Greg M
Posts: 197
1/18/2018
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I didn't see this thread in the salons (at least dating back the first 5 pages of topics), so I'm starting one--apologies if there's overlap.
Fallen London is an obsessively, gloriously literary work. What are your favorite references in Fallen London?
Mine (so far):
• Attending to the Needs of a Singular Plant is straight-up Little Shop of Horrors
• Playing chess with the Boatman = Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal
• Plagued by a Popular Song and what it does to a type of thing you own may be my all-time favorite so far.
I'm sure there are dozens more I'd love that I didn't catch.
I suspect that Alexis and co. are familiar with Mark Z. Danielewski's novel House of Leaves, but have no in-game text to back this up (yet).
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Plynkes
Posts: 631
1/18/2018
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Well, it isn't a literary reference, but "It's a fair collar, and no mistake, but society is to blame" is a slightly-modified line from Monty Python, and that made me chuckle when I read it.
The Revolutionaries seem based on the anarchists from G.K. Chesteron's "The Man Who Was Thursday." In that work they are named after days of the week, whereas here they are months of the year.
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"Then tell Wind and Fire where to stop, but don't tell me."
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dov
Posts: 2580
1/18/2018
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"What is the Vake?
They say it's not a monster at all. It's a man who dresses up as a bat. To, ah, prowl the city by night. But that would just be stupid."
-- from the sidebar snippets
(If you echo this to your journal, you get: "A man who dresses up as a bat? Who ever heard of such a thing?")
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Reused NPC
Posts: 259
1/18/2018
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From The Devil's Parrot:
This parrot... is no longer alive.
It is no more! It has ceased to be! It has met its maker and joined the choir invisible! And so on.
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ReusedNPC, a d__ned lunatic.
Edmund Viric, a rather dreamy sort.
"I won't stay long, I shan't stay long! Tell me a secret."
--the Baldomerian
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Siankan
Posts: 1048
1/18/2018
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The five sections of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land are "The Burial of the Dead," "A Game of Chess," "The Fire Sermon," "Death by Water," and "What the Thunder Said"--which nicely covers five of the six standard dream qualities, as well as making the whole thing seem much more depressing.
(This makes me wonder: Is April the cruellest Month? I've never played the right ambition to know, though I wouldn't put it past the writers.)
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Prof. Sian Kan, at your service.
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Siankan
Posts: 1048
1/18/2018
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Two more important literary allusions, while we're at it:
"All shall be well, etc." is from the Showings of Julian of Norwich. (It also, incidentally, was quoted in Eliot's Little Gidding, which may have influenced its appearance here.)
The Cumaean Canal is an adaptation of Book VI of the Aeneid, which has been nicely reinforced by a different Sibylline legend in the most recently ES.
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Prof. Sian Kan, at your service.
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Rasvarmo
Posts: 54
1/18/2018
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I believe the Honey-Addled Detective is a more melancholy allusion to Sherlock Holmes.
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Barse
Posts: 706
1/18/2018
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I always get a bit sad when I see the "DONE BECAUSE WE ARE TOO MENNY" Surprise Package result - it's a reference to Jude the Obscure, and a pretty heartbreaking part at that.
The Final Curtain had a load of fun nods to pieces of drama too, although I don't recall them off the top of my head.
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 The Scorched Sailor, up for most social actions and RP. Not as scary as he looks.
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Bitty
Posts: 234
1/18/2018
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I'm a big Jack Vance fan so every reference to a Vance work makes me happy
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Greg M
Posts: 197
1/19/2018
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These are all great! I just marked this as "Accepted answer" and it turned a horrible shade of green, so I'm...going to avoid that in the future. But I love all of them.
Plynkes wrote:
Well, it isn't a literary reference, but "It's a fair collar, and no mistake, but society is to blame" is a slightly-modified line from Monty Python, and that made me chuckle when I read it.
The Revolutionaries seem based on the anarchists from G.K. Chesteron's "The Man Who Was Thursday." In that work they are named after days of the week, whereas here they are months of the year.
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Plynkes
Posts: 631
1/19/2018
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Yeah, that green is rancid, isn't it? 
My favourite aspect of "The Man Who Was Thursday" is the fact that it turns out that the central council of the anarchists is actually being run by undercover secret policemen who have infiltrated the organisation. I sometimes wonder if our own Calendar Council is the same, and that the whole business isn't just some bizarre joke of the Masters?
My interactions with them have been fleeting, and I have a terrible time remembering all the FL lore anyway, so I have no evidence for this idea, it's just idle fancy on my part.
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"Then tell Wind and Fire where to stop, but don't tell me."
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phryne
Posts: 1347
1/19/2018
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Surprised no one has mentioned the (admittedly tiny) Blade Runner reference yet...
GregM wrote:
I just marked this as "Accepted answer" and it turned a horrible shade of green, so I'm...going to avoid that in the future. There's a fix for that.
edited by phryne on 1/19/2018
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Accounts: Bag a Legend • Light Fingers • Heart's Desire • Nemesis • no ambition
Exceptional Stories, sorted by Season and by writer ― Favours & Renown Guide
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Greg M
Posts: 197
1/20/2018
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@Siankan: I can't get over the TS Eliot. Marvelous.
@Dov: Totally should've listed Batman...
@Plynkes: And the first Monty Python ref, though I have yet to encounter the Dead Parrot.
@Rasvarmo: I suspect it is. But where's Watson? (I also am 99% sure--though I don't know if Alexis has confirmed it--that FL may be inspired by Neil Gaiman's wonderful and disturbing stab at a Sherlock Holmes story, "A Study in Emerald."
@Bitty: I just got the Jack Vance card, and with it an object I will never sell.
@Barse: Ooh, that's a deep cut. Good catch.
@phryne: Oh wow. I look forward to the swans! (It looks like I personally can fix the way the green looks, but I'd prefer to fix it for *everyone*...sigh...)
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dov
Posts: 2580
1/20/2018
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Greg M wrote:
@Bitty: I just got the Jack Vance card, and with it an object I will never sell.
If you do sell it (12.5 E), then you'll be able to draw the card again (though it is Rare).
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vinceren
Posts: 53
1/20/2018
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I personally let out a delighted little chuckle at the Morelways 1872 description; a lot of item descriptions are hiding really fun little tidbits.
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Vindicta, Midnighter, Dueling a Nemesis.
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Venitor, Rat-Catcher, Hunting a Legend.
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Siankan
Posts: 1048
1/20/2018
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Greg M wrote:
@Rasvarmo: I suspect it is. But where's Watson?
I don't think there's any real doubt on this one, though as you point out, he's Watsonless down here.
Regarding the Gaiman story, I can't say anything authoritative about Alexis's possible inspirations, but I can say that there was a mention once of the Square of Lofty Words predating the decision to set the game in Victorian London; you could say, I suppose, that the Echo Bazaar predated the Fifth City. (It's only appropriate.) This means that Shadows over Baker Street, weirdly appropriate as it may be, is highly unlikely as an original source.
Also, while I can't say the writers don't occasionally trade on Lovecraftian expectations, I think they play with and cheat them more than they're fulfilled. There are indeed strange cosmic beings and abundant opportunities for madness abounding in Fallen London, but they are very different from what one might expect from poking around a certain New England university. No tentacles, for one thing (though I admit there is one who wears yellow, in a sense).
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Prof. Sian Kan, at your service.
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Cosmo Beck
Posts: 33
1/21/2018
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Siankan wrote:
The five sections of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land are "The Burial of the Dead," "A Game of Chess," "The Fire Sermon," "Death by Water," and "What the Thunder Said"--which nicely covers five of the six standard dream qualities, as well as making the whole thing seem much more depressing. Another interesting detail about The Waste Land connection is that one potential interpretation is that it is a version of the old legend of the Fisher King, which, of course, is referenced by the name of our favourite urchin gang.
Speaking of Neil Gaiman, I can't believe nobody's mentioned Neverwhere, or maybe someone has and I've just missed it.
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Siankan
Posts: 1048
1/21/2018
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The Cosmopolitan wrote:
Another interesting detail about The Waste Land connection is that one potential interpretation is that it is a version of the old legend of the Fisher King, which, of course, is referenced by the name of our favourite urchin gang.
Good reminder. Whether mediated by Eliot or not, the Fisher Kings are certainly a pretty bald reference, so chalk one up for the Matter of Britain (well say Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, though you can't really say, "yes, definitely this version!"). Now as you mention it, there are other Arthurian references tickling my brain, but I can't remember what they were or where they were found. Anyone have a better memory than I do right now?
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Prof. Sian Kan, at your service.
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dov
Posts: 2580
1/21/2018
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The Cosmopolitan wrote:
Speaking of Neil Gaiman, I can't believe nobody's mentioned Neverwhere, or maybe someone has and I've just missed it.
Is there a reference to Neverwhere in Fallen London? If so, I've missed it.
(other than the general similarity of some of the setting, but it's a stretch to say one is a reference to the other)
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Optimatum
Posts: 3666
1/22/2018
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Siankan wrote:
Now as you mention it, there are other Arthurian references tickling my brain, but I can't remember what they were or where they were found. Anyone have a better memory than I do right now?
There's a whole load of allusions in SMEN, with Arthur, Gawain, Carbonek, and a bunch of others currently evading my memory.
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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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