slickriptide
Posts: 97
6/13/2017
|
While googling, I came across an old thread on the Steam discussion forums regarding said Labyrinth that devolved into a bit of a kerfluffle about the etymology and correct usage of the words "maze" and "labyrinth".
I won't raise that thread from the dead here; what small purpose it had was served long before the last posting to it.
I'll note two things about the Labyrinth:
1) The Storm's Eye view of the Unterzee suggests that the Labyrinth is, indeed, a labyrinth and not a maze.
2) While the unicursal or multicursal nature of the place may be occasion for a certain measure of academic debate (the vigor of which, no doubt, tends to be directly proportional to the amount of amanita sherry in the room), from the somewhat more pragmatic viewpoint of the Explorer entering the place, the most vital aspect of it is, in fact - the eels.
'...until the sixth candle was extinguished. Now we all watched the flame as it stood up, as it were on tip-toe, taller and bluer each heart-beat. Its light grew brighter in the moments before it failed, so that I saw the faces of all my companions, drawn and white as if we were already dead. Then the candle-flame drew itself up like a dancer and was extinguished: dark fell upon us all like a wave, and I heard the hatchlings uncoil - '
This is a closely cropped image of the Labyrinth, in the interests of minimizing bandwidth. It's actually a chain of four islands, each having a greater or lesser amount of the eerie green lights on them.
Some questions pose themselves.
1) What are those lights? Are they individual "lamps" or is the rock literally glowing? (It looks like lamps but the idea of phosphorescent rock is more interesting.)
2) What is the history of the Labyrinth? If there's no reference to it in Fallen London, what do you *imagine* it's history to be?
3) What would you expect to find there if you were sailing by and noticed a port circle had appeared near the entrance?
4) Why on earth do Fallen Londoners rely on candles? Even if Foxfire candles are some sort of special candle? If they have natural gas for lighting and warmth, surely Mr. Fires or Mr. Iron has the resources and technology to distill kerosene for lanterns?
--
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Slickriptide
|
|
|
0
link
|
slickriptide
Posts: 97
6/15/2017
|
Machallan wrote:
Just out of curiosity, are you actually planning to add a port there?
Well, one has to start somewhere and it seemed safest to start somewhere away from established shipping routes. :-p
Initially, simply as an experiment in building a port from scratch.
Ideally, it will be a launching point for what I'm setting as an informal modding goal - The addition of a new Ambition: Things Man Was Not Meant To Know. Sort of an extension of the Natural Philosopher origin story, with the goal becoming an Alarming Scholar oneself, in a sense.
I had originally seen exploring the Labyrinth as an Indiana Jones type of adventure, but after quite a bit of thought and a re-read of _The Shadow Over Innsmouth_ I came more around to the sort of ideas that you are suggesting. Ideally, a captain who conquers the Labyrinth will find himself embarking on the opening stages of an odyssey of sorts.
The Neath is an odd dichotomy from a story standpoint. On the one hand, it's a place where Reality is bendy and strange Nameless Things exist just out of sight (or, in the case of Hell, just up the river from town). On the other hand, Fallen London has this substantial back story that any story consistent with the setting has to take into account; yet Sunless Sea hides most of that backstory so thoroughly that a casual player will never encounter it and London itself is just a figurative "truck stop" where you refuel and grab a plate of pancakes for the road.
Only the most determined Sunless Sea player will experience all of the possible outcomes of the various story decisions open to the captains plying the dark waters of the Unterzee.
So, basically, it's a magical place of wonder and lost civilizations, but there are rules behind everything that exists and the rules are themselves mostly hidden from casual examination. You can't just make up your own magic, rules, and people without having a similarly thorough explanation for how it all fits consistently into the greater setting.
Then there's the question of rewards. Sunless Sea is dreadfully short on ways to reward players for taking the time to experience a mod that's about expanding the story of the game rather than making the player invincible or his ship into a speedboat. Writing a compelling story that rewards the player by leading to even more compelling stories requires, well, that the author be a compelling writer. ;-)
Finally, there's what Alexis Kennedy described in an interview as something his co-founder at Failbetter called a "cigarette break moment". That is, a decision that causes you to stop what you're doing and indulge in a cigarette or coffee or donut or something while you mull over the ramifications of the choice before you.
Mechanically, creating a storylet with a few choices that finally gives you some Echoes or a Cache of Curiosities at the end, isn't too difficult. Making it something that the player is going to tell his friends, "Hey, you should try this!" is something else again.
Still - the initial goal IS simply to create a new port with some interactions, a climax, and a modest reward. Once that's all done successfully, then I'll see about where that leads.
--
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Slickriptide
|
|
|
+4
link
|
Anchovies
Posts: 421
6/14/2017
|
This is the Neath we're talking about. Wax is in... plentiful supply, shall we say. Importing the wicks may well be the most expensive part of candle-making, unless cotton's been replaced with some material which can be produced in the Neath. As long as the Wax-Wind's residue can be melted, vaporized, and then burned, it could used in place of paraffin as a candle fuel.
Candles store their fuel in solid form, which makes for a very compact and portable fuel unit. They're also clean-burning and produce virtually no material waste. Oil and gas require metal containers, which would have to be transported or discarded when empty, at significant expense in either case. Non-solid fuels can also leak from their containers, contaminating other supplies, poisoning nearby air and water, or turning campsites into death-traps set off by a stray match or spark. Waxes are also insoluble in water, so the damp of the Neath wouldn't much impede their use.
The waxes available in the Neath may also burn much brighter or longer than surface candles. That wouldn't excuse the fact that people in the Neath seem to hold the candles in hand rather than sticking them in glass-walled lanterns, but it would make them more viable in terms of raw illumination.
Foxfire candles, with their distinctive green wax and flame, are especially common, so I decided to investigate those. After some basic research, I'm fairly confident that the colors are due to minute amounts copper (II) sulfate mixed into the wax prior to molding. The mineral burns green and is a bold blue color which, in the right concentration, could turn a tan or yellow wax to a shade of pale green.
--
Perhaps our role on this planet is not to worship God — but to create Him.
—Sir Arthur C Clarke
Lionel Anchovies. Character on indefinite hiatus.
|
|
|
+1
link
|