Mereid

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"A city lies shattered around you; strewn across the zee-bed. Heavy spires and sunken sepulchres, tumbled domes and fractured mosaics: the grave of a nation."[1] "Mereid was condemned to sink by the Prester for breaking one of his sacred laws. The queen staved off the Prester's justice for a while - longer than many thought possible - but not forever. Even now, risen again, it bears the peligin signatures of almost-death and almost-dream."[2]

Mereid was an island kingdom located near the Elder Continent. Once a flourishing city, it vanished beneath the waves for centuries before resurfacing as a ruin.

History

Beset by Enemies

Off the Carnelian Coast, just visible from Apis Meet, there was once a kingdom called Mereid.[3] The city's founders, the First Queen and First King, were exiles from the Presbyterate: the Prester's daughter and her beloved. The First Queen had petitioned her father to heal her lover's animescence, but in doing so violated the Prester's edict against outsiders entering Nidah.[4] Rebuffed, the First Queen stole her father's Chalice — a treasure carved from one of the Garden's trees — hoping its curative powers could heal her lover.[5] Though the Chalice could only delay the First King's illness[6], its primal vitality allowed Mereid to flourish. The First Queen planted the Chalice beneath Mereid, and from it grew an enormous tree, lifting the city from the water and suffusing it with vibrant plant life.[7]

The city was populated by outcasts, those who were exiled from their homes for Coveting that Which Was Not Theirs to Covet, and they made it beautiful in the face of their losses.[8] But it was surrounded by enemies; the Prester condemned it to sink beneath the waves for defying him, and Lady Black wanted the city for her palace and its citizens for her companions. Slowly, Mereid began to sink.[9]

A Bargain with the Deep

The Meridians could not stave off the Presbyterate alone, so they made a treaty with Lady Black. The city would stay afloat, and in return, Lady Black would take a newborn from Mereid to raise as her own. As long as the boy remained with her, the city would be safe[10] - but when the boy left to see the world, the city submerged completely. For centuries he wandered the Neath, and eventually became known as the Confounded Traveler, unable to find his way home.

Even before the treaty failed, diplomacy between the Meridians and Lady Black was fragile. Lady Black's influence threatened to subvert the island's foundation tree[11] and the kingdom made contingency plans for its fall[12]. When the island fell, many of its citizens escaped — but the Presbyterate turned the refugees away.[13] All are presumed lost.

Modern Era

In the years after its disappearance, Mereid's history faded from the Presbyterate's memory, surviving only as a cautionary tale against defying the Prester.[14]

In 1897 (2019), the now-Persistent Traveler returned to Lady Black, causing the city to resurface. Presbyterate forces were incredibly alarmed and kept the news quiet; after all, Mereid once held its own against the Presbyterate's might. The Chalice remains deep beneath the island, its vast greenery grown wild and changed by its time in the zee.[15] More recently, the Prester has sent his forces to locate and reclaim the Chalice.[2]

References

  1. ↑ The Season of Explorations, Fallen London
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Exile's Chalice, Fallen London
  3. ↑ The Exile's Chalice, Fallen London "I was guarding the walls of Apis Meet when it happened. [...] It was just visible from the mouth of Adam's Way, a distant jewel on the horizon."
  4. ↑ The Exile's Chalice, Fallen London A couple – a woman, with his same proud jaw and regal bearing, and a man, sickly and thin – approach the figure in his holy city at the base of a bright mountain. The ruler's aspect becomes cruel and twisted, and he rejects his petitioners.
  5. ↑ The Exile's Chalice, Fallen London "The chalice. It was carved from one of the trees of the Garden. The First Queen stole it from her father, the Prester." Their eyes are mournful. "All she wanted was to heal her partner."
  6. ↑ The Exile's Chalice, Fallen London The daughter and the soul-sick other, twined like lovers, like climbing ivy. Life remembers being taken, far from root-soil, vessel still, pouring honeyed balm into the soul-sickness. The sickness returning the other to earth, pruned from the daughter's arms.
  7. ↑ The Exile's Chalice, Fallen London An idea takes root in your mind, an idea planted by the First Queen into Mereid's barren ground in desperate hope. The idea sprouts branches. The idea lifts a whole city up and out of the zee on vast and loving boughs. The idea is the chalice...
  8. ↑ The Season of Explorations, Fallen London "Its name was Mereid. Its people were cast-outs. They were exiled for the crime of Coveting that Which Was Not Theirs to Covet. They made their city beautiful in defiance..."
  9. ↑ The Season of Explorations, Fallen London "The island was always sinking. Something else wanted the city more"
  10. ↑ The Season of Explorations, Fallen London "They say there's a woman below the zee. [...] She wanted the city to be her palace. The Meridians bargained [...] She was to have a newborn boy from the [...] So long as he dwelt with her beneath the waves, the city would stand above. But, the boy grew into a curious child and one day —""
  11. ↑ The Exile's Chalice, Fallen London "This is very Late Mereid. [...] 'The touch of the Deep Lady creeps inland, and the Ambassadors fear the taint will reach the Tree...'"
  12. ↑ The Exile's Chalice, Fallen London '...in the event that the treaty with the Deep Lady is broken, the power of our Queen will no longer be able to hold back the waters. Civilians should evacuate along the Bright Avenue and board the boats of the Seventh Gate. The High Gardeners will excise the Chalice at the root and flee through the Dock Beneath. [...]'
  13. ↑ The Exile's Chalice, Fallen London "And when the Meridians came, clinging to driftwood and crowded on ships, the Guard-Captains of the Replete gave us orders straight from the Prester himself. We were to turn them all away. We – I – turned them all away."
  14. ↑ The Exile's Chalice, Fallen London "Mereid is a myth. A fairy story told to children in the Presbyterate to frighten them into obedience."
  15. ↑ The Exile's Chalice, Fallen London It is as though this great confusion of life is pulling its inspirations from two different repositories; one airy and light, an echo of the lost Surface, and one deep and dark, those forms that flourish in the lightless depths of the zee.
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