The Duchess

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"There are some things we were not meant to know, they say. But you wouldn't be down here if you took that seriously."

Beyond this point lie spoilers for Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies, or Mask of the Rose. This may include midgame or minor Fate-locked content. Proceed with caution.

You can find out more about our spoiler policy here.


"The Duchess is a woman of independent inclinations. Her opinions do not always align with those of the great and the good."[1]

The Duchess is a noblewoman who resides in the Tortoiseshell Wing of the Shuttered Palace, where she regularly hosts salons.[2]

The "Crazy" Cat Lady

"A lady of style, grace and refinement, whose salons may be the best-attended in Fallen London. Just don't ask about her peculiar diet. Or her name. Or her association with the city's cats. Or her past. Actually, best not to say anything, just nod and drink her lovely tea. It is very lovely tea."[3]

The Duchess is a devoted lover of cats, and is often seen accompanied by a contingent of feline companions.[4] Treating cats well is essential for anyone hoping to gain her favor.[5]

She holds the authority to convene the Court of Cats, a tribunal for hearing petitions and resolving disputes among felines and their associates. However, her role is strictly that of an arbiter; she cannot alter the Court's verdict once it has been delivered.[6] The Duchess's cats form an entire royal hierarchy, both in the Neath and Parabola. The cats can marry, divorce, and distribute property amongst themselves in Parabola.[7] Although she disapproves of the game Pass the Cat, in which cats are mailed to unsuspecting targets,[8] she is not above using it as a punishment for cats who have somehow offended her.[9]

The Duchess often disagrees with the established elite;[10] she is drawn to the radical and unusual,[11] often sponsoring individuals who capture her interest.[12] She maintains a fierce rivalry with the Gracious Widow.[13]


Okay, But Who is She Really?

"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.


The Duchess was an Egyptian princess, which explains her affinity with all things feline; she uses heavy makeup to hide her true appearance.[14] She was originally betrothed to her father, the Pharaoh, in accordance with royal tradition.[15] However, she had fallen in love with a scribe,[16] so she sent a cobra[17] to kill the Pharaoh.[16] Immediately regretting this action,[18][19] she bargained with the Bazaar to save her father's life in exchange for what became known as the Second City.[20][21] The Masters' methods kept him alive, but transformed him into the oozing venom-monster known as the Cantigaster.[22] The Duchess still visits her father at midnight each Sunday, in the third wine cellar under the Shuttered Palace,[23] to milk venom out of his skin and bring him relief. What she takes away, presumably, is Cantigaster venom.[24] She has considered other methods to give her father respite as well, like feeding him lacre[25] or sending him to Parabola.[26]

There are conflicting accounts regarding the true identity of the Duchess. The Calendar Code identifies her as the youngest of the Pharaoh's six daughters,[27] Setepenre (whose name in hieroglyphs combines the sun-disk and an adze-on-block).[28] This is supported by other sources as well: the Mother Superior confirms that the youngest daughter was taken hostage by the Bazaar,[29] and My Kingdom For A Pig likewise refers to the Duchess as Setepenre.[30]

However, in The Attendants, the Obstinate Adoratrice claims that the youngest sister died on the Surface.[31] This apparent contradiction might be explained by the possibility that the Duchess simply never told her sister she survived. She is aware of the Adoratrice’s whereabouts and could easily send a message via one of her cats to the Palace of the Rising. Yet, due to longstanding enmity between the two, she chooses not to.[32] Historically, the real Setepenre died before the age of six and was the first of her sisters to pass away. If the Duchess is not Setepenre, then the most likely alternative by process of elimination would be Neferneferuaten Tasherit (Neferneferuaten the Younger), the fourth daughter.

The Duchess was fond of another of her sisters, the Roseate Queen, but the last time they saw each other was when the future Queen fled to the Elder Continent, only informing the Duchess of her departure through a dream.[33]

Historical & Cultural Inspirations

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

References

  1. ↑ Faction: The Duchess, Fallen London
  2. ↑ Entry to the Duchess' Salon, Fallen London "The Duchess has rooms in the Tortoiseshell Wing of the Shuttered Palace. You know her secretary a little from your honey-sipping days. He's hinted you may find a welcome at the salon she holds, if you can demonstrate your worth."
  3. ↑ Sidebar Snippets: Who is the Duchess, Fallen London
  4. ↑ Gleams in the darkness, Fallen London "[…] You lurk on her rooftop and watch her carriage disappear, with dozens of cats trotting behind […]"
  5. ↑ Encourage gossip about the Duchess, Fallen London ""[Her] cats are the key to her mood. One must become something of an ailuromancer," [...] One of his colleagues has gone so far as to make a chart. This meaning for a cat with a question-mark tail. That meaning for paws neatly folded before the breast."
  6. ↑ Gain an audience with the Duchess, Fallen London "I will convene a session of the Court of Cats tomorrow. Return at noon and make your case to the assembled dignitaries. But be warned: I cannot guarantee the result will be in your favour."
  7. ↑ The Court of Cats, Fallen London "The Duchess nods. "I concur, Arbiter. The marriage is dissolved. Prince-Bishop: the Misermere is yours." The Viscountess pours, resentfully, from her footstool and prowls from the room. Her crestfallen supporters follow her."
  8. ↑ Pass the Cat: a wriggling delivery, Fallen London "The game of Pass the Cat has grown fashionable lately, despite the Duchess' displeasure. Someone has selected you as the next link in the unwrapping chain."
  9. ↑ Behold the cat, Fallen London "She frees herself from the wrappings with a single graceful twist of her aristocratic back. "Thank you," she murmurs. "The Duchess' judgements can be harsh. I see you've prepared a place for me. Delightful. I may deign to remain here a little while.""
  10. ↑ Faction: The Duchess, Fallen London "The Duchess is a woman of independent inclinations. Her opinions do not always align with those of the great and the good."
  11. ↑ The Duchess enjoys controversy, Fallen London "The easiest way to catch her attention is to be a little bit exceptional. You could be excitingly Radical. Of course, this sort of thing can rapidly get out of control."
  12. ↑ Rob the study, Fallen London "The Duchess writes many letters. Her […] patronage of certain courtiers means she must receive many more. There should be secrets enough in her private study for a storm of scandal and some very lucrative blackmail. Best take some cat-bait, though."
  13. ↑ Betray the Duchess, Fallen London "Begrudging respect" "[...] I'm pleased she can still keep up after all these years."
  14. ↑ Set forth into the cellars, Fallen London "A woman passes you. She is dressed in a simple white linen shift and about twenty pounds of gold jewellery. She is dark-skinned: African, perhaps. There's something familiar about her, though. Good God! It's the Duchess! Freed from her paints and powders, she is much darker. And younger! She looks barely thirty. It's definitely her, though, cat-earrings and all."
  15. ↑ Speak to the Postlapsarian Synod on the Eucharist, Fallen London "…oh, no, no. She’s far older than that. Before Anthony’s time, certainly. And I think she’s his daughter, not his sister-wife. And we don’t talk about him in mixed company."
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 The Calendar Code, Fallen London "She kills her betrothed. She kills him with a snake. To be with her lover, the scribe." The translator shakes his head. "The scribe knows it can never be. He knows they will find out, and they will come for him. He writes that he is already dead. And the betrothed doesn't even die. He becomes—"
  17. ↑ Breed the Plated Seal 2, Fallen London "A cobra! It must be twenty feet long. The venom dripping from its fangs leaves smoking holes in the stone roof the size of grapes. Its hood bears the Correspondence symbol for ‘A gift to remind a woman of something best forgotten.'"
  18. ↑ My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "Dart, little snake, dart. Bite, little snake, bite. Sink your fangs until your venom wells from welts as red as treachery. Come, little snake, come. I'll stroke your head. Now my betrothed is dead. What, little snake, have I done? What, little snake, have I done?"
  19. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "'Love is intoxicating, overwhelming. Age, status, rank – they offer no immunity. In the grip of love I did something I will always regret. I will never be free from the consequences, and suffer deeply for my actions then. Yet I still cherish the moments that led me there. I can never forget, and I do not want to."
  20. ↑ '...look forward so very much to your next visit...', Fallen London "A long time ago... three cities ago in fact... when I was more than a Duchess, but still a friend to cats... I was betrothed. I loved him a great deal, and when a serpent stung him, I was distraught. I would have done anything to save him. The Bazaar knew as much. [...]"
  21. ↑ My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "You had to do it, didn't you? But now you have a choice. High on the palace balcony, above the purple riverbank, they wait until the glyphs have dried – a disc; a tool embedded in a block – to collect the contract. Remember, above all, the sun will always rise somewhere."
  22. ↑ Set forth into the cellars, Fallen London "You can see immediately that the Cantigaster was once a man. Now he is a living, shuddering sac of poison. His flesh swells green and soft like rotting fruit. Foul venoms ooze beneath his skin."
  23. ↑ Making Your Name: The Duchess and the Cantigaster, Fallen London "It's Sunday, approaching midnight. The servant said that you'd learn what you needed to in the third wine cellar."
  24. ↑ Set forth into the cellars, Fallen London "[...] You watch as the Duchess... as she milks the poison from his skin. The Cantigaster sighs with relief as his venoms trickle into a stone bucket. [...]"
  25. ↑ Fulfil your promise to the Duchess, Fallen London "I have heard of the transformative properties of lacre. [...] My husband suffers from an acute malady. I hope that an application of lacre will provide some relief from his condition. [...]"
  26. ↑ Untapped wealth, Fallen London "[...] But a deep pond comes up with something startling. It claims to remember when the Cantigaster was 'his real self, before the asp bit and the pact was sealed. That's why they won't abide talk of that place, you know. She's still there, though, isn't she? Sending him to Parabola when she wants, no doubt." [Editor's note: Historically the Greek name "aspis" (which means "viper") was used for a variety of venomous snakes found around the Nile. It is believed that the most likely or common species referenced by the modernized name "asp" was the Egyptian cobra, as reflected in other text.]
  27. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "He refers to her with these symbols: the sun-disk, above a cutting tool embedded in a wood block. And here: the youngest of six daughters. He is using circumlocutions, perhaps in an attempt to disguise her identity. But he cannot hide the awe with which he regards her. It is embedded in the construction of the text. I would say... a girl of noble birth."
  28. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "There is no signature. Just two simple symbols, scribed in careful strokes: a disk, above a tool embedded in a wood block."
  29. ↑ Buying secrets, Fallen London "[...] My sisters and I have been watching the Vake for many years. Since the Second City, in fact. We were a royal house then. We played those black-cloaked vultures for fools, so we did. Beat them at their own game and pulled the nose of the Bazaar. And they never forgave us. Kept the youngest sister hostage while the rest of us ran for it. [...]"
  30. ↑ My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "You had to do it, didn't you? But now you have a choice. High on the palace balcony, above the purple riverbank, they wait until the glyphs have dried – a disc; a tool embedded in a block – to collect the contract. Remember, above all, the sun will always rise somewhere."
  31. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "I am the only one left now. The youngest of us perished on the Surface, the eldest in the House of the Feather. The rest are lost to me. I keep this place in their memory."
  32. ↑ Take advantage of brief privacy, Fallen London "[...] I know where she is. I know how few she has around her – friends, or servants. I could reach out. Even if I can't visit her, my cats might. If properly incentivised. [...] But I won't ask them. She despises me for what I did to survive. I can't forgive her."
  33. ↑ Share information with the Duchess, Fallen London "Over a hot cup, she tells you of her sister. She was wilful, intemperate and discourteous. But she loved her dearly – "as we often do those who cause us pain." The Duchess refreshes her cup, and is almost offhand: she last saw her sister in dream. [...] No, her sister did not reveal where she was going. Only that it was a distant shore, beneath another light."
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