Let's Play: Samsara

Samsara

by Meghna Jayanth, with additional writing by Rob Morgan.

Samsara India, 1757. Your abilities have won you a grand position in the Nawab of Bengal’s court, but it was not always so. You are a low-caste Hindu, raised up because of your rare and powerful talent: the ancient power to walk in dreams. Perhaps you kept your birth name. Or perhaps you chose a new one as befits your changed status? You are perfectly placed to tip the balance of power. Will you choose the British, or the French? Will you continue to serve the Nawab who raised you high, or look to your own profit? Will you court lovers and find friendship, or use those around you to to serve your ambitions?

Josh: I meant to start this a while back, and it’s a fairly long game, so I’ll probably just zip through and make choices for now, but feel free to comment if there’s stuff you’d like to see… In particular my inclination is to go along with the Nawab (though reluctantly and watching out for ourselves somewhat), so if people have a strong interest in trying to court the British or the French, let me know and I’ll adjust.

What else? I’m using checkmarks to mark the choices that I’m taking, rather than repeating the text.

Here are the intro storylets:

You walk in dreams

You walk into the Nawab of Bengal’s dream as easily as sliding into another room. It is a reassuringly constant dreamscape: the Nawab dreams of his Diamond Palace floating gently on a man-made lake, an edifice sealed by jealousy and pride as much as mortar.

In the world of dreams the diamond of the palace is literal. Instead of marble you must shield your eyes from the cut-crystal shine of the archways, the transparent walls displaying the silk and gold opulence within.

The Nawab generally dreams himself into something restful – a rock, or perhaps a tree – but this time he is here in person, stalking lightly across the lake to meet you. He pauses, and inclines his head. “My sa-ilu,” he says, greeting you with the ancient Assyrian name for your kind, the diviners of dream.

You bow deeply, and as your head dips below his vision you allow your true feelings to write themselves on your face…

Your lips stretch into a smile

Despite your religion, and despite your low birth, the Nawab has given you a position alongside his most trusted advisers. You dress in silks and proudly wear the amulet of the Bengali sultanate round your neck. Go

Your jaw tightens

You keep your anger in check – for now, the Nawab stands against the encroachment of the British East India company. For now, you are allies against the true enemy. Go

✓ Your eyes grow cold

Like all those who proclaim themselves your betters, the Nawab demands obeisance. It is useful not to contradict his expectation. Go


Sabar upare manush satya, tahar upare nai

‘The supreme truth is man, there is nothing more important than he is’ – Chandidas wrote that verse three hundred years ago, and they are still words you live by. The British, the French, the Portuguese, the raised-up Princes of India – what are they to you, born low-caste and poor? Let them fly their flags, wage their rich-man’s wars. You wear the Nawab’s amulet for now - but its true value is weighted in gold.

blood You have learned that you must follow your own path, or be damned.

question Your “A Stranger” quality has gone. Welcome to the world!

cloud You gain experience as sa-ilu: walker in dreams

Onward


The Nawab’s mission

“I have a task for you, my sa-ilu,” the Nawab tells you, sitting on the water of the lake without creating a ripple. He snaps his fingers, and the gentle twilight of the dream is replaced with the harsh glare of the sun at noon. You blink your eyes to readjust. “The British plot to annex Bengal. The French plot against the British. And my advisers plot against me. There is no-one I can trust.”

You notice the Nawab is sweating – even in the dream. The Treaty of Alinagar has brought recent peace in Bengal, but the Nawab still holds Calcutta, taken from the British East India company by force only last year. And even now, the French and the British itch to wage their Continental war on Indian soil. You are not surprised that the peace is tense.

The Nawab fixes you with his gaze. “Listen to the voices on the streets of Bengal. Visit their dreams. Plant thoughts of loyalty in the minds of my subjects. And tell me what whispers you hear on the wind.” He turns away. “A battle is coming, sa-ilu. You must turn the tide for me.”

You try to find your voice.

✓ Yes, Huzoor

There is no real choice. The amulet of office burns against your neck. You will do as the Nawab commands. Go


The Nawab nods

“Good,” he says dismissively, expecting no other answer. “Now leave me. Go disturb the dreams of my enemies. Allah grant you favour -,” he pauses, with a bit of a twinkle. “Your heathenish Hindu ways notwithstanding!”

You make another bow, and head towards the palace doors. You open them, and walk through – there is a crack of lightning across your vision as you slip easily into another dream. The night is half over, and you must retrace your steps a long way before you are home.

cloud An occurrence! Your ‘Imagination’ Quality is now 5!

eye You’ve gained a new quality: Perception at 1.

fire You’ve gained a new quality: Curiosity at 1.

candle You’ve gained a new quality: Serenity at 1.

cloud You gain experience as sa-ilu: walker in dreams

bridge It is February, 1757 - the Nawab’s recent peace with the British barely holds. What will the next month bring?

flag You now have 1 x Investigating the situation for the Nawab.

Onward


Svapnasthana: the dreaming world

When you were very young, the last sa-ilu told you, ‘Imagine the dream as a series of interconnected rooms in a vast palace.’ But you had never seen a palace, and your imagination ran out when you sketched two rooms together.

There are five dreams between the Nawab’s Diamond Palace and your destination. Experience counts for little here: the paths are constantly changing, your map is rewritten. You hold your breath through the underwater dreamscape of a palace servant, crawl through the childhood bedroom of a guard, join a Mussulman wedding party, leap, moon-soaked and wide-eyed, from cloud to cloud, and finally take a seat in a bustling chai-shop on the outskirts of Madras.

A woman with warm brown skin and pale green European eyes offers you a cup of tea with a questioning look.

You take the cup

You sip your drink gratefully, careful to grip only the very top of the scalding hot tumbler. In dreams and in the wake, Cani Theruvil makes the best cup of chai you have ever tasted. Go

Ignore the presumptuous creature

You do not care for the sly tilt to her lips. You do not trust her mixed blood, or the possibility of mixed allegiances – you cannot afford to. Go

✓ Reach for her arm

You feel a fierce joy when you look at Cani’s unexpected face. You want to trace the lines of care about those startling eyes, ingrained so deep that even her dream-self looks weary. Go


Silk and laughter

Cani evades your grasp with the ease of long practice, but gives you a friendly wink. “How much time you make me wait! The Nawab must have a job for you, no?” She chatters on, without waiting for your response. “Is it true he is wearing his slippers only once, then throwing them into the jhal?”

You imagine the silt-bottom of the vast lake glinting with jewelled shoes, an ever growing pile of rotting silk and tassels. It makes you smile.

You try for a kiss as you step past her to the doorway but she pushes you – and you fall laughing from the dream world into the wake, your hand grabbing at the curtains beaded with strings of white cowrie-shells.

One snaps off into your hand, and burns against your skin as you enter the wake. It dissipates into smoke in seconds, but leaves a livid spiral mark.

You don’t have time to worry about that right now: Cani is sleeping on the bed, but wakes enough to give you a lazy smile before you walk into the cool February morning. You shake the warmth of her regard from your body and set your mind on the tasks ahead.

Your mission is to investigate the situation for the Nawab. Some tasks will be in the waking world, others will require you to enter the dream to complete them.

You moved to a new setting: The Wake.

cloud You gain experience as sa-ilu: walker in dreams

rose You now have 1 x Desires.

kiss You now have 1 x An unrequited passion for Cani Theruvil.

sun The Wake has changed.

dragon You now have 1 x Marked by Shadow.

Onward

Josh: And now we can move around freely. The basic loop is exploring The Wake to gain Inspiration (or things which can be traded for Inspiration) which we then spend on actions in The Dream (but only successful actions). Our “maybe” deck represents the Nawab’s capital city, Murshidabad, “a glittering jewel on the banks of the river Bhagirathi.”

We also have a few “always” cards:

  • Sa-ilu: Travel into the Dream (from the Wake)
  • Inspiring your imagination (where we trade other qualities for imagination)
  • Remembering the Black Hole of Calcutta I: An Unfortunate Recollection (a story card, I believe)

Took me a while to get set up here, so now it’s about lunch time and then I should see about clearing snow. I’ll probably post some more exploration this evening before I go to bed. I drew a first hand of three cards; we have:

  • An evening of ghazals and intoxication
  • You take a day for yourself
  • The secret texts of the sa-ilu
9 Likes

If you’re taking requests, I definitely want to know about

The secret texts of the sa-ilu

To absolutely nobody’s surprise, I’m sure. The Assyrian word it’s referring to is šā’ilu (or šā’il or šā’ilum depending on context), literally “the one who asks questions”, from the root Š-'-L “to ask a question”. The traditional pronunciation would be something like SHAH-ih-loo, with a break between the first two syllables like in the word “uh-oh”, but in Assyrian dialects specifically it would be an “S” sound at the start instead of a “SH”.

In Mesopotamia, a šā’ilu was a specialist in oneiromancy (divining the future through dreams), as opposed to a more general āšipu “magician” or bārû “diviner”. I think the name is because they ask questions and get an answer through interpreting dreams, though I don’t have a source on that. The Hittites would “incubate” prophetic dreams by sleeping in the sanctum of a temple, hoping the god of that temple would show up in their dreams and answer their questions, but the Mesopotamians seem to have preferred to describe their dreams to a šā’ilu to interpret.

They also seem to have liked wordplay. From the main textbook of oneiromancy, the Iškar Zaqīqu (“Textbook of the Ghost-God”), we get rules like “if someone dreams about eating a raven (arbu), that means they will make a profit (irbu)” or “if someone dreams about receiving a specific kind of wood (miḫru), that means they will have no rival (māḫiru)”.

…and that’s about the only cultural thing I can offer, since my specialty is closer to 1800 BCE than 1800 CE.

7 Likes

Josh: Yeah, we’re going to work through all the cards: the mechanic is that you draw (or fill) a hand of three “maybe” cards so while you can save cards for later, in practice I usually just draw a hand and then play them all before drawing again.

But usually you can back out of any card with the “Perhaps Not” option at the bottom, so I thought I’d make a quick post showing the options on the “secret texts” card to see if you had a preference but… welp. They’re all locked behind higher stat requirements, except one. So I guess this is a card we’re going to return to over time as we gain skills and reveal more secret texts.

The secret texts of the sa-ilu

There have been sa-ilu in the courts of the Mughal emperors and even before them, standing beside the Babylonians and the Assyrians as they expanded their sprawling empires. You have a collection of secret manuscripts, handed down to you by the last sa-ilu, wrapped carefully in linen and stored in a cool room.

You open a text and read a small fragment.

Gain Visions and Imagination if you succeed - but do not fear failure, it can often be rewarding.

✓ A most ancient text

A transcription from 7th century clay tablets from the Royal Library of Ashurbanipal, in Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Go

An odd sheet of pictograms

You never noticed this inked-vellum manuscript before, tucked between two weightier texts. Its colours are still rich and bright.

eye An almost impossible challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 10% chance of success.) You need Perception 3 (you have 1) Locked

A much-read favourite

The Linga-Puranas - an ancient collection of scriptures - are one of the few Hindu texts in your collection, and therefore you treasure them particularly.

candle An almost impossible challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 10% chance of success.) You need Serenity 3 (you have 1) Locked

Scrawled in the margins

You have read these texts back to front, but the small margin notes have always eluded you. Your curiosity is caught by one of them.

fire An almost impossible challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 10% chance of success.) You need Curiosity 3 (you have 1) Locked

Perhaps not


Ravens and flesh

“If a man dreams he is eating a raven (arbu); he will have income (irbu)". You must touch these words with reverence. The Iskar Zaqiqu, the Dream Book, is the very first compendium of dream interpretation. It is from its pages that you take the title sa-ilu, and probably where your old teacher found her fondness for terrible puns.

crackedglassinversesmall You now have 1 x Visions. Onward

Josh: And hey! There’s the arbu/irbu wordplay. How about that?

It looks like the other options are at level 3 of our three primary stats (Curiosity, Perception, Serenity) so if one of them jumps out at you as more interesting we can try to prioritize that stat. Level 3 isn’t that far off.

5 Likes

HA! Amazing!

1 Like

Josh: OK, let’s play the other two cards in this hand. Hmm. What if I mark the locked options with strikethrough? Is that too distracting?

You take a day for yourself

The sa-ilu are creatures of imagination and creative energy. As such, you each have your particular pleasures. Considering some of the indulgences you have read about in the secret histories of the sa-ilu - your pleasures are innocent indeed.

You are on a mission given to you by the Nawab, but surely you can take the time to refresh your mind?

Gain Imagination if you succeed - but do not fear failure, it can often be rewarding.

✓ A swim in the river

The Bhagirathi curves around Murshidabad and divides Bengal in two. You plan to take a contemplative, refreshing swim. Go

A formal banquet

An ambassador from the Sultanate of Delhi graces Murshidabad with a visit, and the Nawab has ordered a magnificent feast.

eye An almost impossible challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 10% chance of success.) You need Perception 5 (you have 1) Locked

A game of chaupar

There are many games being played on streetcorners in Murshidabad. An old man, seeking a new opponent, beckons you over.

candle An almost impossible challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 10% chance of success.) You need Serenity 5 (you have 1) Locked

A gathering of poets

You stumble upon their grubby get-together by accident, and settle yourself on a seat in the back to be regaled.

fire An almost impossible challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 10% chance of success.) You need Curiosity 5 (you have 1) Locked

Perhaps not


Cold and bright

You head to a stretch of river further away from the town, passing women washing clothes and people bathing. Boats float past lazily but the river is wide enough for you to avoid them easily. The water is cold, the day is bright - you emerge from your swim clean and hungry.

cloud You’ve gained 1 x Imagination (new total 6).

autumn
You now have 1 x Memories.

Onward


An evening of ghazals and intoxication

You arrive just as the singers are tuning their stringed sarangi, though the atmosphere is already thick with opium-smoke and the smell of bhang - a drink of steeped cannabis, almonds and milk used by Hindu mystics and visionaries. The Sufi tradition, too, has always embraced intoxicants as a path to spiritual ecstasy.

The tabla players are improvising, urging each other to greater speed and complexity.

One of the Sufi poets spots you lurking at the edges. “A courtier of the Nawab!” He shouts, catching everyone’s attention. “Look, all dressed in silk and gold. Perhaps you are too rich and eminent to sing a verse for our poor gathering?”
A challenge. To your honour, even. How will you respond?

Gain Imagination if you succeed - but do not fear failure, it can often be rewarding.

✓ You deflect attention

You laugh along with the crowds, and put enough coin down to buy the nearest dozen people a drink. This endears you somewhat to the poverty-stricken artists at this reception. Go

You judge the mood

They are clearly eager for the performance to begin, thrumming with wine and opium, rowdy with anticipation. A popular verse, perhaps even something slightly risque from Quli Qutub Shah?

eye An almost impossible challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 10% chance of success.) You need Perception 4 (you have 1) Locked

You select a fine poem

You are undaunted by their childish attempt to mock you. The right verse comes to the surface of your mind easily: a poem of devotion and divinity, by the great sage Rumi. They cannot fault you for this choice.

candle An almost impossible challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 10% chance of success.) You need Serenity 4 (you have 1) Locked

You go with your favourite

An intriguing and curious poem written by the saint and mystic Kabir - more mystical than devotional. You have read it many times, and each time you peel back another silvered layer of meaning.

fire An almost impossible challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 10% chance of success.) You need Curiosity 4 (you have 1) Locked

Perhaps not


One too many drinks

A glass of bhang is pressed into your hand, and - not wanting to ruin the newly celebratory mood - you drink it heartily. A cheer goes up. One more. Yes, why not? The taste of almonds is not like childhood at all, why would the poet say that? You are drinking another drink, but now it tastes like wine, red and spilling over the edge of the cup, each droplet spattering with perfect grace on the cushion, evidence of an enfolding and unified divinity. You feel warm and safely fragmented and cool, cupped in the hand of a universe that is both gentle and infinitely caring.

By the time you wake up the next morning, however, the hand of the universe is less of a cradle and more of a fist, pounding relentlessly against the insides of your skull. You feel like your nose is bleeding until late afternoon.

crackedglassinverse You’ve gained 1 x Visions (new total 2).

candle You now have 1 x Traumas.

Onward

Josh: Interesting. So the secrets of the sa-ilu had options for each primary quality, locked at 3. These ones have the same, but at 5 and 4. I wonder if they’re all like that, or if we just happened to draw ones that were uniform? Also, wait. The one gave us Imagination directly, and this one gave us a Vision and also a Trauma for the hangover. Heh.

Anyway. Let’s try the fixed/“always” story card.


Remembering the Black Hole of Calcutta I: An Unfortunate Recollection

You begin making your inquiries: what does the British East India company want? Who are the French paying for secrets in Murshidabad? What is the mood amongst the thronging citizenry?

You quickly realise that your questions are meaningless without proper context. The Nawab’s conquest of British-held Calcutta last year – and the infamous Black Hole incident – weigh heavily on minds, both British and Bengali.

You wished to forget the part you played in that time of madness, but it seems you must remember if you are to fulfill your mission.

This is a four-part quest - enhance your Perception and collect Memories to progress.

✓ Take a deep breath

You must try to calm your mind before you reach for those – unpleasant - memories of a year ago, the day the Nawab’s troops conquered British-held Calcutta.

eye A tough challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 40% chance of success.) You need 1 x Memories (you have 1). You need Perception 1 (you have 1) Remember

Perhaps not


It is too hazy

Your mind shies away from those terrible times. You open a bottle of sweet liquor, and resolve to try again some other night.

eye Perception has increased to 2!

eye Perception 1 failed in a challenge! (When you try a challenge that’s difficult for you, you learn more even when you fail.)

Onward

Hmm. So that’s one way to increase perception. I was thinking I might stop here, but perhaps we try another hand of cards first?


A visit to the temple

The temple in Murshidabad is little more than an overgrown shrine, but you take a great pleasure in visiting the once-forbidden place when the mood strikes you. You grew up a distance from here, and these priests would never suspect your rich clothing of hiding a low caste person underneath.

And in fact, you are not low-caste any more. By royal decree you occupy a sub-caste, a jati, all on your own.

Gain Serenity and Visions if you succeed - but do not fear failure, it can often be rewarding.

✓ Attend the morning puja

A simple ritual; you spend fifteen minutes, maybe twenty at the temple in the morning.

candle A tough challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 40% chance of success.) You need Serenity 1 (you have 1) Go

Evening bhajans

Devotional music is performed in the evenings at the temple - you have never actually been to these rather social events.

candle A high-risk challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 20% chance of success.) You need Serenity 3 (you have 1) Locked

Order a three-day homa

You need all the luck you can get with the Nawab’s latest mission. You tell the priests to perform a sudarshana homa, to bring you success.

candle An almost impossible challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 10% chance of success.) You need Serenity 5 (you have 1) Locked

Perhaps not

Ah. This one’s options are focused on the single quality of Serenity, at 1, 3, and 5.


Distractions

A cart overturns, and creates a lively dispute in the town. You are forced to step in - it is too late once you have finished placating the various injured parties.

candle Serenity has increased to 2!

candle Serenity 1 failed in a challenge! (When you try a challenge that’s difficult for you, you learn more even when you fail.)

Onward

…and we can’t even succeed at level 1. Dice not rolling our way right now. Although… IIRC this game tends to be like that: it keeps giving us that line about not fearing failure. And in fact the way StoryNexus sets up the math, you need a significantly higher skill than the skill-check minimum to have a good chance of success, and then you don’t learn much. So it makes sense to craft your writing to fit that pattern of failing half of the time or more, but making failure not be a big deal because you learn faster that way.


Memories of your past

Sitting in your ornate rooms, stretched against raw silk bolsters tasseled with silver bells, you are drawn to think about the fate that brought you here. You might have lived and died without knowing the feel of gold on your wrist or the respectful nods of important men. If not for that day, that dream…

Gain Imagination and Memories if you succeed - but do not fear failure, it can often be rewarding.

Recall your childhood

The one room house with packed dirt floors which smelled of camphor.

eye A very chancy challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 50% chance of success.) You need Perception 1 (you have 2) Go

✓ Recall your mother

You will gain a Precious Memento which enhances your Perception by +1 when equipped, and a Pearl-Encrusted Box slot if it is not already unlocked - you can only play this branch once.

Can you remember the outlines of her face, the exact colour of her eyes?

You have spent so long draping yourself in the silks and jewels of the court. Each delicately-linked chain of gold drags you further away from your past, from that rag-and-bone child that you were. You have worn your pride like a shield against memory, and it is hard to set it aside.

[This branch is now free to play] Go

Recall how you came to be sa-ilu

That fateful day the Nawab’s last sa-ilu stumbled upon you in the dreaming.

eye A high-risk challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 30% chance of success.) You need Perception 3 (you have 2) Locked

Recall your training with Cani

The sa-ilu taught you to read, to write, to reason – and also to place your trust in a partner.

eye An almost impossible challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 10% chance of success.) You need Perception 5 (you have 2) Locked

Recall your first meeting with the Nawab

He was a child then – and so were you. Your hands trembled as you held them behind your back.

eye An almost impossible challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 10% chance of success.) You need Perception 10 (you have 2) Locked

Perhaps not

A similar pattern of qualities: this card is Perception at 1, 3, 5, and 10. Plus a formerly-premium option, which I’m going to take because it sounds interesting and useful.

I like the shape of this: tantalizing us with options we want to learn about, and letting us know explicitly how far we have to go before we’ll be able to.


A scrap of yellow silk

You reach for a pearl-encrusted box in your rooms, unlocked with a tarnished key worn around your neck. Its insides are mirrored; they reflect your face, distorted in the faceted surfaces. Inside are those few precious things you could not bear to part with.

You draw out a torn, slightly soiled scrap of yellow silk, embroidered with dark-blue flowers. A scrap from your mother’s favourite sari: you remember her carefully unfolding it, allowing you to touch it reverently some candle-lit nights. It was too precious to be worn. And in fact, you cannot ever remember her wearing it, just the reflection of yellow-gold in her eyes.

The silk is of inferior quality. It is rougher than your most ordinary garments; the embroidery loose and uneven - but even now, your fingers tremble slightly as you touch the fabric.

stars You now have 1 x A scrap of yellow silk - You have a torn scrap of your mother’s favourite sari. Your memories come into sharper focus when you carry it with you.

chest a Pearl-Encrusted Box: its insides are mirrored. You keep your precious mementoes safely locked within

Onward


Aaand… perhaps let’s take one more try at remembering. Since our Perception is now at 2, we have a 50% chance of success instead of the 40% chance from last time. Here goes the coin flip:

✓ Take a deep breath

You must try to calm your mind before you reach for those – unpleasant - memories of a year ago, the day the Nawab’s troops conquered British-held Calcutta.

Aha! Success.

You remember it all too clearly

The Nawab’s bitter enmity with his wealthy, influential aunt is well known. Ghaseti Begum has been a prisoner in Murshidabad since the Nawab came to power, supposedly stripped of gold and rank. But there are those who tell rumours of hidden wealth, and a plot to undermine her nephew. Her men wrap you in carpets like Cleopatra and tumble you at her feet. She drops her veil inches from your fingers and tells you to look up at her forbidden face – all you can see in her eyes is your swift death.

“So this is the magician my nephew is so enchanted with.” Her face twists into a sneer. “You do not look like much.”

The Begum throws herself back onto the painted settee – a Hepplewhite in the latest London fashion, if you are not mistaken. She should look out of place on the pale silk but she sits like a conqueror, overawing the English import with the same ease that her nephew’s troops turned them out of Calcutta just that very afternoon.

“So,” she says lazily. “You will perform a task for me.”

eye Perception has increased to 3!

eye You succeeded in a Perception challenge! (Risky challenges mean you learn more.)

autumn You’ve lost 1 x Memories (new total 0).

portcullis You now have 1 x Remembering the Black Hole of Calcutta.

eye You now have 1 x Ghaseti Begum.

Onward

That doesn’t sound good. But also I love the language in this game.

OK. We should also take a quick look at the “always” card that lets us trade for imagination (which we’ll spend in the Dream).


Inspiring your imagination

Your powers as sa-ilu come from the imagination, your creative essence. Travelling in the dream world is miraculous but also exhausting and dangerous.

There are not many who would choose this life, and fewer still who would thrive in it. How do you keep your mind clear and eager for the next night?

Trade Desires, Memories and Traumas for Imagination, which lets you act in the dream-world.

✓ It is difficult to answer that

Perhaps it it just tonight, perhaps it has been building for a long time - but you feel unsure of yourself. Of your purpose. Go

You try new things

You are drawn to novelty and exploration - how can your spirit feel too taxed when there is so much wonder yet to be discovered?

Desires You need 3 x Desires (you have 1) Locked

Your past drives you

You remember what it was like to be hungry, and dirty, and illiterate. No matter how exhausted you are, you are lucky to be sa-ilu.

Memories You need 3 x Memories (you have 0) Locked

Your failures are a reminder

You have seen much pain and disappointment - the sting of misery keeps you honest, reminds you to do more and better.

Traumas You need 3 x Traumas (you have 1) Locked

You are complicated

Yes, the bite of failure urges you on, but so does the sheer joy of exploration. You are drawn to the new, but you know that you will never entirely remake yourself. Your motivation is multistranded.

rose You need 1 x Desires (you have 1)

candle You need 1 x Traumas (you have 1)

autumn You need 1 x Memories (you have 0) Locked

Perhaps not

So we can trade three of a thing for… how much imagination? I guess we’ll find out. Or trade a collection of three different things.

Huh. I forget: does the no-requirement option give us anything?


A lost feeling

You remember how it used to feel, to wield power. You were so certain you would never tire. You were so young. No matter. Perhaps tomorrow will be different? Perhaps you need to find yourself a new mission?

blood You have learned that you must follow your own path, or be damned. Onward

Nope, nothing. Well, it gave us another point of the “follow your own path” quality. I wonder if that does anything, or if it’s just flavor?

OK, that’s a pretty good chunk of game. Let’s call it a night here. We have 6 Imagination, which should give us a reasonable foray into the Dream next time. And our Curiosity/Perception/Serenity are 1/3/2, so we’ve made some progress there.

6 Likes

I’m going to post this in-line but if you want to discuss, take it to a new thread, will you? (start a normal reply, click the arrow at the top-left of the message box, just to the left of the thread title (alt-text “select a value to filter”) and choose “Reply as linked topic.”)

A digression on the timbre/flavor of StoryNexus

If you look at how many upgrade points you get for success/failure on stat checks with different probabilities… StoryNexus significantly rewards taking long-shots. Working out the statistically expected value averaged across many successes and failures:

  • 100% (no risk): 1 point
  • 50-90%: 2-ish
  • 30-40%: 2.7-ish
  • 20%: 3.4
  • 10%: 4.2

So as a player, if you want to raise your stats faster and make a game less grindy, you have to take big risks (which means you’re failing stat-checks a lot). Which means the games want to be written in a way that failures are not punishing and are hopefully interesting in some way: story/writing or other rewards or both.

Dunno. I think that’s interesting.

6 Likes

Whoops, I meant to leave a little break since I started Christmas Eve, but I meant to pick this up again yesterday. Right. Let’s travel into The Dreaming

We now have a Svapnasthana deck: “The dream world is beautiful, and treacherous - even for one so skilful as yourself.” Svapnasthana seems to be the word for the dream world, so not a town or anything. Although there is apparently some kind of distance or topology, however fleeting and tenuous: after you leave the initial dream of the Nawab, we are told “there are five dreams between the Nawab’s Diamond Palace and your destination. Experience counts for little here: the paths are constantly changing, your map is rewritten.”

And there are three pinned cards

  • Sa-ilu: Travel back into the wake.
  • Messenger of the gods I: A Brightly Lit Path (unlocked with Playing the divine messenger 0)
  • Echoes of the Dancing Girl I: Follow the Bells (unlocked with Unquiet Bones 0, Hearing the echoes of the dancing girl 0, Faizen’s honour 0)

Time-wise, we are still in February 1757: The Treaty of Alinagar brings a tenuous peace.

Let’s draw a hand of cards:

  • Wander in dreams
  • Investigate the court
  • Investigate the British vision for India

Hmm. Let’s check out the pinned cards, and then we’ll take our hand in order? Oh, and how about a view of the whole UI layout? I haven’t done that yet.

Echoes of the Dancing Girl I: Follow the Bells

It is the end of a long night and you are still four dreams away from home, in the dreamscape of a silk merchant who dreams of the Rajasthani desert so vividly that your lips are cracked with sand. You hear the distinctive sound of copper bells, and the throaty song of the nightingale, completely out of place in this sand-wracked landscape.

Generally the dreams in the svapnasthana - the dreaming world - are separate, connected by doorways that only the sa-ilu may access.

You have read of dreams that spill into each other in your secret texts, and they are always dangerous - to sa-ilu and to the very integrity of the svapnasthana itself.

Perhaps you should investigate?

This is a multi-part quest - build up your Curiosity and acquire Desires to progress.

✓ Follow the sound of bells

The sound distorts and echoes, each peal of bells overlaying the last - but you think you can glean a direction.

fire A high-risk challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 30% chance of success)
You need Curiosity 1 (you have 1). You need 1 x Desires (you have 1) Go

Perhaps not


Moonlight and metal

You find yourself in a garden leafed with cut emeralds and jade. The nightingales in the trees sing with gilded throats, their ruby eyes glittering in the moonlight. Silver pathways cut through the dewy grass, leading you in a long curve to a shaded clearing.

A ghostly woman dressed all in blue dances on the grass. She dips back at an inhuman angle, her feet move with preternatural grace. There are copper bells in several looped rows around her ankles, and they shiver and chime with her every move.

fire Curiosity has increased to 3!

fire You succeeded in a Curiosity challenge! (Risky challenges mean you learn more.)

rose You’ve lost 1 x Desires (new total 0).

crackedglassinverse You’ve gained 1 x Visions (new total 4).

moon You now have 1 x Hearing the echoes of the dancing girl.

Onward

Oh heck yeah. Succeeded on a 30% chance and our Curiosity jumped from 1 to 3. Also another reference to having to chain through dreams to make it home. Well, if we’re feeling lucky, let’s see what the second part looks like?


Echoes of the Dancing Girl II: Dances of Destruction

“I will tell you my story,” the dancing girl says, her skirts spinning around her. “Oh yes, my dear visitor, I will tell you of my tale. But you must dance with me to hear it.”

She smiles a smile so radiant it eclipses the gold of your path, the glittering ruby eyes of the nightingales. You know this dream - and the dancing girl’s offer - could prove to be perilous. And yet, you must stop this uncontrolled dream from spilling into others, endangering the entire dream-world. What will you do?

This is a multi-part quest - build up your Curiosity and acquire Desires to progress.

Dance with her

You step into the clearing and try to remember the dances you have seen - in the temples, and in the palace courtyard.

fire A high-risk challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 20% chance of success) You need Curiosity 3 (you have 3). You need 3 x Desires (you have 0). Locked

Perhaps not

Ah, we can’t do that: need more Desires. OK, Messenger of the gods. 20% chance? Well, we made the 30% one, let’s see if we’re lucky twice in a row.


Messenger of the gods I: A Brightly Lit Path

As the only sa-ilu in the Nawab’s sultanate you have the authority to pursue your own interests in the dreaming. The last sa-ilu loved to enter the minds of great scientists and engineers, bringing hastily inked drawings of complicated machines and half-formed speculations to the court advisors. You pursue a more esoteric path.

You are drawn to the dreams of mystics and visionaries, those who believe they have been touched by the gods.

Are you searching for affirmation of divinity? Or simply to know the future, and prepare against it?

This is a multi-part quest that will continue in future episodes - build up your Serenity and collect Visions to progress.

✓ A brightness so brilliant it sears

You can sense a vision-wracked mind in the dreaming tonight – it draws you toward it clearly. You can almost see your path illuminated before you, like a series of lit beacons burning hot and bright. candle A high-risk challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 20% chance of success) You need Serenity 1 (you have 2). cracked glass inverse You need 1 x Visions (you have 4). Go

Perhaps not


The light gutters out

You are in a dream full of castles made of blackened teeth instead of stone when the lights abruptly extinguish. Did your visionary awake? Were you somehow distracted? You resolve to try and find him again, some other night.

candle Serenity has increased to 3!

candle Serenity 2 failed in a challenge! (When you try a challenge that’s difficult for you, you learn more even when you fail.)

Onward

Nope. But we bumped up our Serenity anyway. OK, play our hand.


Wander in dreams

The Brahman priests took great pleasure in quoting the sacred texts, answering your childish questions with ancient dogma in a language that you were not allowed to learn. They told you to be content in your position, to respect your social betters, that food prepared by your mother’s washed hands would somehow pollute their pure high-caste bodies.

Brahman or Shudhra, Mussulman or Anglo – you know there are some dreams that step across all social boundaries.

And here, in the dreaming, you step where you like.

Every successful action in the dream world uses up Imagination - if you use up all your Imagination you must go back to the wake to gain more.

✓ A dream of flight

Find a dream of escape and blue-drenched sky. The risk is falling. But that’s what makes it fun.

fire A tough challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 40% chance of success) You need Curiosity 1 (you have 3). Imagination You need Imagination 1 (you have 6). Go

A dream of death

In small measures, even spreading silence of death grows less oppressive. Be wary you do not grow to like it.

candle A tough challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 40% chance of success) You need Serenity 1 (you have 3). Imagination You need Imagination 1 (you have 6). Go

A dream of things past

Sometimes you tire of fancy and imagining. Memories are often much more complex in the dreaming – it is easy to slip too far from the truth.

eye A tough challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 40% chance of success) You need Perception 1 (you have 3). Imagination You need Imagination 1 (you have 6) Go

A dream of futures unseen

You will gain 1 x Sliver of Prophecy and 3 x Visions

It is easy to believe in the divine in the dreaming. You have seen visions and hallucinations both; sometimes there is no difference between them.

[This branch is now free to play]

Imagination You need Imagination 1 (you have 6) Go

Perhaps not

Hmm. The others may be more interesting, but I want to try flying first.


Fear and dreaming

You step into the dream and find your feet barely edging over a sheer cliff face with the sea pounding against the rocks below. Before you can catch your breath you feel a weight shove you from behind, and as you fall you see the fear-twisted face of the dreamer as he falls with you. You twist out of the dream at the very last moment, but the terror stays with you for a long time.

fire Curiosity is increasing…

fire Curiosity 3 failed in a challenge! (When you try a challenge that’s difficult for you, you learn more even when you fail.)

candle You’ve gained 1 x Traumas (new total 2).

Onward

Welp. Not lucky this time either.


Investigate the court

True treachery is bred inside the cool courtyards and marble corridors of the palace. In daylight the court is by turns sneering and wary – they will never accept the grey vibuthi streaked across your forehead on auspicious mornings or the low-caste darkness of your skin. But they fear your magic, as well they should.

At night you step inside their stiff court masks and disassemble them from the inside out. Their most delicate joys, their sweetly secret sorrows, their most venal ambitions – you must know them all.

Every successful action in the dream world uses up Imagination - if you use up all your Imagination you must go back to the wake to gain more.

The ladies of the court

The ladies of the Nawab’s court have excellent imaginations. In the wake their smiles are hidden behind the purdah in their guarded apartments, but you may walk amongst them freely in the dream.

fire A tough challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 40% chance of success) You need Curiosity 1 (you have 3). Imagination You need Imagination 1 (you have 6). Go

Behind the Begum’s veil

This will gain you 2 x Ghaseti Begum, and 1 x Mir Jaffar - the Nawab’s mustachioed General, and will unlock the slot ‘The Principal Players’ if you do not have it already

The Nawab’s disfavoured but politically influential aunt dreams of fortresses and walls strung with ruby-red thorns. You have always stepped widely around her svapnasthana. Perhaps it is time to get to know her a little better?

[This branch is now free to play]

Imagination You need Imagination 1 (you have 6). Go

✓ The close advisers

The Nawab raises men up carelessly and drops them with as little ceremony. You are not the first of low birth he has honoured, but you are the only one who has remained so.

eye A tough challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 40% chance of success) You need Perception 1 (you have 3). Imagination You need Imagination 1 (you have 6). Go

The holy men

They are, perhaps, most openly disdainful of the Nawab’s - excesses - of opium, gambling, and wine. But then again, they dislike you for no other reason but your birth.

candle A tough challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 40% chance of success) You need Serenity 1 (you have 3). Imagination You need Imagination 1 (you have 6). Go

Perhaps not

Maybe we should put the Begum (the Nawab’s disfavoured aunt) to a vote, and try one of the other options. Let’s see about the advisers? Although I guess she had us kidnapped while the Nawab was taking Calcutta, and that’s a pinned story so we may not be able to avoid it. At any rate, she has seemed pretty threatening and not great to work for. But maybe that would be interesting.

OK. For now let’s check out the advisers.


Revelry and revenge

The Nawab’s current circle of confidantes seem trustworthy enough - if a somewhat debauched. But the dreams of those he has cast aside are ugly and oily with hatred. You resolve to keep your eye on a few select fellows. As of now, they merely dream of treason: that could change.

eye Perception has increased to 4!

eye You succeeded in a Perception challenge! (Risky challenges mean you learn more.)

cloud You’ve lost 1 x Imagination (new total 5).

flag You’ve gained 1 x Investigating the situation for the Nawab (new total 2).

Onward

And we got another point of Investigating the situation for the Nawab. I wonder if all the options give us that?

And now for the British.


Investigate the British vision for India

The British East India Company sends representatives and envoys and obsequious traders, as if it is not a conquering force. You are familiar with some of its faces - but what lies behind?

You decide to investigate the minds of your enemy, to better understand their weaknesses.

Every successful action in the dream world uses up Imagination - if you use up all your Imagination you must go back to the wake to gain more.

The commander of the army

Though Robert Clive seems to hold no official position in local governance, he commands the British armies, and is a veteran of the wars across India.

eye A very chancy challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 50% chance of success) You need Perception 1 (you have 4). Imagination You need Imagination 1 (you have 5). Go

The representative at the Nawab’s court

William Watts is the recent envoy to the Nawab’s court. You suspect that he was installed at Robert Clive’s specific instruction, which makes him a man to be watched.

candle A tough challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 40% chance of success) You need Serenity 1 (you have 3). Imagination You need Imagination 1 (you have 5). Go

✓ Mrs. Watts

The wife of William Watts, she is - surprisingly - well liked by the Bengalis, court and citizenry alike. You are curious about her ambitions.

fire A tough challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 40% chance of success) You need Curiosity 1 (you have 3). Imagination You need Imagination 1 (you have 5). Go

Cause mischief

Playing this branch will give you 2x An Enemy of the British and 3x memories

You are unable to resist the opportunity to disturb the rest of Robert Clive - even if it does not add to your investigations.

[This branch is now free to play]

Imagination You need Imagination 1 (you have 5) Go

Perhaps not

So we have William Watts the British envoy, and his wife. And the supposedly-not-in-the-government British general Robert Clive who may have influenced Watts’ appointment. Or we could cause mischief and make an enemy of the British. Hmm. Maybe we should put that to a vote as well. I’ll check out Mrs. Watts for now.


A surprising friendship

Frances Watts dreams of being ushered behind the purdah, and sipping herbal tea with Amina Begum - the Nawab’s mother, and younger sister of the troublesome Ghaseti Begum. Frances is clearly familiar with the hallways of the palace, and with the Nawab’s beloved mother - this is an unexpected development.

fire Curiosity has increased to 4!

fire You succeeded in a Curiosity challenge! (Risky challenges mean you learn more.)

flag You’ve gained 1 x Investigating the situation for the Nawab (new total 3).

cloud You’ve lost 1 x Imagination (new total 4).

Onward

Interesting. So the Nawab has a beloved mother in addition to his scheming aunt.

Let’s run another hand to see what else is going on? Huh. The same three cards. Maybe that’s the whole deck? What if we Wander in dreams, Dream of death (to challenge our Serenity which is our lowest stat) and then re-fill our hand and see if we get the Wander in dreams card again?


Wander in dreams

The Brahman priests took great pleasure in quoting the sacred texts, answering your childish questions with ancient dogma in a language that you were not allowed to learn. They told you to be content in your position, to respect your social betters, that food prepared by your mother’s washed hands would somehow pollute their pure high-caste bodies.

Brahman or Shudhra, Mussulman or Anglo – you know there are some dreams that step across all social boundaries.

And here, in the dreaming, you step where you like.

Every successful action in the dream world uses up Imagination - if you use up all your Imagination you must go back to the wake to gain more.

A dream of flight

Find a dream of escape and blue-drenched sky. The risk is falling. But that’s what makes it fun.

fire A very chancy challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 50% chance of success) You need Curiosity 1 (you have 4). Imagination You need Imagination 1 (you have 4). Go

✓ A dream of death

In small measures, even spreading silence of death grows less oppressive. Be wary you do not grow to like it.

candle A tough challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 40% chance of success) You need Serenity 1 (you have 3). Imagination You need Imagination 1 (you have 4). Go

A dream of things past

Sometimes you tire of fancy and imagining. Memories are often much more complex in the dreaming – it is easy to slip too far from the truth.

eye A very chancy challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 50% chance of success) You need Perception 1 (you have 4). Imagination You need Imagination 1 (you have 4). Go

A dream of futures unseen

You will gain 1 x Sliver of Prophecy and 3 x Visions

It is easy to believe in the divine in the dreaming. You have seen visions and hallucinations both; sometimes there is no difference between them.

[This branch is now free to play]

Imagination You need Imagination 1 (you have 4) Go

Perhaps not


Lighting the pyre

The dream sucks at you from the moment you step into it. The air pulls the colour from your skin and then the sounds from your throat, even your feet fall silently on the grass. The dreamer lies slack on a rough-built pyre, and when you look down at your hands they are clutching a flaming branch. As you approach the pyre you feel a growing alarm as your hair falls around your feet, shaved from your head in respect for the dead. (You will have to find some suggestible person to dream it back for you, or spend the rest of your life wearing horse-hair wigs.)

You light the bundled twigs and a sigh ripples through the dream like a cool wind. Thank you, breathes a voice. Bless you. You stay until the flames gutter out and return home covered in ash, but full of an undeniable peace.

candle Serenity has increased to 4!

candle You succeeded in a Serenity challenge! (Risky challenges mean you learn more.)

cloud You’ve lost 1 x Imagination (new total 3).

candle You’ve gained 3 x Traumas (new total 5).

Onward

You lose your hair in the dream, you lose it in the wake? But somehow you can dream of death and it’s fine? Hmm. I guess when failing to fly, we did twist out of the fall at the last moment. And it seems here like you’re … oh wait, I’m being silly. You walk in other people’s dreams, you’re not inhabiting the person whose dream it is.

And if we draw one card to refill our hand, we get “You wander in dreams” back, so I bet this is the whole deck right now. So we have three more imagination, we might as well explore the options and spend it before we go back to the wake. But I think I’ll break this post here and make polls about the Ghaseti Begum and about making an enemy of the British.

3 Likes

I realized I could look up the real history: I know basically nothing about this time period in this part of the world. So we have Ghaseti Begum? Yup, and given that it’s 1757 it looks like the Nawab must be Siraj-ud-Daulah (Light of the State).

OK, polls.

Ghaseti Begum dreams of fortresses and walls strung with ruby-red thorns:

  • Get to know her better
  • Continue to avoid her dreams
0 voters

Cause mischief to (and make 2 enemy points of) the British

  • Disturb general Robert Clive
  • Leave him alone
0 voters
2 Likes

Let’s investigate behind the Begum’s veil and annoy the British, then!

Investigate the court

True treachery is bred inside the cool courtyards and marble corridors of the palace. In daylight the court is by turns sneering and wary – they will never accept the grey vibuthi streaked across your forehead on auspicious mornings or the low-caste darkness of your skin. But they fear your magic, as well they should.

At night you step inside their stiff court masks and disassemble them from the inside out. Their most delicate joys, their sweetly secret sorrows, their most venal ambitions – you must know them all.

Every successful action in the dream world uses up Imagination - if you use up all your Imagination you must go back to the wake to gain more.

The ladies of the court

The ladies of the Nawab’s court have excellent imaginations. In the wake their smiles are hidden behind the purdah in their guarded apartments, but you may walk amongst them freely in the dream.

fire A very chancy challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 50% chance of success.) You need Curiosity 1 (you have 4). cloud You need Imagination 1 (you have 3) Go

✓ Behind the Begum’s veil

This will gain you 2 x Ghaseti Begum, and 1 x Mir Jaffar - the Nawab’s mustachioed General, and will unlock the slot ‘The Principal Players’ if you do not have it already

The Nawab’s disfavoured but politically influential aunt dreams of fortresses and walls strung with ruby-red thorns. You have always stepped widely around her svapnasthana. Perhaps it is time to get to know her a little better?

[This branch is now free to play]

cloud You need Imagination 1 (you have 3) Go

The close advisers

The Nawab raises men up carelessly and drops them with as little ceremony. You are not the first of low birth he has honoured, but you are the only one who has remained so.

eye A very chancy challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 50% chance of success.) You need Perception 1 (you have 4). cloud You need Imagination 1 (you have 3) Go

The holy men

They are, perhaps, most openly disdainful of the Nawab’s - excesses - of opium, gambling, and wine. But then again, they dislike you for no other reason but your birth.

candle A very chancy challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 50% chance of success.) You need Serenity 1 (you have 4). cloud You need Imagination 1 (you have 3) Go

Perhaps not


Mango seeds and assignations

Your acquaintance with Ghaseti Begum allows you to anticipate her most obvious mental traps - you scale the walls, and evade the thorns with only a minor scratch or two.

The Begum dreaming of a cool day on on her balcony, veiled by silk curtains shot through with gold. You see her silhouette move forward, and the curtain is twitched aside as she throws a mango seed onto the street below. There is another figure beside her.

You catch a glimpse of his face before the curtain falls back- it is Mir Jaffar, a close advisor to the Nawab’s grandfather - an unfortunate loser in the new regime’s reshuffle of political office. You wonder why his face appears in the Begum’s dreams - surely they are not conducting some sort of sordid affair?

cloud You’ve lost 1 x Imagination (new total 2).

dagger You now have 1 x Mir Jaffar.

eye You’ve gained 2 x Ghaseti Begum (new total 3 - You tried to defy the Begum once, but no longer. You are in her power.).

castle An occurrence! Your ‘The Principal Players’ Quality is now 1! Onward

Hmm. Interesting, and the description for this quality level (You tried to defy the Begum once, but no longer. You are in her power) is ominous, but otherwise less so than I expected. Probably the rest is in the Calcutta recollections events in the wake?


Investigate the British vision for India

The British East India Company sends representatives and envoys and obsequious traders, as if it is not a conquering force. You are familiar with some of its faces - but what lies behind?

You decide to investigate the minds of your enemy, to better understand their weaknesses.

Every successful action in the dream world uses up Imagination - if you use up all your Imagination you must go back to the wake to gain more.

The commander of the army

Though Robert Clive seems to hold no official position in local governance, he commands the British armies, and is a veteran of the wars across India.

eye A very chancy challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 50% chance of success.) You need Perception 1 (you have 4). cloud You need Imagination 1 (you have 2) Go

The representative at the Nawab’s court

William Watts is the recent envoy to the Nawab’s court. You suspect that he was installed at Robert Clive’s specific instruction, which makes him a man to be watched.

candle A very chancy challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 50% chance of success.) You need Serenity 1 (you have 4). cloud You need Imagination 1 (you have 2) Go

Mrs. Watts

The wife of William Watts, she is - surprisingly - well liked by the Bengalis, court and citizenry alike. You are curious about her ambitions.

fire A very chancy challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 50% chance of success.) You need Curiosity 1 (you have 4). cloud You need Imagination 1 (you have 2) Go

✓ Cause mischief

Playing this branch will give you 2x An Enemy of the British and 3x memories

You are unable to resist the opportunity to disturb the rest of Robert Clive - even if it does not add to your investigations.

[This branch is now free to play]

cloud You need Imagination 1 (you have 2) Go

Perhaps not


A fragrant rebuttal

You know a servant in the Nawab’s stables who always dreams of horses. You hold your nose, and gather handfuls of dung in your volumious pockets. You slip into Clive’s dream and smear dung over his gold ingots and fine furnishings. You will have to burn your clothes when you return to the wake, but it is worth it just to savour Clive’s cry of heartrending horror.

cloud You’ve lost 1 x Imagination (new total 1).

autumn You now have 3 x Memories.

blood You now have 2 x An Enemy of the British.

Onward

Very mature, yeah.

More confirmation that actions in the dream carry over to the wake. And I guess this stat is (at least partly) that we are standing against the British, not necessarily that they have a grudge against us.

We might as well do all the formerly-premium options while we’re at it – there was one in Wander in dreams.


Wander in dreams

The Brahman priests took great pleasure in quoting the sacred texts, answering your childish questions with ancient dogma in a language that you were not allowed to learn. They told you to be content in your position, to respect your social betters, that food prepared by your mother’s washed hands would somehow pollute their pure high-caste bodies.

Brahman or Shudhra, Mussulman or Anglo – you know there are some dreams that step across all social boundaries.

And here, in the dreaming, you step where you like.

Every successful action in the dream world uses up Imagination - if you use up all your Imagination you must go back to the wake to gain more.

A dream of flight

Find a dream of escape and blue-drenched sky. The risk is falling. But that’s what makes it fun.

fire A very chancy challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 50% chance of success.) You need Curiosity 1 (you have 4). cloud You need Imagination 1 (you have 1) Go

A dream of death

In small measures, even spreading silence of death grows less oppressive. Be wary you do not grow to like it.

candle A very chancy challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 50% chance of success). You need Serenity 1 (you have 4). cloud You need Imagination 1 (you have 1) Go

A dream of things past

Sometimes you tire of fancy and imagining. Memories are often much more complex in the dreaming – it is easy to slip too far from the truth.

eye A very chancy challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 50% chance of success). You need Perception 1 (you have 4). cloud You need Imagination 1 (you have 1) Go

✓ A dream of futures unseen

You will gain 1 x Sliver of Prophecy and 3 x Visions

It is easy to believe in the divine in the dreaming. You have seen visions and hallucinations both; sometimes there is no difference between them.

[This branch is now free to play]

cloud You need Imagination 1 (you have 1) Go

Perhaps not


Signs and tatters

You taste blood in your mouth. your eyes are gritty with dust. Your palms are sweaty. You can hear the dull clash of metal on metal, the thunder of artillery. You are in the midst of a battle, and then suddenly you are far above it, watching men pour slowly over the plain, tattered standards shifting in the wind. You see the flags of the armies as clearly as if they were waving in front of your face, but when you wake your memory blurs: all you are left with is the slickness of your sweat-soaked skin and a terror that tastes bitter in the back of your throat.

crackedglassinverse You’ve gained 3 x Visions (new total 7).

cloud You’ve lost 1 x Imagination (new total 0).

lightning You now have 1 x Slivers of Prophecy.

Onward

We can go back to the wake at any time, but now that we’ve used up the last of our imagination we’re forced back to it – the game jumps straight to that event.


Go back to the Wake

You are exhausted by your travels in the dreaming world - you must return to the wake to replenish your mind and revive your senses.

You do not have any Imagination left and must leave the dream. Gain more in the wake before returning.

✓ Leave the dreaming

You stumble back into Cani’s dream, hollow eyed and mazed as if by wine. You wish - briefly - that you could sleep like other people. It seems so peaceful. From the outside at least. Go


A blur of vision, a twist of lightning

You step out into the wake, barely aware of your surroundings. You lie on Cani’s verandah, tracking the sun’s slow movement across the sky.

You moved to a new setting: The Wake.

sun An occurrence! Your ‘The Wake’ Quality is now !

moon Your ‘The Dreaming’ Quality has gone!

Onward

Huh. Interesting that it reports The Wake as an empty string instead of saying that we’ve gained it. It says The Dreaming “has gone.”

3 Likes

OK, let’s recall our Calcutta run-in with the Begum.

Remembering the Black Hole of Calcutta II: The Begum’s Task

“The British built a prison in this fort,” Ghaseti Begum tells you, as if you get wrapped in carpets and ushered behind the purdah every day. “Do you know of it?”

Your eyes stray to the girl sleeping a drugged and untroubled sleep on the Begum’s bed - you do not yet understand why you have been chosen as an instrument of the Begum’s will, but you are unhappily sure that it will become clear soon. You only pray she does not demand treason.

This is a four-part quest - enhance your Perception and collect Memories to progress.

No, Begum

Your talents – abundant as they are – did not qualify you as part of the Nawab’s martial force. You had barely entered Calcutta before the Begum’s guards caught you – and unfortunately, the British commanders whose dreams you reconnoitred did not dream of prisons.

eye A very chancy challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 50% chance of success). You need Perception 3 (you have 4). autumn You need 3 x Memories (you have 3) Go

Yes, Begum

Luckily, you slipped into Calcutta behind the troops and explored as they looted and burned. You peered into the prison that very afternoon, right before your unlucky visit to the battlements – that was where her guards found you, lost in thought as you contemplated the view.

fire A very chancy challenge
(Your Curiosity quality gives you a 50% chance of success). You need Curiosity 3 (you have 4). autumn You need 3 x Memories (you have 3) Go

Perhaps not

I don’t know if this matters, but there are other things to check out, so I’ll put it to a vote. Do we know about the prison, or not?

Also, now our main stats should be high enough to see at least a few of the options that were locked before, so let’s draw and play a hand or two.


Memories of your past

Sitting in your ornate rooms, stretched against raw silk bolsters tasseled with silver bells, you are drawn to think about the fate that brought you here. You might have lived and died without knowing the feel of gold on your wrist or the respectful nods of important men. If not for that day, that dream…

Gain Imagination and Memories if you succeed - but do not fear failure, it can often be rewarding.

Recall your childhood

The one room house with packed dirt floors which smelled of camphor.

eye A modest challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 70% chance of success). You need Perception 1 (you have 4) Go

✓ Recall how you came to be sa-ilu

That fateful day the Nawab’s last sa-ilu stumbled upon you in the dreaming.

eye A very chancy challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 50% chance of success). You need Perception 3 (you have 4) Go

Recall your training with Cani

The sa-ilu taught you to read, to write, to reason – and also to place your trust in a partner.

eye A high-risk challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 20% chance of success). You need Perception 5 (you have 4) Locked

Recall your first meeting with the Nawab

He was a child then – and so were you. Your hands trembled as you held them behind your back.

eye An almost impossible challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 10% chance of success). You need Perception 10 (you have 4) Locked

Perhaps not

The “Recall your mother” option is now permanently locked: we got the rewards and don’t get to play that again, so I’m leaving it out in the interest of space.

We haven’t done childhood but I’m more curious about becoming sa-ilu, so I’ll do that now and come back to the easier one later.


Gods and demons

At night, stretched beside your mother on the thin pallet, you would fall into her dream without realising it – and roam beyond. You did not realise the danger you were in; inevitably your luck ran out. You slid into a dream of shipwreck and found yourself pitched into the raging black ocean. You remember wishing that you could just – wake up. (You know now, this is one of the rules: you cannot wake from a dream that is not your own.) You lost consciousness, but when you roused, instead of a god or demon you looked upon the irritated face of the Nawab’s near-mythical sa-ilu. “Allah show mercy,” she said. “You are an idiot.”

eye Perception is increasing…

eye You succeeded in a Perception challenge! (Risky challenges mean you learn more.)

autumn You’ve gained 6 x Memories (new total 9).

cloud You now have 2 x Imagination.

Onward


Investigate the mood of the town

The Nawab asked you to listen to the mood of the people. Do they burn with anger at the British and think the Treaty of Alinagar a craven act? Do they fear the provocations of the French? Do they believe their Nawab will protect them?

You have your servant bring you worn clothes, and you wrap your amulet in rags and tuck it under your scarf. The places you are going, you do not want to look like a courtier.

The banks of the river

You spot a woman with a bundle and follow her impulsively. She meets with a group: they wash clothes in the Bhaghirathi, which flows in to the sacred Ganges further inland. You keep back, in the trees, close enough to hear their idle talk.

fire A chancy challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 60% chance of success). You need Curiosity 1 (you have 4) Go

The bustling markets

Where other towns have fishermen and farmers, Murshidabad – the seat of the Nawabs for over a hundred years - has ivory-carvers, silk-weavers, gold-embroiderers, and all of them with an ear for gossip. A sharp eye will gain you more than a bargain.

eye A chancy challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 60% chance of success). You need Perception 1 (you have 4) Go

The chai-shops

Instead of chasing down whispers and lurking in back-alleys you install yourself in a prime seat in one of the local chai-shops and wait for the speculation to come to you.

candle A chancy challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 60% chance of success). You need Serenity 1 (you have 4) Go

✓ The rag-pickers

Ignored by almost anyone lucky enough not to be born into - or fall into - the trade, the rag-pickers see everything. Growing up, you were fascinated by the rag-pickers: a group of people considered even more low than you and yours. Go

Perhaps not

I’m curious about the rag-pickers too.


Rags and letters

Even with your borrowed clothes, you look out of place. But you modulate your tone, and try to imitate the accent that the court tutors beat out of you. The children are the least wary. They open up the rubbish bags from the courtiers you ask about, and you retrieve some suspicious letters and a silk handkerchief embroidered with roses, in the English style. Perhaps some in the Nawab’s court are trading favours with the British?

autumn You’ve gained 1 x Memories (new total 10). Onward

Oh, wait. The third card we have is Take a day for yourself, and that’s the one that has options at 5 for each stat, but all of ours are still at 4. So I’m going to leave that card there and draw to refill the hand until we have a stat or two at 5. Or I could just skip the card and wait until it comes up again: there aren’t that many. But let’s do it this way. OK, investigate the mood of the town again.


Investigate the mood of the town

✓ The bustling markets

Where other towns have fishermen and farmers, Murshidabad – the seat of the Nawabs for over a hundred years - has ivory-carvers, silk-weavers, gold-embroiderers, and all of them with an ear for gossip. A sharp eye will gain you more than a bargain.

eye A chancy challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 60% chance of success). You need Perception 1 (you have 4) Go


Courtly intrigues

Artisans from all over Bengal – and neighbouring princedoms, too – flock to Murshidabad, bringing their fine worked goods. You hear that one of the courtiers has recently spent a fortune on reworking his lamps in silver and sapphires, another ordering lengths of silk in yellow and white, the colours of the French royal standard. You leave the market with a magnificent haul of rumours and speculation.

eye Perception has increased to 5!

eye You succeeded in a Perception challenge!

flag You’ve gained 1 x Investigating the situation for the Nawab (new total 4).

Onward

There’s one stat, but if it’s that easy, let’s go for another.


Explore the cosmopolitan town of Murshidabad

Murshidabad has been the seat of the Nawabs of Bengal for a hundred years. Populated by peoples from all over India, it is now also the home of some hardy Britishers, French and even the occasional Portuguese trader.

You do not particularly need to seek them out – in your experience, foreigners rarely travel inconspicuously. And you make it a policy to keep your eye on those who do.

✓ A commotion in the square

A large crowd of people is gathered, placing wagers and making muttered comments. As you draw closer, you see what has drawn them: a British memsahib wearing a full-skirted dress, sitting on a stool with an easel and canvas in front of her, fanned by servants. She appears to be painting a naturalistic scene.

fire A very chancy challenge(Your Curiosity quality gives you a 50% chance of success). You need Curiosity 2 (you have 4) Approach her

An inconspicuous fellow

A man in a roughspun cotton sherwani and headwrap is wandering through the market with a deliberately casual air. Your gaze would normally have slipped by him, but the way he holds his body catches your eye. He turns slightly and you see his face: it is tanned, and rough with dark stubble but foreign for all that.

eye A chancy challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 60% chance of success). You need Perception 2 (you have 5) Follow him

A marketplace missionary

Benigno – or Benny, as he’s called by the locals – is in his usual corner spot at the market telling tall tales in a mix of Portuguese and broken Bengali. He appears to be about to undo the buttons of his shirt. If you get closer, you’ll probably be able to catch a glimpse of his impressive scars.

candle A very chancy challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 50% chance of success). You need Serenity 2 (you have 4) Edge closer

Perhaps not


A ship at full sail

The dress of British ladies’ has always rather reminded you of a ship at full sail. You draw up to her - ahem - broadside, and comment on her excellent use of perspective in painstakingly-learned and perfect English. “Oh, thank you,” she flutters, taking in your rich clothes and gems with a glance. “Do you…dabble?”

Ten minutes later you take your leave, weighted down with gossip and one interesting fact: the ship she arrived on last month was full, and not with tradesmen but soldiers.

fire Curiosity has increased to 5!

fire You succeeded in a Curiosity challenge! (Risky challenges mean you learn more.)

flag You’ve gained 1 x Investigating the situation for the Nawab (new total 5).

autumn You’ve gained 1 x Memories (new total 11).

Onward

And there’s two. Let’s take a day for ourselves.


You take a day for yourself

The sa-ilu are creatures of imagination and creative energy. As such, you each have your particular pleasures. Considering some of the indulgences you have read about in the secret histories of the sa-ilu - your pleasures are innocent indeed.

Gain Imagination if you succeed - but do not fear failure, it can often be rewarding.

A swim in the river

The Bhagirathi curves around Murshidabad and divides Bengal in two. You plan to take a contemplative, refreshing swim. Go

A formal banquet

An ambassador from the Sultanate of Delhi graces Murshidabad with a visit, and the Nawab has ordered a magnificent feast.

eye An almost impossible challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 10% chance of success.) You need Perception 5 (you have 5) Go

A gathering of poets

You stumble upon their grubby get-together by accident, and settle yourself on a seat in the back to be regaled.

fire An almost impossible challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 10% chance of success).

fire You need Curiosity 5 (you have 5) Go

A game of chaupar

There are many games being played on streetcorners in Murshidabad. An old man, seeking a new opponent, beckons you over.

candle An almost impossible challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 10% chance of success). You need Serenity 5 (you have 4) Locked Perhaps not

The heat, the smell

The smell of liquor and sweat proves too much for you. During a particularly vicious argument conducted entirely in rhyming couplets, you push your way out into the cool air of the evening.

fire Curiosity is increasing…

fire Curiosity 5 failed in a challenge! (When you try a challenge that’s difficult for you, you learn more even when you fail.)

Onward

Heh. Good thing we waited. /s

Draw another hand. Oh hey, secret texts of the sa-ilu.


The secret texts of the sa-ilu

There have been sa-ilu in the courts of the Mughal emperors and even before them, standing beside the Babylonians and the Assyrians as they expanded their sprawling empires. You have a collection of secret manuscripts, handed down to you by the last sa-ilu, wrapped carefully in linen and stored in a cool room.

You open a text and read a small fragment.

Gain Visions and Imagination if you succeed - but do not fear failure, it can often be rewarding.

A most ancient text

A transcription from 7th century clay tablets from the Royal Library of Ashurbanipal, in Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Go

An odd sheet of pictograms

You never noticed this inked-vellum manuscript before, tucked between two weightier texts. Its colours are still rich and bright.

eye A tough challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 40% chance of success). You need Perception 3 (you have 5) Go

✓ A much-read favourite

The Linga-Puranas - an ancient collection of scriptures - are one of the few Hindu texts in your collection, and therefore you treasure them particularly.

candle A high-risk challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 30% chance of success). You need Serenity 3 (you have 4) Go

Scrawled in the margins

You have read these texts back to front, but the small margin notes have always eluded you. Your curiosity is caught by one of them.

fire A tough challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 40% chance of success). You need Curiosity 3 (you have 5) Go

Perhaps not


You can’t seem to concentrate

The words swim in front of your eyes.

candle Serenity is increasing…

candle Serenity 4 failed in a challenge! (When you try a challenge that’s difficult for you, you learn more even when you fail.)

Onward

The odds are not on our side here. Well, we’ll keep seeing the same cards, and there are more things to try.


Explore the cosmopolitan town of Murshidabad

Murshidabad has been the seat of the Nawabs of Bengal for a hundred years. Populated by peoples from all over India, it is now also the home of some hardy Britishers, French and even the occasional Portuguese trader.

You do not particularly need to seek them out – in your experience, foreigners rarely travel inconspicuously. And you make it a policy to keep your eye on those who do.

A commotion in the square

A large crowd of people is gathered, placing wagers and making muttered comments. As you draw closer, you see what has drawn them: a British memsahib wearing a full-skirted dress, sitting on a stool with an easel and canvas in front of her, fanned by servants. She appears to be painting a naturalistic scene.

fire A chancy challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 60% chance of success). You need Curiosity 2 (you have 5) Approach her

An inconspicuous fellow

A man in a roughspun cotton sherwani and headwrap is wandering through the market with a deliberately casual air. Your gaze would normally have slipped by him, but the way he holds his body catches your eye. He turns slightly and you see his face: it is tanned, and rough with dark stubble but foreign for all that.

eye A chancy challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 60% chance of success). You need Perception 2 (you have 5) Follow him

✓ A marketplace missionary

Benigno – or Benny, as he’s called by the locals – is in his usual corner spot at the market telling tall tales in a mix of Portuguese and broken Bengali. He appears to be about to undo the buttons of his shirt. If you get closer, you’ll probably be able to catch a glimpse of his impressive scars.

candle A very chancy challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 50% chance of success). You need Serenity 2 (you have 4) Edge closer

Perhaps not


Sea-voyages and slavery

Benny does not disappoint you. You push your way to the front in time to see him slip off his shirt and display a lattice of thick raised scars all over his arms and back. There is a worked gold cross glistening against the black skin of his chest. He holds up his wrist, and runs a finger along a calloused mark in the shape of a manacle. “Oh, my friends, the stories I must tell you.”

You lose yourself in his telling: a sea-voyage that is all chains and sick fear, sugar plantations and panning for gold in bright blue Brazilian rivers, a land so different from his native Africa, the slow seeping knowledge of being owned by someone else. He finishes his story with a smacking kiss to his cross. “Nobody but Jesus owns me, my friends,” he tells you solemnly. You slip away before his usual missionary lecture, but you are left with a curiosity about the truth of his words, to know what the wind of those faraway places would feel like on your skin. What does he dream of, you wonder…

candle Serenity has increased to 5!

candle You succeeded in a Serenity challenge! (Risky challenges mean you learn more.)

boat You now have 1 x An interest in Benigno’s dreams.

crackedglassinverse You’ve gained 2 x Visions (new total 9).

Onward

And… somewhere here… oh, when we got Investigating the situation for the Nawab up to 5, we unlocked a new pinned card: now we can go report to him.


Report to the Nawab

You go to the Nawab and tell him all your have found out - the rumours running rife through Murshidabad, your suspicions and conjectures of the British threat to you, and the fears of your French allies.

Others would fear to tell the capricious Nawab of the difficulty of his position, but your value is not dependent on the Nawab’s regard: he needs you, perhaps even more than you need him. You need not fear his reprisals.

This card will progress the story to the next month, March. To unlock it, you must increase your ‘Investigating the Situation for the Nawab’ quality, and complete the quests ‘Remembering the Black Hole of Calcutta’ and ‘Echoes of the Dancing Girl’.

You make your report

“Thank you, my sa-ilu,” he says stiffly. Then he proceeds to break every fragile object in his audience chamber.

He curses, creatively, blasphemously, and at length, before gesturing imperiously for you to kneel.

You dare to look up at the Nawab’s face and you see the fear in the line of his mouth - he looks much older than his twenty years. He has only been the ruler for two of those twenty, but he has not had an easy reign. Reporting back to the Nawab will move you forward to March 1757.

flag You need Investigating the situation for the Nawab 10 (you have 5)

cloud You need Sa-ilu: you walk in dreams 5 and Sa-ilu: you walk in dreams no more than 5 (you have 3) Locked

Perhaps not

Not enough Sa-ilu. And I’m not sure we want to advance the month anyway: there’s more to investigate here. I think most of the cards are still available in March, but I haven’t been paying close enough attention to see if it’s all of hem.


Investigate the mood of the town

The Nawab asked you to listen to the mood of the people. Do they burn with anger at the British and think the Treaty of Alinagar a craven act? Do they fear the provocations of the French? Do they believe their Nawab will protect them?

You have your servant bring you worn clothes, and you wrap your amulet in rags and tuck it under your scarf. The places you are going, you do not want to look like a courtier.

✓ The banks of the river

You spot a woman with a bundle and follow her impulsively. She meets with a group: they wash clothes in the Bhaghirathi, which flows in to the sacred Ganges further inland. You keep back, in the trees, close enough to hear their idle talk.

fire A modest challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 70% chance of success). You need Curiosity 1 (you have 5) Go

The bustling markets

Where other towns have fishermen and farmers, Murshidabad – the seat of the Nawabs for over a hundred years - has ivory-carvers, silk-weavers, gold-embroiderers, and all of them with an ear for gossip. A sharp eye will gain you more than a bargain.

eye A modest challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 70% chance of success). You need Perception 1 (you have 5) Go

The chai-shops

Instead of chasing down whispers and lurking in back-alleys you install yourself in a prime seat in one of the local chai-shops and wait for the speculation to come to you.

candle A modest challenge (Your Serenity quality gives you a 70% chance of success). You need Serenity 1 (you have 5) Go

The rag-pickers

Ignored by almost anyone lucky enough not to be born into - or fall into - the trade, the rag-pickers see everything. Growing up, you were fascinated by the rag-pickers: a group of people considered even more low than you and yours. Go

Perhaps not


An unpopular ruler

They complain about the rising costs of rice and flour, and offer each other suggestions for where to bury their valuables when the war comes. They talk in hushed whispers of the Nawab’s cruelty, his opium addiction, his debauchery. One offers the name of a neighbour girl, who was seen by the Nawab on the riverbank and carried off to the palace. They praise the name of the last Nawab, Alivardi Khan, and mutter, God save us, God save us! How disturbing.

fire Curiosity has increased to 6!

fire You succeeded in a Curiosity challenge!

flag You’ve gained 1 x Investigating the situation for the Nawab (new total 6).

candle You’ve gained 1 x Traumas (new total 6). Onward


A visit to your lover

As a courtier of means and standing, it is understood that you would keep a lover. You seek them out for an evening of pleasure that will divert you from the fears and whispers of war. You perfume your clothes, and tell your servant to buy a box of fine sweets wrapped with silver ribbon.

Gain Memories and Desires if you succeed.

Your lover is a woman

She is imperious and lovely, a Christian convert thrown out by her family and – it appears – into your tender care.

fire A very chancy challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 50% chance of success). You need Curiosity 1 (you have 6) Go

Your lover is a man

He dresses in your silks and wears your ruby at his throat.

fire A very chancy challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 50% chance of success). You need Curiosity 1 (you have 6) Go

Your lover is a woman, but once she was a man

But she prefers not to think of herself as what she was, and, of course, you oblige.

fire A very chancy challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 50% chance of success). You need Curiosity 1 (you have 6) Go

You cannot go through with it

You give up your lover, and eat the sweets yourself. Your thoughts are filled with Cani – and her green Portuguese eyes.

fire A very chancy challenge (Your Curiosity quality gives you a 50% chance of success). You need Curiosity 1 (you have 6). kiss You need An unrequited passion for Cani Theruvil 1 (you have 1) Go

Perhaps not

Another one for a vote. I ran a few more cards, but I’ll just show the outcomes here, I think?


Investigate the mood of the town

The banks of the river

The bustling markets

✓ The chai-shops

The rag-pickers


The chai-shops

Instead of chasing down whispers and lurking in back-alleys you install yourself in a prime seat in one of the local chai-shops and wait for the speculation to come to you.

A frank exchange of views

You fall into an almost meditative state, sipping your chai and letting the voices – hushed, urgent, amused – wash over you. The rumours are contradictory and overlapping but on one point they all agree: war is coming. Most suspect the British, but regard the Nawab’s rickety allegiance with the French with distaste. They talk of the Afghani threat to the north and their resurgent Mughal emperors, and the Marathas to the west, squeezing Bengal close. They believe the Nawab to be hopelessly outmatched.

candle Serenity is increasing…

candle You succeeded in a Serenity challenge!

flag You’ve gained 1 x Investigating the situation for the Nawab (new total 7). Onward


Explore the cosmopolitan town of Murshidabad

A commotion in the square

✓ An inconspicuous fellow

A marketplace missionary

Perhaps not

An inconspicuous fellow

A man in a roughspun cotton sherwani and headwrap is wandering through the market with a deliberately casual air. Your gaze would normally have slipped by him, but the way he holds his body catches your eye. He turns slightly and you see his face: it is tanned, and rough with dark stubble but foreign for all that.

Pearls that were his eyes

Perhaps you were a little too obvious, perhaps the fellow is habitually overcautious. He tips over a basket of fish as he walks past, and you slip in the entrails and slick pearl-like eyes. By the time you have paid off the distraught fisherman, the man is long gone – and you are in need of a long bath.

eye Perception is increasing…

eye Perception 5 failed in a challenge!

candle You’ve gained 2 x Traumas (new total 8).

Onward

This one kept coming up. And I kept failing this 60% chance. Three times, I think? Before finally succeeding:


A pay off

He stops at various stalls and spends time admiring various objects and making small talk. The little pickpockets in the square avoid him assiduously, which you find intriguing. He hands over an overly-generous sum to a mango-seller. Too generous. Murshidabad’s mangoes are famously sweet and pleasing, but there are limits even to foreign profligacy. You quietly point the mango-seller out to a guard, and watch as he is dragged away, protesting. You can find out his secrets later.

eye Perception is increasing…

eye You succeeded in a Perception challenge!

flag You’ve gained 1 x Investigating the situation for the Nawab (new total 9).

autumn You’ve gained 1 x Memories (new total 15).

Onward


Investigate the mood of the town

✓ The chai-shops

A frank exchange of views

You fall into an almost meditative state, sipping your chai and letting the voices – hushed, urgent, amused – wash over you. The rumours are contradictory and overlapping but on one point they all agree: war is coming. Most suspect the British, but regard the Nawab’s rickety allegiance with the French with distaste. They talk of the Afghani threat to the north and their resurgent Mughal emperors, and the Marathas to the west, squeezing Bengal close. They believe the Nawab to be hopelessly outmatched.

candle Serenity is increasing…

candle You succeeded in a Serenity challenge!

flag You’ve gained 1 x Investigating the situation for the Nawab (new total 8).

Onward


Memories of your past

✓ Recall your childhood

The one room house with packed dirt floors which smelled of camphor.

eye A very modest challenge (Your Perception quality gives you a 80% chance of success). You need Perception 1 (you have 5) Go


Ritual and fire

Your mother worked in a camphor distillery, pressing crystalline camphor extracted from the wood of trees into small tablets that light the flames of daily aartis - rituals at the local temple. She lit the house with the stuff as well, and its smoky, aromatic smell clung to your clothes and hair. Some days, when there was not enough to eat, your mother put a handful of camphor in your mouth. It dissolved slowly, leaving your teeth slightly numb, tasting of divinity.

eye Perception is increasing…

eye You succeeded in a Perception challenge! (Simple challenges mean you don’t learn so much.)

autumn You’ve gained 3 x Memories (new total 14).

cloud You’ve gained 1 x Imagination (new total 3).

Onward

I was worried that we hadn’t found much Imagination (we only have 3) but I belatedly remembered that there’s that pinned card that lets us trade 3 other things for I think 1 imagination each. And we have 15 Memories (your own and others, some sharply painful, others softened by nostalgia) and 12 Traumas (a compendium of pain - you do not know what compels you to collect these little miseries) so that should get us enough for another foray into the Dream.

Still no Desires though. And we need… was it 3 of those? 5, I think. For the dancing girl in the Dream.

Hrm. This was a long one: I had to split it. Easy to click through a lot of cards. Maybe I should do less at a time – or abbreviate more? I’ll have to think about that.

2 Likes

Aaand polls.

Answer the Begum

  • Prison? What prison?
  • Yeah, we snuck in and saw the prison.
0 voters

Lover?

  • A woman
  • A man
  • A woman, but once she was a man
  • Nah, we’re hung up on Cami
0 voters
1 Like

I’m intrigued by both the transgender option (what is the experience of being trans like in this setting?) and the Cani option. I’m curious why we keep appearing next to her whenever we wake up—is she the previous sa-ilu? At first I’d thought we were her lover (and we’re waking up back in our own body, in bed with her), but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

2 Likes

I believe we trained as a pair: Cani is our gateway into the dream world. I guess I know that from my previous time playing the game because we haven’t actually seen that yet, have we?

There’s that one option under Memories of your past (which we should now have the stats to unlock): Recall your training with Cani. The sa-ilu taught you to read, to write, to reason – and also to place your trust in a partner.

Oh, wait. It looks like I missed capturing the transition into the dream world. Whoops! Also if we travel back to the wake of our own accord instead of running out of Imagination we get a little more information too.

Wish I could think of a good way to make these captures automatic so there’s not the worry of me forgetting to hit the button each page.

Here’s the pair of normal transition events.


Sa-ilu: Travel into the Dream

The enameled marble lamp glows in the window - which means that Cani has settled herself into sleep. She was trained alongside you, by the last sa-ilu. She can slip into a steady and sure dream-state as quickly as laying her head down on a pillow. Like it or not, you must rely on her.

✓ Enter the dream

Her breathing is steady and light.

You spend Imagination to act in the world of dreams. Gain Imagination by playing appropriate ‘sometimes’ cards in the waking.

cloud A straightforward challenge (Your Imagination quality gives you a 100% chance of success). You need Imagination 1 (you have 3) Touch her hand

Perhaps not


A blur of vision, a twist of lightning

You enter the dream. Cani waves at you over the heads of the patrons in her chai shop. You let the Tamil voices wash over you as you head for the nearest doorway: there is so much to explore.

cloud You succeeded in an Imagination challenge!

You moved to a new setting: The Dreaming.

moon An occurrence! Your ‘The Dreaming’ Quality is now !

sun Your ‘The Wake’ Quality has gone!

Onward


Sa-ilu: Travel back into the wake

You have been trained to keep a very careful map of the twists and turns you take on your dream-wanderings in your head. You trace your steps back into Cani’s dream.

✓ Leave the dreaming

Cani always dreams of Madras in the middle of cloying summer. Clearly the girl is half-mad. You walk through the kitchen doorway framed by strings of white cowrie-shells, glinting like teeth. Go

Perhaps not


A blur of vision, a twist of lightning

You step out into the wake, careful not to make too much noise and wake Cani. You feel strangely light, possibly an effect of tiredness. The waking world opens itself up before you.

You moved to a new setting: The Wake.

sun An occurrence! Your ‘The Wake’ Quality is now !

moon Your ‘The Dreaming’ Quality has gone!

Onward

3 Likes

Ah, thanks for posting this clarification, I had the same confusion as Daniel! And I’m enjoying this, seems a solid use of the StoryNexus mechanics and the texture of the world feels well-researched. Knowing a bit of the history here lends a bit of an aura of creeping doom to proceedings though :slight_smile:

1 Like