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Unsurprisingly given the nature of their profession, Licentiates are often the subject of news stories, gossip, and fictionalized retellings of their exploits.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Licentiate%27s_Bounty|The Licentiate's Bounty|Fallen London|}} ''"You put them on your table, where a pile of newspaper reports, eyewitness accounts and penny dreadful retellings of your deeds accumulates."''</ref>
Unsurprisingly given the nature of their profession, Licentiates are often the subject of news stories, gossip, and fictionalized retellings of their exploits.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Licentiate%27s_Bounty|The Licentiate's Bounty|Fallen London|}} ''"You put them on your table, where a pile of newspaper reports, eyewitness accounts and penny dreadful retellings of your deeds accumulates."''</ref>


==A List of Aliases==
=== A List of Aliases ===
To be initiated into this practice, a candidate must track down and kill another Licentiate and take their list of aliases.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Become_a_Licentiate|Become a Licentiate|Fallen London|}} ''"He kept the scrap of leather inside his shirt, pressed against his heart. You take it, wipe it. It's empty. But you know it was written in gant, the colour that's left when all others are devoured. You snuff the candle. Gant can only be read in the absence of light. Mirrored letters trace their way through the dark. They were scratched in haste; the penmanship is awkward. There he is: 'the Calico Knight.'"''</ref> This list is written on leather in [[gant]] ink, which is only visible in darkness.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_List_of_Aliases,_Writ_in_Gant|A List of Aliases, Writ in Gant|Fallen London|}}''"It is scribbled untidily on the back of a scrap of leather -scribbled in gant-hued ink that can only be read in the dark."''</ref> Whenever an alias is crossed off, as its possessor has been killed, a new one appears to take its place. Each Licentiate is under threat of having their own alias appear on the list<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_List_of_Aliases,_Writ_in_Gant|A List of Aliases, Writ in Gant|Fallen London|}} ''"As each name is crossed off, a new one appears. Will one of them be yours?"''</ref> - but with such a deep knowledge and high tolerance of poisons, it would be a trivial matter to fake one's death well enough to disappear from the list.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_very_familiar_alias|A very familiar alias|Fallen London|}} ''"It's a good thing you saw this first. Now to make it seem as though this commission was fulfilled, so that your name comes off the list again."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_very_familiar_alias|A very familiar alias|Fallen London|}} ''"A tame waiter 'distracts' you with the specials board long enough to empty an angry-red vial of your own devising into your drink. You sip. The effects are swift and almost painless. True, a temporary blindness sets in [...] and you cannot move your legs. But to all outward appearances, you've died; you even appear to have died more permanently than most. You come to three days later [...] When you search the list, your name is gone."''</ref>
<blockquote>''"As each name is crossed off, a new one appears. Will one of them be yours?"''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_List_of_Aliases,_Writ_in_Gant|A List of Aliases, Writ in Gant|Fallen London|}}</ref></blockquote>To be initiated into this practice, a candidate must track down and kill another Licentiate and take their list of aliases.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Become_a_Licentiate|Become a Licentiate|Fallen London|}} ''"He kept the scrap of leather inside his shirt, pressed against his heart. You take it, wipe it. It's empty. But you know it was written in gant, the colour that's left when all others are devoured. You snuff the candle. Gant can only be read in the absence of light. Mirrored letters trace their way through the dark. They were scratched in haste; the penmanship is awkward. There he is: 'the Calico Knight.'"''</ref> This list is written on leather in [[gant]] ink, which is only visible in darkness.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_List_of_Aliases,_Writ_in_Gant|A List of Aliases, Writ in Gant|Fallen London|}}''"It is scribbled untidily on the back of a scrap of leather -scribbled in gant-hued ink that can only be read in the dark."''</ref> Whenever an alias is crossed off, as its possessor has been killed, a new one appears to take its place. Each Licentiate is under threat of having their own alias appear on the list<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_List_of_Aliases,_Writ_in_Gant|A List of Aliases, Writ in Gant|Fallen London|}} ''"As each name is crossed off, a new one appears. Will one of them be yours?"''</ref> - but with such a deep knowledge and high tolerance of poisons, it would be a trivial matter to fake one's death well enough to disappear from the list.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_very_familiar_alias|A very familiar alias|Fallen London|}} ''"It's a good thing you saw this first. Now to make it seem as though this commission was fulfilled, so that your name comes off the list again."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_very_familiar_alias|A very familiar alias|Fallen London|}} ''"A tame waiter 'distracts' you with the specials board long enough to empty an angry-red vial of your own devising into your drink. You sip. The effects are swift and almost painless. True, a temporary blindness sets in [...] and you cannot move your legs. But to all outward appearances, you've died; you even appear to have died more permanently than most. You come to three days later [...] When you search the list, your name is gone."''</ref>


==References==
==References==
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[[Category:Cited]]
[[Category:Cited]]

Latest revision as of 09:57, 7 June 2025

"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.

You can find out more about our spoiler policy here.


"The Licentiate serves the tyranny of necessity. He delivers death with expedience and without passion, according to a certain list of aliases. The Licentiate deciphers each alias and performs the duty. The list cannot be given, only taken."[1]

Licentiates are licensed murderers, hired by the Bazaar[2] to undertake mysteriously nominated[3] "necessary killings."[4] As payment, they receive further intel on their targets, and permissions to go wherever they need to go to do their dirty work.[5] The sorts of people targeted may include corrupt Constables,[6] smugglers,[7] overly ambitious politicians,[8] agents of the Great Game,[9] and fellow killers-for-hire.[10] Direct enemies of the Bazaar may have their connections targeted if they themselves are too difficult to kill.[11][12]

A Licentiate's primary tool of the trade is an arsenal of poisons,[13][14] including emotionally derived poisons that a great many people can be exposed to harmlessly, but to which only the target will succumb.[15] Every so often, a direct fight (with a side of poison) will do instead.[16] That said, a Licentiate does not always need to do the killing themselves. Sometimes their target gets into trouble, and the name can be crossed off anyway once they confirm the target is dead.[17]

The Licentiate profession has two specialized fields. Fractionists determine to kill only part of a person using specialized applications of poison,[18] such that they themselves are no longer targeted by the Bazaar.[19] This might be a murder accomplished without harming the body,[20] but could also involve ending someone's career for their own safety.[21] Siopians ensure that their murders go completely unnoticed, reducing the impact of the resultant deaths.[22][23] This requires a great deal of societal manipulation in order to make less and less noticeable gaps when someone must die.[24] In notorious cases, a Siopian may even have to erase their target from their own memory as well as those of all their target's connections.[25]

Unsurprisingly given the nature of their profession, Licentiates are often the subject of news stories, gossip, and fictionalized retellings of their exploits.[26]

A List of Aliases[edit]

"As each name is crossed off, a new one appears. Will one of them be yours?"[27]

To be initiated into this practice, a candidate must track down and kill another Licentiate and take their list of aliases.[28] This list is written on leather in gant ink, which is only visible in darkness.[29] Whenever an alias is crossed off, as its possessor has been killed, a new one appears to take its place. Each Licentiate is under threat of having their own alias appear on the list[30] - but with such a deep knowledge and high tolerance of poisons, it would be a trivial matter to fake one's death well enough to disappear from the list.[31][32]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Become a Licentiate, Fallen London
  2. ↑ Develop a theory about the enemy of the Summer Schoolmistress, Fallen London "A Licentiate has Bazaar permits for killing: that is the nature of the task. To put a name on the list must, presumably, require the Masters' authority, or at the very least permission from one of their affiliates."
  3. ↑ A commonality in the aliases, Fallen London "Other professionals seek repeat clients. Licentiates are not meant to know who places names on the list. It is dangerous to notice patterns."
  4. ↑ Encounter the Summer Schoolmistress, Fallen London "No, there's a more savoury name when you carry a permit [...] Whoever appears on your list is a necessary killing; someone else has already gone to the trouble of regretting the necessity."
  5. ↑ The Licentiate's Bounty, Fallen London "Inside the package are oblique but undeniable permissions that make your activities possible. They are accompanied by a report of new discoveries about the remaining entries on the list."
  6. ↑ 'The Rabid Hound', Fallen London "The constable courts criminals and cut-throats who would kill at the slightest hint of treachery. You watch as they do just that in the alley below your rooftop perch. It seems that someone spread rumours that the constable was playing both sides."
  7. ↑ 'The Greenfinch', Fallen London "An opera singer has devised an ingenious manner of 'importing' goods from the Surface, packaged in the costumes and jewels she purchases. Someone wants her removed."
  8. ↑ 'The Catherine Wheel', Fallen London "An MP on the up-and-up that needs to be brought down."
  9. ↑ 'The Unknown Unknown', Fallen London "The alias does not refer to a known individual, but to one merely hypothetical: an agent with particular feelings, who must have committed a particular move in the Great Game."
  10. ↑ 'The one who has traced their hand through the poisoned waters', Fallen London "It takes some time to put the pieces together, but it seems you are to poison a poisoner."
  11. ↑ Develop a theory about the enemy of the Summer Schoolmistress, Fallen London "And while it may be that almost any person, through favour and negotiation, could add a name to the List, almost no one could add so many names at once. Whatever transpires here, it has the assent of the Bazaar itself."
  12. ↑ A Licentiate's Calling, Fallen London "You mention the authors [...], the booksellers, the publishers, who are now being added to the tally of victims, and all blameless of anything other than bad taste. What is she doing that is worth so many lives? [...] "I've offended the Bazaar by taking up a duty he refuses for himself. I have written to him and my letters were turned away; I have gone to speak to his gatekeeper and been rejected. But if he will not listen to reason, I won't let him deter me by force.""
  13. ↑ 'The Greenfinch', Fallen London "You fill an atomizer with a special mixture of your own devising, then find her in her dressing room, presenting it as a 'gift'. When she opens her mouth to thank you, spray the 'perfume'. It paralyses her vocal chords, steals the scream from her throat. You lay her down carefully on a chaise as the toxin spreads to her lungs. It'll be over soon."
  14. ↑ 'The Catherine Wheel', Fallen London "The special blend on your palm. The handshake, brief but firm. They're serving dessert when he goes face-down into his trifle. Undiagnosed allergies, that's what they'll say. Such a tragic shame."
  15. ↑ 'The Unknown Unknown', Fallen London "You have to employ several esoteric extractive techniques gleaned from the inner workings of a particular factory to get the triggering compounds just right. The result should land upon whoever's particular sympathies might lead them to interfere in those unfortunate dealings in Buenos Aires. You distribute the compound at Wilmot's End. Widely, coating salacious documents that will pass from hand to hand [...]"
  16. ↑ 'The Blunt Instrument', Fallen London "The direct approach: A bloodied invitation. A murky sewer tunnel. Blood, fists, and bruises. Something simple, for once. She's tough, racked with muscle. [...] Except, whoops, you caught her with one of your nails. Oh, and it's broken the skin. Shame. The thing you coated them with is quite nasty."
  17. ↑ 'The Rabid Hound', Fallen London "You descend, check his bloody corpse to confirm the job is done, then cross off another name."
  18. ↑ Kill only the cooperative aspect of these victims, Fallen London "You will become a Fractionist, expert in partial murders and esoteric applications of toxicology."
  19. ↑ Kill only the cooperative aspect of these victims, Fallen London "You need not end their lives entirely. It would be enough to arrange that they can no longer serve the Schoolmistress."
  20. ↑ 'The subject of a suspended writ', Fallen London "The target entered into an agreement – to surrender her soul upon her next death. She has been careful, though, to defer that. This is not to be the murder of a body – you must not, in fact, harm her body at all."
  21. ↑ Kill only the cooperative aspect of these victims, Fallen London "It's easy to extract a courier's ability or inclination for the work: some methods do not even require toxins at all. A sharp blow to each knee-cap is enough. Killing the poetry in a poet: that's a subtler job. A matter of blocking passages, stopping the lymphatic flow of insight. Killing the scheming, thriving, publicity-hounding nature of the publishers: that is the most difficult of all."
  22. ↑ Conceal the pattern that is increasingly hard to miss, Fallen London "You will become a Siopian, gifted in making sure your murders draw no attention and the assassinations go unnoticed by society."
  23. ↑ Conceal the pattern that is increasingly hard to miss, Fallen London "You are a licentiate, and these victims are assigned to you. You need not refrain from killing them. You only need to reduce the impact of all those deaths."
  24. ↑ Conceal the pattern that is increasingly hard to miss, Fallen London "The couriers cannot all die in the same place or on the same business – nor can London be allowed to run out of package-carriers. That would surely raise comment. Accordingly [...] you establish training schools that will train urchins for the profession, providing a supply where you have already created the demand. When it comes to the poets and novelists [...] that's a more delicate business. No individual writer may be missed specifically, but there must be enough popular acclaim for such writing to inspire a steady flow of imitators. A shared pen name is ideal for the purpose [...]"
  25. ↑ 'The Spider in the Web', Fallen London "A prominent target. A very prominent target, with a vast web of failsafes, contingencies, and dead man's triggers. [...] All those incriminating letters, obscure protocols, and devolved retaliations simply don't happen. The Spider vanishes, and the world heals over the wound without leaving a scar. That night, the final step – a thimbleful of something just for you. When you wake, you remember nothing of the Spider. Just a sense of deep, lingering satisfaction."
  26. ↑ The Licentiate's Bounty, Fallen London "You put them on your table, where a pile of newspaper reports, eyewitness accounts and penny dreadful retellings of your deeds accumulates."
  27. ↑ A List of Aliases, Writ in Gant, Fallen London
  28. ↑ Become a Licentiate, Fallen London "He kept the scrap of leather inside his shirt, pressed against his heart. You take it, wipe it. It's empty. But you know it was written in gant, the colour that's left when all others are devoured. You snuff the candle. Gant can only be read in the absence of light. Mirrored letters trace their way through the dark. They were scratched in haste; the penmanship is awkward. There he is: 'the Calico Knight.'"
  29. ↑ A List of Aliases, Writ in Gant, Fallen London "It is scribbled untidily on the back of a scrap of leather -scribbled in gant-hued ink that can only be read in the dark."
  30. ↑ A List of Aliases, Writ in Gant, Fallen London "As each name is crossed off, a new one appears. Will one of them be yours?"
  31. ↑ A very familiar alias, Fallen London "It's a good thing you saw this first. Now to make it seem as though this commission was fulfilled, so that your name comes off the list again."
  32. ↑ A very familiar alias, Fallen London "A tame waiter 'distracts' you with the specials board long enough to empty an angry-red vial of your own devising into your drink. You sip. The effects are swift and almost painless. True, a temporary blindness sets in [...] and you cannot move your legs. But to all outward appearances, you've died; you even appear to have died more permanently than most. You come to three days later [...] When you search the list, your name is gone."
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