There was a slight discussion of the duchess going on in the Mayoral Candidate thread, but I thought it was an interesting enough topic to warrant its own thread.
So, the duchess. Who is she? Why is she important? What do the Masters think of her?
I understand that she is from the Second City, Amarna. She arranged for the city to enter the Neath to save her husband. After some time, the third city came crashing down on the second. Then the fourth. And now the fifth.
But the Duchess lives on in London, as well as the Cantigaster, her husband. How did she manage to survive through three fallen cities, when so few people survive transitions?
Also, the masters hate the second city. Presumably she had something to do with this, seeing as she’s the one that brought it to the Neath in the first place. Why have they tolerated her all this time? Are they not aware that she is still around? Or is she beyond their control?
my understanding is that the masters wouldn’t tolerate her, but the sheer amount of make up she wears functions as a disguise. (Plus they don’t seem to pay much attention to humans anyways, I mean, they would “flip their lids” if they found out the capering relicker was in the city, and he works for them)
I think I’ve just been overestimating how much the Masters concern themselves with London. I guess that’s what happens after doing nothing but AotB for a few weeks.
Who is the capering relicker? Is that the one that made hesperidean cider?
Yep that’s the one.
The scroll that you’re asked to retrieve in “The Calendar Code” is a journal that reveals another detail of The Duchess’s story. I’d attempt to summarize, but I don’t think it’s within the rules to spill the ending of an ES onto the forum like that.
If my recollections have not strayed too far from the facts, or at least what I thought the facts were; at the time of the second city’s fall, Amarna was called Ahketaten. The youngest daughter of its founder, with some of her sisters, led a revolt of some kind against the Bazaar and its Masters. This seems to have upset all but one of the masters quite a bit, leading to unspeakable (as in the masters will not speak of them) consequences for the city and the rogue master.
Some details are exceptional, others ambitious, and some may cost you your head to learn. You may have noticed though that the trade in candles is largely unregulated. Fortunate for the churches, where they go through so many one may even think they were being Eaten! Of course, such silly and far-fetched notions shouldn’t be given much consideration by decent folk.
Suffice to say that the Dutchess is powerful, protected, and an embarrassing reminder the masters are forced to tolerate but not discuss.
I’m more interested as to what her current functions are in London, and why she’s been handed the title of Duchess by our benevolent Empress. Her relevancy in high society and residence in the Shuttered Palace implies deep ties to our current monarch.
I’d imagine there are very few people one can talk to about selling your city to space bats.
Well, every good Empress requires a partner in wearing cosmetics.
My suspicion is that the Masters keep their friends close and their enemies closer. So long as the Duchess is resident at the Shuttered Palace, the Sisterhood cannot work too openly.
And that’s if any of her sisters even remain.
As for her…longevity, we don’t know. Her and the Royal Bethlehem Manager have unaccounted for youth. The God Eaters ate Eaten (what a sentence), the Widow has peach brandy, but that’s it. Perhaps the same second city sorcery involved in the penultimate stage of SMEN, with St. Gawain, is what gives her life. Perhaps it’s part of the deal with the Masters (which would make sense were it not for the Widow needing peach brandy).
We do see the Duchess trying to misdirect shipments of the Widow’s brandy.
[quote=Cthonius]And that’s if any of her sisters even remain.
As for her…longevity, we don’t know. Her and the Royal Bethlehem Manager have unaccounted for youth. The God Eaters ate Eaten (what a sentence), the Widow has peach brandy, but that’s it. Perhaps the same second city sorcery involved in the penultimate stage of SMEN, with St. Gawain, is what gives her life. Perhaps it’s part of the deal with the Masters (which would make sense were it not for the Widow needing peach brandy).[/quote]
Were her sisters the nuns involved in Ambition: Bag a legend? I haven’t played through it, so I’ve only heard snippets about what happens.
Also, where are the God Eaters now? I vaguely remember some snippet about an uncharted tomb colony, but it was a long time ago and I can’t even remember if it was about the third city.
I don’t think so. They’re just a sisterhood of ‘monster’ hunting nuns. But I haven’t played it either.
You got it in one. They have their own tomb colony (named after the Mayan underworld of Xibalba iirc) that only a few have visited and survived, with fearful accounts. I think they’re also involved with the Fidgeting Writer plot but hell if I’ll ever do that.
The fidgeting writer is them trying to…possess people? And bring them to their island.
If you want to see the revelation at the end of the Calendar Code and discuss it, I did create a thread about it. It’s a page or two back titled "The Calendar Code: The Duchess’s Secret."
Also, as far as revealing story information from Exceptional Stories, I think Failbetter just doesn’t want the full text out there but discussing the story is perfectly fine if not outright encouraged. What would be the point of forums for a story based game if we could’t even discuss the story.