Port Cecil

"A sourceless silver glow. A haven for players of games."

Port Cecil is the largest island in the center of a coral reef known as the Principles of Coral.

The Grandmasters

"Rumpled convolutions of coral fill the water, glimmering with silvery light. The harder you look, the more you see shapes amid the chaos, almost as if they were sculpted. This one could be a crenellated castle: that one, a horse's head."

The inhabitants of Port Cecil are strangely fond of chess, playing obsessively as if under a hypnotic spell. The chessmen they use are made of scintillack, a kind of glowing coral, and the pieces are abrasive and often blood-soaked. Particularly invested players may hallucinate that the pieces have their own individual agendas, reflecting the politics of the Great Game. Or, they may see that the chess mirrors the power struggles of the Neath, between the Lorn-Flukes, the Echo Bazaar, Mt Nomad, and the Gods of the Unterzee, among others.

These hallucinations may not all be figments of the imagination, however. The whole of Port Cecil is bathed in a soft silver light, with the appearance of some form of unreality, and this glow may grant the citizens of the port strange waking dreams involving the Neath's political intrigues, including the activities of major factions like the Khanate and the Fathomking.

Every now and again, mysterious ruins may rise from the Unterzee, its stones and structures encased in amber, similar in composition to the deep amber traded in Fallen London. These ruins resemble those seen in desert countries, and are full of mysterious, shapeling skeletons, but they can be dangerous to explore, as they may sink at any moment back into the blackness from which they came.

There's a small Rubbery population at Port Cecil, and other factions from around the Neath, such as the Presbyterate, may gather here to play chess and hold diplomatic meetings.

Scintillack

"Coral that glimmers as if moonlit. It makes marvellous jewellery or terribly expensive tea."

"Of course, you think. They broke from the Shining Mind: they have its vitality, but not its weariness or experience."

A Knob of Scintillack.

Scintillack is glowing coral found across the Unterzee that serves as a trade commodity and as the main export of Port Cecil. This variety of coral is known for its moon-like glow, and it's used in jewelry and extremely luxurious tea. It can also be used in snuff, if snorting fire is suited to one's tastes, but said snuff is questionably legal at best. As an aside, scintillack may also "scream" when it is burnt.

The scintillack chess sets used in Port Cecil can be dangerously engrossing, especially when observed too closely, and this may prove disadvantageous during chess games played with said pieces. Silvery coral growths also cover the elder inhabitants of the port, as they play, languish, and dream in Port Cecil for as long as they possibly can.

Harvesting scintillack at Port Cecil may prove hazardous; breaking off the coral directly is illegal and often results in acid burns and blindness. Furthermore, searching for stray scintillack deposits without proper precautions may lead to madness, as the harvester hallucinates the scintillack beads resembling eyes: eyes that monitor their every move, their every sin, and their every thought...

Blue scintillack is an extremely rare and coveted substance that peppers the wilds of the Unterzee. It is known for emitting tremendous amounts of apocyan light, which can be spotted even from far away. This light may remind an observer of the lost sky of the Surface, or even the light of the heavens themselves.

Scintillack deposits are also a common sight at Pigmote Isle, and the island has a closely guarded lump of blue scintillack that is sought after by many other factions of the Unterzee, such as the masked gatherings of Visage and the courts of the Fathomking.

The Principles of Coral

"Are you quite sure you want to know this?" Beyond this point lie major spoilers for Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies, or Mask of the Rose. This may include endgame or major Fate-locked spoilers. Proceed at your own risk. You can find out more about our spoiler policy here.

"Between stars. Descend the chain. I rest here. I forget."

"The game soothes the pangs of dissolution in. But I want so to be less. I am tired of thought. Will you help me? Sleep will not enough. I desire no dreams. Will you help?"

The Principles of Coral, also called the Shining Mind, is actually a sentient, chess-loving power, waited on by Rubbery Men including the Nacreous Outcast. The Mind is the true source of the silver glow that lights Port Cecil from beneath, and it may rarely speak, almost telepathically, to certain visitors that draw its attention.

The scintillack pebbles that dot Port Cecil are broken bits of the Principles of Coral, and they are as alive as their host, with none of the experience or weariness that currently troubles the Principles. This scintillack is also used to mark the servants of the Principles, burning them with distinctive, glowing scars.

The Principles of Coral used to be a Lorn-Fluke, but it grew exhausted as time went on. It now wants to free itself of its sentience, and to do this, it seeks to descend a few rungs down the Great Chain of Being; it's already much of the way there, which is why it appears the way it does, seemingly inanimate but very alive. To descend the Chain, the Principles of Coral needs to lose a chess game, with the Nacreous Outcast serving as its surrogate; it must also provide another creature, a "counterweight," with an ascension, thus satisfying the Chain's arcane rules and sending the Principles into the dreamless sleep it so seeks.

Perhaps most importantly, the Shining Mind never, ever regrets. Not even when it left Axile with its fellows on the behest of the Bazaar; not then, and definitely not now.

Scintillack Chess

"You don't often look at chess-pieces: not really look. The Bishops, with their hooks. The Night, with its mane and teeth. The Kin and the Cream, white mingled with red. The Roots that pin the corner of the board down, to keep you safe from your opponent. You lift a Paw to toy with it: touch its velvety pads."

"Checkmate. Look too closely, did we? You need to be careful with scintillack chess-sets."

An Apocyan Chess Piece.

The strange chess played in Port Cecil is quite dissimilar to the chess familiar to those from London. The scintillack chess pieces seem to take on slightly different, but still recognizable, forms, and this strange game isn't localized strictly to Port Cecil; it may also be played by very specific agents of the Great Game. However, these pieces need not strictly be scintillack; they may be made of other materials, perhaps for the sake of symbolism or practicality.

• Nights are said to have manes and sharp fangs, and may wound those who move them. The Principles considers them ornamental, but such ornaments are, after all, vital in chess.
• Bishops appear to take on a spiraling shape and possess sharp hooks. The Principles of Coral uses its Bishop as a counterweight for its descension on the Great Chain of Being.
• Roots are the corner pieces of the chessboard, and serve as protection from a player's opponent. The Principles uses its own Roots to protect against its troublesome, but incurable, fear of its own impending descent.
• Paws are considered relatively safe pieces to move, and the Principles seems to use Paws to represent the works of its servants, such as the Rubbery Men.
• Pawns are mentioned, but their purpose is unknown, and it's unclear whether these pieces are separate from the similarly-named Paws.
• The Cream is described as a "terrible" piece; this presumably indicates it possesses great power on the chessboard.
• The Kin is the most important of the chess pieces, and its victory or defeat can determine the outcome of a chess match. The Principles of Coral seems to use its Kin to represent its family, the Flukes, and perhaps as a representation of what it once was.