If I had to guess, I’d say it’d be something like raising or lowering the expenses for an entire industry (farming, mining, shipping, etc.), or gaining the ability to raise the rental price of apartments (while grandfathering in existing contracts).
I doubt it would be anything specifically beneficial to the person in question, but it may be something they can easily take advantage of.
Ah, that is a good thought. Makes a lot of sense.
I think if it were @Donald_Petersen and I running the game again, a character like pleasing hum dining with the Governor or Mayor would have a much bigger negative effect on everyone else 
Oh, yes indeedy it would!
I think this is the big question for this option, right? The way I read it, that seems likely, and it makes sense in terms of a risk vs. reward game mechanic. It’s not just how well you dance, but how perceptive you are in terms of picking partners that won’t turn you down in public.
And picking them in the right order. After all, someone taken for the Waltz might be free for the Grand Quadrille.
Apologies for the delay - I was hoping to get to this earlier in the day. And now without further ado:
Well dagnabbit, I didn’t put the Rank rewards in with the respective dinners and that would certainly skew the situation a bit. Updated!
The stakes are higher here now that we’re starting to rub elbows with high society. I seem to have a tendency to obscure things a little too much, hoping the vague clues are sufficiently tantalizing. I’ve updated the options for turn 5, but in short:
Governor: Rank+75 and a shot at steering the direction of the overall plot
Mayor: Rank+50 and a shot at steering the upcoming turn.
Applethwaite: Rank+30 and shot at laying the groundwork for a PER or FSH victory condition
Fangley: Rank+20 and a shot at laying the groundwork for a BUS victory condition
Buffet: Surely everyone needs to eat before a ball?
There are and they are tied to both stats and stories as they’ve been told to date. A combination of leaning toward greater obfuscation and avoiding making the walls of text any greater than they already are. They are very likely what one might expect them to be.
First dance - Grand March: Introductory, casual
Second dance - Double Quadrille: More personal, more difficult
Third dance - Waltz: Most personal, most difficult
In general, your dance choices should be ordered from least desirable prospect to most desirable prospect. Requesting more than one dance with a single partner would be considered gauche in this situation.
Yes. If you have the misfortune to fail to catch the fancy of that particular partner, you will sit out that dance.
Yes, but…um…the ball is an opportunity to introduce one’s ward to potential suitors and to entertain one’s own prospects. It may not cross the line into scandal, but would be most unusual.
Mr. Boulderclaw is unaware of the contest, but certainly the opportunity to play oddsmaker among the assembled presents itself.
Excellent, thank you!
This just leaves one more question (and I’m sorry to put pressure on, but…):
Can we please get this duel over with before the Turn Deadline on Sunday? It will, undoubtedly, influence my choices (if nothing else, whether I will need to retain my physician).
Absolutely - I’m preparing that vignette now and it will be completed prior to the turn deadline.
Thank you!
I had been wondering if it was going to happen. As pleasing hum’s second, do I gotta actually do anything? I would like to be involved, but I have no idea what it might entail. (If it was discussed a while back, I apologize, but I have no memory of it whatsoever.)
I just realized that the Discourse upgrade somehow removed my settings to Watch all space_abbey topics. 
From what I recall, the main duties of a second are:
6 is a non-issue, as both parties are fully healthy to start, and present.
You’re a little bit late on the scene for 1-4, but you can still provide some coaching and other support between exchanges.
I would think, though, your main duty right now is to try to convince SPH that the damage done to Mr. Hum is sufficient to repair SPH’s wounded honour without killing him, or to convince Hum to give into SPH’s demands so that he doesn’t get killed.
@messana, did I miss anything?
ETA: I think the best analogy for the role of the second would be a mediator, crossed with a ringside boxing coach.
That is it precisely.
During the duel itself, a second would also be responsible for making sure the affair was handled fairly and above board: your principal’s weapon is sound and is equally lethal as his opponent’s, that no foul play takes place on the field of honor by the opponent, and act as a witness that the affair is brought to its proper conclusion.
Additional reading for personal interest and not required for the game in any way: the twenty-six rules of original Code Duello published in Ireland is a good start (although in time many regions had their own variation, which is why SPH requested the Weatherby edition) and this 80 page volume published in 1836 is an interesting read.
ETA: Ridley Scott’s The Duellists is also excellent.
Well, that, and being completely unfamiliar with the whole “Karaoke” thing, and thinking something might be specified there.
26 rules? My goodness, I thought the ten utilized by the Colonists were exhaustive enough.
Surely we are overdue for a Revolution of our own…
Yes, that was more specifically my concern. But I can “yes, and” my way through it well enough… I just can’t log in as Ssskidwish for a couple of hours yet.
Dance outcomes, ranked from worst to best:
disappointed (worst possible result for the Waltz)
politely disappointed (worst possible result for the Double Quadrille)
courteous (worst possible result for the Grand March)
quietly pleased
pleased (best possible result for the Grand March)
openly pleased (best possible result for the Double Quadrille)
enthusiastically pleased (best possible result for the Waltz)
Is this equivalent to “pleased”?
Otherwise, it seems like it’d be somewhere between “pleased” and “openly pleased,” but “pleased” is the best possible result for the Grand March.
Thanks!
Is it because I still smelled of space-squid?
Yes, indeed. All “visibly pleased” results are equivalent to “pleased” and indicate a small success. That’s what I get for tidying up the adjectives in the middle of generating the turn results.
If you’re angling for a position as copyeditor when all this is done, you are certainly building a compelling case. Thanks for catching that.