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[[File:Cinder.png|thumb|A Ray-drenched Cinder, tinted with Neathy colors]]The Neath has a unique rainbow of seven colors, almost all with interesting psychological effects. This is known as '''the Neathbow'''. Several of these colors are present in ray-drenched cinders, and many are also used in fireworks.
{{Object|image1=prism.png|
location = [[The Neath]]<br>[[Parabola]]<br>[[The High Wilderness]] (rarely)||related=[[Slobgollion]]}}<blockquote>''"A dazzling contraption for safely viewing and displaying those colours that are unique to the Neath. Delightful at parties. WARNING: Do not gaze onto the device for longer than seventy-three seconds."''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/F.F._Gebrandt%27s_Patent_Neathoscope,_Containing_and_Displaying_All_Seven_Colours_of_Exotic_Light|F.F. Gebrandt's Patent Neathoscope, Containing and Displaying All Seven Colours of Exotic Light|Fallen London}}</ref></blockquote>


The '''N<span style="background-color: #00008b">e</span><span style="background-color: #8B0000">a</span><font color="black"><span style="background-color: #40E0D0">t</span><span style="background-color: #45e040">h</span><span style="background-color: #FFA500">b</span><span style="background-color: #ff00c9">o</span><span style="background-color: #808080">w</span></font>''' is a set of seven impossible colors.__FORCETOC__


== Nightlights ==
<blockquote>''"A book for children. One page is devoted to each of the colours of the Neath, which are not found on the Surface."''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/THE_NEATHBOW|THE NEATHBOW|Sunless Sea}}</ref></blockquote>
[[File:EntrepreneurShades.png|alt=A woman surrounded by inks.|thumb|Shades.]]
The Neathbow is the collective term for seven colors which cannot be seen on the [[Surface]]. They are commonly observed in the [[Neath]], hence the name,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/THE_NEATHBOW|THE NEATHBOW|Sunless Sea}} ''"[...] each of the colours of the Neath, which are not found on the Surface."''</ref> but they also appear in places like [[Parabola]]<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Parabola_tattoo|Parabola tattoo|Fallen London}} ''"There are colours which can only be seen in sleep [...] Cosmogone and viric."''</ref> and the [[High Wilderness]].<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Stair_to_the_Sea#On_the_Quiet_Sea|Approach the Gate|Sunless Skies}} ''"Two vast winged shapes guard a gate of something like resin, smooth but uneven. It is deep gant [...]"''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Deep_in_the_Spawning_Morass#Story_description|Story description|Sunless Skies}} ''"The only light comes from smouldering apocyan pyres [...]"''</ref> The origin of the Neathbow is unknown, but the colors seem to arise from properties of light that only exist "in the dark."<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Prelapsarian_Museum:_Optical_Exhibits|The Prelapsarian Museum: Optical Exhibits|Fallen London}} ''"The centrepiece of this wing will be a series of exhibits on neathy optics – the properties of light that can only exist in the dark."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Whoever_you_can|Whoever you can|Fallen London}} ''"[...] the variant spectrum of night: the colours called irrigo, cosmogone, violant, apocyan."''</ref> Each Neathbow color has unique effects on those exposed: for example, [[irrigo]] light induces memory loss,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Empty_an_irrigo-filled_box|Empty an irrigo-filled box|Fallen London}} ''"The light scrapes a few immediate plans from your mind, the names of a passing acquaintance or two."''</ref> [[viric]] light induces drowsiness,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Empty_a_viric-filled_box|Empty a viric-filled box|Fallen London}} ''"The light lazily seeps out of the box when you open it, or as lazily as light can move. You let out a long, languid yawn."''</ref> and [[violant]] ink is hard to forget and nearly impossible to erase.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/A_Pot_of_Violant_Ink#Item_description|Item description|Sunless Sea}} ''"It's very hard to forget anything you've written in violant ink...""''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Write_something_to_sear_the_eyes_of_fools_and_lift_up_the_great_powers|Write something to sear the eyes of fools and lift up the great powers|Fallen London}} ''"The ink makes the whole indelible."''</ref> Neathbow light can also be trapped and transported in devices called Mirrorcatch Boxes.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Mirrorcatch_Box|Mirrorcatch Box|Fallen London}}</ref> Given these properties, Neathbow colors have many applications, including art,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Shades_of_Yesterday|Shades of Yesterday|Fallen London}} ''"Artists and the literati rejoice — a pen show visits London! [...] Inks, in all the wild colours of the Neath! Try them to your hearts content! [...] look at all the lovely pens."''</ref> technology,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Crack_open_the_Sounder_and_capture_its_operating_principle|Crack open the Sounder and capture its operating principle|Fallen London}} ''"It contains a connection that cannot be easily severed. [...] You will always get a Violant-filled Mirrorcatch Box."''</ref> and esoteric rites.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Shrine_to_Saint_Joshua|Shrine to Saint Joshua|Fallen London}} ''"It is carefully concealed and draped with veils of irrigo, so that you forget the hidden rites almost as soon as they are performed."''</ref>


Neathbow colors are not strict hues; they include shades like normal colors do.<ref>{{Citation|https://discord.com/invite/failbettergames|Bruno (FBG)|Failbetter Games Discord Server}} ''"The neathbow colors contain different shades, just like real colors"''</ref> Thanks to this and the fact that they are "impossible colors" distinct from the spectrum of visible light, their depictions often vary between illustrations.<ref>{{Citation|https://discord.com/invite/failbettergames|Bruno (FBG)|Failbetter Games Discord Server}}''"We are and have been inconsistent in how we represent neathbow colors visually in the games ... Neathbow colors not being real means that we are inherently fudging when we portray them visually."''</ref>


==Irrigo==
==Colors==
[[File:Irrigoletter.png|thumb]]
<gallery captionalign=center>
 
Peliginletter.png|[[Peligin]]
''"I is for IRRIGO. No one remembers why. Irrigo colours the forgotten corners of home."''
Violantletter.png|[[Violant]]
 
Apocyanletter.png|[[Apocyan]]
The color of the fog in [[The Cave of the Nadir|the Cave of the Nadir]] . The hue of a Fluke-Core. It infuses the spring in [[the Forgotten Quarter]] from which that legendary memory-loss drink, Bottled Oblivion, is sourced. Those who see it lose their memories, and if one dies from exposure to the color, thick bony plates will grow over their eyes - creating Eyeless Skulls. It's the color of things that need to be forgotten, like Midnighters' robes and shrine-covers. Irrigo fireworks can help dull memories of hard times.
Viricletter.png|[[Viric]]
 
Cosmogone.png|[[Cosmogone]]
Irrigo's name comes from the Latin ''irrigo'', meaning to flood or overwhelm.
Irrigoletter.png|[[Irrigo]]
 
Gantletter.png|[[Gant]]
<gallery widths="70">
irrigo.png|Irrigo fog. Beware.
irrigogoggles.png|Irrigo-infused neathglass goggles.
irrigosuit.png|An irrigo-infused parabola-linen suit.
irrigodress.png|An irrigo-infused parabola-linen frock.
Midnighter.png|A midnighter and his shrine to St. Joshua. Both are wrapped in irrigo.
Amber6.png|A fluke-core - irrigo amber.
</gallery>
</gallery>


==Violant==
''[[File:Violantletter.png|thumb|left]][[File:Correspondent.png|thumb|Violant ink. Used by Correspondents. Impossible to forget.]]''"V marks VIOLANT when blood is shed in a spired place. Violant ink is employed for the most desperate treaties..."
Violant is irrigo's counterpart; it indelibly lingers in one's memory. It's very hard to forget anything written in the violant ink Correspondents use. Violant fireworks, thus, are hard to forget.
The name "violant" could stem from "violent," or "violet," or both.
==Cosmogone==
''[[File:Cosmogoneletter.png|thumb]][[File:Cosmogonespectacles.png|thumb|left|A Glassman's cosmogone spectacles.]]''"C lights COSMOGONE, the colour of remembered suns. The fecund, the foetid, the fungal: these flourish in the glow of cosmogone."
A shade heavily associated with [[Parabola]], cosmogone is the color of remembered sunlight. Under its light, fungus flourishes, as do things that lurk behind mirrors. It's the most prominent color in a Ray-drenched Cinder, and it's the tint of a Glassman's spectacles.'' (A Glassman's eyes are, apparently, "like the sun." Are the cosmogone spectacles meant to protect everyone else from ''your'' eyes, rather than vice versa?)''
The name "cosmogone" probably comes from the word "cosmogony", the study of the origin of the solar system, or of the universe.
==Peligin==
''[[File:Peliginletter.png|thumb|left]][[File:Peligineyes.png|thumb|Peligin eyes, the mark of a Monster-Hunter.]]"P drowns in PELIGIN, the colour of the deepest zee."''


Peligin is the hue of the waters near the Zee floor and those of the land of the dead: the darkest blue there is. It's the color of the eyes of Monster-Hunters, as they have consumed the peligin flesh of zee-monsters.
In addition to the seven colors shown above, a color known as [[slobgollion]], imperceptible to humans but visible to [[Rubbery Men]] among others, exists beyond the edge of the Neathbow "between irrigo and oblivion."<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Slobgollion|Slobgollion|Fallen London|}}''"It's that colour again – that eye-blistering, uncanny colour! Every light-beam bends, stretching into a spectrum: green, viric, blue, apocyan, and all the radiant rest. But there – right there! – somewhere between irrigo and oblivion, another colour floods through the net-of-the-world."''</ref>


The term "peligin" likely comes from the Latin ''pelagus'', meaning the sea.
==Historical, Cultural, and Scientific Inspirations==
The Neathbow as a concept was likely inspired by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_color impossible colors]. The specific shades of the Neathbow were likely inspired by the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Additive_color additive] (for light) and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtractive_color subtractive] (for pigments) color wheels.


==Apocyan==
Below is fanart of the Neathbow arranged to correspond with the additive and subtractive color wheels:
''[[File:Apocyanletter.png|thumb]]"A wakes APOCYAN, the blue of memory and brightest coral."''


The color of coral, of the Zee's waves, and of memory. Chess pieces of this color are highly prized. Crooked-Crosses often lacquer their crosses in this color. And an apocyanic piece of amber may be what brings down the Bazaar...
<gallery>
 
File:Neathbowcirclepaint2.png|Additive
The name "apocyan" almost certainly derives from the color cyan, which has a similar hue.
File:Neathbowcirclesubpaint2.png|Subtractive
 
<gallery widths="100">
apocyanchess.png|An apocyanic chess-piece. Highly prized.
scintillack.png|Blue scintillack. Technically apocyan. Bright enough to light up the zee.
crookedcross.png|The cross of a Crooked-Cross, lacquered in apocyan and blue.
</gallery>
</gallery>
==Viric==
''[[File:Viricletter.png|thumb|left]][[File:Viricbox.png|thumb|46px|A box of dream-snakes. Angry dream-snakes.]]"Behind your mirror, V names VIRIC, the colour of shallow sleep."''
The green of shallow sleep and light from mirrors. It's heavily associated with [[the Fingerkings]] - Fingerking-possessed [[Clay Men]]'s (and the Somnolent Hyena's) eyes burn with viric fire, and a box of dream-snakes will also glow viric. Viric fireworks induce lassitude - sweet dreams.
When viric light comes into contact with vegetation, it causes it to flourish and grow at an exponential rate.


The word "viric" probably comes from the Latin ''vivo'', "alive".
===Name Origins===
Each Neathbow color's name has at least one potential inspiration:
*"Irrigo" is a Latin word meaning to "flood or overwhelm," or to "diffuse or shed"
*"Violant" suggests ''violent'' and ''violet''
*"Cosmogone" may be derived from ''cosmogony'', the study of the origins of the solar system, and ''cosmos'' and ''gone''
*"Peligin" is a portmanteau of the Latin ''pelagus'', meaning "sea," and the color ''fuligin''. Fuligin is darker than black and is derived from the English word "fuliginous" meaning soot-like; this color was used by Gene Wolfe in his science fiction novel ''The Shadow of the Torturer.''
*"Apocyan" comes from the color ''cyan'', which has a similar hue, and the Greek prefix "apo-", meaning something between "off, away" and "descended from" - like the words apostate (gone-away-from-a-cause) or apocalypse (un-covering)
*"Viric" is derived from the Latin ''viridis'', meaning "green, blooming, vigorous;" this word is also the source of the similar color ''viridian''
* The origin of "gant" is unknown other than its resemblance to the word ''gaunt''


==Gant==
Gant's beige shade may have been inspired by the color [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigengrau eigengrau], which people reportedly see in the absence of light.<ref>{{Citation|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigengrau|Eigengrau|Wikipedia}}</ref> It may also be a reference to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_latte cosmic latte], the beige-like average color of the universe.
''[[File:Gantletter.png|thumb]][[File:Licentiate.png|thumb|left|A Licentiate's aliases, written in gant ink.]]"G is lost in GANT, which remains when all other colours are eaten. Gant can be found where shadows are myriad."''


The color one sees in the dark, gant is more beige than one might expect. It is the color of the Eater of Names' boat, and zee-beasts go to a place called the Gant Pole to die. Perhaps most notoriously, it is also the color of the [[Avid Horizon]]'s gate, on [[:Category:The Unterzee|both]] [[High Wilderness|sides]]. Gant ink is used to remove false tattoos; it's also an invisible ink, meant for writing Licentiates' aliases. Gant fireworks show depth of feeling - grandiose but a bit arrogant.
==References==
''Color wheel art by MidnightVoyager.''
{{Scroll box|text = <references/>}}
[[Category:Other Things of Significance]]
[[Category:Other Things of Significance]]

Latest revision as of 17:38, 4 June 2025

"A dazzling contraption for safely viewing and displaying those colours that are unique to the Neath. Delightful at parties. WARNING: Do not gaze onto the device for longer than seventy-three seconds."[1]

The Neathbow is a set of seven impossible colors.

Nightlights[edit]

"A book for children. One page is devoted to each of the colours of the Neath, which are not found on the Surface."[2]

A woman surrounded by inks.
Shades.

The Neathbow is the collective term for seven colors which cannot be seen on the Surface. They are commonly observed in the Neath, hence the name,[3] but they also appear in places like Parabola[4] and the High Wilderness.[5][6] The origin of the Neathbow is unknown, but the colors seem to arise from properties of light that only exist "in the dark."[7][8] Each Neathbow color has unique effects on those exposed: for example, irrigo light induces memory loss,[9] viric light induces drowsiness,[10] and violant ink is hard to forget and nearly impossible to erase.[11][12] Neathbow light can also be trapped and transported in devices called Mirrorcatch Boxes.[13] Given these properties, Neathbow colors have many applications, including art,[14] technology,[15] and esoteric rites.[16]

Neathbow colors are not strict hues; they include shades like normal colors do.[17] Thanks to this and the fact that they are "impossible colors" distinct from the spectrum of visible light, their depictions often vary between illustrations.[18]

Colors[edit]


In addition to the seven colors shown above, a color known as slobgollion, imperceptible to humans but visible to Rubbery Men among others, exists beyond the edge of the Neathbow "between irrigo and oblivion."[19]

Historical, Cultural, and Scientific Inspirations[edit]

The Neathbow as a concept was likely inspired by impossible colors. The specific shades of the Neathbow were likely inspired by the additive (for light) and subtractive (for pigments) color wheels.

Below is fanart of the Neathbow arranged to correspond with the additive and subtractive color wheels:

  • Additive
    Additive
  • Subtractive
    Subtractive

Name Origins[edit]

Each Neathbow color's name has at least one potential inspiration:

  • "Irrigo" is a Latin word meaning to "flood or overwhelm," or to "diffuse or shed"
  • "Violant" suggests violent and violet
  • "Cosmogone" may be derived from cosmogony, the study of the origins of the solar system, and cosmos and gone
  • "Peligin" is a portmanteau of the Latin pelagus, meaning "sea," and the color fuligin. Fuligin is darker than black and is derived from the English word "fuliginous" meaning soot-like; this color was used by Gene Wolfe in his science fiction novel The Shadow of the Torturer.
  • "Apocyan" comes from the color cyan, which has a similar hue, and the Greek prefix "apo-", meaning something between "off, away" and "descended from" - like the words apostate (gone-away-from-a-cause) or apocalypse (un-covering)
  • "Viric" is derived from the Latin viridis, meaning "green, blooming, vigorous;" this word is also the source of the similar color viridian
  • The origin of "gant" is unknown other than its resemblance to the word gaunt

Gant's beige shade may have been inspired by the color eigengrau, which people reportedly see in the absence of light.[20] It may also be a reference to cosmic latte, the beige-like average color of the universe.

References[edit]

Color wheel art by MidnightVoyager.

  1. ↑ F.F. Gebrandt's Patent Neathoscope, Containing and Displaying All Seven Colours of Exotic Light, Fallen London
  2. ↑ THE NEATHBOW, Sunless Sea
  3. ↑ THE NEATHBOW, Sunless Sea "[...] each of the colours of the Neath, which are not found on the Surface."
  4. ↑ Parabola tattoo, Fallen London "There are colours which can only be seen in sleep [...] Cosmogone and viric."
  5. ↑ Approach the Gate, Sunless Skies "Two vast winged shapes guard a gate of something like resin, smooth but uneven. It is deep gant [...]"
  6. ↑ Story description, Sunless Skies "The only light comes from smouldering apocyan pyres [...]"
  7. ↑ The Prelapsarian Museum: Optical Exhibits, Fallen London "The centrepiece of this wing will be a series of exhibits on neathy optics – the properties of light that can only exist in the dark."
  8. ↑ Whoever you can, Fallen London "[...] the variant spectrum of night: the colours called irrigo, cosmogone, violant, apocyan."
  9. ↑ Empty an irrigo-filled box, Fallen London "The light scrapes a few immediate plans from your mind, the names of a passing acquaintance or two."
  10. ↑ Empty a viric-filled box, Fallen London "The light lazily seeps out of the box when you open it, or as lazily as light can move. You let out a long, languid yawn."
  11. ↑ Item description, Sunless Sea "It's very hard to forget anything you've written in violant ink...""
  12. ↑ Write something to sear the eyes of fools and lift up the great powers, Fallen London "The ink makes the whole indelible."
  13. ↑ Mirrorcatch Box, Fallen London
  14. ↑ Shades of Yesterday, Fallen London "Artists and the literati rejoice — a pen show visits London! [...] Inks, in all the wild colours of the Neath! Try them to your hearts content! [...] look at all the lovely pens."
  15. ↑ Crack open the Sounder and capture its operating principle, Fallen London "It contains a connection that cannot be easily severed. [...] You will always get a Violant-filled Mirrorcatch Box."
  16. ↑ Shrine to Saint Joshua, Fallen London "It is carefully concealed and draped with veils of irrigo, so that you forget the hidden rites almost as soon as they are performed."
  17. ↑ Bruno (FBG), Failbetter Games Discord Server "The neathbow colors contain different shades, just like real colors"
  18. ↑ Bruno (FBG), Failbetter Games Discord Server "We are and have been inconsistent in how we represent neathbow colors visually in the games ... Neathbow colors not being real means that we are inherently fudging when we portray them visually."
  19. ↑ Slobgollion, Fallen London "It's that colour again – that eye-blistering, uncanny colour! Every light-beam bends, stretching into a spectrum: green, viric, blue, apocyan, and all the radiant rest. But there – right there! – somewhere between irrigo and oblivion, another colour floods through the net-of-the-world."
  20. ↑ Eigengrau, Wikipedia
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