• Virginia plans to use the office of Mayor to conduct experiments on her constituents' souls, making them better suited for whatever purpose she has in mind for them.
• Mrs Plenty's position is roughly the opposite of that of the Contrarian in his first run - she wants to reduce the average Londoner's involvement in public affairs, as well as adopting an isolationist stance.
• Shoshana, in whatever researches she uses to generate her prophecies, has happened across the Masters' plans for London, and is trying to piece together a way to save the city from what information she has available to her.
  

'The Rose belongs to the glacial group of signs,' says Madame Shoshana. 'You are intuitive, and feel empathy for all unfortunates.'

'The Rose belongs to the glacial group of signs,' says Madame Shoshana. 'You are intuitive and insightful.'

'The Lady belongs to the igneous group of signs,' says Madame Shoshana. 'You have a tendency towards impulsiveness, which you should curb.'

'The Lady belongs to the igneous group of signs,' says Madame Shoshana. 'You are often the most charming person in the room.'

'The Spider belongs to the glacial group of signs,' says Madame Shoshana. 'You embrace the life of the mind, I think. Always be respectful towards match-sellers and penny-dreadful pedlars.'

'The Spider belongs to the glacial group of signs,' says Madame Shoshana. 'You are often rather emotional. Perhaps even hysterical. The colour of mould that grows behind wardrobes is comforting to you.'

'The Lantern belongs to the igneous group of signs,' says Madame Shoshana. 'You are creative. And you have passion for your craft.'

'The Lantern belongs to the igneous group of signs,' says Madame Shoshana. 'You are excessively creative.'

'The Cat belongs to the igneous group of signs,' says Madame Shoshana. 'You have a rather artistic bent, have you not?'

The Cat belongs to the igneous group of signs,' says Madame Shoshana. 'You are sometimes overly idealistic. This is a good thing.'

Mrs Plenty is the surest bet. Not the wisest. But the surest.

'The Shepherd belongs to the speleothemic group of signs,' says Madame Shoshana. 'You are ruled by logic, I think.'

'The Shepherd belongs to the speleothemic group of signs,' says Madame Shoshana. 'You are extremely articulate.'

Siankan wrote:

Traits that make a good option better can make a bad option worse. A lot of people backed Adolph Hitler because he had great political potential and a way with words.

And the Godwin prize goes to...!

Not to mention that she's Hell's representative if you try to sell the Nadir's location - going through sets you Closest To Hell, and her answer is "We'll find a use for it". I think her affiliations are crytal-clear.

• The most sexy-badass candidate always wins. The one most likely to be seen in, like, a black leather corset, with a gun-sword in each hand.
• The outcome depends on what year it is, in the conventional calendar format. Take the final digit of the year. If that digit is even, then the candidate that I, personally, support, will win handily. If it's odd, they'll get roundly thrashed.
  

Here we go again, can we have a thread for just mechanical stuff? And not endless debating? It becomes difficult to find news about the event or anything when the threads are all full of in-character political debate.

I make the claim that Virginia, while still a devil at heart, is not necessarily supported by the Brass Embassy (evidence is in the Flash Lay and from questioning her motives), and that her policies are the most likely to improve the lives of Londoners.

Now this is wordplay. A benefit which is given only to hasten one's downfall is not truly a benefit. No calf would be jealous of the steer on full feed, if he knew that it is a sign the steer is destined for slaughter. No one is likely to wish himself to be a pochteca's "bathed slave," even though he be pampered and feted before he is sacrificed and eaten. To divorce a minor benefit from harmful intention is disingenuous.

Frankly, the entire Virginia argument seems to me to say that the means justify the end: who cares about the endgame, the long-term consequences, so long as we have peace and comfort now? That is a dangerous line of reasoning for any body politic.

MrCandles wrote:

Just vote to Virginia. For lulz.

This man has the right idea. The only thing that disappointed me about Feducci's mayorship is how dull it ended up being, so Plenty's definitely alienating me from the get-go with how unambitious her pitch is.

Just vote to Virginia. For lulz.

the problem is that she isn't even from london, she's from hell. Anything she does will be about the devils, not londoners. She is probably doing this just so she can use her status as mayor of london to get more advancement within the intenal politics of the brass embassy.

...I think Mrs. Plenty is the strongest and most reliable character of the three. She still has my vote.

Besides, what does it matter what her motives are? She wants to better our health; does it matter why?

But all that I'm seeing is a tired old woman who wants to sit idly by and make a little more money.

Siankan wrote:

This is equivalent to saying, "What does it matter that he's a jerk, if he's buying me a drink?" Well, considering the things one could put into a drink, or the way one could buy you enough drinks to, let us say, blunt the edge of one's perception, or the fact that such a move can be the opening gambit in a confidence scheme, I think it matters very much. So here. Virginia's promise to be "good for the soul" is trustworthy only so much as she herself is trustworthy. Otherwise, you're very likely to get more (and less) than you bargained for.

That is a false equivalency. It's closer to saying "What does it matter if she's a jerk, if she's willing to pay my medical expenses?" A drink is cheap, and could contain anything; better healthcare is valuable, and I can't see any way to tamper with it.

Someone will have to fact-check this one for me: what determines the value of a soul? My understanding is that it's basically intelligence and richness of life. But is it possible to artificially increase the value of a soul, without doing any good to the owner? I suspect the answer is "no, that's not possible," but I only know so much about this.

You are a kung-fu master of the false equivalency fallacy.

Carillon? I'm not familiar. Is that one of the former mayoral candidates?

It's certainly one hypothesis that a life of thorough and complete misery is a way to augment your soul. But it's only a hypothesis, and assuming it's accurate, is that the only way? Could not a soul be made more brilliant by living a wondrous, charmed life?

If Virginia takes to subjecting all of London to horrendous atrocities in the name of changing our souls, I should think she'd be on the fast track to impeachment. And if there's another way to get what she wants, besides atrocities, I expect she'd choose the subtler, less harmful route.

I must say: Virginia tries hard to be tempting - an academic, supposedly ousted from the embassy, with church support no less but... come on. She is a Deviless. I mean, if her core promise had to do with knowledge, something related to Benthic, she could be half-believable, but Public Health? So they are not after our souls only, they mean to interfere in our bodies, too? Mercy.

Heh, I feel this is the Princess all over again.
Charming candidate with a palatable platform that would be fine to support... if it came from a different candidate.

On the other hand, the DTC came up with an agenda to help the disenfranchised, the clay men, the rubberies, the have-nots, but everyone focused on how boring she was instead.
So why not say it how it is? Virginia, a Devil and a Killer, runs for election and she managed to come up with an inoffensive platform. Good for her.
Still a Devil and an agent of Hell though.

Azothi wrote:

There are many reasons to be suspicious - Hell ought to want higher quality souls, after all - but given the information we have Virginia's motivations are made pretty clear, in my opinion, and it's not in direct alignment with Hell.

Except that Hell is very interested in souls, the Forgotten Quarter, and the Correspondence, and so Virginia's interest in all these are in direct alignment with Hell. So, the available evidence is that she is 100% Hell's agent, pursuing Hell's interests.

Her platform of public health, investment in infrastructure, and strengthening of London both mentally and physically is, in my opinion, the most reasonable, well-developed, and beneficial plan. This is precisely why my character supported the Dauntless Temperance Campaigner in 1895. Damning Virginia because of her association with Hell just doesn't make sense to me.

Soshana's predictions seem to be hogwash most of the times, but the disaster she is predicting is absolutely on point - not saying more until everyone has had the opportunity to play the card, of course!

Just a clarification: Ms Plenty offers 'a moment's peace.' She acknowledges that you cannot ask for more; she doesn't promise security, or stability or something like that, just a brief respite from shenanigans.

I mean, this is quite the unique campaign promise, isn't it?

Jolanda Swan wrote:

In the elections she was girly, and didn't know what doors do.

There's an alternative theory that she knew she was covering up the main exits with very flammable posters and didn't care.

Just vote to Virginia. For lulz.

I've never made any pretense of voting for the candidate I like, regardless of morality. Yes she's a Devil, a killer, and someone who tried to kill me many, many expeditions ago before I became elligible for the expeditions that are apparently too hard for her. You know what that tells me? That she's got great potential as a politician. I mean, she did all that AND talked all those Temperance ladies into backing her! If that's not a way with words I don't know what is!

You mount a podium in the Square of Lofty Words, carrying armfuls of homemade placards. You shout the truth until you are blue in the face. Namely, that Virginia is a devil. A devil who is promising to look after people's souls. What is wrong with everybody?

This is wordplay, a rhetorical tactic. Being killed is not in their best interests. Being fed and kept healthy, as you said, improves their standard of living. A turkey can be fattened without being killed; consider how pets can be fattened out of pampering. Likewise, a turkey can be killed without being fattened. The analogy misdirects our attention to imply that the fattening is not in the best interest of the turkey when it's the killing that is not.

And, in the context of Christmas or Thanksgiving, as horrible as it is, the turkey is condemned to die by society.

In the absence of a social safety net (which no candidate is offering), that's about as good as we can make it.

Hmm, are we too early? Can't seem to find the card or option to advance our career or thrown in with one of the candidates.

To be honest I don't find any candidates very appealing as in terms of worthy of having my support. Virginia is a devil that pretty much are universally evil, Mrs plenty I don't even recall her character and meeting her, either I forgot or I didn't but I don't get good vibe form her and Soshana as far didn't demonstrate anything of substance regarding disaster, nor I have any evidence her visions are reliable. I will probably sit those elections out, it's not like mayor changes anything, beside perhaps few extra pieces of dialogue, I've sided with contrarian last election and he didn't really seem to achieve anything of importance and from what I know same is true for other candidates. So elections are only fun if you're interested in extra piece of lore and some reward.

"She sees cities a aflame and falling to dust. She sees tides of larce. She sees the french falling in. She sees Berlin and Vienna, St Petersburg"

Severinus wrote:

Maybe it's a stupid question but are the opportunity cards for the candidates supposed to be this rare? Or is something wrong. [...]

Mrs Plenty's card occurs with Standard Frequency with only one condition (A Participant in the 1897 Election), the combination making it (and presumably the other two Candidate Cards) passably uncommon. If you've only seen one card once you're definitely unlucky, but not outside the realm of possibility. I've seen each card a few times, but am similarly swamped in Reputation and unable to ask a few more questions.


A pleasant addition to the Election would be an option where one could cash in a few Reputation to force-draw a Candidate Card. It feels thematically reasonable, and even as low as 2 Reputation makes it unprofitable (and I'd probably toss away 5 Reputation a few times to get the last bits of gossip).

It's interesting to me that nobody can find any points against Virginia, other then "she is a devil."

[Re Mrs Plenty] all that I'm seeing is a tired old woman who wants to sit idly by and make a little more money.

... Madame Shoshana['s] ... platform is built out of her fraudulent divinations, and an ill omen that can only be averted by her election. I see no merit in her whatsoever, as an elected official.

The change seemed odd but at least we were spared the Princess as mayor.

Just FYI my spreadsheet of the election options is complete up to the end of the first week but I've only got the Shoshana choices for week two. If anyone has the journal entries for the other candidates I'd appreciate them

JdP's Election Investigations

RL has been (unfairly) competing for my time so please let me know if there's anything I've missed.

...you know what, I haven't seen a single offer either of bribery or of offer to *accept* a bribe yet.

In the spirit of previous elections, and since I have now got the rubbery gloves I craved, does anyone want to make me an offer?