Starved Men: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:56, 19 November 2023

"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.

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"The outside is full of the most deplorable shapes; limbs grown overlong or reduced to inoperable stumps; joints fused or bending as they aren't meant to bend."

The Starved Men are elusive practitioners of the Shapeling Arts.

SO ARE WEE SHAPEDE

Starved Men are humanoids who dwell within the Roof of the Neath,^[1] and use the Shapeling Arts to warp and twist their flesh and bones into new and unfamiliar shapes.^[2] The process entails heating amber,^[3] then applying it to a joint or some other part of the body, making it "quicken" and become malleable.^[2] Shaping has a drug-like effect on its users; it is slow and painful, but extremely pleasurable.^[4]

The Starved reside in massive citadels built from hollowed-out stalactites.^[5] Assisted by rope bridges^[6] and their own inhuman mobility, they climb and crawl through their environs like spiders.^[7] When climbing does not suffice, they travel using makeshift blimps filled with an unknown gas.^[8]

London has had limited contact with the Starved. Some academics were interested in learning of them and their arts,^[9] while many others didn't believe they existed until the events of the London Horticultural Show proved them wrong.^[10] The Starved living near New Newgate Prison are at war with the prison guards, and are slowly conquering the stalactite, advancing floor by floor.^[11]^[12]

Appearance and Biology

Most if not all Starved are human in origin;^[13]^[14] they resemble humans, generally, but with heavily modified features. These might include elongated or altered skulls and faces,^[15]^[16] extra^[17]^[18] or missing^[19] limbs, extra joints,^[19]^[20] and widened jaws.^[21] As side effects of their reshaping, they may have protruding bones,^[22] stretched and translucent skin,^[23] or repositioned internal organs.^[24] Most also lack hair^[25] and do not wear clothes.^[26] Starved are typically larger than the average person,^[27] and a few are large enough to dwarf a cargo hoist.^[28]^[29]

In addition to their bizarre (by our standards) physicality, the Starved are strong and durable to a superhuman degree,^[30] and able to survive seemingly fatal attacks.^[31] They are apparently vulnerable to head trauma, such as a bullet to the brain;^[32]^[33] when they die, they can visit the Silent River.^[34] The Starved may also use the Shapeling Arts to gain other superhuman abilities, and can shape themselves on the fly according to the needs of the situation given a sufficient supply of amber.^[35] They may grow elongated limbs to strike targets,^[20] bone and cartilage plating to serve as armor,^[36]^[37] fins and webbed limbs for swimming (though water washes away amber, halting any transformation),^[38]^[39] or various modes of conditional flight (i.e. wings,^[40]^[41] feathers,^[42] air sacs^[43]). They may also repair their own wounds and broken bones.^[44] The Starved can even use the Shapeling Arts to reposition stalactites of the Roof, a tactic they demonstrated in the brief scuffle against London.^[45]

Starve-Hounds are known to exist, but it is unclear whether any other Starved creatures are common.^[46]

Culture

The Starved Men have various "communities and societies;"^[47] each has its own territories and conflicts, and some have specific practices of religion and/or the Red Science.^[48] They are generally warlike, and violent clashes between groups of Starved are a seemingly frequent occurrence.^[49] During one such war, an inhabited stalactite was bombed and fell into the Unterzee, creating Godfall.^[50] The Starved do not typically speak languages such as English;^[51] they prefer to communicate through other vocalizations and utterances,^[52] as well as body language and pictograms.^[53]^[54] It is implied that this is because many Starved have reshaped their vocal cords; if necessary, they may undergo this process again to speak English or another language with clarity.^[55]^[56]

Despite their grotesque appearances, aggressive tendencies, and abandonment of language, the Starved have lost none of their human intellect. They have developed unique forms of writing,^[57] with inscriptions found on amber, rock, and bone.^[58] They possess a social hierarchy that includes rulership,^[59] an understanding of deals and deception,^[60] and the capacity to build complex citadels.^[61]^[62] ^[63] The fallen citadel of Godfall is a known accomplishment of Starved architecture; it featured a central support pillar,^[64] a chapel,^[65] clusters of dwellings,^[66] dining halls,^[67] furniture, mechanical gates,^[68] a gallery offering views of the citadel's surroundings,^[67] and murals of the zee below.^[69]

Some Starved are known to hold specific societal or military roles, which may be reflected by their anatomy. Miser-myrmidons have armored forearms and a lower body specifically suited for mounting and riding Moon-Misers.^[70] Stone-seers study the rock of the Roof of the Neath to divine the future,^[71] in a practice colloquially called "lithology."^[72] Spire-sappers can “splice” stalactites and drop them on the ground below.^[73]

The Starved, or at least those who have been willing to communicate with Londoners, offer a unique point of view regarding life and the world around them. They express a strong belief in change and the pursuit of change; change is a self-justifying act, whether suddenly through violence, or slowly through growth.^[74] Along these lines, some Starved revere the wind for being formless and always changing, while others despise it for the same reason.^[75] They also view the world through a biological lens,^[76] seeing London as a large organism whose citizens are cells,^[77] and the Neath itself as a living being.^[78] According to one individual, some Starved opine that their organs have uses beyond the “usual” purpose, such as using their stomach to store objects rather than solely for digestion.^[79]

When Starved dream, they go to the foothills of the Hanging Mountains, of amber and honey and the “looseness of forms.” Conversely, their nightmares involve the unchanging.^[80]

The religions and other beliefs of the Starved are closely tied to the inhabitants of Axile and their rites - to which the Shapeling Arts were the key, once upon a time. Shaping is viewed with veneration and devotion,^[81] and disrupting the process is a great insult.^[82] The Starved also have great respect for the moon-misers, with which they coexist easily.^[83] They tend to Moon-Mothers,^[84] the broodmothers of the species,^[85] and also ensure the insects are well fed - even if it means they have to sacrifice human prisoners.^[86] The Rubbery Men, who also practice the Shapeling Arts, view the Starved as imitators and amateurs.^[87]^[88]

Given that they were all or almost all human at one point, the Starved are willing to recruit new members from populations below, sometimes not giving new initiates much of a choice.^[89] Some Starved retain memories from their past lives in London or elsewhere,^[90] or possessions like pocket watches or glasses.^[91]^[92]

The Horticultural Show

TBC

References

↑ State of Emergence, Fallen London "A hand [...] Another hand follows, this one smaller, ten-fingered – each ending in a cluster of wicked hooks. [...] A gangly figure hauls itself clear [...] the muscles of its face do not appear to move. Another follows, then another, and then the surface of the stalactite is alive with motion as more figures [...] Starved Men. You've seen them enough times, on your expeditions to the roof."
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Peer in the Amber Chamber, Fallen London "The Shapeling Art [...] The melted amber does not eat his flesh, but quickens it; the Starved Man stretches his limbs like toffee, changing himself as he wills."
↑ Ask a Rubbery Man about amber from the Roof, Fallen London "[...] the Rubbery Man [...] drops a nodule of amber [...] a passable charade of boiling. [...] So amber is most useful when heated up? [...] The Rubbery Man takes your hand [...] guiding you through the act of plunging your arm into the imaginary melting-pool."
↑ Peer in the Amber Chamber, Fallen London "The Starved Man is [...] putting himself through an exquisite torture. [...] His frame shudders with beloved pain [...] his body excretes in the convulsions. The melted amber does not eat his flesh, but quickens it [...] it is not a swift process. It is thorough, deliberate [...] It ends in an ecstasy [...]"
↑ Written in the Glim, Fallen London ""Moon-misers are not the only creatures that dwell on the cavern roof," [...] the Starved Men? They live within citadels carved into the stalactites. [...]"
↑ Wander as lonely as a cloud, Fallen London "You have seen such ropes elsewhere, used as bridges by the Starved Men."
↑ Wander as lonely as a cloud, Fallen London "A lone wandering Starved Man crawls 'spider-like' along the roof with you for some way."
↑ Wander as lonely as a cloud, Fallen London "The Starved Men have their own method of flight. Two oblong sacks [...] inflated with God knows what. These are affixed with six slim rods [...] form a kind of cage the Starved Men fit into; they then propel themselves from stalactite to stalactite, floating across."
↑ Show her the daguerreotype, Fallen London ""I remember [...] We went up together to the Roof... But only I came down. He joined the Starved Men to learn their Arts. He insisted it was the logical conclusion of our research.""
↑ The Chimney Pot Wars, Fallen London ""It is a little-accepted fact," he begins, his old academic manner surfacing, "that a nation of men lives in the cavern's roof. [...]"
↑ A Stretch in the Sky, Fallen London ""The prison is under attack by the men that live on the roof. The guards – and thus the prisoners – are losing, and ceding ground. [...]"
↑ A Stretch in the Sky, Fallen London "The guards fight a battle for this stalactite, and they are losing." [...] "A slow defeat, retreating a floor at a time over months. And there are hundreds of floors here. It might take years.""
↑ Ask about the invasion of the Starved Men (Ophidian Gentleman), Fallen London ""But for some ill-advised baths in shaping vats, they are the same beings as you. And I, perhaps, once. [...]"
↑ How do the Starved Men operate?, Fallen London ""Loathe as I am to admit it, it seems they were human, once." The Commodore's face is a mask of distaste. [...]"
↑ Light Fingers: The Citadel, Fallen London "Two Starved Men stand guard [...] their heads have been elongated, yes, so the distance between mouth and nose, nose and eyes [...]"
↑ Written in the Glim, Fallen London "The tallest lopes forward [...] one eye squeezed almost completely out of its compacted skull, the other buried deep within a crumpled socket."
↑ Written in the Glim, Fallen London "It might have been human, once [...] It has what resembles a head, and is worryingly nimble for something consisting almost entirely of limbs. If this is one of the Starved Men [...]"
↑ Build on the Five-Pointed Frame, Fallen London "A ribcage that had [...] altered itself to permit five limbs and five skulls."
↑ ^19.0 ^19.1 Watch and learn (So Are They Shaped) , Fallen London "They have many-jointed limbs (except those with appendages that are short, stubby, or altogether absent)."
↑ ^20.0 ^20.1 Tackle the (Starved Men) head on, Fallen London "The Starved Men ignore you [...] Your target knocks it aside, then lashes out with seven-jointed limb [...]"
↑ Light Fingers: A Second Coming, Fallen London "It opens its mouth; its jaw drops a foot [...]"
↑ Written in the Glim, Fallen London "With every bend of their over-jointed limbs, serrated bones threaten to pierce their [...] skin."
↑ Written in the Glim, Fallen London "[...] you can see their organs pulsing through membranes of translucent skin, mammalian physiology straining to function within uncanny frames."
↑ Educate fighters on Starved anatomy, Fallen London "Fighting the Starved Men requires a certain amount of recalibration – their organs are often not where humans expect."
↑ Give the order, Fallen London "The one at the front looks strange, for one of the Starved. [...] They even have hair [...]"
↑ Wander as lonely as a cloud, Fallen London "A procession passes. [...] Yes; though they wear no garb [...]"
↑ Study the Starved prisoner, Fallen London "This one is smaller than most you have encountered – its anatomy close to the average Londoner. "
↑ Put to Zee: Hazardous Materials, Fallen London "A Starved Man bigger than a cargo hoist wades through the waters [...]"
↑ Join the Commodore, Fallen London "Somewhere, a hawser snaps, and a dirigible threatens to drift away without its crew, until a titanic Starved Man catches the bow in one hand. A team of dockers scramble to secure it."
↑ Written in the Glim, Fallen London "Though their bodies are held together by mere strings of bone, they are ferociously strong."
↑ Call in gunnery support, Fallen London "The Starved Men do not enjoy cannon fire. It seems regrettably possible for them to recover from even direct hits, but it invokes significant distress [...]"
↑ Educate fighters on Starved anatomy, Fallen London "[...] destroying their brain is very likely to bring down a Starved Man, and they don't usually hide these very far from their heads."
↑ Recall your experience fighting Starved Men, Fallen London "[...] the killing shot. A bullet, right into the cranium [...] They can be killed."
↑ Greet the Starved Lithologer, Fallen London ""I cannot speak for London. I arrived here slightly before you." [...] The Boatman rattles a laugh."
↑ Engage the starved 'vessel', Fallen London "No two Starved Men respond to the onslaught in the same way. Some attempt to reshape themselves, even as your barrage tears [...] their bodies [...]"
↑ Peer into the pool, Fallen London "You might have been a miser-myrmidon, thick bone plates shielding your forearms [...]"
↑ Engage the starved 'vessel', Fallen London "No two Starved Men respond to the onslaught in the same way [...] cartilaginous armour-plating bubbles to the surface of their skin."
↑ Engage the starved 'vessel', Fallen London "[...] their transformations into finned and web-toed shapes halted by the zee, as it washes away their coatings of quickening amber."
↑ Claim an assortment of Starved remains, Fallen London "Not all of the falling stalactites land on London, and the Starved Men are not good swimmers."
↑ Attempt an emergency retreat!, Fallen London "A vast Starved, replete with sclerotic wings, dives onto the deck."
↑ Nose on through, Fallen London "[...] the Starved Man impacts the hull. He glides down at speed on patagial flaps [...]"
↑ Bring your guns to bear, Fallen London "You pick off several approaching balloons, plus a winged, feathered attacker rushing down in a swooping dive."
↑ Spilling Out, Fallen London "More descend in small balloons, or under their own power through patagia and air sacs."
↑ Engage the starved 'vessel', Fallen London "No two Starved Men respond to the onslaught in the same way. [...] flesh knits back together, bones unbreak with sickening jolts [...]"
↑ Perform above and beyond in the field of duty, Fallen London "The Starved have, by some uncanny shapeling process, moved one of their citadels to trap the craft between two of their dwellings."
↑ The War in London 2, Fallen London "People, crushed by masonry or caught by the jaws of Starve-Hounds."
↑ Share the insights of the Light-in-Exile, Fallen London "It indicated that the Starved Men have their own communities and societies [...]"
↑ Return to base, Fallen London "[...] you have a handful of charts and maps: approximations and guesswork, but more accurate than most. Demarcations of territory, suggestions of division, hints of religion, schism and Red Science [...]"
↑ Light Fingers: The Thick of It, Fallen London "You've come into a war zone. [...] Starved Men climb with strong horrid hands along the ceiling, rushing at each other in an incomprehensible melee. [...] you can see their wrestling and tearing each other's flesh with teeth."
↑ Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea "A dozen corpses, [...] lie at the stalagmite's root. You think there was a barricade here, but the fall has smashed it [...] Were they defending the root? [...] "Gunpowder," [...] "Blew it up themselves. Killed the whole city. Starved Men, eh? Allus heard they fight each other. [...]"
↑ Watch and learn (So Are They Shaped) , Fallen London "They cannot, or choose not to, speak (except the ones who make those noises [...]"
↑ Bid for entry , Fallen London "One of the Starved Men hops toward you [...] The other whistles through its broken teeth; its companion stops and turns."
↑ Light Fingers: The Starved Men's Requirements, Fallen London ""I've tried my best to communicate with the Starved Men [...] "They don't have much of a vocabulary, but they've got a surprising grasp of body language and they understand my pictures [...]"
↑ Give the order, Fallen London "Words are largely hopeless. They struggle to interpret gestures. But they do their best to show willing [...]"
↑ Pick up the thread of the argument, Fallen London "After a lengthy span [...] plus some smuggled amber, this particular Starved individual has reshaped their vocal organs enough to speak."
↑ Hear them out, warily, Fallen London ""I dig nock... intengd thish. [...] They clear their throat. [...] The longer they talk, the clearer their voice becomes – a gargling glissando. "From the beginning.""
↑ Written in the Glim, Fallen London "The surface of the amber is covered in carvings in the Starved Men's incomprehensible script."
↑ Help to decode the scratchy script of the Roof, Fallen London "[...] some bring artefacts from the ruins – shards of engraved rock, tablets of amber, melted lengths of inlaid bone. Many of the Starved Men's writings [...]"
↑ Wander as lonely as a cloud, Fallen London "A procession passes. A king crawls proudly before the rest; [...] there is an understood order."
↑ Written in the Glim, Fallen London "The Starved Man encloses the amber [...] It signals to two of its compatriots, who [...] return with a large crate of false-star charts. They load it onto the balloon. Everything is going according to plan until [...] something collides with the back of your head, and everything goes dark."
↑ Written in the Glim, Fallen London "[...] the endlessly branching warren of the citadel as you dart down corridor after corridor [...] "
↑ Written in the Glim, Fallen London "The Starved Men haul you [...] through [...] tunnels that squirm through the citadel like entrails."
↑ Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea "Broken furniture carved in eye-twisting knots."
↑ Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea "The Starved Men cut a tremendous gallery around the whole root of the stalactite, leaving a vast central pillar to support its weight."
↑ Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea "A cruciform chamber with a great altar, rows of [...] pews."
↑ Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea "The passage branches and opens into a tangle of galleries [...] There are doorways to dwelling-places [...] like cells of a honeycomb."
↑ ^67.0 ^67.1 Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea "In its day, the view must have been unrivalled. Remnants of salvaged glass and wooden eating-houses, viewing-booths, sight-temples still cling to the edges - but the root has been shattered, and the stalactite fell."
↑ Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea "Perhaps, once, hidden machineries would have roared at the touch of the Eolith, and the gate would have swung open [...] Now, the Eolith only triggers the unlocking mechanism."
↑ Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea "[...] faded frescos of the sea seen from above [...]"
↑ Peer into the pool, Fallen London "You might have been a miser-myrmidon [...] bone plates shielding your forearms [...] joints of your hindquarters fitting around the carapace of your mount like you were born to it."
↑ Peer into the pool, Fallen London "You might have been a stone-seer, portending dooms in the slow migrations of rock and fire below."
↑ The Starved Summit, Fallen London ""Wouldn't these be lithologers, though?" chuckles his Lordship. "
↑ Peer into the pool, Fallen London "You might have been a spire-sapper, splicing stalactites to drop upon the downlands [...]"
↑ Ask Saint Stalactite what the Starved Men believe, Fallen London ""What my kin believe? [...] "We believe in changing. Nothing is still or static; our beliefs change with our shapes." [...] everything we do is in pursuit of transformation. [...] And change has [...] meaning. Sudden change you might call violence. Gradual change you might call growth. [...] after both, things are different."
↑ Give the gift of a conversation, Fallen London ""A lot of us revere the wind, formless and ever-changing," [...] "Of course, many of us revile it for the same reason.""
↑ Inquire about the state of the Roof, Fallen London ""It is like a body." Many of their analogies are biological."
↑ Press for more details of the plan, Fallen London ""They do not deal with you. They deal with the city and its change, as we did. It does not occur to them to negotiate with the blood in its veins, the cells that make it up. [...]"
↑ Inquire about the state of the Roof, Fallen London ""The Neath lives. This is one of the things we know that you, perhaps, do not.""
↑ Give the gift of a conversation, Fallen London "The Starved Man steps forward and vomits a series of jewels from his mouth. [...] "Some of us believe that the stomach is more than simply a receptacle for sustenance. [...]"
↑ Ask about the invasion of the Starved Men (Viscountess), Fallen London "[...] the distant dreamings of the Starved Men, high up in the foothills of the Hanging Mountains [...] Dripping warrens of amber and honey, and the looseness of forms. Nightmares of immobility, of static flesh and unyielding bone."
↑ Written in the Glim, Fallen London ""The Shapeling Artsh are—" [...] "—exshquishite. [...]"
↑ Written in the Glim, Fallen London "The Starved Men's [...] rage is now unmistakable as they yank you towards the vat of amber. Disrupting the Shapeling Arts was sacrilege."
↑ Written in the Glim, Fallen London "But perhaps shubmitting to the moon-misersh ish an even greater privilege.""
↑ Bring the Starved Men what they need, Fallen London "The Starved Men receive your bounty [...] Clambering over the surface of the moon-mother [...] they baptise it with the brandy and rub the wax into its glim-shell until it is polished to a gleam."
↑ The list, Fallen London ""You need to go up to the roof. [...] find a moon-miser brood mother. They're easy enough to spot, twice the size of the others and more legs."
↑ Written in the Glim, Fallen London ""The Moon-misersh draw closhe," [...] "They musht be fed. You have the honour of shlaking their lust for flesh.""
↑ Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea ""Imitatorsh," the Outcast burbles. "They shtole our Axile artsh. [...] They would be ush." [...] "Shtill, the change remainsh. The change remainsh!""
↑ Flute Street, Fallen London "The Rubbery Man becomes animated, gesticulating erratically [...] "He feels.... sorry for them, I think?" An affirmative burble. [...] "It's like they're painting, but can't see colour. Messy.""
↑ Written in the Glim, Fallen London ""There ish but one alternative. Shubmit to the Shapeling Arts. Become—" [...] "—one of ush.""
↑ Light Fingers: A Second Coming, Fallen London "The nightmare thing [...] runs its fingers [...] over Dr Vaughan's cheek. Its eyes, as human as your own, bulge. Something flickers behind them; regret, fury, agony? It opens its mouth; [...] it wheezes"
↑ Shoot it dead, Fallen London "[...] Dr Vaughan requests a private word with you. [...] she produces a dented golden pocket watch; the very same you saw in the Starved Man's hand. [...] the name inscribed within: Vaughan."
↑ Upwards (Story), Fallen London ""I was hoping we could discuss a change of leadersh—" [...] She is gone. The Starved Men are less aggressive for a time; [...] their scouts seem more organised. Once, you spot one of them wearing spectacles [...]"

[1] State of Emergence, Fallen London "A hand [...] Another hand follows, this one smaller, ten-fingered – each ending in a cluster of wicked hooks. [...] A gangly figure hauls itself clear [...] the muscles of its face do not appear to move. Another follows, then another, and then the surface of the stalactite is alive with motion as more figures [...] Starved Men. You've seen them enough times, on your expeditions to the roof."

[:0-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Peer in the Amber Chamber, Fallen London "The Shapeling Art [...] The melted amber does not eat his flesh, but quickens it; the Starved Man stretches his limbs like toffee, changing himself as he wills."

[3] Ask a Rubbery Man about amber from the Roof, Fallen London "[...] the Rubbery Man [...] drops a nodule of amber [...] a passable charade of boiling. [...] So amber is most useful when heated up? [...] The Rubbery Man takes your hand [...] guiding you through the act of plunging your arm into the imaginary melting-pool."

[4] Peer in the Amber Chamber, Fallen London "The Starved Man is [...] putting himself through an exquisite torture. [...] His frame shudders with beloved pain [...] his body excretes in the convulsions. The melted amber does not eat his flesh, but quickens it [...] it is not a swift process. It is thorough, deliberate [...] It ends in an ecstasy [...]"

[5] Written in the Glim, Fallen London ""Moon-misers are not the only creatures that dwell on the cavern roof," [...] the Starved Men? They live within citadels carved into the stalactites. [...]"

[6] Wander as lonely as a cloud, Fallen London "You have seen such ropes elsewhere, used as bridges by the Starved Men."

[7] Wander as lonely as a cloud, Fallen London "A lone wandering Starved Man crawls 'spider-like' along the roof with you for some way."

[8] Wander as lonely as a cloud, Fallen London "The Starved Men have their own method of flight. Two oblong sacks [...] inflated with God knows what. These are affixed with six slim rods [...] form a kind of cage the Starved Men fit into; they then propel themselves from stalactite to stalactite, floating across."

[9] Show her the daguerreotype, Fallen London ""I remember [...] We went up together to the Roof... But only I came down. He joined the Starved Men to learn their Arts. He insisted it was the logical conclusion of our research.""

[10] The Chimney Pot Wars, Fallen London ""It is a little-accepted fact," he begins, his old academic manner surfacing, "that a nation of men lives in the cavern's roof. [...]"

[11] A Stretch in the Sky, Fallen London ""The prison is under attack by the men that live on the roof. The guards – and thus the prisoners – are losing, and ceding ground. [...]"

[12] A Stretch in the Sky, Fallen London "The guards fight a battle for this stalactite, and they are losing." [...] "A slow defeat, retreating a floor at a time over months. And there are hundreds of floors here. It might take years.""

[13] Ask about the invasion of the Starved Men (Ophidian Gentleman), Fallen London ""But for some ill-advised baths in shaping vats, they are the same beings as you. And I, perhaps, once. [...]"

[14] How do the Starved Men operate?, Fallen London ""Loathe as I am to admit it, it seems they were human, once." The Commodore's face is a mask of distaste. [...]"

[15] Light Fingers: The Citadel, Fallen London "Two Starved Men stand guard [...] their heads have been elongated, yes, so the distance between mouth and nose, nose and eyes [...]"

[16] Written in the Glim, Fallen London "The tallest lopes forward [...] one eye squeezed almost completely out of its compacted skull, the other buried deep within a crumpled socket."

[17] Written in the Glim, Fallen London "It might have been human, once [...] It has what resembles a head, and is worryingly nimble for something consisting almost entirely of limbs. If this is one of the Starved Men [...]"

[18] Build on the Five-Pointed Frame, Fallen London "A ribcage that had [...] altered itself to permit five limbs and five skulls."

[:1-19] 19.0 ^19.1 Watch and learn (So Are They Shaped) , Fallen London "They have many-jointed limbs (except those with appendages that are short, stubby, or altogether absent)."

[:2-20] 20.0 ^20.1 Tackle the (Starved Men) head on, Fallen London "The Starved Men ignore you [...] Your target knocks it aside, then lashes out with seven-jointed limb [...]"

[21] Light Fingers: A Second Coming, Fallen London "It opens its mouth; its jaw drops a foot [...]"

[22] Written in the Glim, Fallen London "With every bend of their over-jointed limbs, serrated bones threaten to pierce their [...] skin."

[23] Written in the Glim, Fallen London "[...] you can see their organs pulsing through membranes of translucent skin, mammalian physiology straining to function within uncanny frames."

[24] Educate fighters on Starved anatomy, Fallen London "Fighting the Starved Men requires a certain amount of recalibration – their organs are often not where humans expect."

[25] Give the order, Fallen London "The one at the front looks strange, for one of the Starved. [...] They even have hair [...]"

[26] Wander as lonely as a cloud, Fallen London "A procession passes. [...] Yes; though they wear no garb [...]"

[27] Study the Starved prisoner, Fallen London "This one is smaller than most you have encountered – its anatomy close to the average Londoner. "

[28] Put to Zee: Hazardous Materials, Fallen London "A Starved Man bigger than a cargo hoist wades through the waters [...]"

[29] Join the Commodore, Fallen London "Somewhere, a hawser snaps, and a dirigible threatens to drift away without its crew, until a titanic Starved Man catches the bow in one hand. A team of dockers scramble to secure it."

[30] Written in the Glim, Fallen London "Though their bodies are held together by mere strings of bone, they are ferociously strong."

[31] Call in gunnery support, Fallen London "The Starved Men do not enjoy cannon fire. It seems regrettably possible for them to recover from even direct hits, but it invokes significant distress [...]"

[32] Educate fighters on Starved anatomy, Fallen London "[...] destroying their brain is very likely to bring down a Starved Man, and they don't usually hide these very far from their heads."

[33] Recall your experience fighting Starved Men, Fallen London "[...] the killing shot. A bullet, right into the cranium [...] They can be killed."

[34] Greet the Starved Lithologer, Fallen London ""I cannot speak for London. I arrived here slightly before you." [...] The Boatman rattles a laugh."

[35] Engage the starved 'vessel', Fallen London "No two Starved Men respond to the onslaught in the same way. Some attempt to reshape themselves, even as your barrage tears [...] their bodies [...]"

[36] Peer into the pool, Fallen London "You might have been a miser-myrmidon, thick bone plates shielding your forearms [...]"

[37] Engage the starved 'vessel', Fallen London "No two Starved Men respond to the onslaught in the same way [...] cartilaginous armour-plating bubbles to the surface of their skin."

[38] Engage the starved 'vessel', Fallen London "[...] their transformations into finned and web-toed shapes halted by the zee, as it washes away their coatings of quickening amber."

[39] Claim an assortment of Starved remains, Fallen London "Not all of the falling stalactites land on London, and the Starved Men are not good swimmers."

[40] Attempt an emergency retreat!, Fallen London "A vast Starved, replete with sclerotic wings, dives onto the deck."

[41] Nose on through, Fallen London "[...] the Starved Man impacts the hull. He glides down at speed on patagial flaps [...]"

[42] Bring your guns to bear, Fallen London "You pick off several approaching balloons, plus a winged, feathered attacker rushing down in a swooping dive."

[43] Spilling Out, Fallen London "More descend in small balloons, or under their own power through patagia and air sacs."

[44] Engage the starved 'vessel', Fallen London "No two Starved Men respond to the onslaught in the same way. [...] flesh knits back together, bones unbreak with sickening jolts [...]"

[45] Perform above and beyond in the field of duty, Fallen London "The Starved have, by some uncanny shapeling process, moved one of their citadels to trap the craft between two of their dwellings."

[46] The War in London 2, Fallen London "People, crushed by masonry or caught by the jaws of Starve-Hounds."

[47] Share the insights of the Light-in-Exile, Fallen London "It indicated that the Starved Men have their own communities and societies [...]"

[48] Return to base, Fallen London "[...] you have a handful of charts and maps: approximations and guesswork, but more accurate than most. Demarcations of territory, suggestions of division, hints of religion, schism and Red Science [...]"

[49] Light Fingers: The Thick of It, Fallen London "You've come into a war zone. [...] Starved Men climb with strong horrid hands along the ceiling, rushing at each other in an incomprehensible melee. [...] you can see their wrestling and tearing each other's flesh with teeth."

[50] Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea "A dozen corpses, [...] lie at the stalagmite's root. You think there was a barricade here, but the fall has smashed it [...] Were they defending the root? [...] "Gunpowder," [...] "Blew it up themselves. Killed the whole city. Starved Men, eh? Allus heard they fight each other. [...]"

[51] Watch and learn (So Are They Shaped) , Fallen London "They cannot, or choose not to, speak (except the ones who make those noises [...]"

[52] Bid for entry , Fallen London "One of the Starved Men hops toward you [...] The other whistles through its broken teeth; its companion stops and turns."

[53] Light Fingers: The Starved Men's Requirements, Fallen London ""I've tried my best to communicate with the Starved Men [...] "They don't have much of a vocabulary, but they've got a surprising grasp of body language and they understand my pictures [...]"

[54] Give the order, Fallen London "Words are largely hopeless. They struggle to interpret gestures. But they do their best to show willing [...]"

[55] Pick up the thread of the argument, Fallen London "After a lengthy span [...] plus some smuggled amber, this particular Starved individual has reshaped their vocal organs enough to speak."

[56] Hear them out, warily, Fallen London ""I dig nock... intengd thish. [...] They clear their throat. [...] The longer they talk, the clearer their voice becomes – a gargling glissando. "From the beginning.""

[57] Written in the Glim, Fallen London "The surface of the amber is covered in carvings in the Starved Men's incomprehensible script."

[58] Help to decode the scratchy script of the Roof, Fallen London "[...] some bring artefacts from the ruins – shards of engraved rock, tablets of amber, melted lengths of inlaid bone. Many of the Starved Men's writings [...]"

[59] Wander as lonely as a cloud, Fallen London "A procession passes. A king crawls proudly before the rest; [...] there is an understood order."

[60] Written in the Glim, Fallen London "The Starved Man encloses the amber [...] It signals to two of its compatriots, who [...] return with a large crate of false-star charts. They load it onto the balloon. Everything is going according to plan until [...] something collides with the back of your head, and everything goes dark."

[61] Written in the Glim, Fallen London "[...] the endlessly branching warren of the citadel as you dart down corridor after corridor [...] "

[62] Written in the Glim, Fallen London "The Starved Men haul you [...] through [...] tunnels that squirm through the citadel like entrails."

[63] Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea "Broken furniture carved in eye-twisting knots."

[64] Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea "The Starved Men cut a tremendous gallery around the whole root of the stalactite, leaving a vast central pillar to support its weight."

[65] Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea "A cruciform chamber with a great altar, rows of [...] pews."

[66] Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea "The passage branches and opens into a tangle of galleries [...] There are doorways to dwelling-places [...] like cells of a honeycomb."

[:3-67] 67.0 ^67.1 Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea "In its day, the view must have been unrivalled. Remnants of salvaged glass and wooden eating-houses, viewing-booths, sight-temples still cling to the edges - but the root has been shattered, and the stalactite fell."

[68] Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea "Perhaps, once, hidden machineries would have roared at the touch of the Eolith, and the gate would have swung open [...] Now, the Eolith only triggers the unlocking mechanism."

[69] Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea "[...] faded frescos of the sea seen from above [...]"

[70] Peer into the pool, Fallen London "You might have been a miser-myrmidon [...] bone plates shielding your forearms [...] joints of your hindquarters fitting around the carapace of your mount like you were born to it."

[71] Peer into the pool, Fallen London "You might have been a stone-seer, portending dooms in the slow migrations of rock and fire below."

[72] The Starved Summit, Fallen London ""Wouldn't these be lithologers, though?" chuckles his Lordship. "

[73] Peer into the pool, Fallen London "You might have been a spire-sapper, splicing stalactites to drop upon the downlands [...]"

[74] Ask Saint Stalactite what the Starved Men believe, Fallen London ""What my kin believe? [...] "We believe in changing. Nothing is still or static; our beliefs change with our shapes." [...] everything we do is in pursuit of transformation. [...] And change has [...] meaning. Sudden change you might call violence. Gradual change you might call growth. [...] after both, things are different."

[75] Give the gift of a conversation, Fallen London ""A lot of us revere the wind, formless and ever-changing," [...] "Of course, many of us revile it for the same reason.""

[76] Inquire about the state of the Roof, Fallen London ""It is like a body." Many of their analogies are biological."

[77] Press for more details of the plan, Fallen London ""They do not deal with you. They deal with the city and its change, as we did. It does not occur to them to negotiate with the blood in its veins, the cells that make it up. [...]"

[78] Inquire about the state of the Roof, Fallen London ""The Neath lives. This is one of the things we know that you, perhaps, do not.""

[79] Give the gift of a conversation, Fallen London "The Starved Man steps forward and vomits a series of jewels from his mouth. [...] "Some of us believe that the stomach is more than simply a receptacle for sustenance. [...]"

[80] Ask about the invasion of the Starved Men (Viscountess), Fallen London "[...] the distant dreamings of the Starved Men, high up in the foothills of the Hanging Mountains [...] Dripping warrens of amber and honey, and the looseness of forms. Nightmares of immobility, of static flesh and unyielding bone."

[81] Written in the Glim, Fallen London ""The Shapeling Artsh are—" [...] "—exshquishite. [...]"

[82] Written in the Glim, Fallen London "The Starved Men's [...] rage is now unmistakable as they yank you towards the vat of amber. Disrupting the Shapeling Arts was sacrilege."

[83] Written in the Glim, Fallen London "But perhaps shubmitting to the moon-misersh ish an even greater privilege.""

[84] Bring the Starved Men what they need, Fallen London "The Starved Men receive your bounty [...] Clambering over the surface of the moon-mother [...] they baptise it with the brandy and rub the wax into its glim-shell until it is polished to a gleam."

[85] The list, Fallen London ""You need to go up to the roof. [...] find a moon-miser brood mother. They're easy enough to spot, twice the size of the others and more legs."

[86] Written in the Glim, Fallen London ""The Moon-misersh draw closhe," [...] "They musht be fed. You have the honour of shlaking their lust for flesh.""

[87] Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions, Sunless Sea ""Imitatorsh," the Outcast burbles. "They shtole our Axile artsh. [...] They would be ush." [...] "Shtill, the change remainsh. The change remainsh!""

[88] Flute Street, Fallen London "The Rubbery Man becomes animated, gesticulating erratically [...] "He feels.... sorry for them, I think?" An affirmative burble. [...] "It's like they're painting, but can't see colour. Messy.""

[89] Written in the Glim, Fallen London ""There ish but one alternative. Shubmit to the Shapeling Arts. Become—" [...] "—one of ush.""

[90] Light Fingers: A Second Coming, Fallen London "The nightmare thing [...] runs its fingers [...] over Dr Vaughan's cheek. Its eyes, as human as your own, bulge. Something flickers behind them; regret, fury, agony? It opens its mouth; [...] it wheezes"

[91] Shoot it dead, Fallen London "[...] Dr Vaughan requests a private word with you. [...] she produces a dented golden pocket watch; the very same you saw in the Starved Man's hand. [...] the name inscribed within: Vaughan."

[92] Upwards (Story), Fallen London ""I was hoping we could discuss a change of leadersh—" [...] She is gone. The Starved Men are less aggressive for a time; [...] their scouts seem more organised. Once, you spot one of them wearing spectacles [...]"

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-{{Uncited}}
 {{Spoiler}}
 {{Character|title1 = Starved Men|image1 = starvedman1.png|caption1 = A Starved Man. Art from Fallen London.|image2 = |caption2 = |location = [[The Roof of the Neath]]
@@ Line 22: / Line 21: @@
 == Culture ==
-'''WIP'''
+The Starved Men have various "communities and societies;"<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Share_the_insights_of_the_Light-in-Exile|Share the insights of the Light-in-Exile|Fallen London|}} ''"It indicated that the Starved Men have their own communities and societies [...]"''</ref> each has its own territories and conflicts, and some have specific practices of religion and/or the [[Red Science]].<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Return_to_base|Return to base|Fallen London|}} ''"[...] you have a handful of charts and maps: approximations and guesswork, but more accurate than most. Demarcations of territory, suggestions of division, hints of religion, schism and Red Science [...]"''</ref> They are generally warlike, and violent clashes between groups of Starved are a seemingly frequent occurrence.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Light_Fingers:_The_Thick_of_It|Light Fingers: The Thick of It|Fallen London|}} ''"You've come into a war zone. [...] Starved Men climb with strong horrid hands along the ceiling, rushing at each other in an incomprehensible melee. [...] you can see their wrestling and tearing each other's flesh with teeth."''</ref> During one such war, an inhabited stalactite was bombed and fell into the [[Unterzee]], creating [[Godfall]].<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Shattered_Citadel_Encounters#Interactions|Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions|Sunless Sea|}} ''"A dozen corpses, [...] lie at the stalagmite's root. You think there was a barricade here, but the fall has smashed it [...] Were they defending the root? [...] "Gunpowder," [...] "Blew it up themselves. Killed the whole city. Starved Men, eh? Allus heard they fight each other. [...]"''</ref> The Starved do not typically speak languages such as English;<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Watch_and_learn_(So_Are_They_Shaped) |Watch and learn (So Are They Shaped) |Fallen London|}} ''"They cannot, or choose not to, speak (except the ones who make those noises [...]"''</ref> they prefer to communicate through other vocalizations and utterances,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Bid_for_entry |Bid for entry |Fallen London|}} ''"One of the Starved Men hops toward you [...] The other whistles through its broken teeth; its companion stops and turns."''</ref> as well as body language and pictograms.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Light_Fingers:_The_Starved_Men%27s_Requirements|Light Fingers: The Starved Men's Requirements|Fallen London|}} ''""I've tried my best to communicate with the Starved Men [...] "They don't have much of a vocabulary, but they've got a surprising grasp of body language and they understand my pictures [...]"''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Give_the_order|Give the order|Fallen London|}} ''"Words are largely hopeless. They struggle to interpret gestures. But they do their best to show willing [...]"''</ref> It is implied that this is because many Starved have reshaped their vocal cords; if necessary, they may undergo this process again to speak English or another language with clarity.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Pick_up_the_thread_of_the_argument|Pick up the thread of the argument|Fallen London|}} ''"After a lengthy span [...] plus some smuggled amber, this particular Starved individual has reshaped their vocal organs enough to speak."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Hear_them_out,_warily|Hear them out, warily|Fallen London|}} ''""I dig nock... intengd thish. [...] They clear their throat. [...] The longer they talk, the clearer their voice becomes – a gargling glissando. "From the beginning.""''</ref>
+Despite their grotesque appearances, aggressive tendencies, and abandonment of language, the Starved have lost none of their human intellect. They have developed unique forms of writing,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Written_in_the_Glim|Written in the Glim|Fallen London|}} ''"The surface of the amber is covered in carvings in the Starved Men's incomprehensible script."''</ref> with inscriptions found on amber, rock, and bone.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Help_to_decode_the_scratchy_script_of_the_Roof|Help to decode the scratchy script of the Roof|Fallen London|}} ''"[...] some bring artefacts from the ruins – shards of engraved rock, tablets of amber, melted lengths of inlaid bone. Many of the Starved Men's writings [...]"''</ref> They possess a social hierarchy that includes rulership,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Wander_as_lonely_as_a_cloud|Wander as lonely as a cloud|Fallen London|}} ''"A procession passes. A king crawls proudly before the rest; [...] there is an understood order."''</ref> an understanding of deals and deception,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Written_in_the_Glim|Written in the Glim|Fallen London|}} ''"The Starved Man encloses the amber [...] It signals to two of its compatriots, who [...] return with a large crate of false-star charts. They load it onto the balloon. Everything is going according to plan until [...] something collides with the back of your head, and everything goes dark."''</ref> and the capacity to build complex citadels.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Written_in_the_Glim|Written in the Glim|Fallen London|}} ''"[...] the endlessly branching warren of the citadel as you dart down corridor after corridor [...]  "''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Written_in_the_Glim|Written in the Glim|Fallen London|}} ''"The Starved Men haul you [...] through [...] tunnels that squirm through the citadel like entrails."''</ref> <ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Shattered_Citadel_Encounters#Interactions|Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions|Sunless Sea|}} ''"Broken furniture carved in eye-twisting knots."''</ref> The fallen citadel of Godfall is a known accomplishment of Starved architecture; it featured a central support pillar,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Shattered_Citadel_Encounters#Interactions|Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions|Sunless Sea|}} ''"The Starved Men cut a tremendous gallery around the whole root of the stalactite, leaving a vast central pillar to support its weight."''</ref> a chapel,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Shattered_Citadel_Encounters#Interactions|Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions|Sunless Sea|}} ''"A cruciform chamber with a great altar, rows of [...] pews."''</ref> clusters of dwellings,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Shattered_Citadel_Encounters#Interactions|Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions|Sunless Sea|}} ''"The passage branches and opens into a tangle of galleries [...] There are doorways to dwelling-places [...] like cells of a honeycomb."''</ref> dining halls,<ref name=":3">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Shattered_Citadel_Encounters#Interactions|Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions|Sunless Sea|}} ''"In its day, the view must have been unrivalled. Remnants of salvaged glass and wooden eating-houses, viewing-booths, sight-temples still cling to the edges - but the root has been shattered, and the stalactite fell."''</ref> furniture, mechanical gates,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Shattered_Citadel_Encounters#Interactions|Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions|Sunless Sea|}} ''"Perhaps, once, hidden machineries would have roared at the touch of the Eolith, and the gate would have swung open [...] Now, the Eolith only triggers the unlocking mechanism."''</ref> a gallery offering views of the citadel's surroundings,<ref name=":3" /> and murals of the zee below.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Shattered_Citadel_Encounters#Interactions|Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions|Sunless Sea|}} ''"[...] faded frescos of the sea seen from above [...]"''</ref>
+Some Starved are known to hold specific societal or military roles, which may be reflected by their anatomy. Miser-myrmidons have armored forearms and a lower body specifically suited for mounting and riding Moon-Misers.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Peer_into_the_pool|Peer into the pool|Fallen London|}} ''"You might have been a miser-myrmidon [...] bone plates shielding your forearms [...] joints of your hindquarters fitting around the carapace of your mount like you were born to it."''</ref> Stone-seers study the rock of the Roof of the Neath to divine the future,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Peer_into_the_pool|Peer into the pool|Fallen London|}} ''"You might have been a stone-seer, portending dooms in the slow migrations of rock and fire below."''</ref> in a practice colloquially called "lithology."<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Starved_Summit|The Starved Summit|Fallen London|}} ''""Wouldn't these be lithologers, though?" chuckles his Lordship. "''</ref> Spire-sappers can “splice” stalactites and drop them on the ground below.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Peer_into_the_pool|Peer into the pool|Fallen London|}} ''"You might have been a spire-sapper, splicing stalactites to drop upon the downlands [...]"''</ref>
+The Starved, or at least those who have been willing to communicate with Londoners, offer a unique point of view regarding life and the world around them. They express a strong belief in change and the pursuit of change; change is a self-justifying act, whether suddenly through violence, or slowly through growth.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ask_Saint_Stalactite_what_the_Starved_Men_believe|Ask Saint Stalactite what the Starved Men believe|Fallen London|}} ''""What my kin believe? [...] "We believe in changing. Nothing is still or static; our beliefs change with our shapes." [...] everything we do is in pursuit of transformation. [...] And change has [...] meaning. Sudden change you might call violence. Gradual change you might call growth. [...] after both, things are different."''</ref> Along these lines, some Starved revere the wind for being formless and always changing, while others despise it for the same reason.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Give_the_gift_of_a_conversation|Give the gift of a conversation|Fallen London|}} ''""A lot of us revere the wind, formless and ever-changing," [...] "Of course, many of us revile it for the same reason.""''</ref> They also view the world through a biological lens,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Inquire_about_the_state_of_the_Roof|Inquire about the state of the Roof|Fallen London|}} ''""It is like a body." Many of their analogies are biological."''</ref> seeing London as a large organism whose citizens are cells,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Press_for_more_details_of_the_plan|Press for more details of the plan|Fallen London|}} ''""They do not deal with you. They deal with the city and its change, as we did. It does not occur to them to negotiate with the blood in its veins, the cells that make it up. [...]"''</ref> and the Neath itself as a living being.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Inquire_about_the_state_of_the_Roof|Inquire about the state of the Roof|Fallen London|}} ''""The Neath lives. This is one of the things we know that you, perhaps, do not.""''</ref> According to one individual, some Starved opine that their organs have uses beyond the “usual” purpose, such as using their stomach to store objects rather than solely for digestion.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Give_the_gift_of_a_conversation|Give the gift of a conversation|Fallen London|}} ''"The Starved Man steps forward and vomits a series of jewels from his mouth. [...] "Some of us believe that the stomach is more than simply a receptacle for sustenance. [...]"''</ref>
+When Starved dream, they go to the foothills of the Hanging Mountains, of amber and honey and the “looseness of forms.” Conversely, their nightmares involve the unchanging.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ask_about_the_invasion_of_the_Starved_Men_(Viscountess)|Ask about the invasion of the Starved Men (Viscountess)|Fallen London|}} ''"[...] the distant dreamings of the Starved Men, high up in the foothills of the Hanging Mountains [...] Dripping warrens of amber and honey, and the looseness of forms. Nightmares of immobility, of static flesh and unyielding bone."''</ref>
+The religions and other beliefs of the Starved are closely tied to the inhabitants of [[Axile]] and their rites - to which the Shapeling Arts were the key, once upon a time. Shaping is viewed with veneration and devotion,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Written_in_the_Glim|Written in the Glim|Fallen London|}} ''""The Shapeling Artsh are—" [...] "—exshquishite. [...]"''</ref> and disrupting the process is a great insult.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Written_in_the_Glim|Written in the Glim|Fallen London|}} ''"The Starved Men's [...] rage is now unmistakable as they yank you towards the vat of amber. Disrupting the Shapeling Arts was sacrilege."''</ref> The Starved also have great respect for the [[moon-misers]], with which they coexist easily.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Written_in_the_Glim|Written in the Glim|Fallen London|}} ''"But perhaps shubmitting to the moon-misersh ish an even greater privilege.""''</ref> They tend to Moon-Mothers,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Bring_the_Starved_Men_what_they_need|Bring the Starved Men what they need|Fallen London|}} ''"The Starved Men receive your bounty [...] Clambering over the surface of the moon-mother [...] they baptise it with the brandy and rub the wax into its glim-shell until it is polished to a gleam."''</ref> the broodmothers of the species,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_list|The list|Fallen London|}} ''""You need to go up to the roof. [...] find a moon-miser brood mother. They're easy enough to spot, twice the size of the others and more legs."''</ref> and also ensure the insects are well fed - even if it means they have to sacrifice human prisoners.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Written_in_the_Glim|Written in the Glim|Fallen London|}} ''""The Moon-misersh draw closhe," [...] "They musht be fed. You have the honour of shlaking their lust for flesh.""''</ref> The [[Rubbery Men]], who also practice the Shapeling Arts, view the Starved as imitators and amateurs.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Shattered_Citadel_Encounters#Interactions|Shattered Citadel Encounters#Interactions|Sunless Sea|}} ''""Imitatorsh," the Outcast burbles. "They shtole our Axile artsh. [...] They would be ush." [...] "Shtill, the change remainsh. The change remainsh!""''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Flute_Street|Flute Street|Fallen London|}} ''"The Rubbery Man becomes animated, gesticulating erratically [...] "He feels.... sorry for them, I think?" An affirmative burble. [...] "It's like they're painting, but can't see colour. Messy.""''</ref>
+Given that they were all or almost all human at one point, the Starved are willing to recruit new members from populations below, sometimes not giving new initiates much of a choice.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Written_in_the_Glim|Written in the Glim|Fallen London|}} ''""There ish but one alternative. Shubmit to the Shapeling Arts. Become—" [...] "—one of ush.""''</ref> Some Starved retain memories from their past lives in London or elsewhere,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Light_Fingers:_A_Second_Coming|Light Fingers: A Second Coming|Fallen London|}} ''"The nightmare thing [...] runs its fingers [...] over Dr Vaughan's cheek. Its eyes, as human as your own, bulge. Something flickers behind them; regret, fury, agony? It opens its mouth; [...] it wheezes"''</ref> or possessions like pocket watches or glasses.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Shoot_it_dead|Shoot it dead|Fallen London|}} ''"[...] Dr Vaughan requests a private word with you. [...] she produces a dented golden pocket watch; the very same you saw in the Starved Man's hand. [...] the name inscribed within: Vaughan."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Upwards_(Story)|Upwards (Story)|Fallen London|}} ''""I was hoping we could discuss a change of leadersh—" [...] She is gone. The Starved Men are less aggressive for a time; [...] their scouts seem more organised. Once, you spot one of them wearing spectacles [...]"''</ref>
+== The Horticultural Show ==
+TBC
 == References ==

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SO ARE WEE SHAPEDE

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The Horticultural Show

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Starved Men: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:56, 19 November 2023

SO ARE WEE SHAPEDE

Appearance and Biology

Culture

The Horticultural Show

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