The Cave of the Nadir

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"This then is the Cave of the Nadir: aswim with auroral light, filled with a deep silence that makes the Forgotten Quarter seem like Spite on market-day."

The gate of the Nadir.

The Cave of the Nadir, accessible via the Forgotten Quarter, is bathed in irrigo.

Who... Where are You?

Despite this Neathy color's tendency to make people forget, this cave filled with it has a surprising number of residents. It's a wonderful place to survive the fall of a city. However, irrigo has its drawbacks: other than memory loss, it can make those exposed to it grow bony plates over their eyes. These people eventually die, and yield the infamous Eyeless Skulls. It is assumed that this is because the human body reflexively tries to shield itself from irrigo. These horrific skulls are still bloated with irrigo, and holding on to them for too long may cause adverse side-effects. 

QUEEN OF INKS

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"I was given up, you know. I am that part of her that does not remain. That part that never learnt to love a monster."

"I could try to tell you the way, but it can't be told, only shown. I don't recommend it. It's not safe. I've only replaced one set of dangers with another."

This candle is red, red, red as hearts.

Millicent Clathermont, alias the Lady in Lilac, descended into the Nadir and sacrificed much of herself in order to be infused with irrigo. This made her immune to the deadly effects of sunlight on ordinary residents of the Neath, and also immune to being found because anybody who sees her will forget her once she's gone.

The part of her that she sacrificed is still in the Nadir, where it guards a blood-red candle.

The Nadir's Purpose

"The Seven Treacheries guard the Neath, but there is one place more closely guarded still: a place the Masters can't touch, a place the Bazaar can't see, a place beneath St Cerise's well. This is [a] wound of which Cerise's redness is only a shadow. The place where hearts go. The Nadir."

The Cave of the Nadir is what protects the Neath from the wrath of the Judgements, as they too are vulnerable to irrigo. Among other parties, a cell of London's revolutionaries is searching for it in order to hasten the Bazaar's demise.

(Thank you to Lapis on the FBG Discord for help with this page!)