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In Mandrake, your choices (at character creation and in gameplay) will change the tenor of conversations with your neighbours. Will you be a haughty Doubter, or a good Neighbour?

We'll never lock you out of stories this way, but hopefully offer you a depth and breadth of choices that's unusual in a rural life sim.

"It is the season for affection, is it not?" Mr Spices' voice is high and fluting. It waves a shawl-enshrouded hand airily in the direction of the Bazaar. "It is incumbent upon us to ensure that the city is a fertile bed for budding romance."

The Feast of the Rose is here! A festival bursting with affectionate activities, nuptial phantasies, burgeoning romance… and shot through with scorn. Tend to the business of your heart through 'Celebrate the Feast of the Exceptional Rose', available throughout London.

Join the Revels!

Take part in the festivities to gain Masquing, which can be later spent on rewards. Exchange gifts of love (or disdain, or enticing indifference) with other players. Keep your gifts – or trade them for Masquing!

As always, additional Masquing can be obtained with Fate, which unlocks further options.

Meet New Faces

Every year, the Feast brings new companions to Fallen London. Starting next week, on February 12th, you will be able to spend your Masquing to attract companions from Feasts past, as well as four new companions:

• Engage in not-so-petty thievery with the Once-Dashing Smuggler
• Plumb the depths of the human soul with Milton, the devil
• Break your fast with a Ravenous Thespian
• Face down the Department of Menace Eradication with Blackpelt, the Venge-Pirate

Those last two can be unlocked with Fate.

Matrimony and more!

This year we've added a trove of matrimonial goodness. 

First of all: those of you married to another player can now upgrade your marriage! Look for 'The Possibilities of Marriage' in your Social Engagements to pursue the opportunity. Upgrading your marriage costs 20 Fate, and will add the Opportunity to both you and your spouse's deck to gain week-long Boons that increase either your Mithridacy, Glasswork, or Player of Chess.

This is a one-time purchase; if you buy it and (heaven forbid) divorce, you will be able to apply the same benefits to any future player spouse. If you're married to someone who has purchased the benefits, you will enjoy and retain these benefits for as long as you're married.

Secondly, we've also added two new NPC 'Spouses'. Engage in aromantic intimacy with the Attentive Reporter, and become deep, platonic friends with the Clay Courier. We've also added a couple of 'Spouse' items that don't represent people, for those who want to remain single: An Unwavering Commitment to Your own Good Self, if you’re complete just as you are, and The Call of the Unterzee, for those whose true love is the waves.

The Attentive Reporter and the Clay Courier can be encountered and their relationships formed for free, in your Lodgings and Spite respectively. The last two cost 20 Fate; the Unwavering Commitment may be made from your Base-Camp in Parabola, and the Call of the Unterzee may be felt from Wolfstack Docks.

A Task for Mr Spices

Mr Spices takes a direct interest in the rose-festivities, and believes that true love might need a little helping hand in order to take proper root. Many things might act as catalysts – a rousing play, a touching story, a thoughtful gift. Even violence, when deployed properly, has its uses.

For the duration of the Feast, select activities in and around London have exclusive options that pay out in Burgeoning Romance, in addition to their usual rewards. Trade your Burgeoning Romance with Mr Spices to receive additional payment, in the form of items that can be used to send gifts to friends during Feast-time.

These activities are:

• A play at Court
• A plant in Vertiginous Horticulture
• A Theft of Particular Character in the Flit
• A laboratory experiment
• A duel when 'Getting into other fights' for the Black Ribbon'
• An expedition in the Forgotten Quarter

The Lady in Lilac

"You are desired," she says. "Give me the proof of it, and I'll make arrangements."

Starting on February 12th, the mysterious 'Lady in Lilac' card will appear, allowing you to visit Millicent Clathermont’s parlour and exchange your Feast gifts for Masquing.

Skin-bound Memories and Nuptial Phantasies!

How better to prove your devotion than through permanent ink? High time for a visit to Clathermont’s Tattoo Parlour! Make your way to Ladybones Road to complete the story of the Clathermont family, as long as you have reached level 4 or higher in A Name in Seven Secret Alphabets. Tattoos will become available from the 12th of February.

Also available during the Feast of the Exceptional Rose: Nuptial phantasies! Obtain custom-tailored dreams of nuptial bliss (or marital discord) with some of your favourite Fallen London characters. Find these by visiting the Shopkeeper in Viric, in Veilgarden.

Meet your Destiny!

You can obtain a Destiny or alter your existing one during the Feast. Destinies offer unique insights into the deeper mysteries of the Neath, and once acquired, confer a mechanical bonus too. 

Find the way to the Perfumer-Semiotician's shop through the card 'The Feast of the Rose', which can be drawn in London.

Those who know the way there could also zail to Irem, where destinies are grown, altered, and consumed.

A Continuing Mystery

Just what is the Exceptional Rose? Rumours abound. Some say that it's a vicious, fanged flower. Others that it's a cherub sent to watch over star-crossed lovers. Yet more tut, calling it an elaborate ruse cooked up by Mr Inch. Whatever it is, nobody has seen the real Exceptional Rose in years. But perhaps this Feast is different? But, the Exceptional Rose, like love, is a changeable thing...

Newcomers may start this story in 'The Exceptional Rose', available anywhere in London. If you were here last year, you already know the way; seek the Rose out once more when Millicent's Parlour opens on the 12th.

Key Dates for the Festival

• The Feast of the Exceptional Rose starts today, February 5th.
• February 12th: 'An Encounter at the Feast' and 'The Lady in Lilac' become available. Trade gifts for Masquing, and obtain new companions. Tattoos will also be available in the Forgotten Quarter.
• February 19th: Gift exchanging and obtaining Masquing closes. You will still have a week to exchange Masquing for companions and to experience Feast seasonal stories.
• February 26th: All remaining Feast storylets close.

That sweet music. That joyful, upbeat tempo, which promises to deliver mirth to all. You must get to it. You must see what is causing it. You must be part of it.

The circus has come to London's shores! And none of Mrs Plenty's common-and-garden sideshows, either; the mere music is enough to buoy you upon a tide of joy. The Downtrodden Dreamer, too, is caught up in the crowd – a little rat searching for a big break. Will the circus offer the fame and recognition she seeks? Is the circus all it's cracked up to be? And why does the ringmaster look like that?

• Writing: Ben Sabin
• Editing: Luke van den Barselaar
• QA: Michael Bunning
• Art: Toby Cook
  

EXCEPTIONAL FRIENDSHIP

Exceptional Friendship is the ideal way to support our work on Fallen London. In exchange for your coin, you receive:

• A new Exceptional Story every month
• Memories of a Tale from each story to spend on exclusive companions and items
• A second candle (up to 40 actions at once)
• An expanded opportunity deck: ten cards instead of six
• Four additional outfit slots
• The ability to run an additional concurrent plot, once Agents are unlocked
• Access to the House of Chimes including monthly gameplay perks

Enhanced Exceptional Friends receive all of the above, plus:

• A past story, or two resets of stories they've played from a monthly menu
• Memories of a Tale from every past story or reset
• Extra monthly perks in the House of Chimes
• Another two outfit slots
• Three seven-action refreshes per month

There are knives on the way. Slicing, flensing, flaying. Ribbons of you flutter behind, like gaudy banners. Everywhere you look, there you are.

Firmament Chapter Seven has arrived! Travel east, and follow the intrusions of Lost Time to the red, red ruin of Queeneater's. Search for the breach at the heart of this hungry castle, wake the power whose dreams spill over into your own, and walk the stage of the Queensmen, who perform bloody tragedies to the listening Roof.

Firmament is Fallen London's current major expansion, a main story arc that's free to all players. It begins once you have progressed the Railway as far as Ealing Gardens, although requires more progress in the Railway as chapters progress. 

As part of this chapter, you'll unlock permanent access to a new location: Queeneater's Castle, a ruined holdfast of masked actors and crimson performances. Take a starring role in tragedies and comedies, and learn the truth of the absent mistress for whom they perform.

Continue the story of Firmament from 'To Queeneater's Castle', in Burgundy. If you've not yet begun Firmament, look for a card in London named 'The Fire in the Looking Glass.'

Pieces fall, and others rise to take their place. Dreams filter through into the real. Random chance becomes precedent, which in turn becomes law. The conflict was played out to the endgame before you even gave the signal; all you're seeing now are the consequences.

As an enterprising business owner, extortioner and nautical power you can now pursue additional pursuits at zee, in the Great Game, and in the depths of your honey-den. New opportunities for your Agents are here!

Some of these opportunities will be immediately obvious:

• Order a Nautical Agent to escort vessels through the tumultuous Sea of Voices!
• Assign an Intelligencier to filch hidden secrets from the premises of your high-tier lodgings!
• Send Silvered Agents to brave the conflict at the heart of Parabola!

Other new opportunities may take some time or luck to uncover.

What are Agents?

Agents are capable retainers who will gladly take care of business on your behalf. Engage agents of different types, with their own skills; equip them with your second best gear and send them on various Plots.

Once you’ve unlocked Agents, you can run a single Plot at a time, and unlock the ability to run a second through gameplay. Exceptional Friends can run a further Plot, provided they have enough Agents to assign.

Players who have attained ‘A Person of Some Importance’ at tier-two status can begin to gather Agents to their cause. Start to build your intelligence network in ‘Playing the Game in Wilmot's End’, located (you guessed it) in Wilmot's End, or pursue opportunities at zee in ‘A Zailor Down on his Luck’ in The Blind Helmsman. Players with their own Parabolan Base-Camp can also find allies in Parabola via 'A Golden Opportunity' in the Singing Mandrake.

"The glow penetrates everything in the room. There are chains around it, but you see through them like they're glass. It is alive."

The Affable Explorer has returned from the far Unterzee, with a new wonder to display to the great and the good. Attend the auction on his island mansion. Learn about the Specimen, and your fellow bidders. Just who is the Self-Declared Heiress? What ailments trouble the Angular Butler? What will any of you do to get your hands on the Explorer's precious treasure?

• Writing: Anna Anthropy
• Editing and QA: Luke van den Barselaar
• Art: Paul Arendt

EXCEPTIONAL FRIENDSHIP

Exceptional Friendship is the ideal way to support our work on Fallen London. In exchange for your coin, you receive:

• A new Exceptional Story every month
• Memories of a Tale from each story to spend on exclusive companions and items
• A second candle (up to 40 actions at once)
• An expanded opportunity deck: ten cards instead of six
• Four additional outfit slots
• The ability to run an additional concurrent plot, once Agents are unlocked
• Access to the House of Chimes including monthly gameplay perks

Enhanced Exceptional Friends receive all of the above, plus:

• A past story, or two resets of stories they've played from a monthly menu
• Memories of a Tale from every past story or reset
• Extra monthly perks in the House of Chimes
• Another two outfit slots
• Three seven-action refreshes per month

But at this darkest time of year, it's another example I'd like to talk about – specifically death, and undeath.  Although the boundary between life and death is more porous and negotiable in Fallen London than reality, its lore compels us: there can be no true ghosts or hauntings.

Killing the Dead

In video games, the unquiet dead tend to be numerous, anonymous, unrelentingly violent.  And in turn, violence is the answer.  If it doesn't work, probably your weapon just isn't magical enough.

This is, of course, because video game mechanics are commonly focused on violence, and they require a large (and often unlimited) number of foes for us to practise violence upon.

That isn't something we think ill of, but it does push games towards certain tropes over others – zombie hordes, necromantic minions, infernal legions.  We don't have anything against those tropes, either.

But since Mandrake is not centrally concerned with violence (although not entirely bereft of it, either, and I suppose the local fish may find you rather fearsome), it felt like an opportunity to look to some rather different sources.

Above all, what we've been looking at are the medieval sagas that have come to us from the Norse world, and in particular, from Iceland.  A number of these tell of revenants – specific corpses which, for one reason or another, have returned to trouble the living.

In the sagas, a single revenant is a great terror.  And as in video games, sometimes the eventual solution is violence.  Such victories, though, are often bitter.

One saga tells of Grettir, who learns of a farm haunted by Glam, a former shepherd.  Grettir is an able warrior who already slew one revenant, and he prevails again against Glam.  But Glam curses him with its last breath, and from that point on he is plagued with misfortune.  He accidentally burns several people to death, and is outlawed.  He dies 19 years into the sentence, just before it would have been lifted.

In another instance, a revenant is disinterred by Thorodd, who has his body rolled to the shore and then prudently cremated on a great pyre.  He hopes to throw the ashes in the sea, but the winds pick up and some make it into the belly of one of Thorodd's cows.  It gives birth to a calf, which grows into a bull; it slays Thorodd, then disappears.

In the Saga of the People of Eyri, Kjartan resolves a haunting rather more successfully.  In this case the farmstead is troubled by not one but several revenants.  Rather than steel or fire, his weapon is a lawsuit, conducted with all proper observances and a jury.  It is found that the dead have trespassed; they respect the finding of the court and depart peacefully.

Mandrake takes place in a small rural community, at a time when humans are far from the peak of their power.  There are limits to the violence that the people of Chandley can bring to bear.  If they faced a revenant like those of the sagas, we think it would not be their first or best choice, and we're looking forward to exploring what they might try, instead.

With undead as with disease, of course, prevention is better than cure.  And the sagas suggest some things about that, too.

The Making of a Revenant

Why do the dead return to trouble us?  There isn't one universal answer, but often, it's because something has been handled improperly in the aftermath of the death.

The shepherd Glam, who cursed Grimmir, died in the mountains in the dark of a winter blizzard.  By the time they find him, his body has swollen to a monstrous size.  They try three times to drag it to the churchyard, but it has grown too heavy to move, even with oxen.  So they must resort to building a cairn on the spot.  It is not enough.

The troubles of the people of Eyri begin when they fail to honour the wishes of the deceased in relation to the disposal of her property.  She warns them that they must burn her bedsheets; not, she says, because she begrudges anyone the use of them, but because she foresees things will go very poorly, otherwise. But the bedsheets are beautiful and of foreign make; despite misgivings, they go unburned, and thus the revenant comes among them.

I've read that Attila was buried in a casket of gold, inside a casket of silver, which was itself placed in a casket of iron.  I like to think of it as two polite requests and one firm suggestion: we have interred you with much finery.  Please lie still and enjoy it; do not rise up and kill our animals, or spread disease, or turn indecorously into a seal; do not haunt us in the long winter nights, or speak grim prophecies, or bang your heels upon the sod roofs until we are driven to madness; for these are but some of the things the dead have been known to do in Iceland to trouble the living, and might, perhaps, do elsewhere.

Chris: Erion Makuo, we meet again.

Erion: Chris Gardiner, my friend in arms!

Chris:Last time we talked, we discussed your work on the interiors of our characters’ homes. This time I want to talk about your preposterously luscious character designs, and I should warn you I’m going to be embarrassingly gushy about them.

Erion: Oh no.

Chris: They’re just so thick with detail and personality. See, dear reader:

Chris: For goodness’ sake. Look at it. 

For context: these are the illustrations that appear next to the dialogue window when you're talking to an NPC. Ok, let’s talk about your process first, then dig into some examples. 

I suppose we start with a written character profile, written by either myself or George Lockett, our other Mandrake writer. It feels to me like you study those profiles very closely?

Erion: I try to! I’m looking for anything that will be directly pertinent to the illustration, of course, but it’s always useful to know the character’s full background, and which parts of it could be used as features in the art.

Chris: I ask that because it always feels to me like you somehow know these characters better than I do, even when I came up with them. And the more we’ve worked together, the less specific guidance I’ve ended up putting into the art notes in the profile, and the more work I’ve put into their history and personality notes. Because you’ll always come up with some detail about them that is absolutely perfect, but I never could have come up with.

Erion: Sometimes those details are prompted by the constraints of the illustration – the way colours might work together, or the space we need to fill. But I always try to make them say something about the character.

After I’ve read the profile, I do concepting: I come up with a simple pose for the character, then dress them up in different ways. Usually about half a dozen or so? Their clothes often say a lot about what they do in the village, their social station, how they live, and who they are.

Erion: A group of us then discuss which ones work best for the character, and how they fit with the game’s setting. After that, I work up a couple of sketches for the character’s pose in the illustration. 

Chris: The poses have become a big part of the portraits, I think. You put so much personality into them.

Erion: They’re also a good way to show what the character does all day – we can show them working at a spinning wheel, or walking the moors. I just have to be careful not to make them seem too engrossed in what they’re doing, or it looks like they don’t want to talk to the player!

Erion: After a pose is agreed, you and I often talk about the symbolism we might use in the image, and then I move to the full illustration.

Chris: I’ve said this to you before, but when I see the final illustration, I always find it easier to write the character. You always capture something about them I haven’t been able to put into words, and it’s like meeting them for the first time. 

Chris: Let’s talk about the visual approach you’ve settled on – because in addition to the character, you include other elements in the image: some of them practical, like a tool or environment, and some of them symbolic.

Erion: We came to this approach gradually. Early on, I drew Gideon in a pose where he was sitting cross-legged, and we liked it, but it looked like he was levitating. So I added a tree that he was sitting in—

Chris: And that looked great.

Erion: —so we started doing it more and more, and adding other details that communicated something about the character, like Kenway's herd or Thackery’s machines.

Chris: We started talking about the illustrations a bit like tarot cards, where the details suggest a bigger story. And I love that we can include details that just seem like decoration at first, but as the player gets to know the character more, those details are revealed to be clues to their past, or a secret they keep.

Shall we talk about some examples? Here’s Thackery: 

Thackery belongs to an order called the Voicers, who keep the last vestiges of a technology called chorophony, which is kind of like radio.

Erion: Lead Artist Toby Cook had already done the initial design for Thackery, so his appearance and clothing were already established – the eye-piece, the stole (which is a symbol of his faith), the tool-belt…

In this illustration I gave him his sitting pose, as if he was working, and added the machinery in the background. That’s his chorophon. Because it’s not something you might expect in a fantasy setting, we wanted to make it a prominent feature when you spoke to him.

Also, you’ll notice I added tassels to his cushion.

Chris: All hail the queen of tassels.

Erion: One small story: after I drew this illustration I ended up flipping it, and a couple of others – because we realised that these illustrations appear to the left of the dialogue bar, so the composition needs to lead the eye to the right. What’s more, the dialogue choices the player will spend their time considering will be down at the bottom-right. That means the player’s eyes will spend most of their time down there. This means that whatever we draw in the bottom right of these illustrations has to be really good.

Chris: You can do what you like in the top-left, though. Top-left is the party zone.

Erion: Yeah, top-left: pfft, whatever.

Chris: Let’s talk about Nessa next. Nessa’s our smith, and smiths were sometimes seen as semi-magical. Nessa’s the first person you meet in the village, but she has a secret or two.

Erion: This was another character that Toby had done the initial design for. My big changes were the tattoos, which I made blue and redesigned, and adding her tools: the anvil and the hammer. The hammer is meant to be an old one, made of the same materials that our fallen civilisation, the Sophoi, used.

Chris: I love that anvil – the fact it’s mounted on a root is such a fantastic image. It suggests there’s more at play here than mundane smithing — a sense, perhaps, that her work is rooted to the earth in some way.

Also, I think this is the first illustration that added something entirely new to our lore. In this case, it’s the fact that Nessa’s tattoos are specifically on her left arm – that looked so cool that we incorporated it into her story, but I can’t say how because it’s a big spoiler.

Erion: Booooo.

Erion: This is Eseld. She’s the matriarch of one of the two major families in the village, and a seamstress. My favourite part of this one is the roses. They’re an old emblem of her family history, which she takes a lot of pride in, so I wanted them to feature in her art. 

Chris: Yes, we’ve tied roses to a very specific bit of the lore: a rival house to the Mandrakes. And Eseld is connected to that — which affects how she sees the player character, of course.

Erion: The spinning wheel was such a pain! It’s a big part of her role, and who she is. And at our level of zoom in gameplay we won’t be able to see her working at it close-up, so I wanted to feature it here. But it’s a complex geometric shape, it has to be exactly right, and it was really hard.

I also like her pose – the gesture she’s making with the thread and the scissors. It feels powerful, fitting her role as matriarch of the family. It recalls the Fates, and cutting the life-threads of mortals – which isn’t a direct inspiration, but again speaks to that sense of power.

Chris: Let’s do Josselin next.

Chris: I love Josselin. Is she my favourite character? Maybe. But this is an illustration that just blew me away, because it turned out completely differently than I imagined, but drastically better in every way. I understood her so much better after seeing this.

Erion: Josselin lives alone and simply in the forest, so her dress reflects that – it’s basically a single long piece of cloth, wound about her and cinched at the waist. And the hem is frayed and tattered from wear – she probably doesn’t have the tools to mend it properly, and because she’s an outsider she can’t go to Eseld to fix it.

Chris: Yes, she lives away from the village, and has a more mystical background. The moon is a very important part of her story, hence its presence in the background, and I love how you’ve drawn it – that single simple sliver of white. I love her staff and its bell, too. There’s so much specific lore in this image, which will all pay off when people play the game.

Especially the hair, which was entirely your idea, and is outright genius.

Erion: If you look carefully at it, you can see that her silver hair is growing out – her newer hair is black. So it’s not aging – something very specific is happening. Which you also probably won’t let me talk about.

Chris: You are tragically correct. I am the spoiler police, today.

Erion: But that was another decision that actually originated in a visual constraint — I realised I was going to be painting black hair meeting a black shirt, and was worried about the lack of contrast. So I wondered if we could divide her hair colour in two shades, and came up with this idea that fit her story perfectly.

Chris: You know things about Josselin that I’ve only told one other person: George, my co-writer. Because it’s stuff that a writer needs to know to get her right, but that if talked about more widely among the team or externally might distract or complicate. Details we want to be implicit in the writing, not explicit. But I told you because I figure you need to know everything I do in order to illustrate her.

Erion: I’m also very pleased with the rocks.

Chris: Those are great rocks! We should call it there or we’ll start talking excitedly about rocks. Inevitably we’ll end up talking in another blog post at some point – I just want to ask you questions about everything you’ve done. But let’s stop here for now. Farewell, art-comrade.

Erion: Godspeed, comrade-at-words.

What's New?

Christmas comes with a host of seasonal treats and novelties. Here's what we've cooked up this year, most of which will arrive when the lacre starts to fall on the 8th of December, in the storylet 'Explore the Festive Season'.

New Seasonal Activities

The lead-in to Christmas this year will be marked with a pair of free new seasonal events! Starting right now, on the 1st of December, a rare appearance from the Department of Parks and Game. The Fifth City, it seems, is to have a Christmas Tree, and the Department has taken over Hastings Place to make this happen. Unfortunately, the tree is bare of decoration, and slowly dying. If it is to live until the Traitor Empress' visit on the 8th – let alone impress her with its glory – it will need some serious aid.

Later, on the 15th of December, those scamps in the urchin gangs will be at it again – but this time they've got lacre to use as ammunition. If there's one thing that has higher stakes than all-out war – that means more to a young urchin than their very lives – it's a snowball fight. Support your chosen side. Turn the tide of battle. And for the love of all that is holy do not let the children eat the lacre.

Mr Treats' Ratwork Emporium

The Fifth City's foremost purveyor of seasonal delights opens up its exclusive establishment during the Christmas season, offering intricate wonders and custom-made marvels. A new commission is available this year, alongside those from previous years.

Mr Treats Ratwork Emporium will open on the 13th December and close on the 25th, and is available anywhere in London. Commissioning an item from Mr Treats will begin a short story that will progress throughout the Christmas season, ending on Christmas Day.

The Undercrofts Ancillary

Penstock himself – owner of the Neath's foremost land agency – is out in force this festive season, offering that most rare of gifts: treasures from the Bazaar's very own vaults. From the 8th of December, purchase a Frosted Debenture and claim a brand new piece of equipment, or, if you're feeling especially magnanimous, send the Debenture to a friend for them to use.

Purchase a Debenture for 30 Fate in 'Explore the Festive Season'. Once purchased, they can be freely gifted to a friend on your contact list. There are two new items available this year.

A Seasonal Miscellany

In addition to new treats, Fallen London will be full to the brim with the hustle and bustle of Christmas, all the way into the New Year.

The Fallen London Advent Calendar

From the 1st until the 25th of December we’ll be handing out advent treats via the Fallen London Advent Calendar! Each will give you a snippet of Yuley narrative, and something besides: trinkets, magpie-treasures, and occasionally something rare.

Look for the storylet 'Advent: A Calendar of Encounters', available anywhere in London. You’ll be able to ‘catch up’ and claim any and all rewards until the end of the year – however, opening the doors on the days when they become available will give you a little extra.

As ever, rewards for Advent shift year to year, though there are some fixed points. Old doors are retired, new doors are added. Remember always that some doors cannot be unopened.

Christmas Cards

Tell your friends you are thinking of them this festive season. (Don’t tell them what you are thinking of them.) Neathy Christmas cards return: four designs, with room for your own message!

Your stock of cards will be replenished weekly by Time, the Healer, starting from noon on the 2nd of December. You can send cards, and engage in other festive jollity, in the storylet 'Explore the Festive Season', anywhere in London.

You need to be acquaintances with another player before you can send them a Christmas card. To become acquainted with somebody, 'Attend to Matters of Society' in your Lodgings, where you can send a calling card to a contact.

Find friends to exchange cards with on our forums, the Fallen London subreddit, or the Official Fallen London Discord.

Snowfall!

Every week from the 8th December, when Time the Healer visits, clear your doorstep of Neath-snow (or fob the task off on others). They say the stuff is called 'lacre'. They say you shouldn't throw it away. What is it? Where does it fall from? And why do the Masters prize it so highly?

The Twelve Days of Mr Sacks

After Christmas, field off visits from the Crimson Beast of Winter. Every day from the 25th December to the 5th January, encounter Mr Sacks and satiate him with gifts. What lies beneath its robe? Investigate on your own behalf, or join forces with a range of possible allies. HO. HO. HO.

Visit Penstock's Wicket

Penstock's shop is right on the flank of the Bazaar, and is much larger than it looks. From the 5th January, descend into the depths around the Bazaar and spend your knowledge of the season's mysteries to claim special rewards. This is a chance to acquire various rewards, including unusual lodgings and perhaps, briefly, even your own noman.

Seasonal Profile Page Customisation

The season arrives with Christmas-themed options for profile page customisation! A seasonal cameo frame – 'Yuletide Cheer' – will be available for purchase in 'Explore the Festive Season', for those who wish to decorate their profile in the trappings of the season. There is also a selection of snowy headers, for those who want their profiles to carry the memory of lacre. 

The festive season in Fallen London will wrap up in the last week of January. Some of you may be wondering whether we're doing another premium story this year; we've decided to retire this format in order to focus on other aspects of the game.

We hope you have a happy – or at least interesting – festive season in the Fifth City. We'll see you in 2026.

Looking upon one's likeness is always a little uncanny. As hearing your own voice might be. But there is some awful radiance to those eyes. As if some creature had taken your shape upon the canvas.

The Wretched Limner promised he would paint a most singular portrait of you, using the unique set of paints he inherited from his father, and if anything, he over delivers. When he's finished, your likeness is so lifelike that it refuses to accept imprisonment inside a single frame! You'll get the blame for any chaos the horrid thing causes to London's art scene, so you'd better catch it before your reputation becomes as wretched as the Limner himself.

• Writing: Jim Rossignol
• Editing: James Chew 
• QA: Michael Bunning
• Art: Paul Arendt

EXCEPTIONAL FRIENDSHIP

All Exceptional Friends receive:

• A new Exceptional Story every month
• Memories of a Tale from each story to spend on exclusive companions and items
• A second candle (up to 40 actions at once)
• An expanded opportunity deck: ten cards instead of six
• Four additional outfit slots
• Once they have Agents, the ability to run an additional concurrent plot
• Access to the House of Chimes including monthly gameplay perks

Enhanced Exceptional Friends receive all of the above, plus:

• A past story, or two resets of stories they've played from a monthly menu
• Memories of a Tale from every past story or reset
• Extra monthly perks in the House of Chimes
• Another two outfit slots
• Three seven-action refreshes per month

Curious about Exceptional Friendship?
You can now play the Exceptional Story Reunion for free, as a taster! Look for An Exceptional Story: Reunion anywhere in London. You'll unlock it when you've achieved level 5 in each of the four Making Your Name storylines.