#fruits of the zee

[shazzbaa]

HE DIED THIS WAY????? HE DIED BY MARI LWYD AND FELL INTO THE ZEE??????????????????

hilariously Samuel was having the time of his life during the somber first part of the festival, where he had to dangerously free-dive into a deep zee trench occupied by an giant alien sea-urchin to try to appease the tyrant king of the unterzee -- that part went fine. ITS THE CELEBRATION AFTERWARDS THAT GOT HIM. PEER-PRESSURED INTO EATING TOO MANY RUBBERY LUMPS AND BULLIED BY A HORSE SKULL ON A STICK

[thebrazenshame]

diving deep into the zee for treasure without needing to breathe more like: her favorite fruits of the zee festival ever

[zeefaring]

drownies stole all the fish, cant have shit in mutton island.

[aimzicr]

Peligin-Eyed Lobsterman taking Londoners out to the dive site:

@failbettergames

[honeymongering]

Yeah, get it, king.

[writ-in-violant]

uh. hello ma'am i'll just. i'll just be going --

Art Thorne and Her Fivefold Symmetry (which i am not sure is a title but will be treating as such). Even on the surface, he did love the sea...

Anyway i considered adding details to this approximately until the heat death of the universe but let's be real. if i did that i'd never post it. so have this version

[laz-lana]

Arrived at Mutton Island for the fruits of the zee festival. Realized there's a hidden stash there I haven't picked up. Wonderful coincidence, they're usually not worth it, somewhere around like 2000 or something ri-

hoLY FU- what do you MEAN 154 THOUSAND???

[neathyingenue]

every time i go diving i can't stop thinking about the tempest

and the parallel passage from 'the burial of the dead' in the waste land

(text versions below the cut)

“Full fathom five thy father lies” 

(from The Tempest, William Shakespeare)

Full fathom five thy father lies;

Of his bones are coral made;

Those are pearls that were his eyes:

Nothing of him that doth fade,

But doth suffer a sea-change

Into something rich and strange.

Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:

                                             Ding-dong.

Hark! now I hear them,—ding-dong, bell.

///

From The Waste Land part I, "The Burial of the Dead" by T.S. Eliot

Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,

Had a bad cold, nevertheless

Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,

With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,

Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,

(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)

Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,

The lady of situations.

Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,

And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,

Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,

Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find

The Hanged Man. Fear death by water.

I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.

Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,

Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:

One must be so careful these days.

[the-avaricious-meddler]

Last day of diving! Any hopes for the new item(s)?

[gant-eyed-warden]

Typing through this all since I'm stuck.

I've had the Obstinate boat, with the Troubled Waters reduction, since the last Fruits of the Zee. It's quite nice, especially for long trips and extended bouts of piracy, but I'm severely tempted by the Ogedei given the recent substantial buff to fast boats. On the other hand, the recent buffs to buried treasure might make the TW reduction more valuable now; but on the gripping hand, you also don't need an action to dock at places like the Khanate and wipe TW now, which makes reductions of that menace a lot less valuable. So I can't figure out if the TW thing is a wash and I'd benefit most from the fast boat by way of saving actions now and then.

There's also the Nyx of course, but everyone has a zub and I don't really see why they're that cool, plus they're supposed to be all ~forbidden~ (see: Where You And I Must Go) but you never really hear about that outside of like, that one ES. Tension points that don't pay off are boring.

Warden isn't much of a zee-loving character so there are no obvious character motivations for one over the other. They tend to be expeditious I suppose, which is another point for the Ogedei, but they're also a Fractionist Licentiate with all the violence and subterfuge that implies and the Nyx is right there...

[the-perspicacious-mercenary]

Is anyone else super intrigued by the whole Mutton Island religious syncretism thing?

There's too much... stuff going on for the Drowned Man namedrop to be a coincidence. But they seem to be glossing over the whole thing as just His Complexity being especially complex.

What do they believe, how do they fit it all together? what does that imply when the actual entities behind the whole thing are right there to see the humans muddle them up?

[lilith-of-stardust]

Finally got to 4k Thalassic Favor I can now rest 😭

[shipofthesis]

The New Drowned Man

When I saw it mentioned in a blogpost some time ago that Fruits of the Zee was getting revamped and updated, I immediately wondered if anything was being done concerning Mr Eaten and Mutton Island's worship of him.

During the festival there is a hidden Seeking Mr Eaten's Name option, which meant I had to dust off my seeker to investigate posthaste.

I think this is a very graceful way to move away from SMEN and bring Mutton Island more in line with newer FL's writing. I don't know if the base carousel of Mutton Island will be changed, but if nothing else the festival will be different. I adore the King-in-Coral's compassion for the seeker.

This tidbit was also reassuring because when I was doing the festival on my main I was confused about The Drowned Man being used to refer to the Fathomking/King-in-Coral cuz I could've sworn that title belonged to Mr Eaten. I was not misremembering, the change is on purpose! While I have mixed feelings about SMEN's background I love rping an awful little zealot so this was a brief delight.

I support the new Drowned Man because honestly, Mr Eaten is fuckin BLEAK and unsustainable. I love the fucked up hunger curse and ghost story that is Mr Eaten but I am also an Axile enjoyer. From a worldbuilding standpoint, this feels more solid compared to the doomsday cult of seekers. The deal the flukes made is still horrifying, and there is still the matter of a deep, painful wrath. But there is rehabilitation, there is adaptation, there is community, and there is love. These are closer to ongoing FL themes than the bottomless pit that is Mr Eaten. The well whispers will never stop and Seeking is a curse not easily broken (with strong implications of madness), but the Mutton Islanders deserve change instead of being stuck for old worldbuilding's sake.

[chronurgy]

really excited that they're introducing new ships for the holiday but idk if I can give up my zub. it's like family to me

[the-ratronaut]

Today in Fallen London

Tyrant king of the depths who takes all those who die at zee under his control is revealed to be a big nerd who just loves his giant alien sea urchin wife so damn much.

[waterlogged-detective]

Oh I would die for you