Eva's AuthorThread

[DanielH]

So the “eternal” isn’t actually, and the “true immortality” is only maximum lifespan, not counting injury, war, etc.?

Why did Alex get told that he, as a Kukla, was immortal? They don’t seem to have any additional health benefits at all. Is it that somebody in the group is willing to share the benefit of a Tome of Life?

On a side note, I agree with Niryl’s Shadow that the Hanged Man is the best, for approximately those reasons, assuming that the answers to my first paragraph questions are “yes”.

Kappa, it looks like all the cards, including the Empress, have the same family backstory issues. Since this drawback is shared between all cards it can’t reasonably autofail any of them (unless the purple in question has the ability to, when cornered, suddenly defeat the Shadow when this wasn’t noticed before the conversation started; I wouldn’t put that past a Miles or a Matilda). Does that change your choice? Or do I not understand what you mean about family backstory?

[Ezra]

Will Shadopolis ever take people who (already) have a species other than baseline human? If so, how does that interact with the other world?
- Are you reborn in your accustomed species, or as human?
-- If human - what if this would require substantial alteration to mental structures?
-- If accustomed - does this retroactively imply a population of your species there?

[DanielH]

Related question: what if your accustomed species is human-related? For example, werewolf or vampire (Sunny, Aurum, or other), or cloudpine witch?

[ErinFlight]

For Alex, immortality is a template attractor.
There are various different Kukla auras, but the immortality one worked best.
It's for every X seconds you live you get >X seconds of extra life. (Can't remember exact numbers at the moment, sorry.)


Also, thoughts on glowfic of Echo Baazar.
It seems like most everyday citizens of Fallen London are mostly ignorant of the higher workings, so the story could be begun with only vague understanding of the deeper lore. As the story progresses more pieces could be included (THE SUN THE SUN THE SUN). It could might become slightly AU in the details, but could stay close the the essence.

Personally, I love the idea of two characters exploring Fallen London.
I'd love to flesh out some of the different settings and groups.
There are some interesting possibilities with menaces and skills as well as connections. What if they are more than summaries of normal surface traits? What if the bazaar shapes you?

[Bluelantern]

Does the shadow need to remain close to the victim? Could someone teleport the victim out of their range?

@ErinFlight, Fallen London Glowfic needs to happen like, yesterday.

Also, Eva, shadopolis thing is great did you come up with everything before the thread? I'm jealous that I didn't have this idea xD

[Kappa]

I am supplied with The Spoilers and according to those, the Empress does not provide you with any memory-altered background characters in your new life.

[atheistcanuck]

I have an amusing image of some character deciding to annoy the Shadow by singing their questions, though I don't know if it would actually care.

[Eva]

*snip*

It's eternal in that so long as you live, you will be young. The shadows play word games. Kukla have an agelessness and unlimited lifespan option. Majokko immortality isn't deathproof, though it's definitely the one that can be set up the closest to a "real" immortality such as torching.

Will Shadopolis ever take people who (already) have a species other than baseline human? If so, how does that interact with the other world?
- Are you reborn in your accustomed species, or as human?
-- If human - what if this would require substantial alteration to mental structures?
-- If accustomed - does this retroactively imply a population of your species there?

It will take people from other species, but prefers ones that will fit in a 'fantasy kitchen sink' environment. Elves, dwarves, etc can be assumed to already have native populations. If you don't have enough members of your species in the new world, you get Human'd. If you're cognitively different enough from a human, the shadows probably won't grab you. Human-related species are likely to become human.

Does the shadow need to remain close to the victim? Could someone teleport the victim out of their range?

Also, Eva, shadopolis thing is great did you come up with everything before the thread? I'm jealous that I didn't have this idea xD

It needs to remain within throwing distance, so yes.

Shadopolis is about 50% shameless theft and 50% original work. The cards themselves are not originally mine, but have been edited by me for balance and story-suitability purposes: the setting, how the shadows operate, why the setting exists, etc, etc, are mine. Yes, all of this was built before the thread was posted, I have been constructing this one for a while.

I have an amusing image of some character deciding to annoy the Shadow by singing their questions, though I don't know if it would actually care.

It would probably be amused at first, then descend into annoyance.

[Bluelantern]

Does the shadow need to remain close to the victim? Could someone teleport the victim out of their range?

Also, Eva, shadopolis thing is great did you come up with everything before the thread? I'm jealous that I didn't have this idea xD

It needs to remain within throwing distance, so yes.

Shadopolis is about 50% shameless theft and 50% original work. The cards themselves are not originally mine, but have been edited by me for balance and story-suitability purposes: the setting, how the shadows operate, why the setting exists, etc, etc, are mine. Yes, all of this was built before the thread was posted, I have been constructing this one for a while.

Where they are from? I assume you mean that the concept of getting a new life after picking a card is what you shamelessly stole.

[Eva]

Where they are from? I assume you mean that the concept of getting a new life after picking a card is what you shamelessly stole.

How Sausages Are Made, spoilers for basically everything

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There is a niche subgenre of 'character creation games', also known as Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) games: Shadopolis as a whole is basically a deconstruction of what would actually happen if the choices presented in these games were really offered to people. You can see a collection of them at reddit's /r/MakeYourChoice subreddit.

The concepts of and many of the options on the five cards presented are drawn from a specific existing CYOA: I wouldn't say it was 50% stolen if I was just borrowing "pick options, get a new life." (That's basically the central conceit of half of all CYOAs.) You can probably find it with google-fu, but I recommend against trying to use it as a key to the test. I've changed enough of how things work to make that rather disastrous if attempted. :3

The Shadows are from the same CYOA where I got the cards, but their personalities, reasons for kidnapping people, etc, were never explained. They were more of a framing device for the card presentation than actual characters. Basically everything regarding their backstory, personalities and motivations is wholly invented by me. (They definitely weren't nearly as reticent and awful in the source material.)

Many CYOAs deal with constructing a universe, kingdom, estate, etc to your specifications. The Creator of the World is representative of one such player, who discovered that maybe he ought to have put more than an hour's thought into the options presented.