Parabola

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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.


"A hot, orange sun hovering low in a real sky. Tangles of green foliage and the sounds of nature; little tickings and chirpings. Here and there, though, are man-made shapes and shiny surfaces; straight lines and right angles - empty frames."[1]

Parabola is the realm of dreams, located beyond mirrors.

Beyond the Mirrors

"Delicate, intricate friezes are still visible on some of the walls. There is a subtle mathematics in the abstract patterns, and a vivid energy in the figures. With one finger you trace the curve of a parabola."[2]

A Silverer.

Parabola is most commonly accessed via Prisoner's Honey, the preferred drug of the Neath.[3] It can also be accessed via Irem's House of the Amber Sky, a warm, roofless space packed with Irem-roses.[4] Parabola can sometimes be entered by physically passing through mirrors[5] that have been touched with Honey,[6] and it can be accessed from the Surface through specific means.[7] A young Leopold was transported there after an encounter with an Exile's Rose, the flower from which Prisoner's Honey is produced;[3][8] and the people of Karakorum could visit Parabola before the fall of the Fourth City.[9][7]

Parabola is more than a dreamscape: it is the wellspring of creativity, memory, inspiration. Without it, there would no imagination,[10] and subsequently no innovation or art.[11] Those who enter Parabola using Prisoner's Honey disappear from the physical world during their stay,[12] reappearing exactly where they left[13] after a variable amount of time.[14] It is possible for one’s body to return before one's mind does, making one seemingly drunk. This state is called being honey-mazed.[15]

Those who enter Parabola are greeted by a vibrant forest under an orange false-sun, populated by strange and talkative wildlife.[16] Of note are the cats, who take the form of predatory big cats in Parabola but have the voices of the smaller talking cats back in London. Parabola does have a day and night cycle, and the Parabolan moon contains the image of a cat.[17] Objects and animals can be taken out of Parabola and into physical reality.[18][19][20] Certain objects taken from dreams, like coins and jewels, have odd properties[21] and are ephemeral, only existing for a limited amount of time before disappearing.[22]

The common citizen is unlikely to venture far into Parabola before waking up,[23] but certain professionals called Silverers have ventured far beyond the reaches of the Marches, and have dealings with the entities that lurk beyond the mirrors.[24] Silverers wear a set of cosmogone spectacles, which is irresistible to the denizens of Parabola.[25]

Landmarks

"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 Mirror-Marches, which serve as the borderlands of Parabola,[26] often visited by those overcome by nightmares.[1] The Marches are littered with empty mirror-frames, and travelers can observe visions of the other side.[27]
  • The Viric Jungle, another of the borders of dream, frequented by those in shallow sleep.[28]
  • The Misermere, a heavily disputed piece of land that has been claimed by almost every one of the Duchess's noble cats[29]. The Rosers also have a stake in this place.[30]
  • The Smoking Shore, a great ocean of sulfurous smoke oft visited by devil pilgrims.[31] They say cats fought off a band of Heart-Takers here.[32] The Fingerkings also occasionally lay eggs here, and no one knows exactly what hatches from them.[33]
  • The Drowned Forest or Drowning Forests, a jungle under a lake and the spawning grounds of the Fingerkings.[34][35]
  • The Hanging Mountains, violet-sloped[36] mountains that hang upside down.[37]
  • The Waswood, where all things within are gone forever, and all things that are gone forever lie within.[38] The heart of these woods was the birthplace of the Glory, an enormous zee-turtle that roamed the Unterzee before dying near the Gant Pole. Its shell was taken over by crazed monster-hunters, becoming the Chelonate.[39]
  • The Castle of Forests, filled with briar-cages that the Fingerkings made to contain their prisoners.[40]
  • The Menagerie of Roses, where the dreamers never see the tops of the walls.[41] Apparently, the Roses stopped growing, much to the dreamers' dismay.[42]
  • Arbor, the city half in dream.[43]
  • The Writhing River, where parabola-flax grows and nightmares spawn.[44] It is full of serpents,[45] and it runs near Hunter's Keep.[46] At the head of the River lie silver-barked trees which excrete shining, useful sap.[47]
  • The Skin of the Sun, Parabola's false, cosmogone sun. It was built by the sisters of the Duchess for the refugees of the Second City to live under as part of a scheme to outwit the Bazaar.[48]
  • The Dome of Scales, a dilapidated structure[49] apparently constructed out of the scales of the first Fingerkings.[50]
  • The Burbling Spring-tide, a gorgeous garden-spa where couples can enjoy pillows of roses and visions of the night sky.[51]
  • The Garden Gleam, a garden of glass flowers where gravity is low. The petals ring in a perfect harmony when disturbed.[52]
  • The Moonlit Chessboard, where spies dream the moves and counter-moves of the Great Game.[53][54]
  • The Garden of Nightmares, the Merry Gentleman's beautiful but macabre sanctuary.[55][56]
  • The Coiling Spire, which connects the Parabolan Sun to the ground and serves as a sacred pilgrim's destination for the Fingerkings.[57][58][59]
  • The Wastes of Want, a desolate no-man's land that rejects anyone that tries to claim it.[60]
  • The Oncewood, a forest of golden needles and constant ash rain. Aureate Stags, one of Parabola's fastest land animals, can be found here.[61][62]
  • The Marsh of Regents, where the ruined reflections of old, unhappy queens scream across the wastes.[63]
  • The Tombwood, where screaming trees filled with weeping, unblinking eyes grow from graves.[64]
  • The Sea of Spines, where Rubbery Men swim through the memories of their ancestors.[65] (It is not clear whether this location lies in Parabola or elsewhere in the Is-Not.)
  • The Whisker-Ways, a hidden place where Rattus Faber congregate close together for comfort and safety. It has tunnels leading to many other places in Parabola.[66]

The Land That Is-Not

"Parabola is the enemy-kingdom. The Judgements determine what is. Parabola's citizens are Is-Not. Sunlight destroys them, starlight corrodes them. Dreams come at night. Dreams thrive in the Neath. The Judgements cannot see—"[67]

What horrors lurk beyond the mirrors?

Parabola is the realm of what Is-Not, far beyond the reach of the Judgements' domain.[68] This dream-realm apparently hatched from an egg[69] and the connection to mirrors was established by Mt Nomad.[70] Since Parabola lies outside the regulation of the Judgements, time and space can be quite mutable. This can lead to paradoxes like Huntsmen being promoted to Huntsmen on Wednesdays, despite always being Huntsmen.[71] Parabola works on symbolic resonance; an imitation can draw a bit of power from what it is imitating, i.e. if a dreamer dresses and acts like the Red-Handed Queen, they become her avatar in a sense.[72]

Natives of Parabola are considered foreign, even illegal, by the Judgements, making them unable to leave for the real world.[67] There have been cases of Parabolan entities contacting and parlaying with the Judgements, but such cases are the exception rather than the rule.[73] The rulers of Parabola are the Fingerkings, which are snakes that lack a physical form outside of Parabola. They only wish to leave the mirrors, and, well, exist; to do this, they steal the skins of humans.[74] Unfortunately for them, many of these skin-thieves in flesh-suits have been captured and imprisoned in the third coil of the Labyrinth of Tigers.[75]

The devils of Hell once served the Judgements directly as servants.[76] Following their failed rebellion, they exiled themselves to Parabola via Caduceus.[77] They are immune to Fingerking possession, and the two species have consequently become rivals.

The Red-Handed Queen and the Beleaguered King are powerful Parabolan powers who are locked in conflict with each other.

Another faction currently residing in Parabola are the Rosers of the Fourth City. These individuals expedited the fall of the Fourth City, and sought refuge in Arbor,[78] which historically accepted refugees from many of the Fallen Cities.[79]

The Attendants

"This is Parabola. We found it in dreams and brought light to it. The ushabti were built to construct a new home for the Second City, where we could live forever beneath the skin of the sun. The night was the bringer of dreams and thus sacred to us. But this Palace was never completed."[80]

The Obstinate Adoratrice

The sisters of the Duchess decided to flee to Parabola to evade the whims of the Bazaar.[81] There, they created a false sun made of cosmogone called the Skin of the Sun,[82] as they knew they could not abide the true Sun any longer.[83] Using constructs called ushabtiu, the sisters attempted to create a new home for the citizens of the Second City, called the Palace of the Rising.[84] Things did not go as planned, however, so the Palace was left unfinished and ruined.[85] The Obstinate Adoratrice still remains in the Palace of the Rising, though she lacks the knowledge to complete it.[86]

Before the sisters built their sun, Parabola was apparently quite dark.[87] Given the failure of the project, it seems likely that the Skin of the Sun will eventually flicker out.[88]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Category:The Mirror-Marches, Fallen London
  2. ↑ Be enticed by the temples, Fallen London
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Sidebar Snippets, Fallen London "The most delightful secret of Fallen London: a substance which physically transports you to a dream. It is gathered by bees from the black roses which grow here. There is another kind of underground rose from which honey may be made, but that's rather less safe."
  4. ↑ The House of the Amber Sky, Sunless Sea "The House of the Amber Sky is a roofless space beneath the false-stars of the Neath, rich with the scent of Irem-roses. Despite the ice, it's warm as a desert evening. You will arrange yourself on the cushions, close your eyes just for a moment..."
  5. ↑ A mahogany-framed mirror, Fallen London "It seems brighter in here, somehow. What is that sound? ...birdsong? Where are you?"
  6. ↑ Continue watching Gebrandt's demonstration, Fallen London "A woman in cosmogone spectacles stands beside the mirror, smiling faintly at Gebrandt. She produces a small vial of honey and applies it to the edge of the glass. [...] The change in the mirror is nearly imperceptible; glass turns to a threshold, and the museum on the far side becomes ever so slightly off-kilter. [...]"
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 I ran to the Shaman, The Silver Tree "'The spirit world cannot protect the material one. And only a few have ever crossed over. But if you will be one of them... you may join me now.' He produces a flagon of airag and we drink deeply from golden cups."
  8. ↑ What is prisoner's honey?, Fallen London "from the Natural History of Pliny the Elder: "... there is another kind of honey; its effect is attributed to the flowers called exile's rose, which are found in sacred places from Pontus to Baetica. One who consumes these flowers departs and does not return."
  9. ↑ Mirrors from Cathay, The Silver Tree "'It is called a parabolic mirror,' said the Khan, 'although whether that is because it allows you to see the land called Parabola, or whether the place is called Parabola because the mirror is mathematically curved, I do not know.'"
  10. ↑ Stripes of Wrath, Fallen London "Dreamers require it to enter Parabola, the realm behind the mirror. The loss of Prisoner's Honey would be like— closing a border. More than a national boundary; the gateway to creativity, memory, inspiration. Can you imagine the effects? Because without Parabola, you would be unable to."
  11. ↑ Stripes of Wrath, Fallen London "[...] He did not consider the collateral damage he would cause by locking the gate to dream. Inventors. Composers. Those with the vision to build tomorrow's Neath."
  12. ↑ Celebrate thoroughly, Fallen London "[…] What happens under the influence of wine and lust is hazy […] Only one pair had kept aside […] They had shared something […] from a silver spoon. Then vanished […] "Prisoner's Honey […] You should try it […]"
  13. ↑ Mr Pages: Honey, Mask of the Rose "Honey transports the user, for a time, to a place that Is Not. [...] There is always a return. [...] One returns to one's exactible source."
  14. ↑ The Case of the Sealed Vault, Fallen London "[...] A conventional dose of Prisoner's Honey transports its consumer bodily into Parabola, returning them after an unpredictable stint."
  15. ↑ An unusual wager, Fallen London "A capering and probably honey-mazed individual is flinging handfuls of small coins at passersby and shrieking."
  16. ↑ A striped cat, Fallen London
  17. ↑ Night is falling, Fallen London "Look, there are patterns there, just like the surface's moon. Only... these don't resemble a man, or anything else so much as a cat, curled up asleep."
  18. ↑ Seven-Throated Warbler, Fallen London
  19. ↑ Remains of a Pinewood Shark, Fallen London
  20. ↑ Parabolan Orange-apple, Fallen London
  21. ↑ The Queen of the Elephants, Fallen London "But the treasure we return with ain't exactly legal tender. The coins are forgeries of currencies that never existed in the first place, and if you flip 'em, they land on their edge. The jewels are sparkly enough, but under a bright light they turn wobbly like jelly."
  22. ↑ The Queen of the Elephants, Fallen London "And we got to spend it mighty quick, [...] Because it vanishes after a day or two."
  23. ↑ Establish a Parabolan Base-Camp, Fallen London
  24. ↑ Become a Silverer, Fallen London
  25. ↑ Set of Cosmogone Spectacles, Fallen London "The lenses are the colour of remembered sunshine, which the things behind mirrors find irresistible."
  26. ↑ The Mirror-Marches, Sunless Sea
  27. ↑ A glimpse of a cat, Fallen London
  28. ↑ Look for the Viric Jungle, Fallen London
  29. ↑ The Court of Cats, Fallen London
  30. ↑ The Surgeon%27s Child, Fallen London
  31. ↑ Parabolan Panther, Fallen London ""Devils come here on pilgrimage," your panther explains."
  32. ↑ Parabolan Panther, Fallen London "Here, the Peerage of the Marches cast back the Host of the Heart-Takers. Many were lost, but how we feasted! Our maws ran red; our bellies grew round."
  33. ↑ Parabolan Panther, Fallen London "The Fingerkings lay their eggs down in the roots when the water's low. Goodness knows what might hatch."
  34. ↑ Parabolan Panther, Fallen London "The jungle descends into a blue lake. Treetops rise from its waters in leafy islands. Beneath the surface you can see a submerged forest. Slowly stirring leaves. Vines trailing in currents. Tightly-budded flowers, their petals closed around a precious gasp of air."
  35. ↑ Ask what became of him, Fallen London "We breached the Drowning Forests," her ears twitch as she recounts this. "The spawning ground of the Fingerkings."
  36. ↑ All fear the Overgoat!, Fallen London "But you have seen [...] the violet slopes of the Hanging Mountains."
  37. ↑ The Affair of the Impatient Apprentice, Fallen London "To your right, beyond a wriggling river, the Hanging Mountains are pinned to the sky."
  38. ↑ You walked the Waswood, Sunless Sea
  39. ↑ You heard the Glory's story, Sunless Sea
  40. ↑ Wednesday in Parabola, Fallen London
  41. ↑ Sleep's fortress 1, Fallen London "Here is a glimpse of the Menagerie of Roses, where the dreamers never see the tops of the walls."
  42. ↑ The Airs of London, Fallen London "A portly man sits weeping in the road. "The Menagerie," he sobs, "the Roses. They can no longer grow.""
  43. ↑ A Dream of Roses, Fallen London
  44. ↑ Sample today's special, Sunless Sea
  45. ↑ That night -, Sunless Sea
  46. ↑ Visit the cellar, Sunless Sea
  47. ↑ Become a Silverer, Fallen London "Here, in a humid basin, the river crawls from a crack in the stone [...] Silver-barked trees grow, weeping gobbets of shining sap. [...] You can use that..."
  48. ↑ An Exceptional Story: The Attendants, Fallen London "The ushabti were built to construct a new home for the Second City, where we could live forever beneath the skin of the sun."
  49. ↑ Parabolan Panther, Fallen London "A vast, broken dome soars over the jungle. Here, a fragment has fallen from the dome and embedded itself in the earth like a monolith."
  50. ↑ Parabolan Panther, Fallen London "Conversationally, she informs you that the dome was wrought from the sloughed scales of the first of the Fingerkings. Perhaps she hopes that will put you off."
  51. ↑ Invite your spouse to join you in sampling Prisoner%27s Honey, Fallen London "You help your partner into the steaming spring, then plunge in after them. [...] Bushes heavy with thornless roses lean into the water. They act as pillows as you recline. There are images in the rainbowed cliffs - they pass across them like clouds. You point to an expanse flecked with gold; could it be the night sky at day?"
  52. ↑ Invite your spouse to join you in sampling Prisoner%27s Honey, Fallen London "...you will find the Garden Gleam - a deep, clear pool, surrounded by bushes growing glass chrysanthemums. Each bloom is the size of a cart wheel. You and your partner are lighter here; gravity's grasp on you has weakened. [...] The chrysanthemums sway gently, chiming as they touch. The Garden Gleam fills with a crystalline song."
  53. ↑ Find the Moonlit Chessboard 1, Fallen London "Colleagues have spoken of a place where the Moves of the Great Game are played out in Parabola."
  54. ↑ Supervise the New Game, Fallen London "This is the dream of spies, the move and countermove that controls the politics of the Surface – and sometimes of the Neath. Sometimes you are a pawn or a knight. Sometimes you are the player."
  55. ↑ Arm Yourself Against the Garden of Nightmares, Fallen London
  56. ↑ The Garden of Nightmares, Fallen London
  57. ↑ Contemplate your predicament, Fallen London
  58. ↑ Light Fingers: The Boiling Sky, Fallen London
  59. ↑ Raise your standard, Fallen London
  60. ↑ Consider the Wastes of Want, Fallen London
  61. ↑ The Fair Unknown, Fallen London "You find yourself standing on the fringe of a thick forest. The needles of the trees are dark gold. Flakes of white-grey fall from a brooding sky. On close inspection these are of ash, rather than snow."
  62. ↑ The Fair Unknown, Fallen London "Here – the Aureate Stags of the Oncewood. The fastest short-distance beast of burden in all known Parabola."
  63. ↑ The Fair Unknown, Fallen London "You emerge in a sickly yellow mire, deep in Parabola. It is the Marsh of Regents, where the ruined reflections of old, unhappy queens scream across the wastes."
  64. ↑ Build your own boat, Fallen London
  65. ↑ Dream with the others, Fallen London
  66. ↑ A Dream of a Thousand Tails, Fallen London " "The Whisker-Ways are our... dreaming-places. Rats are better neighbours to each other than you lot. Even our dreams are close together. It'll be easier to show you.""
  67. ↑ 67.0 67.1 A fragile flake of vellum, Fallen London
  68. ↑ Ask him about his memories of Caduceus, Sunless Skies
  69. ↑ Depart, Fallen London "Out there in the night: [...] the egg that hatched Parabola."
  70. ↑ The Mysteries Revealed, Again, Failbetter Games "Who opened the mirrors? Mt. Nomad (or the Bazaar's Granddaughter/mountain's daughter)"
  71. ↑ Wednesday in Parabola, Fallen London "They summoned me to confirm me as their Huntsman. In fact, I have always been their Huntsman. History in Parabola is mutable. When I complete my plan, I’ll always have been something quite different."
  72. ↑ The Queen of the Elephants, Fallen London "Parabola's a dream-place, you understand? It works on symbolic resonances, not logic. You can steal a bit of something's power by imitating it, for a while, because Parabola will be tricked into thinking you are what you pretend to be. But if you do it for too long, you’ll attract the notice of the original. And then... Well, I wouldn't want to be in her shoes."
  73. ↑ Dramatis Personae, Sunless Skies
  74. ↑ Order Serpentine
  75. ↑ Take a stroll around, Fallen London "Get me out of here. I don't belong here. I'm only here because they think I'm possessed."
  76. ↑ Speak to the Curious Dilettante, Sunless Skies
  77. ↑ Ask him about his memories of Caduceus, Sunless Skies
  78. ↑ Solve the Mystery of the Rosers, Fallen London
  79. ↑ The Envoy from Elsewhere 2, Fallen London "The Rosers fled long ago, but we were in Arbor first. Our kingdom borders dream. It has always taken in the refugees of your short-lived cities."
  80. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London
  81. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "The Palace of the Rising was to be a refuge from the Masters and the Bazaar"
  82. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "A new sun was raised in the sky so the citizens might walk in light again."
  83. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "They could no longer abide the true sun, but they walked here in dreams;"
  84. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "The ushabti were created to help in the construction of the Palace."
  85. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "This Palace was to be a refuge from the Bazaar [...] But time was not on their side. This place was never used."
  86. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "The Adoratrice chose to shelter here, to continue the work [...] She wants to see the palace finished, but only has a fraction of the knowledge of its palace's design"
  87. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "This is a place that is not. It was not always light, though once it was brighter."
  88. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "The sun here is failing, and alone I cannot reverse the decay."


Special thanks to waltzingOphidian for assistance with research and citations
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