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{{Discordant spoiler}}<blockquote>''"You're simply sitting on [[Watchmaker's Hill]]. There are false-stars overhead. You haven't been cast down, stripped, swallowed, blotted from all things that are, and were, and that will be. And the scream that rises through the earth on a still, silent night, and chills the blood just as it chills the ground with crystal frost, is not your scream."''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}}''"You're simply sitting on Watchmaker's Hill. There are false-stars overhead. You haven't been cast down, stripped, swallowed, blotted from all things that are, and were, and that will be. And the scream that rises through the earth on a still, silent night, and chills the blood just as it chills the ground with crystal frost, is not your scream."''</ref></blockquote> | {{Discordant spoiler}}<blockquote>{{Character|title1=The Black|image1=Hurlers star.png|caption1=The Black|location=Not Applicable|allegiance=Not Applicable|relationships=[[The Anchoress]]}}''"You're simply sitting on [[Watchmaker's Hill]]. There are false-stars overhead. You haven't been cast down, stripped, swallowed, blotted from all things that are, and were, and that will be. And the scream that rises through the earth on a still, silent night, and chills the blood just as it chills the ground with crystal frost, is not your scream."''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}}''"You're simply sitting on Watchmaker's Hill. There are false-stars overhead. You haven't been cast down, stripped, swallowed, blotted from all things that are, and were, and that will be. And the scream that rises through the earth on a still, silent night, and chills the blood just as it chills the ground with crystal frost, is not your scream."''</ref></blockquote>'''The Black''' is not a [[Judgements|star]] and it does not exist.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}} ''"[...] Light twinkles through the holes. The holes are not stars, but you can pretend. Two holes, pricked close together, are a double star. No light twinkles through them. [...] "I saw the absence. Now you see it too.""''</ref> It is two [[Judgements]] joined together, described as a monarch with two mouths, two tongues, and two crowns.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}} ''"no monarch screams – no monarch with two tongues, two mouths, two crowns whose laws are void [...] listen to me [...] but no one can hear – heavy with shackles [...] tightening forever around a terror whose cries would cut this world apart [...]"''</ref> Once upon a time, the monarch rose high,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}} ''"Now you can see nothing, and nothing can see you. [...] You have risen to such heights that they have cast you down [...]"''</ref> and its courtiers entertained the court by playing games of Hurly-Burly<ref name=":1">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}} ''"Shadows [...] along the walls. [...] they might have horns. They might have hooves. [...] "Not every courtier suffered the same fate," [...] "Some are different now, yet still the same. They entertained the court. They played a game." Their shadows still play [...] passing a round silhouette [...]"''</ref> - and then it was "cast down."<ref name=":2">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}} ''"You haven't been cast down [...] blotted from all things that are, and were, and that will be."''</ref> The other Judgements brought the monarch to trial for treason, and shackled it with the [[Great Chain of Being]].<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}} ''"You are not on trial. What could you say [...] Nothing, not even with your double-tongue. Kings are not deposed in this manner. [...] Myrmidons, more myrmidons than there are stars assembled, could not shackle a traitor with the Chain as you have been – because you have not been."''</ref> As punishment, all of its laws were voided,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}} ''"no monarch screams – no monarch with two tongues, two mouths, two crowns whose laws are void, stricken from life, stricken from death [...] forgotten"''</ref> and it was erased from reality and history.<ref name=":2" /> All records of the monarch's existence were censored and erased, effectively meaning that it never existed.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}} ''"This word isn't the first word in a story that's censored. You could not uncensor that story without [...] exposing an absence that shrieks with silent language to be understood."''</ref> The extinguished monarch, now called the Black, was left chained to suffer forever, always screaming but unable to be heard.<ref name=":0" /> Its courtrooms, now known as the Black Castle, were left deserted and defaced.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}} ''"The Black Castle [...] No court is in residence. All the chambers have been abandoned. Tattered black standards hang in the windless air."''</ref> It is implied that some of the Black's courtiers, who are now known as [[Goat-Demons|goat-demons]], were transformed into the Standing Stones of the [[Hurlers]],<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}} ''"This is a game that never ends, just as it never began. [...] Because these are the Hurlers. [...] there is no difference between the standing stones atop the hill, and these goat-demons."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}} ''"[...] walking toward the standing stones and their screaming sigils. They tower in the courtyard, on the playing field, atop the hill."''</ref> though their "shadows" still play the game.<ref name=":1" /> | ||
In its nonexistent state, the Black learned to speak the [[Discordance]], the frozen language of the absence of stars.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}} ''"You have risen to such heights that they have cast you down, but you have learnt to speak even without a voice. [...] called out by not calling, [...] beckoned with no sceptre, worn no crown, and written nothing in [...] ink-black pages [...]"''</ref> After what might have been aeons, someone did not hear its voice: an [[The Anchoress|Anchoress]], who saw a vision of the Hurlers, and read and understood the sigils written upon them.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}} ''"In the dark, the darkness comes to you. Stay at your little window [...] and read the night-steeped text that rises with the stones atop the hill outside. [...] "Anyone would've agreed to read the stones. But not everyone would have tried to understand them.""''</ref> This resulted in her meeting the Black;<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}} ''""I prayed," says the Anchoress. "I met a king." [...] "Not truly a king. [...] But without light, there is darkness. If there is the White, then there is also the Black."''</ref> it led her to the Hurlers themselves,<ref name=":3">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}} ''"The Discordant Law [...] and you will never be alone – and we will never be alone – come closer [...] the Anchoress does come closer, walking toward the standing stones [...]"''</ref> where she comforted the absence-of-stars.<ref name=":4">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}} ''"The Discordant Law [...] by our decree, you shall still be yourself [...] and be yourself [...] she becomes herself [...] until she herself is the castle, and the castle has become herself. [...] she cradles no frozen king whose body, shrieking soundlessly, still chained, shivers in her embrace."''</ref> As repayment for her kindness, the Black used the Discordance to decree that neither she nor it would ever be alone,<ref name=":3" /> and that the Anchoress would always be herself and never be afraid.<ref name=":4" /> And so it was that the Anchoress became herself: the nonexistent Adulterine Castle.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Adulterine_Castle|The Adulterine Castle|Fallen London|}} ''"The Adulterine Castle [...] Everything that isn't here would simply float away [...] were these nonexistent rooms, [...] unbound from the weightless weight that hasn't sunk like an anchor [...] like an Anchoress. Her absence is ever-present when you don't traverse the twisting corridors."''</ref> The Black's not-voice still permeates the Castle, but can only be heard in the deepest silence.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}} ''"Listen closely to a Night-Whisper [...] Silence has many meanings [...] The particular silence you hear under the ice, when nothing stirs in the castle, is what nothing might say if it could speak to you right now. [...] Another tongue is speaking. It isn't a ninth tongue. It doesn't exist. [...] you hear a silence that means: a chain has ceased to rattle."''</ref> And for good reason, as its cries may tear the world itself apart...<ref name=":0" /> | |||
== References == | == References == | ||
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Revision as of 19:11, 28 July 2023
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WARNING: Beyond this point lie spoilers for the Discordant Studies storyline from Fallen London. Do not proceed forward. You can find out more about our spoiler policy here. |
"You're simply sitting on Watchmaker's Hill. There are false-stars overhead. You haven't been cast down, stripped, swallowed, blotted from all things that are, and were, and that will be. And the scream that rises through the earth on a still, silent night, and chills the blood just as it chills the ground with crystal frost, is not your scream."[1]
The Black is not a star and it does not exist.[2] It is two Judgements joined together, described as a monarch with two mouths, two tongues, and two crowns.[3] Once upon a time, the monarch rose high,[4] and its courtiers entertained the court by playing games of Hurly-Burly[5] - and then it was "cast down."[6] The other Judgements brought the monarch to trial for treason, and shackled it with the Great Chain of Being.[7] As punishment, all of its laws were voided,[8] and it was erased from reality and history.[6] All records of the monarch's existence were censored and erased, effectively meaning that it never existed.[9] The extinguished monarch, now called the Black, was left chained to suffer forever, always screaming but unable to be heard.[3] Its courtrooms, now known as the Black Castle, were left deserted and defaced.[10] It is implied that some of the Black's courtiers, who are now known as goat-demons, were transformed into the Standing Stones of the Hurlers,[11][12] though their "shadows" still play the game.[5]
In its nonexistent state, the Black learned to speak the Discordance, the frozen language of the absence of stars.[13] After what might have been aeons, someone did not hear its voice: an Anchoress, who saw a vision of the Hurlers, and read and understood the sigils written upon them.[14] This resulted in her meeting the Black;[15] it led her to the Hurlers themselves,[16] where she comforted the absence-of-stars.[17] As repayment for her kindness, the Black used the Discordance to decree that neither she nor it would ever be alone,[16] and that the Anchoress would always be herself and never be afraid.[17] And so it was that the Anchoress became herself: the nonexistent Adulterine Castle.[18] The Black's not-voice still permeates the Castle, but can only be heard in the deepest silence.[19] And for good reason, as its cries may tear the world itself apart...[3]
References
- ↑ Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London "You're simply sitting on Watchmaker's Hill. There are false-stars overhead. You haven't been cast down, stripped, swallowed, blotted from all things that are, and were, and that will be. And the scream that rises through the earth on a still, silent night, and chills the blood just as it chills the ground with crystal frost, is not your scream."
- ↑ Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London "[...] Light twinkles through the holes. The holes are not stars, but you can pretend. Two holes, pricked close together, are a double star. No light twinkles through them. [...] "I saw the absence. Now you see it too.""
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London "no monarch screams – no monarch with two tongues, two mouths, two crowns whose laws are void [...] listen to me [...] but no one can hear – heavy with shackles [...] tightening forever around a terror whose cries would cut this world apart [...]"
- ↑ Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London "Now you can see nothing, and nothing can see you. [...] You have risen to such heights that they have cast you down [...]"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London "Shadows [...] along the walls. [...] they might have horns. They might have hooves. [...] "Not every courtier suffered the same fate," [...] "Some are different now, yet still the same. They entertained the court. They played a game." Their shadows still play [...] passing a round silhouette [...]"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London "You haven't been cast down [...] blotted from all things that are, and were, and that will be."
- ↑ Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London "You are not on trial. What could you say [...] Nothing, not even with your double-tongue. Kings are not deposed in this manner. [...] Myrmidons, more myrmidons than there are stars assembled, could not shackle a traitor with the Chain as you have been – because you have not been."
- ↑ Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London "no monarch screams – no monarch with two tongues, two mouths, two crowns whose laws are void, stricken from life, stricken from death [...] forgotten"
- ↑ Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London "This word isn't the first word in a story that's censored. You could not uncensor that story without [...] exposing an absence that shrieks with silent language to be understood."
- ↑ Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London "The Black Castle [...] No court is in residence. All the chambers have been abandoned. Tattered black standards hang in the windless air."
- ↑ Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London "This is a game that never ends, just as it never began. [...] Because these are the Hurlers. [...] there is no difference between the standing stones atop the hill, and these goat-demons."
- ↑ Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London "[...] walking toward the standing stones and their screaming sigils. They tower in the courtyard, on the playing field, atop the hill."
- ↑ Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London "You have risen to such heights that they have cast you down, but you have learnt to speak even without a voice. [...] called out by not calling, [...] beckoned with no sceptre, worn no crown, and written nothing in [...] ink-black pages [...]"
- ↑ Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London "In the dark, the darkness comes to you. Stay at your little window [...] and read the night-steeped text that rises with the stones atop the hill outside. [...] "Anyone would've agreed to read the stones. But not everyone would have tried to understand them.""
- ↑ Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London ""I prayed," says the Anchoress. "I met a king." [...] "Not truly a king. [...] But without light, there is darkness. If there is the White, then there is also the Black."
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London "The Discordant Law [...] and you will never be alone – and we will never be alone – come closer [...] the Anchoress does come closer, walking toward the standing stones [...]"
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London "The Discordant Law [...] by our decree, you shall still be yourself [...] and be yourself [...] she becomes herself [...] until she herself is the castle, and the castle has become herself. [...] she cradles no frozen king whose body, shrieking soundlessly, still chained, shivers in her embrace."
- ↑ The Adulterine Castle, Fallen London "The Adulterine Castle [...] Everything that isn't here would simply float away [...] were these nonexistent rooms, [...] unbound from the weightless weight that hasn't sunk like an anchor [...] like an Anchoress. Her absence is ever-present when you don't traverse the twisting corridors."
- ↑ Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London "Listen closely to a Night-Whisper [...] Silence has many meanings [...] The particular silence you hear under the ice, when nothing stirs in the castle, is what nothing might say if it could speak to you right now. [...] Another tongue is speaking. It isn't a ninth tongue. It doesn't exist. [...] you hear a silence that means: a chain has ceased to rattle."
