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{{Character|title1=Mr Barleycorn|image1=Barleycorn.png|location=[[The House of Rods and Chains]]|allegiance=[[The Halved]]|alias=The Last Seneschal<ref name = "last">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.fandom.com/wiki/The_Last_Seneschal|The Last Seneschal|Sunless Skies|}} ''"You are working with Mr Barleycorn in the Spire of Inches."''</ref>|relationships=[[Mr Pennies]]<br>
{{Character|title1=Mr Barleycorn|image1=Barleycorn.png|location=[[The House of Rods and Chains]]|allegiance=[[The Halved]]|alias=The Last Seneschal<ref name = "last">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.fandom.com/wiki/The_Last_Seneschal|The Last Seneschal|Sunless Skies|}} ''"You are working with Mr Barleycorn in the Spire of Inches."''</ref>|relationships=[[Mr Pennies]]<br>
[[Mr Menagerie]]<br>
[[Mr Menagerie]]<br>
[[Mr Pipes]]<br>|caption1=Mr Barleycorn}}<blockquote>''"There were seven of us, once. Outcasts, bound to this Messenger's service. But the Messenger defied the Halved's command, and the Halved slew it. We were free. My colleagues, fled. But I remained to serve the Halved."''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.fandom.com/wiki/The_House_of_Rods_and_Chains|Talk with Mr Barleycorn|Sunless Skies|}}</ref></blockquote>
[[Mr Pipes]]<br>|caption1=}}<blockquote>''"There were seven of us, once. Outcasts, bound to this Messenger's service. But the Messenger defied the Halved's command, and the Halved slew it. We were free. My colleagues, fled. But I remained to serve the Halved."''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.fandom.com/wiki/The_House_of_Rods_and_Chains|Talk with Mr Barleycorn|Sunless Skies|}}</ref></blockquote>


'''Mr Barleycorn''' is a [[Curator]] of the [[House of Rods and Chains]] who serves the [[Halved]].__forcetoc__
'''Mr Barleycorn''' is a [[Curator]] of the [[House of Rods and Chains]] who serves the [[Halved]].__forcetoc__

Revision as of 17:04, 2 February 2025

"There are some things we were not meant to know, they say. But you wouldn't be down here if you took that seriously."

Beyond this point lie spoilers for Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies, or Mask of the Rose. This may include midgame or minor Fate-locked content. Proceed with caution.

You can find out more about our spoiler policy here.


"There were seven of us, once. Outcasts, bound to this Messenger's service. But the Messenger defied the Halved's command, and the Halved slew it. We were free. My colleagues, fled. But I remained to serve the Halved."[2]

Mr Barleycorn is a Curator of the House of Rods and Chains who serves the Halved.

Ever Loyal

"Welcome, Trespasser, to the House of Rods and Chains. Your daring is notable, and rare."[3]

An eye surrounding by dark clouds.
The Halved

Long ago, seven Curators served the House of Rods and Chains, a Messenger of the Halved. However, after the House was slain by its superior for disobedience, six of them left for greener pastures. Barleycorn was the only one to stay behind, and to this day it remains loyal to the Halved.[4][5] Barleycorn resides in the House's only intact spire, called the Spire of Inches.[6][7] It is clothed in wrappings of gauze,[8] and its study contains malformed furniture and a window to view its liege.[9] It is an intermediary[10] for the Halved who can act on its behalf,[11][12] and its favor is sought after by revolutionaries who support the Liberation of Night.[13] Barleycorn can even grant visitors a direct audience with its master - if they can bear growing an extra mouth for the Halved to speak through.[14][15]

A stone marked with strange gylphs.
A Cloven Seal.

Mr Barleycorn does not think highly of the Rubbery Men that now reside in the carcass of the House, but it appreciates the amber they provide as tribute.[16][17] It has an interest in information,[18] stories,[19] and song.[20][21] It denies being lonely, but it seems suspiciously eager to reconnect with its former colleagues.[22] Before the Bazaar traveled to the Neath, Barleycorn was an acquaintance of the Masters of the Bazaar, and chose not to join them.[23][24] According to the Chiropterous Hoarder, Barleycorn suffers from an incompleteness and a sense that its desires are unattainable.[25] Additionally, Barleycorn seems to consider its long lifespan a curse, one with no cure that its "animal heart" could abide.[26]

The Eye-Marked

"The Liberation of Night began long ago. Tell whoever you choose, or do not. You are the message. Those who must know, will know."[27]

"My Lord. The Halved. Once-Judgement of Measures and Distance. He knew of London. He beheld it through a wound in the world. We reached out and set his mark on those who trespassed on the wound. They became our Messages, and when they found their way to the skies their marks led them here: to the land of do-as-you-please."[28]

An eye on the sea floor.
The Eye of the Halved.

Barleycorn's study contains a two-way portal to the Neath, which appears in the High Wilderness as a rippling altar,[29] and manifests deep below the Unterzee as a gigantic eye.[30][31] Zailors who passed through this portal were marked by Barleycorn with animate eye-tattoos;[32] this was to carry a message from the Halved to the Neath[33] heralding the advancement of the Liberation of Night.[34][35]

The Eye-Marked who left the Neath for the High Wilderness were drawn to reside in Eleutheria,[35] and some ended up bound to Barleycorn's service.[32] As of the Sunless Skies timeline, it seems Barleycorn has retired its eye-marking practice, as it only has a few marks left.[36] Disturbingly, it is also rumored that Eye-Marked skyfarers develop a sort of anxiety, and freeze to death trying to open the Avid Horizon's sealed gate.[37]

Historical Inspirations

A barleycorn is a unit of measurement equal to a third of an inch.

References

Infobox fanart by Feivelyn.

  1. ↑ The Last Seneschal, Sunless Skies "You are working with Mr Barleycorn in the Spire of Inches."
  2. ↑ Talk with Mr Barleycorn, Sunless Skies
  3. ↑ What's that?, Sunless Sea
  4. ↑ Talk with Mr Barleycorn, Sunless Skies ""There were seven of us, once. Outcasts, bound to this Messenger's service. But the Messenger defied the Halved's command, and the Halved slew it. We were free. My colleagues, fled. But I remained to serve the Halved.""
  5. ↑ Consider Eleutheria's black sun, Sunless Skies ""My Lord. The Halved. [...] Mr Barleycorn bows to it."
  6. ↑ The Spire of Inches, Sunless Skies "Seven obsidian spires once stretched into this sky. Only this one remains."
  7. ↑ Present tribute to the Spire: Golden Amber, Sunless Skies "You may call me Mr Barleycorn."
  8. ↑ Attend the Lament of the Old Sun, Sunless Skies "This is Mr Barleycorn, or so it is called by lesser beings. Its form is indistinct beneath layers of gauze that wrap it, if not from head to toe, then at least from top to bottom."
  9. ↑ Mr Barleycorn's Belfry, Sunless Skies "You are in a room, of sorts. [...] The furnishings (if that is what they are) look like the work of a surrealist. This straight-backed, many-legged edifice is perhaps a chair. That oily surface – a table? An altar? Behind it, the hunched gauze figure stands looking out at something far away; a black sun."
  10. ↑ Agree to help the Servitor, Sunless Skies ""The lesser being will travel to the House of Rods and Chains," [...] "It will petition the Aberrant Twin through its intermediary in the Belfry. [...]"
  11. ↑ Request a reprieve for the Brittle Servitor, Sunless Skies ""We are not in the habit of granting clemency." [...] "However." [...] "I could reduce its sentence. If you bring me something to read." It glances at a mound of half-mangled books piled at one end of the room. "Something wholesome.""
  12. ↑ Exchange Ministry-Approved Literature for clemency, Sunless Skies "Mr Barleycorn takes a book from the consignment and turns straight to the final page. After a few moments, it sighs. It snaps the book shut. "Satisfactory. The Servitor's sentence will be reduced. But it must still change beyond recognition before Piranesi will permit its release.""
  13. ↑ Listen to the lecture on Mr Barleycorn, Sunless Skies ""The Halved's most eminent, most enigmatic servant!" [...] "We all know that it is in the Liberation's best interests to keep him on side, and he is at least more scrutable than his master. So what can we do? [...] Mr Barleycorn is fond of stories. He is a collector of information. And he is a lover of music. Bring him stories, secrets, and songs, and you may win his favour. Perhaps he might even relay your words to the Halved.""
  14. ↑ Ambition: Consult the midnight sun about the Courtesy, Sunless Skies "The black sun revolves until its spasming eye fills the spire's window. [...] Mr Barleycorn hurries forward, [...] "Drink. And listen." You do so. [...] Your face writhes, and you hear a gasp as your new second mouth takes its first breath. "Ask," instructs Mr Barleycorn."
  15. ↑ Ask how the Courtesy keeps its existence a secret, Sunless Skies "You feel the heat of its voice wash across your face as your new mouth responds."
  16. ↑ Ask about the Rubbery Men, Sunless Skies "I tolerate them. They cannot disturb the Messenger – its purpose is long served. And their amber is ever so pretty."
  17. ↑ Attend the Lament of the Old Sun, Sunless Skies "This is Mr Barleycorn, [...] One Rubbery dares approach, extending tribute: golden amber. The figure takes it between clawed appendages. Tastes it. Appears to approve."
  18. ↑ Present tribute to the Spire: a Searing Enigma, Sunless Skies "A word spoken by a sun. The keeper of the spire will be eager to pass this intelligence to its master."
  19. ↑ Request a reprieve for the Brittle Servitor, Sunless Skies ""However." The gauzed figure taps its pen thoughtfully against the desk. "I could reduce its sentence. If you bring me something to read." It glances at a mound of half-mangled books piled at one end of the room. "Something wholesome.""
  20. ↑ Give Mr Barleycorn the Seal of Mr Pipes, Sunless Skies "I favour music, myself. A symphony is as potent to me as good wine is to you."
  21. ↑ Listen to the lecture on Mr Barleycorn, Sunless Skies "Mr Barleycorn is fond of stories. He is a collector of information. And he is a lover of music. Bring him stories, secrets, and songs, and you may win his favour."
  22. ↑ Talk with Mr Barleycorn, Sunless Skies "Don't mistake this for more than it is. I am not lonely," it spits the word, [...] It has been a long time since I spoke to any of my kind. If you find one, show them this." It hands you a wax seal, imprinted with a sigil. "Collect their stories. Perhaps advise them I would not resent a conversation, should the wings of fate allow.""
  23. ↑ Cloven Seal, Fallen London "One shard reads: 'Not to be forgot.' Another: 'What awaits. Why we must stay.' There are other words, hard to piece together: Pennies and Pipes; Barleycorn and Menagerie."
  24. ↑ Incarnadine Fur Robe, Fallen London "It is unquestionably a token from Mr Menagerie: a sometime acquaintance of ours who chose, disjudiciously, not to accompany us to the Neath."
  25. ↑ Show it the seal of Mr Barleycorn, Sunless Skies "If you meet it again, tell it that I understand what it is like to be incomplete, to have what you want out of reach."
  26. ↑ Pass on the Hoarder's message, Sunless Skies "You spoke to the Chiropterous Hoarder of Mr Barleycorn. Now, it is time to relay the response. [...] "Forever is a septic injury, one that cannot be cured. The only panacea is something none of us can abide. Our animal hearts will not allow us the solution." It falls silent for an ageless moment. "Give them my gratitude. It was good to know, at least, that someone understood.""
  27. ↑ Agree to carry the message, Sunless Sea
  28. ↑ Consider Eleutheria's black sun, Sunless Skies
  29. ↑ Examine the altar, Sunless Skies "Examine the altar [...] Its surface ripples oleaginously at your approach. [...] You touch the surface. The world twists and there is only darkness and water and cold and drowning. [...] The sky with its false-stars. [...] This is the Neath: the vast subterranean cavern in which London lay before climbing to the heavens! And the cold, black waters you are thrashing in are its Unterzee!"
  30. ↑ What's that?, Sunless Sea "Welcome, Trespasser, to the House of Rods and Chains. Your daring is notable, and rare."
  31. ↑ Dive into the pupil, Sunless Sea "You descend. The blackness of the pupil expands. There is no cornea to bar your way, no lens. The pupil is a tunnel, and your vessel plunges into it."
  32. ↑ What's that?, Sunless Sea "My employer -" here, the thing extends what is hopefully an arm towards the window, and the sable, seething sun, "- would like you to deliver a message to the Neath. You will be compensated.""
  33. ↑ Agree to carry the message, Sunless Sea ""The Liberation of Night began long ago," the veiled creature pipes. "Tell whoever you choose, or do not. You are the message. Those who must know, will know." [...] Everything goes dark. You find yourself back in your zubmarine, your crew desperately steering it away from the vast eye on the zee-bed. [...] An Additional Eye on an Unobtrusive Part of your Person"
  34. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Consider Eleutheria's black sun, Sunless Skies ""My Lord. The Halved. [...] "He knew of London. He beheld it through a wound in the world. We reached out and set his mark on those who trespassed on the wound. They became our Messages, and when they found their way to the skies their marks led them here: to the land of do-as-you-please." [...] "Would you care for one? A mark? I have one or two left." [...] Mr Barleycorn clamps its arm around your shoulder. [...] The creature releases its grip, and the pain eases. You twist to see it: an eye embedded in your flesh."
  35. ↑ Consider Eleutheria's black sun, Sunless Skies ""Would you care for one? A mark? I have one or two left.""
  36. ↑ Consider Eleutheria's black sun, Sunless Skies "It is said that the Eye-Marked end up freezing at Avid Horizon, banging on its impenetrable door."
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