The Least Dangerous Man

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[little-red-notebook]

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Haven't made a lot of these so will probably update as I go BUT HERE'S THE BASICS where I can update it and have it easy to find!

Spoilering will not be exhaustive, I'm intending to mostly spoil by putting things that I'm aware people I know are avoiding under the cut.

Tagging is also likely to be erratic tho I will tag FL OCs with their epithet if I know it!

Basic info on my two OCs under the cut:

(No specific spoilers, just to save space and make editing easier)

Lyon Peter Bell-Sunstram [The Ferocious Journalist] 

The sensible, diligent editor of The London Glass (Peter picked the name before he knew just how many Neathy connotations it had, but he's not gonna let that slow him down now) – a newspaper rivaling the Gazette in its reputation for integrity and tenacity. 

Peter came to the Neath to decide whether to commit to moving below the earth to uncover the mysteries of a place that could spirit away an entire city…and to find a missing friend. A mishap forced him below past any point of return, taking the decision out of his hands. (It’s possible this abrupt transition might have something to do with a quiet but lingering sunlight habit.) He pressed on despite his off-balance start, and even found (and married!) his old friend. He’s gone on to build a paper and a team he’s very proud of. …Though it is possible a man who gets so offended about reality not behaving should really have thought twice before embarking on a journey to uncover eldritch mysteries... 

Also noteworthy as the least physically dangerous person any of his friends know (and yet seekers tend to be afraid of him??), part-time detective, secret penny novel author, employer turned adopted father to a pair of devil children called Mel and Bee [the Bumbling Byliner], and doting husband to [the Benevolent Rogue] his charming husband Jack! Also has a romantically nebulous but deeply loyal bond with Deacon Samuel Ashman [the Bloodstained Deacon] founded on inadvisable adventure and dubiously sane introductions, and a fierce, pseudo-sibling friendship with Professor ‘Mal’ Malachite [the Resolute Hunter]. 

Doctor Clarence Exton [The Cheerful Bookseller]

The humble and friendly proprietor of the bookshop ‘New Leaf’ tucked in between Veilgarden and Spite, and purveyor of definitely only legal books. Certainly no need to be concerned by the rumors that the block is haunted! Or the way he sometimes answers the door just as visitors are reaching for the handle, or the way some few claim they’ve never… actually seen the shop open? Don’t worry about those whispers that he’s a student of the subtle and pernicious arts of the Sere Palace either! 

If asked about himself he will happily claim to be a London native – despite having taken the Travertine Spiral as a youth, his conviction may, by some definitions, even be accurate. 

Has a complicated sort of understanding with a certain [Inescapable Voloptuary]… Hook up? Target? Chronic annoyance? Or even if not overtly acknowledged… perhaps even something like friend. Dance partner (and “dance partner”) to Atropos Saturni [the Typical Composer], much to his unending surprise.  Friend and honorary member of the Sabethes family. Mentor of English and mentee of cooking! [The Precocious Fledgling] & [the Verdigris Surgeon] Employer to Claude Marceau (Don’t worry about a [Lapsed Midnighter] working for a man who has very actively and deliberately kept distance from the Great Game, it's fine!) 

[little-red-notebook]

Gooooooosh I got soooo carried away on this one............ BUT EVERYONE CAN SEE WHY after @coffeethathurtsyou attacked me with (warning for a lil spicy) THIS ??? Also Neon Zagel just very fun to draw hehehe

Wahhhhhhh has just so many emotions about both versions of Neon Future, this one sure keeps stabbing me in the feelings and new and pointed ways

(in this case specifically Boo sharing that Zagel -- who had left so many things unsaid over their many years knowing that Clarence could feel them -- would at the end actually write all of those things down, all the truths and things he wanted him to know, all the things he never said, and leaving them all in a book somewhere Clarence would find after he was gone... Clarence who had always preferred people, but considered books all the more precious when being with that person was impossible. I'm not crying you're crying...)

That said I am extremely soft for the other Neon Future version as well, reminder to self to share the (far far far less detailed lol) doodles I did from it sometime

[little-red-notebook]

Artfight attack with spoilers from very near the end of Light Fingers under the cut:

Artfight attack for @theunluckiestdevil of their Edward with my annoying little book nerd!

Look sometimes you venture out of Parabola just long enough to run an errand and end up bickering with a Worthy Foe and are a little too sibilant and snake-eyed for the taste of passing tigers and your friend worthy foe's attempt to reassure them that nothing at all concerning is going on only succeeds in also pinging as far too snake like

Brought to you by me realizing what those 'dog shaming' signs would be in the Labyrinth of Tigers

[little-red-notebook]

Be careful what you ask for Lune, sometimes those slick intimidating antagonist taunts can backfire...

Clarence is having a great time though! He usually can't attend the theater -- too overwhelming to be in the midst of many minds all feeling the same thing in coordinated unison -- but hey, if Lune says he can handle the excess..!

Artfight attack for @sketch-cryptid Forever entertained by these two and their weird psychic kindred spirit frienemyship

[reliably-derogaffectionate]

What are some things Jack and Peter enjoy doing together?

ooh FUN QUESTION

off top of head:

reading/sharing books together (jack likes listening to peter read to him - especially if hes getting to be first to experience petes new romance books :3c who better to give first opinion?)

dancing! (either out on the town for scandalous dates, or at home in private. jacks very musical, even if he doesnt play instruments as much these days, and dancing is fun!)

i asked thren ( @little-red-notebook ) for thoughts also given that she owns pete, and she brought up that we've pondered them also playing cards together. jack plays poker a lot, but the two would be a terrifying combination at games like bridge where theyre paired up, between jacks luck + cards skills and petes watchful knowledge >:3c

(also in general they just like, enjoy spending time around each other just updating each other on their current projects and cuddling up? in threns words, "conspiring" he he he)

voice of jack bell-sunstram: kissing :>

[coffeethathurtsyou]

Okay everyone is talking about Muppet Ambitions but I gotta ponder Muppet Evolution.

And I'm gonna pitch it to you as your PC is a Muppet also, and the two humans actually are:

- the Youthful Naturalist

- the Rowdy Corsair

The Youthful Naturalist is the one who's gotta believe in the heart of the muppets ways while also being absolutely thrown around by them constantly. Like they're helping but at what cost?

And the Rowdy Corsair? The kind of human that's not bothered or thrown or surprised by muppet shenanigans at all. Every muppety thing anyone does is so completely above board and also normal to her actually.

more thoughts:

The Del Mun Club is already a bunch of muppets essentially so like no changes there. Makes sense why the naturlist was struggling to get on with them tho

The surgery scene is gonna be so chaotic like dude are you sure that was the right choice? No wonder you ended up like that (tools shells and chess pieces flying, a chicken wanders thru at some point nevermind that there are normally no chickens. In this scene there is. Someone absolutely yoinks something important looking and then tosses it while saying "unimportant")

Abbott Commander and the monks all muppets too (fraggley???) BUT ALSO. THE ENTIRETY OF GODFALL ISLAND? ALSO MUPPET.

I'm immediately thinking of that one drawing that @capn-twitchery did.

Also muppet to hand monster pipeline? Perfect

Most importantly!!!

> I go to Gaiders Mourn to find the Rowdy Corsairs crew.

> Gaiders Mourn is actually a lot of human pirates. Mostly human pirates.

> And thus it's extremely obvious when you walk into the bar and there's a single singing all muppets crew in a sea of normal human ass pirates. Like ah, this is why the Rowdy Corsair isn't bothered at all by muppet logic.

Oh also the PC needs to not be a frog but be a Kermit style muppet just to be able to do the face.

[theunluckiestdevil]

I've been meaning to draw his updated outfit for ages, and Artfight is as good an excuse as any to get around to it! And hes TALL(er) now, a whole 5'5"!! They've both grown so much.

[shazzbaa]

oh my goodness i never posted this, kicks this out of my drafts..... @little-red-notebook made a comment about Peter mistaking one of Sam's reflections for Sam and going up to kiss him before realising his mistake, and what an amazing thought.... I feel like his normal reflection would be pretty chill about it but the silent partner never made it to Dating, HE WOULD BE SO CONFUSED. Also he is the reflection entity least able to quickly correct this mistake. Sorry I'm just so entranced by having an Even More Sopping Wet Samuel

[slightly-sigilant]

the fundamental difficulty with including wren in any collaborative environment is that she is, essentially, the goddamn terminator. she does not like killing people and will generally explore other options first. but she is also a firm believer in Sometimes Those Bastards Need To Die, and once she has Determined that someone is one of Those Bastards, she will fixate upon unaliving them with a terrifying level of precision and competence. and because she is a endgame FLPC, whose number one specialty is eldritch poisons, with a network of other endgame FLPCs to draw upon, she is incredibly likely to succeed unless her target is an actual demigod. or another endgame FLPC, which is basically kind of the same thing.

this is a problem not only because she might decide that she needs another FLPC Super Dead, like when you put several fish in a tank and several days later there's only One Somewhat Larger Fish, but it's also a problem because she also gets Like This about certain major canon characters too. like every time I encounter feducci, I'm reminded that even with elder continent bullshit, it's a severe suspension of disbelief that he continues to be alive or at least functional in any continuity where wren exists

[slightly-sigilant]

this is an example of what I like to call the "warrior of light in ul'dah" problem, where you have a character who is Terrifyingly Competent at killing people in a situation that puts them in very close proximity to people that they would very much like to kill. why they want to kill those people is irrelevant, as well as what consequences might result from killing those people - the only thing that matters is that they want to kill those people and there is nothing, internal or external, that should be able to stop them from doing so... except that the game simply does not give them the option of killing those people, or even attempting to, for no other reason than it simply is Not An Option.

this is especially prevalent in live service games which fundamentally must exist in a kind of stasis, where there is a status quo that cannot be upset because the world must exist indefinitely for all players to play in and accommodating every possible choice that they could make is downright impossible. this is somewhat easier to accommodate in roleplays, but less so if the roleplay in question is wedded to the continuity of a live service game rather than standing alone as its own timeline. completely unrelatedly I am very much looking forward to the fallen london ttrpg

[little-red-notebook]

ThrenHasHat's dragon RuinOfCities

Breed, raise, and train dragons on Flight Rising!

Fandragon for the Fallen London Flirting with Flight Rising Draconic Dreams event!

Ideally would be a liiiitle whiter and have fire eyes, but delighted to have found one this close with a 3/2 hatchdate -- aka the day I woke up and was immediately ecstatic to discover a dragon was freshly loose in (the reflection of) London!

[little-red-notebook]

GUYS, GUYS, THE FUNNIEST THING JUST HAPPENED

A bit of context, my FL characters are Peter Bell-Sunstram, an earnest, well-meaning newspaper editor doing his best to uncover the mysteries of the Neath, and Clarence Exton, a Cheerful Bookseller who is just a harmless little guy who would surely never dabble in forbidden books or esoteric dream poisons, and definitely not both at once!

This is relevant cuz I've basically never seen the name "Peter" used for characters in FL, there's the occasional classical reference like the "Robbing Peter to pay Paul" heist card title, but if there's reference to an actual Londoner named Peter I've missed it. And this makes sense as the majority of characters get epithets after all!

"Clarence" however SURE HAS come up in game!! I've had fun joking it seems to be a go-to name FL applies to agreeable and dismissable entities?? Its own kind of epithet! Huffam offhandedly ordered a Clarence to get more caffine during the Sixth Coil event if I remember right, and there was also a throwaway mention of a Clarence in the ES Cut With Moonlight, a silly fop you trick into getting you into a place you need to be for the ES.

So basically I somehow picked the exact right name for my Definitely Innocuous Little Guy by Fallen London naming standards lol

Anyway with that said, you'll never guess what just happened when I sent this proscribed material appreciator into a Flash Lay to steal a bunch of forbidden books from the Ministry for the first time just now:

I lost my mind, had to scramble to the wiki to make sure this wasn't some unprecedented instance of the game using your actual name in text, verified IT WAS NOT, and then lost my mind again

"It's me!"

IT SURE! IS!!

[little-red-notebook]

So apparently the entirety of Fallen London crashed directly after this happened

Deepest apologies for my hubris, I should have known better than to cross the Clarences!!!

[little-red-notebook]

GUYS, GUYS, THE FUNNIEST THING JUST HAPPENED

A bit of context, my FL characters are Peter Bell-Sunstram, an earnest, well-meaning newspaper editor doing his best to uncover the mysteries of the Neath, and Clarence Exton, a Cheerful Bookseller who is just a harmless little guy who would surely never dabble in forbidden books or esoteric dream poisons, and definitely not both at once!

This is relevant cuz I've basically never seen the name "Peter" used for characters in FL, there's the occasional classical reference like the "Robbing Peter to pay Paul" heist card title, but if there's reference to an actual Londoner named Peter I've missed it. And this makes sense as the majority of characters get epithets after all!

"Clarence" however SURE HAS come up in game!! I've had fun joking it seems to be a go-to name FL applies to agreeable and dismissable entities?? Its own kind of epithet! Huffam offhandedly ordered a Clarence to get more caffine during the Sixth Coil event if I remember right, and there was also a throwaway mention of a Clarence in the ES Cut With Moonlight, a silly fop you trick into getting you into a place you need to be for the ES.

So basically I somehow picked the exact right name for my Definitely Innocuous Little Guy by Fallen London naming standards lol

Anyway with that said, you'll never guess what just happened when I sent this proscribed material appreciator into a Flash Lay to steal a bunch of forbidden books from the Ministry for the first time just now:

I lost my mind, had to scramble to the wiki to make sure this wasn't some unprecedented instance of the game using your actual name in text, verified IT WAS NOT, and then lost my mind again

"It's me!"

IT SURE! IS!!

[shazzbaa]

The start of the Light Fingers ambition says that a contact in London brought you down here, promising that she could get you set up to steal a giant diamond "the size of a cow". Stealing a big diamond would probably not actually tempt Sam down below, so I like to imagine he was friends with the Fading Music-Hall Singer on the surface.

I kinda love the idea of this friendship forming when they're heading in opposite directions -- Samuel having worked hard to let go of his rowdier inclinations and convince himself he'll be happy in the routine life of the church; the Singer drawn towards something more ambitious, more spontaneous, a bit less legal. When she gets in real trouble in London, of course she thinks of her foolishly open-hearted clergyman friend who was always willing to look the other way and get in a scuffle for her, and writes him promising an adventure. And after years of a quiet life in a small church, Sam misses her adventures so badly that he takes the leap.

[theunluckiestdevil]

FISHER KING FANS RISE UP WE GOTTA BEAT THE CHEATERS

[miladyadira]

OC Ask Game ✨ Send an emoji and I’ll answer about my OCs!

🎀 — Tell me a fact about them 🔥 — Something they’re passionate about 😨 — Their biggest fear 🥀 — A memory that still hurts 💗 — Someone they care about deeply 🛏️ — How they act when they’re tired 🎧 — A song that fits them 🍓 — Something they love ⚔️ — What would they fight for? 🌙 — What they’re like at night ☕ — A small everyday detail about them 🧸 — How they comfort someone they love 🙃 — A weird little habit they have 🌧️ — What makes them cry 💋 — How they show affection

[slightly-sigilant]

Fallen London items, everyone

[slightly-sigilant]

saw a few people going "is that real?" and yes, it's actually 100% real. you can get it for christmas, even! (but it costs a bunch of premium currency)

other actually entirely real items in this game

the elephant in the room

honorary cathood

the ever-present anxiety that you might, in fact, be made out of spiders

[little-red-notebook]

I love fallen London's totally real if no less unhinged items

[failbettergames]

oh god oh fuck there's a tree down here. i will protect it with my Entire life

sometimes we can have a little fir in fallen london. as a tree.

[little-red-notebook]

AS A TREE