Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,748 
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Sept 9, 2021 10:08:09 GMT
If the Paternoster audios are covered in one of the EU sourcebooks then Smallpiece should be included, until then...
Old Smallpiece’s Emporium.
In some of the Paternoster audioplays1 Old Smallpiece (no first name given) was a friend of Strax, as well as a source of information and rumours regarding the underworld of London, especially as it relates and connects to aliens and other weird goings-on.
He ran a down-at-heel junk shop (Smallpiece’s Emporium) in an unnamed street in London (there's water nearby). The business he operated was a dealership in what might politely be described as "bric-a-brac" or antiques. Though Madame Vastra, who refused to set foot inside except under extreme provocation2, referred to it as "That ridiculous man’s grubby little junk shop".
While outwardly the store had a "small shabby exterior”, inside it was one of the largest3, shabbiest shops in London.
- With items carefully catalogued and ordered alphabetically by subjects, including Conjuring, Prestidigitation, Pressed Flowers, Magic, Illusions, and Legerdemain.
- If you've read the Modesty Blaise novel The Xanadu Talisman it reminds me a little of the cave of the junk-dealer Alaeddin in Todra Gorge in the eastern High Atlas Mountains in Morocco.
Vastra uses Smallpiece both a source of information and because he doesn't just deal in normal, everyday, human junk; he has a side-line in "under-the-counter specials", he buys and sells bits of alien technology and artefacts that are out of place in 1890s London.
- As Strax says to Jago, Smallpiece "Does not deal merely in Earthly tat".
Old Smallpiece has a standing arrangement with Madame Vastra that she allows him to continue business, unharassed and uneaten, as long as she has first call on any alien technology he discovers. This allows her to remove any really dangerous items from circulation before it might fall into the wrong hands.
Alas, with a dodgy and unreliable character like Smallpiece it’s probably no surprise that he doesn’t always abide by this agreement.
One of the plot threads in Merry Christmas, Mr Jago was an auction that he was holding that day.
Smallpiece does seem to have certain rules ("No talking about the special stuff") and so probably won't sell something he knows is dangerous to just anyone. However he also seems greedy and unprincipled, so if the price was right....
- When Strax advises Jago "Mind your wallet" it's not stated whether this is against Smallpiece or his customers.
He employs an assistant named Jimmy who seems to be rather younger4 and more active, while he remains at the counter to prevent theft.
- Though not doing a great job of this, as an urchin managed to steal a Mary Poppins type flying umbrella from under his nose and escape. This may be down to his tendency to drunkenness.
Pretty much anything could end up in his shop, whether or not he knows what it is.
Game use.
The Emporium could fit into a game in a multitude of ways. It could be the place where a PC obtains the MacGuffin that starts them getting involved in alien weirdness, the source for the vital item needed to defeat the Menace of the Week (except Smallpiece has already sold it) or the source of endless complications for UNIT.
There's no need to limit the scope of use to the Victorian era, Smallpiece's age is unspecified (his voice actor, Trevor Cooper, is 68) but he might be younger, or unusually long-lived, and survive into the Pulp era or later. But the shop could be inherited or acquired by someone else (keeping the name of course) for 'Smallpiece - The Next Generation'.
A campaign could be created around the shop, somewhat reminiscent of Friday the 13th, with the PCs as employees purchasing, selling, fixing and otherwise dealing in alien oddities (and mundane junk) beset by communication problems, cultural quirks, interfering police/Torchwood/UNIT, and Things Man Was Not Meant To Meddle With.
Or the strange piece of 'jewellery' a PC buys there is actually something else entirely. A pocket watch that can travel in time or contains the mind of a Time Lord. Or is the remote control for a TARDIS or SIDRAT.
- It reminds me of the shop in Wonders in Letterland. The perfect place to embroil the PCs in a quest, perhaps mixing the Land of Fiction and T-Bag.
In a modern day (or UNIT era) game the job of periodically checking Smallpiece's shop is perfect for the Misfit Mob.
- "Smallpiece is behaving suspiciously, check it out". "But he always behaves suspiciously".
If you were running The Iytean Menace then the Emporium would be the perfect place for Jenkins and Bannister to sell their ill-gotten artefacts, and for Fraser to acquire them.
Perhaps Smallpiece needs assistance, for which he'll pay of course. Is something running loose in his shop ("Bloody Cybermats, never again"), or needs to be retrieved discreetly before Madame Vastra returns to town and eats him, or the contents of a odd box bought cheap at an auction needs to be identified and catalogued.
It seems like the perfect place to encounter Marshall Manor Meyer too, or someone unsatisfied by George Fabian Lawrence's shop.
What about the shop itself? The off-hand statement that it was much larger inside intrigues me; might the store actually be a lost and damaged TARDIS? Or a larger structure hidden by a perception filter? Maybe Smallpiece doesn't leave the store because while inside he (and his employees) don't age......
Ideas? Suggestions? Comments?
1. So far The Ghosts of Greenwich and Merry Christmas, Mr Jago.
2. She and Jenny remained in their parked carriage dispatching Strax to deal with Smallpiece.
3. There's no suggestion that the store is in any way artificially enlarged in its interior. But.....
4. The minimum legal working age in 1895 in Britain was eleven.
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Post by grinch on Sept 9, 2021 10:31:34 GMT
I must admit I was going to say that this would be the perfect place for The Mysterious Pocket Watch to originate from but it appears you already beat me to it. And it’s definitely the sort of place Marshall Manor Meyer would frequent whilst in Victorian England. No doubt trying to haggle for the best price or sell off why he has for sale. I’d imagine Old Smallpiece is a bit nervous of Meyer’s Raston Warrior Robot bodyguard. Not because he know it’s one of the deadliest killing machines ever created but because in its Cesare form while under a shimmer, it’s unblinking stare is extremely unnerving.
Also reminded me a great deal of E. Nesbitt’s The Story of the Amulet where the children stumble across the Psammead who had been caught and put on sale in such a shop. Could make for a fun adventure if a group of PCs stumble across a surly creature there which grants wishes and it quickly goes awry. Although, in saying that, Smallpiece doesn’t exactly seem like the sort of establishment that deals in menageries. At least not without drawing the attention of the Paternoster Gang.
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,748
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Sept 9, 2021 14:02:35 GMT
I must admit I was going to say that this would be the perfect place for The Mysterious Pocket Watch to originate from but it appears you already beat me to it. And it’s definitely the sort of place Marshall Manor Meyer would frequent whilst in Victorian England. No doubt trying to haggle for the best price or sell off why he has for sale. I’d imagine Old Smallpiece is a bit nervous of Meyer’s Raston Warrior Robot bodyguard. Not because he know it’s one of the deadliest killing machines ever created but because in its Cesare form while under a shimmer, it’s unblinking stare is extremely unnerving. Also reminded me a great deal of E. Nesbitt’s The Story of the Amulet where the children stumble across the Psammead who had been caught and put on sale in such a shop. Could make for a fun adventure if a group of PCs stumble across a surly creature there which grants wishes and it quickly goes awry. Although, in saying that, Smallpiece doesn’t exactly seem like the sort of establishment that deals in menageries. At least not without drawing the attention of the Paternoster Gang.  Excellent suggestions, I particularly like the Psammead. And while I agree that Smallpiece might mot be willing to deal in living creatures (Madame Vasta has views on that sort of thing), he might find it in a shipment of other assorted junk and be somewaht eager to get rid of it before Strax's next visit.
Or perhaps an amnesiac Meep....
Also you're right about Jeremy, I certainly wouldn't put it past Meyer to use his ominous presence to help deals go his way.
Really, Smallpiece's Emporium can be substituted for the Mysterious Shop trope, be it Mr. Wing's antique store (Gremlins), Wong's Lost and Found Emporium (Twilight Zone), Temptations Ltd (From Beyond The Grave), in a game. But it has wonderful campaign potential too.
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Post by grinch on Sept 9, 2021 15:28:52 GMT
I must admit I was going to say that this would be the perfect place for The Mysterious Pocket Watch to originate from but it appears you already beat me to it. And it’s definitely the sort of place Marshall Manor Meyer would frequent whilst in Victorian England. No doubt trying to haggle for the best price or sell off why he has for sale. I’d imagine Old Smallpiece is a bit nervous of Meyer’s Raston Warrior Robot bodyguard. Not because he know it’s one of the deadliest killing machines ever created but because in its Cesare form while under a shimmer, it’s unblinking stare is extremely unnerving. Also reminded me a great deal of E. Nesbitt’s The Story of the Amulet where the children stumble across the Psammead who had been caught and put on sale in such a shop. Could make for a fun adventure if a group of PCs stumble across a surly creature there which grants wishes and it quickly goes awry. Although, in saying that, Smallpiece doesn’t exactly seem like the sort of establishment that deals in menageries. At least not without drawing the attention of the Paternoster Gang.
Or perhaps an amnesiac Meep....
Also you're right about Jeremy, I certainly wouldn't put it past Meyer to use his ominous presence to help deals go his way.
Really, Smallpiece's Emporium can be substituted for the Mysterious Shop trope, be it Mr. Wing's antique store (Gremlins), Wong's Lost and Found Emporium (Twilight Zone), Temptations Ltd (From Beyond The Grave), in a game. But it has wonderful campaign potential too.
Definitely. The Psammead is very much the sort of character who could cause some chaos or mischief in Victorian England if placed in the wrong hands. In fact, Old Smallpiece would probably muse about how he should have asked for more money for it if he had known it was so valuable. But who knows? Maybe the PCs or Paternoster Gang can find a home for it somewhere. Maybe in Leper Hall? Or as far away from the Thames as possible? I like it. Jeremy has such presence. And Meyer didn’t even have to pay an extra penny for that! Exactly. And of course, it all depends on whether Old Smallpiece and his establishment survive into the present day or at least the twentieth century. Speaking of Temptations Ltd, that reminds me of a villain idea I once had based on Peter Cushing’s strangely Northern shopkeeper from the film. A lesser member of the Pantheon of Discord (although by mortal standards still very powerful) who deliberately sells off “cursed” items to generate enough chaos to allow his fellow Pantheon members and their lord The Trickster to enter our reality. Could never quite get it to work though. |
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,748
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Sept 10, 2021 8:49:16 GMT
Excellent suggestions, I particularly like the Psammead. And while I agree that Smallpiece might mot be willing to deal in living creatures (Madame Vasta has views on that sort of thing), he might find it in a shipment of other assorted junk and be somewaht eager to get rid of it before Strax's next visit.
Or perhaps an amnesiac Meep....
Also you're right about Jeremy, I certainly wouldn't put it past Meyer to use his ominous presence to help deals go his way.
Really, Smallpiece's Emporium can be substituted for the Mysterious Shop trope, be it Mr. Wing's antique store (Gremlins), Wong's Lost and Found Emporium (Twilight Zone), Temptations Ltd (From Beyond The Grave), in a game. But it has wonderful campaign potential too.
Definitely. The Psammead is very much the sort of character who could cause some chaos or mischief in Victorian England if placed in the wrong hands. In fact, Old Smallpiece would probably muse about how he should have asked for more money for it if he had known it was so valuable. But who knows? Maybe the PCs or Paternoster Gang can find a home for it somewhere. Maybe in Leper Hall? Or as far away from the Thames as possible? I like it. Jeremy has such presence. And Meyer didn’t even have to pay an extra penny for that! Exactly. And of course, it all depends on whether Old Smallpiece and his establishment survive into the present day or at least the twentieth century. Speaking of Temptations Ltd, that reminds me of a villain idea I once had based on Peter Cushing’s strangely Northern shopkeeper from the film. A lesser member of the Pantheon of Discord (although by mortal standards still very powerful) who deliberately sells off “cursed” items to generate enough chaos to allow his fellow Pantheon members and their lord The Trickster to enter our reality. Could never quite get it to work though.
I wonder if there's any link between From Beyond the Grave and King's Needful Things? Or is it just a case of similar themes.
Certainly there's a few game ideas in there, even apart from the Fridat the 13th plot of sequential hunts for cursed artefacts.
I'm wondering if I can link Smallpiece's Emporium to another idea in my notes, a small Victorian(?) shopping arcade built on a weak point in time, where things (and people) occasionally 'drift in' from elsewhere. Perhaps the arcade was built on the site of Smallpiece's shop? Or the Emporium became part of it. Something to think about.
An arcade is the predecessor to the “shopping mall”, an indoor market where independent shops operate under one roof. This particular one is old, built over 150 years ago and has about fifty small tenants, some of whom have leasing dating back to the original opening.
Not just the shops, the tenants…
Constructed of Victorian red brick and blacked ironwork and possessing two levels of shops, plus apartments and a few offices on the second floor, and a basement (known as the undercroft), the arcade has weathered changes in prosperity, laws, government, shopping habits and more.
Perhaps this is down to the fact that time passes differently there. To most customers this is unnoticeable; the leisurely consumption of a pot of tea and one of Miss Mitchell's wonderful pastries over the newspaper seem to have only occupied a couple of minutes, but to those more aware of the building’s oddities, or more attuned to them, the effect is profound. Aging is retarded and life prolonged.
The building possesses other oddities; the main one is that things and people can sometimes pass through from other time periods.
Thackery’s is a bookshop specialising in rare and antiquarian books, but handling mundane new and secondhand books of many kinds. It’s actually one of the largest shops in the arcade with a small shopfront on the ground floor, a much larger one on the first, that houses most of the stock, and a seemingly vast undercroft level that houses the secondhand department. Many customers joke that the place is far larger inside than out.
A few of them know this is true.
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Post by grinch on Sept 10, 2021 15:39:35 GMT
Definitely. The Psammead is very much the sort of character who could cause some chaos or mischief in Victorian England if placed in the wrong hands. In fact, Old Smallpiece would probably muse about how he should have asked for more money for it if he had known it was so valuable. But who knows? Maybe the PCs or Paternoster Gang can find a home for it somewhere. Maybe in Leper Hall? Or as far away from the Thames as possible? I like it. Jeremy has such presence. And Meyer didn’t even have to pay an extra penny for that! Exactly. And of course, it all depends on whether Old Smallpiece and his establishment survive into the present day or at least the twentieth century. Speaking of Temptations Ltd, that reminds me of a villain idea I once had based on Peter Cushing’s strangely Northern shopkeeper from the film. A lesser member of the Pantheon of Discord (although by mortal standards still very powerful) who deliberately sells off “cursed” items to generate enough chaos to allow his fellow Pantheon members and their lord The Trickster to enter our reality. Could never quite get it to work though.
I wonder if there's any link between From Beyond the Grave and King's Needful Things? Or is it just a case of similar themes.
Certainly there's a few game ideas in there, even apart from the Fridat the 13th plot of sequential hunts for cursed artefacts.
I'm wondering if I can link Smallpiece's Emporium to another idea in my notes, a small Victorian(?) shopping arcade built on a weak point in time, where things (and people) occasionally 'drift in' from elsewhere. Perhaps the arcade was built on the site of Smallpiece's shop? Or the Emporium became part of it. Something to think about.
An arcade is the predecessor to the “shopping mall”, an indoor market where independent shops operate under one roof. This particular one is old, built over 150 years ago and has about fifty small tenants, some of whom have leasing dating back to the original opening.
Not just the shops, the tenants…
Constructed of Victorian red brick and blacked ironwork and possessing two levels of shops, plus apartments and a few offices on the second floor, and a basement (known as the undercroft), the arcade has weathered changes in prosperity, laws, government, shopping habits and more.
Perhaps this is down to the fact that time passes differently there. To most customers this is unnoticeable; the leisurely consumption of a pot of tea and one of Miss Mitchell's wonderful pastries over the newspaper seem to have only occupied a couple of minutes, but to those more aware of the building’s oddities, or more attuned to them, the effect is profound. Aging is retarded and life prolonged.
The building possesses other oddities; the main one is that things and people can sometimes pass through from other time periods.
Thackery’s is a bookshop specialising in rare and antiquarian books, but handling mundane new and secondhand books of many kinds. It’s actually one of the largest shops in the arcade with a small shopfront on the ground floor, a much larger one on the first, that houses most of the stock, and a seemingly vast undercroft level that houses the secondhand department. Many customers joke that the place is far larger inside than out.
A few of them know this is true.
I probably wouldn’t change that much about the Psammead if I were to include him within the Whoniverse. If you didn’t want to use his Sand Fairy origin, you could suggest he’s either an extra dimensional being who was forced into this universe through some ritual (He’s not happy about it.) His quite ugly physical form is how he manifested in this universe. Or you could say he’s some forgotten and extinct animal from the time of the Silurians. (One for Vastra to recognise there) or perhaps from the time of Neanderthal Man who has somehow avoided extinction and survived to the Victorian era. In fact, that might be a neat idea if you say that the Silurians are aware of such creatures and used to experiment on them to determine how they manage to alter reality to grant wishes. Without any success. He’s already surly enough as is but if the Psammead finds about Vastra he’s not going to be very co operative. He’s lost many a cousin or great-great auntie under the scalpel to a Silurian. I’d imagine he doesn’t want much. Just to simply burrow himself into some sand and be left alone. But much like the Scorpion from the tale of the same name, granting wishes is merely within its nature. The fact his wishes only last until sunset would I still think have plenty of storytelling potential. Say someone uses the Psammead to become extremely lucky and uses said wish to commit a series of cons. Aside from the wish to run out come sunset and while fleeing from an angry and cheated customer they end up being run down by a carriage? Or an aspiring magician who makes the same wish and then drowns come his evening performance while doing his escapologist act? The Psammead doesn’t really deal in ironic wishes. He’s not a Monkey’s Paw. It’s just people don’t really know how to wish properly. For some reason, I see him getting on with Jenny and those infernal investigators Jago and Litefoot. He wouldn’t like Vastra (for obvious reasons) and Strax he’d find tiresome. You know what might be interesting? If you suggest that the Victorian arcade house grew from a part of Old Smallpiece’s shop? Say a discarded brick or piece of scaffolding which overtime grew into the arcade without anyone noticing? |
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,748
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Sept 11, 2021 21:42:48 GMT
I probably wouldn’t change that much about the Psammead if I were to include him within the Whoniverse. If you didn’t want to use his Sand Fairy origin, you could suggest he’s either an extra dimensional being who was forced into this universe through some ritual (He’s not happy about it.) His quite ugly physical form is how he manifested in this universe. Or you could say he’s some forgotten and extinct animal from the time of the Silurians. (One for Vastra to recognise there) or perhaps from the time of Neanderthal Man who has somehow avoided extinction and survived to the Victorian era. In fact, that might be a neat idea if you say that the Silurians are aware of such creatures and used to experiment on them to determine how they manage to alter reality to grant wishes. Without any success. He’s already surly enough as is but if the Psammead finds about Vastra he’s not going to be very co operative. He’s lost many a cousin or great-great auntie under the scalpel to a Silurian. I’d imagine he doesn’t want much. Just to simply burrow himself into some sand and be left alone. But much like the Scorpion from the tale of the same name, granting wishes is merely within its nature. The fact his wishes only last until sunset would I still think have plenty of storytelling potential. Say someone uses the Psammead to become extremely lucky and uses said wish to commit a series of cons. Aside from the wish to run out come sunset and while fleeing from an angry and cheated customer they end up being run down by a carriage? Or an aspiring magician who makes the same wish and then drowns come his evening performance while doing his escapologist act? The Psammead doesn’t really deal in ironic wishes. He’s not a Monkey’s Paw. It’s just people don’t really know how to wish properly. For some reason, I see him getting on with Jenny and those infernal investigators Jago and Litefoot. He wouldn’t like Vastra (for obvious reasons) and Strax he’d find tiresome. You know what might be interesting? If you suggest that the Victorian arcade house grew from a part of Old Smallpiece’s shop? Say a discarded brick or piece of scaffolding which overtime grew into the arcade without anyone noticing?
I like the idea of him having history with the SIlurians, certainly a problem if Vastra is involved.
I'd been playing with the arcade idea long ago (inspired by some work a friend was involved with in the restoration of the George's Street Arcade in Dublin. It's languished in my Notes file for a long time (it's entry 22, the latest is 515) without being worked on until the idea of linking it to Smallpiece came to me.
If there was something odd about his Emporium it might have spread, or otherwise caused, the strangeness of the arcade. The Emporium could still be there, part of the arcade |
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Post by grinch on Sept 13, 2021 11:05:09 GMT
I probably wouldn’t change that much about the Psammead if I were to include him within the Whoniverse. If you didn’t want to use his Sand Fairy origin, you could suggest he’s either an extra dimensional being who was forced into this universe through some ritual (He’s not happy about it.) His quite ugly physical form is how he manifested in this universe. Or you could say he’s some forgotten and extinct animal from the time of the Silurians. (One for Vastra to recognise there) or perhaps from the time of Neanderthal Man who has somehow avoided extinction and survived to the Victorian era. In fact, that might be a neat idea if you say that the Silurians are aware of such creatures and used to experiment on them to determine how they manage to alter reality to grant wishes. Without any success. He’s already surly enough as is but if the Psammead finds about Vastra he’s not going to be very co operative. He’s lost many a cousin or great-great auntie under the scalpel to a Silurian. I’d imagine he doesn’t want much. Just to simply burrow himself into some sand and be left alone. But much like the Scorpion from the tale of the same name, granting wishes is merely within its nature. The fact his wishes only last until sunset would I still think have plenty of storytelling potential. Say someone uses the Psammead to become extremely lucky and uses said wish to commit a series of cons. Aside from the wish to run out come sunset and while fleeing from an angry and cheated customer they end up being run down by a carriage? Or an aspiring magician who makes the same wish and then drowns come his evening performance while doing his escapologist act? The Psammead doesn’t really deal in ironic wishes. He’s not a Monkey’s Paw. It’s just people don’t really know how to wish properly. For some reason, I see him getting on with Jenny and those infernal investigators Jago and Litefoot. He wouldn’t like Vastra (for obvious reasons) and Strax he’d find tiresome. You know what might be interesting? If you suggest that the Victorian arcade house grew from a part of Old Smallpiece’s shop? Say a discarded brick or piece of scaffolding which overtime grew into the arcade without anyone noticing?
I like the idea of him having history with the SIlurians, certainly a problem if Vastra is involved.
I'd been playing with the arcade idea long ago (inspired by some work a friend was involved with in the restoration of the George's Street Arcade in Dublin. It's languished in my Notes file for a long time (it's entry 22, the latest is 515) without being worked on until the idea of linking it to Smallpiece came to me.
If there was something odd about his Emporium it might have spread, or otherwise caused, the strangeness of the arcade. The Emporium could still be there, part of the arcadeI like that idea a lot. Keep his origin ambiguous He could be the only one left or a species left over from the previous or next universe. Besides, he’s surly enough that he’s not exactly likely to divulge such personal details. If he can even remember where he’s from. Psammeads have long memories but they’re not perfect. And yes, if he’s ran afoul of the Silurians at some point he’s certainly going to hold a grudge. Definitely something I’ll keep in mind if I ever get around to statting him up. In any case, I could see the mysterious Napoleon of Crime discovering that fact about the Psammead and trying to manipulate him to use a wish to get vengeance against Vastra. Would make for a neat adventure actually now that I think about it. Vastra suddenly vanishing into thin air and the rest of the Paternoster Gang having to discover what happened to her. Only for the Napoleon of Crime to get frustrated when she re appears after sunset with the Psammead neglecting to mention that’s as long as his wishes usually last. That’s a neat idea. The Emporium being the root of the strangeness of the rest of the arcade. Destroying it could be a way of destroying the rest of the arcade and in the middle of the arcade is Smallpiece still plying his trade. |
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,748
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Sept 13, 2021 13:19:00 GMT
For the Psammead I'd probably go with the "mysterious alien being of unknown origin" basis. It could be anything, perhaps even something left over from a prior universe, or something from the end of time.
I like the idea of him having history with the SIlurians, certainly a problem if Vastra is involved.
I'd been playing with the arcade idea long ago (inspired by some work a friend was involved with in the restoration of the George's Street Arcade in Dublin. It's languished in my Notes file for a long time (it's entry 22, the latest is 515) without being worked on until the idea of linking it to Smallpiece came to me.
If there was something odd about his Emporium it might have spread, or otherwise caused, the strangeness of the arcade. The Emporium could still be there, part of the arcade I like that idea a lot. Keep his origin ambiguous He could be the only one left or a species left over from the previous or next universe. Besides, he’s surly enough that he’s not exactly likely to divulge such personal details. If he can even remember where he’s from. Psammeads have long memories but they’re not perfect. And yes, if he’s ran afoul of the Silurians at some point he’s certainly going to hold a grudge. Definitely something I’ll keep in mind if I ever get around to statting him up. In any case, I could see the mysterious Napoleon of Crime discovering that fact about the Psammead and trying to manipulate him to use a wish to get vengeance against Vastra. Would make for a neat adventure actually now that I think about it. Vastra suddenly vanishing into thin air and the rest of the Paternoster Gang having to discover what happened to her. Only for the Napoleon of Crime to get frustrated when she re appears after sunset with the Psammead neglecting to mention that’s as long as his wishes usually last.
That’s a neat idea. The Emporium being the root of the strangeness of the rest of the arcade. Destroying it could be a way of destroying the rest of the arcade and in the middle of the arcade is Smallpiece still plying his trade.
Then again if time flows differently there he might be around in the 2020s, albeit rather old.
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Excellent suggestions, I particularly like the