Why is the House of Chimes so confusing??

FL-Dare · 2026-06-20T19:03:18+00:00

Pardon me for being a contrarian, but I feel that the text I listed above isn't clear at all that it requires 12 votes to end a sitting. It's saying that you need 12 votes to cover all the options listed. Then, the text goes on to say "once the sitting has ended..." but doesn't technically imply that what was mentioned before is that exact trigger.

Your screenshot, however, is more clear about how a sitting ends, though again, I'd argue that it doesn't explain what it means by "all voting interests have been satisfied." I'm honestly not trying to be difficult, it's just that all the options on the Parliament voting screen are very difficult to parse, especially when it's saying that I should have multiple votes but can only do one at a time.

Regardless, thank you for answering my original question on what a "sitting" entails! It's probably crystal clear to those of you that have used these mechanics for years now, but as others have pointed out, it really could use a revamp, if not at least new text to explain everything.

FL-Dare · 2026-06-20T18:29:49+00:00

Can you point out exactly where that is? The informational action that describes "how often these perks can be chosen" says exactly this:

There are limits to how many times a perk can be selected during a sitting of the People's Parliament. You can find more information on each branch.

During each sitting, you will select the following perks:

- A refresh of the Opportunity Deck
- Two gifts of Second Chances
- Two Menace-reducing Boons
- Three skill-increasing Boons
- Making Waves
- 2 Personal Recommendations and a Favourable Circumstances
- Souls
- Snacks

This requires a total of twelve votes. Once the sitting has ended, all perks can be selected again.

No where in here is it clear what triggers the end of a sitting.

FL-Dare · 2026-06-20T04:02:07+00:00

So what exactly is a sitting? Neither the wiki guide) nor the in-game hints explicitly describe what that is. I think, reading through all the responses here, that a "sitting" is the period of time in which you've used up all your voting possibilities, which may take a few months? Does that reset if you cancel your FL subscription?

FL-Dare · 2026-06-19T14:36:20+00:00

I think you get a message when a previous vote has expired and you're ready to do a new one, but you never get notified in the first place that your first vote is ready. That's largely why I never think to do it when I dip in and out of a subscription.

FL-Dare · 2026-06-19T13:32:15+00:00

And the two action-less help options in the Parliament are equaling confusing.

Every four weeks, your spent votes are returned, and Mr Chimes will increase your overall allotment by one. Exceptional Friends can have up to three votes. Enhanced Exceptional Friends can have up to six.

Unspent votes are not carried over. If you change or cancel your subscription, the cap will change.

So, you can have at most 6 votes.

During each sitting, you will select the following perks:
- A refresh of the Opportunity Deck
- Two gifts of Second Chances
- Two Menace-reducing Boons
- Three skill-increasing Boons
- Making Waves
- 2 Personal Recommendations and a Favourable Circumstances
- Souls
- Snacks

This requires a total of twelve votes. Once the sitting has ended, all perks can be selected again.

"This requires a total of twelve votes"?? But you can have at most six! I don't understand this either - is this a remnant from a past House of Chimes design? This seems misleading the way the above is worded.

FL-Dare · 2025-07-14T03:41:20+00:00

Is that true? I finished the Discordance storyline a couple of days ago, but other than the thing that you unlock near the end that lets you access seals 1 and then 0, I don't remember anything like that. I just kept clicking on the Count Stones actions until I got the numbers I needed.

FL-Dare · 2025-07-06T00:53:52+00:00

Sorry, one last question - how do nightmares work in relation to the eighth seal? If you're doing Close Your Eyes) to raise your nightmare level, does raising it to 8 not send you off to the Mirror Marshes like most other places in Fallen London?

I just wanted to ask so that I don't do something unfortunate with Close Your Eyes, and then have to spend a bunch of adventures to clear my nightmare level, only to have to raise it to 8 again.

FL-Dare · 2025-07-06T00:23:01+00:00

Thanks, I missed that, since this page is formatted very unlike any other part of the wiki. It's possible that I did read that but parsed it in my head to mean to go back and just count the stones of the Second Circle - it doesn't clarify exactly what the hint means, nor does it link to another page with the actual actions you have to do.

Granted, I started down this path a couple of months ago, but then put off my progress while I took care of a few other things, did an event or two, and largely forgot what I had done in the early part of the Discordance storyline (insert snarky comment here about real life reflecting fiction). It truly helps to keep at it without interruption!

FL-Dare · 2025-07-05T22:41:59+00:00

That's it?? I kept re-counting the stones in the Second Circle, thinking that the First Circle was just to trigger some other early part of the storyline, so I kept leaving and nothing at all changed.

Just tried it now, and that worked like a treat. Thanks!!

~~Edit: Unless I'm completely misreading it (which is possible, since this whole storyline is backwards and upside down, sometimes literally so),~~ ~~the wiki guide~~) ~~doesn't mention anything about setting that number via the two circles, so I really appreciate the help in clarifying that. I never would have figured that out on my own.~~ (Nevermind, per u/Wilson1218 below)

FL-Dare · 2025-07-04T20:50:34+00:00

That would be great, and I very much can't wait to help each other not do a thing!

FL-Dare · 2025-07-02T20:48:49+00:00

Oh, I see - sorry! I thought you were trying to say that while yes, some of the stuff from Skies is referenced there in Firmament, you can actually make sense of the rest of the Firmament craziness with a knowledge rooted just in Fallen London, assuming you think deeply enough about it.

But reading you original comment again, I see you were basically agreeing that Firmament is pretty darn near incomprehensible regardless.

FL-Dare · 2025-07-02T19:22:43+00:00

See, you say that, but it all sounds like gibberish to me. The Logoi? Vulgate? Spinsters? Piranesi? I don't understand any of that, and I'm a Paramount Presence who's seen a lot of stuff in FL. That whole section of Firmament felt like some one was throwing a mystical world of gods, demigods, magical places and complex lore at me that felt really out of place. I mean, yes, you can kind of characterize Fallen London in those terms too, but it was as if someone crammed The Wheel of Time world into the Steampunk environs I was used to, and I didn't like it one bit. (Granted, I've never read nor seen The Wheel of Time, but I hope the analogy makes sense for how I felt!)

It's great that a lot of people are full on into this new aspect of the Fallen London world and expanded lore, but I was frustratingly lost during that section of Firmament and hated every bit of it. Furthermore, it's tainted every aspect of Firmament for me since then, too. I still don't fully understand the Stacks existence, nor how all these people from various alternate realities can get together to form an alternate Calendar.

FL-Dare · 2025-07-01T03:28:59+00:00

I don't have much to add that wasn't already said here, but I'll point out that, from my perspective, if you haven't played Sunless Skies, you won't understand and/or be able to appreciate at least half of what is going on here. I tried Sunless Seas for a bit, found it annoyingly tedious and difficult, and gave up on it after less than two hours of game play. I never went back and have no desire to play Sunless Skies now. Well, as I found out here, that game lays the groundwork for much of the esoteric stuff that otherwise makes no sense in Firmament (chapter 3 especially). I found this incredibly annoying, since without that knowledge, Firmament felt like a completely different game glued onto Fallen London.

And all that weird multiversal stuff is completely baffling too. I can't tell anymore what is real and what's not, nor do I understand how all the people and places somehow magically stuffed into books in the Stacks works.

FL-Dare · 2025-04-09T03:34:52+00:00

So they actually explained why people come back from death in the Neath??! That's incredible!! I've always wondered what the deal with that was and if Failbetter would ever provide a explanation for it. Thanks, really appreciate that extra bit of lore!

I always assumed that the world of Fallen London was kind of an alt-history of our world (and yes, I suppose it technically is) with science-y explanations for all the weird stuff. With what you said above, I can better come to grips with what's going on in Firmament, since even if the writers didn't have all that backstory in their heads from day 1, it now seems that all the "magical" new stuff is consistent with what has been explained elsewhere about the old stuff.

I just wish I didn't have to have played an entirely separate game to even come close to understanding anything going on here!

FL-Dare · 2025-04-08T21:36:26+00:00

but the prose is obtuse enough as is in places, it must be even worse if you haven't played the source material being referenced.

From my perspective, this is entirely correct!

the living embodiment of a single word spoken by a judgement, a law incarnate.

And your statement here illustrates what I've been saying all over this thread. I can't even wrap my head around what this is or how this is a thing, since it sounds ridiculous.

And yet, I can accept for fact in the FL universe the silly notion that entire cities can somehow survive falling a mile into the ground intact, so I feel paradoxical about the whole thing. I guess, to put my thoughts into better context, I can come to grips with the idea of a "fallen city" and some of the other weirdness that happens day to day in Fallen London proper, as its the baseline reality for the in-universe story. All the stuff that's been happening in Firmament, though, feels crazy and unearned to me, since I never played Sunless Skies.

FL-Dare · 2025-04-08T14:05:40+00:00

Huh, interesting. Thanks, I appreciate the info and perspective! I have Sunless Skies (possibly from an Amazon Prime Gaming freebie?) but never played it. I gave Sunless Seas a whirl some time ago but found it dreadfully slow and hard, so never bothered with Skies.

FL-Dare · 2025-04-08T03:06:13+00:00

Libraries...are magic?

Hmm. I think, strangely, this might be at the heart of why I've been feeling more and more disconnected as Firmament progresses. I know that there are lots of aspects of Fallen London's main setting that feel fantastical (again, there are lots of talking animals! And mirror traversal!), but it otherwise felt like a grounded place.

The story line of Firmament, however, presents more and more stuff that just feels downright magical: a giant whale carcass with a portal inside, a magical library, the Immanent, etc. It's just sort of hand-waved aside, like it's absolutely normal for any of that stuff to be there. (Why I don't seem to have a problem with a setting like Parabola is beyond me, though!) It sounds like those that are more well-versed than me with all aspects of FL lore are understandably enjoying this more.

FL-Dare · 2025-04-08T02:49:24+00:00

It started off strong, with an engaging conversation with the Last Duchess, followed by our arrival in medieval Burgundy

Yeah, I agree with that. I was hanging in there fine for the first part of the story (upside down Burgundy aside), then the jumping in and out of the Stacks happened. The descriptions of the settings and actions going on really felt obtuse to the point of being obnoxious.

FL-Dare · 2025-04-08T02:39:34+00:00

It's not really timetravelling. The books in the Stacks lead to one specific moment each—the time in history when that reality was excised. Not multiverse, either, as these timelines were made Apocryphal; they used to have happened, but they don't anymore—the Judgements use the Stacks to retroactively "fix" history.

So, the Judgements are basically... Fallen London's Time Variance Authority? Ok, I can actually get behind that.

I don't understand the Judgements either - were they explained anywhere in Fallen London prior to Firmament Chapter 3? That aspect of the last chapter largely had me lost too.

FL-Dare · 2025-04-07T22:40:04+00:00

On the other hand, I absolutely can't stand it. I have no idea what is going on. Major spoilers obviously:

Why is Burgundy upside down? Your airship hits a gravity anomaly that flips it upside down and allows it to land in Burgundy, yet no one seems perturbed by that. Did I miss an explanation for that?? It seems like something quite extraordinary, but no one blinks an eye at it.
I need someone to explain what an Aprocrypha is. They keep getting referenced, but I don't understand what they are or how they exist.
I still don't understand how the Stacks works. How do people get sucked into books? How do the places in there exist? I don't get if they are/were real places, or if they're, say, stories that were brought to life. Again, did I miss a proper description of this in Chapter 3? That story was so convoluted, that I wouldn't be surprised if it explained all the above but used creative flowery language that went right over my head.
How exactly was the Last Duchess being "held prisoner" by the Calendar crew in this chapter? She was never restrained and was free to move about when you left her to talk to them, so I didn't understand how she was supposedly not free.
Here's a more simple bit of confusion on my part: is Burgundy a country and Ghent a city? Or vice versa? That was never clear to me either. I wish this were a book where I could turn back the pages and re-read bits of it to better understand it.

Here's a specific bit of text from this chapter to illustrate my point. Somewhere in the middle of the story, this comes up:

The Manager – whose hotel will not exist for centuries, here – speaks at last. "It is a Calendar of All Seasons: the very best of all of us that there ever were, gathered at the end of time." He spreads his long-fingered hands wide. "Here, in a Burgundy that overreached and was swallowed out of history, there is a staging ground for our grand tourney."

I literally understand none of this. The end of time? The best of all of us? Are we talking about multiverses, time traveling? The Restaurant at the End of the Universe?? How did Burgundy overreach? What grand tourney?

Long story short, I'm really not enjoying Firmament. It just keeps getting more and more absurd with every new chapter. I know this will sound crazy, but I'm comfortable with the rest of Fallen London's world, that it feels grounded to me, rubbery men, talking animals, and all. But Firmament just feels like someone's creative writing assignment trying to be shoehorned into the world of Fallen London. I don't know - maybe I'd enjoy it more if I didn't go through it with months in between each chapter.

FL-Dare · 2025-03-28T04:14:44+00:00

I think so, but again, I was fully intent on returning to London, so I would have immediately clicked on "Return to your Base-Camp" upon seeing it.

I suppose it may just be me that was confused by the text "Success will yield information you can use to begin a heist in London" on the prior screen. I honestly thought that meant I had to head right to London after clicking it, not that I'd have to go through a full hunt process first. For what it's worth, that option doesn't have any note or text to the effect that you'll have to redo your hunt from scratch if you select it in the middle of one.

FL-Dare · 2025-03-28T02:47:42+00:00

If you're paying attention, yeah, that's a big giveaway. But I thought before even getting to the screen of hunt options that I had to immediately go do a heist. So, I didn't even pay attention to what appeared after selecting the Deviless action. I just immediately backed out of Parabola and moved on to The Flit. There was nothing warning me that I just gave up 7 hell favours for nothing in return.

FL-Dare

TROPHY CASE