"There are some things we were not meant to know, they say. But you wouldn't be down here if you took that seriously."
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"There were seven of us, once. Outcasts, bound to this Messenger's service. But the Messenger defied the Halved's command, and the Halved slew it. We were free. My colleagues, fled. But I remained to serve the Halved."[2]
"My Lord. The Halved. Once-Judgement of Measures and Distance. He knew of London. He beheld it through a wound in the world. We reached out and set his mark on those who trespassed on the wound. They became our Messages, and when they found their way to the skies their marks led them here: to the land of do-as-you-please."[3]
Mr Barleycorn is a Curator of the House of Rods and Chains.[4] Long ago, seven Curators served the House, but after it was slain by the Halved for disobedience, six of them scattered for greener pastures. Barleycorn stayed behind, however, and remains loyal to the Halved.[5][6] Barleycorn resides in the House's only intact spire called the Spire of Inches.[7][8] It is clothed in wrappings of gauze,[9] and its study contains malformed furniture and a window to view its liege.[10] It acts as an intermediary for the Halved,[11] and can grant visitors an audience with its master, if they can bear growing an extra mouth for the Halved to speak through.[12][13]
Barleycorn's study contains a portal to the Neath, which manifests as a giant eye deep below the Unterzee.[14][15] This portal can be entered from either side,[16][15] and zailors who passed through were marked by Barleycorn with animate[17] eye-tattoos as a message from the Halved to symbolize the advancement of the Liberation of Night.[18][19] Once these Eye-Marked left the Neath for the High Wilderness, they were drawn to reside in Eleutheria,[19] and some were bound to Barleycorn's service.[17] It is also said that Eye-Marked skyfarers develop a sort of anxiety, and freeze to death trying to open the Avid Horizon's sealed gate.[20] It seems Barleycorn halted this practice as of the Sunless Skies timeline, as it only has a few marks left.[21]
A Cloven Seal.
Mr Barleycorn does not think highly of the Rubbery Men that now reside in the carcass of the House, but it appreciates the amber they provide as tribute.[22][23] It denies being lonely, but it seems suspiciously eager to reconnect with its former colleagues.[24] Before the Bazaar traveled to the Neath, Barleycorn was an acquaintance of the Masters of the Bazaar, and chose not to join them.[25][26] According to the Chiropterous Hoarder, Barleycorn suffers from an incompleteness and a sense that its desires are unattainable.[27] Additionally, Barleycorn seems to consider its long lifespan a curse, one with no cure that it could abide.[28]
↑Talk with Mr Barleycorn, Sunless Skies""There were seven of us, once. Outcasts, bound to this Messenger's service. But the Messenger defied the Halved's command, and the Halved slew it. We were free. My colleagues, fled. But I remained to serve the Halved.""
↑Attend the Lament of the Old Sun, Sunless Skies"This is Mr Barleycorn, or so it is called by lesser beings. Its form is indistinct beneath layers of gauze that wrap it, if not from head to toe, then at least from top to bottom."
↑Mr Barleycorn's Belfry, Sunless Skies"You are in a room, of sorts. [...] The furnishings (if that is what they are) look like the work of a surrealist. This straight-backed, many-legged edifice is perhaps a chair. That oily surface – a table? An altar? Behind it, the hunched gauze figure stands looking out at something far away; a black sun."
↑Agree to help the Servitor, Sunless Skies""The lesser being will travel to the House of Rods and Chains," [...] "It will petition the Aberrant Twin through its intermediary in the Belfry. [...]"
↑Ambition: Consult the midnight sun about the Courtesy, Sunless Skies"The black sun revolves until its spasming eye fills the spire's window. [...] Mr Barleycorn hurries forward, [...] "Drink. And listen." You do so. [...] Your face writhes, and you hear a gasp as your new second mouth takes its first breath. "Ask," instructs Mr Barleycorn."
↑What's that?, Sunless Sea"Welcome, Trespasser, to the House of Rods and Chains. Your daring is notable, and rare."
↑ 15.015.1Dive into the pupil, Sunless Sea"You descend. The blackness of the pupil expands. There is no cornea to bar your way, no lens. The pupil is a tunnel, and your vessel plunges into it."
↑Examine the altar, Sunless Skies"You touch the surface. The world twists and there is only darkness and water and cold and drowning. [...] The sky with its false-stars. [...] This is the Neath: the vast subterranean cavern in which London lay before climbing to the heavens! And the cold, black waters you are thrashing in are its Unterzee!"
↑ 17.017.1The Master's New Cloak: Bombazine to the House of Rods and Chains, Sunless Skies"A retired zee captain beckons you over. [...] someone at the House of Rods and Chains is looking for nice material for new cloaks. [...] The zee-captain who advised you of this opportunity is waiting outside the towering obsidian spire, his shirt open and revealing a blinking eye embedded in his flesh. "Now I can make the master a worthy gift. Maybe then he'll free me.""
↑Agree to carry the message, Sunless Sea""The Liberation of Night began long ago," the veiled creature pipes. "Tell whoever you choose, or do not. You are the message. Those who must know, will know." [...] An Additional Eye on an Unobtrusive Part of your Person"
↑ 19.019.1Consider Eleutheria's black sun, Sunless Skies""My Lord. The Halved. [...] "He knew of London. He beheld it through a wound in the world. We reached out and set his mark on those who trespassed on the wound. They became our Messages, and when they found their way to the skies their marks led them here: to the land of do-as-you-please." [...] "Would you care for one? A mark? I have one or two left." [...] Mr Barleycorn clamps its arm around your shoulder. [...] The creature releases its grip, and the pain eases. You twist to see it: an eye embedded in your flesh."
↑Attend the Lament of the Old Sun, Sunless Skies"This is Mr Barleycorn, [...] One Rubbery dares approach, extending tribute: golden amber. The figure takes it between clawed appendages. Tastes it. Appears to approve."
↑Talk with Mr Barleycorn, Sunless Skies"Don't mistake this for more than it is. I am not lonely," it spits the word, [...] It has been a long time since I spoke to any of my kind. If you find one, show them this." It hands you a wax seal, imprinted with a sigil. "Collect their stories. Perhaps advise them I would not resent a conversation, should the wings of fate allow.""
↑Cloven Seal, Fallen London"One shard reads: 'Not to be forgot.' Another: 'What awaits. Why we must stay.' There are other words, hard to piece together: Pennies and Pipes; Barleycorn and Menagerie."
↑Incarnadine Fur Robe, Fallen London"It is unquestionably a token from Mr Menagerie: a sometime acquaintance of ours who chose, disjudiciously, not to accompany us to the Neath."
↑Pass on the Hoarder's message, Sunless Skies"You spoke to the Chiropterous Hoarder of Mr Barleycorn. Now, it is time to relay the response. [...] "Forever is a septic injury, one that cannot be cured. The only panacea is something none of us can abide. Our animal hearts will not allow us the solution." It falls silent for an ageless moment. "Give them my gratitude. It was good to know, at least, that someone understood.""
