There is a light so bright that you can, for a moment, see the colours of the roof of the Neath – not grey or brown, but white and rust-red and a pale streaked blue like the early morning sky. In a few minutes, the light dims, just a little. A new city is cooling, like molten glass pulled from the forge.

The City in Silver is the final epilogue of the Railway story arc. It’s a new location with a new activity and a new story, free to all players and available after completing the Railway and Furnace’s story.

Visit the newly-risen city in the deep Hinterlands and see how the tracklayers are doing. Reach out to the mind of a chthonic entity. Dig deeper into the Creditor’s story – and when you’re done, return to the city and observe its continued development.

Most aspects of your city can still be nudged through actions – including its political factions. If you find you really wish to revise old decisions, including the founding body you used to build it, it is also possible to make those changes for 50 Fate. That opportunity is available after the initial story is played once.

To get started, look for a storylet in Moloch Street. Then visit the city and begin to explore.

Vignettes

Life in the tracklayer’s city continues after the epilogue story is complete. You’ll find more things to do there and ways to turn a profit.

If you want even more to see, we have four small pieces of paid content, available for 10 Fate each.

The Three-Body Problem, a vignette about how the newborn city looks from above, with checks in Zeefaring and Shapeling Arts
The Serpent Muralist, a Bohemian vignette about the artistic future of the city, with checks in Glasswork and Mithridacy
Invitation to the Lily-rites, a vignette about a particular cult of Hell, with checks in Artisan of the Red Science and Kataleptic Toxicology
Sub-basement, a vignette about what lives below the city, with checks in Monstrous Anatomy and Player of Chess

Each of these adds two cards to your Tracklayer City deck, which can be turned on and off at will. They will remain available permanently.

This is something of an experiment in a new style of Fate content: it’s story-rich (each provides at least eight branches of story) and offers a mechanical benefit (allowing you to customise the composition and likely rewards of your Tracklayer City deck), but more targeted than new equipment and more replayable than a linear story.

From a business perspective, this let us justify expanding the story of the Tracklayer City beyond what would otherwise make sense – and show how a number of different Neathy groups and characters are reacting to this huge new feature of the landscape.

Frequently Asked Questions

The following FAQ goes into quite a bit of detail about what you can expect; you may want to skip it if you have a preference for being surprised.

Does it matter what founding body I used? Where I placed the city? Who the leader is? What the political alignment is? What the style of the city is?

You will be able to see all of those things playing out in your city, individually and in combination.

In particular, we’ve focused on making the outcomes narratively distinct while as much as possible avoiding long-term mechanical disadvantages for choices you may have made a long time ago.

It’s been a while since I played previous stations of the railway and I could use a refresher on some of the story up to this point.

A free, permanent storylet in the city will help review some of the plot and your character’s choices so far.

Can I change fundamental features of my city?

Yes. Most things about your city, including its leader, political alignment, and physical location, can be changed through free play. Its founding body and the currency used to deal with the Creditor may be changed with a Fate reset of the main story, once you’ve played through.

Will a Fate reset require/allow me to replay the scene of making the city?

No, if you reset, the story picks up with the city already formed.

If I reset my city for Fate to use a Discordance character, will I have to/be allowed to replay creating the discordant double?

No.

Are there any significant rewards or unique equipment for finishing the story?

Yes.

Does the city provide new lodgings?

No.

Does the city provide a new spouse, especially Furnace?

No. You can romance Furnace, Cornelius, or January in the narrative, but you cannot marry any of them.

Does the city provide a new currency and/or a new marketplace?

No.

Does the city provide any ambition tie-ins? Does it ever make use of Machinations of the Masters?

Yes and yes.

If I built Cornelius’ tracklaying beast, will I ever see it again?

Spoilers.

Is it possible to play from a pro-Masters, pro-Royalty, or anti-Revolutionary angle?

Yes, there are opportunities to influence the city in other ways than by supporting the tracklayers’ goals.

Can I reduce it to ruins? Turn it into a cynical capitalist outpost of London? Shape it into a worker’s utopia and dedicate myself to being its citizen? Take a city built from my double and revise its architectural style to reflect my grief after the Nemesis ambition and turn the whole place into a living mausoleum? Turn said living mausoleum into a cynical capitalist outpost repackaging my character’s sorrow for the consumption of visitors?

Funny you should ask. Yes.

Can I find out more about that Scheme of the Phoenix business?

Yes. There is a slow-burn opportunity to explore what happened here and why.

Farewell

This is also a goodbye: I (Emily) have moved on from Failbetter Games. The City in Silver wraps up a few remaining threads from stories I worked on, and gave me a last chance to write Furnace and her rivals. It’s been truly a delight to be so involved in the Fallen London universe – not least because of the invention, enthusiasm, and commitment of the players. It is rare to have a chance to write for an audience so alert to every detail. It’s been instructive, gratifying, hilarious, and terrifying in approximately equal parts, and I could not have asked for more.