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[Great Order]

Your daily reminder that the worst time in (European) history was not under kings and nobility or even priests but under the yoke of the burghers

I dunno, proportionately it was the 30 years war. Some areas of Germany lost 1/3 of their total population from war, disease and famine.

Since it's the quotes thread, there's an appropriate one too:

"As there was no compulsion towards a conflict which, in despite of the apparent bitterness of parties, took so long to engage and needed so much assiduous blowing to fan the flame, so no right was vindicated by its ragged end. The war solved no problem. Its effects, both immediate and indirect, were either negative or disastrous. Morally subversive, economically destructive, socially degrading, confused in its causes, devious in its course, futile in its result, it is the outstanding example in European history of meaningless conflict. The overwhelming majority in Europe, the overwhelming majority in Germany, wanted no war; powerless and voiceless, there was no need even to persuade them that they did. The decision was made without thought of them. Yet of those who, one by one, let themselves be drawn into the conflict, few were irresponsible and nearly all were genuinely anxious for an ultimate and better peace. Almost all—one excepts the King of Sweden—were actuated rather by fear than by lust of conquest or passion of faith. They wanted peace and they fought for thirty years to be sure of it. They did not learn then, and have not since, that war breeds only war."

-Cicely Vivienne Wedgwood

[Scoops Novel]

"They did not learn then, and have not since, that war breeds only war."

Wrong line to end on. They were clearly stupid because they tried to read the fine print from the sound of that description.

[scriver]

Your daily reminder that the worst time in (European) history was not under kings and nobility or even priests but under the yoke of the burghers

I dunno, proportionately it was the 30 years war. Some areas of Germany lost 1/3 of their total population from war, disease and famine.

Since it's the quotes thread, there's an appropriate one too:

"As there was no compulsion towards a conflict which, in despite of the apparent bitterness of parties, took so long to engage and needed so much assiduous blowing to fan the flame, so no right was vindicated by its ragged end. The war solved no problem. Its effects, both immediate and indirect, were either negative or disastrous. Morally subversive, economically destructive, socially degrading, confused in its causes, devious in its course, futile in its result, it is the outstanding example in European history of meaningless conflict. The overwhelming majority in Europe, the overwhelming majority in Germany, wanted no war; powerless and voiceless, there was no need even to persuade them that they did. The decision was made without thought of them. Yet of those who, one by one, let themselves be drawn into the conflict, few were irresponsible and nearly all were genuinely anxious for an ultimate and better peace. Almost all—one excepts the King of Sweden—were actuated rather by fear than by lust of conquest or passion of faith. They wanted peace and they fought for thirty years to be sure of it. They did not learn then, and have not since, that war breeds only war."

-Cicely Vivienne Wedgwood

Death toll alone would leave the Dire Death the worst time, probably, but there are more things that need to be weighted than that alone.

Also it should be noted that as occurring in the 17th century the 30 years war lies in the beginning of the burgher takeover of power, even if they still compered with the aristocracy at that time.

[Great Order]

The burghers didn't exactly take power. They supplanted the lesser nobility in a lot of cases, but it wasn't until much later that they were on par with the upper aristocrats. Obviously despite the term "Absolute monarchy", the monarch's power wasn't absolute because it required a whole class of bureaucrats and aristocrats to exercise it and upsetting them could result in the deposing of said monarch, but they were by and far the most powerful individuals within the nations.

[Scoops Novel]

A Male Man's a messenger

[scriver]

Absolute monarchy didn't come into existence until well into the struggle between the burghers and the nobility, since they explicitly on that struggle and leveraging it to move power from the aristocracy to themselves.

Gustav III, widely considered the most absolutely monarch I'm European history ("widely" meaning at least in sweden, which admittedly might just be Swedish blowhardness) and hailed as the epitome of the "Enlightened Despot" ideal by Voltaire, secured his power by being great at manipulating burghers and nobles against each other, favouring the burghers class and disempowering the nobility.

[MrRoboto75]

I had a burgher for lunch once.

[Rolan7]

No chatter from upstairs this time; only the usual stack of banknotes, sent down minutes later. You stare at the stack of pounds sterling on the dumbwaiter: is this a lot of money on the Surface? You can't recall.

My character likes to pretend that they can return to the surface at any time since they haven't "died" even once.  This quote, earned while shipping impossible things up a non-euclidian dumbwaiter to the surface world, was an uncomfortable indication that they can not.  There are many easily-rationalized-away reasons the surface world of 1900 1899 would reject them, but this hits different: This is an indication that my character has rejected the surface in turn. 

No- has forgotten it, lost hold of some nugget of reality that was supposed to lead them back up someday.  Why did they plan to return?  Which trip to the Nadir stole, unnoticed, that guiding purpose?

(and no, it is not a lot of money.  This is an extremely unprofitable endeavor, the only reward being to troll the surface with the unthinkable freedoms of the Neath)
(This wasn't a trans thing but I suppose it's getting trickier to fully hide my HRT effects.  Interesting!)

[King Zultan]

I feel like I'm missing something what is Fallen London, is a book or a game?

[Great Order]

Heavily story-based browser "game", a term I hesitate to use because the gameplay consists of percentage chances and button clicks.

Not to detract from the story, mind. They're bloody good, as are a lot of the descriptions. One of my favourites is the infamous "Seeking Mr. Eaten's Name" storyline, which is a fun adventure into cannibalism, depravity, self-destructive obsession, autocannibalism, suicide, terror, and ultimately bricking your account.

[Scoops Novel]

It's not As they say but How they say

[King Zultan]

It's not As they say but How they say

Is this a variation of do as I say not as I do?

ultimately bricking your account.

How does it brick your account?

[Great Order]

The ending of the story's a sort of closely kept secret, but from what I know it moves you to a new area where you can't do anything but move stuff around your inventory, and you can't leave said area.

The game does warn you at every step of the way that the storylet will lead to permanent changes to your account as well as probably permanently killing your character, which in the setting is really difficult because the laws of life and death don't really hold too well.

[scriver]

It's not As they say but How they say

But what about be that as it may?

The ending of the story's a sort of closely kept secret, but from what I know it moves you to a new area where you can't do anything but move stuff around your inventory, and you can't leave said area.

The game does warn you at every step of the way that the storylet will lead to permanent changes to your account as well as probably permanently killing your character, which in the setting is really difficult because the laws of life and death don't really hold too well.

I haven't played in a long long time but now I'm getting a bit curious about it again.

Do the game still rely on a lot of inter-player interaction and social media stuff? Because that's why I originally stopped playing in the way back when

[Rolan7]

They don't seem to put lore stuff and codes on Twitter so much if that's what you're referring to.  As for player interaction, it's still a good source of Making Waves if you're grinding Notability but I haven't bothered for like a year or two.  There are more convenient ways to ease menaces for advanced players.  Related:  Parabola is open, along with a railway project which opens up various towns west of London which each have their own stuff going on.  There are also a lot of new ports at zee, most notably the Khanate where intriguers can do spycrafty things.

For new players:  It's a Victorian-era story set in a London that has been relocated underground to a place where laws and Judgement are weaker.  That's both a good thing and a bad thing, depending on who you ask, and the city is (for now) under control of a group of hooded capitalists from... elsewhere.  They require love stories, lots of them, queer included.

I personally think the writing is really good which is why I keep getting tempted to quote it.  Checking my journal (you can save entries you like to a personal journal, it's a neat tracker of my character's journey):

You arrange matters so that it is you who presents the condemned man with his final drink. As he drains the tankard you see a tattoo on his wrist. You know that one: it's a map! He gives you a wink and tells you that he'll be seeing you. You hope not. The gemstones are in Tyrant's Gardens as his map indicated. There's a note in the hoard asking you to share them with his mistress.

There is, of course, disagreement and deliberation. Is the interference with the accounting of time another intolerable repression of the imperialist state, or is it just a meaningless distraction from the Great Work? If it is to be opposed, how, exactly?

But the Revolution acts organically, and theoretical debates are set aside as soon as '1900' graffiti starts appearing throughout London. The machinery of Empire strip-mines meaning from the world, leaving behind chasms between the real and the official. Soon, clandestine presses are printing runs of forbidden calendars. Cumaean Canal smugglers are bringing over turn of the century-themed paraphernalia from the Surface along with the usual boxes of sunlight. If the powers that be dictate that the sun must be shining, someone will take it upon themselves to make rain.

You've cast yourself down a pit and into a vast cavern full of monsters and madmen. And you may very well be one of them.

The albatross is a mass of wings, beaks, and necks; every so often it grows a new appendage, adding to its weight. Every one of its many eyes stares at you in accusation. Every one of its necks is a grasping cord trying to wrap around your own neck. Every one of its wings is flapping, pushing the air against you, trying to pull you back and knock you to the ground. Every one of its legs flails in angry futility, scratching you with webbed talons.

Still, you walk on, almost climbing rather than walking. You couldn't let go of the tangled thing if you tried. There's light ahead; cold, uncaring light.

The clouds evaporate. Once more you are in the dim light and still air of the Neath. Will all this be worth it, in the end? Perhaps.