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== 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 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>
<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 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 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.)

Latest revision as of 11:06, 7 March 2025

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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.

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"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."
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