#ssea spoilers

[capn-twitchery]

not a day goes by where i don't think about the sigil ridden navigator's storyline from sunless sea

the poor guy. his correspondence tattoo makes him forget his past, he has no idea who he is or what he's done & it Tortures him

until you take him to uncover it, only to find that in the past he fucked up at navigating. the ship was lost at zee for so long they had to resort to cannibalism--he had to eat his own brother

the knowledge torments him even more, and he begs you to drop him off on a remote island, so he can die alone

then the game hits you with the fucking option to uno reverse card him and offer to perform a cannibal ritual instead because "it would be a release for him"

so you do! you take all of his organs out. you carve more correspondence into him so he forgets again. it's horrifying

and then you take his undead shambling corpse back on the ship. and it has the best navigation stats in the entire goddamn game

[the-clay-quarters]

watching a playthrough of sseas and every time I hear a character/place name I recognise I'm just [dicaprio pointing meme] I know that guy!

[awordbroken]

surely it won't stay that way because they were pretty easy to get but startling to see mask represented on my rarest achievements list along with ssea

[house-of-mirrors]

I was waiting till the official launch to post my Thoughts TM on mask so far, so here we are. There are no plot spoilers under the cut but spoilers nonetheless, I know I'm someone that likes to go into a game knowing absolutely nothing so. Disclaimer this is just my opinion, etc. TLDR I had very mixed feelings.

I want to like it. I love FL and the universe, been fixated on it for 3 years now. Genuinely though, I hate the pacing of mask. I've only had the game 3 days and have only completed 1 run, but I already feel burnt out from it. The time limit stressed me out, and the process of having to restart everything from scratch is grueling.

The story moves so fast that I barely have time to catch my breath. It reminded me of the anxiety of playing Majora's Mask. (And even that game lets you keep stuff unlocked between runs!) About 16 in-game days go by, and bam over. I'd appreciate if there were more days per season. The time skips didn't really make sense to me either because why does the player just do nothing for a few weeks? I would have liked enough time to complete at least one main quest, two side quests, and two relationships (two friendships, a friendship and a romance, whatever) per run, and I was only able to manage one of those. Sure, I could have explored more, but a character I cared about had his life on the line and I couldn't think about anything else.

The third act of the game is supremely cut short, like, no spoilers but there was a Major Event involving a character I was pursuing a romantic relationship with, and I didn't even get to interact with the character afterward and the whole thing was brushed over. The third act is where I got the feeling of, "ah, I'm getting used to this, the Game is finally beginning!" but NOPE that's the credit reel. Was left kinda feeling… huh, that was it? I know you're meant to replay a lot to get the full experience but that leads to my next point...

Spending a lot of time in each playthrough just to get to the places and items you need is a slog when you've already unlocked them before. And I hate to say it but... I have almost no ambition to pursue relationships because I know they'll be over very soon, there's no time to develop a real bond. Maybe I'm too aspec but it doesn't make sense to me how your character would decide to date someone at your first meeting. So like, in sskies or ssea, you can't complete every quest in one run, but some stuff carries over. Keep some locations and items unlocked between runs to make it easier on the player.

From a technical standpoint the game is fascinating and a lot of work went into it, but an innovative engine doesn't impress me when the most important part, the story, lacks immersion. As it stands, I can't bring myself to play more until a patch that fixes some of these issues. My disappointment is palpable.

[iihavenomouth]

Have you played Sunless Seas? Asking because I've got a question about something that can happen in that game that's probably relevant to your interests but I don't want to spoil anything.

i have! in fact a lot of the ssea stuff is majorly important to my FL main plot-wise. i also in general don’t care much abt spoilers! :)

[kyrinasha]

the rest of the london asks? for me?

For you, my friend? Anything

hastily scrawled warning note: if you could go back and change one decision you made in the game, what would it be?

Probably get kicked out of university. At that point in the game I wasn't really Reading. The reading game much. So I just kinda picked something based on efficiency, rather than character-based. There's probably something else I'm not remembering atm but that's the first that comes to mind

puzzling map: favorite in-game location?

I'm really fond of Irem. It's quasi-place-situation and how it might actually feel to be there is something I like a lot. Plus I find the warp mechanic fun to deal with, although I will admit I use a guide

london street sign: what location(s) would you most like to visit in real life?

Irem also. It would be so normal. But besides that I'd want to visit Flute Street or maybe the City in Silver

trade secret: is there anything you wish you knew before starting the game?

I wish I knew to Read in the damn Reading Game. Who would have thought that might increase my enjoyment and prevent burnout

first city coin: which city, besides london, are you most curious about? past or future cities are both fair game.

My first thought goes to the seventh city, but not specifically about the seventh itself. I'm curious as to what living in the seventh feels like, to those who know it will be the last.

antique mystery: do you avoid spoilers, or do you not mind them?

Could not give less of a shit about spoilers boss. I'm an enjoyer of things happening in context as much as I am of things just happening. You could tell me all of the spoilers in the world and I would simply go "cool I can't wait to get there : )"

attar: most interesting place outside of london?

There are too many to pick just one when we only get them in fragments. I need to play more sseas I think

unlawful device: do you enjoy the laboratory?

The lab's alright. I enjoy it well enough in that there's not a terribly complicated procedure, but it also has enough variability that it's not too boring. Also Cora Bagley is in there and I love her

stolen kiss: if you could add one canon spouse option to the game, who would it be?

CITY IN SILVER. LET THE COLLABORATOR BE THE CITY IN SILVER/THE CREDITOR'S THIRD. PLEASE. I mean this very explicitly as the City not any of the city candidates thank you. Weirder romance options please and thank you < 3

infernal contract: has your oc sold their soul? if not, do they plan to? if they have, would they ever want it back?

Ze has not! It's actually one of the few things that ze hasn't done. While ze is interested in doing it to have that experience, ze also wants a guaranteed return of hir soul, which is not something the devils seem willing to do. Out of character, I simply don't want to have to grind surprise bundles until I get it back. I'd say it happens in canon but it doesn't feel like ze's been in a good enough situation to just say it happened, you know? Probably one day

[fgodestinyawakenings]

I don't think that adult ushiwakamaru, I saw scales.

the blond haired one? this?

It’s definitely not, Adult ushi is already out and maybe out in New years or whenever DW feel like releasing her.

Many has more or less confirmed she’s a Naga which can be either

Vritra (so far closest is this due to black scales and golden eyes)

Ulupi (for me at least)

Ashwasena (relating to Karna somehow)

Kukulkan (Quetz-like teeth?)

or some other serpent relating to LB6 and/or LB7

[tranderas]

Tranderas’ Seeking Mr. Eaten’s Name Diary, Part 3

This is the third installment of a journal detailing my expectations, preparations, speculations, and actual experiences doing the Seeking Mr. Eaten’s Name quest line in Fallen London.

Speculation comes from talks with people who know the lore better than me, reading the wiki, and cross-referencing material from Sunless Seas. Potential spoilers abound. If you’re interested in ever attempting the quest line yourself, I strongly encourage avoiding this blog series until you complete it! All of the blogs in this category are marked with the tag #TSMENDiary, so if you prefer to read these and no other entries from me, feel free to follow that tag.

Edit from earlier post: I forgot my one additional warning: FailBetter Games has asked that players not share the ending of the Seeking Mr. Eaten’s Name storyline. I intend to honor that request. If you’re reading this blog expecting to find out what happens at the end, you’ll be disappointed. Once my character reaches the gates of the Horizon, this journal series will end.

First, a little progress update. And the progress is... not much.

I failed seven consecutive attempts at drowning secrets on Saturday, at a 52% success chance. The chance of that happening is in the low single digits. As a result of these failures, I fell behind about a week compared to where I expected to be.

On the other hand, there’s a user in the IRC that offered a bit of help...

The “normal” way of finding the calling card involves going to God’s Editors and giving them the correct number of Proscribed Materials later on in the line. If you haven’t actually done it, I encourage you to do it- the text is cool as hell. It was spoiled for me at some point, and it is the single best piece of SMEN lore I’ve read to date. Please, do it.

Otherwise, know that the calling card opens up Winking Isle at SMEN21, no wounds or nightmares, and A Question? (meaning you have to Hate or Grieve before going- that option opens at SMEN12). The Isle is where you get the book required to get to the Chapel of Lights for candle #6, and also allows you to do a convoluted series of luck-based checks to get 1 or 7 SMEN levels depending on how far into the carousel you go. It’s almost mandatory for those who want to Seek, as beyond a certain point it’s the only method of getting levels that won’t have astronomical costs. There are rumors of one seeker attempting to go down the Road without using the Isle for anything except the book...

Millicent Clathermont is the wife of the guy who runs the tattoo parlor, and is also the one that does the +BDR tattoos during the Feast of the Exceptional Rose. There are mentions of her throughout SMEN, including on Mr. Eaten’s twitter. Why? I legitimately want to know. It’s the second most interesting mystery to me, besides what lies beyond the gate.

I personally think she’s going to be the lady who allows you to become Obscure in the Nadir. Part of her quest line is that she’s trying to be lost and forgotten. The Nadir is the perfect place for such a person. It would make logical sense, then, that not only does she attempt to be forgotten, but that she helps you do the same. As an added bonus reference, she knows what you’re on about when you ask for a certain tattoo during the Feast of the Exceptional Rose. If she knows The Name, she needs to hide in the Nadir for most of the year, for fear of coming under scrutiny from the Masters.

The only other possibility that comes to me offhand is that she’s the Lady in the Mirror that asks for a sacrifice in the nightmare version of Mrs. Plenty’s Carnival when you go for St. Beau’s Candle. Whoever is in that mirror mentions having gone Seeking once, and failed, which would be consistent with Millicent’s desire to disappear.

That’s the main mystery left for me, beyond the actual Gate itself. I still think Sunless Seas had it right when it suggested the gate isn’t a literal gate, but rather the physical manifestation of the laws of the Judgments which oversee the Neath- laws which, by invoking the forbidden Name, you are violating. I still think it’s sunlight that lies beyond the gate on the Hate ending, because sunlight reaching the Neath is a violation of the Judgments and kills (or at least, is supposed to kill) anyone exposed to it down there. Sunlight is so forbidden that smuggling a sunbeam in a mirrored box is profitable in SSeas. The Hatred ending, in which Eaten seeks revenge instead of retribution, would then kill the Bazaar itself.

The Grieve ending is still up in the air under that hypothesis, but my best guess is that you open the gates to spread nightmares specifically to the Masters and the Bazaar itself (the fact that the Masters and the Bazaar are different entities was an interesting revelation in itself) to drive them insane. That would kill or disable the Bazaar and allow forgiveness of a society which has no knowledge of the betrayal of Mr. Candles.

The other possibility is that Grieve reaches out to the Duchess, his ally in the Third City, and in some way helps her- perhaps by lending his remaining power to her precious Cats, or spreading his Name to them so that they may spread it, or sending The Name to the Duchess herself. Whatever the case is, it will be something that has the potential to cripple, but not destroy, Fallen London.

Before I go, I have an amusing tidbit to share. Someone in IRC joked that I was turning SMEN into accounting. Payable: a reckoning. Receivable: Secrets and Enigmas. He wasn’t kidding. Here’s a picture of my SMEN math.

I’m excited to be on the Road, and I hope you’re excited to share my journey with me. If you want to follow my progress in realtime, check my alt’s journal, as I save echoes of interesting steps along the path. 

Thanks for stopping by! Next update: Will Trand get 16 SMEN off secrets this week? Will RNG murder him again? Tune in to find out!

[house-of-mirrors]

 I know this is kind of a weird ask to get, rest assured I would not be sending it to you if I had found it another way but even after the Smending information ban was lifted, I still cannot find this information, and I saw that you completed seeking so I figured I would ask you.

What is traveler returning? Or more specifically, what does it mean, what is it about? I have deciphered the other endings frustratingly ambiguous writing style, but I still cannot understand traveler returning. What does it mean? 

Let me tell you a secret, my friend: I don't think anyone, myself included, has a flying clue wtf the "who is salt" ending of smen MEANS. It has very little connection to going East in ssea or with Irem in FL. It's its own thing (derogatory).

I remember reading a blogpost where AK said he didn't think anyone would actually pick that ending and so threw that together and I guess that's why it's drivel? What did I call it again? Making fridge magnet poetry behind your back in the dark? Yeah

I've seen one interpretation that it's meant to break the fourth wall and imply the player has secretly been Salt all along. And honestly? I personally like that less than it being nonsense (no hate if u like that theory). I don't like meta reveals like that when there's no foreshadowing. Feels like a cop out. And also... why does the player have to be an otherworldly being to be special? Who is Salt? Well it certainly isn't me!

That theory aside, doing a strict reading of the text and ignoring meta stuff, interpreting its meaning as precisely what it says... it means all of nothing.

I did the Hate ending and thought that was the most interesting of the 3. Grieve, sure, fine. Who is Salt? [long fax machine noises]

(I gotta tell you I laughed SO HARD getting this because I'm always joking with my friend about "who is salt" being incomprehensible XD)

Disclaimer this is just my opinion etc, but as someone pursuing an MFA in writing with a good bit of experience in editing: this would NOT fly if it came across my desk. Even if your story is meant to be punishing and has "no good things at the end," I feel like you still have an obligation to have a narratively satisfying conclusion.

In summary: you can't figure it out because there's nothing to figure out, pat yourself on the back and treat yourself to your favorite snack and/or beverage

Ignoring the ending and going off lore, "Traveller Returning" means... (major spoilers for sunless sea under the cut)

Traveller Returning is an epithet for one of the zee-gods, Salt. Salt, god of farewells, of travellers, of the Uttermost East. The Hungry Monarch. There's a hidden ambition revolving around it in Sunless Sea. In summary, Salt was an emissary sent by the White to the Neath to find out what sort of Shames and various crimes the Sun was keeping hidden. Salt has not yet returned with its report, instead disappearing into the East. Now, the Sunless Sea quest actually follows a narrative of the player becoming an avatar for Salt and this makes a lot more sense in its execution than the smending. The Eastern horizon is called the "Deconstruction," a sort of endless horizon in Green and Gold where the laws of space and time get really weird. Imagine a function undefined at a single point, or a tangent line that goes to infinity. I'm not sure how to explain it beyond here because I don't have a firm grasp on it myself; there's not a lot of solid info.

We still know painfully little about Salt and I really, really hope the lore declassification means we'll get more material soon. Well-written material. What's up with Salt, what about the White, what about the Woods in Winter, what is the nature of the Old Man in Vienna, etc.