmaker is the key to my future. Namely, that high levels of it translate to high levels of money.

You’re right to find it weird that there’d be an ending, as they’ve stated there won’t be. Even the ambitions, despite them all having some pretty significant ramifications that alter a ton, are explicitly not an ending for a character. Only Smen.

With that ruled out, we have storylines or destinies. Story lines is a possible option, or was. At the time of their introduction it could’ve been the intention, but now I doubt they’d introduce new storylines based around those qualities. For one, they have plenty of other stories they’re working on/updating, for two those qualities aren’t necessarily required or achieved by a majority of players, meaning any story from them might not be worth the work.

Destinies…while I doubt we’re to get any new ones from here on out, it falls under the same as the above: it was possibly the case back then. If anything, I think it’s more likely a destiny, considering the phrasing discussing one’s future.

IMO those qualities certainly seem similar to Destinies, narratively. They may ultimately be the key to your character’s future - but not your character’s present. Just like destinies represent your character’s endpoint, this type of quality may indicate something about the narrative path your character will take after they leave the framework of the game.

I’ve theorized that they might be used in the last stage of each ambition to unlock extra choices, but I also theorize that ambitions will end with new ambition-specific destinies to avoid clashing with current FL content.

I’m pretty sure ambition-specific destinies would definitely count as “clashing with current FL content” - ambition destinies would be incompatible with the present set of destinies.

I like to look at Empire’s Kingmaker in the same way as Walking the Fallen Cities or Approaching the Gates of the Garden. It’s a general story quality, measuring a character’s depth of involvement in various matters of the Neath.

It may have been a cryptic clue in the past when the qualities are in limited quantity, but by now I can’t see them being much of a meaningful tracker when all of them are liable to skyrocketing with effort, money, or both. Bringer of Death, maybe, but all the others can be raised very high with generic grinds or frivolous spending.

Bringer of Death is a possible requirement to advance to PoSI, and Hellfarer is a requirement for certain fate-locked destinies. Thus, in a way, each are ‘A key to your future’. As for the rest of the qualities with this blurb… I’ve no idea. Given that Boxful of Intrigue is the baseline for grinding money, and Empire’s Kingmaker is required for the best EPA, it might be a subtle jab at the eventual future of grinding for the things you desire. That leaves Fist of the Bazaar as the odd one out, of the four keys to the future I can think of from the top of my head.