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London
London ambience
London (Sidebar)
Located in Albion
Ports St Dominic's Station
Steam & Sapphire Yards
Shops Spitalfields Market
St Dominic's Augmentations
Shipyard Crown & Misery Co. Yards

London is the major port of Albion, occupying the central circle.

Log Entries[ | ]

Dreadnoughts rumble through the London sky, watchful as sheep-dogs.
The excited shriek of train-whistles. The hiss of steam. The clamour of countless voices. London.
The heart of London, where Her Renewed Majesty reigns from her Throne of Hours.
"God bless her Majesty!" A crewman spontaneously declares. Patriotism? Or apotropaism?

Bells chime. The Inconvenient Aunt checks her pocket watch. "Well, that's completely wrong."
Cinders watches London draw near. "So Sarge weren't what we thought. Loot's still waiting."
London is near. "Well, here we are." The Fortunate Navigator smiles ruefully. "As much my home as any other."
The useless cat, too liberal with his affections, set about wooing the Princess's coats. She was not amused.
The Fatalistic Signalman curses when he beholds London's immensity. "Look at the size of her!"
The Hoarder stares sullenly at the lamps of London. "It was better when it was ours."
The Inconvenient Aunt grasps your arm. "Let me do the talking. Safest for us both."
The Vagabond inhales a hearty dose of smog. "Good for the lungs, Captain!"
"I have business in London. I trust you can take care of yourself, dear." The Aunt clicks her bag closed.
"Mother hated me driving. She said I'd kill Father with worry." The Driver's smile is impossible to read.

St Dominic's Station[ | ]

London's chief station, draped in union jacks and studded with bronze busts of Her Enduring Majesty. The platforms crowd with people. If the Throne of Hours is London's heart, this is its carotid artery.


Explore London
Telescope
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 276546


Explore London[ | ]

Liberated from her prison below the earth and elevated to the heavens. Prickled with chimneys. Mantled in sooty smog. Here are old, proud buildings, transported block by pale block to the sky. Here are new edifices of soaring steel and stone and gleaming glass! The ultimate achievement of Victorian ambition, unhampered by terrestrial concerns. London is a feverish brew of aspiration, empire, and appetite.

Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Ambition: Collect your inheritance
In their will your predecessor bequeathed you one final item, crucial to your search for the Martyr-King's Cup.
Hunt for the shop that the Auroral Sommelier mentioned
It must be here somewhere.
There!
You find the establishment between the roofs of two collapsed houses. Under their steepled walls, it bulges like a tumour. You enter – the floorboards sigh in warning under your feet.
Allow the Signalman to curry favour with London's elites
He has expressed interest in doing some work in London for you.

Game note: He will leave your engine. You can pick him up again at any time.

A purveyor of gloomy predictions
"I'm going to set up shop in London and offer my services to this generation of builders and industrialists." He sighs. "I suppose they're a dreadful bunch. But someone has to stop them making the mistakes we did." He heads off into the smog, and does not look back.
Advanced alteration value probably needs examination.


Let the Princess set up a salon
She will be gone for a little while. You will have to manage without her, you poor thing.

Game note: The Princess will leave your engine. You may pick her up again – but only while the salon is open.

The briefest of farewells
The Princess sweeps away into the smog; for a moment, her tiara sparkles in a single beam of distant sunlight. She has left you an invitation. It is to the 'Red Salon'. No further details are given. You'll have to find it – and the Princess – yourself.
Advanced alteration value probably needs examination.


Find the Listless Aristocrat's Brother
The aristocrat stuck at the Avid Horizon mentioned a brother responsible for his predicament.
Doppelganger
It takes some time to track down someone resembling the aristocrat. The sooty slums are empty of any fallen nobility. The grand houses close their doors to you. It is as if London would prefer all detainees of the Avid Horizon to remain there. You've all but given up when you receive a note to meet in the Crown Jewel. A distinguished gentleman sits by the fire, his porcelain features a flawless mirror of his brother's. He intimates a litany of unsavoury habits and hobbies possessed by his younger sibling. Calumny in the nursery; scandal in boarding school; horror in the Young Stags' club. He would very much prefer it if his brother were to stay where he was.
Hand in a new law at the Throne of Hours
One of Her Renewed Majesty's servants awaits you. Perhaps she will deign to give this one her Royal Assent, enshrining your hard work into official Albion law.
Politics in action
You present the new law in its ceremonial purple-cushioned box. Not to the Empress, of course. The servants whisper that this is for the best. The last time someone disturbed her, she became Displeased. Instead, a page takes the honour of removing the finely written vellum scroll from the box, ceremonially tearing it from top to bottom, lighting it on fire and ceremonially stamping the burning pieces into ash. A parliamentary envoy awaits you outside, bearing a bonus for having got a new bill at least this far.
Listen to the Will Of The People
A delegation has been sent to petition you in your role as Minister.
    • Genericcharacter icon Constituents Waiting = 1 [Delegations are waiting in London, Port Prosper, Brabazon and Perdurance]

Endless problems, few solutions
You listen with appropriate amounts of care to each person who begs a moment of your time. The majority are local issues, not worth bringing up in Parliament. Occasionally, inspiration strikes for a new law. You promise with a politician's sincerity that even if there is nothing you can do, you will do it to the best of your ability. They seem mollified.
Rare event (10%)
Endless problems, few solutions
You listen with appropriate amounts of care to each person who begs a moment of your time. Until the egg hits you in the face. The perpetrators run off giggling. You wipe away the dripping yolk. Someone should make a law against that sort of thing...
Deposit the dead
Home, at long last. Your crew will be pleased to have them off the train.
A creaking return
All in all, your navigator admits, they've not been bad passengers – despite their insistence on joining the crew for meals, watching enviously and, in one regrettable instance, dropping a jawbone into the stew. The Behatted Chaperone sees her charges off the engine with efficiency and tenderness. Her charges slowly disappear into the teeming smog of London. When the last has gone, she turns to you. "Would you come with me? I'm – I'm not sure how my husband will take my return."
Agree
There might be tea at the end of it.
She rubs her skull. "In case you can't tell, Captain, I am smiling." She leads you through crowded thoroughfares to a quiet street, just behind St Dominic's. There, a little tea shop is waiting. Her husband sits inside. While tea for three steeps, he weeps. When he eventually composes himself, you are repaid for her return, with tea as well as coin.
Decline
Some things must be done alone.
The Behatted Chaperone sighs, the breath rattling through her rib cage. "I suspect you're right. Nothing for it then. Wish me luck." She turns, then stops. "Forget my own head next!" She fiddles in her hat for a large purse. "God bless you and keep you, Captain." She walks away, and is rapidly lost in the smog.
Bring Percy Blythe Home
The fruiting corpse of the hero moulders in your hold. Time he was home.
An inquiry at the Ministry, in one of their more approachable offices near the station, results in an armada of black-clad Auditors descending upon your engine. Questions are asked. Crew are probed. Poor Percy is prodded, rolled over, prodded some more, and then covered in sheets and bundled away. The senior auditor goes to shake your hand, but thinks better of it. "I have a reward here. You will, of course, be sensitive to the memory of the Lieutenant. We would not wish to hear any unauthorised stories of his heroic demise circulating."
Bring Percy Blythe Home
He has been a silent, grim passenger. His eyes are flecked with gold; his cheeks wet with tears.
An inquiry at the Ministry, in one of their more approachable offices near the station, results in an armada of black-clad Auditors descending upon your engine. Questions are asked. Crew are probed. Percy Blythe is subjected to a number of intrusive questions, all of which he answers perfectly. His memory, and his lucidity, seems much improved by his time aboard your engine. He is eager to leave with the auditors when asked. He turns his pale gaze on you, one last time. "Thank you, captain. All shall be well. You've done us a great service." He leaves your engine with the Auditors, trailing spores as he goes.
Present a Bowlderised Poem to Storridges
The Ebullient Decadent's work is, ah, strong stuff. You'll need to doctor it to get it past the publisher.
Failed event
Mr Storridge doesn't bother to take the poem into his office, but reads the entire thing in front of you. After the first few stanzas, he turns an exciting shade of red. "Captain," he says. "'Cousins' is not an appropriate rhyme for 'bosoms'." This is the extent of his comment.
Successful event
Mr Storridge takes the poem from you himself, leaving you to amuse yourself in the waiting room of his posh offices across from St Dominic's. His secretary provides little amusement of her own, though she does share a few choice excerpts from the submissions pile. Some hours later, Mr Storridge returns, red-faced, but smiling. "I am entirely convinced that this is an innocent poem about a young gentleman encountering a thorny maiden amidst her bounty of weeping roses. I am delighted to publish this charming contribution to literature."
    • Rose icon A Paeon for Persephone = 15 [Storridges agreed to publish the poem! Return to the Ebullient Decadent on Caduceus to deliver the good news]

Entirely rewrite the Decadent's Work – and give that to the Publisher instead
You are, after all, a poet.
Failed event
It's no use. It's like trying to improve upon William McGonagall. To the Ebullient Decadent's credit, everything does rhyme, even if you wish, frequently, that it wouldn't. You take out every reference to 'heaving', 'rods', 'chains', 'matrons', and every single occurrence of the word 'lissom'. Mr Storridge takes one look at your 'improved' efforts and orders you to leave his office immediately, lest he be forced to fetch the broom.
Successful event
Serious edits
You work late into the night, burning several candles to improve upon the Decadent's overheated rhapsodies. Eventually, you've suitably recast the core imagery into something less fleshy and more spiritual in its overtones. And undertones. But the core thematic matter still needs to be addressed. How will you do it?
    • Rose icon A Paeon for Persephone = 20 [Storridges agreed to publish the poem! Return to the Ebullient Decadent on Caduceus to deliver the good news]

A Celestial Cast
Eleutheria has a star, of a sort. You can work with that.
You produce a panoply of iambic pentameter, comparing the squirming star of Eleutheria with the luminescent glories of the Empire's new sun. It passes Mr Storridge's desk without comment. You appear to have got away with it.
A Nocturnal Cast
The problem is not really the subject matter. It's the quality of the writing.
You produce verse as rich as a velvet gown, as heady as well-aged wine. You avoid politics entirely and simply indulge. Mr Storridge asks to see you personally. He tugs at his collar. "Harrumph." He says. "Harrumph." He does promise to publish the poem, but there will be absolutely no illustrations.
A Sovereign Cast
Is Her Majesty's Empire not glorified by a meditation on its dark mirror?
You make a valiant attempt at putting the argument into rhyming couplets. Happily, 'far' rhymes with star, though you have more difficulty with 'pernicious'. Mr Storridge is delighted. "Just the thing," he says. "Never would have thought he'd have come to his senses."
Look for the Baroness of Hell
The Repentant Devil does not know her current address, but he is certain it will be someplace formerly grand.
What used to be the Brass Embassy
You try the remains of the Palace. You try a few townhouses that have fallen on hard times. Then the Repentant Devil cackles to himself and says, "I know where she will be. Hard to believe I did not think of it first." He leads you unerringly through the streets. It seems he lived here for a time, not long ago.
Help the Incautious Driver hunt for the Verdant Fragment
Their connection to its progenitor should assist.

Game note: The more places you search, the easier your search will get. Failing here will not harm your quest.

Failed event

Special is calculated as follows: 70 * 1.67


A failed attempt
The Incautious Driver spends hours sniffing at the air in search of familiar spores, but to no avail. "We should try somewhere else," they reluctantly decide, shuffling with uncharacteristic glumness back towards the train.
Successful event
A taste on the wind
The Driver sniffs at the air for any hint of loose Verdant spores dragged in by passing travellers. "I can taste something. A fear. Not death, but the loss of something important. The Fragment doesn't want to return. It doesn't want to give up what it's become."

They close their eyes, focusing. "I can taste its design, as well. Its... host knew of a place called Hostrop Deep: a desolate corner of the sky. It meant to hide there. The Deep will be hard to find. When we're close, we'll need to use our scout."

The Deep [Directions are given here].
Open Sarge's account for the Rat Brigade
The Rat Brigade are ready. Hallidge's is no match for their tiny, squeaky resolve.
The heart of commerce
Hallidge's central office is a restrained art nouveau building, not far from the Ministry. Its girders are curlicued. Its ornamentation offers a tasteful nod to the Clockwork Court; its pallet is faded gold, like the afterglow of a sunset.

Inside: darkwood furnishings, bronzewood counter-tops, and comfortable chairs beside verdant potted plants. Anything to make the customer forget that they are dealing with anything so crass as money.

You approach the nearest clerk, introduce the Rat Brigade, and produce the relevant account number. The clerk's eyebrows rise. "At Hallidges, we measure ourselves by the quality of our clientele," she says, sounding thoroughly miserable. "This way, please."
Write the sixth canto of the Song of the Sky
Your writing will need to be novel and enticing if you hope to delight the more experienced palates of London.
The Sixth Canto
The city bustles outside your window, paying you very little mind. It's liberating, somehow, to be in a city where you're relatively unknown – in New Winchester, the weight of expectation was crushing. Here, the indifference feels like freedom.
Seek an Audience with Queen Victoria
There is only one person alive who can answer your Aunt's question about the Unclear Bomb.
Black and gold and glory
The Throne of Hours rises above the smog of London like an imperial cathedral. False sunlight reflects from it, clear as cut glass and pitiless as dawn. Your Dispensation gets you into the Clockwork Court, where courtiers are permitted to attend upon the Imperial Presence.

Courtiers outfitted in the Imperial colours of black and gold survey you with a mixture of curiosity and fear. New blood is the engine of change at court, and change is the enemy of security.

The Royal Chamberlain sweeps you through the Court and into the throne room itself.
Deliver a Christmas card
The card is for 'The Obsolescent Weaver', at a slum near the vast textile factory. A child returning from work gives you directions.
A stinking garret
The weaver sits by the window, breathing through a soot-grey cloth. When you hand her the card, she peers at it to read the address, then fumbles it open.

Finally, she speaks, while considering the factory opposite. "'Obsolescent' is polite. Useless is what I am. Can't even patch up their uniforms. I'm nothing but a burden – not that them here would admit it. Bunch of kind-hearted fools."

The old weaver fetches an ancient carpet bag from the corner. "Your Council thinks I can be of use. Makes a bl___y change. I owe it to my neighbours to try, anyway. I'll meet the contact now."
Collect a telegram for the Incautious Driver
These are expensive to send. It must be important.
The Driver reads the telegram without expression. They show it to you without saying a word. COME HOME STOP YOUR FATHER STOP FUNERAL STOP NEW WINCHESTER STOP DRIVE SAFE STOP. "He was ill for a long time," the Driver finally manages. "I need to pay my respects."
Go with the Navigator to the ambassador's house
The Navigator waits for you. "I've been away some time. Your vouching for me would make a good impression. I want to make her proud."
Disseminate a dangerous essay on Blue Kingdom Philosophy
The Ministry of Public Decency will never allow it, so you must distribute it illicitly.
Failed event
Betrayal
You hire a crew of rough-looking fellows to help you sneakily distribute the essays on street-corners, but they throw your pamphlets in the river and abscond with the money you gave them. You manage to recover some of the lost essays and hand them out to sympathetic passers-by. But it probably won't prove enough to make a difference.
Successful event
A well-conducted scheme
You hire a ragtag crew of enterprising urchins. Though they continuously attempt to pick your pockets, they can be trusted not to turn you over to the Ministry of Public Decency. After a few evenings spent handing out essays on street corners across London, you've managed to offload over a thousand copies. Most of them will no doubt end up as wastepaper or chip-wrappers, but at least some of them will be read.
Deliver your poet from the Blue Kingdom Embassy
It's his stop.
The poet disembarks
The greasy-haired poet steps down from your locomotive, tapping his pen to his teeth.

"And in the pounding hearts of those who march forth grimly, The knowledge of approaching death burns like a gruesome... like a..." He glances at a nearby rooftop. "Chimney? I suppose that'll do."

He vanishes among the swelling London crowd.
Spread the Blue Kingdom's influence by publicly denouncing the Empress
Her attempts to extend her Consort's life are an abomination! She sits on a throne of blasphemy and deceit!
Failed event
An overwhelming tide
Your rant is cut short when the red-faced crowd rises like an angry sea and rushes at you. You hop fences and dash across rooftops and eventually manage to lose them, but you never managed to properly make your point. Still, you did the best you could in the circumstances.
Successful event
Shock and outrage
It's not long until the first stone is thrown, but you persist, wiping the blood from your face. You continue your tirade until the constables arrive. They drag you away, still ranting about the Empress's misdeeds. Most of the crowd were baying for your blood, but you're sure you saw some thoughtful faces among the sea of rage. Your voice was, to some degree, heard. The constables let you go with nothing more serious than a night in the cells and a light beating.
Investigate the smuggling trade
Illicit goods – red honey, prohibited literature, starshine – are smuggled in and out of the city. There may be opportunities for profit for a daring skyfarer.
A lead
You piece together the stories you've heard, and ask careful questions in dubious places. Soon you have an invitation to talk to a Gloomy Middleman at the Admiral Benbow Inn, a few levels down. He is looking for resourceful captains who possess a selective relationship to the law.

Game note: You can find the Gloomy Middleman here in London.

Attend a meeting with a Gloomy Middleman
He conducts business in a smoky corner of the Admiral Benbow Inn, down in the smoggy lower levels of the city.
Smuggling
The Middleman is nursing the same glass of beer he began the evening with. "Ah, Addressed As(SpeechInformal). To claim it is a good evening would be duplicitous, but it is at least an evening, and here you are in it."

He waits until you sit. "My employer can open a profitable door for you. There are goods that Her Majesty's government do not want to see bought or sold. Prohibition begets scarcity. Scarcity begets profit.

"One example of this contraband is red honey, gathered by the Midnight Rose at Titania. Unfortunately, supplies have dried up. Prove your value: find out why, and fix the problem."
Return to the Gloomy Middleman at the Benbow Inn
You have resolved the situation with the Midnight Rose. Soon, red honey will return to London. Will that satisfy the Middleman's employer?
Moving up the ladder
The Middleman grunts. "And so things return to normal," he says, in the tones of a vicar at a funeral. "Cause for giddy celebration." But you notice that he finishes his drink, and even orders another.

"Your performance was as expected. My employer would like to meet with you." The Middleman gives you an address: the company offices for the Wit & Vinegar Lumber Company.

Game note: The Wit & Vinegar Company can be found at a separate platform elsewhere in London. You'll need to fly there.

Deliver the Dignity of Albion Bill to the Throne of Hours
This will blackmail Her Majesty into restoring Parliament's status.
Royal Dissent
Her Renewed Majesty, Empress of Albion, the Reach, London, and the Soon-to-be-Conquered Territories, Victoria, Queen of Britannia, grants you an audience before the Throne of Hours. Her expression upon reading the Dignity of Albion Bill is more amused than concerned.

"What a busy little nuisance," she says, crumpling it up. "I knew this was coming, of course. In a way, it's admirable, attempting to commit treason using the law of the land. As it used to be, at least. I think we both know that my new Albion has outgrown such childish necessities. Ah, but the people must feel involved, mustn't they? To work themselves into a furore over exactly which malcontents will profit from their little problems?"

Victoria sighs. "Very well. We will grant Parliament the power to make its own laws, at least on matters of little consequence. It may at least serve to offer a convenient scapegoat for certain revolutionary elements. I will not, however, tolerate the current talk of this new 'People's Sponge'. You may consider yourself dismissed."
Deliver the Dignity of Albion Bill to the Throne of Hours
This will blackmail Her Majesty into restoring Parliament's status.
Royal Dissent
Her Renewed Majesty, Empress of Albion, the Reach, London, and the Soon-to-be-Conquered Territories, Victoria, Queen of Britannia, grants you an audience before the Throne of Hours. Her expression upon reading the Dignity of Albion Bill is more amused than concerned.

"I do believe we already discussed this matter, did we not?" she says, crumpling it up. "I am not... accustomed... to repeating myself. Ah, but I suppose you were at least courteous enough to follow the proper channels, and at least this keeps our little circle of conspiracy small."

Victoria sighs. "Very well. We will grant Parliament the power to make its own laws, at least on matters of little consequence. It may at least serve to offer a convenient scapegoat for certain revolutionary elements. I will not, however, tolerate the current talk of this new 'People's Sponge'. You may consider yourself dismissed."
Arrange matters for your upcoming heist
The Tower of Chimes is a drifting ruin, but still an important part of London history. You can't be caught vandalising it.
Preparations
Leveraging your connections across the capital, as well a few hefty bribes, you arrange matters so that official patrols will give the Tower of Chimes a much wider berth than usual.

You have a window of opportunity. Now you just need to travel to the Tower of Chimes and take advantage of it.

Game note: You will need to fly to the clock-face of the Tower of Chimes.

Track down Isery
The shaven-headed, androgynous quester who almost beat you in the Grand Tournament. Are they willing to die to see the quest's conclusion?
Isery
The Unseen Queen knows exactly where her second-greatest knight can be found. She gives you directions; Isery lives above a shoe-shop, supporting their quest habit with various dubiously-legal odd-jobs and the occasional lucrative assassination.

When Isery sees you at their doorstep, they welcome you into their cramped home and starts making you a cup of tea. "I never thought I'd see you again," they admit. "How goes the quest?"

You tell Isery that you have found the Cup. The teapot drops from their hand and shatters.
Wander the streets
How often does one find themselves with a spare moment in London?
A day in London
Hand in a new law at the Throne of Hours
One of Her Renewed Majesty's servants awaits you. Perhaps she will deign to give this one her Royal Assent, enshrining your hard work into official Albion law.
Politics in action
You present the new law in its ceremonial purple-cushioned box. Servants draw straws, hoping to avoid the task of delivering the box to the Empress. One, grimacing, bears the box away. Another returns with a short note. Victoria will consider it. For a very long while. They recommend that you do not wait. A parliamentary envoy awaits you outside, bearing a bonus for having got a new bill at least this far.



The Silken Salon
Chippedmugoftea
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 310986

The Silken Salon[ | ]

The Generous Princess manages many affairs of court. She cultivates alliances, forms opinions, sets trends, makes introductions, suggests promotions and dismantles reputations. She attracts rumours like a lantern attracts moths. It's said that she fears the light of the suns, and that her gifts inevitably destroy the recipients. She can sometimes be found in her salon, where she welcomes visiting captains.

Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Share Salon-Stewed Gossip
The Princess likes to keep abreast of affairs.
Tea for two
The Princess adds another spoonful of honey to her tea and offers you a dazzling smile. "Really? How scandalous. Don't worry. Their secrets are safe with me."

Game note: Gain 15 Sovereigns and 10 Experience.


Share a significant amount of Salon-Stewed Gossip
You have come by a lot of gossip in your travels. What's the point of knowing it, if not to share?
Surprising information
You sit for an hour in the Princess' salon recounting all you've learned. She does not interrupt, but – once – gasps.

"My goodness," she says when you've finished, a playful lazy on her lips. "I shall have to do something about that."

Game note: Gain 50 Sovereigns and 30 Experience.


Share an inordinate amount of Salon-Stewed Gossip
Your ears ring with all of the gossip you've heard lately.
An indulgent evening
The Princess sends for wine. It is a long evening, in which much is shared. When you stumble out into the smog, she pats your hand. "Don't worry," she tells you. "I shall take all of this in hand."

Game note: Gain 85 Sovereigns and 50 Experience.


Donate a Ministry-Stamped Permit
"Sometimes," the Princess tells you, "The Ministry refuses me what I want. If only I had some means of circumventing them..."
A new avenue
The Princess' eyes are bright with delight. "Oh, my Addressed As(SpeechFormal)," she says, her lips curving in a wicked smile, "Wonderful."

Game note: Gain 70 Sovereigns and 50 Experience.


Connect the Generous Princess with your Cryptic Benefactor
Her Ladyship is ever in need of new friends.
Introductions made
She examines your benefactor's credentials with a magnifying glass. Then she asks you to wait in her parlour while she conducts discreet enquiries. Wine, red as an empire's heart, and cheese, soft as her Highness' voice, is brought for you. When she returns, she is smiling brightly. "I think we shall be very great friends."

Game note: Gain 300 Sovereigns and 250 Experience.


Donate a Royal Dispensation
"You're in favour with Her Majesty. Perhaps you'd be willing to give that influence to another?"
A favour for a friend
The Princess supervises as you write your letter, while ensuring you are provided with wine and honeyed cake. You shower Her Majesty with compliments and then recommend she spare a moment of her precious and yet bounteous time to the bearer of this note. The Princess takes it, fanning it to dry the ink. Your payment is generous.

Game note: Gain 650 Sovereigns and 500 Experience.


Hire on Crew at St Dominic's Station
Crew
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 289828


Hire on Crew at St Dominic's Station[ | ]

"If you need to replace lost crew, you can always find venturesome candidates loitering at the station. "

Game note: You will only be able to do this once every 15 days.


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Hire a handful of crew
There's no shortage of old hands and eager youngsters keen to seek a fortune among the stars.
Failed event Advanced query needs investigation

Advanced alteration value probably needs examination.


Game note: Recruit up to 3 or 4 Crew. Success lowers their cost.

New recruits
After interviewing several disappointing candidates, you find a group fresh from a merchant trader. They've learned a few things about haggling – you won't get away with paying them anything less than their value.
Successful event
New hands
The crew you pick have become firm friends over repeated dockside card games. Glad that you're keeping them together, they are willing to accept a lower signing-fee.
Go on a recruitment mission
You are short-staffed. And loneliness is dangerous in the skies.
Failed event Advanced query needs investigation

Advanced alteration value probably needs examination.


Game note: Recruit up to 4–8 Crew. Success lowers their cost.

New hands
A long day of interviewing, assessing, and haggling. The poorer candidates are weeded out, the stronger ones offered a place on board.
Successful event
New hands
Perhaps your reputation preceded you. You're besieged by hopeful candidates, and are able to negotiate extremely civilised signing fees for them.


Deliver the Sequencer's Well-Intentioned Package
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 311696


Deliver the Sequencer's Well-Intentioned Package[ | ]

The Dazzled Sequencer at the Clockwork Sun asked you to deliver a package to the needy.

Trigger conditions

Clockworksun icon Well-Intentioned Package ≥ 1
Clockworksun icon The Sequencer's Charity ≥ 8 ≤ 8,

Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Deliver the Sequencer's care package
London produces industrial quantities of orphans, which are stored in orphanages while awaiting export to a workworld.
Upon opening your package, the orphans begin quietly and methodically distributing the food-parcels and medicine. At the governess' urging, they thank you.
Sell the Sequencer's care package to a fence
You arrange to meet in a crooked little pub squatting on the edge of a slum.
The landlady here is completely deaf, allowing her customers to conduct their shady business as loudly as they please.

When you open the Sequencer's parcel, the fence's cocky grin is replaced by a look of astonishment. He glances around the pub and hurriedly closes the crate back up.

"Yes, I think we can do business," he says, making a valiant attempt to sound casual.
Deliver the Sequencer's care package
London produces industrial quantities of orphans, and they are stored in orphanages while awaiting export to a Workworld.
Upon opening your parcel, the orphans let loose a loud cheer. A forest of hands appears, grabbing at rusted revolvers and ornate flintlock pistols. "Now, now, children," urges the governess, to the orphans' utter indifference. A second cheer goes up as they discover that the pistols are loaded.
Sell the Sequencer's care package to a fence
You'll meet in the same pub as usual.
A quick check of the crate, a half-hearted attempt to haggle, a downed drink, and a shake of the hand. It's over in a matter of minutes.




Dispose of the Sequencer's Well-Intentioned Package
Supplies
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 292685

Dispose of the Sequencer's Well-Intentioned Package[ | ]

The Dazzled Sequencer at the Clockwork Sun asked you to deliver a package to the needy.

Trigger conditions

Clockworksun icon Well-Intentioned Package ≥ 1
Clockworksun icon The Sequencer's Charity ≥ 3 ≤ 3,


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Deliver the Sequencer's care package
London produces industrial quantities of orphans, which are stored in orphanages while awaiting export to a workworld.
Upon opening your package, the orphans begin quietly and methodically distributing the food-parcels and medicine. At the governess' urging, they thank you.
Sell the Sequencer's care package to a fence
You arrange to meet in a crooked little pub squatting on the edge of a slum.
The landlady here is completely deaf, allowing her customers to conduct their shady business as loudly as they please.

When you open the Sequencer's parcel, the fence's cocky grin is replaced by a look of astonishment. He glances around the pub and hurriedly closes the crate back up.

"Yes, I think we can do business," he says, making a valiant attempt to sound casual.
Deliver the Sequencer's care package
London produces industrial quantities of orphans, and they are stored in orphanages while awaiting export to a Workworld.
Upon opening your parcel, the orphans let loose a loud cheer. A forest of hands appears, grabbing at rusted revolvers and ornate flintlock pistols. "Now, now, children," urges the governess, to the orphans' utter indifference. A second cheer goes up as they discover that the pistols are loaded.
Sell the Sequencer's care package to a fence
You'll meet in the same pub as usual.
A quick check of the crate, a half-hearted attempt to haggle, a downed drink, and a shake of the hand. It's over in a matter of minutes.



Mr Menagerie is Passing through London
Cagedcatch
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 294868

Mr Menagerie is Passing through London[ | ]

A tattered poster by the station advertises the services of a 'Mr Menagerie: Purveyor of Fine Scouts'. An accompanying picture displays a tall cloaked figure, slightly stooped, clutching an array of adorable little beasts close to its long chest.

Trigger conditions

Cagedcatch icon Mr Menagerie's Last Voyage ≥ 4 ≤ 4,


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Visit Mr Menagerie
A pile of cages rest on a bench, next to a discarded newspaper.

Game note: You can buy scouts from Mr Menagerie.


A Note from Mr Menagerie at London
Envelope
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 295001


A Note from Mr Menagerie at London[ | ]

The poster at the station has been torn down, and there is no sign of Mr Menagerie itself. Cowled figures lurk in the fog, but none have a collection of adorable little beasts The Stationmaster waves you over. Mr Menagerie has left a note for you.

Trigger conditions

Cagedcatch icon Mr Menagerie's Last Voyage ≥ 5 ≤ 5,


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Read the note
It should tell you where Mr Menagerie was headed.
Somewhere old, somewhere new



The House without Windows
Blackbox
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 305688

The House without Windows[ | ]

To find the address given in Captain Whitlock's will, you make your way through little-used streets in one of London's lower, smoggier levels. On a secluded courtyard, flanked by the backs of warehouses and factories, stands a tall grey house with one door and no windows. When you knock, a blind butler answers. "Yes?"

Trigger conditions

Locomotive icon Captain Whitlock's Legacy ≤ 20,
Blackbox icon Black Box ≥ 1

Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Deliver the black box
Fulfil Captain Whitlock's last request.
The end of the line
The butler is pleased. "Ah, our resident has arrived! Please, bring him in. Everything has been prepared according to Captain Whitlock's instructions."

As you manoeuvre the black box inside, you ask what those instructions were.

"She has arranged for master Jacob's convalescence with us. I understand the young gentleman has suffered from a prolonged illness, which has left him unable to speak and afflicted him with a delicate disposition.

"The affairs of the house have been organised in such a way as to never inconvenience him. He will require no visitors. An extensive library has been provided for his edification. Privacy is paramount."

With the box in place, the butler produces a key from his pocket, but waits for you to leave before using it. "Thank you for your assistance, Addressed As(SpeechFormal). If Amelia were still with us, she would thank you. Good day."

You leave the House without Windows behind, the matter of Captain Whitlock's legacy finally discharged.


A Visit from a Gloomy Middleman
Smuggling
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 307200


A Visit from a Gloomy Middleman[ | ]

"No sooner have you pulled into the sidings than a long-faced man in a battered coat approaches your locomotive and asks for a moment of your time. "

Game note: This story was unlocked because you have Affiliation: Villainy at 3 or more.


Trigger conditions

Smuggling icon Wit & Vinegar: a Smuggler's Tale ≤ 0,
Affiliationvillainy icon Affiliation: Villainy ≥ 3

Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Hear what he has to say
He fiddles with the bent brim of his hat as you approach, his face as solemn as a basset-hound.
An offer of work
His voice is nasal, his eyes grey. "I will not wish you a good day. You are a person of intelligence, and the day is manifestly miserable. I myself am newly afflicted by the gout, which has made my mornings a parade of wretchedness. No doubt you have your own misfortunes, into which I will not pry.

"Instead, let us move to the happier subject of business. I have heard amenable things about you from several mutual acquaintances. My employer may have work for you. Profitable work, but perilous, and profoundly illegal.

"Should you be interested, seek me at the Admiral Benbow Inn here in London." With that he takes his leave, tutting at the thickness of the fog before he dons his crooked hat and vanishes into the crowd.



An Approach from a Gloomy Middleman
Smuggling
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 307202


An Approach from a Gloomy Middleman[ | ]

"No sooner have you pulled into the sidings than a long-faced man in a battered coat approaches your locomotive and asks for a moment of your time. "

Game note: This story was unlocked because you have Veils of 40 or more.

Trigger conditions

Smuggling icon Wit & Vinegar: a Smuggler's Tale ≤ 0,
Veils icon Veils ≥ 40
Affiliationvillainy icon Affiliation: Villainy ≤ 2,

Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Hear what he has to say
He fiddles with the bent brim of his hat as you approach, his face as solemn as a basset-hound.
An offer of work
His voice is nasal, his eyes grey. "I will not wish you a good day. You are a person of intelligence, and the day is manifestly miserable. I myself am newly afflicted by the gout, which has made my mornings a parade of wretchedness. No doubt you have your own misfortunes, into which I will not pry.

"Instead, let us move to the happier subject of business. You have come to my attention for the very reasons you avoid others': your subtlely and your cunning. My employer may have work for you. Profitable work, but perilous, and profoundly illegal.

"Should you be interested, seek me at the Admiral Benbow Inn here in London." With that he takes his leave, tutting at the thickness of the fog before he dons his crooked hat and vanishes into the crowd.



An Eggmonger
Curatorsegg
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 287191

An Eggmonger[ | ]

A young woman strides down the platform towards you, pushing a barrow piled high with crates the size of shoe boxes. "I can always tell the ones that have got an egg. Have any you'd care to part with?"

Trigger conditions

Curatorsegg square icon Curator's Egg ≥ 1


'Interactions'

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Sell the egg
It's only taking up space in your hold.
A short, neat transaction
She opens one of the crates to reveal a bed of sawdust. Very carefully, she takes the egg and lays it gently in the create. She replaces the lid and restacks the crate among the others. She produces a small packet of coins from a deep pocket in her coat. Then, with a grin, she heads off, pushing her barrow down the platform
Sell all of your eggs
A little extra coin is never a bad thing.
A short, neat transaction
One by one she places each egg in one of her sawdust-lined crates. She replaces the lids and restacks the crates in her barrow. She produces a small packet of coins from a deep pocket in her coat. Then, with a grin, she heads off, pushing her barrow down the platform.
Advanced alteration value probably needs examination.



A Polite But Firm Customs Search
Locomotive
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 283316


A Polite But Firm Customs Search[ | ]

Your train is flagged down as you approach, and are redirected to one of the Ministry's platforms. Gloved customs agents wait to search your vessel for stowaways, contraband, and anything else deemed a threat or potential distraction to London society.

Trigger conditions

Calendar icon DateClock icon Customs: London Cooldown,
Bloody icon Unwanted Attention: Albion ≥ 30

Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Agree to the search
You have nothing to hide from the law.
The sweep is complete
The customs agent do their usual rigorous job, and are disappointed to find nothing. They disembark leaving much of the train a mess, but wave you onwards to the main London docks.
Give up the workworld refugee
If it's you or them, it's probably going to be them. There may even be a reward.
Taken away in chains
You give them up, pretending to be shocked at the discovery of a stowaway. The customs agents clap them in irons, promising to return them to their employers. The glare you get as they are loaded into the carriage is not a pleasant one. The reward for turning in a fugitive eases the pain.
Confess to your contraband
It will be confiscated, of course. But you should avoid a fine.
The easy way
The customs inspectors exchange a knowing eye. If even half of your confiscated goods end up on the record, it'll be a miracle. They haul everything away and their chief blows his whistle, guiding you into the docks.
Attempt to hide your contraband
The crew stands poker-faced and ready for the search.
Failed event

Special is calculated as follows: (Contraband: Albion*10)+60 * 1.67

Advanced alteration value probably needs examination.


Game note: The more contraband you have, the harder this will be.

Caught in the act!
The thorough search soon turns up everything you were hoping to hide. Smiling, the customs officials order it removed from the train, and begin writing out your fine.
Successful event
They seek, but do not find...
The customs agents' cynical faces do their best to insist that it is not you who have beaten them, but they who have simply lost interest in searching for hidden passages and barrels that may or may not contain what they claim. They disembark and wave your train on.



Help the Amiable Vagabond plot an Escape
Pastspellinprison
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 314449


Help the Amiable Vagabond plot an Escape[ | ]

The Vagabond has managed to procure blueprints of the jail where Ratbite is being held.

He is excitedly planning a pointlessly intricate scheme to get her out – it involves disguises, distractions, the extremely irresponsible misuse of Hours, and two separate explosions.

Trigger conditions

Amiablevagabond icon The Vagabond's Obligation ≥ 50 ≤ 50,
Location: London
Area: St Dominic's Station
Frequency: Always (100%)

Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Just use your connections to quash her trial
A few words in the right ear are much less risky than the Vagabond's ludicrous plan.
Pulling strings
When you reveal your plan, the Vagabond seems deflated. "I suppose it makes sense," he says glumly, scrunching up his heavily-annotated blueprints.

Ratbite's crimes are relatively minor – defacement of property, impropriety, pick-pocketing. It's relatively easy to ensure that the paperwork for her upcoming trial is conveniently misplaced.

When you greet her outside the jail, she is half-mad and half-starved. You bring her aboard the engine and order for her to be given a full meal and a decent's night rest. When she's recovered, you'll quiz her about her old partner-in-crime Quivers.

Game note: Talk to Ratbite via conversation with the Vagabond.

Pull off a complex, ambitious heist
You sit down with the Vagabond and help turn his wild plans into something more feasible.

Game note: If you succeed, this will improve your Friendship with the Vagabond.

Failed event

Advanced query needs investigation

A bungled scheme
Your heist is an unmitigated disaster. The guards see through your disguises immediately and draw their pistols. The Vagabond is laughing heartily as you abscond.
Successful event
An audacious affair
Your heist proceeds without a hitch. By its end, there is a smoking hole in the side of the jail, from which inmates scatter; most of the guards are still attempting to exit their command post, slowed by a tide of Hours; and your Caged Catch – now uncaged – is rampaging in a manner likely to keep the rest of the guards thoroughly occupied.

You and the Vagabond remove your disguises and burst into Ratbite's cell, dragging her from the smoke and the chaos. The Vagabond is wracked with laughter as you return to the engine with Ratbite stumbling between you.

Game note: Talk to Ratbite via conversation with the Vagabond.

Recruitment in London[ | ]

Officer recruitment events in London


London Ambitions[ | ]

Warning: these pages contain spoilers for your captain's ambition.

OriginpoetFame ambition[ | ]

Originpoet Ambition: the Song of the Sky


SovereignsWealth ambition[ | ]

Sovereigns Ambition: Wealth


Dyingstar iconTruth ambition[ | ]

Explosion icon Ambition: Jubilation Day
Fireblue icon Ambition: a Mysterious Fire
Locket icon Ambition: Find your Missing Friend
Originpriest icon Ambition: The House of Jude

MartyrkingscupCup ambition[ | ]

BronzewoodAmbition: Underlondon

Steam & Sapphire Yards[ | ]

Its engineers will conduct brisk locomotive repairs for visiting captains; but their chief responsibility is the production of small but essential components used by a dozen different engine-manufacturers.


Repair your Locomotive
Locomotive
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 289824


Repair your Locomotive[ | ]

The Steam & Sapphire engineers are brisk and no-nonsense. Just give the word (and the payment) and they'll set about your battered engine like bees on lavender.


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Fully repair your hull
Restore your locomotive to a pristine condition.
Restored
Soon the last bolt is tightened and the last scratch buffed to the last engineer's satisfaction. The gaffer nods, proudly.

Advanced query needs investigation Advanced query needs investigation Advanced alteration value probably needs examination.


Game note: This will cost three sovereigns per point of Hull you've lost.


Have your hull partially repaired
Just enough to keep you flying.
Close enough
The engineers aren't happy about leaving a job half done. They fix the worst of the damage and strongly advise you against flying anywhere in that "bailing-twine-and-promises deathtrap."
Advanced query needs investigation

Game note: This will repair 10 Hull for 30 Sovereigns


Leave
Go elsewhere in London.


MacQuarry's Tobacco Shop
Sovereigns
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 283039


MacQuarry's Tobacco Shop[ | ]

The sign over the door once read 'MacQuarry & Son Fine Tobacco', but since then someone has crossed out the word 'Fine' in a fit of honesty. Then, on a separate, more ominous occasion they have crossed out '& Son'. The building is embarked on a rapid descent into squalor. The paint peels. The windows are caked with grime.

Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Inspect the wares
MacQuarry watches suspiciously as you examine his shelves.
Cheap tobacco, bad prices
The selection is unimpressive, as is the quality. Neither Albion nor the Reach has found a genuinely good replacement for tobacco, though increasingly-frantic smokers have tried lighting up virtually every example of sky-flora that has been discovered. A few skyfarers mill about, examining the lower-grade flavours and speculating on exactly what MacQuarry is cutting them with today. The more expensive brands are untouched in their glass cases. You'd wonder how this place managed to stay open, if it weren't for the fact it is so obviously on the brink of closure (and, probably, collapse).
Ask MacQuarry about Blue Kingdom Tobacco
You don't see it on the shelves.
A code, acknowledged
MacQuarry gestures to the rickety staircase. It leads to a thin wooden door. Behind that is a shotgun, aimed straight into your face.

"Oh," comes a voice from behind the stock. "Excuse me." The barrel is lowered, revealing a grey-haired man in a fading red uniform. He peers at you through thick glasses. "You'll be our new conductor, eh? Crying shame what happened to the last one. Still, risks of the game, I suppose. Stationmaster Briggs, at your service."

He stands to attention and salutes.
Return the salute
He seems to be expecting it.
You keep it crisp, fingers quivering at your temple. "Righty-then," says the Stationmaster, impressed. "To work."
Don't return the salute
It's not your style.
Eventually, he lowers his hand, looking more sheepish than disgruntled. "Right you are then. To work?"
Return to the yards
Out of the dry, into the oppressive damp.
Other business
You make your way through the smog, which glows with the amber light of the distant Clockwork Sun.
Head up to the New Street Line's garret
Give the signal to MacQuarry. There's work to be done.
    • Lantern icon New Street Line = 20 [You are a Conductor of the New Street Line. Conduct your smuggling operation at the Steam & Sapphire Yards in London]



Investigate Rumours of an Underground Railway
Pastscandal
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 293121


Investigate Rumours of an Underground Railway[ | ]

You've heard of a less-than-legal organisation operating out of the Steam & Sapphire Yards. They pay for information and may offer work to the bold, the clever, and those willing to displease Her Majesty.

Trigger conditions

Lantern icon New Street Line ≤ 0,


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Reach out through your criminal contacts
You have friends in low places. Perhaps they know something.
A lead
Your connections are reluctant to talk. "I hear the Deniables have been sniffin' about. Less known, the better." London's Deniable Constables – the plain-clothed instruments of Her Majesty's displeasure – are a persistent superstition of the underclasses. Eventually, a Dubious Rag-and-Bone Man directs you to one of the engine houses. "Talk to the bookkeeper. He'll see you right."
Investigate the organisation yourself
You have gathered secrets on your travels. Two of them offer clues to the yard-gang's identity.
A lead
With a little sniffing around, two pieces of information become relevant: the name of a Stalwart Bookkeeper, and the number of the engine-shed where he keeps his office. This man is, you are certain, an agent of the group you seek. You decide to pay him a visit.



Visit the Stalwart Bookkeeper
Stalwartbookkeeper
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 277956


Visit the Stalwart Bookkeeper[ | ]

He occupies a tiny, smoky office cobbled together from corrugated iron sheets in the back of one of the engine sheds. It is stacked with nicotine-stained account books and boxes full of oily brackets. The bookkeeper looks up as you enter, and gestures to a chair.

Trigger conditions

Lantern icon New Street Line ≥ 5

Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Request a meeting with the Fierce Philanthropist
The Bookkeeper will arrange an appointment for you.
Chat with the Bookkeeper
He offers you a cup of tea, savagely stewed and swimming with sugar.
A job on the side
He is deaf, but content to communicate through sign language or messages scribbled on a pad of paper. Obliquely, he explains that he does additional work for an organisation unaffiliated with the government, which has an urgent need for up-to-date reports on other parts of Albion.

His patrons will pay for such intelligence to be brought to them, rather than the Ministry. What's more, he implies, earning the organisation's trust might open the possibility of additional work...

Game note: Deliver Albion port reports to the Stalwart Bookkeeper to receive rewards.

Game note: Learn how you can be of use to the New Street Line.


Deliver your port reports to the Stalwart Bookkeeper
He maintains the company's shining public record. Anytime there is a auditor, he defends New Street's interests with a mountain fortress of files.
Strategic intelligence
The Bookkeeper reads the reports swiftly, makes a few notations, then files them deeply in his haystack of financial records, beyond the attention of even the most persistent Ministry auditor. Thanking you silently, he conveys that you are doing important work.
Advanced alteration value probably needs examination.

Advanced alteration value probably needs examination.


Trade Gratitude for a Savage Secret
The Bookkeeper sees everything from his little glass office. The more interesting things he records, and stores in one of his locked files.
Fed to the fire
Since he does not speak, there is nothing to be overheard. He writes certain information on a sheet of paper, gives you scant seconds to read it, then feeds the paper into his little paraffin stove.
Trade Gratitude for an Unlicensed Chart
Countless captains pass through the Steam & Sapphire engine-yards. When they do, they talk about their journeys, the things that they saw and the things that they fled from. The engineers listen, closely.
A map
The bookkeeper draws you a chart of a certain district of the sky. He does not label it, but draws a number of enigmatic symbols, mystifying to an observer who doesn't know what they're looking at, but clear as warning-bells to you: 'Peril', 'Horrors', 'Death'.
Trade Gratitude to win the Bookkeeper's trust
What is this mysterious 'further work' he once alluded to? Have you been useful enough yet that he trusts you?
Moving up the chain
He considers you for a minute, tapping his pen on the desk. Then he nods.

He communicates that he works for the New Street Line, an organisation that arranges for workworld escapees to be smuggled to safety. If necessary, the Line finds them new lives and new names. The authorities do not approve.

If you want to help, you will need to meet his patron. He gives you a yellowing train ticket and shows you an address. It belongs to a Fierce Philanthropist, co-owner of the Steam & Sapphire company.
Trade Favour for an Invitation to Perdurance
The Bookkeeper maintains a few crisp invitations to Perdurance. The debutantes there are trapped as much as those on the work worlds, but are much more reluctant to leave.
Many have tried; few have succeeded
The Bookkeeper shakes his head as he passes an invitation over. On another sheet, he scrawls a warning. 'It's a cage, though the bars are pretty.' He underlines the next sentence twice: 'Her Majesty makes cages for us all.'
Depart
You take your leave.
Back to it
He nods to you and returns to his ledgers. You cross the ringing engine-house, with its scattered workbenches, its reek of oil, and return to the yards.


Visit the Firebrand Conductor
Drink
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 284034


Visit the Firebrand Conductor[ | ]

He meets you in a smoky station pub. The Conductor is an itchy-fingered, studious young man, blazing with revolutionary zeal inside his oversized scarf. "We'll free them one by one, if we have to!" It's a good job the clientele is raucous, and utterly uninterested in your conversation.

Trigger conditions

Lantern icon New Street Line ≥ 10 ≤ 10,


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Enquire about the work
What happens on the workworlds? And how does the New Street Line work against it?
Bread without circuses
"Everyone deserves the right to their own hours. To live them at the pace God intended! But on the workworlds a pauper spends a month of their life to ensure an hour of rich man's luxury." The Firebrand Conductor spits onto the floor. "Those who escape from the workworlds are hunted. My— Our patron arranges passage for as many as she can. We look for opportunities. Empty cargo trains. Drunken captains who won't notice a few extra hands on board their trains."
Agree to smuggle a passenger
There's space on your train for some unfortunate soul.
A poor soul in need of saving
The Firebrand Conductor flips through his notebook. "The Lady makes the arrangements through her network. Let's see. Yes. Pick up from here. Deliver there. Come back to me and I'm sure I'll have another who needs your help." His mouth tightens. "There's always more."
Confess to losing your runaway charge
Accidents happen. You had better tell him.
A sad look
"Understood," says the Firebrand Conductor. He reaches for his notepad and slowly but pointedly scratches a name from the list.



A Disturbance at the Yards
Originsoldier
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 281533


A Disturbance at the Yards[ | ]

There is panic at the yards. Within his office, the Firebrand Conductor crouches behind a barricade made from his overturned desk, and brandishes an ancient pistol. Flanking the door are black-suited auditors from the Ministry of Public Decency. "A day's work for a day's pay!" The Conductor bellows. He fires another wild shot, which splinters the door frame.

Trigger conditions

Genericcharacter icon Workworlders Saved ≥ 3 ≤ 3,
Bloody icon Bread for Blood ≥ 1

Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Help the Conductor
He can't hold out for long.
Futile resistance
Before you can intervene, however, more Ministry reinforcements arrive. Too many to deal with, even with the help of a loyal crew. The Firebrand Conductor takes aim at the approaching Auditors. A click. Out of ammunition, he resorts to his fists. The Auditors close in; he is swiftly overcome. As they drag him out, your eyes meet. He struggles just enough to pull something from his pocket and allow it to slip, unseen, to the floor. You retrieve it as he is pushed into a Ministry carriage. A small pack of snuff. The logo reads: Blue Kingdom Tobacco.
Keep quiet and stay back
The New Street Line? Never heard of it, officer.
Futile resistance
Even if you were going to intervene, more Ministry men are soon on the scene. Too many to deal with, even with the help of a loyal crew. The Firebrand Conductor takes aim at the approaching Auditors. A click. Out of ammunition, he resorts to his fists. The Auditors close in; he is swiftly overcome. As they drag him out, your eyes meet. He struggles just enough to pull something from his pocket and allow it to slip, unseen, to the floor. You retrieve it as he is pushed into a Ministry carriage. A small pack of snuff. The logo reads: Blue Kingdom Tobacco.


The Fatalistic Signalman: Looking Up an Old Friend
Fatalisticsignalman
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 297221


The Fatalistic Signalman: Looking Up an Old Friend[ | ]

The only address the Signalman has for his friend is 'Shed Four', at the yards. He will only reveal her first name: Charlotte. Unfortunately, shed four is off-limits: ringed with a wire fence and under the guard of a Pinched Watchman and his barely-tamed hounds.

Trigger conditions

Fatalisticsignalman icon Learning about the Fatalistic Signalman ≥ 20 ≤ 20,


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Trade an Otherworldy Artefact for access to Shed Four
The Watchman is a hoarder with a morbid curiosity about the indigenous occupants of the High Wilderness.
Onto the pile
The Watchman coos at your gift and adds it to the incomprehensible jumble of objects crowding his shelves. It goes between a roll of crackling parchment, which he claims originated in the library of the Scrive-Spinsters, and a rubbery skull. He waves you through, and the grumbling dogs watch petulantly as you sidle past. Shed Four is a huge storehouse. Beams of solemn starlight slant from grubby windows in the roof. The hulks of old locomotives rust here: from battered tugs to fat old liners once packed with emigrating Londoners. The Signalman heads off between the wrecks.
Ask the Stalwart Bookkeeper to arrange access
The New Street Line owes you. And conveniently, many in the Steam & Sapphire Yards owe them.
Friends in the right places
You hand the Watchman a ticket bestowed upon you by the Stalwart Bookkeeper. The Watchman scowls and waves you through. Even his dogs seem satisfied. You make your way through a rickety door in a huge wooden gate and into shed four. Shed Four is a huge storehouse. Beams of solemn starlight slant from grubby windows in the roof. The hulks of old locomotives rust here: from battered tugs to fat old liners once packed with emigrating Londoners. The Signalman heads off between the wrecks.
Leave
You have other business to attend to.
Back to New Winchester
You leave Shed Four, its mesh fence, its watchman, and his dogs behind. You can return another time.



The Fatalistic Signalman: Shed Four
Fatalisticsignalman
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 297223


The Fatalistic Signalman: Shed Four[ | ]

The Signalman stops before a stately old wreck with flaking, navy-blue paint. "This is her. None worked harder on the Isambard Line than she did." You look at the nameplate: the Charlotte Guest. "Ah, look how they left her," he says, gloomily. "That's not right. You tidy up. You put things in order. You turn the lights off and close up before you go. She deserved better than this."

Trigger conditions

Fatalisticsignalman icon Learning about the Fatalistic Signalman ≥ 23 ≤ 23,


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Purchase the Charlotte Guest's remains and give them to the New Street Line
She'll never fly again, but her bones and her sinews could be put to good use. The New Street Line has engines to maintain.
    • Sovereigns icon Sovereign ≥ 2000

    • Lantern icon New Street Line ≥ 10 [You are a confidante of the New Street Line, smuggling passengers for the Firebrand Conductor in London]

A new life
Some enquiries reveal the Charlotte Guest is technically owned by a firm of lawyers, who claimed her among the assets of a bankrupt client. Being lawyers, they do not part with her cheaply.

The Signalman, though, is pleased. "Ten years she ferried us around the Reach, lugging hours and wood and machinery. She were a working engine. It's right she should find work now, too. Even secret work." He rests his hand on her plating. "Godspeed, Charlotte."

The walk back to your locomotive is quiet. The Signalman, lost in thought, vanishes into his quarters.
Arrange for her to be put on display in a museum
Her wood is riddled with worms. Even if you can restore her, you'll need someone with influence, who recommend a more lauded resting place.
Gone, but not forgotten
You have to source replacement wood and call in a favour you won't get back anytime soon, but you secure the promise you need. The Charlotte Guest will be restored and displayed in a modest exhibition hall in the Museum of Inauguration, where London commemorates its arrival in the skies. The plaque she receives will not mention the Isambard Line – London does not celebrate failures. But it will testify to her hard work in a hostile sky. The Signalman is mollified. "It's all any of us can hope for in the end, isn't it? To be remembered."
Leave shed four for now
You have other business to attend to.
Back to London
You leave the rusting corpses behind. Shed Four was too hushed and still. The bustle of the yards is a welcome relief.

Game note: You can return later.



Fatalistic Signalman: in Search of the Quixotic Squire
Fatalisticsignalman
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 297229

Fatalistic Signalman: in Search of the Quixotic Squire[ | ]

The Quixotic Squire inherited his family's wealth, doubled it by founding Port Avon, then squandered it all on a folly: the Isambard Line. The Signalman has found the Squire's family home, but it has passed to another (also struggling) aristocratic household. The gutters leak. The windows are cracked. Perhaps they know the Squire's fate, but the Signalman is uncomfortable talking to nobility. When you knock, a Bleary Baronet answers. No butler. Times are hard.

Trigger conditions

Fatalisticsignalman icon Learning about the Fatalistic Signalman ≥ 40 ≤ 40,


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Offer to make certain urgent repairs to his home in exchange for information
No true aristocrat would reveal what he knows about another. Unless you fixed his windows and repaired his roof. Then he might.
An Englishman's home is his castle.
Now that you and the Baronet are connected in a near-feudal relationship of service and obligation, he can gossip freely. It is, he decides, preferable to paying you.

He bought the house following the Quixotic Squire's bankruptcy. The Squire's wife fell ill around the same time, and the Squire retired to care for her during her last days. Where to? To the last of the Squire's holdings: a modest residence in Port Avon.

The Signalman seems surprised. "He weren't much of a husband. He said he was in love with the Reach, and that's why he were putting a ring around it."
"George... is that you?"
You have extensive society connections, and the Baronet – it seems – is one. You should be able to get the information out of him with only a conversation's worth of gossip.
Down on their luck
He shows you into his shabby parlour. The felt on the chairs is worn bare, and the cups are cracked. You politely fail to notice and steer conversation to the Squire.

The Baronet bought the house following the Squire's bankruptcy. The Squire's wife fell ill around the same time, and the Squire retired to care for her during her last days. They retreated to the last of the Squire's holdings: a modest residence in Port Avon.

The Signalman seems surprised. "He weren't much of a husband. He said he was in love with the Reach, and that's why he were putting a ring around it."
Apologise for intruding, and leave for now
You can return another time. The Baronet isn't going anywhere. He couldn't afford to.
Back to it
You leave the once-grand house, and return to the streets of London.


Triggered Events[ | ]

The Ministry's Monitors
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 316253


The Ministry's Monitors[ | ]

St Dominic's station is thick with crowds. A brass band plays. The cause of the excitement is an unfamiliar locomotive in Imperial blue. A delicate, gleaming craft whose elongated nose houses an array of lenses.

A top-hatted official from the Ministry of Public Decency is delivering a speech. "...the first of a fleet of new Monitor-class locomotives! They will be Her Majesty's watchdogs, scouring the skies for the enemies of Albion!"

The crowd cheers. Well, most of them.

Trigger conditions

The Ministry's Monitors ≤ 0,
Location: London
Area: St Dominic's Station
Frequency: Always (100%)

Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Take a tour of the new engine
If you're willing to wait in line, you might be allowed a few minutes inside.
The watchdog
The Monitor's hull is curved to deflect incoming rounds, but its plating is much lighter than that of a London dreadnought.

The bridge is cramped, crammed with state-of-the-art sensory equipment. You put your eye to the main scope, and it flings your sight through the Monitor's precisely-aligned lenses and away to a distant stretch of the sky. The stars are bright and close.

You step back, bumping into a control panel. "Careful," warns a watchful crewman, "that's the gun." Just one? you ask. He grins. "Oh, she only needs the one."

Game note: You will now encounter Ministry Monitors while exploring.

Lend your voice to the protests
Not all the crowd are enthusiastic. A disparate mix of proleteriat, academics, and bohemians heckle the speaking official.
The watchdog
A sceptical academic is curious who these "enemies of Albion" are. Criminals? Unionists? Anyone whose opinions differ from those of her Majesty?

A scowling station-worker adds his tuppence-worth. "All of them fancy scopes and sounding-equipment? That's for spotting smugglers. The Revenue Men put a lot of money into this." Another grunts. "This isn't the first one either. This is all just for show. The Monitors are already out there, watching."

One of the more fiery objectors flings a half-brick. It rings on the plating like a bell, scratching the fresh blue paint. The constabulary close in. You scatter.

Game note: You will now encounter Ministry Monitors while exploring.


The Insistent Surveyor
Transitrelay
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 316788


The Insistent Surveyor[ | ]

The Surveyor has become a regular presence at the pubs near St Dominic's station. She has been looking for a partner in some ill-defined and costly project. Thus far, she has had no takers.

She has brown skin, and her face sports the beginnings of a frown that never matures but never quite goes away. She wears a sensible green coat with a sensible green cape.

"Won't you join me for a drink, captain?"

Trigger conditions

Visitor: Eleutheria ≥ 1
Transitrelay icon The Surveyor's Expedition ≤ 0,
Transitrelay icon The Albion to Eleutheria Transit Relay ≤ 0,
Transitrelay icon Duskings Deep ≤ 0,
Location: London
Area: St Dominic's Station
Frequency: Always (100%)

Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Hear her proposal
Perhaps there is an opportunity here, one that others lack the imagination – or the ambition – to see.
A vision
She shows you to her table, buys you a drink, and refreshes her own glass of wine. "My proposal will not make us rich. In fact, it is likely to be ruinously expensive. But if we're successful, we will change the skies forever."
Make your excuses
Your time is precious.
Other business
You pretend to wave to a group of skyfarers seated in their corner, as if they were expecting you. The Surveyor's lips twitch downward in disappointment. "I see you have a prior appointment," she says. "Perhaps another time."

Game note: The Surveyor will still be here if you wish to return later.



Retrieve the 'Retired' Devil's Letters
Devilshell
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 318568


Retrieve the 'Retired' Devil's Letters[ | ]

The address the devil gave you is a dour house on one of the upper-middle layers of London. High enough to glimpse the white mansions above; low enough to be occasionally troubled by smog from below.

It features a shadowed garden, railings like a thicket of spears, and the throaty baying of ill-tempered hounds.

You hear a bitter widow lives there, clinging to the husk of once-splendid industrial holdings. How will you get in?


Trigger conditions

Devilshell icon Infernal Appetites ≥ 10 ≤ 10,
Location: London
Area: St Dominic's Station
Frequency: Always (100%)


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Talk your way in
A feigned acquaintance and a selection of recent gossip should at least earn you afternoon tea.
Ingress
A Pinched-Faced Butler answers the door. You convince him that you are an old friend of the family, and are ushered into a gloomy drawing room. The lady of the house arrives shortly thereafter, having been dragged from her troubled account books.

She is misanthropic and unused to company. Her husband left her with debts and four grown children: one dead, two scandalous disappointments, and one the ambassador to the Eagle's Empyrean, but estranged from her.

You allow her to complain, unceasingly, while you plan your next move.
Break in
You'd best do some investigation first, trading secrets to local criminals in return for information on the house's defences and vulnerabilities.
Ingress
You are advised to steer clear of the dogs: red-jawed beasts bred in the Reach, with the build of a pony and the temperament of a murderer.

You make your move at six o'clock, when the dogs are napping after being fed by a Pinched-Faced Butler. A thick-lined coat flung over the spiked railings, a shimmy up the ancient coat of spidered ivy, and across the eaves to a window left open to air out the master bedroom.

Inside, the room is sombre, the bed piled with blankets. The maid is busy down the corridor. What next?
Hire a burglar
The Medusa's Head always has at least a dozen career criminals looking for dishonest work. The typical terms are half up-front, and half on delivery.
Failed event
You just can't get the help
Your chosen burglar does not meet you at your agreed rendezvous. Instead he sends an urchin with a fulsome apology. His burglary did not go as planned, and the damage the guard dogs did to his pride and his posterior will take some time to mend. Needless to say, you retain the balance of his payment. Perhaps you'll have better luck with a different burglar; or perhaps you should take matters into your own hands.
Successful event
"A pleasure doing business with you, Captain."
Your burglar (carefully selected for stamina, wiriness, and their performance in a gruelling application interview) meets you round the back of the Medusa's Head the following night and hands over a box of dusty old letters.

"In the attic, weren't they? Didn't want to miss the right one, so I snatched the lot." Several letters fit the devil's specifications: franked from the Empyrean, dated February, 1902. You pay the burglar the remainder of his fee. He tips his hat. All civilised and professional.

Now, what are you going to do with the letters?
Leave
Return to this matter another day.
Away
You turn your back on the maudlin house. The lights and loudness of London enfold you.


Shops[ | ]

Bazaar

Locomotive captains gather at the bazaar to trade goods and information. Here, you can acquire 'prospects': opportunities to sell a good at a distant port for an excellent price. Accept a prospect to claim it, source the goods, and deliver them.

Spitalfields Market

A busy market, arched with glass and steel.

Item Buy Sell
Fuel square icon Fuel Sovereigns icon 20 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 10 Sovereigns
Supplies square icon Supplies Sovereigns icon 40 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 20 Sovereigns
Verdantseeds square icon Sack of Verdant Seeds Sovereigns icon 40 Sovereigns
CrateofNostalgicCrockery square icon Crate of Nostalgic Crockery Sovereigns icon 50 Sovereigns
Munitions square icon Carefully-Packed Crate of Munitions Sovereigns icon 60 Sovereigns
Undistinguishedsouls square icon Jumble of Undistinguished Souls Sovereigns icon 70 Sovereigns
BarrelofUnseasonedHours square icon Barrel of Unseasoned Hours Sovereigns icon 80 Sovereigns
Tea square icon Caddy of Dried Tea Sovereigns icon 90 Sovereigns
Ministryliterature square icon Ministry-Approved Literature Sovereigns icon 100 Sovereigns
Choristernectar square icon Gourd of Chorister Nectar Sovereigns icon 120 Sovereigns
Stainedglass square icon Pane of Stained Glass Sovereigns icon 135 Sovereigns
Bombazineroll square icon Roll of Thirsty Bombazine Sovereigns icon 150 Sovereigns
Bronzewood square icon Bronzewood Sovereigns icon 175 Sovereigns
Cagedcatch square icon Caged Catch Sovereigns icon 200 Sovereigns
Selectionofimmaculatesouls square icon Selection of Immaculate Souls Sovereigns icon 250 Sovereigns
Navarantinegemstones square icon Cask of Navaratine Gemstones Sovereigns icon 300 Sovereigns

St Dominic's Augmentations

Maintained by the Ministry, this yard for engine improvements and enhancements is a cut above.

Item Buy Sell
Canning tier2 square icon ‘Durendal’ Pressure-Canning System Sovereigns icon 880 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 440 Sovereigns
Assaying tier1 square icon The 'Speciometer' Assaying Device Sovereigns icon 400 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 200 Sovereigns
Hull tier2 square icon Pergamon-Category Shielding Sovereigns icon 1000 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 500 Sovereigns
Hold tier3 square icon Fitted Cupboards Sovereigns icon 1200 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 600 Sovereigns
Mining tier1 square icon Crown & Misery Pneumatic Mining Array Sovereigns icon 400 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 200 Sovereigns
Quarters tier2 square icon Cosy Cabins Sovereigns icon 610 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 305 Sovereigns
Hull tier1 square icon Bronzewood Shielding Sovereigns icon 500 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 250 Sovereigns
Engine tier1 square icon The Shivering Jemmy Sovereigns icon 500 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 250 Sovereigns
Cannon tier1 square icon Cotterell & Hathersage 'Jerusalem' Sovereigns icon 100 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 50 Sovereigns
Shotgun tier1 square icon Cotterell & Hathersage 'Emanation' Sovereigns icon 250 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 125 Sovereigns
Rapid tier1 square icon Caminus Yards 'Brassraven' Sovereigns icon 500 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 250 Sovereigns
Cannon tier2 square icon Caminus Yards 'Grimalkin' Sovereigns icon 550 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 275 Sovereigns
Rapid tier2 square icon Cotterell & Hathersage 'Beulah' Sovereigns icon 830 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 415 Sovereigns
Shotgun tier3 square icon Caminus Yards 'Blackjape' Sovereigns icon 800 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 400 Sovereigns
Hold tier3 square icon Ratty Baggage-Handlers Sovereigns icon 1500 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 750 Sovereigns
Quarters tier2 square icon Sensible Plumbing Sovereigns icon 660 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 330 Sovereigns
Hold tier2 square icon Wit & Vinegar Winch & Pulley Sovereigns icon 1160 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 580 Sovereigns
Rocket tier3 square icon Portsmouth House 'Jubilee' Sovereigns icon 1880 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 940 Sovereigns
Engine tier3 square icon The Goneril Sovereigns icon 3000 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 1500 Sovereigns
Mine tier2 square icon Wit & Vinegar 'Sneeze-Lurker' Sovereigns icon 1100 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 550 Sovereigns
Marauder mangonel square icon Reclaimed Marauder Mangonel Sovereigns icon 100 Sovereigns
Uninvited square icon The 'Uninvited' Sovereigns icon 500 Sovereigns
Tears of astolat square icon 'The Tears of Astolat' Sovereigns icon 250 Sovereigns
Wrath of heaven square icon 'The Wrath of Heaven' Sovereigns icon 1000 Sovereigns

Crown & Misery Co. Yards

Scrupulously regulated, the Crown & Misery Company takes pride in the engines it manufactures. Well, most of them.

Item Value
'Spatchcock' Reclaimed Locomotive Sovereigns icon 500 Sovereigns
Parsival-Class Courser Sovereigns icon 2000 Sovereigns
Pellinore-Class Trader Sovereigns icon 4000 Sovereigns
Bedivere-Class Escort Sovereigns icon 4000 Sovereigns
Agravain-Class Juggernaught Sovereigns icon 10000 Sovereigns

Bank

Hallidges prides itself on constancy, discretion, and lavishly obsequious service. Items stored here can be withdrawn at any major port.

Landmarks[ | ]

  • Crown & Misery Yards
  • Edies Promise
  • Horological Office
  • Laidlaw's Coffee House
  • Ministry of Public Decency
  • Rosenbaum's Consequence
  • Sapphire & Steel Yards
  • Simon's Nest
  • Spitalfields Market
  • St Dominic's Station
  • The Patient Princess
  • The Throne of Hours
  • Wit & Vinegar Lumber Company
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