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| The Hall of Debate | |
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| Category | Story Event |
| Type | Story |
| Data ID | 300187 |
The Hall of Debate is a Sunless Skies Story Event.
Story description[ | ]
The Hall of Debate was once the dreadnought's gun deck. A row of gargantuan cannons still point out at empty sky. Recalcitrants swarm under the artillery, shouting, stamping, roaring. The main debates take place on a raised platform. Would-be rhetoricians take centre stage, declare their argument, and await challengers. Three Recalcitrants state their position. Which will you dispute?
Trigger conditions[ | ]
Area: Limbo
Frequency: Always (100%)
Interactions[ | ]
| Actions | Requirements | Effects | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "The Liberation of Night is justified."
An uncontroversial position, at least aboard the Berrenger. If you challenge this, the audience won't be on your side.
Founder's Respect: Recalcitrant(founder_description)
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Failed event | ||||||
| An impasse
As soon as you step up to challenge this position, a wave of jeers rolls over you. You have to fight to make your voice heard.
Your opponent listens to your argument, then ripostes. You counter; he parries. Eventually you find yourself running out of energy and out of words.
 A Teeming Wreck
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Refuse to back down
You won't admit defeat.
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Your argument circles and stagnates, as you and your opponent reiterate the same points again and again. Eventually a third Recalcitrant steps in, and declares that you've used up your allotted time and must step down.
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| Concede defeat
You lost, fair and square. Perhaps you ought to change your mind.
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To a chorus of jeers and laughter, you admit that your arguments were flawed, and perhaps you should go away and reconsider your position. As you step away, another Recalcitrant fills your place and picks up where you left off.
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| Successful event | ||||||||
| A storming debate
As soon as you step up to challenge this position, a wave of jeers rolls over you. You have to fight to make your voice be heard. The Liberation is forcing its idea of freedom on everyone, regardless of casualties. And who knows the ramifications of an empty sky? Who knows what terrible powers will move to occupy the vacuum that the Judgements leave behind?
By the time you finish speaking, your opponent is stuttering and failing to muster a counter-argument. He clearly didn't expect to find himself persuaded.
A Teeming Wreck
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| "The Berrenger is a waste of time, and should be destroyed."
A Recalcitrant rolls forward on his wheelchair and states his position cheerfully, despite the roars of outrage. The audience will be on your side.
Founder's Respect: Recalcitrant(founder_description)
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Failed event | ||||||
| An Impasse
The Recalcitrant on the podium remains merrily obstinate in his position, despite the jeers and boos that greet his every statement.
"It's simple," he says. "While we're sitting here debating the merits of destroying this place, there are agents of the Liberation out there engaged in direct action against the Judgements. By comparison, this debate is facile – doubly facile, in fact, because I don't even believe what I'm saying! This very argument is concrete proof of the Berrenger's pointlessness!" Soon the debate is going round in increasingly small circles. The surrounding Recalcitrants grow restless. "Give someone else a turn to talk!" one of them shouts.
A Teeming Wreck
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Refuse to back down
You won't admit defeat.
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Your argument circles and stagnates, as you and your opponent reiterate the same points again and again.
"Oh well, we'll call it a draw," says your opposing Recalcitrant, turning his wheelchair to leave the podium, his voice still light and breezy. "This debate ceased to be entertaining ten minutes ago."
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| Concede defeat
You lost, fair and square. Perhaps you ought to change your mind.
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To a chorus of jeers and laughter, you admit that your arguments were flawed, and perhaps you should go away and reconsider your position. As you step away, another Recalcitrant fills your place and picks up where you left off.
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| Successful event | ||||||||
| A Storming Debate
"While we're sitting here debating the merits of destroying this place," says the Recalcitrant on stage, "there are agents of the Liberation engaged in direct action against the Judgements. By comparison, this debate is facile – doubly facile, in fact, because I don't even believe what I'm saying!"
You point out that even if the Hall of Debate is turgid and pointless, the same does not apply to the Laboratories or Forum. Besides, the Hall serves a useful function – it diverts all the most uncooperative and obnoxious individuals away from the places that actually matter. The Recalcitrant roars with laughter. "You've got me there!"
A Teeming Wreck
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| "Morality is a social construct that collapses without the fear of punishment."
This Recalcitrant clearly hopes to deal only in abstract philosophical matters. The audience won't have a personal stake in the outcome.
Founder's Respect: Recalcitrant(founder_description)
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Failed event | ||||||
| An impasse
You do your best, but the Recalcitrant on the podium refuses to budge an inch. Just when you think you've found a flaw in her argument, she moves on to something else, leaving the point unaddressed!
Soon your arguments are going in circles. The surrounding Recalcitrants grow restless. "Give someone else a turn to talk!" one of them shouts.
A Teeming Wreck
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Refuse to back down
You won't admit defeat.
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Your argument circles and stagnates, as you and your opponent reiterate the same points again and again. Eventually a third Recalcitrant steps in, and declares that you've used up your allotted time and must step down.
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| Concede defeat
You lost, fair and square.
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To a chorus of jeers and laughter, you admit that your arguments were flawed, and perhaps you should go away and reconsider your position. As you step away, another Recalcitrant fills your place and picks up where you left off.
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| Successful event | ||||||||
| A Dry Debate
"Consider Plato's Ring of Gyges," declares your opponent. "If there were no consequences, no one alive could resist the power to enrich themselves at the expense of others."
You offer a counter. Perhaps the majority would succumb, but there are some to whom their self-image matters more than their mask. After a raucous back-and-forth, she concedes defeat, and the surrounding Recalcitrants roar. Someone presses a coin purse into your hand. "A bounty!" he says. "We've been trying to best her for weeks!"
A Teeming Wreck
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| Leave the Hall of Debate
The cacophony recedes.
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A Teeming Wreck
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Links[ | ]
Links In[ | ]
A Teeming Wreck
Links Out[ | ]
A Teeming Wreck
Trivia[ | ]
The Recalcitrant in the wheelchair, who cheerfully challenges everything his audience holds dear and cheerfully accepts the characterization of he and other Recalcitrants in the Hall of Debate as uncooperative and obnoxious, is most likely Fallen London's Jovial Contrarian. The Contrarian was wheelchair-bound, present in many social spheres but chiefly with the Revolutionaries, and a gadfly whose favorite activity was challenging the strongly-held beliefs of whoever he was around with a smile.
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