The Great Chain of Being

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Revision as of 10:54, 16 July 2022 by 194.50.13.47 (talk) (Fix the grammar and correct the typos)

"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.

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UNDER CONSTRUCTION

The Great Chain (also known as the Great Chain of Being, Great Chain of Existence[1] or the Chain) is the natural hierarchy of all living things.[2] It is a tool made by the Judgements[3] to ensure that the universe behaves according to their design.

All Living Things Are Joined in the Great Chain

Every species occupies a place in the hierarchy of the Chain.[4] To change one's place, is not only forbidden by the Judgments,[5] but made incredibly difficult where their laws apply. However, in places like the Neath where their laws cannot reach, one's nature is a bit more... mutable.[6] The art of breaking the Chain is called the Red Science. [4]

The Pre-Historicist believe that the chain not only dictate your place, but your purpose, which manifest itself in what a species naturally desires to do. If one believes this, and we add the fact that a desire can be caused by a part of the body,[7][8] it then follows that the place in the Chain can be determined by a part of the specie's body. They also believe that this chain contain gaps, since they are task that human find unpleasant, such as hard manual labour. So they think these gaps should be fixed by creating beings who can and desire to do such work.[9][10] (At least, that's what the Pre-Historicist philosopher believe. Other members simply want to create giant dinosaurs.) The Liberationists however, believes that whatever purpose the Chain serves, it is a tool of oppression and was never intended to help humanity, therefor the Pre-Historicist are wasting their times.[11] In fact, they think the body itself is a prison,[12] and the order of the universe is fundamentally unjust.[13]

Real-Life Origins

The Great Chain of Being is a Christian concept in which every being is ranked, with God at the top, followed by angels, humans, animals (stratified according to their role in nature), plants, and minerals.[14] Some claim that there are three principles behind this idea: the principles of Plenitude (the Chain is the expression of God's power), of Continuity (there are no gaps in the chain), and of Gradation (all beings are ordered from the highest to the lowest).[15]

References

  1. ↑ Penance: Shift of Perspective, Sunless Skies
  2. ↑ A dangerous deal, Fallen London
  3. ↑ What –, Fallen London
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Surrender to the traces of horror , Sunless Sea
  5. ↑ Listen to the third hymn , Sunless Skies
  6. ↑ Pleasure, Fallen London
  7. ↑ Refer a patient to the Cladery Heir , Sunless Sea
  8. ↑ Why did the Fathomking give your father a knife? , Sunless Sea
  9. ↑ Ask her about the Prehistoricists (Furnace), Fallen London
  10. ↑ Ask about his goals, Fallen London
  11. ↑ Ask her about the Prehistoricists (January), Fallen London
  12. ↑ Season Conclusions (Guide)#The Season of Revolutions, Fallen London ’"A body is a prison. No one asked to be constrained in one."’
  13. ↑ Opening a Christmas Card, Sunless Skies
  14. ↑ Great chain of being, Wikipedia
  15. ↑ Great Chain of Being, Encyclopedia.com
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