Stone Pigs: Difference between revisions

From The Fifth City Wiki
KestrelGirl (talk | contribs)
Removed redirect to The Echo Bazaar#The Stone Pigs
Tags: Removed redirect visualeditor
KestrelGirl (talk | contribs)
mNo edit summary
Tag: visualeditor
 
(3 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Major spoiler}}<blockquote>''"I found myself dreaming of the Stone Pigs. They're, oh, I don't entirely understand, still. But they're how the Bazaar travels between stars. (Did you know they did that?) And they sleep."''<ref name="tireless">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.gamepedia.com/Tireless_Mechanic#Speak_to_the_Tireless_Mechanic|Ask the Mechanic to explain exactly what the hell is going on|Sunless Sea|}}</ref></blockquote>{{Character|image1=Pig.png|caption1=Not actually pigs.|allegiance=[[The Echo Bazaar]]}}
{{Major spoiler}}<blockquote>{{Character|image1=Pig.png|caption1=Not actually pigs.|allegiance=[[The Echo Bazaar]]}}''"I found myself dreaming of the Stone Pigs. They're, oh, I don't entirely understand, still. But they're how the Bazaar travels between stars. (Did you know they did that?) And they sleep."''<ref name="tireless">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.gamepedia.com/Tireless_Mechanic#Speak_to_the_Tireless_Mechanic|Ask the Mechanic to explain exactly what the hell is going on|Sunless Sea|}}</ref></blockquote>'''The Stone Pigs''', which are not actually pigs, are the engines of [[the Echo Bazaar]].<ref name="tireless" />
'''The Stone Pigs''', which are not actually pigs, are the engines of [[the Echo Bazaar]].<ref name="tireless" />


== Sleeping Beasts ==
== Sleeping Beasts ==
The Pigs once propelled the Bazaar through [[the High Wilderness]], but they have been grounded for quite a long time by now. They are responsible for the creation of [[the Cumaean Canal]],<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.gamepedia.com/Cumaean_Canal_Staging_Area|Travel to the Surface|Sunless Sea|}}</ref> and they also churn and grind a city into nothing whenever a new one is about to Fall.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/My_Kingdom_for_a_Pig|My Kingdom for a Pig|Fallen London|}} ''"Some people call them Stone Pigs. When the Fifth City fell, they awoke. That's why the Fourth City doesn't exist anymore. They churned it into the ground."''</ref> Fortunately, however, they spend most of their time asleep these days; [[lacre]] is used to keep them sedated.<ref name="lacre">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Putting_the_Pieces_Together:_the_Taste_of_Lacre|Putting the Pieces Together: the Taste of Lacre|Fallen London|}}</ref>
<blockquote>''"If something looks like a mushroom, call it a mushroom. If something wants to eat mushrooms, call it a pig."''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/My_Kingdom_for_a_Pig|My Kingdom for a Pig|Fallen London|}}</ref></blockquote>The Pigs once propelled the Bazaar through the [[High Wilderness]], but they have been grounded for quite a long time by now. They were responsible for the creation of the [[Cumaean Canal]],<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.gamepedia.com/Cumaean_Canal_Staging_Area|Travel to the Surface|Sunless Sea|}}</ref> and they churn and grind a city into nothing whenever a new one is about to Fall.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/My_Kingdom_for_a_Pig|My Kingdom for a Pig|Fallen London|}} ''"Some people call them Stone Pigs. When the Fifth City fell, they awoke. That's why the Fourth City doesn't exist anymore. They churned it into the ground."''</ref> Fortunately for humanity, they spend most of their time asleep these days, sedated by [[lacre]].<ref name="lacre">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Putting_the_Pieces_Together:_the_Taste_of_Lacre|Putting the Pieces Together: the Taste of Lacre|Fallen London|}}</ref>


The Stone Pigs are some of the most bizarre and eldritch creatures in the Neath, and describing them is quite taxing. They are vast and hairy, but they are ''not'' pigs.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Flute_Street|Flute Street|Fallen London|}} ''"The hairy stone wall goes for a hundred yards in each direction. The edges are fast against the stone [...] the hairy stone is pierced and crumbling. Is this a Stone Pig? If it is, what happens here?"''</ref> They do, however, consume fungi like pigs (pigs love truffles after all).<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/My_Kingdom_for_a_Pig|My Kingdom for a Pig|Fallen London|}} ''"If something looks like a mushroom, call it a mushroom. If something wants to eat mushrooms, call it a pig."''</ref> The Pigs will never drown in lacre, only slumber in it,<ref name="lacre" /> and they obey no master when they are hungry; if they are starved, they will seek out food on their own.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/My_Kingdom_for_a_Pig|My Kingdom for a Pig|Fallen London|}} ''"[...] their hungers must be satisfied again, or they will break away to feed themselves. They will obey no master without food."''</ref> If a creature, or perhaps specifically an ordinary pig, is fed what the Stone Pigs eat, it may become one itself.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/My_Kingdom_for_a_Pig|My Kingdom for a Pig|Fallen London|}} ''"Her pupils are wider than pies, and her whites milky-blue. She isn't stone. Perhaps she's not a pig either. Taxonomy, in the Neath, slips like a snake in your hands: even if you get a grip, you might get bitten too."''</ref> (Neathy taxonomy is weird.)
The Stone Pigs are some of the most bizarre and eldritch creatures in the Neath, and to describe them would be a taxing challenge. They are vast and hairy, but they are ''not'' pigs.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Flute_Street|Flute Street|Fallen London|}} ''"The hairy stone wall goes for a hundred yards in each direction. The edges are fast against the stone [...] the hairy stone is pierced and crumbling. Is this a Stone Pig? If it is, what happens here?"''</ref> They do, however, consume fungi like pigs (pigs love truffles after all).<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/My_Kingdom_for_a_Pig|My Kingdom for a Pig|Fallen London|}} ''"If something looks like a mushroom, call it a mushroom. If something wants to eat mushrooms, call it a pig."''</ref> The Pigs will never drown in lacre, only slumber in it,<ref name="lacre" /> and they obey no master when they are hungry; if they are starved, they will seek out food on their own.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/My_Kingdom_for_a_Pig|My Kingdom for a Pig|Fallen London|}} ''"[...] their hungers must be satisfied again, or they will break away to feed themselves. They will obey no master without food."''</ref> If a creature, or perhaps specifically an ordinary pig, is fed the same food as the Stone Pigs, it may become a Stone Pig itself.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/My_Kingdom_for_a_Pig|My Kingdom for a Pig|Fallen London|}} ''"Her pupils are wider than pies, and her whites milky-blue. She isn't stone. Perhaps she's not a pig either. Taxonomy, in the Neath, slips like a snake in your hands: even if you get a grip, you might get bitten too."''</ref> (Neathy taxonomy is weird.)


The Stone Pigs do not have hearts of their own. Their shared heart is a fungus - a living thing - that was once greater than a city. But this has been butchered and consumed over the course of eons,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/My_Kingdom_for_a_Pig|My Kingdom for a Pig|Fallen London|}} ''"The Stone Pigs do not have a heart. The heart they do not have is here. It speaks to you. It is a fungus too. Once greater than a city, now butchered and shrunken and small. Only a quivering lump smeared on the altar and skewered."''</ref> and it is more like a fuel core than a fungus.<ref name="make impeller">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.gamepedia.com/Kingeater%27s_Castle#Interactions|Construct the Fulgent Impeller|Sunless Sea|}}</ref> The current one is bloated with the memories of the five Fallen Cities;<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/My_Kingdom_for_a_Pig|My Kingdom for a Pig|Fallen London|}} ''"What was lost still echoes here. Thoughts that rumble and congeal. Material for me to weave [...] Cataclysms when five cities fell [...] when they were crushed [...] here underground. My memories. They are mine now. Soaked into my mycelium."''</ref> it is dead, but it will live on through its poetry.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/My_Kingdom_for_a_Pig|My Kingdom for a Pig|Fallen London|}} ''"They will not die. A memory, their poetry, survives."''</ref>
The Stone Pigs do not have hearts of their own. Their shared heart is a fungus that was once greater than a city, but the organism has been butchered and consumed over the course of eons.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/My_Kingdom_for_a_Pig|My Kingdom for a Pig|Fallen London|}} ''"The Stone Pigs do not have a heart. The heart they do not have is here. It speaks to you. It is a fungus too. Once greater than a city, now butchered and shrunken and small. Only a quivering lump smeared on the altar and skewered."''</ref> This fungus is bloated with the memories of the five Fallen Cities;<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/My_Kingdom_for_a_Pig|My Kingdom for a Pig|Fallen London|}} ''"What was lost still echoes here. Thoughts that rumble and congeal. Material for me to weave [...] Cataclysms when five cities fell [...] when they were crushed [...] here underground. My memories. They are mine now. Soaked into my mycelium."''</ref> it is also dead, but will live on through its poetry.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/My_Kingdom_for_a_Pig|My Kingdom for a Pig|Fallen London|}} ''"They will not die. A memory, their poetry, survives."''</ref>


[[The Tireless Mechanic]] managed to cheat a secret of the Stone Pigs from [[the Fingerkings]], and stored it within [[Frostfound]].<ref name="tireless" /> Through an esoteric combination of ingredients, including a heart (as this is destiny's engine), he created '''the Fulgent Impeller''', an ''extremely'' powerful engine that runs as hot as the forces that drive the Bazaar.<ref name="make impeller" />
The [[Tireless Mechanic]] managed to cheat a secret of the Stone Pigs from the [[Fingerkings]],<ref name=":0">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Tireless_Mechanic|Ask the Mechanic to explain exactly what the hell is going on|Sunless Sea}} ''""I talk about engines. All the time. [...] And I dream about them. I found myself dreaming of the Stone Pigs. They're, oh, I don't entirely understand, still. But they're how the Bazaar travels between stars. [...] And they sleep, so the Fingerkings can crack their dreams open. So the Fingerkings recruited me.""''</ref><ref name=":1">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Tireless_Mechanic|Ask the Mechanic to explain exactly what the hell is going on|Sunless Sea}} ''"I stole a secret from the Echo Bazaar. With the help of the Fingerkings. You know, the serpents who rule dream. Then I reneged on the Fingerkings. [...] Would you rather I'd given them the secret?"''</ref> and stored it within [[Frostfound]].<ref name=":2">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Objective:_The_Mechanic%27s_Secret_in_Frostfound|Objective: The Mechanic's Secret in Frostfound|Sunless Sea}} ''"I had to hide the secret somewhere the Fingerkings couldn't go. I hoped they'd leave me alone then. So I put it in Frostfound. [...] quite close to the heart."''</ref> Through an esoteric combination of ingredients, including a heart (as this is destiny's engine),<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle#Interactions|Construct the Fulgent Impeller|Sunless Sea|}} ''""Yes, I know," the Sage says, a little sadly. "The heart is destiny's engine." He climbs into the capsule at the Impeller's heart, and locks the framework into place behind him."''</ref> he created the '''Fulgent Impeller''', an ''extremely'' powerful engine that runs as hot as the forces that drive the Bazaar.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle#Interactions|Construct the Fulgent Impeller|Sunless Sea|}} ''"The capsule, instantly incandescent with heat, seals shut forever. With a ticking sound, it slowly begins to cool.  The Impeller stands radiant and whole before you: a jigsaw of heatlessly blazing ivory, with a martyr at its core."''</ref>


== References ==
== References ==
[[Category:Characters]]

Latest revision as of 11:06, 7 March 2025

"Are you quite sure you want to know this?"

Beyond this point lie major spoilers for Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies, or Mask of the Rose. This may include endgame or major Fate-locked spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.

You can find out more about our spoiler policy here.


"I found myself dreaming of the Stone Pigs. They're, oh, I don't entirely understand, still. But they're how the Bazaar travels between stars. (Did you know they did that?) And they sleep."[1]

The Stone Pigs, which are not actually pigs, are the engines of the Echo Bazaar.[1]

Sleeping Beasts[edit]

"If something looks like a mushroom, call it a mushroom. If something wants to eat mushrooms, call it a pig."[2]

The Pigs once propelled the Bazaar through the High Wilderness, but they have been grounded for quite a long time by now. They were responsible for the creation of the Cumaean Canal,[3] and they churn and grind a city into nothing whenever a new one is about to Fall.[4] Fortunately for humanity, they spend most of their time asleep these days, sedated by lacre.[5]

The Stone Pigs are some of the most bizarre and eldritch creatures in the Neath, and to describe them would be a taxing challenge. They are vast and hairy, but they are not pigs.[6] They do, however, consume fungi like pigs (pigs love truffles after all).[7] The Pigs will never drown in lacre, only slumber in it,[5] and they obey no master when they are hungry; if they are starved, they will seek out food on their own.[8] If a creature, or perhaps specifically an ordinary pig, is fed the same food as the Stone Pigs, it may become a Stone Pig itself.[9] (Neathy taxonomy is weird.)

The Stone Pigs do not have hearts of their own. Their shared heart is a fungus that was once greater than a city, but the organism has been butchered and consumed over the course of eons.[10] This fungus is bloated with the memories of the five Fallen Cities;[11] it is also dead, but will live on through its poetry.[12]

The Tireless Mechanic managed to cheat a secret of the Stone Pigs from the Fingerkings,[13][14] and stored it within Frostfound.[15] Through an esoteric combination of ingredients, including a heart (as this is destiny's engine),[16] he created the Fulgent Impeller, an extremely powerful engine that runs as hot as the forces that drive the Bazaar.[17]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Ask the Mechanic to explain exactly what the hell is going on, Sunless Sea
  2. My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London
  3. Travel to the Surface, Sunless Sea
  4. My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "Some people call them Stone Pigs. When the Fifth City fell, they awoke. That's why the Fourth City doesn't exist anymore. They churned it into the ground."
  5. 5.0 5.1 Putting the Pieces Together: the Taste of Lacre, Fallen London
  6. Flute Street, Fallen London "The hairy stone wall goes for a hundred yards in each direction. The edges are fast against the stone [...] the hairy stone is pierced and crumbling. Is this a Stone Pig? If it is, what happens here?"
  7. My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "If something looks like a mushroom, call it a mushroom. If something wants to eat mushrooms, call it a pig."
  8. My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "[...] their hungers must be satisfied again, or they will break away to feed themselves. They will obey no master without food."
  9. My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "Her pupils are wider than pies, and her whites milky-blue. She isn't stone. Perhaps she's not a pig either. Taxonomy, in the Neath, slips like a snake in your hands: even if you get a grip, you might get bitten too."
  10. My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "The Stone Pigs do not have a heart. The heart they do not have is here. It speaks to you. It is a fungus too. Once greater than a city, now butchered and shrunken and small. Only a quivering lump smeared on the altar and skewered."
  11. My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "What was lost still echoes here. Thoughts that rumble and congeal. Material for me to weave [...] Cataclysms when five cities fell [...] when they were crushed [...] here underground. My memories. They are mine now. Soaked into my mycelium."
  12. My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "They will not die. A memory, their poetry, survives."
  13. Ask the Mechanic to explain exactly what the hell is going on, Sunless Sea ""I talk about engines. All the time. [...] And I dream about them. I found myself dreaming of the Stone Pigs. They're, oh, I don't entirely understand, still. But they're how the Bazaar travels between stars. [...] And they sleep, so the Fingerkings can crack their dreams open. So the Fingerkings recruited me.""
  14. Ask the Mechanic to explain exactly what the hell is going on, Sunless Sea "I stole a secret from the Echo Bazaar. With the help of the Fingerkings. You know, the serpents who rule dream. Then I reneged on the Fingerkings. [...] Would you rather I'd given them the secret?"
  15. Objective: The Mechanic's Secret in Frostfound, Sunless Sea "I had to hide the secret somewhere the Fingerkings couldn't go. I hoped they'd leave me alone then. So I put it in Frostfound. [...] quite close to the heart."
  16. Construct the Fulgent Impeller, Sunless Sea ""Yes, I know," the Sage says, a little sadly. "The heart is destiny's engine." He climbs into the capsule at the Impeller's heart, and locks the framework into place behind him."
  17. Construct the Fulgent Impeller, Sunless Sea "The capsule, instantly incandescent with heat, seals shut forever. With a ticking sound, it slowly begins to cool. The Impeller stands radiant and whole before you: a jigsaw of heatlessly blazing ivory, with a martyr at its core."