The Moon
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"Dead leaves crunch underfoot. Something rustles ahead. You are soon far from the path and deep in the undergrowth. You turn a corner and find the trees ahead coated in silver. Hanging in the sky above is the moon, fierce and bright."[1]
The Moon is the sole natural satellite of the Earth. Its moonlight can show visions of an alternate version of London known as the Upstairs.
High in the Night Sky
"Even by night, the Port of Naples is alive with shouts and laughter and work-songs, the roar of engines. Brick warehouses loom over the moon-dazzled bay."[2]
The Moon is an enormous celestial body that orbits the Earth. It's well known for illuminating the night sky of the Surface,[2] and it periodically cycles through various phases, which in some cultures are used to determine the passing of months. These phases are reflected in mysterious trinkets called moon-pearls;[3] how exactly moon-pearls work is unknown, but they're precise enough to function as timekeeping devices in Fallen London and the Unterzee.[4] Moonlight is reflected sunlight,[5] and it can reveal strange visions of alternate timelines, most notably an alternate version of London that never fell to the Neath, known as the Upstairs.[6][7]
The Moon is the "sister-self" of the Creditor,[8][9] a being of earth that forms the ground of the Hinterlands.[10] In the past, the Creditor and the Moon were once a singular being that served a Judgement, likely the Sun, but were separated violently in a "cleaving birth".[11] Thus, the Creditor's inner "flesh" strongly resembles the Moon,[8] and it too has a strange effect on sunlight as well as on moon-pearls.[5]
Moonlight
"The floor is silvered with spilling moonlight. It makes a ghost of your flesh and your eyes a lens to elsewhere."[12]
Moonlight in the Neath is not seen from the sky; rather, it is an illegal commodity smuggled in from the Surface.[13][14] Moonlight has a unique, silvery appearance,[12] and it's transported in devices called Mirrorcatch Boxes that use an array of mirrors to capture moonlight directly from the sky.[15] The woods of Balmoral are bathed in perpetual moonlight,[16] as per the Empress's demand.[17] Exposure to moonlight in the Neath is considered risky, however, as moonlight can have bizarre, sometimes maddening, effects on those exposed to it.[18]
Moonlight also has a tendency to grant visions, affecting multiple senses,[19][20] of an alternate timeline where certain events either did not occur or occurred differently.[21][22] These hallucinations are based on location, so moonlight released in Ladybones Road, for instance, would depict Marylebone, specifically near the Marble Arch, in a version of London on the Surface.[23] Moonlight visions are also possible outside of London, such as within the Marigold Station in the Hinterlands.[24]
The divergences of moonlight visions from reality appear to be centered around events of particular significance; for example, the use of moonlight at Marigold Station conjures a world where the Grand Devils were never defeated and deposed as rulers of Hell.[22] The Upstairs is the collective term for the imagined version of London that never Fell and remained on the Surface; however, it also underwent a political upheaval by revolutionaries, as well as other divergences from the known timeline.[25]
The Moonlight Trade
"London is home to an illicit, lucrative trade in Surface sunlight. Its quality varies, as can its effects. Be careful of sunshine laced with moonlight."[26]
London is home to a expansive sunlight trade that is as lucrative as it is illegal.[26] However, sunlight often has to be harvested directly from the Surface,[27] which can be both dangerous and expensive.[28] Thus, using a method pioneered by the Cheery Man, sunlight traders may "cut" their sunlight with moonlight, which can have varying effects on the product.[29] Sunlight cut with moonlight can last longer in the box, is cheaper to import, and is safer to transport as well.[30] Relying on this method can be risky, however, as customers who purchase such sunlight may still feel the effects of moonlight, visions and all.[31]
Certain charlatans and false-spiritualists utilize raw moonlight in their trickery to deceive their marks, as the settings and people seen in moonlight visions can easily be mistaken for those of the realm of the deceased.[32]
Lunacy
"Your friend has a bad case of the Upstairs, lads. Harmless enough now, at least for you. But what happens when he starts thinking you're all Constables? Or murderers?"[33]
"He's gone all the way Upstairs, this one."[33]
Besides causing visions, exposure to moonlight can cause other, sometimes dangerous, side effects. Objects in moonlight visions are palpable, but are not truly real or tangible; thus, one might not drown in moonlit water,[34] and objects perceived by a hallucinating individual will not be seen by outsiders[35] and vice versa.[36] Moonlight visions can also be difficult to "see through", and can cause extreme disorientation if the individual attempts to view or interact with the real world with any sort of clarity.[37]
Furthermore, moonlight exposure can induce false memories,[38] and sometimes, the individual may be unable to distinguish the two worlds at all.[39] This can result in a similar effect to being honey-mazed,[25] and chronic exposure may make this ailment seem permanent.[40] Finally, like sunlight, moonlight can be lethal in extremely large quantities. Those who overdose on moonlight may die with their eyes wide open, their gaze appearing burnt, but perhaps also revelatory.[41]
References
- ↑ Explore the woods, Fallen London
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Port description 2, Sunless Sea
- ↑ Moon-Pearl, Fallen London
- ↑ Request an Admiral-in-the-Box, Fallen London "[...] she selects [...] moon-pearls for nautical time-keeping;"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Discover its age and its kinship to stars, Fallen London
- ↑ Cut with Moonlight, Fallen London "[Moonlight] causes visions of a London that never fell."
- ↑ Noises from Upstairs, Fallen London "[...] that other, moonlit world," [...] "What do they call it, Upstairs?"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Search it for letters of fire, Fallen London "The [...] surface of the stone is mottled and silver as the [...] moon."
- ↑ Study its likely chemical effects on the Bazaar, Fallen London "It was painful to lose your sister-self."
- ↑ Ask it about the Hillchanger Tower (Furnace Abandoned), Fallen London "That Creditor is [...] an earth power, and [...] laying great, expensive tracks made of Justificandes across its face [...]"
- ↑ Study its likely chemical effects on the Bazaar, Fallen London "A cleaving birth [...] It was painful to lose your sister-self."
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Walk in moonlight, Fallen London
- ↑ Explore the woods, Fallen London "A highly illegal commodity,"
- ↑ Consider the Moonlight (45 FATE), Fallen London
- ↑ Noises from Upstairs, Fallen London "He lunges for a few mirrorcatch boxes and throws the lids open. The silvered light discharges,"
- ↑ The Moon-Seared Paths, Fallen London
- ↑ Report a sighting of a Fox, Fallen London
- ↑ Cut with Moonlight, Fallen London "But [moonlight] sends some people peculiar [...] They get confused [...]"
- ↑ Darken the wood, Fallen London "For a moment you hear the thunder of cannon,"
- ↑ Noises from Upstairs, Fallen London "[...] wrap your fingers around it, and sense the chill. [...] it winks out of existence."
- ↑ Explore the woods, Fallen London
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Present the Marigold Menagerie-Keeper, Fallen London "[...] you see the amphitheatre as it was, filled with devils watching two of their princes settle their differences [...]"
- ↑ Cut with Moonlight, Fallen London "Moonlight burns on the marble of the arch. It limns the gallows in silver."
- ↑ Present the Marigold Menagerie-Keeper, Fallen London
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 Cut with Moonlight, Fallen London "Septemberist traitors! Long live the Queen! Her Exiled Majesty!" [...] "He's gone all the way Upstairs, this one."
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 What is sun-smuggling?, Fallen London
- ↑ Fill your Mirrorcatch Box, Sunless Sea
- ↑ The light's delights, Sunless Sea
- ↑ His operations on the Docks, Fallen London
- ↑ Cut with Moonlight, Fallen London "Anyway, it's diluted with moonlight: easier to transport; [...] Moonlight's easier to smuggle, and safer besides. Add a little, and the sunlight goes further. [...] Once we've built up some funds, we can import pure sunlight,"
- ↑ Cut with Moonlight, Fallen London "Why are so many clients suffering [...] – 'trips Upstairs' – after taking the House's sunlight?"
- ↑ Noises from Upstairs, Fallen London "We've been dosed with moonlight," [...] "Some spiritualists use it to convince their victims that they're seeing through the veil."
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 Cut with Moonlight, Fallen London
- ↑ Noises from Upstairs, Fallen London "River water rises to your shins. [...] suffused with moonlight. Yet you can breathe through it."
- ↑ Noises from Upstairs, Fallen London "Trying to blind me?" [...] "I haven't looked in a box lately. I can't see any moon."
- ↑ Noises from Upstairs, Fallen London "[...] we can't trust our eyes. I can't even see what you're holding. It looks to me like you're playing with air above a solid floor. Perhaps I took a heavier dose."
- ↑ Noises from Upstairs, Fallen London "[...] feeling for rungs with your feet. Sometimes they are there, clear and bright; sometimes they disappear inside your palm and you are buried alive. Your vision cannot be trusted."
- ↑ Cut with Moonlight, Fallen London "Been sampling the stock, young master? [...] Mathilde – we promised to marry. Remember the arch; the moon—" [...] "You're addled! Leave me be!"
- ↑ Cut with Moonlight, Fallen London "Sometimes I see moonlight, and another London. I am not sure which of them is correct; they both seem unlikely."
- ↑ Compel the Ghillie to extend your visit, Fallen London
- ↑ Noises from Upstairs, Fallen London "Raw moonlight seems to be as lethal as sunlight. [...] After about twenty-five boxes he ceases to react. You lean close, examining those moonburnt orbs. There is something in his stare: [...] a revelation,"
