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Here you can speculate on the game’s plot, discuss its characters, and compare notes with other players.

Strange Lore Questions

friendshipranger Posts: 274 2/20/2013	All of these seemed too small to ask alone, so I figured, why not advertise my various gaps in knowledge en masse? 1: Are you conscious when you consume Prisoner's Honey? I mean, I know that when you're honey-mazed you phase in and out of reality, but do you conk out when consuming Prisoner's Honey normally, or is it like daydreams under the influence of some illicit substance? 2. Does anybody know what the Sigil of the Masters mentioned on the bottom of our "River in A Box" looks like? 3. Are Devils immortal? I've heard rumors you can't kill them per se, but can they, y'know, age? -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/J.L.%20Moriarty
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Vexpont Posts: 137 7/22/2016	PSGarak wrote: Vexpont wrote: And this seems as good a place as any to ask: what happens to your body when you visit the Boatman? It would be handy, if only for occasional RP reasons, to know what someone else sees if I die in front of them. Which should be a rare event for a number of reasons – but accidents happen. This is answered pretty directly in the Light Fingers ambition [snip]. Suffice it to say, that the physical location of your body is left behind when you return. Yup, there's a definite problem here. Narratively, I can see why this dodge must be used almost-never, but if it was known to generally work... PSGarak wrote: I propose a new theory: When you die, you leave your body behind but "you" (for some definition of you (that is not the soul)) visit the boatman. Whatever it is of yours that is visiting the boatman, that gets physically transported back to London. Perhaps dumped on a shore, where you wake up and crawl back. So in other words, even when you return to your lodgings, your "original" dead body is still lying around somewhere. Death in Fallen London: the most extreme type of littering offence. There's probably a hefty fine. But it can't really be that, or there'd be no point in trying to finish off someone permanently by chopping their body into bits, an apparently reliable method, Elder Continent considerations aside. I subjectively know what I see just before I die (sometimes in loving detail) and afterwards, when I'm on the slow boat. I just idly wonder what an observer would see after they saw me die. If they keep watching, does my dead body fade out before their eyes, like a honey-dreamer's? But I've had minor NPCs resurrect in their original bodies in my presence, like the candle courier who got killed by Jack-of-Smiles ('You attend to the courier until an alarming gurgle marks his return to life...'). So sometimes, people resurrect within minutes, exactly where they fell. Just not the player, apparently. I may be overthinking this. But it niggles. -- Dangerous to my enemies; loyal to my friends. Not too handy at telling the difference. http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Vexpont
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PSGarak Posts: 834 7/22/2016	Vexpont wrote: And this seems as good a place as any to ask: what happens to your body when you visit the Boatman? It would be handy, if only for occasional RP reasons, to know what someone else sees if I die in front of them. Which should be a rare event for a number of reasons – but accidents happen. This is answered pretty directly in the Light Fingers ambition. [spoiler] You may find yourself buried alive. If you haven't grown your plant, then the game provides only a single means of escape: kill yourself by banging your head against the side. After at trip up the river, you awake back at your lodgings. [/spoiler] Suffice it to say, that the physical location of your body is left behind when you return. I propose a new theory: When you die, you leave your body behind but "you" (for some definition of you (that is not the soul)) visit the boatman. Whatever it is of yours that is visiting the boatman, that gets physically transported back to London. Perhaps dumped on a shore, where you wake up and crawl back. So in other words, even when you return to your lodgings, your "original" dead body is still lying around somewhere. -- http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/PSGarak
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TheThirdPolice Posts: 609 7/22/2016	Your story resumes at your Lodgings once you recover. That doesn't mean you literally show up there the instant you revive. I imagine a groggy "off camera" awakening, painful trudge home, and a good long nap. (This is the first I heard of the Light Fingers buried alive story. I don't think the writer made a good decision there. Fallen London's metaphysics work best when they are figurative, or obscured — as do arguably any serious game's.) -- Excessive Corpse & Tender to Irreal Ravens Lover of Flawed Souls And with especial pride, Worst Screwup of the Decade!
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Grenem Posts: 2067 7/23/2016	absimiliard wrote: I have always had the impression that the Player Character is in fact a very special snowflake. I'm pretty sure this is because FL is very much a single-player game -- the social actions are really bolted on and require some good RP to avoid being jarring. (just try discussing who founded the Department of Correspondance at the University -- or look at how we all get kicked out of Court....) Anyhow, I do love the RP, but the game is obviously meant to be about one heck of a special snowflake. As for dying, my impression was that bodies just re-animate. Going to the Mirror Marches is fairly obviously a bodily assumption into another plane of existance, however ending up insane at the Royal Beth is obviously Not such a thing. (and, just to cover all the menaces New Newgate is obviously in our plane of existence) Now, all that stuff above, just my $.02 -- so take it with a gallon or three of Salt. (after all, this Is Me we're talking about, everything is about Salt) In order: The player's status as a special snowflake really depends on the storyline. the court, i believe, actually has this cycle going on frequently- people climb to the top, do something too daring, and get exiled. the question of who it involves is variable, though. The truth of the matter is, the making your name tracker itself is usually only guilty of making you an excessive polymath- the primary exception being the university storyline. The side stories obviously have you being a special snowflake, but that's more from the nature of the story than the nature of you. [also, IIRC, no one actually establishes the department, they just try to set it up and fail. the real issue would be the constant turnover of provosts, i believe.] The side stories must make you a special snowflake, because lots of the stories wouldn't make sense massively instantiated. it's hard to write about something where you actually make a difference while also leaving open future PCs. [I've always been of the opinion most named people are actually nearly as multi-talented as you, or superior in one aspect, and often the fact that you win is because you have other advantages. white moves second, but gets extra peices to make up for it, so to speak. Febuary, for instance runs a hundred expeditions to your one- the loss is such a triviality the revolution doesn't even hold it against you a little, even when you capture her camp and equally hostile moves.] In other words, you're special- but less so than you'd think. 90th percentile plus, not "the strongest human." As for dying, my impression was it varied. Bodies do sometimes just reannimate, but that takes longer, and the wear-and-tear leads to an early tomb-colonist status.. A fast route is a charitable soul tending to your wounds, or, more cynically, picking your pockets and then doing the above, or someone who cares about you doing the same, and that happens sometimes too. alternatively, though it never happens to you, a particularly hated individual might be let to almost come back to life and then killed again, or maimed while they're dead. there's only so much the unusual vitality can do for you. -- Married!:http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/takuza I will accept all social actions that do not consume free evenings- and i will provide patronage to anyone who requests it, though it will be split between all requesters. On psudeo-hiatus. Will be inactive and active and fluctuate without warning. Grinding Favors without cards: http://community.failbettergames.com/topic22266-storylet-favors-grinding.aspx
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Saharan Posts: 247 3/13/2013	Zeedee wrote: FL also imports Surface items, so the merchants must be making round trips. It might be a hard trip, but it isn't impossible. I imagine the Surface-Neath Road to be akin to the ancient Silk Road: long, perilous and profitable. "Two thoroughfares connect the Neath to the surface: the Travertine Spiral and the Cumaean Canal. If you’re looking for the direct route, take the Spiral. Those of modest means must trudge the stair that winds through a conjoined stalagtite and stalagmite, while the more well-to-do rattle briskly by on a comfortable funicular. If you’d prefer a more stately journey (and you’ve got someone to handle the locks for you) the Cumaean Canal is the route for you. It is a miracle of contemporary engineering, and a journey of dark, Plutonian beauty from the little Italian cave where it begins to the shores of the Unterzee. These will both be featuring in upcoming content." Long, perilous, and profitable indeed. -- My Saint - My Twitter - My Seeker "To light one candle to God and another to the Devils is the principle of wisdom."
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Twoflower Posts: 264 3/14/2013	San wrote: T WO Chandler wrote: Either way, the Third is more commonly associated with the Elder Country, Snuffers and Face Tailors. Slightly off topic, but......I just realized that Face-Tailors and Liber Visionis item are a nod to the fact that that storyline is/was the exclusive storyline you get from connecting your account to FACEbook. (...it even SAYS 'Book of Faces' in the item description!) Wow, am I supremely late to the joke. Nearly 3 years late, in fact. I feel completely stupid now. facepalms in shame You'll have to face the consequences for not getting that joke. You might have to book it.
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Diptych Administrator Posts: 3493 3/13/2013	How do you mean? I don't recall anything in Wilmot's End that takes place outside of that one moderate-sized park. -- Sir Frederick, the Libertarian Esotericist. Lord Hubris, the Bloody Baron. Juniper Brown, the Ill-Fated Orphan. Esther Ellis-Hall, the Fashionable Fabian.
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Nigel Overstreet Posts: 1220 3/9/2013	Sir Frederick Tanah-Chook wrote: A question of my own: what backs Fallen London's currency? Actual echoes? I find this question fascinating! The British pound sterling is still backed by the gold standard in 1891. This means that there is likely an Echo to Pound ratio for surface trading. It is unknown if there would be a Fallen London representative at the International Monetary Conferences to establish an exchange rate, but with the amount of sheer capital exchange happening in the capitol, it's inconceivable that they wouldn't. London, Fallen or no, is at the height of it's capital exportation, so even if the Master's specifically have no interest in surface monetary policy, surely the Palace and various other captains of industry would. No small amount of nations at the time were adopting the gold standard to have access to European markets, so it might be possible that surface powers, attempting to capitalize on Fallen markets, might adopt a bimetalic currency standard not of silver and gold, but of gold and "underlying fundamental Coins." Meaning that currencies on the Surface could be backed with greater certainty than gold. This is what the great economists of the world are likely discussing in the salons of the Neath, but the truth of the matter is that the Echo is backed by the Masters as much as the 2013 dollar is backed by the US Treasury; which is to say stronger and more stable than gold. The Bazaar is the issuer of her own currency and is backed by the full faith and credit of the Masters. The Masters can control the Echo the way the Fed does, and probably easier, and no one of any importance in the Neath is likely to want to back out of the Echo standard and invest all their capital in First City coins or some-such. It's even less likely that they will refuse to acknowledge the listed value of the Echo. The Bazaar is unlikely to default on anything and The Masters don't take kindly to you undervaluing their currency. The Echo doesn't really need to be backed by anything, but claiming it's backed by something unseen and ancient is as good a notion as saying it's backed by shiny metal to keep markets from panicking. I like to think of the life of a well-to-do Fallen Londoner interested in such things like so: The inhabitant of London could order by bat, sipping his morning tea in bed, the various products of the whole earth, in such quantity as he might see fit, and reasonably expect their early delivery upon his doorstep; he could at the same moment and by the same means adventure his wealth in the natural resources and new enterprises of any quarter of the world, and share, without exertion or even trouble, in their prospective fruits and advantages; or he could decide to couple the security of his fortunes with the good faith of the townspeople of any substantial municipality in any continent that fancy or information might recommend. He could secure forthwith, if he wished it, cheap and comfortable means of transit to any country or climate without passport or other formality, could despatch his servant to the neighboring office of a bank for such supply of the precious metals as might seem convenient, and could then proceed abroad to foreign quarters, without knowledge of their religion, language, or customs, bearing coined wealth upon his person, and would consider himself greatly aggrieved and much surprised at the least interference. But, most important of all, he regarded this state of affairs as normal, certain, and permanent, except in the direction of further improvement, and any deviation from it as aberrant, scandalous, and avoidable. The projects and politics of militarism and imperialism, of racial and cultural rivalries, of monopolies, restrictions, and exclusion, which were to play the serpent to this paradise, were little more than the amusements of his daily newspaper, and appeared to exercise almost no influence at all on the ordinary course of social and economic life, the internationalization of which was nearly complete in practice. . edited by Nigel Overstreet on 3/9/2013 -- The Romantic Egotist: Most Hedonistic Man in All of Fallen London Are you or someone you know Overgoated? Please, let me know! Cider Club
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Shadowcthuhlu Posts: 1557 7/22/2016	Still raises some questions on how that helps you escape a buried coffin. Maybe all your head thumping caused your companions to find and unearth you? -- https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Dirae%20Erinyes. Closed to calling cards, but open for all other social action. I also love to roleplay.
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Professor Strix Posts: 616 7/22/2016	Most storylets imply that the corpse is there while you are dead, and your mind go in the boat. If you get back from the boatman, you wake up. If not, you die permanently and don't wake up again. (Case in point, the death in University, in which the victim is put in a room to 'recover' from death, and other stories like the stabbed guy in the alley, and many others who are said to 'recover' from death.) However, whenever the player character is involved, it gets a bit fuzzy. When you are in the boatman's, well, boat, you can steal breaths, and there's the light fingers ambition which kills you to free you from being buried. To be honest, something weird is going on on Light Fingers, because Edward specifically tells you that burying you is a fate worse than death in Fallen London (which you agree at that point, because it implies that, if you die in a coffin, you will just come back to that coffin, until you despair and give up coming back), and it would be a void threat if you could just die and escape. Actually, it would be the worse possible way to deal with someone undesirable, because, if he puts you in a prison, you stay there; you won't die of starvation and be all free and dandy afterwards. Maybe the player character is a special snowflake that is transported to the boat body and mind, while everyone else doesn't? Being back at your lodgings after you die - outside Light Fingers, that is - is not that weird, you can always suppose that someone got your address and delivered your corpse there to 'recover'. -- The Inescapable Professor, London's Most Academic Detective. Open to consultation from Mondays to Fridays, above the Silver Binding bookshop, Veilgarden. Half the payment in advance, half after closing the case. No refunds. "THIS SATURDAY, in MAHOGANY HALL, delight your eyes with the DARING FEATS of the DAPPER ESCAPIST. Gape at his CHARM and WIT and his CLEVER TRICKS OF ILLUSIONISM. No mirrors used." --------- Social actions welcomed. Will take menaces if not currently grinding that one stat. Send them and cross your fingers. http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Professor%20Strix My alt loiters suspiciously if you want to: http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Derek%20Davis
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The Master Posts: 804 7/22/2016	PSGarak wrote: Vexpont wrote: And this seems as good a place as any to ask: what happens to your body when you visit the Boatman? It would be handy, if only for occasional RP reasons, to know what someone else sees if I die in front of them. Which should be a rare event for a number of reasons – but accidents happen. This is answered pretty directly in the Light Fingers ambition. [spoiler] You may find yourself buried alive. If you haven't grown your plant, then the game provides only a single means of escape: kill yourself by banging your head against the side. After at trip up the river, you awake back at your lodgings. [/spoiler] Suffice it to say, that the physical location of your body is left behind when you return. I propose a new theory: When you die, you leave your body behind but "you" (for some definition of you (that is not the soul)) visit the boatman. Whatever it is of yours that is visiting the boatman, that gets physically transported back to London. Perhaps dumped on a shore, where you wake up and crawl back. So in other words, even when you return to your lodgings, your "original" dead body is still lying around somewhere. I would like to add the failure message when you duel feducci: " The lance tip goes straight through you, pinning your body to an ancient tree. The boatman comes and bears you away." so I guess it's possible this is at least what you see when you die. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Lolwolfking A very ruthless and daring doctor of the neath. No more gift exchanges, im getting too many and I can barely hold these. He has knowledge of a certain enigma, ask, you will get a clue.
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Saharan Posts: 247 4/29/2013	Rowan Dusang wrote: I was told, when I was creating Puzzling Maps, that the train at Moloch Street doesn't actually go to Hell. Instead, the devils eat the passengers. Surely, you jest. Taking the tales of a zee captain at face-value? I bet those little urchins would have an easy time selling you snow, come next December. -- My Saint - My Twitter - My Seeker "To light one candle to God and another to the Devils is the principle of wisdom."
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TheThirdPolice Posts: 609 7/20/2016	Does anybody know what went down in the Second City? Some say the Masters dream in heiroglyphs, but those are more likely nightmares. The prison of sand lasted many centuries. my main account has never actually died but they frequently pop down to the Silent River for a chess game or two. It's just always been via the House of Mirrors because they've always intended to be able to return to the Surface once this business with their brother's murderer is finally taken care of. I have bad news for you... if you're playing chess with the boatman, you're dead. That mirror is more than a carnival game. Is this a reference to bitcoins? No, it's an explanation for why First City coins demonstrate metallurgical technology beyond that of the First City. I believe it was added along with a bit of Retconjuration, after Satan placed the coins too deep (along with the dinosaur bones). -- Excessive Corpse & Tender to Irreal Ravens Lover of Flawed Souls And with especial pride, Worst Screwup of the Decade!
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protonsinthedark Posts: 106 3/14/2013	T WO Chandler wrote: Either way, the Third is more commonly associated with the Elder Country, Snuffers and Face Tailors. Slightly off topic, but......I just realized that Face-Tailors and Liber Visionis item are a nod to the fact that that storyline is/was the exclusive storyline you get from connecting your account to FACEbook. (...it even SAYS 'Book of Faces' in the item description!) Wow, am I supremely late to the joke. Nearly 3 years late, in fact. I feel completely stupid now. facepalms in shame -- Mio, a midnight, sinister, irresistible, and breathtaking lady of mysterious origins. Calling cards, social actions, menace reduction requests, and newspaper interviews (Nemesis ambition) welcome. No boxed cats or Affluent Photographer requests please. Other Characters: tinyassassin, an orphan trained as an assassin, currently hunting the Vake. Alexandre and Adriana, a pair of hedonistic twins betting their souls on the Marvellous...if they don't lose them to the devils first.
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Vexpont Posts: 137 7/22/2016	It seems extremely appropriate to discuss this on a thread risen from the grave. It also seems that everyone has their own interesting take on it. Thanks to all. absimiliard wrote: I have always had the impression that the Player Character is in fact a very special snowflake. I'm pretty sure this is because FL is very much a single-player game -- the social actions are really bolted on and require some good RP to avoid being jarring. (just try discussing who founded the Department of Correspondance at the University -- or look at how we all get kicked out of Court....) Anyhow, I do love the RP, but the game is obviously meant to be about one heck of a special snowflake) Perhaps the problem is that I have honestly never been that person before. In my more callow days, I died so much in the name of casual entertainment that Sean Bean is probably my spirit guide. So if a game tells me that I clutch the lily, I immediately start trying to work out how and why, and what is happening behind the scenes. And probably like everyone else, it has occurred to me that I should just quit my career and set up as a quick-change artist in Mahogany Hall. There can't be anyone faster than Yours Truly. But this isn't as tricky to deal with as the nature of Death, which is set up early as a plot pivot, and is clearly deadly serious. Vexpont wrote: Death in Fallen London: the most extreme type of littering offence. There's probably a hefty fine. I meant, a stiff penalty. Bloody esprit d'escalier. -- Dangerous to my enemies; loyal to my friends. Not too handy at telling the difference. http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Vexpont
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Aximillio Posts: 1251 2/20/2013	"Coins and games and sides " The Numismatrix is alone among the dead trees. If she found any other takers for her lecture, they're late. She greets you with a nod, and starts talking. It's not her usual sing-song voice, but an alto purr. 'Coins. You wish me to discuss coins. Very well. Echoes first. The ones you have in your purse are indeed echoes. Reflections of the first currency ever used by the Bazaar. Before it even thought about buying cities. You'll probably never see any of the underlying fundamental Coins. I never have. There's only around a dozen of them, I've heard, and the Masters won't touch them. Fascinating, no? 'Something different now. Have you heard of the First City Coins? Little silver things, cedar tree on one side. I deal in them occasionally. They're not from the First City itself, of course. The actual coins are no more than thirty years old. But they represent something ancient. Fragments of a primal power, locked away in the Masters' vaults since the deal that bought the First City. Of course, the Masters don't buy or sell that stuff any more. They gamble it sometimes, though. A game called the Marvellous. There's other coins out there too. Not that you'd recognise them - they're not all minted metal discs. But the principle's the same. Each is a promise to pay. And such promises! The great and the good want them; dockside villains want them; even the Church. There are strange fortunes to be made by trading these currencies. If it's a game you want to play, you need to choose a side... [An opportunity to make that choice will appear soon.] (Here's a lot of what she said, at least...) There's a dozen left of the fundamentals, so we might get to know them =) edited by Aximillio on 2/20/2013 -- Possibly returned after a long hiatus. Please do not send live rats or tournament requests.
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Tesuji Posts: 161 3/13/2013	This is one of the reasons I dislike Wilmot's End so much, and to a lesser degree, the Great Game in general. If you take the text in Wilmot's End seriously, either you are going back to the Surface frequently or you personally have closely directed others engaged in a number of intrigues in various Surface cities. The degree of London-Surface communication and commerce required seems strikingly out of line with all of the other FL lore. Hence, my personal theory that Wilmot's End is just an opium den, or this being the Neath, some combination of honey and other drugs. You wander in, take a few hits on a pipe, babble incoherent nonsense to the other patrons and then stumble out and mug the first person you see (stealing their documents or whatnot), all the while concocting a delusion in which you're a world traveler and of some importance in world events. -- Tesuji.
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Diptych Administrator Posts: 3493 3/22/2013	Speaking of menace states, I just had a realisation about the recent name change for the Manager of the Royal Beth in his role as a terrifying lurker for the high-Nightmare'd. God rest ye, merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay, or else the Merry Gentleman will take you away... -- Sir Frederick, the Libertarian Esotericist. Lord Hubris, the Bloody Baron. Juniper Brown, the Ill-Fated Orphan. Esther Ellis-Hall, the Fashionable Fabian.
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Flipz Posts: 177 3/13/2013	Nigel Overstreet wrote: Can you imagine the consequences of downgrading the Bazaar's credit rating? Everyone at Standard & Poor would mysteriously disappear in the night. Quick, someone call Standard & Poor and convince them to downgrade the Bazaar's credit rating! :P -- Profile Link Happy to accept all Second Chance, Menace reduction, and Affluent Photographer requests. No boxed cats or SMEN, please. 0/50 Bazaar Permit (New counters coming soon!)
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protonsinthedark Posts: 106 3/13/2013	Tesuji wrote: my recollection is that there are a few references to a shared history that you have with some of the people there about Surface goings-on, with some text that implied to me that either you went to Paris as part of the Great Game or you had personally directed some operation in Paris. Well, you could always have agents stationed in paris that report to you even if you haven't been there yourself. In fact there are some storylets (see below) that seem to imply that you weren't personally there during whatever incident happened in Paris. Also, Paris is a recurring theme with storylines involving the Great Game (including Walking the Paths of Wilmot's End), to the extent that it's almost a Noodle Incident. ('It's always Paris.') The rare success for trading stolen correspondence with the Muffled Intriguer even lampshades this: 'Just what happened in Paris?' A warm day. A scarf over the face and a hat pulled low. 'Complicated business. Paris. The bishops. The thing with the swan. Take too long to explain. Here's a dossier. Wait a month before publishing.' That being said, there are some reasonable explanations of why Paris instead of, say, Budapest or Prague: 1) Britain and France have a historical rivalry that goes back hundreds of years. 2) During this time period, there is a certain amount of tension between Britain and France over Imperial claims in Africa (the so-called 'Scramble for Africa') 3) Paris could be shorthand for France/the French Government in general, rather than referring to the literal place 4) Considering the number of agents of different that mention Paris, it could be a locus of Great Game activity on the Surface. (However, France is one of the only (if not only) major European powers that we don't encounter agents for in Wilmot's End--which is rather odd, come to think of it.) However, personally I've always mentally thought of the Paris thing as something of a shout-out to Cabinet Noir, since it and the Wilmot's End content came out around the same time. edited by protonsinthedark on 3/13/2013 -- Mio, a midnight, sinister, irresistible, and breathtaking lady of mysterious origins. Calling cards, social actions, menace reduction requests, and newspaper interviews (Nemesis ambition) welcome. No boxed cats or Affluent Photographer requests please. Other Characters: tinyassassin, an orphan trained as an assassin, currently hunting the Vake. Alexandre and Adriana, a pair of hedonistic twins betting their souls on the Marvellous...if they don't lose them to the devils first.
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friendshipranger Posts: 274 3/13/2013	I've wondered about the Surface question a great deal. Moriarty is incapable of returning to the Surface; Laplace has zero interest. Interestingly, besides the Boatman story, it seems as though there isn't really a tally that's shown in the UI as to how many times, or whether, you've died. This calls into question if the game even keeps track of this metric. My immediate guess is there's going to be a sort of ret-con/ band-aid in the endgame/denouement that will let you escape, once and for all. Perhaps Peach Cider could do it. Just enough to keep you from burning. Nigel Overstreet wrote: I, for one, trade with the Surface all the time. My Lizard, bats, mandrake and even Overgoat make their way to the Surface with quite a bit of frequency bringing all sorts of peculiar treasures with them. Fhoenix wrote: Well, if the Cider can really be bought for a sufficiently large sum of Echo, as the Bazaar would make us to believe, I'd say Echo has a much better backing, than dollar. Indubitably! Can you imagine the consequences of downgrading the Bazaar's credit rating? Everyone at Standard & Poor would mysteriously disappear in the night. Seeing as the prices at the Bazaar haven't changed much in three years, it's a fairly stable currency too. Unless it's up against a zero lower bound or some such, but given that the nature of the Bazaar is constant commerce, I doubt that very much. This is the biggest reason why I suspect the Revolutionaries aren't simply yet another cyclical pattern encouraged by the Masters. Monetary policy and economics define national influence to such an extent in the Industrial era that repeated attacks on functionaries, bankers, and currency summits could, more than anything, drastically impact the extent to which London is seen as a safe haven for wealth. Standard and Poor would never risk downgrading their credit ratings; but if their representatives keep getting blown up, it sends a similar message to the international community. That's why Fires is stamping out the Unionists, and that's why Revolutionaries have been driven to the Flit. Revolutionaries mean nothing in terms of morale, propaganda, or even mortal cost; men are cheaper than horses in the Neath. But if they introduce currency fluctuation, that could be a big deal. And if the Neath's economy had a really bad day, it could unravel the whole affair. And a bad day in the Neath isn't like Black Tuesday. It will be cosmic horror on a truly unimaginable scale. The stone pigs are sleeping, Mr. Sacks used to say. But Mister Sacks isn't here now. That's why the Foreign Office, the Great Game, and Wilmot's End is such a big deal. Can you imagine if French agents or dignitaries could be allowed free reign? What happens if some Tzar comes down and gets a gulp of cider stolen? What if Dutch agents start letting the Mirror-Creatures loose? Foreign manipulation in the Neath could have dire consequences. And honestly, it's hard not to think there's a great deal of angling for the control of the Bazaar. Let's not forget, bats can still make the journey to the surface. It's not hard to imagine having assets on the Surface being conducted by contacts you control. Hence, "agents, and the agents of agents". Also, I'm glad the Great Mirror Chase taught us all the sigil of the Masters is the Hat. It was a great way to find out. With this in mind: The Bazaar said the "The first taught restraint and the second betrayed. The third taught us hunger: the fourth we remade. The fifth will live on in the heart of the Sun, and the sixth..." We know of some examples of the Masters being fallible, and overreaching in their...experiments. Particularly with Smiles. That could be the First. The Third, could be the Era of Eaten. And why they won't say a d-ed word about it. The fourth was of course shown to us by Silver Tree. As such, new questions: Does anybody know what went down in the Second City? If sunlight can be harvested, is the Neath dark by design? Are the Masters even aware of the Rubbery Men- and their agendas? Is Downside, a place referenced in Outlandish Copy, a real place? Are the "choirs" what the Violet-Eyed Urchin was talking about? edited by friendshipranger on 3/13/2013 -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/J.L.%20Moriarty
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Diptych Administrator Posts: 3493 3/13/2013	If we can equate the Third City with the Three Priest-Kings of Xibalba, well, they certainly know hunger. -- Sir Frederick, the Libertarian Esotericist. Lord Hubris, the Bloody Baron. Juniper Brown, the Ill-Fated Orphan. Esther Ellis-Hall, the Fashionable Fabian.
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Alexander Feld Posts: 348 3/9/2013	Fang wrote: friendshipranger wrote: -snip- I've always felt that Prisoner Honey was just like dreaming expect for the fact you are aware and can control it to an extent... been a while since I've used it. From what I've seen, you actually get physically transported to the dream-world. There's mention of couches specially used to catch people when they pop back into reality, and suchlike, so I don't think it's just lucid dreaming. -- I am a star-gazer, story-eater, and a smelter of words. I filch hidden things from hidden places, to hide once more in my dark cabinet of curiosities Alexander Feld, the mad, damned, lord of seekers.
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Zmflavius Posts: 53 3/12/2013	Fhoenix wrote: Well, if the Cider can really be bought for a sufficiently large sum of Echo, as the Bazaar would make us to believe, I'd say Echo has a much better backing, than dollar. Then again, I can't really imagine it working as a world currency. Neath seems too much removed and very much disinterested in the affairs of the Surface. There is not much to export, as most of the local stuff seems to lose its properties under the harsh rays of Sunlight. Also, the text in the game implies, that Surface food is so rare, only the very rich can afford to eat it. So not much is imported either. edited by Fhoenix on 3/12/2013 But, that creates other questions then; such as, where do we acquire building materials from, or gunmetal, or any variety of things which can't be built with glim or jade or brass? Surely we can't get all of it from traders across the Unterzee. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Zmflavius
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Fhoenix Posts: 602 3/12/2013	Why exactly would they leave again? I mean sure there is poverty, poor work conditions and the occasional bout of insanity. But you get to be kind of, almost, but no exactly immortal. Which, I imagine, does wonders for the general life expectancy in the city. Also there is a posh hotel instead of the standard asylum. And who says life on the Surface is any better? edited by Fhoenix on 3/12/2013 -- My Character
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Diptych Administrator Posts: 3493 2/20/2013	1- Can you be called 'conscious' or 'unconscious' if you're physically transported into your own dreams? 2- No idea, I'm afraid. 3- Devils do seem to reach terribly great ages. Has anyone ever seen one dead? How about their bones? A question of my own: what backs Fallen London's currency? Actual echoes? -- Sir Frederick, the Libertarian Esotericist. Lord Hubris, the Bloody Baron. Juniper Brown, the Ill-Fated Orphan. Esther Ellis-Hall, the Fashionable Fabian.
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amaresu Posts: 209 2/20/2013	Jack Blackstone wrote: David wrote: Sir Frederick Tanah-Chook wrote: 3- Devils do seem to reach terribly great ages. Has anyone ever seen one dead? How about their bones? I have a set of dice that are purportedly made of such; but then again I've no way of establishing the veracity of that claim. I saw one melt when i "killed" it so I think Devil bones do not exist. I could be wrong though.... One wonders what Devils Bone dice are made out of then. -- Please no cats or Trailing Affluent Photographers; everything else is fair game. amaresu \| Pearl \| ama_shine
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Early Posts: 196 2/20/2013	amaresu wrote: Jack Blackstone wrote: David wrote: Sir Frederick Tanah-Chook wrote: 3- Devils do seem to reach terribly great ages. Has anyone ever seen one dead? How about their bones? I have a set of dice that are purportedly made of such; but then again I've no way of establishing the veracity of that claim. I saw one melt when i "killed" it so I think Devil bones do not exist. I could be wrong though.... One wonders what Devils Bone dice are made out of then. Perhaps their infernal donor simply isn't dead. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Early
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PetulantProcrastinator Posts: 75 2/20/2013	Aximillio wrote: Sir Frederick Tanah-Chook wrote: A question of my own: what backs Fallen London's currency? Actual echoes? Well, at least we know the current echoes are memories of the first currency used by the bazaar. I guess they might be similar to the old? I believe the first currency used was similar to the substance that powers The Marvellous if I recall what the Numinatrix said correctly.
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TheThirdPolice Posts: 609 7/23/2016	Pretty sure it's just water (or at least between water and the river Ankh). -- Excessive Corpse & Tender to Irreal Ravens Lover of Flawed Souls And with especial pride, Worst Screwup of the Decade!
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absimiliard Posts: 759 7/22/2016	I have always had the impression that the Player Character is in fact a very special snowflake. I'm pretty sure this is because FL is very much a single-player game -- the social actions are really bolted on and require some good RP to avoid being jarring. (just try discussing who founded the Department of Correspondance at the University -- or look at how we all get kicked out of Court....) Anyhow, I do love the RP, but the game is obviously meant to be about one heck of a special snowflake. As for dying, my impression was that bodies just re-animate. Going to the Mirror Marches is fairly obviously a bodily assumption into another plane of existance, however ending up insane at the Royal Beth is obviously Not such a thing. (and, just to cover all the menaces New Newgate is obviously in our plane of existence) Now, all that stuff above, just my $.02 -- so take it with a gallon or three of Salt. (after all, this Is Me we're talking about, everything is about Salt) -- "Because, Parabola!" -- the Curious Captain Eating nightmares from friends -- and I'm easy to befriend. Absimiliard: the Black Rose of Wolfstack Docks
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Pnakotic Posts: 266 7/22/2016	The metaphysics of Fallen London are fairly capricious; as with some of the discussions of honey-dreaming, it seems possible to physically experience things that should only involve your consciousness, to have multiple minds experience things that should only be happening internally, and bodies to move from place to place through Parabola; it seems likely that encounters with the Boatman likewise occur on another plan of being, and can allow similar bending of the normal laws of metaphysics. It's also worth noting that many "fatal" injuries, including knife-and-candle deaths, don't result in a ride over the River. Only accumulations of serious injuries, or single very traumatic deaths, like Black Ribbon duels, will send you to the Boatman. This may explain situations like the candle-courier recovering to life in fairly short order. And if you follow the Jack storyline far enough, you'll find not all Jacks are terribly proficient at "killing" in the neathy (permanent) sense. -- J. Ward Dunn, Glassman Book of All Hours 9:99: Journey's end in lover's meeting. Progress is ascendancy.
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Vexpont Posts: 137 7/22/2016	TheThirdPolice wrote: my main account has never actually died but they frequently pop down to the Silent River for a chess game or two. It's just always been via the House of Mirrors because they've always intended to be able to return to the Surface once this business with their brother's murderer is finally taken care of. I have bad news for you... if you're playing chess with the boatman, you're dead. That mirror is more than a carnival game. As someone who died almost immediately, because 'return to Surface' seems a rather frequent goal and I wanted something different, I'm interested in what proportion of Londoners are still alive, in Surface terms. I also hope and expect that FB know exactly who is who. And this seems as good a place as any to ask: what happens to your body when you visit the Boatman? It would be handy, if only for occasional RP reasons, to know what someone else sees if I die in front of them. Which should be a rare event for a number of reasons – but accidents happen. What passes for FL resurrection happens (conveniently) from the player's viewpoint. But my mind boggles when I try to imagine what it looks like from the outside, especially as you can stumble upon dead/dying NPCs and stay with the body until they revive. But not consistently. The 'Jack Strikes Again!' card allows you to do this, and so does the Notable Success ending of the 'Recover the haul of an Eccentric Burglar' storylet. But the text on 'Medical Emergency!' implies that if you try to save a dying man and fail, you lose your chance to question him – without describing how or why. And no NPC has stuck around when I've died, to question me when I revive, though if it happens at some stage, I'll be seriously impressed. I've come to the conclusion that there must be an Observer Effect to FL resurrections: if no-one is watching or touching the body, the person revives in their Lodgings. If the opposite is true, they revive at the spot where they fell. If the death is exceptionally sticky (like the result of losing a duel to Vendrick), the authorities remove the corpse as a matter of public decency and you wake in a morgue (not on the Slow Boat), which after all does have employees. It's still not consistent, but it's the best I can come up with. I'm not going to even think about what happens to my body after falling through Heart's Mirror. Presumably it's not sprawled off-puttingly in front of the Mirror itself; maybe there is some sort of trapdoor to remove the remains of the foolhardy. Because if not, my body can only really be back at my Lodgings, making Heart's Mirror FL's priciest and least satisfactory teleportation device. And it knows where I live. -- Dangerous to my enemies; loyal to my friends. Not too handy at telling the difference. http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Vexpont
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Belgravia Posts: 4 7/20/2016	Aximillio wrote: Sir Frederick Tanah-Chook wrote: A question of my own: what backs Fallen London's currency? Actual echoes? Well, at least we know the current echoes are memories of the first currency used by the bazaar. I guess they might be similar to the old? updated: Apologies for this cat got my tongue message - my first time on a wiki! I am interested in that question also. According to the Numismatrix, Echoes are "reflections of the first currency ever used by the Bazaar. Before it even thought of buying cities. You'll probably never see any of the underlying fundamental Coins. I never have. There's only around a dozen of them." Is this a reference to bitcoins? Also, would it be correct to say that the only way you can produce echoes from actions (without conversion of items) is through 'literary ambitions'? edited by Belgravia on 7/20/2016 edited by Belgravia on 7/20/2016
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Amelia Syrus Posts: 626 7/22/2016	On the topic of death: There's also the one card that's name escapes me. It's the one with the caretaker of the graveyard. But allegedly from that card alone, people have been buried and end up being buried alive so often that bells are almost a necessity. There's also the medical emergency card where you can save someone seconds before they pass to the Boatman too. But considering how death doesn't seem permenant, what constitutes as a "true death", and what happens when someone sees the Boatman it's up in the air on what someone sees and how the player's character comes back. -- Amelia Syrus: A Drunken Thief For Hire.
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Vavakx Nonexus Posts: 892 7/22/2016	I always thought you died and then were carried away to safety by your... disturbing stalker, I guess? Secret fan club? Less-than-secret companion club? Your actual club? and then returned to life at your lodgings in your body. edited by Vavakx Nonexus on 7/22/2016 -- Amets Estibariz, the Moulting Eidolon: Cradled by a sun all their own. Blabbing, the Hobo Everyone Knows: The One Who Pulls The Strings. A Clarity In The Darkness. Charlotte and the Caretaker: A family?
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