The Lady in Lilac

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"My mother forged an alliance with the Bazaar. That's how she came to learn the Great Signs, the tattoos no one wears. We must return to London. That is - please can we return to London? Please. We must find Penstock, who watches the secret wicket-gate of the Bazaar."

-Maybe's Daughter

Millicent Clathermont, also known as the Lady in Lilac or just "Lilac", is the gifted tattooist behind many of the Clathermonts' Great Game designs.

Who Was She?

"I learnt -- the real me learnt -- to tattoo in all the colours of the Neathbow, did you know that? And then I came to the Nadir. For a similar reason to you, I suppose, but passing in the opposite direction as it were. And I sloughed me off like a snakeskin."

Millicent's studies in Correspondence tattoos led her to discover the history of the Bazaar and the Neath. She abandoned Mr. Clathermont, and began traveling the Neath to continue her studies in tattoos and the Great Game of the stars.

One of her many voyages was to the Chapel of Lights, where she studied the mind- and body-altering tattoos borne by its worshippers. Not long after this trip, she descended into the Cave of the Nadir, where she sacrificed a portion of herself in exchange for an infusion of irrigo. This makes her immune to the deadly effects of sunlight, and also conveniently makes anybody who sees her instantly forget her.

Lilac also traveled to Parabola at some point and, ah, did some things with a tiger king called Maybe. This love affair produced a girl known only as Maybe's Daughter, who has now grown up to be a talented engineer.

Where is She Now?

She is now traveling on the Surface, once again to study tattoos, but she descends to the Neath each Feast of the Exceptional Rose to collect love stories for the Bazaar. Occasionally she may appear to zailors whose nightmares have overcome them, though it's unclear if this Lilac is a hallucination or not.

While November of the Calendar Council was initially speculated to be Lilac after being introduced in "A Little Pandemonium" with Lilac's portrait, the image has since been changed, and they're probably not the same person despite sharing color schemes and memory issues.

Lilac in Love [Implied in Sunless Sea; Spoilers for Lilac at the Panopticon]

Editor's note: FBG, if you would like us to remove details from this story, please tell us. It's at least implied in Sunless Sea... "I have no inclination to modesty. Yes. Yes, my husband does his best, but at the beginning, he handled the clients and the... messages... and the art was mine. It was the messages on the skin that came to the attention of a Power. A wonderful Power." Lilac fell in love with the Bazaar after visiting Penstock's Wicket, and this was what drove her to leave her husband.