Fingerkings
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“Humans rule the waking world,” he tells you, “more or less. And the Fingerkings rule most of this place. A long time ago, some rather careless people made these images to imprison Fingerkings. I'm not so careless. I can use it to enact my revenge on the 'king that took my hand.”
Fingerkings are snake-like entities that rule over the majority of Parabola.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Emerald coils
Fingerkings swim in a river of memory and dreams, called the Writhing River, which can be accessed via several locations scattered around the Neath (Hunter's Keep and Irem are examples). Little is known of their origins or purpose, but they occasionally help individuals understand lost knowledge and secrets. Even the Bazaar itself is not safe from the Fingerkings' influence. If one makes a deal with them it is possible to peer into the deepest secrets of the world, but that's not advisable. (Look at what happened to poor July, a member of the Calendar Council.) The Fingerkings are known for traveling through mirrors, making places like Varchas rather dangerous for unprotected humans. Since Parabola is lawless, Fingerkings can take on many forms, such as that of a dragon, or a winged snake.
The cats are the sworn enemies of the Fingerkings, to the point that simply showing one a snake will lead to an eternal hissing contest. The Third Coil of The Labyrinth of Tigers houses humans that were possessed by these creatures. Mirrors are banned for obvious reasons.
In the Sunless Skies timeline, a Fingerking-Exile lies within the Well of Wonders, and is one of the Halved's most hated foes.
Catching Dream-Snakes
Should one ever happen to get on the bad side of a Fingerking, it's advised that the unfortunate individual never sleep, ever, lest they be killed permanently by furious dream-snakes. (The Tireless Mechanic is in this situation.) These are the last thing many people want to meet, but many knowledge-craving madmen have double-crossed Fingerkings in order to discover forbidden secrets. One who has done so can only stave off sleep for so long; if they do want to rest, they will have to build a serpent trap. It's a clever creation that allows its snake-plagued maker at least one night of sleep. It uses a Clay Man as a decoy to draw the Fingerkings' attention away from oneself; the snakes eat the Clay Man's soul, and the trap becomes one of the few sources of the elusive Neathy green called viric.
The Order Serpentine
ONCE UPON A TIME there was a little snake, no bigger than your finger, who lived behind the mirror. The little snake was very lonely, and the only friends he could find behind the mirror were old memories and strangling roots and the grumpiest bee above or below the world. And so...
...THE LITTLE SNAKE asked the grumpiest bee in both worlds for help. And the bee said, why should I help? And the snake said, I will give you one-fifth of all I gain thereby. So the bee thought, and he said, in a far place there grows a rose. And that rose...
...THE ROSE, WHICH IS CALLED EXILE'S ROSE, has a property of passage. So shall I brew a honey from its dusts and pollens, and the honey shall be sweet, and it shall bring those who taste it, here to your dwelling. And sometimes they shall stay forever. And the little snake was very pleased with all the new friends the honey brought, but...
ALL THE LITTLE SNAKE'S NEW FRIENDS spoke fondly of the place outside the mirror. And the little snake thought: what if I could walk there among all my friends-to-be? They need not leave. We would be all so very happy. But I may not walk in my own skin. So perhaps my friends shall lend me their skin...
