"Whatever you think you remember, the first step is to remember that you don't."
WARNING: Beyond this point lie spoilers for the Discordant Studies storyline from Fallen London. Do not proceed forward.
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"You don't pass through the ice, and the ice doesn't lock overhead. Reassure yourself: this isn't happening. Therefore, there's nothing to worry about. You haven't opened a doorway that cannot be closed. You haven't entered a castle that hasn't been built. This isn't where the Discordance is studied, because it cannot be studied. You aren't welcome here."[1]
"Even dreams have more substance than this castle's chambers."[2]
The Adulterine Castle was not built below a frozen lake near the Hurlers,[3] and the lake's surface does not act as its gateway.[4] A person's mindset shapes what they perceive, and what they do not perceive;[5] thus, if a traveler stares at the ice with the right mindset, they will not enter the castle.[6][7] It is not strictly known what is and is not happening within the Adulterine Castle,[8][9] though given its nonexistence, most events involving Adulterine are "not happening."[10] However, the Adulterine Castle is not a dream, as dreams are "out there" over in Parabola.[11]
The castle is inhabited by countless Stewards of the Discordance[12] who do not study the Discordance,[13][14] and who do not partake in typical chores and activities together, such as laundry,[15] sorting the mail,[16] or dining.[17] Those who are not visiting the Adulterine Castle will see the frozen lake's surface above their head,[18] as well as the Standing Stones of the Hurlers. However, these "stones" will appear to be two teams of goat-demons not playing hurling,[19][20] because the "Hurlers" are simultaneously two rings of standing stones upon a hill, and two teams of goat-demons.[21] The Stewards who reside in Adulterine do not spectate the goat-demons' games, and do not gamble on the games' outcome.[22]
Nonexistent Architecture
"Chambers don't open around you. Stewards don't move through these chambers, reading books without pages, calculating figures without digits or values. Hallways never lead to the same door, and doors never lead into the same room."[23]
"Staircases don't spiral into heights above your head. Windows don't melt and pool under your feet in gleaming puddles, whose surfaces are not ceilings that Stewards drift across. These Stewards aren't gathering data or conducting linguistic research with peculiar instruments. You can't concentrate when the wallpaper keeps changing into other wallpaper."[23]
Forbidden.
This castle which does not exist features a courtyard,[24] transparent towers,[25] and an interior[26] with many halls and rooms.[27][28] Plants do not grow here,[29] and snow does not fall throughout.[30] The lower levels of the castle do not contain chambers that house libraries of empty books,[31][32] and the Stewards that work here study how the Discordance behaves when translated from nonexistence to existence.[33] The upper levels do not feature spiraling staircases, melting windows, and unchanging wallpaper.[34] The Stewards here do not use goat-demons as test subjects for nonexistent studies they will not remember, and the goat-demons do not experiment on the Stewards in turn.[35]
What Is Not Within
"Everything that isn't here would simply float away (bubbles trapped in the ice rising finally to the surface) were these nonexistent rooms, these transparent towers, unbound from the weightless weight that hasn't sunk like an anchor to the depths beneath the lake; rather, like an Anchoress. Her absence is ever-present when you don't traverse the twisting corridors."[36]
The Anchoress does not dwell in the Adulterine Castle where "all corridors connect,"[37] but she anchors the nonexistent castle in place, preventing it from "floating away."[38][39] She does not reside in an anchorhold[40] - a locked room with a single window - deep within the castle,[41][42] with only a black cat for company.[43][44]
The Anchoress did not build the Adulterine Castle. While she was living in England during the Black Plague,[45] she read and understood the sigils of the Discordance written on the Hurlers.[46][47] This brought her into contact with the Black, a binary Judgement who was erased from reality and history.[48][49] The Black used the Discordance[50] to decree that neither itself nor the Anchoress would be alone, and also decreed the Anchoress would always be herself.[51] And so, as she comforted the Black, she became herself: she is the Anchoress, and she is the Castle.[52]
↑Open your eyes, Fallen London"Stare into the lake's frozen surface. [...] You don't pass through the ice, and the ice doesn't lock overhead. [...] You haven't entered a castle that hasn't been built."
↑Take tea with her 4, Fallen London""What we perceive is reflected in us," the Steward says. "What we don't perceive is reflected too. [...] If your nightmares reflect a number that's not in your head, then your thoughts will reflect nonexistence. [...] Look into the lake. [...] you won't see anything in the ice – unless you see nothing.""
↑Discuss the Hurlers again 2, Fallen London"As she speaks, your skull grows steadily colder. [...] the next time you visit the lake. The Hurlers are reflected in the ice, but only when your thoughts reflect them too. Now your thoughts will." (Crystalline Knowledge set to 3)"
↑Open your eyes, Fallen London"Stare into the lake's frozen surface. [...] Unlocked with Crystalline Knowledge 3-6 [...] You have not entered a new area."
↑Concentrate more, Fallen London"Imagine the possibilities. You might be dancing. You might be dining. [...] You only have to picture it, and there you are again, even if you have never been there."
↑Open your eyes, Fallen London"Reassure yourself: this isn't happening. [...] You haven't opened a doorway that cannot be closed. You haven't entered a castle that hasn't been built. [...]"
↑Consult the Stewards of the Discordance, Fallen London"Deadly Grammar Lessons [...] Nobody can fully understand the Discordance. The Stewards [...] Whenever one attempts to study a sigil, another waits nearby with a weapon. [...] Steward starts to comprehend too much, the second Steward employs the weapon."
↑Laundry Day, Fallen London"Laundry Day [...] All the Stewards in this castle wear identical clothing. [...] they're not soaking their robes in great tubs or scrubbing their wimples [...]"
↑Sorting the Mail, Fallen London"Sorting the Mail [...] Discordant Missives are never delivered to the Adulterine Castle. [...] it isn't your responsibility to help the other Stewards sort the envelopes."
↑Beneath the Standing Stones, Fallen London"Beneath the Standing Stones [...] When you aren't in the castle, you can gaze upward and study the lake's underside. You can see the Hurlers, two stone circles [...] but they aren't stone circles. Each stone is a goat-demon. [...] their game has been frozen, their two teams locked mid-play beneath the ice."
↑Don't talk about the game, Fallen London"Hurling [...] This is a game that never ends, just as it never began. [...] these goat-demons. [...] which hurling team won't score higher in the next match."
↑Don't talk about the game, Fallen London"Because these are the Hurlers. Because there is no difference between the standing stones atop the hill, and these goat-demons."
↑Don't talk about the game, Fallen London"The Stewards are accepting bets on which hurling team won't score higher [...] that is to say, they aren't accepting bets. The Anchoress doesn't condone gambling."
↑The Lower Castle, Fallen London"The Lower Castle [...] Chambers don't open around you. Stewards don't move through these chambers, reading books without pages, calculating figures without digits or values."
↑Consult the Lower Stewards, Fallen London"Consult the Lower Stewards [...] Discuss what isn't being studied in the floating libraries. [...] the only way to safely study the Discordance is not to study it. [...] Difficulties [...] when its nonexistent principles are translated into existence. [...] In this nonexistent castle, Stewards work to study how effects might manifest. [...] an approximation still might be approached."
↑The Upper Castle, Fallen London"The Upper Castle [...] Staircases don't spiral [...] above your head. Windows don't melt and pool [...] the wallpaper keeps changing into other wallpaper."
↑Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London"Quite a few Stewards aren't dragging goat-demons [...] into [...] laboratories. [...] in order to research Discordant phenomena, test subjects aren't necessary. Quite a few goat-demons also aren't dragging Stewards into various laboratories [...] Research that could never be conducted elsewhere can't be conducted in this castle either, which is why so much research is not being conducted here. Whenever something isn't learned, the Stewards don't remember it."
↑The Adulterine Castle, Fallen London"Everything that isn't here would simply float away [...] were these nonexistent rooms, [...] unbound from the weightless weight that hasn't sunk like an anchor [...] like an Anchoress. Her absence is ever-present when you don't traverse the twisting corridors."
↑Approach the Anchoress 3, Fallen London"You cannot [...] peer through a prison window, to see the woman who holds this castle together with her prayers. She isn't here, and you aren't here [...]"
↑Approach the Anchoress 2, Fallen London"You're looking through a prison window. [...] the Anchoress will never leave her anchorhold. She cannot leave, because she isn't there."
↑Leave the anchorhold, Fallen London"You never entered the cell. [...] The little door to this room will remain locked. [...] When you are an Anchoress [...]"
↑Approach the Anchoress 4, Fallen London"You haven't opened deeper corridors in this castle. You can't walk down those corridors to find a [...] little room, which you cannot visit now. [...] The Anchoress is not expecting you. [...] There is not a window here for her to see the sky. It isn't a very small window, outfitted with bars [...] It is an enormous window, larger than this [...] room can hold, thrown open to the star-drenched universe."
↑The Anchorhold, Fallen London"The Anchoress [...] A little black cat isn't curled on her lap, her only companion in this tiny room."
↑Leave the anchorhold, Fallen London"The Anchoress doesn't lift a hand to bid goodbye. Her hands are clasped eternally in prayer; she could not lift one if she wanted to. [...] She will never have any company except her cat."
↑All Dark in the Chamber, Fallen London"Living when rats swarm through every gutter, when a plague sweeps the city, and still lighting a candle in your window every night: [...] she did it.""
↑Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London"[...] the darkness comes to you. Stay at your [...] window, with your [...] candle, and read the night-steeped text that rises with the stones atop the hill outside."
↑Before the Black Throne, Fallen London"no monarch screams – no monarch with two tongues, two mouths, two crowns whose laws are void, stricken from life, stricken from death, [...] forgotten [...]"
↑Enter the courtyard (The Black Castle), Fallen London"The Discordant Law [...] and you will never be alone – and we will never be alone – [...] the Anchoress does come closer, walking toward the standing stones [...] by our decree, you shall still be yourself"
↑Enter the courtyard (The Black Castle), Fallen London"[...] she becomes herself [...] she fills the castle with herself – until she herself is the castle, and the castle has become herself. And kneeling amongst the stones, she cradles no frozen king whose body [...] shivers in her embrace."
