Capt. Bandaid
Posts: 2
4/30/2015
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On my 3rd captain now who didn't die horribly through trial and errors, had just made it through long enough to explore 2/3 of the map.
So I get to the Uttershroom and notice that they take prisoner honey in exchange for supply and a blemmigan (jellyfish thing). And noticed a part of my journal now records where I leave blemmigans to propagate. So I decided "what the hey, lets drop off the little buggers". At first, I exchanged for blemmigans and started dropping them off to nearby islands (or the ones on my planned trade course).
It was good at first, people started giving some goods and stuff back at the uttershroom for "pleasing mother" through spreading the little jellies. But then it got bad. Mangrove college is apparently teeming with blemmigans that my crew can't salvage supplies anymore, The option in port cecil to collect scintillak is no more (At least I think it was the blemmigans who caused this because it happend after I dropped them at port cecil), and some light ships wont trade with me anymore.
Now I've stopped spreading them for fear of negative impact on the other islands. Others where I dropped them off like Sheperd isle and isle of cats seem to have no bad consequence but I've been sending them to london instead to get some random item and a novel. Is there a grand reward to be got here for spreading blemmigans or am I just better off not to?
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SouthSea Rutherby
Posts: 224
4/30/2015
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First of all: great post. You're one of the first people to openly acknowledge the negative consequences of this seemingly profitable enterprise in such detail: Sunless Sea is full of such situations where you have "safe" trades that don't yield much money, explorative opportunities that are profitable-but-inconsistent, and than the "too good to be true" opportunities that seem like easy money-makers but often have dangerous hidden costs, like getting curses, menaces, or other negative effects. Trading sunlight, for example, gets riskier as you build up the "Sunlight" menace, and choosing the more lucrative trades with the Salt Lions can have disastrous effects on Fallen London itself.
In the cases of many of these situations, Fallen London refers to an age-old gaming concept: make the player have to choose their level of risk by determining how much is too much, and how much is too little. For example, selling some Sunlight is a good thing -- it's free money with relatively low risk if you don't abuse it, but Sunless Sea is all about having to determine just how much risk you're willing to take -- do you just go the safe route and save money the hard way, or do you go just a little bit more risky, or just throw up your hands and take a huge risk for the excitement of a huge reward... or certain death?
Indeed, part of the fun of most games is in this decision making process -- it's a step up from the old "memorize patterns" or "trial and error" style games of previous generations. By making the Unterzee so dangerous, Sunless Sea makes a fun experience by giving you literally super-lucrative opportunities in exchange for high amounts of terror, menaces, or other bizarre (and often hilarious) consequences that, even in death, can result in improving your next character. Game choices that result in you killing your captain, sinking your vessel, or even inadvertently destroying London are all meant to get a funny reaction out of players or have them swapping war stories about the bizarre things they've done in the game.
Blemigans themselves operate the same way: if you propagate seven of them, you get a small (but substantial enough) reward for the Curator quest. If you propagate more your reward gets greater -- you can give more to the Alarming Scholar, trade the Cinder at the Empire of Hands, or even complete the Father's Bones ambition which is often requires you to take slightly more risks. However, if you propagate them recklessly, you're going to start seeing negative repercussions just as you do with sunlight -- negative consequences that creep up on you anytime you go overboard with easy-money-making opportunities.
Personally, I loved the crazy Blemigan stories -- but if you look at some of the foreshadowing (which the writers are wonderful at) you're going to see some early signs that propagating them too much might just not be a good idea. 
edited by SouthSea Rutherby on 4/30/2015
--
Now the proud captain of Mr. Eaten's Revenge
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fortluna
Posts: 306
4/30/2015
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If you've played Fallen London, and the recent story of the Blemmigan Gift, you might get a little more insight into these cuddly ecological menaces. (People do mutter about inconsiderate zee-captains, you know.)
The Principles of Coral is one of the places where the environment is worse for the blemmigans than vice versa, and I believe scintillack collection depends only on SAY or the quest line there. They obviously have a particular biome they prefer, and their effectiveness is more pronounced at islands that belong in that zone - I found bringing them to the north to be especially satisfying.
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GerbilSchooler
Posts: 86
5/1/2015
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It's the best idea EVER!!! Blemmigans are soo damnded CUTE!! their adorableness needs to be spread across all of the Unterzee!!
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Marianne Anders
Posts: 127
5/1/2015
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I enjoy blemmigans in an disproportionate amount to how much I've had dealings with them.
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Not all who wander are lost. Sometimes, they are very lost.
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Marianne~Anders
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Lashkar
Posts: 109
5/1/2015
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Speaking of Blemmigans and unexpected quirky stories, try getting an Elegiac Cockatoo and wait for the "blemmigan colony" story to show up on some island - there will be a new option.
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Wriothesley: Call me "Risley". My first character, around midgame
Asesina Ballenas: whale killer. Alt, recently PoSI
Happy to accept most social actions; will help with menace reduction if it's reciprocated.
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