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placid saviour posted:So at what point will I get any of this you guys? I mean, it's very simple, as any student of Histories knows, 
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Jun 14, 2019 01:57
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Page 80 Success! Last night, I passed the Stag Door's threshold, and I sense that I too have passed a threshold of sorts, and become something more.  I found myself drawn to the river beyond the door of the Mansus. The sight was majestic, something I could never adequately put into words. I remember in my youth my father took me to an art gallery in Grafton that was exhibiting post-impressionist paintings. In my dream, the rolling, painted seas put me in mind of the swirling skies and unnaturally coloured landscapes I had seen so long ago.   I had faintly hoped to make a start on my commissions on the train home yesterday, but the excitement of the heist and the anticipation of the dream rather took me away from all that. Still, if I am to make a living of writing I must find the time, so today I collected my notes on the Parables and assembled them into something resembling a coherent point.  On my way to the Review's office, I dropped off for auction the copy of Guildersleeve's we obtained from Gwaer Inn. I'll collect the meagre coin it should fetch on my return journey.    For my trouble, Olympe gave me a silver coin instead of the previous iron token. I'm not presently tight for money so I will hold on to this, but it should sell quite handsomely in future.  The auctioneer was positively beaming with pleasure when I arrived back, a fact I found...concerning. He relayed the story of the excitement of the crowd as my item was up for bids.  Apparently, this particular copy of Guildersleeves was a lost, numbered first edition, and fetched a much better price than he had estimated for me at time of sale. I'm worried now, and I feel very foolish. Could this connect me to the matter at Gwaer Inn?  Page 80+i  Once again I pass the door. Tonight the door was crying, and briefly I considered stopping to chat. But only briefly. I made my way down to the river where I had seen the ship last night, and was surprised to find it docked. I was brought on board, and the captain introduced herself in a lilting accent of greenish blue. She was always pleased to see a new face in the Mansus, and promised I would always be welcome aboard her vessel. As we sailed downwind to the enveloping clouds, I pondered how an eternity in a place such as this could be mistaken for heaven. Page 81  I feel much refreshed this morning, sharper and more alert. I'm grateful for a restful sleep, and I'm calmer to the danger of events yesterday. Whatever happens, I will find a solution.   Given that I now have a text in Fucine, it seemed prudent now to devote the time necessary to decipher the journal of Alessandro LaCroce. I could hardly consider myself conversant in the language after reading this work, but it may give me sufficient grounding to make sense of the text we acquired.   The inn seemed to have a connection to the Hours of Heart, so I suppose it is only natural that a work such as this would be among its treasures.    For my efforts, I have discovered a new rite I could use in some future ritual, though this one requires particular occult ingredients that at present I have not found.  I do intend to change this, however. The secrets which allowed me to pass the Stag Door may have more earthly purposes. The Secret Histories seem to have a particular interest in both queens and rivers, so naturally one's mind wanders to Rivers upon which great queens have dwelt. The Thames of course is one, but there are grander rivers. Having made a cursory study of my notes from the dream, I believe our next clues lie in Vienna. Page 82 Dear Diary, I'm looking at my watch right now as I write this. It has been an eventful eighteen hours since I last wrote, and I have slept for exactly none of them.  Shortly after my last entry, Neville and Cat arrived with troubling news. Elridge had been brought in for questioning by the police. Of course, at the time we knew no more than that, so we could not do much more than speculate. We halfheartedly mused that perhaps he was guilty of some other crime, but deep down we knew the truth: The police are connecting us to Gwaer Inn.  I refuse to be stopped at this juncture. I will not lose immortality to a half-interested detective. I began packing my notes and books, and sent for Enid, Victor and Auclair to join us. Meanwhile, I began frantically packing up my notes.  When they returned, I laid out what would need to be done. Enid, Neville, Cat and I would be on the first train to Dover, for the ferry to Calais. Auclair would get Victor and Elridge (if he is released) and travel separately to meet us in Paris. I wrote letters to Valciane and Clifton. To Valciance, an apology for the abrupt departure, but a promise to continue correspondence by post on any new knowledge gained. I enclosed the Silver Spintria, and asked her to arrange for its sale and to forward the proceeds to me when I write with an address. To Clifton, a similar apology, but I have left him in charge of the Mirror's affairs while I am gone. And so I find myself writing in my diary in a cafe in Paris, hoping to see Auclair walk through the door. I do hope I get the chance to return home some day, but somehow I have a feeling I shan't be returning to London until I'm ready to complete my work. Page 82+i  Tonight, I sailed the river once more with the ship captain and her crew. I told her of the reason for my absence the night before, my flight from the Thames to the Seine, and my upcoming departure for the Danube. She told me she knew something of the history of those storied streams, and we took a rowboat to the edge of the chamber. There, the frescoes whispered to me their secrets, in shades of fuchsia and white.  Page 83   Vienna, at last. Our companions arrived yesterday evening, and since early this morning we have spent most of our time on trains. I briefly considered the Orient Express before ruling it out as being too high profile. Elridge was released with strict instructions not to leave London--which, of course, he breached immediately--and I am taking no chances until we're safely in Austria and out of reach of an extradition request. Instead we have been taking slower local trains, changing from place to place as we wound our way inexorably towards the White City.  I took some time practising my German speaking to other passengers, and as we crawled closer and closer to Vienna, some details of our destination began to emerge.  However, I must be careful in what I risk here. I am a foreigner in these lands, and attracting attention may get me deported, extradition treaties or no. So I am resolved first to look into the secrets I learned last night, in case they provide a more tempting prospect with a little more deniability than a top-floor flat in the Theatre District of Vienna.   While my companions investigate those leads, I am finally getting around to the necessary work for Dr al-Adim's commission. As mentioned before, such a commission requires some research as I do not have to hand the facts I need to complete it adequately.  However, working with my notes on Lantern Lore, I have some duplicated information from differing sources which I can cross reference to give some of the wilder rumours of those works some degree of credibility.  I have a feeling more and more of this will be needed as time goes on. Page 84 Success on two fronts today.   First, I completed the work necessary to deepen my knowledge of Lantern enough to complete my commission, which I have duly completed alongside my research. I packed up the copied notes and arranged for their post back to Dr al-Adim in London.   And second, We have a new potential destination. A university in rural Roumania, which may hold secrets far more valuable than the prospects here in Vienna. Though we have not been here long, I have resolved for us to continue onward to Cluj in a day or two. For now, however, I have suggested we all take a few days to ourselves so wind down a little after our dramatic flight from London.  I took time this evening to have dinner with Cat. I was too nervous in Paris for us to really relax, but here in the city of splendour I can let my hair down. We sat on a restaurant's balcony overlooking the Danube as little boats went to and fro, and I shared my experiences of the Painted River. We walked through the city streets arm in arm, and as the sun disappeared behind the museums, I turned and kissed her cheek. I wish you could come with me.
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Jun 16, 2019 20:50
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Mechanics Update 10 Bit of a short update, from a mechanical viewpoint. Let's get started. Our first secret language, Fucine. Aside from being more esoteric than our known languages of Greek and Latin, there's nothing particularly special about it mechancially. Higher-level books are almost always written in one of the secret languages though, so the quicker we can learn them the better. We had the season of suspicion pop while we still had the notoriety from Gwaer Inn, and just one or two mystique. Bad luck, but it got snatched up, generating tentative evidence. As previously mentioned, if this happens again before the evidence expires, it will transform into damning evidence, which can then be used to put us or one of our cultists on trial (and if it's us and we lose the trial, game over). Here's the big new thing: Lore combinations. This is the first time we've done it, but it's definitely not the last. We need a sixth-magnitude Lantern lore to complete our patron's commission, but we don't have one. We could find a book which contains what we need, but thanks to books we've read previously, we have two fourth-magnitude Lanterns and can make them into one sixth.  Another way to combine lores is via subversion. You can study a particular lore with the lore that subverts it to combine them into a higher tier version of the subverting lore. For example, studying a fourth-magnitude Moth Lore and a fourth-magnitude Lantern Lore creates a Sixth-magnitude Lantern Lore. Here's my Tableau from around the time of this update, and on the top right you can see the lores presented in order of subversion. Heart becomes Grail, Grail becomes Moth, and so on through Lantern, Forge, Edge, and Winter. Winter wraps around and is subverted by Heart. This way I can remember that for any particular lore I want, I can either study two of the same lore, or one of my desired lore and one of the lore to its left. Secret histories can't be subverted, and Knock is special because it subverts all lores to Knock. Anyway, when we combine lores, we have to complete little challenges that the lores present. These being lantern lores, a knowledge challenge is always present, and can be bested by the addition of Erudition. Some challenges allow you to use your headquarters or your qualifications, which is why I'm levelling my skills up. If we had an HQ with a library we could use it here, but the Mithraeum is lacking in the book department, so it's erudition for us today. And from it, we gain a sixth level lore! Hooray. Later, we'll likely use this to assemble much higher level lores for the purposes of completing the end-game ritual. Speaking of rituals, we learned a new rite. This one takes a lore and a tool, and consumes an ingredient. This might be useful at some point, depending on what things we get from future vaults, but our only ingredient right now is our Spintria, and I still need those to eat. And although we came to Vienna for the Key Hunter's Garret, there's better things for us to find In the Land Beyond the Forest. This, I find, tends to be a common theme in my playthroughs, vaults on the Continent don't get much use because by the time you're drawing them you're not far from drawing the next tier, which has a lot of very nice treasures. I tend to find that I only do Continent vaults when they have something I really want. Also, I'm sure some people clocked this right away, but consider what "The Land Beyond the Forest" would be called in Latin. That's where we're going next. Next Time: "That's fine, I can drink enough wine for both of us"
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Jun 16, 2019 20:54
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Reveilled goes mad Update 2 Is The Key-Hunter's Garret a real place? It's difficult to say because the text for this one is extremely vague, a garret is just an attic flat, and "a flat in vienna" isn't much to go on. I don't think we'll explore the Key-Hunter's garret in this playthrough, so here is a link to it's entry on the wiki, which contains the text from its exploration (I won't do this for other places we don't explore, but I have a theory about this one I want to share). I can't see anything conclusive in this, but I did find this interesting: End Description posted:A single corner of fire-curled paper has survived the flames. In a shaky hand, it reads: 'Lady K. Green Chalcedony. Three-lobed. Spring leaves in fi -' But, unexpectedly,in a suitcase beside the flames, a little trove of books survives. Whoever destroyed the key-hunter's journals saw no need to burn these books. This is the only piece of information that I think can be used to connect the in-game location to somewhere, so from this I have two possible theories. Possibilty 1: The Key-Hunter's Garret is made up. The end desctiption here contains a list of random poo poo. Thanks to this tweet: https://twitter.com/alexiskennedy/status/1136291295390027776 it strikes me as entirely plausible that I'm dealing with a place that's totally made up and the clue is just another list of stuff from another desk of Alexis Kennedy. There's actually a little evidence in favour of this, there's a UK fashion company called Lady K Loves which specialises in vintage fashion, and a burleque clothes shop in Bedford called Lady K's, so an item from either source would fit the bill. Green Chalcedony is a stone, no surprise if it's on a desk. I'm not quite sure how Three-Lobed fits here but "Three-lobed Burning Eye" was a descriptor used for Nyarlathotep in the Haunter of the Dark, and was an online magazine that published horror and dark fantasy stories, either of which I could plausibly see Alexis Kennedy as being a fan of. And lastly Spring Leaves is, uh, maybe...a reference to this german band, maybe? All that's ultra tenuous, but the point here isn't really to establish that these are definitely the things on the list, only that it's entirely possible the things on the list are simply a random meaningless jumble. Which will make my next theory utterly insane if I'm just seeing things that aren't there. Possibility 2: The Key-Hunter's Garret references a real place. Yeah. So, first, a garret is an attic flat in early modern residential buildings, back when the poorest people used to live at the top of the buildings because of the stairs you'd have to climb. So we're looking for a Garret in Vienna. Well, I did find this place on the internet, a website for a Viennese art space called the "Garret Grimoire". So, here's my case for this to be the location--or perhaps it might be more accurate to say, inspiration--for the Key-Hunter's Garret.  This website has links to information about the museum's exhibitions. The first link is to the exhibit for the works of a Nora Kapfer. Our first exhibit could therefore fit the description of "Lady K", being a female artist whose name begins with K.  Our second link is to an exhibit called "Life is Life", which has the colour green as a clear running theme.  Further, there is one particular work that catches my eye, the three demons, the leftmost of which looks to be (but probably isn't) made of Green Chalcedony.  The artist for this piece is apparently Adam Shiu-Yang Shaw, and if you search on google images for his name you can find a few other pieces which are studies in the colour green, as well as an exhibit in London he was a part of which had a humanoid sculpture made out of a material that looks like (but probably isn't) Green Chalcedony. Now, at this point you maybe be thinking this is a massive, massive reach, and I did too. So an artist has a name that starts with K. Coincidence. There's lots of green in the second link? Tenuous, at best. Well, if it is connected, the third link should connect to being three lobed, right? The third link (BelongAnywhere) is a massive, massive list of pictures of weird art, and we scroll down finding nothing that could fit our predicted image until, eventually, this:  On the left, an ear, with lobe. On the right, an ear, with lobe. And then below that, another protrusion, hanging from the face, with an earring. Three lobes! Lastly, the fourth link on the list, the work of Sylvester Hegner:  Spring Leaves in Fire? All four of these, individually, are tenuous, but I think the fact they're exactly sequential on the site, and the museum is also in Vienna and called the Garret Grimoire makes me relatively sure this is the place. The museum, of course, did not exist as an art space in the period, but the building itself looks pre-war. Sadly, as far as I can tell the museum has not had an exhibit since 2016, and it seems as if it is in an actual residential building so it may be the owner sold it on. Still, if it does exist, and you find yourself in Vienna, you can visit the Key-Hunter's Garret at Mollardgasse 36.
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Jun 16, 2019 20:58
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Go Mad with Me Generous Goon Anticheese has very kindly offered a Cultist Simulator key to give away in the thread, so if you've been reading and have an interest in playing along without spending money, now's your chance! All you have to do is win a race to go mad.  Welcome to the St Agnes Hospital.  This is one of the locations in the city you can find by exploring with an occult scrap, just as we did to find the Mithraeum. It's also a potential HQ when cleared! Here's the text from when you do the expedition:   And here's the empty hospital card you get from completing it:  So how do you win a copy of Cultist Simulator? All you have to do is answer one simple question: In real life, who founded the cult that moved into St Agnes Hospital? Show your working. Like my own researches, you can get the answer with some clever googling. First person to post the right answer (with an explanation of how they got it) gets the key. If nobody gets it within a few days, or if someone who doesn't want the key gets the answer, I'll give it away at random instead. Happy Sleuthing!
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Jun 16, 2019 21:01
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Group behind St Agnes called Ascension is a nice touch.
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Jun 16, 2019 22:44
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Did some digging, found a lot of loose ends and one that might be good. Far as I can guess the possible key bits are [violet] or [violet chamber], [Ascension] and [St. Agnes]. There's a violet chambers charity in the UK which works out of hospitals, but as far as I can tell the founder was a volunteer nurse during the Second World War and wen ton to move to Canada where she died nearly 100 years old. No culty stuff in her life. There was an Anglican pastor at St. Matthias Church in Trinity-Bellwoods (a church in Canada) who embraced a very un-Anglican set of beliefs and practices which were very cult like, but all I have to connect him is that his wife was named Violet and this incident occurred in the 1960's, while the game is set in the late 1910's or 1920's. Finally I realized my mistake, forget the time setting, I needed to focus on the place setting. The UK seemed likely so I looked for a St. Agnes Hosptial in the UK. There wasn't one, but there is a King Edward VII's Hospital which was formerly known as King Edward VII's Hospital Sister Agnes. But King Eddy was a fairly boring monarch. But then I hit this article: https://larouchepub.com/eiw/public/1995/eirv22n13-19950324/eirv22n13-19950324_017-king_edward_vii_evil_demiurge_of.pdf It mostly talks about his mother, Queen Victoria's use of the occult to try and contact her late husband. But it also mentions something interesting about this guy:  Prince Albert Victor, eldest son of King Edward VII and heir to the throne (although he died before he could inherit). He is notable for the fact that a number of authors have tried to claim that he was Jack the Ripper or orchestrated the murders to cover up an illegitimate child he'd had. While all evidence proves this impossible, it is the kind of funny little history tidbit you might throw into a bit of lore. So, my final guess is: Prince Albert Victor, whose ritual murders were cult-oriented. Even if I guessed wrongly it's still the sort of blithering madness that'd fit.
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Jun 17, 2019 03:52
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Buller probably has the right of it, I think. Which is to say if i'm thinking what they're thinking. EDIT: Or I totally misread that since the group called Ascension supporting the hospital refers to the health organization. Oh well, makes the next part better anyway. Violet is the color of Ceremonial Magic in Theosophy, and also associated with the Ascended Master St. Germain, who a number of influential members in the Theosophist movement claimed to see around the 1920s and 30s. Given how the process of ascending the Mansus to a state beyond mortal ken seems analogous to the various initiations, would be on point for the game to have there be an actually mystic Theosophy cult. Also the fact that the initiation stages are named after relevant points in Jesus' life means it's thematically on point for them to be in a place named after a saint apart from the Ascension/Ascended Master link. There's a number of different people I could then say qualify as the founder of Theosophy, but it's probably safest to just go with Helena Blavatsky. Jossar fucked around with this message at 16:02 on Jun 18, 2019 |
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Jun 17, 2019 04:11
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additional side note on the Garret: it's also Alexis Kennedy dropping a reference to his previous work Sunless Sea veterans will remember the old gnarled thing in the darkness, that sent its agent to the Neath, in service of an agenda it did not share. and in the darkness beneath the world, its agent had sloughed off its past, and slipped its master's grip. the agent was man; the agent was messenger; the agent was dragon. the agent was slain, but did not die; the agent was answered, but did not call; the agent was remade, but was not changed. they flew North; they sailed East; they returned West. bring what you are to the depths of Frostfound, and you may remember, at the cost of leaving your own memories behind. but for at least one of them, the master was in Vienna, and for at least one of them, the master was called the White.
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Jun 17, 2019 04:51
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Similar to clayren but it could be Edward VII's mistress Alice Keppel as she had all sorts of rumors around her and had a daughter named violet.
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Jun 17, 2019 07:17
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Man why didn't I notice it's St. AGNES Hospital before. All that purple makes more sense now.
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Jun 17, 2019 07:30
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Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! posted:additional side note on the Garret: it's also Alexis Kennedy dropping a reference to his previous work I thought I was pretty familiar with Sea but you've got me puzzled. Who the hell was the White? I took the Adepts of the white from the Garrets description to be referencing Vienna getting eaten by worms and turned into a dead city in one of the histories.
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Jun 17, 2019 08:22
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I think White was the Judgment assigned to the 'Sun hosed A Crab' case
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Jun 17, 2019 08:34
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Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! posted:but for at least one of them, the master was in Vienna, and for at least one of them, the master was called the White. Both are ruthless spymasters whose reach extends into the Neath, but one drinks coffee in sunlit Viennese cafes, while the other plots to mass-lobotomize celestial pantheons in its palace of poisonous crystal.
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Jun 17, 2019 09:58
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So can we get a breakdown on what each of the things represent? I think I've got Lantern and White down, but the others are total mysteries to me.
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Jun 17, 2019 11:35
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Mileage may vary, but here's my understanding and/or beliefs: Lantern: Light, unflinching revelation, and to some extent the Mansus and the Sun that shines over it. Dominated by the Watchman, who is the Door-in-the-Eye. Forge: Transformation, fire, artifice, creation and destruction. Dominated, of course, by the Forge of Days. Edge: Violence, martial skill, betrayal. Once dominated by the Colonel, now challenged by the Lionsmith. Winter: Death, endings, and silence. Dominated by the Sun-in-Rags, and to a lesser extent the other children of the Intercalate. Heart: Unstoppable perseverance. Formerly dominated by the Sister-and-Witch / Witch-and-Sister, now arguably dominated, or at least very strongly challenged, by the Thunderskin. Grail: Hungers of all sorts, and their satiation. Dominated by the Red Grail. Moth: Chaos, secrets, nature. Dominated by the Moth. Knock: Openings, both literal and conceptual. Doors, wounds, portals, revelations. Dominated by the Mother of Ants. Miscellaneous footnotes: 1) 'Dominated' is a strong word, and I'm sure some would disagree with its use here. Forge of Days (the Hour) does, of course, have a strong claim to Forge (the Principle), but the Lionsmith also has Forge as an aspect, and it can be said that the Forge of Days also possesses the aspect of Lantern. But it's my belief that the Principles are the conceptual territory laid claim to by the strongest of the Hours, while others live in between, staking out concepts not quite strong enough to be a Principle but still strong enough to... sustain them? Justify them? Entertain them? 2) There's the equally valid argument that instead of Hours dominated Principles, perhaps Principles dominate some Hours entirely, whereas others escape being totally influenced by a single Principle. 3) It is my belief that Principles change, just as Hours do. Was Heart called Heart before the Heart Unceasing ascended as an Hour? Before the Sun-in-Rags, there was the Sun-in-Splendour, and at that time, would Winter have existed? Wouldn't Lantern have instead been called something like Sun or Summer? Before the Forge of Days, there was Flint. What Principle did they possess? Surely not Forge. An important question: do the Hours change when the Principles do, or do the Principles change when the Hours do? Or do both change in thrall to some third force? 4) Some claim that Principles have an... alignment, of sorts. Sometimes unkindness is said to be inherent to Lantern, or mercy to Winter. I've seen it argued that loyalty is as inherent to Edge as betrayal. Whether this is true, or anthropomorphism by human apostles, or based on the personality of the Hours closely aligned to them, or the cultural flotsam of historical cults dedicated to these powers, or moral judgements applied to beings and concepts above (or below) them, I don't know. 5) Don't get too hung up on strict delineations. Transformation may be of Forge, but followers of other Principles will still undergo changes should they begin their ascents. Hunger may be of Grail, but any Principle can be an object of obsession. Violence is of Edge, but anyone can use it as a means to an end. There is always overlap, bleed-through, and cross-contamination. 6) I've not delved into the most recent DLCs yet, so there might be pieces of the puzzle others have that I've not seen. 7) Finally, Secret Histories: Sort of a Principle. There are five pasts and only one future. Arguably all Hours have a claim to it, but the Vagabond seems to be the most occupied with the Histories. The Baldomerian, though not an Hour, is also connected to them, but I'm not sure if it's a mystical connection or more of a hobby. Tehan fucked around with this message at 14:08 on Jun 17, 2019 |
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Jun 17, 2019 12:35
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Deadmeat5150 posted:So can we get a breakdown on what each of the things represent? I think I've got Lantern and White down, but the others are total mysteries to me. Lantern: knowledge, knowledge as internal light, light so bright it bursts through and rips everything apart Forge: the fires of creation, both the craftsman building up and the arsonist pulling down Grail: sensation, feeling, tasting, hunger Heart: the incessant constant heartbeat of everything, driving to happiness and joy and dance and dance and dance and dance and gently caress you keep dancing Winter: silence, absence Moth: change, inconsistency, chaos, that place where you had something right in your head when you came into this room and goddammit what was it Edge: conflict Knock: opening, gateways, progression, cheat codes Secret Histories: a dozen omnipotent immortals fight each other across versions of the universe and timeline, and have the power to change not just how things are but how things were, and do so back and forth to their minor advantage and sometimes do a lovely job of cleaning up after the fact, which is why your mom occasionally slipped and called you by the dog’s name Edit: beaten by a much better write-up skeleton warrior fucked around with this message at 12:47 on Jun 17, 2019 |
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Jun 17, 2019 12:44
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Deadmeat5150 posted:So can we get a breakdown on what each of the things represent? I think I've got Lantern and White down, but the others are total mysteries to me. I think there's some wiggle room in interpretation of the Aspects but this is mine. Lantern is the aspect of truth without mercy, and of the Glory that shines above the Mansus. Its chief Hour is the Watchman, the only being to enter the Glory and return. Forge is the aspect of reshaping and flame. Its chief Hour is the Forge of Days. Edge is the aspect of conflict, combat and anger. Its major Hours, the Colonel and the Lionsmith, are in an endless battle for domination. Winter is the aspect of silence and death. Its Hours emerged from the death of the Sun-in-Splendour. Heart is the aspect of constancy, health, and rhythm. Its chief Hour, the Thunderskin, drums the heartbeat of the universe. Grail is the aspect of delight. Its chief Hour, the Red Grail, is something of a devil figure. Moth is the aspect of mysteries and yearning. A common Moth symbol is the shedding of skin, like a moth from a cocoon. Its chief Hour is, surprisingly, the Moth, though many Hours have strength in it. Knock is the aspect of openings and passages, but it is also associated with serpents. Its chief Hour, the Mother of Ants, was key in allowing humans into the Mansus. Secret Histories concerns the alternate pasts that share the one Mansus. There is debate on whether it's a true Aspect, but if so its only Hour is the Vagabond.
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Jun 17, 2019 12:46
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skeleton warrior posted:Edit: beaten by a much better write-up In this case I think the best write-up is multiple write-ups. The game peppers the player with a thousand glimpses via unreliable narrators, so only one person's opinion would give people the wrong idea.
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Jun 17, 2019 12:51
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Ghirbi's riddles: "Where can mercy be found?" Reveilled posted:
"Where is the Queen who was not born?" quote:
((I'll update this post with the other riddles when Reveilled shares the lores they match to))
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Jun 17, 2019 15:04
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kaosdrachen posted:Ghirbi's riddles: We picked up the ecdysiast’s parables in update 2 (phone post so I can’t post the image). Very interesting finds about violet and the hospital incidentally. Of course, such searches are multi-faceted and there could be multiple possible answers. But I will give a hint as to what I consider the right answer: The founder of the cult is still alive.
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Jun 17, 2019 16:14
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Reveilled posted:We picked up the ecdysiast’s parables in update 2 (phone post so I can’t post the image). This does mean the founder of the cult is still alive today, right? Or is it still alive when the game is set?
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Jun 17, 2019 16:59
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Randomcheese3 posted:This does mean the founder of the cult is still alive today, right? Or is it still alive when the game is set? Alive today, at least according to their Wikipedia article. EDIT: Actually, just to give a little clarity on the original question, I mean the question completely literally. I have an address for the hospital, and a current or past occupant of that address was a cult. Reveilled fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Jun 17, 2019 |
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Jun 17, 2019 17:13
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Tehan posted:In this case I think the best write-up is multiple write-ups. The game peppers the player with a thousand glimpses via unreliable narrators, so only one person's opinion would give people the wrong idea. I appreciate your point of view and your humility, so I’ll amend my comment to: you made a really good write-up. 
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Jun 17, 2019 18:07
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Oho! The Rite of the Sea's Feasting! However, Kate vastly underestimates its use in her current situation. After all, every adept possesses a bountiful wellspring of the sensations and desires that so enthrall the most base of the Wood's denizens. Health and Passion are both ingredients, and when used in rites they are merely exhausted instead of consumed. Reason is too, but there's really no reason to use it. Ah! She needn't have gone to such trouble. The good doctor al-Adim is either the most fool-hardy Long or is playing a long game with fools. The least educated initiate of the Bleached Way can, in the space of a few nights and some inspired guesswork, complete even the most rigorous of commissions from the doctor. Why, I once responded to his request for a treatise on the Lore Glorious with a most Grail limerick, composed right then. He accepted it and paid without a moment's hesitation. You only need Lantern to the sixth intensity to satisfy the good doctor. Kate's final commission had ten. Where did the extra four really come from? His weakest lantern commissions are the most fun, because it's very hard to have less than two lantern aspect. Reveilled posted:
A most curious observation. It is my experience that the Key Hunter's Garret is the last repository of knowledge that a would-be Lantern Long has need to plunder. It is easiest for Long to advance by Seven and by ten and by twelve and by fifteen, under the auspices of the Ragged Sun. Ah, Kate wouldn't know that. And Kate doesn't have a mirror yet, does she. Not a real one. She'd need to fix that to take the shortcut. I think that she will take a different path, in the end. In that path she will learn that Seven is constant, for Seven is a holy number. Totally possible, indeed easy, to ascend a Lantern Long without doing a single expedition past the continent. And the Key Hunter's Garret provides the hardest part of the puzzle. Grail is even easier; Gwaer Inn is one of a few places that gets you what you need. Forge is... not much harder than Lantern, but still the hardest after all the vaults were given fixed rewards. Reveilled posted:
Perchance, are you a Heart believer, at heart? Many cults think their founding principle to be ascendant over all others, each additional aspect a baser, subverted form of the aspect preceding it. And then it is the most base form of knowledge that can be purified into true enlightenment. The obvious exceptions are the snake worshipers. There are those who consider their aspect equally supreme to all others. And there are those who consider all aspects, even that of the Gate, to be equal throughout History. Myself, though I favor the company and goals of Assassins, think that Seers have the right of it. The Glory is the goal, ascendant above all. The Wood that we grow up is the basest and vilest of fates. But the yearning that we learn there carries us to the Glory as surely as the Moth says, "Yes!" How dare you not use a vertical layout for your lore with Lantern at the top and Moth at the bottom! /outrage
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Jun 18, 2019 03:24
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Deadmeat5150 posted:So can we get a breakdown on what each of the things represent? I think I've got Lantern and White down, but the others are total mysteries to me. Lantern: Illuminating Forge: Remaking Edge: Separating Winter: Ending Heart: Enduring Grail: Thirsting Moth: Seeking Knock: Opening Histories: Recording that the eldritch principle of joy and the eldritch principle of gorge yourself silly are two distinct principles is something I very much enjoy about the metaphysics of the setting.
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Jun 18, 2019 04:01
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St Agnes Hospital was founded by L. Ron Hubbard to convert his enemies, you'd have to be mad to be a scientologist and it's a hospital for mad people (like cultists) people think he's dead but his living corpse still roams the halls
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Jun 18, 2019 05:30
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TheBlandName posted:How dare you not use a vertical layout for your lore with Lantern at the top and Moth at the bottom! /outrage I've been getting in the habit of lining up my lores on the left, and the followers it matches up with on the right. Makes it easy when you're looking for a particular pairing for a ritual.
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Jun 18, 2019 05:49
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TheBlandName posted:Stuff Well, consider my mind blown, particularly in regards to using attributes in rituals and reason contributing lantern to the commission. I'd never considered that before. I'm curious how the rewards of the garret are particularly useful to winning a lantern ascension, given that the rewards are non-lantern lores and a fucine textbook. I don't necessarily want to go into too much detail for the endgame rite at this stage, but I'd like to know what it contributes in your view, at least after we're done this playthrough.
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Jun 18, 2019 07:21
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this inspired me to buy sunless skies and play on legacy and now six hours later i'm frothing mad
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Jun 18, 2019 10:46
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Socks4Hands posted:this inspired me to buy sunless skies and play on legacy and now six hours later i'm frothing mad I'm pretty sure insanity is a by-design side effect in Sunless Skies.
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Jun 18, 2019 10:54
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I think I've got the answer to the riddle - the founder of the cult in the building that used to be St Agnes' Hospital is Ryuho Okawa. Here's how I got there - A google search for St Agnes' Hospital in London brings up this report, which gives the address of the hospital as 3 Margaret Street, London. Looking that address up on a map shows that the building is now occupied by 'Happy Science Europe', a branch of Happy Science/The Institute for Research in Human Happiness, a religious organisation based on Buddhism that's often been described as a cult; this was founded by Ryuho Okawa. Not quite an occult association, but still neat.
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Jun 18, 2019 13:21
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More trivia from earlier versions of the game: until relatively recently, using your Passion or Health as an ingredient would completely consume it like other ingredients instead of exhausting like it does now.
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Jun 18, 2019 13:47
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Randomcheese3 posted:I think I've got the answer to the riddle - the founder of the cult in the building that used to be St Agnes' Hospital is Ryuho Okawa. Ding ding, this is the winner! There’s a few clues which point in this direction too, this hospital was specifically for “fallen women”, and the description was about not wanting some people “walking the streets”. Also the hospital in the game is ruined and other searches into the church on Margaret St which ran the hospitals suggest they sold the buildings used to house the hospitals in 1901. That said, the stuff about connections between the colour Violet and King Edward were very intriguing and it does seem possible that the intent is to reference that and the connection to the real and rather obscure St Agnes hospital could just be a coincidence. But is there any such thing as a coincidence? Still, Randomcheese wins the copy of Cultist Simulator generously offered by...Anticheese? Hmm, the connections get ever more curious. I’ll get the key to you in the next few days after I work things out with our benefactor. As a side note, if you’re in London and interested in Happy Science, they do anime movie screenings on Saturdays, tickets are £5.
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Jun 18, 2019 15:41
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Uh, okay, if someone was trolling me with that PM, then loving masterful work and you really put in the effort with the username, bravo. If not, well, I guess Kate's successor will be getting a little "outside help" when we do the Apostle playthrough. I hope you've enjoyed reading so far, whoever you really are. Reveilled fucked around with this message at 18:19 on Jun 18, 2019 |
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Jun 18, 2019 18:16
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Reveilled posted:Ding ding, this is the winner! I think the choice of name might be influenced by this, but there's a lot of more likely options for hospitals for it to be based on; the one in the report doesn't seem likely to be doing amputations. I'm partial to St Luke's, a massive neo-classical building on Old Street. It was primarily a mental institution (just right for confining cultists who've gone too far, or succumbed to despair, people you definitely don't want 'walking the streets'), and closed down as a hospital in 1916, just in time to be derelict and abandoned in the time the game is set.
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Jun 18, 2019 18:47
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Reveilled posted:Uh, okay, if someone was trolling me with that PM, then loving masterful work and you really put in the effort with the username, bravo. Nothing loving ominous about this
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Jun 18, 2019 19:53
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I knew it, the Baldomerian is a goon.
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Jun 18, 2019 20:13
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Reveilled posted:Uh, okay, if someone was trolling me with that PM, then loving masterful work and you really put in the effort with the username, bravo. uh oh, do i smell a game of Silly Buggers® afoot in here
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Jun 18, 2019 20:33
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| # ? Jun 1, 2024 17:45 |
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Sounds like a case of game dev reading the lp thread. Happens from time to time.
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Jun 18, 2019 23:28
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