It’s taken me rather a long time to notice this, but the House of Chimes ain’t exactly where it ought to be. It’s sort of where the Tower of London should be, while the Palace of Westminster should be somewhere off the western edge of the map round another bend in the river (as should the Shuttered Palace, if it is indeed Buckingham Palace).
I’m guessing that London’s fall created some kind of spacial anomalies (like the odd business of some places being difficult to find in Fallen London). Either that or London landed with such a thud that the clock tower broke off and floated down the stolen river for a spell.
So is there a description anywhere of what the fall was actually like to those who experienced it? Did it come smashing down with a great bang and lots of death and carnage like a Michael Bay picture, or did it simply magically materialise down here in the Neath somehow? Do we know?
Apologies if this is old ground. I don’t know much, and I’ve forgotten most of that.
Yes, the map of London shifted around during the Fall. The fall of a city is catastrophic to the inhabitants of the previous city, who are mostly killed in order to— well, that’s another story. I don’t remember any descriptions of what the experience feels like for the new people, but I assume they turn out a bit better, based on the game’s atmosphere.
The Shuttered Palace is Kensington, not Buckingham. That said, you are correct about the House of Chimes
Regarding “the inhabitants of the previous city,” it is stated (somewhere) that those of the Fourth City had almost entirely abandoned the place long before London was bought. This is of course also the origin of a certain Neathy power.
There was a silver-tree Kickstarter tier that let you choose a special story that only you could play. One of the backers chose experiencing the fall from the perspective of someone in the previous city. Of course, as they are the only person to have played it, actually finding the content is different from knowing about it. I don’t think we know what it was like for the people in London.
We get some scattered glimpses of London’s fall - it was, apparently, loud and horrible with lots of bats. But, yes, the city’s been twisted all out of shape, to the degree that some of the streets only actually exist if you look at them the right way. (Oh, and the Shuttered Palace explicitly isn’t Buckingham - what it is hasn’t been absolutely confirmed yet, though there’s a limited list of candidates… but, definitely not Buckingham!)
[quote=Siankan]
Regarding "the inhabitants of the previous city," it is stated (somewhere) that those of the Fourth City had almost entirely abandoned the place long before London was bought.[/quote]
Yes, I figured in London’s case it wouldn’t have been quite as catastrophic on the older city’s inhabitants as in previous examples, given the migration of many (most? all?) of them to their new home across the zee.
I seem to remember a discussion - it was probably 9 months ago or more now - in which it was fairly definitely fingered as Kensington. Kensington’s on that side of London, it’s got the most associations with Victoria (not even counting the Albert Memorial, etc., which wouldn’t exist in this version of London), and it fronts what is now Jekyll Gardens, where certain of the Empress’s pets are taken for exercise.
The only other option in that area would be St. James’s - and it was Victoria who formalized its abandonment as the chief residence of the monarchy. edited by Siankan on 10/27/2017
I read the text a while ago and I’m pretty sure it was about the player exploring the ruins down there (and also about finding a hidden soul storage place run by Hell).
I’m no expert, but I think it’s also been kept vague (probably wisely). Judging from the first post-Fall edition of the Unexpurgated London Gazette, "Nation’s Beloved Capital Dragged into Godless Abyss" by a flock of 900 million bats sounds memorable, but not in Michael Bay territory. Also, our Parliament ended up being ‘eaten’, though it’s not clear whether that was the individual members – or the entire Houses of Parliament, leaving only the Clock Tower crookedly standing where it had been dragged by inconceivable force. Probably the former. Nevertheless the rest of the Parliament buildings do seem to have…gone. Still, I prefer to believe we’re not living above anything that might groggily gulp down 1100 rooms’ worth of Gothic Revival masonry if briefly left unsupervised.
London is too intact to have descended by violent impact, but the routes used to spirit a city into the Neath must pass through some very strange locations. My completely unfounded theory is the vast majority of people who were in London during the Fall were killed in the process, though not permanently (I hope the Boatman got overtime), and now it’s like that one party no-one wants to admit they were at.
[quote=Lady Sapho Byron]I seem to recall something about London being reconfigured such that:
It would be easy to trap-door all the parts of it open and dump us into lacre pits in preparation for the Sixth City’s arrival.
But you know how people talk … I’m sure there’s nothing actually to it.[/quote]
I’m not sure it will involve any such slapstick. Not that the prospect described here is any more enticing.
