Anne Auclair
Posts: 2215
6/6/2017
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The really interesting thing about the item trade-in for the Season of Stones was that the reward was exactly the same regardless of your decision, but you got left with a permanent story quality. This setup suggests that the substance of our decision was intended to be the main focus, rather then the reward - that is, the writers wanted players to pick what they thought was the best policy, rather then what they thought the best reward. This in turn suggests that our decisions will have long term consequences for London, consequences that we might glimpse in future stories.
So, who did you choose to help?
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Anne%20Auclair
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Scienceandponies
Posts: 247
6/11/2017
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Also, kudos to Failbetter writers for making me feel barely stifled rage at the transparent attempt of the powers that be to divide the lower classes by directly pitting direly needed economic reforms directly against the expansion of rights for an oppressed minority, ensuring that no matter which gets passed, resentment and division among those who should be allies will follow. Either those seeking equal rights get thrown under the bus once again, or the poor working class rally behind the cry of "our lives would be better if it weren't for those people stealing away our opportunity". Meanwhile, there's absolutely no reason why those in charge couldn't pass both and help everyone, except that actually helping was never the point.
Painfully real.
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dov
Posts: 2580
6/19/2017
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Anne Auclair wrote:
Still surprised by the lack of hardened revolutionary sentiment. The Liberation has quite a few vocal partisans after all.
Vocal, but thankfully few. :-)
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 Want a sip of Hesperidean Cider? Send me a request in-game. Here's an_ocelot's guide how.
(Most social actions are welcome. Please no requests to Loiter Suspiciously and no investigations of the Affluent Photographer)
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Harlocke
Posts: 506
6/6/2017
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I helped the poor. As a shepherd, I had to give the impoverished a better option than selling their souls.
It'll also help urchins, since they eventually grow up to be poor Londoners.
I do feel bad about the clay men though. Hey, I tried to argue for allthree laws. A shame the Masters' Obligation wouldn't allow it.
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I welcome social actions, and can visit your salon as an author.
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Harlocke
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Jeremy Avalon
Posts: 345
6/6/2017
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The Clay Men. Especially after HOJOTOHO!, the Urchins seem to be doing just fine. They have Slivvy, the Valkyrie, and quite a few others.
And I didn't feel like encouraging the Bazaar to be even weepier was really going to help the poor much at all.
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How we must glow; yes, I bet we look like snow.
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Azothi
Posts: 586
6/6/2017
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I helped the urchins. It gives people like our little friends at Heorot a better chance at thriving, just in case anything like being paid one penny to do the job (which was admittedly funny at the time, but also not good for living without thieving) happens again. Besides, it also functions a recycling technique: it introduces value to scraps in the wider economy.
It hurt to have to burn the policy to support the poor, but it didn't sit well with me. If you could make money off of stories of love and heartbreak, there would certainly be people who tempt and break hearts just to sell the story, and the actual process is negative feedback. "Boring" stories like selling candles or being a notary likely won't net you much money in terms of sales, but more "exciting" stories of struggle and hardship, of broken dreams and despair; those will net a pretty penny on the market. In other words, having a harder life is more profitable, and the easier life gets, the less "interesting" the story becomes, and likely the less it will net you. Unless you've found an additional source of income from the initial boost, the returns will probably even out and your income will drop, creating a cycle of hope and hopelessness that will produce a whole ton of good stories while only benefiting a lucky few who can find higher-paying work and break the cycle.
That's just a justification to make myself feel better, though, and it's based mostly on speculation and cynicism on my part.
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Azoth I, the Emissary of Cardinals - A Paramount Presence (not currently accepting new Proteges)
Away to where the Chain cannot bind us.
 Hesperidean.
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dov
Posts: 2580
6/6/2017
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I didn't really understand the point of the law to help the poor.
Can't people already sell stories to the Bazaar? This is what the Bazaar is all about. When we start the game and escape from prison without a thing, we have no problem finding ways to get and sell secrets and stories.
It just seemed really weird to me from a narrative perspective.
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Want a sip of Hesperidean Cider? Send me a request in-game. Here's an_ocelot's guide how.
(Most social actions are welcome. Please no requests to Loiter Suspiciously and no investigations of the Affluent Photographer)
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Optimatum
Posts: 3666
6/6/2017
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Anne Auclair wrote:
Optimatum wrote:
I'm surprised the poll is so even between the three options. From the discussion thread for the story I was expecting there to be more bias.
Huh? More bias?
I expected results to heavily favor one option rather than be relatively evenly split.
dov wrote:
I didn't really understand the point of the law to help the poor.
Can't people already sell stories to the Bazaar? This is what the Bazaar is all about. When we start the game and escape from prison without a thing, we have no problem finding ways to get and sell secrets and stories.
As we could sell Touching Love Stories already, I guess this law will be adding Miserable Love Stories to the items the Bazaar accepts :P
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Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome.
 Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi!
PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Optimatum
Posts: 3666
6/6/2017
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I'm surprised the poll is so even between the three options. From the discussion thread for the story I was expecting there to be more bias.
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Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome.
Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi!
PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Anne Auclair
Posts: 2215
6/6/2017
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I really wanted to help the Urchins, but my character will seize any opportunity to strike a blow against Hell, so she had the committee put the 'stories for welfare' legislation into effect.
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Anne%20Auclair
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Diptych
Administrator
Posts: 3493
6/6/2017
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They were all tempting - in the end, I could only decide by dividing the four options up among my four characters (though they're not all currently Exceptional Friends.) So, Esther, the devoted revolutionary, would naturally refuse to participate in the Masters' schemes. Hubris, with his sideline as a kidsman, would approve measures to make the city's urchins more profitable. Juniper, with her tragic past, would be drawn to schemes to benefit from selling stories of misery. That left Sir Fred with Clay rights, which suited him just fine.
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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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Anne Auclair
Posts: 2215
6/13/2017
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I'm guessing we have a statistical tie between Urchins and Clay Men, with London's Poor coming in behind them, though not by that much. Most people participated in the Committee's work.
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Anne%20Auclair
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Optimatum
Posts: 3666
6/8/2017
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Anne Auclair wrote:
A rooftop revel wrote:
These urchins eat well, at least the ones in the more organised gangs do. Though when they each throw a rat into the air as 'the Masters' portion', none of the rats come down again.
There's only one Master who flies around doing stuff like that.
Also, the Urchins in Spite manufacture Puzzle-Damask, and you'll recall that the same Master who likes terrorizing London's rooftops is also in charge of the cloth trade. So the Urchins have a fairly direct relationship with Mr Veils.
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Kukapetal wrote:
I too would like to know this.
Fleshy's relationship with the urchins may sour considerably if he finds out they're pals with the Vake :P
They're not so much pals as terrified supplicants and child laborers trying to make the best of their less than ideal situation. Which no doubt means appeasing and working for the terrible murder monster that could effortlessly kill them all.
Iirc investigating Sacksmas with the Knotted Sock explicitly confirms that all the urchins working for Mr Veils are forced into it; the Knotted Sock are seeking a way to free them from his tyranny. Makes sense that the urchins not doing slave labor would be paying him off. It's a protection racket of sorts.
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Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome.
Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi!
PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Scienceandponies
Posts: 247
6/11/2017
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I very much would have liked to denounce the whole thing as the farce it was and storm off, but I couldn't quite turn down the chance to get into the same room with some masters and needle them with some very personal questions and insinuations.
Since there was no option to storm out after the break, I went with the clay men. Even though the measure is unlikely to see sufficient enforcement and is crippled by numerous regulations as to how they spend their hour, to the point that it hardly does anything at all, it's also the option that came with the fewest strings to bolster the Masters' own power. I'll have to just keep working with Jenny to help the plight of the urchins and the poor, while hoping the clay men get at least something out of the pittance offered here.
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Anne Auclair
Posts: 2215
6/11/2017
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Optimatum wrote:
Iirc investigating Sacksmas with the Knotted Sock explicitly confirms that all the urchins working for Mr Veils are forced into it; the Knotted Sock are seeking a way to free them from his tyranny. Makes sense that the urchins not doing slave labor would be paying him off. It's a protection racket of sorts.
The fact that the Urchins are worth enslaving and capable of bribing or plotting against a Master is yet more proof that they are a power to be reckoned with in London.
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Anne%20Auclair
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friendshipranger
Posts: 274
6/14/2017
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Scienceandponies wrote:
Also, kudos to Failbetter writers for making me feel barely stifled rage at the transparent attempt of the powers that be to divide the lower classes by directly pitting direly needed economic reforms directly against the expansion of rights for an oppressed minority, ensuring that no matter which gets passed, resentment and division among those who should be allies will follow. Either those seeking equal rights get thrown under the bus once again, or the poor working class rally behind the cry of "our lives would be better if it weren't for those people stealing away our opportunity". Meanwhile, there's absolutely no reason why those in charge couldn't pass both and help everyone, except that actually helping was never the point.
Painfully real.
Which is why my character stormed out. The breakdown of solidarity in fury would be too damaging, even as some suffering is alleviated. My character published the details of the Affair of the Box with the explicit intent to foment this sort of outrage- allowing it to crescendo will lead to greater, more substantive change as the Masters grow desperate. And given I possess [spoiler] a copy of the Crimson Book and, soon, the Sixth Contract [/spoiler] I believe my character will have significant leverage when the time comes.
edited by friendshipranger on 6/14/2017
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/J.L.%20Moriarty
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Anne Auclair
Posts: 2215
6/19/2017
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Still surprised by the lack of hardened revolutionary sentiment. The Liberation has quite a few vocal partisans after all.
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Anne%20Auclair
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Kukapetal
Posts: 1449
6/6/2017
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I helped the poor, but I did it via "Eeny Meeny Miney Moe." :P
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Anne Auclair
Posts: 2215
6/6/2017
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Optimatum wrote:
I'm surprised the poll is so even between the three options. From the discussion thread for the story I was expecting there to be more bias.
Huh? More bias?
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Anne%20Auclair
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TheThirdPolice
Posts: 609
6/6/2017
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dov wrote:
I didn't really understand the point of the law to help the poor.
Can't people already sell stories to the Bazaar? This is what the Bazaar is all about. When we start the game and escape from prison without a thing, we have no problem finding ways to get and sell secrets and stories.
It just seemed really weird to me from a narrative perspective.
Good point, but presumably the new program would offer a better rate, subsidized by the government.
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Excessive Corpse & Tender to Irreal Ravens
Lover of Flawed Souls
And with especial pride, Worst Screwup of the Decade!
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Hotshot Blackburn
Posts: 110
6/7/2017
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I thought about leaving the meeting, since it was the most obvious route toward assisting the Revolutionary cause and the whole thing was more or less a big show. However, I ultimately ended up forced/forcing myself into supporting the poor for several reasons:
1. The Revolution will not rise in a day. Recruits to the cause cannot be if they are dead (with exceptions). The working poor of London must be able to survive to recognize the injustices around them.
2. The Great Chain chokes everyone, including the Masters. They too are victims, of a sort.They might be recruited, if their foibles and underlying grudges against their own enslavement are known. And if they cannot be recruited, then they can be provoked.
3. [spoiler]It's cool lore and I wanted to read it first-hand tbh. [/spoiler]
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Hotshot Blackburn: Messidor, Aspirant to the Calendar Council. Paramount Presence. Seeker of the Name. A firm believer in kindness, solidarity, and sufficient use of force and firepower.
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crazyroosterman
Posts: 187
6/7/2017
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i choose to have zorgan leave the reasoning is quite simple he is a hard-core revolutionary and doesn't really care about the poor (although the urchins are an exception at times) so he walked away.
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Myrto
Posts: 209
6/7/2017
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I didn't realize that leaving the meeting would help the revolutionaries, otherwise I would have done that. I ended up helping the urchins, because the other laws seemed silly or redundant.
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Myrto, a mysterious veteran spy who is only on their own side. Married to navchaa!
Edith Alpha Doyle, social climber with grand ambitions; Correspondent who would be happy to assist you in whatever way she can.
, teenage orphan who came to the Neath to pursue a career in crime; monster-hunter. Currently on the Seeking road.
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Catherine Raymond
Posts: 2518
6/7/2017
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It would be interesting if the Clay Men were a Faction you could choose to seek Renown among and be Closest To. Yes, the Clay Folk are no more than unpaid labour for most people, and have no power. But the Urchins aren't part of the power structure either, and yet they are a Faction. It strikes me as a curious omission; I wonder if it will be changed sometime.
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Cathy Raymond
http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/cathyr19355
Catherine Raymond aka Mrs. Rykar Malkus http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/Catherine%20Raymond (Gone NORTH)
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Anne Auclair
Posts: 2215
6/7/2017
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Catherine Raymond wrote:
It would be interesting if the Clay Men were a Faction you could choose to seek Renown among and be Closest To. Yes, the Clay Folk are no more than unpaid labour for most people, and have no power. But the Urchins aren't part of the power structure either, and yet they are a Faction. It strikes me as a curious omission; I wonder if it will be changed sometime.
The Urchins are very much a part of the power structure - there are quite a number of former Urchins amongst the Criminals, the Zailors and the Foreign Office. Their little Chimney Pot War pretty much shut down London for its duration and my decision led to the Fisher-Kings taking up residence on the Bazaar! The Urchins are the chosen beneficiaries of a mad god who lives in the roof and which showers them with glim, prophecies, and disturbing shrieks. At their great feasts the Urchins make sacrifices to the Vake and so have some sort of relationship with it. The Knotted Sock may possess the physical embodiment of the King of a Hundred Heart's curiosity. Oh, and the Regiment has a cannon.
The Clay Men have nothing on the Urchins.
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Anne%20Auclair
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