…to build your Reputation
The Empress must be entertained! And you are inspired….
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…Further into Fallen London
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A slow day
Unlocks: Persuasive 97
A silent, dreary day at the Court. Has even romance lost its sheen?
A polite tap on the shoulder
The Veteran Privy Counsellor would like you to come this way. He's a Duke, isn't he? You should probably pop along.
The office of the Veteran Privy Counsellor
Any of these chairs would sell for more than your lodgings. The wallpaper is made of zebras. There are paintings dating from the time when your host governed a considerable portion of Africa. The office is far enough from the Throne that you may speak above a whisper.
'You've caused a stir at Court. Your romances have been… novel. Be that as it may, I have a proposal for you. The Court lacks for an Imperial Artist-in-Residence. The last one… well, we won't see them for some time. My point is that the Court wishes to be entertained with original compositions. Your early works impressed the Empress, and she doesn't even like mushrooms. So, get to it, would you? We can't wait to see what you come up with.'
The Imperial Artist-in-Residence! That position comes with Versification House, a very respectable address near the Palace. And royal patronage. And who knows what else? Original works, he says. A trifle, a detail, a snap. Where's that pen?
A twist in your tale! You are now carving out a Reputation at Court.
Connected: Society increase
What's your next work?
The Veteran Privy Counsellor looks expectantly at you. His glass of port quivers dangerously in his hand. What's your next project?
Write poetry
Poetry is a mirror which makes the distorted beautiful. The Neath could benefit from your reflections. [Raise your Inspired… quality to 34 to finish your work]
A book of verse!
'Poetry,' says the Veteran Privy Counsellor. 'How very fashionable.' He seems only the tiniest bit disappointed.
An occurrence! Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality is now 1!
Complete a novel
Not everyone has a novel in them. You do. [Raise your Inspired… quality to 34 to finish your work]
A novel!
'You should be aware that the Court disapproves of supernatural themes, racy passages and tales of usurpation.' The Veteran Privy Counsellor raises a conspiratorial eyebrow. What's he playing at?
An occurrence! Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality is now 2!
Write and stage a play
Theatre is the true art. [Raise your Inspired… quality to 24 to finish your work: this will be a little quicker.]
A play!
'The trouble with plays is that one must work with… actors. Actresses are an altogether superior breed, however.' The Privy Counsellor nods, his brow heavy with wisdom.
An occurrence! Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality is now 3!
Write a song and have it performed
You'll have to be subtle. The Empress hates choral works, but in the far corners of the Palace much of the court appreciate a good song. [Raise your Inspired… quality to 24 to finish your work: this will be a little quicker.]
A song!
'A hymn or something, eh? You are a bold one. Jolly good, though. We could use more singing around this place.'
An occurrence! Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality is now 4!
Compose a symphony and have it performed
The Empress hates noise, but sometimes makes an exception for a good symphony. Apparently the Consort likes them. [Raise your Inspired… quality to 24 to finish your work]
A symphony!
'A symphony? Does anyone actually write symphonies any more? This isn't the Regency, you know. Still, good luck to you.'
An occurrence! Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality is now 5!
The ballet
Ballet hasn't been popular for decades. Still, the Veteran Privy Counsellor is thought to have a soft spot for it. [Raise your Inspired… quality to 24 to finish your work: this will be a little quicker.]
Ballet
'Ballet! Ballet! I can't remember the last time ballet came to the Palace!' The Veteran Privy Counsellor is excited. He leaps to his feet and performs something that suggests a pirouette, in much the same way that a cockroach suggests a butterfly. He remembers himself and sits down sharply, his eyes daring you to comment on the matter.
An occurrence! Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality is now 6!
Your poem is complete!
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 1, Inspired… 34
The ink of the last line dries. You set down your pen at last. It is done. A poem for the ages. A poem to assure you immortality. But what manner of work is it?
An Epic Cycle
Nobody writes huge, sprawling heroic epics any more. Nobody but you, anyway. Twelve thousand stanzas of heroism, tragedy and myth.
A huge success
Your poem catches the Court's imagination, and soon it is bought, read and recited thoughout the Palace. Which is just as well, for the common folk can't afford the weighty, leather-bound tome upon which you insisted. Fashionable ladies and gentlemen of the court are soon engaging in swordplay in the gardens. There is soon a fad for the more ancient forms of courtly romance. Young blades climb towers and maul innocent beasts. Damsels artfully distress themselves. Swooning is rampant. Every night, the Constables discover unsuccessful lovers raving in the parks.
You inspire imitators, of course, but the sheer size of your work means that you have months before any of the competition will be published. You are the lion of London's poetical circles, at least for now.
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
carving out a Reputation at Court increase (2 points)
Connected: Bohemian increase
(33-49 cp)
Connected: Society increase
(30 cp?)
Gain: 6000 x
Moon-pearl
Gain: 1 x Copy of your Epic Poetic Cycle
A Tragedy of Romance
A timeless love. The cruel blade of fate. Death by water. A great many tears. The height of poetic fashion.
Cruel fates and patronage
Yours is not the first work of this kind to be published this month. It is not even the fifth. The reception is no better than lukewarm. Well, until the Empress requests a copy. Ten pages in and she asks for the work to be read to her in full. That has never happened before.
Of course, the court simply goes berserk for the poem after that. Anyone who is anyone is reading your work. Lovelorn sighs echo around the Palace. Pale young admirers surround you. An alarming fashion develops for leaping into the river when spurned. The ranks of the Drownies swell greatly, and the press denounce your work as a menace to public order.
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
carving out a Reputation at Court increase (2 points)
Scandal increase
(2-4 cp)
Connected: Bohemian increase
(45-55 cp)
Gain: 6000 x
Moon-pearl
Fascinating increase…
(50 cp?)
Gain: 1 x Copy of your Tragedy of Romance
An Allegorical Satire
If one enjoys breathing, one does not write extended satires concerning the Empress, nor especially her Consort. However, the rest of those windbags in the Court are fair game.
Perfect timing
A satirical work is always going to be scandalous, if it's any good. Fortunately, your work is sufficiently subtle that the victims don't realise that you are mocking them until it's too late. A few weeks after publication, the poem is popular and you haven't been fed to the Cantigaster.
And then the press get hold of it. They point out how clever you were to compare The Rt. Hon. M
---- to a mongoose. And why Lady R----- deserves the title 'Queen of the Doily'. But it's too late! Your victims would look even more foolish for attacking you now. Questions are asked in parliament, and a bill proposed to censor poets further, but their hearts are not in it. Your name is on lips from the heights of the Flit to the depths of the literary reviews.
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
carving out a Reputation at Court increase (2 points)
Scandal increase
(1-4 cp)
Connected: Bohemian increase
(28-80 cp)
Connected: Revolutionaries increase
(22-42 cp)
Gain: 6000 x
Moon-pearl
Gain: 1 x copy of your Allegorical Satire
Your novel is complete!
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 2, Inspired… 34
Your work is complete! A masterful novel, plucked from the blue skies of inspiration and pinned to your desk with a quill. Surely this manuscript will set the literary world afire. But what exactly have you written?
A Gothic Romance
Desperate lovers. Ruined castles. A noble family's secret shame. All spiced up with a few flashes of nightgown and perhaps a monster.
What passion! What mystery!
The Court adores your tale of mystery and romance. Of course, persons of station do not officially read such inflaming fantasies. They secrete your novel in top hats and hide it behind improving literature. You are reliably informed that the Captivating Princess was moved to tears.
The youth of London love it like nothing else. Pale young things in sombre attire hound you day and night, seeking attention. The markets sell out of black cloaks and white nightgowns. Two notable families commission architects to build ruined castles in the grounds of their estates. You spawn a host of imitators, of course. But what are they to you? They are nothing.
WAS Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone! [from July 2011] Inspired… has been reset: a conclusion, or a new beginning?
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
carving out a Reputation at Court increase (2 points)
Connected: Bohemian increase
(50 cp)
Fascinating increase…
(50 cp?)
Gain: 6000 x
Moon-pearl
Gain: 1 x Copy of your Gothic Romance
A Tale of the Future!
A bold vision of life in the next century! A world of gleaming brass and sparking globes. A tale of London's triumphant return to the surface!
It's all brass and crystal
The Court doesn't seem persuaded that the heroes of the future will be engineers, technologists and other middle-class types. But the business of raising London back to a glorious future on the surface has more than a few optimists openly weeping. University professors debate the plausibility of your vision.
The youth of the city, many of whom have never seen the surface, are inspired by your conception. There is a rush to apply for places at the university's technical departments. Goggles are worn over top hats. The price of brass doubles overnight. Both the devils and a band of Deans send you presents in deep appreciation.
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone! (2 points)
carving out a Reputation at Court increase
Connected:Benthic increase (less than 17 cp)
Connected: Summerset increase (less than 25 cp)
Connected: Bohemian increase
(42-80 cp)
Gain: 6000 x
Nevercold Brass Sliver
Gain: 1 x Copy of your Tale of the Future
A Patriotic Adventure!
A rip-roaring tale of Empire, hardship, determination and giving those foreigners a damn sound thrashing! Thrills and danger in the Elder Country! The search for the Mountain of Youth!
A people ready for adventure
Your novel is a huge success at Court. There's very little that they like better than stories about rock-jawed British manhood knocking villainous continentals about in the name of the Empire. Some of the Court's more delicate flowers swoon at the sweatier moments.
The common folk of London like it even more. Sales are astronomical. A swathe of young adventurers signs up at the docks, convinced that your Mountain of Youth is real. Several treasure-hunters knock on your door. They demand directions and promise you a share of their entirely imagined loot.
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
carving out a Reputation at Court increase (2 points)
Connected: Bohemian increase
(50 cp?)
Connected: The Docks increase
(50 cp?)
Gain: 6000 x
Moon-pearl
Gain: 1 x Copy of your Patriotic Adventure
Opening Night!
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 3, Inspired… 24
Everything is prepared. The performers assure you that they have memorised their lines. The curtain goes up in five minutes. But what manner of theatrical delight have you produced?
A Slapstick Farce
A tonic for the Empress's woes. It is long past time that the Court enjoyed the humour of the common man. And surely anyone, no matter how exalted, can enjoy the spectacle of two urchins pelting a Bishop with crumpets?
The rarest of giggles
Opening night. You had to keep the nature of the play a secret, or the court would never have attended. The worthies of the Palace's theatrical set are expecting drama, pathos and social commentary. What they get is custard, and plenty of it.
They are horrified for the first two scenes. A Viscountess storms out barely five minutes in. But then His Amused Lordship roars with delight at the business with the Constable's helmet and the bat. A few others join in with chuckles. By the end of the first act, they're howling with mirth. At the finale, you clamber up to your observation post. It all hinges on this moment. You glance down at the stage. Here it comes. The bishop is filling the Prime Minister's trousers with frogs. And, yes! A giggle. It was a small thing, barely audible. But it was a giggle. From the Imperial box.
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
carving out a Reputation at Court increase
Connected: Bohemian increase
Connected: Society increase
Gain: 3000 x
Moon-pearl
A Wry Satirical Comedy
Where the weighty is trivial and the insincere mouth earnest words about the fancies and nonsensitudes of life. A pithy epigram for every occasion.
'The only thing worse than…'
The Court prefers its theatre weighty. There is much grumbling in the lobby that your work is most likely frothy nonsense of no worth at all. And then the curtain rises and the fogs of expectation lift. They are charmed by your quips. They sympathise with the everyday troubles and tiny woes of your characters. They see their own lives in your setting.
The curtain falls to a standing ovation. Your play has delighted the Court, accustomed as it was to stodgy pathos. For weeks afterwards you hear 'The only thing worse than being dead in the Neath is dying,' wherever you go. 'When rats exhibit sentiments, one should not exhibit the sentiments of a rat' is plastered across the press. They think you are delightful. Better, even: they think you are very clever indeed.
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
carving out a Reputation at Court increase
Connected: Bohemian increase
Connected: Society increase
Gain: 3000 x
Moon-pearl
A Heart-Wrenching Tragedy
Passions that destroy all before them. Innocence savaged by uncaring destiny. A story fit for the Neath.
A very good cry indeed
By the end of the first act, there are sniffles from the audience. By the end of the second act, there is wailing. When the final curtain falls, some fourteen acts later, iron-eyed worthies and conscienceless villains are howling into their hats. You can barely hear the applause over the sobs. His Amused Lordship sheds a single tear. The Court loves a good cry: you are lauded as a genius.
Word spreads. The theatre is packed, night after night. Tradesmen of modest means shepherd their pennies to come and see your play. There is a fashion for those who love too much to leap from a high window, just like in act seven. This one will run and run.
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
carving out a Reputation at Court increase
Connected: Bohemian increase
Connected: Society increase
Gain: 3000 x
Moon-pearl
Publish your song!
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 4, Inspired… 24
The Shuttered Palace is not a welcoming venue for songs. If you publish your work all across London, you might yet hear it in the far corners of the Court. But what have you written?
A Rousing Hymn
Something to get the blood of decent folk pumping. A rousing call to action, and some old-fashioned righteousness.
The crescendo of faith
Your hymn is a hit! They're belting it out all over city. Churches throw open their doors to huge crowds and bring in extra pews. Your work inspires a dozen tiny splinter-sects, some with alarming theological quirks. The newspapers report outbreaks of public decorum and good works. An angry mob sings your composition as they hurl a startled devil into the river.
The Empress, as a rule, does not sing. However, certain trusted courtiers claim she was nodding along to your hymn at last Sunday's private chapel service. The rest of the Court takes this as a seal of Royal approval, and your work rings out from the chapels of the righteous and shakes the very cavern walls!
Connected: The Church increase
3000 x
Foxfire Candle Stub
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
carving out a Reputation at Court increase
A Newly Arranged Folk Song
A new version of an old song. A good one. One of those tunes about bedding those you shouldn't, robbing folks and spraying blood up the walls.
'And he set off a roving…'
Your song catches on immediately. The tune hangs around like an urchin waiting for a spore-toffee. The story speaks of crime and blood and sex; all those things that the public likes. Many people decide that it's time they too went a-roving. A new fashion starts for tying outlandish things around hats. A number of military officers complain that someone has stolen their money, each claiming the loss was 'a pretty penny'.
The song is a little vulgar to enjoy the full attention of the Court. However, you do hear butlers, grooms and the occasional functionary humming it in the outer parts of the Palace.
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
carving out a Reputation at Court increase
Connected: Bohemian increase
Connected: The Docks increase
Gain: 3000 x
Moon-pearl
A Patriotic Anthem
A flag-waving riot of music, with a chorus everyone can sing. Something to bring tears to the eyes of the most zealous partisans.
'Hope and glory'
This song isn't the sort one hums while waiting for a hansom. But it is perfect for a promenade concert. The groundlings wave their flags and the patriotic fervour is thick enough to knit with.
Following the publication of your anthem, a great many young men join the navy. There is talk in parliament of 'taking back' the tomb-colonies. News arrives from the far Elder Country: apparently, London's little-publicised colony is expanding its borders.
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
carving out a Reputation at Court increase
Connected: Bohemian increase
Connected: Society increase
Gain: 3000 x
Moon-pearl
carving out a Reputation at Court increase
Your symphony is complete!
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 5, Inspired… 24
Music is usually banned from the Shuttered Palace. However, the Consort is old-fashioned and likes the occasional symphony, so the Empress is prepared to make an exception. But what manner of music will there be?
Somewhat challenging music
Unlocks: a Scholar of the Correspondence 1
The Correspondence is not meant for human voices. Neither is it meant for musical instruments, but that's not going to stop you.
A rare entertainment
Getting the instruments properly tuned was difficult, but it wasn't as hard as acquiring the glass drums that your piece requires. Where did you read about those? No matter. The courtiers are bewildered by the bassoon players dangling from the ceiling and your seven one-eyed xylophonists.
And you begin. To describe this piece as challenging is a vast understatement. You have spare musicians ready to replace those who start smouldering or flee screaming into the garden. The audience bursts into a cacophony of shrieks and recriminations that counterpoints your second movement nicely. You have barely played through two of the Correspondence symbols before the audience rushes the stage to smash instruments and musicians alike. You are soundly beaten by the mob, but you notice the Empress before all goes black. She is tapping her foot happily, and her expression is wistful. As if she recognises the tune.
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
carving out a Reputation at Court increase (1 change point)
Connected: Bohemian increase
Wounds increase
(3-5 cp)
Gain: 3000 x
Moon-pearl
a Scholar of the Correspondence increase (1 change point) OR a Scholar of the Correspondence hasn't changed, because it's higher than 9
An exuberant cannonade
A full orchestra. No, two full orchestras! A regiment of drummers! A platoon of riflemen! A cannon!
Boom!
There isn't much open space at the Palace. They've had to clear out a conservatory to provide you with a setting. The worthies of the Court are shocked at your symphonic arsenal. Half of them block their ears as they sit down.
And you begin. The windows explode immediately. Dust and glass rain down, shaken from the ceiling by your cannon. The Empress' knuckles are bone white as she clutches her gilded chair. You rattle their bones. You shake their boots. It is glorious. A few of the more frail courtiers will never be the same again. Was that a smile on the pale, lost face of the Consort?
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
carving out a Reputation at Court increase
Connected: Bohemian increase
Scandal increase
Gain: 3000 x
Moon-pearl
A choral requiem
Melancholy and stately and beautiful. Music is so rare at the Palace that it is one's duty to produce something both exceptional and fitting.
A fitting tribute
You decide not to dedicate the requiem to anyone in particular. Your audience is content to infer a tribute to whichever of their favoured colleagues or relatives died recently.
The music soars and wails. A few of the Court make noisy use of their handkerchiefs, but most are simply entertained by the singing. Choral symphonies are very old-fashioned, however, and some make a point of appearing bored. You glance at the audience and see the Empress. She is staring, rapt, at the Consort. A single tear rolls slowly down her cheek.
Connected: Bohemian increase
Connected: Society increase
Gain: 3000 x
Moon-pearl
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
carving out a Reputation at Court increase
Stage your ballet!
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 6, Inspired… 24
The ballet has not enjoyed the favour of the Court since before the Fall. Such disdain will make your victory all the sweeter. The performance will have to be silent, of course. But what sort of ballet will you stage?
A light work based around a Neathy folk tale
An old-fashioned sort of ballet. The Veteran Privy Counsellor gets very excited about this sort of thing.
The dance of the rat and the spider
The form may be somewhat behind the times, but you have modernised it with a tale of the Neath's most humble residents. It was fiercely difficult to find dancers who could effectively impersonate rats and sorrow-spiders, but you managed it somehow, and now the curtain is rising on opening night.
It is not the rapturous reception you are hoping for. Oh, the Veteran Privy Counsellor and a few of his friends are enchanted. The rest of the Court is not, however. The Empress does little to conceal her boredom with the whole business. Nevertheless, the Veteran Privy Counsellor is a fine patron, and showers you with gifts. He talks about establishing a permanent ballet company at the Palace.
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
carving out a Reputation at Court increase
Connected: Society increase
Gain: 3000 x
Jade Fragment
A work of romance and automata
A tale of love in the deep places, drawing on your own experience. Clay dancers! Social commentary! This will make them sit up and watch. And possibly run away.
Love and clay
The viewers are suspicious at first, but the passions and fears of your noble young heroine draw them in. The mysterious but heartfelt attentions of her suitor have them entranced. The comedic ratwork clockwork-man dance calms their nerves and sets them at ease.
As such, they are unprepared for your crashing finale of love and transformation in the depths of the earth. Clay men are rarely elegant dancers, but their stomping march provides a much-needed rhythm to the action. Your audience is speechless. A good third of them aim to see your work banned. But many of the rest are moved to tears. The Empress, as usual, is unreadable.
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
carving out a Reputation at Court increase
Connected: Bohemian increase
Scandal increase
Gain: 3000 x
Jade Fragment
A work of barely-clad decadence
Dull, is it? Old-fashioned? Hah! You're going to give them a night to remember. Presumably you've booked passage to the tomb-colonies in advance.
Quite the show
Rarely has the costume bill for so many dancers been so low. The audience is expecting a dance of classical antiquity. Well, that's possible. This sort of thing probably went on just before the fall of Rome. Although the Romans didn't have a Rubbery Dancer lined up for the second act finale.
Much as expected, a good portion of the audience gasp and swoon in the first five minutes. The remainder roar with outrage, when they can tear their eyes from the stage. The more bohemian elements of the Court cheer wildly. Fist-fights erupt, and the violence quickly spreads to the stage. The dancers soldier bravely on, defying taboo and potential pneumonia. A bishop harangues a pair of oiled slave-guards. A casually tossed nymph lands on the Prime Minister. You are heading to the docks before the final curtain falls.
You've moved to a new area: disgraced exile in the Tomb-Colonies
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
carving out a Reputation at Court increase
Connected: Bohemian increase
(35-50 cp)
Scandal increase
(10 cp)
Gain: 3000 x
Moon-pearl
Called to the office
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 4
The Veteran Privy Counsellor summons you to his offices.
Off to the office
Go and share a little port with the old fellow, and see what he has to say.
Opera and exile
The Veteran Privy Counsellor frowns. Today, he seems older than usual. He stares at you for so long that you begin to suspect a deficiency in your dress. The grandfather clock behind him measures out the seconds.
'I must say that your works have been exceptionally diverting. We could not ask for a more talented gentleman. But: to business.'
'I have called you here to make a request: I wish to propose a very special piece. An opera. To be performed for the Court. Your most original. Your most exceptional. And your most infamous. Make it scurrilous, or impious, or vulgar, or even political. But make it sting.'
'And make no mistake: a work of this calibre will get you exiled so hard you may experience a species of concussive dizziness. Far beyond a little trip to the tomb-colonies: this will ensure you dare not return to Court, for months or years. Of course, it means your appointment to Imperial Artist-in-Residence will be delayed. But it will come. I give you my word as a gentleman.'
'Payment? You misunderstand me, Sir. This is not a commission. I will not protect or reward you. In fact, this conversation never occurred. But if my assessment of you is correct, you will have your own reasons for undertaking this… great work.'
An occurrence! Your 'carving out a Reputation at Court' Quality is now 5!
A weighty decision
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 5
The Veteran Privy Counsellor wants you to compose an opera so audacious that it will get you banished from the Empress' Court.
Oblige him
Whatever your reasons, you will write his opera for him. [In a moment, you may indicate your reasons.]
Capital!
'I knew I could count on you. There have been… difficulties… arising from your work. I have dealt with those that I can. The Constables and the Ministry of Public Decency won't bother you for a while. Now, set about your creation. I am depending on you!'
An occurrence! Your 'carving out a Reputation at Court' Quality is now 6!
Suspicion decrease
(Very high, possibly all the way to 0)
Scandal decrease
(Very high, possibly all the way to 0)
Refuse him
What? No! You have work to do! Your ascent to immortality will not be derailed by intrigue! [Continue at the Shuttered Palace for now.]
Dashed inconvenient
'Well: it can wait a little longer. Pursue your career… artist. We will speak again.'
An occurrence! Your 'carving out a Reputation at Court' Quality is now 3!
A stroke of good fortune
Unlocks: 8 Fate
The Counsellor is a veteran of intrigue… but it so happens your Palace contacts are perfectly placed to uncover valuable information. [Fate will give you a clue to his intentions.]
Scandals past
You sniff out rumours. He's in good odour with the Empress. This can't be revenge. You have him followed. You're sure he has no dealings in the Great Game. It can't be politics. He does like his ballet. Is this some obscure artistic revenge? He has apartments at the Bazaar, but he never visits them. Is this significant?
A Faltering Lamp-Lighter remembers an occasion, ten years or more ago, when another promising artist fell unexpectedly. She cast one of the Empress' sons in a scandalous play. She arranged to marry the son on stage, with the assistance of a real priest disguised as an actor. She claimed to love him. People will say anything. They don't say what happened to her, though. But the Counsellor commissioned the play.
And Clathermont: one of your spies uncovers an ancient receipt from Clathermont's in the palace record. Your Privy Counsellor has a tattoo from Clathermont's, identified only as 'C. special, 1: faith kpt, aeons.'
You have used 8 Fate. The world tilts on its axis, very slightly.
Gain: 2 x
Incendiary Gossip
Try to discover his reasons
Previous Unlocks: Sudden Insight x 3, Cryptic Clue x 300
New Unlocks(January 2012) 3 x Sudden Insight, 2 x An Identity Uncovered!
Watchful challenge, straightforward at 135
This man is a veteran of sixty years of palace intrigue. Are you sure you want to risk prying into his business?
A snake's nest of secrets
You sniff out rumours. He's in good odour with the Empress. This can't be revenge. You have him followed. You're sure he has no dealings in the Great Game. It can't be politics. He does like his ballet. Is this some obscure artistic revenge? He has taken a few discreet coach trips to the University. Is there a connection? Or does he just keep a scholarly lover?
A palace cat bribed with secrets and Venderbight cave-herring brings you one tidbit. He attends meetings on the palace roof, when the bats swarm thickest and the moonish light is dim as tar. No-one else ascends the stairs. Whoever he meets there must live up there. Or fly. Or use a very tiny dirigible.
And Clathermont: one of your spies uncovers an ancient receipt from Clathermont's in the palace record. Your Privy Counsellor has a tattoo from Clathermont's, identified only as 'C. special, 1: faith kpt, aeons.'
Watchful increase
Nightmares increase
(1 cp)
Lose: 3 x Sudden Insight
Gain: 2 x
Incendiary Gossip
was Lose: 300 x Cryptic Clue
instead now Lose: 2 x An Identity Uncovered!
Sinister conclusions
You sniff out rumours. He's in good odour with the Empress. This can't be revenge. You have him followed… and your agent is found naked, clutching the side of a steeple in Spite, gibbering about stars and falling nuns. The cat you bribe to search his quarters suddenly takes a post on a tramp-steamer to the Carnelian Coast. Four Special Constables invade your salon and ask impertinent questions about your visits to Veilgarden. The Privy Counsellor calls you in for a glass of port and talks sorrowfully about the iniquities of youth. You get the message.
Watchful increase
Lose: 3 x Sudden Insight
Lose: 300 x
Cryptic Clue
Suspicion increase
Scandal increase
Why are you doing this?
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 6
The Veteran Privy Counsellor wants you to create something unique: a incendiary bomb of an opera which will shatter your glittering reputation into a million pieces. And you've agreed!
For the art
No censors. No limits.
Art first. Taste second. No, taste last.
Imagine what you could create when you are expected to shock and scandalise? Or is that a limitation like any other? There's only one way to find out: actually write the thing. [Raise your Inspired… quality to 24 to complete the opera.]
An occurrence! Your 'carving out a Reputation at Court' Quality is now 7!
For Empress and Country?
The Veteran Privy Counsellor was too artful to say. But perhaps they need you to be exiled for a reason.
How high does this go?
It probably involves conspiracies that span the Empire! You shall not be found wanting.
You can find no flaw in your logic. But you still have to write the bloody thing. [Raise your Inspired… quality to 24 to complete the opera.]
An occurrence! Your 'carving out a Reputation at Court' Quality is now 7!
Connected: The Great Game increase
For the Revolution
Unlocks: Connected: Revolutionaries 10
An opportunity to thumb your nose at the whole Court, live on stage? Wait until they hear of this in the Flit.
For the workers!
Opera is the Establishment's lapdog. Imagine the fun when it bites the Establishment somewhere personal.
Your reasoning is sound. But you still have to write the bloody thing. [Raise your Inspired… quality to 24 to complete the opera.]
An occurrence! Your 'carving out a Reputation at Court' Quality is now 7!
Because you've done the Court.
Look at these people. They're wraiths. Leeches. Why did you ever care about their good opinion?
You are beyond them now
But you'll give them something to remember you by. Oh yes, you will.
This is all very well. But now, you have to actually write the thing. [Raise your Inspired… quality to 24 to complete the opera.]
An occurrence! Your 'carving out a Reputation at Court' Quality is now 7!
Hedonist increase
Because I hate the Empress
Down with the Traitor Empress!
A traitor to be reviled
Whether it's politics or a more personal dislike, you'll give her a d—ned fine reason to kick you out.
This is all very well. But now, you have to actually write the thing. [Raise your Inspired… quality to 24 to complete the opera.]
An occurrence! Your 'carving out a Reputation at Court' Quality is now 7!
For the freedom of expression
This is one performance that the Ministry of Public Decency won't interfere with.
They can come anyway
Perhaps you should invite a few Decency Evaluators along to the performance. So the Ministry will know exactly what you think of their censorship. Yes. Complimentary tickets.
Your reasoning is all very well. But now, you have to actually write the thing. [Raise your Inspired… quality to 24 to complete the opera.]
An occurrence! Your 'carving out a Reputation at Court' Quality is now 7!
To make you famous
Whatever happens, this is going to be talked about for years.
Infamy beckons
Your name will live forever.
Your reasoning is sound. But you still have to write the bloody thing. [Raise your Inspired… quality to 24 to complete the opera.]
An occurrence! Your 'carving out a Reputation at Court' Quality is now 7!
The Grand Finale
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 6, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 7, Inspired 24
Your opera for the Empress is complete! Once the curtain comes down, you'll very likely be banished from Court altogether. Let's make this one count.
A heavyweight epic mocking the Empress
An overwrought monstrosity in the style established by 'Odin's Horse'. A big, serious opera where the Queen of Valkyries is a lame, lumbering, blood-drinking monster.
A night to remember
The cast numbers in scores. The orchestra is even larger. The curtain rises and the opera begins. Your Byzantine and largely nonsensical plot unfolds. Mainly, it involves large ladies in metal hats screaming at each other. The Queen of Valkyries will appear on the second day. In the meantime, your thunderous score ensures that no-one in the courtly audience can sneak a nap.
Finally, there she is. The Queen of Valkyries. A cannibalistic fiend, who sold her divine lands and now feasts on her children. Jaws drop through the theatre. All eyes turn to the Empress. Offended? That doesn't even begin to describe it. She is in a beetroot-tinted, pop-eyed apoplexy. You risk no more than a glance before you are bundled away by the Veteran Privy Counsellor's men. Behind you, the mob bays for your blood.
An occurrence! Your 'carving out a Reputation at Court' Quality is now 7
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
A sentimental love story
A story where the young princess will do anything to rescue her diseased lover. Who unexpectedly gets chopped up by pirates.
A night to remember
The curtain rises. Everything is rather jolly to begin with. The young heroine is lovelorn, but everyone expects that. There are some piratical excesses and a few waifs succumb to consumption, but these things happen.
And then the big aria. The heroine pleads for her lover's life with the pirate captain. It's heart-rending. Not a dry eye in the house. The pirate captain lifts his big axe and chops the fellow into gobbets. Butcher's offal spatters the front three rows. The audience howls with horror and outrage. The pirates howl with laughter. The princess loses her mind. A witch (the pirate captain in disguise!) promises to return her love to life, if she turns over her fortune. He runs off with the money, and the final curtain falls.
The Empress doesn't have many actual soldiers at her disposal. But those few there are hunt you down. Of course, you're ahead of them. Off into the night with the Veteran Privy Counsellor.
An occurrence! Your 'carving out a Reputation at Court' Quality is now 8!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
A light comedy about the lives of the saints
An amusing hagiographical romp through history. Remember to invite the bishops. Enough to get you solidly exiled, but nothing that will offend the Empress personally.
A night to remember
Oh, but what a jolly little opera you have written. You establish your mood quickly. The first song has St Augustine chasing Manichaeans off with a broom. The audience chuckles nervously. The Empress doesn't seem to be offended, so the work continues. Two bishops in the front row walk out during You'll Have To Stand Still If You Want To Be A Martyr. The Bishop of Southwark promises to do something very secular to you.
The Court is growing restless. The Empress' even gaze cannot calm them. The cast blasts into the big Council of Nicaea chorus and the audience storms the stage. St Sebastian is beaten with an umbrella. Fuming Parliamentarians fell your Eastern patriarchs as the Veteran Privy Counsellor's men bundle you safely out of the building.
An occurrence! Your 'carving out a Reputation at Court' Quality is now 9!
Your 'creating a masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
Your 'Inspired…' Quality has gone!
Tristram Bagley's unfinished masterpiece
Staging the impossible thing is only marginally easier than smuggling the Topsy King into the Palace.
Unlocked with: Ambition: Heart's Desire - the Topsy King 22, **a Scholar of the Correspondence 1**
An opera for a King and an Empress
You raise your baton. The glass kettle drums pound out the the overture. Your vision clouds with blood. You wipe it away and continue. The xylophonist's hair bursts into a violet flame, but he continues playing. He's either a consummate professional or very drunk indeed.
You've read the libretto, of course, but you couldn't have imagined the full impact of the work in performance. The Bell and the Candle is erotic beyond the human experience. You find yourself enamoured of the unseen sky. Desperate with desire for the endless spaces between stars. Consumed with furious lust for the striking of bells. What is this doing to you?
The Court is a bedlam. Half of the aristocrats are cavorting lustily with the other half. A few run out into the gardens, wild-eyed with passion. The Bell sings her aria. A thing of hatred, of impossible desire, of revenge and bright burning joy. And then, with a juddering wail from the transparent bassoons, it's over. The Empress is flushed with long-dormant passions. She is furious with you. She leaps from her chair. You sprint from the chamber before she personally tears you limb from limb. You've no idea what effect all this had on the Topsy King. You'll have to catch him in the Flit if you live through all this. Ah, here come the Veteran Privy Counselor's men to bundle you away.
An occurrence! Your 'carving out a Reputation at Court' Quality is now 9!
Your 'Shaping a Masterpiece for the Empress' Quality has gone!
'Inspired…' has been reset: a conclusion, or a new beginning?
An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Heart's Desire - the Topsy King' Quality is now 24!
After doing this you are immediately taken to the next story option. You cannot choose to do something else.
On the way to the docks
As you walk briskly to exile, the Veteran Privy Counsellor appears and falls into step with you.
Before you go
Have a little chat with the man who orchestrated your downfall.
Something for the voyage
'Well, you've done it now. I'd suggest heading out to the Elder Country. I'm sure I can secure a position for you in the colonies. Provincial governor or somesuch. If that's not to your taste, I think you'll find very interesting things occurring at Mahogany Hall. I appreciate that music-hall is something of an insult after your works at Court. But… hm, I'd best not be specific. But - interesting things.
'As I said, you won't be named Imperial Artist-in-Residence until the furore has died down. That may take some time. I assure you, however, that both the title and Versification House will come to you as matters allow. Now, don't you have a ship waiting? Here's a little something for the voyage.'
[Mahogany Hall and the Carnelian Coast will open soon.]
You've moved to a new area: disgraced exile in the Tomb-Colonies
Gain: 2 Fate!
Your 'carving out a Reputation at Court' Quality has gone!
Gain: 2000 x
Drop of Prisoner's Honey
An Accomplishment! You are now banished from the Court.
Scandal increase
(from 1 to 4)
The people's art
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 1
Perhaps the Court is ready to hear the voices of the forgotten, the hungry, the angry. The people of the Flit. The people of the Abyss.
Passion and bats
Whether you seek the ferocious rhetoric of the downtrodden or the lyricism of the bat-haunted Flit, the revolutionaries can help you.
[Unlocked with Connected: Revolutionaries 15]
_  Persuasive challenge chancy at 100, straightforward at 167 |
A piece to remember
The rhetoric is hot and bright and…
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase
[15 change points]
Suspicion increase
[1 change point]
Religion and Art
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 1
Perhaps your work requires a spiritual dimension.
Mortification of the flesh!
Lock yourself away and fast. Optionally, pray. Consider shaving your head.
A week of living narrowly
When you emerge from your isolation…
Austere increase
[2 CP, no higher than 10]
Inspired increase
[5 change points]
Call on the help of the Church
There's more to religion than stained glass and hymns. You know a Cultured Vicar who can introduce you to a rarefied sort of artist.
| _ Persuasive challenge straightforward at 167 |
[Unlocked with Connected: The Church 5]
Creation at the vicarage
The artists that you meet through…
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase
[15 change points]
Connected: The Church decrease
[10 change points]
Talkative theology
The artists you meet through the…
Persuasive increase
Connected: The Church decrease
[10 change points]
An organ recital at All Christs
It might not be your first choice, but perhaps it's time you tried something different.
| _ Austere challenge straightforward at 11 |
[Unlocked with 10 x Jade Fragment]
A transcendent evening
The audience are rapt as the organ…
Austere decrease
[4 change points]
Inspired increase
[20 change points]
Connected: Church increase
[3 change points]
Lose: 10 x
Jade Fragment
Devils and art
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 1
Can devils create art? Can the soulless? It's a fascinating metaphysical question. If art does not come from the soul, whence does it arise?
The art of the Brass Embassy
The Embassy sometimes hosts exclusive soirees, at which guests can enter some of the more private rooms. You can procure an invitation to the next one; certain devils hold you in high enough esteem. It should be a perfect chance to glimpse some of the art that devils truly appreciate.
| _ Persuasive challenge straightforward at 167 |
[Unlocked with Connected: Hell 15]
Beautiful and terrifying
Judging by the paintings on show…
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase
[15 CP]
Connected: Hell decrease
[10 CP]
Soulless in more ways than one
… But however lifelike the images…
Persuasive increase
Connected: Hell decrease
[10 CP]
The Bohemians
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 1
Many are poseurs or fools: but there are a few real, wild, tigerish talents down in Veilgarden. They might help a genius like you.
Call in some favours
Unlocks: Connected: Bohemian 5
Persuasive challenge, straightforward at 179
If you know the right people, you could benefit from a close collaboration with bohemian artists.
Wine and vinegar
There are disagreements, of course. Artistic differences. There are screaming rows enlivened with hard words and thrown pets. But there is also beauty and progress and the odd moment of genius. You've gone further together than you could hope for separately. There may be a great future for the two of you, if you can still bear the sight of each other by week's end.
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase (15 change points)
Connected: Bohemian decrease (10 change points)
What are you getting involved with?
There are disagreements, of course. Artistic differences. There are screaming rows enlivened with hard words and thrown pets. But there is also beauty and progress and the odd moment of genius. You've gone further together than you could hope for separately. And you've found out what happened to your colleague's previous partner. Good Lord!
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase (20 change points)
You've gained 2 x Appalling Secret
How did this happen?
There was quite a lot of wine, and you were… confused. Now, you find that you are contributing to the work of another artist. Hang on. That's not the plan! You don't even get a credit!
Persuasive increase
Inspired decrease (20 CP)
The men from the Ministry
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 1
The Ministry of Public Decency requires you to submit a copy of your work before it is exposed to the public.
Persuasive challenge, straightforward at 107
Bury it deep
If your work has any radical notions to it, you would be wise to be subtle. The Ministry's Evaluators are thorough, but they can be fooled.
Too deep for them
The Men from the Ministry are disciplined and intellectually competent. However, the finer points of allusion and the latest artistic developments occasionally pass them by. You have judged it perfectly. The objectionable sections of your material exceed their grasp by inches. Your work shall not suffer their rough hands or their consuming flames.
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase (10 change points)
Crackle and crisp
Why is it always a public burning? Surely a polite letter requesting a few changes would suffice? But no, not with these people. Still, you were wise enough to hide a copy of the work.
Persuasive increase
Scandal increase
The Decency Evaluator
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 1
The Ministry of Public Decency sends Evaluators to examine any new work for evidence of sedition, lewdness, carnivorous tendencies and so on.
Come to an equitable arrangement
Unlocks: Foxfire Candle Stub 50
A matter of luck: the odds are against you here
Decency Evaluators are paid a pittance, but this one is too honest to bribe. Fortunately, you discover with a little digging that he has a desperate need for fine candles.
Where is that, exactly?
'I find your work to be within acceptable limits of decency, and no more likely than most to corrupt youths and encourage your servants to malfeasance. And so forth. I bid you good day, Sir.'
Behind his flashing spectacles, the Evaluator's eyes are haunted and sleepless. He takes the candles with a faint gasp of relief. He leaves behind a card with an address written on it. Somewhere you've never heard of. Interesting. Did he do that on purpose?
You were fortunate!
Lose: 50 x Foxfire Candle Stub
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase (probably 15 change points, the lucky & unlucky options add up to 30 change points)
Gain: 2 x Secluded Address
An illuminating exchange
'I find your work to be within acceptable limits of decency, and no more likely than most to corrupt youths and encourage your servants to malfeasance. And so forth. I bid you good day, Sir.'
Behind his flashing spectacles, the Evaluator's eyes are haunted and sleepless. He takes the candles with a faint gasp of relief.
You were unlucky. Better luck next time…
Lose: 50 x Foxfire Candle Stub
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase (probably 15 change points, the lucky & unlucky options add up to 30 change points)
Suspicion increase
Competition for the post of Imperial Artist-in-Residence
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 1
A Lyrical Poetess is planning to upstage your work. A thousand stanzas of patriotic history, or some such nonsense.
Persuade her that her work requires alteration
'Of course, nobody listens to that sort of fervid claptrap any more. Today's poetry must possess a current of radical political thought…'
Persuasive challenge, straightforward at 109
A pleasing deception
The Lyrical Poetess affects an air of indifference, but you can see that you've troubled her. It will take her some time to alter her verses, and the resulting scandal should halt her ambitions nicely.
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase (10 change points)
So much for that idea
The Lyrical Poetess pretends not to hear you. She hisses an insult that borders on the uncivilised. So that's how it is, eh?
Persuasive increase
Scandal increase (1 change point)
You have rivals
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 1
You are not the only artist with ambitions to become the Imperial Artist-in-Residence.
Ensure that their work is unfavourably reviewed
Unlocks: Connected: Society 50
All's fair in art and war. You have friends among the press, do you not? You could write a few reviews for the Unexpurgated London Gazette.
Persuasive challenge, straightforward at 105
A damning indictment
'This work is foul. It will infect your children with dropsy. It will wither your chickens. It will put your weasels off their game. This loathsome creation will see morals lowered and hems raised before the month is out…'
You continue in this vein for some time. Mr Huffam will probably edit the more creative phrases, but it can't hurt to try. Your rivals drift ever closer to exile.
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase (10 change points)
'You must come to lunch…'
'This work is foul. It will infect your children with dropsy. It will wither your chickens. It will put your weasels off their game. This loathsome creation will see morals lowered and hems raised before the month is out…'
You continue in this vein for some time. Mr Huffam is delighted with your piece, and invites you to lunch with some of his society columnists. The conversation is eye-opening, to say the least.
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase
You've gained 2 x Incendiary Gossip
A gaggle of artistic temperaments
Unlocks: Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 3
Individually, your performers are admirably talented. However, put them in the same room and they quarrel like hyaenas over the last gazelle.
Inspire them to work together
Your company is less than the sum of its parts. You must bring the performers together if they are to realise your vision.
Persuasive challenge, straightforward at 108
Enough! To rehearsals!
You break up a weasel fight. You delay a pay dispute. You scotch a persistent rumour that you want to bed the entire cast. You draw their attention to the work. The artistic vision. The glory that is to come. The better-than-even chance that the Empress won't exile them to the tomb-colonies after opening night.
Your company follows your every word. You have them, for now. Best make good use of them while it lasts.
Persuasive increase
Connected: Bohemian increase (1 change point)
Inspired increase (10 change points)
The lead
Unlocks: Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 3
The lead performer in your work is passionate, capable, professional. And rather attractive, now that you think about it.
Indulge yourself with the lead
Well, why not? It's almost expected of you. A tradition. Yes, that's it.
Persuasive challenge, straightforward at 105
Art and beauty
An audition of breathless flirtations. Private rehearsals seasoned with passionate glances and indecorous thoughts. And finally, a first night of languorous and inventive pleasures. Ah, the prerogatives of genius!
The next day, your art comes easily. Ideas frisk like colts. Rough edges are smoothed to a shine. Marvellous.
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase
Hedonism increase (capped somewhere below 20)
Austere decrease
The music of the tomb
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 4
While out on a stroll, you hear a tune drifting from an open window at the Continental Hotel. A slow, mournful air on the violin. Lovely, for all its melancholy.
Study the dour tunes of the tomb-colonies
Unlocks: Connected: The Tomb-Colonies 5
Persuasive challenge, straightforward at 105
The Continental Hotel caters to the tomb-colonists. Their music might be worth looking into.
A lone violin
You find your way to the violinist's room. The tune is necessarily slow - vigorous bowing would be disastrous - and it speaks wordlessly of death and loss. Is that a hint of a tear in your eye?
The colonist regards you impassively from behind her bandages. When the tune is finished, you get talking. She's here visiting someone. No, music from the tomb-colonies isn't well known in London. You could be the one to bring it to light!
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase (10 change points)
Melancholy increase (1 change point)
Composition: the low path
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 4
Your music will be simple, honest, memorable. The music of the people. One might even be able to dance to it.
Seek out the music of the people
The bawdy songs of the costermongers. The dockside shanties. The simple ballads of love and loss. They will be your meat and drink.
Persuasive challenge, straightforward at 105
Music in all the wrong places
It may not be the perfect execution of theory, but these people can surely bang out a tune when they put their minds to it. You sing along in the public houses, listen hard at the docks, stroll in the markets at first light. The songs of London come from a score of lands and a dozen centuries. You can make something of all this: something beautiful.
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase
Downsiders
'Downsiders' is an odd little zailor's zong. Song. It's about finding one's shipmates entombed in glass forever, and swearing revenge on the Fiddler's Fluke. Nonsense, obviously, but the tune's something special. You can use this.
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase (a lot)
Composition: the high path
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 4
Your music will be cerebral, abstract, perfect. A procession of smooth-browed messengers shining with remorseless light.
Seek out the music of dreams
Unlocks: Drop of Prisoner's Honey x 25
The music of your dreams is beautiful beyond description. You must seize it!
Persuasive challenge, straightforward at 113
The music of dreams
The music of your dreams is complex, layered, beautiful. Here in your head there are hundreds of dancers. Each one follows its own path across the polished floor, but keeps perfect tempo to your music. Together they form one swarming, interconnected creature, like a clockwork cloud, and it too dances. Whirl and step. You could not forget that music. The world will join you in hearing it.
Persuasive increase
Lose: 25 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey
Inspired increase
The jewel
The music of your dreams is complex, layered, beautiful. Here in your head there are hundreds of dancers. Each one follows its own path across the polished floor, but keeps perfect tempo to your music. Is is like looking at a spinning jewel, light flashing from a thousand facets. When you wake, there is a sapphire in your hand. An omen? You must set to work!
Persuasive increase
Gain: 1 x Sapphire
Inspired increase
Yesterday's work
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 1, Inspired… 5
Yesterday's work sits on the escritoire, looking at you. In the cold light of day, you are sure it is nonsense and humbug.
Toss it onto the fire
Start again! But this time, you're certain to get it right! [This is a risky approach]
(A matter of luck: pretty good odds.)
Recanting your doubt
No! You had a moment of doubt and madness, but it has passed. The work is solid and worthy, but it needs a little polish to make it beautiful. To work! You will edit, not destroy. The fire shall devour only coal today.
Inspired increase
Gain: 1 x Confident Smile
What were you thinking?
Your work blazes merrily. The paper crisps to ash and… No! Some of it was worthy! You drag the work from the flames before you lose it all. Your arm is burning! You douse the flames with cold coffee.
The manuscript is half-gone and the half that remains is covered in coffee. It will take considerable work to save anything. What were you thinking?
Inspired decrease
Wounds increase
A quiet day at your lodgings
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 1
The knocker is silent. There is not a promenading dandy, a larcenous urchin nor an honest tradesman to be seen. Your lodgings are quieter than a politician's conscience.
Cloister yourself and work
Inspiration is all very well, but sooner or later one must see to the actual business of creation.
Persuasive challenge, straightforward at 104
The artist's life
Today it comes, but it doesn't come easily. You hammer away at your work, when you're not distracted by the newspaper or the scene outside your window. Your head is pounding by the day's end, but you have a creditable stack of material. Surely, you deserve a treat of some sort now?
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase (10 change points)
More!
The muse moves you! More paper! More ink! Your coffee goes cold. You drink it anyway and shake the cramp from your fingers. Ideas march past in battalions. How can you possibly maintain this pace? Either your work will be completed, or you will wreck yourself. More paper! You'll show them all!
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase (20 change points)
Business at the Court
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 1
The business of the Court carries on with or without you. Hushed conversations and half-forgotten ceremonies mark out the days and weeks.
Gauge the tastes of the Court.
These people are your audience, after all. Their tastes and predilections may deserve some sort of minor recognition in your work.
Persuasive challenge, straightforward at 110
The mode
Symphonies are terribly old fashioned, but there are some in the court who long to hear music played above a plink and a whisper. Poetry is always popular. Melancholic ballads are the current vogue. You have a better idea of the Court's preferences, though no doubt they will change by the time your work is complete.
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase (10 change points)
Knowing those in the know
Most of the Court don't know the first thing about art. But they listen to those who do. You pick out the influential courtiers, and listen to their little fancies and preferences. And of course, there's the Empress. She doesn't speak much, but she is the moon to their tides. If only you could read her.
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase (20 change points)
I don't think so
Next season's fashion will be for arrhythmic ballet in fuchsia pantaloons. Poetry is dead. The Consort wishes to see a production of Coriolanus, staged on burning frigates on the river.
Someone is having you on.
Persuasive increase
Scandal increase (1-2 change points)
A city of culture
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 1
Fallen London is packed with deliciously creative people, so they say.
Seek out inspiration among artists
Unlocks: Connected: Bohemian 20
Persuasive challenge, straightforward at 102
They drink too much, they take too much honey and half of them will be off with your purse if you don't watch them. But where better to seek inspiration than in London's arty set?
A gleaming…
That bat-haunted dramatist harping on about the rights of man might actually have something. The trio of poets are drunk past standing, but they still manage a ferocious argument about metre. Ideas emerge from the back of your mind like galleons parting the fog.
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase (10 change points)
This is why you come here
You get talking to a pair of veterans. One's a poet and playwright, the other wrote opera. Both were disgraced and haven't worked seriously for years. But, dear Lord, they know their stuff. Half an hour with them is like a fortnight alone. You come away with a mind full of ideas and a lesson in the relationship between talent and success.
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase (20 change points)
The pleasures of the Neath
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 1
Prisoner's honey, fine mushroom wines, imported spirits from across the Unterzee and exotic tipples from the surface. The Neath is rich with inspirational distractions.
Seek inspiration in indulgence
Unlocks: Hedonist 3, Drop of Prisoner's Honey 15, Greyfields 1879 20
A long and honourable artistic tradition.
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)
Perhaps you should buy them all notebooks
Although your recollections are foggier than Winewound Heath, last night must have been energetic. You are … fatigued. You do recall standing on a table and waving your finger in the face of a noted critic.
You meet your companions for a revitalising luncheon. You were on fine form last night. Bless them, some of your friends took notes. This material is astounding! You gather up what you can. You only have a few hours before you begin again.
You were fortunate!
Lose: 15 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey
Lose: 20 x Greyfields 1879
Persuasive increase
Hedonism increase capped at somewhere below 18
Inspired increase
Austere decrease
Mmf
Mmf. Yes. Artistry. Yes. Once the world ceases this unusual circular motion. These don't appear to be your trousers. Where did you end up last night? A church? Well well.
Did you write this stuff? Apparently you did. The handwriting is shaky, but unmistakeably yours. Now let's see if it's any good. Many works of genius were conceived on the back of a wine-stained hymnal, you're sure. You should pull yourself together. The day is half gone and more of the same awaits you tonight.
You were unlucky. Better luck next time…
Lose: 15 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey
Lose: 20 x Greyfields 1879
Persuasive increase
Hedonism increase capped at somewhere below 18
Inspired increase (10 change points)
Austere decrease
Nature in the Neath
Unlocks: carving out a Reputation at Court 1, creating a masterpiece for the Empress 1
The ecology of the Neath does not encourage inspiration. Limpid pools are liable to be infested with Flenser Crabs. The greasy smog of Fallen London subsumes all but the loneliest of clouds.
Seek inspiration in nature
Head out into the fog, find some d—ned nature and wring the inspiration from it till it squeaks.
Persuasive challenge, straightforward at 103
On the dock of the zee
Down by the docks, the oily black waters caress the shore. Stevedores trundle their barrows. Men with axes and hammers attack the black coral. Far out on the Unterzee, steamers strain towards the tomb-colonies, the Elder Country, Polyphreme. It's far from natural, but it is not without a melancholy charm.
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase (10 change points)
Into the gardens
Tyrant's Gardens are hardly the epitome of wild nature. But Neathy fungus is ruthlessly purged by iron-eyed groundskeepers. You stroll past the skeletons of privet hedges that died at the Fall. The brown lawns. The trees like clawed hands. Memories of a different world. Oh, this could be marvellous…
Persuasive increase
Inspired increase (20 change points)
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