Axile: Difference between revisions

From The Fifth City Wiki
Fixed a formatting issue
Tag: visualeditor-wikitext
No edit summary
Tag: visualeditor-wikitext
Line 1: Line 1:
{{major spoiler}}
{{major spoiler}}
{{Sky_Location|image1=Delirium.png|caption1=Under a purple sky, storms like music.|region=Unknown|allegiance=A [[Judgement]] (formerly)|notable_inhabitants=[[Flukes]] (formerly)<br>
[[Rubbery Men]] (formerly)<br>
[[Moon-Misers]] (formerly)<br>
[[Eye-Scuttlers]]}}''"I remember my brother – sister? – as vast as a church. The sky – bruise purple, black as stout, but the storms: as violent and beautiful as music. I woke crying. I turned towards the stars. I lost it. Was it my fault? I need to go home."''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.fandom.com/wiki/Scorn_Fluke|Commune with the Scorn Fluke (15 - 24)|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>


''"Lightning sparks above you in the purple-black sky. The pool you dragged yourself from smells sharp and acid. You'll have to make the eye-scuttlers clean it out when you return."''<ref name="spirit">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_fellow_spirit_recognised|A fellow spirit recognised|Fallen London|}} ''"Lightning sparks above you in the purple-black sky. The pool you dragged yourself from smells sharp and acid. You'll have to make the eye-scuttlers clean it out when you return. You mount the glistening carapace of your miser and ride forth."''</ref>
'''Axile''' is a planet in the [[High Wilderness]] and the ancestral home of the '''Shapelings''', including the [[Flukes]], [[Rubbery Men]], [[Moon-Misers]], and [[Eye-Scuttlers]].


'''Axile''' is a planet in the [[High Wilderness]] and the ancestral home of the [[Flukes]], [[Moon-Misers|moon-misers]], and [[Rubbery Men]], collectively known as '''shapelings'''. Its [[Judgements|Judgement]] - the star it once orbited - shines with a purple, hateful light.
== A World of Shapes ==
''"Lightning sparks above you in the purple-black sky. The pool you dragged yourself from smells sharp and acid. You'll have to make the eye-scuttlers clean it out when you return. You mount the glistening carapace of your miser and ride forth."''<ref name="spirit">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_fellow_spirit_recognised|A fellow spirit recognised|Fallen London|}}</ref>


==A World of Shapelings==
The surface of Axile is pocketed with deep pools, and its inhabitants have evolved to be mostly aquatic as a result. The depths of the pools were once great stores of vital essences, and served as dwellings to the Flukes and the varied ancestors of the Rubbery Men.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/For_A_Dream_Of_Innocence|For A Dream Of Innocence|Fallen London|}}''"Those stronger than you have retreated to the deepest places, the greatest stores of Essence."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Flute_Street|Flute Street|Fallen London|}}''"In the deepest tunnels, there are no pseudo-bones. Were [the Rubbery Men] without bones, in their original form? Or without bodies altogether?"''</ref> The shapelings made use of [[Moon-Misers|moon-misers]] as mounts to traverse the rough terrain, and relied on creatures called '''eye-scuttlers''' to aid their hygiene.<ref name="spirit"/>
The surface of Axile is pocketed with deep pools, and its inhabitants have evolved to be mostly aquatic as a result. The depths of the pools were once great stores of vital essences, and served as dwellings to the Flukes and the varied ancestors of the Rubbery Men.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/For_A_Dream_Of_Innocence|For A Dream Of Innocence|Fallen London|}}''"Those stronger than you have retreated to the deepest places, the greatest stores of Essence."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Flute_Street|Flute Street|Fallen London|}}''"In the deepest tunnels, there are no pseudo-bones. Were [the Rubbery Men] without bones, in their original form? Or without bodies altogether?"''</ref> The shapelings made use of [[Moon-Misers|moon-misers]] as mounts to traverse the rough terrain, and relied on creatures called '''eye-scuttlers''' to aid their hygiene.<ref name="spirit"/>


Line 27: Line 31:


==References==
==References==
<references/>


[[Category:Places]]
[[Category:Places]]
[[Category:The High Wilderness]]
[[Category:The High Wilderness]]
[[Category:Unformatted]]
[[Category:Formatted]]
[[Category:Cited]]
[[Category:Unfinished]]
[[Category:Unfinished]]

Revision as of 17:53, 27 September 2021

"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 remember my brother – sister? – as vast as a church. The sky – bruise purple, black as stout, but the storms: as violent and beautiful as music. I woke crying. I turned towards the stars. I lost it. Was it my fault? I need to go home."[1]

Axile is a planet in the High Wilderness and the ancestral home of the Shapelings, including the Flukes, Rubbery Men, Moon-Misers, and Eye-Scuttlers.

A World of Shapes

"Lightning sparks above you in the purple-black sky. The pool you dragged yourself from smells sharp and acid. You'll have to make the eye-scuttlers clean it out when you return. You mount the glistening carapace of your miser and ride forth."[2]

The surface of Axile is pocketed with deep pools, and its inhabitants have evolved to be mostly aquatic as a result. The depths of the pools were once great stores of vital essences, and served as dwellings to the Flukes and the varied ancestors of the Rubbery Men.[3][4] The shapelings made use of moon-misers as mounts to traverse the rough terrain, and relied on creatures called eye-scuttlers to aid their hygiene.[2]

The atmosphere of the planet is rich in alkaline vapors, which once protected the inhabitants from the harsh light of its star.[5] Axile's weather is somewhat turbulent, and lightning storms are common.[2]

Axile used to orbit a purple star, but the star disliked its planet, and especially resented the shapelings. The hateful purple light reduced the shapelings to nothing, and eventually the planet spun away from the star, leaving Axile a barren rock floating through the High Wilderness.[6][7]

Do you Recall

"Do you recall how they came to that place? And we sang of our lightnings and shapeful disgrace? They tilted their vanes and ennobled their spires. We welcomed them then and commingled all choirs."[8]

Long before the fall of the First City, when the Bazaar traveled the High Wilderness as a Messenger, it visited Axile.[9] The Bazaar and its Masters listened to the plight of the shapelings and their hateful star, and offered them a deal. While some refused, either out of principle or because the price was too high, many accepted.[10]

While the exact terms of the deal are not known, they involved the Bazaar sharing secrets with the shapelings to advance their arts,[11] as well as the shapelings entering the Bazaar and traveling with it to the Neath, where they used the Shapeling Arts to change their bodies and build a civilization.[12][13] This civilization was later superseded by the Fallen Cities, which all fell on top of it. Its remains can be found still, in the depths below Flute Street.[14]

While accepting the Bazaar’s deal allowed the shapelings to survive the death of their planet, the cost was steep: unable to find another price, the Bazaar demanded that they abandon love.[12][15]

The arrival of the Bazaar in Axile and the bargain that followed are memorialized in the Do You Recall…? poem.

A Candle-Bearer

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

References

  1. Commune with the Scorn Fluke (15 - 24), Sunless Skies
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 A fellow spirit recognised, Fallen London
  3. For A Dream Of Innocence, Fallen London "Those stronger than you have retreated to the deepest places, the greatest stores of Essence."
  4. Flute Street, Fallen London "In the deepest tunnels, there are no pseudo-bones. Were [the Rubbery Men] without bones, in their original form? Or without bodies altogether?"
  5. For A Dream Of Innocence, Fallen London "The purple-black light brightens and the safe and beautiful curtain of alkaline vapour dissolves. It happens nearly every day now."
  6. For A Dream Of Innocence, Fallen London "On the now-abandoned surface, the purple radiance fades, as Axile spins away from the star that hates it. None dream there now. None will dream there again."
  7. For A Dream Of Innocence, Fallen London "By the standards of its kind, the star above is venerable and weary. It is tired of existing, but most of all it is wearied of the life below it in the pools. The fatigue of aeons makes its hatred no less deadly."
  8. Nodule of Violet Amber, Fallen London
  9. Who—, Fallen London
  10. For A Dream Of Innocence, Fallen London "You refused the price of love. Love has little enough meaning to you now, but you will not be a puppet of a puppet."
  11. What –, Fallen London
  12. 12.0 12.1 The Pulse of the Principles, Sunless Sea
  13. Flute Street, Fallen London "The Rubbery Men were once something quite different. The changes are gradual, but here they were four-winged and four-legged. There they were something like a vertebrate octopus."
  14. Flute Street, Fallen London "For centuries, Flute Street has been built up on layers of earlier remains, so the lower the tunnels the older they are. You pass through the Bazaar's known history as you descend."
  15. Consent to a potentially depraved union, Fallen London "The Rubbery Men have no ceremonies of commitment. No marks of betrothal. Such things were lost to them when the black spires came to them, and failed to find a price."