The Garden

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"At the back of the College a vast door guards the way into the Mountain's heart. [...] A warm breeze spills out, carrying the scents of saffron, of lavender, of apples. Beyond lies the Garden, root of immortality."

"THIS COUNTRY - MOUTH-OF-THE-RIVER - THIS WAS THE PLACE OF HER OVERTHROW"

The Garden, hidden deep within the Mountain of Light, predates the Bazaar's presence in the Neath by a wide margin. Its precise location is unknown, and it may not even be a true garden, but it is heavily sought after by those who know of its power, as they see it as the ultimate source of Neathy immortality. Unfortunately for them, only the birds and the bees (and other flying things) can enter it freely at the moment; the Presbyterate's College of Mortality guards the entrance.

Source of the Continent's Vitality

"There are a thousand speculations on why Death is strange in the Neath. Perhaps one is true."

The Mountain of Light, daughter of the Sun and the Echo Bazaar who is worshipped as Stone, provides a strange vitality to the Elder Continent. Fruit can grow from rocks, bones can sprout from the soil, and inanimate objects have minds of their own. An area's "liveliness" depends on its proximity to Stone, so people who die in faraway places across the Unterzee often die permanently, while those who live on the mainland (such as Londoners) can often recover from death with nothing but a bad headache. People of the Elder Continent itself can live a century and still look good.

The Garden is the source, or perhaps one source, of this vitality. It is in fact one of Stone's many, many wombs, where she fosters life that would not be allowed on the Surface. The waxen beings now known as Snuffers once roamed the Garden freely; they were cast out of it when the Thief-of-Faces stole jewels from Stone's wombs. To this day, the Snuffers remember the Garden, and long to return to it, but their aspirations seem all but impossible. Humans also once lived in the Garden, but they do not remember their time there or why they were exiled.

A Certain Fruit

WHOSO THIRSTETH AND DRINKETH OF THIS, SO SHALL HE NEVER DIE.

"All things seem to fly here, and the trees bear boughs amply filled with golden fruit."

One of the most coveted treasures in the Neath is Hesperidean Cider, brewed from the golden, robust Hesperidean Apples of the Garden. When drunk, Hesperidean Cider immediately restores its imbiber to their physical prime, grants them a free escape from the slow boat, and plagues them with mysterious visions of the Garden and the Mountain. Following these visions may grant an imbiber a more permanent form of immortality. The Masters of the Bazaar have stores of this precious drink, but the Capering Relicker was the first to brew it.

In ages past, birds stole seeds from the Garden; one of these seeds, now a tree, resides deep within the Mirror-Marches of Parabola.

Strictly Guarded

"In the Garden is the Design; in the Garden occurred the Ascents; in the Garden were selected the Shames. Therefore none shall enter it without that they be blinded with thorns and bound with the Three Oaths. And should any seek to alter the Design or repeat the Ascent or uncover the Shames, they shall be given to the Wax-Wind."

Birds and other flying creatures carry the airs of the Garden, and are the only creatures who can freely access it; hence, hunting them is strictly forbidden in the Presbyterate, save for select servants of the Presbyter. The motive for protecting flying creatures may be, however, of a more sentimental nature: the Presbyterate Adventuress believes it is because the Mountain dreams of flight.

Sometime before 1877, though the exact year is not known, the Seven Against Nidah led an attack on the city of Nidah, with the ultimate goal of accessing the Garden, and letting all share in its immortality-granting powers. Though the group's forces successfully got into the city, they ultimately failed, and were scattered across the Unterzee.

Historical and Cultural Inspirations

See Also: The Presbyterate

As a source of immortality, and the birthplace of both humans and Snuffers, the Garden is undeniably linked to the Abrahamic Garden of Eden. As retold in the Book of Genesis and the Quran, the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, were immortal before being banished as punishment for eating a forbidden fruit; in the Fallen London universe, Snuffers were banished from the Garden because the Thief-of-Faces stole jewels from Stone's wombs. Since humans cannot remember their time in the Garden, it is left unclear whether the story of Adam and Eve is canonical.

The presence of the life-giving Hesperidean Apples in the Garden recalls the biblical Tree of Life, or the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (the source of the forbidden fruit). However, golden apples of immortality can be found in other mythological traditions; the name of the Hesperidean Apples is a direct reference to Hera's sacred apple tree in Greek mythology, while the Norse goddess Iðunn is said to have provided her fellow gods with similar apples to retain their youth.

The Garden is but one of the Elder Continent's many direct parallels to Abrahamic beliefs - from the word "presbyter" designating a member of the Christian clergy; to the Presbyterate's language being described as "the language of Adam;" to the repeated allusions to the medieval legend of Prester John, said to have been a Christian king who ruled a vast swath of Asia.