Mr Stones

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"You have proven useful. But I am a step ahead. Observe. Caught him trying to sell the diamonds you gave him. New to the city. Didn't know that the diamonds are mine. All mine. Now he knows."

Mr Stones is a terse and avaricious Curator who serves as a Master of the Bazaar.

Mine.

"Jewels. Quarrystone. Salt. Blasting Powder. Enough."

An Ostentatious Diamond.

Mr Stones controls trade in all kinds of stones and minerals. These include jewels, quarrystone, salt, blasting powder, corrosive mineral compounds, brick, metal, moon-pearls, and glim.

Stones is an elusive Master who prefers to have its employees do its bidding. It only intercedes personally when dealing with matters of business, or when valuables catch its interest.

Diamonds in the Rough

"Why are diamonds so hard to find down here? Does Mr Stones really keep them for itself?"

"Magnificence! A piece of eternity! Especially brilliant. Exposed to the surface. Sunlight is trapped within. Pinned. Like insect in amber. Majesty. Mastery. Potential."

A Magnificent Diamond.

Mr Stones is fascinated with diamonds, and has laid claim to all the diamonds in London. Trading or hoarding diamonds without permission is illegal, and any citizen, visitor, or rival jeweler who breaks Stones' rules is harshly punished. Thanks to Stones, diamonds in London are considered rare, and trades involving diamonds, even official ones, may happen without its knowledge. Despite its laws, Stones does permit a few diamonds to be sold to those of "good character", such as patrons of the Bazaar Side-Streets.

Stones is especially interested in any gems from the Surface and has imposed a high tax on them. A diamond, or apparently any jewel, can trap sunlight within itself, a quality that fascinates Stones. In its workshop, Stones experiments on sunlight-diamonds and compels them to "blaze" with their trapped radiance.

Stones has quarries in the Neath staffed with Clay Men, who act as patrols and spot smugglers. The mines are usually located far from London, but when they tunnel too close they may cause earthquakes and other disturbances. The quarries also experience lacre flooding from the Bazaar, resulting in mass casualties.

Other Domains and Names

"Most people think Mr Stones only cares about gems. But Mr Stones controls value itself. Precious minerals are just one way to manipulate it, to accumulate it."

"Nowadays, nobody mentions the Khan of Gifts... or the Khan of Shackles. Those were other names for the Master. I have to keep my value high. No matter what."

A Fabulous Diamond.

Mr Stones isn't solely focused on the gem trade; it has domain over "value itself." This may be one of the reasons it's fixated on gems and why its products carry such high price tags. It also has domain over walls and certain boundaries, since it controls the sale of building materials.

Mr Stones was known as Mr Marble until a recent issue with the Tomb-Colonies. This matter probably involved the massive marble palaces being constructed there for the dead.

In the Fourth City, Mr Stones was known as the Khan of Gifts and the Khan of Shackles, implying it was a slaver during that time period.

Appearance

"Anyone else strutting about with this many exposed jewels, as ready to be plucked as ripened fruit, would be plucked very barren indeed in London. But Mr Stones plucks back."

Mr Stones' talon.

Mr Stones is the most outlandishly dressed of the Masters. It is covered from head to toe in adornments, including teeth made from gold and diamond, fangs covered in jewels, numerous bracelets under its robes, and ornaments affixed to its hood. Unlike the other Masters, Stones does not wear gloves to conceal its claws. Its talons are very sharp and are unsurprisingly decorated with gems.

Stones also has a darker-colored robe covered in minuscule and glittering diamonds. It may dress anonymously in generic robes, but its fondness for adornments usually gives it away.

Personality

"Stones is curt, impolite, wary, and very, very rich."

"Dispose? Ignominy! Outrage! Flee, thou false little worm, before I tread thee underfoot!"

A Flawed Diamond.

Stones has a menacing and ill-tempered personality. It is prone to threats, intimidation, and violence when enraged. It tends to fixate, especially on gems, and is extremely persistent. It respects cunning, perseverance, brutality, and mercilessness, and those who display such traits may receive offers of employment. Mr Stones is a greedy Curator: it desires everything that interests it, and it reacts poorly when denied. For lesser valuables it may bargain, but its greed does not discern. In spite of these qualities, it may reward charity when it is the recipient.

The Echo Bazaar

Stones has respect for the Great Chain of Being and uses it as an excuse to look down on humanity. It seems to mistrust the Echo Bazaar and considers arriving in the Neath a grave mistake. It also resents its fellow Curators of the High Wilderness that it once lived amongst.

Mr Stones speaks tersely, and doesn't bother with formalities or politeness. Its statements usually consist of single words or sentence fragments, but when it feels verbose, it may speak an archaic form of English, using words like "thou" and "thee."

According to its iteration of Mr Sacks, Mr Stones does not drink and dislikes lacre.

A Mindscape of Mr Stones

"Iron shackles circle your wrists and your ankles. You are dragged forward by copper-helmeted guards and deposited before a golden throne. Looking up, you find yourself faced with Mr Stones, dressed in a robe of fine silk, considering you as a schoolboy might consider an ant."

"Behind it, an alcove of a dozen multi-faceted mirrors show six other iterations of Mr Stones: one dressed in furs, one in its familiar robes. One crouched over a well. One soaring upon an astral wind, and another squatted grotesquely atop a glittering heap. The seventh mirror is shining so brightly it hurts to look upon."

"Thou has a request of me," says Mr Stones. "Speak now, and if thy words displease me, thy tongue is forfeit."

Businesses

"Go as far upstairs as all the stairs at the Emporium will take you, and you may find Mr Stones' discreet little counter. The prices are monstrously expensive. Mr Stones knows the value of everything. But where else can you find sapphires of this quality?"

A sapphire.

Mr Stones has many businesses to its name. It has a shop in the Labyrinth of Tigers called Mr Stones' Exquisite Gifts and Luxuries, which offers jewels such as emeralds, diamonds, and sapphires for extremely high prices.

During the Grand Clearing-Out, Stones opened a tent in Moloch Street called Mr Stones' Pavilion of Subterranean Delights, which sold items found in the dig sites to help with the excavation. After the Grand Clearing-Out, Stones was not present during the Masters' efforts to quell the Stone Pigs attempting to destroy London.

At some point, Hell made a deal with Mr Stones to explore the Hurlers, but their expedition failed. After the Great Hellbound Railway arrived, Stones established a trade outpost there to obtain the Hurlers' many rocks and crystals, especially those that "unmake boundaries."

Mr Stones has an exclusive business contract with Lowell's Locks and Cages.

Dwellings

"Your footsteps echo in Mr Stones' cavernous workshop. The place is an assault on the eyes – a cascade of glimmers and glitters and gleams. Emeralds embedded in beeswax. Opals nested in silk cushions. Vats of smoking ochre. Precise tools with complex geometries laid meticulously upon a table top."

A Winking Gemstone Ring.

Mr Stones typically dwells in its jewel-encrusted workshop. It has a floor tiled with gems whose colors are apparently chosen to match Stones' mood; for example, darker gemstones line the floor when it's feeling dreary. In its workshop, Mr Stones inspects, experiments with, and cuts jewels with its various tools, which include hammers, chisels, lenses, and clamps.

Mr Stones has an Astrarium within the Echo Bazaar. This chamber is massive and contains tunnels lined with dark onyx and glass, with gems embedded within to resemble constellations in the night sky. Inside, Stones has a glass box it uses to torture and execute prisoners. They're sealed within the box while diamonds cascade from above, falling until they completely bury the victim.

While traveling, Stones prefers luxurious transports, such as hansom carriages with interiors of gem and gold. It has a train for the Great Hellbound Railway with a private car for itself, well-decorated and well-armed.

The Affair of the Box

"This thing has seven locks, each more difficult than the last. You haven't yet found a way to open it."

"...And Mr Stones is furious that its box has gone missing again. The Clay twins are tearing the place up looking for it. No box means no moon-milk. And that means our exiled captain won't provide it with the troops it wants. It'll just have to wait for its blessed Sixth City."

Despite sharing an employer, the Masters are not united. Each has their own schemes and plots that oppose others, and Stones is no exception.

A Heavy Iron Box.

Mr Stones' own scheme began with capturing a moon-miser in an iron box. The box also contained love letters from the Fourth City that Stones stole from Mr Fires. It was secured with a lock that could only be opened with a song from a Drownie, and seven decoy locks were added along with fake keys scattered across London.

Stones ordered two Unfinished Men, Jasper and Frank, to keep track of the box if it was ever lost. It was also kept secret from the other Masters and was transported around London repeatedly. Given these facts, it's not surprising powerful figures in London took an interest in the box, such as devils, Special Constables, and the Gracious Widow.

Mr Stones wanted to give the valuable moon-milk produced by the miser to an exiled captain of Hell. In return, the captain would assemble an army and start a war in London. It also wanted to give the love letters in the box to the Echo Bazaar. These acts were intended to expedite the fall of the Sixth City, as Mr Stones tires of London.

Adornment

"This is simple caprice. It is an obsessive. You are here to complete its collection. You flee. You do not get far, in this realm where the light is word is law. The weight of its gaze almost crushes you. It utters a single incandescent word."

"Adornment."

A Curator.

Like the rest of the Masters, Mr Stones is a Curator, one of the bat-like beings that roam the High Wilderness in search of treasures for their collections. Before it was employed by the Echo Bazaar, Stones repeatedly broke the laws of the Judgements.

Stones' luck finally ran out when its home was subjugated by a Judgement. This star was a collector of creatures, and Stones was its latest "adornment." The Judgement did not seem to know its captive was a criminal, but it still kept Stones prisoner for an indeterminate amount of time. Stones was outraged at this treatment and the Judgement's disregard for the rules Stones believed in, and it was filled with inscrutable rage, bitterness, and shame.