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"The body of the sun is still cooling. A few embers continue to glow at its core, a low and sullen red."[1]
The King of Hours, also known as the Martyr-King, was the Regent of Albion, or at least the space that would become it.[2]
Eternal No More
During his reign, this Regent used his power as the king of all time to hold his realm in a state of eternal daylight, a Golden Day.[3] The Sapphir'd King adheres to the Amaranthine Conjunction,[4] the belief that all things must end;[5] dissatisfied with his rival's state of affairs, he had the King of Hours murdered[6] using poisoned words.[2] Some time after the King of Hours' death, the Clockwork Sun took over his domain, and Albion took all the credit.[7] It is not clear exactly when the murder occurred, but there are implications that it occurred millennia ago, amidst the chaos of the devils' rebellion against the Judgements.[8]
The Unseen Queen
The King had a daughter, a being by the name of the Unseen Queen, who resides in the underworld of New London.[9] The Queen is a flirtatious spirit who manifests as a painting of a noblewoman with her face scratched out.[10] In his last moments, the King used his last remnants of the Golden Day to create the Martyr-King's Cup, an artifact that can grant the imbiber immortality.[11] As a result, he stole the moment of his daughter's birth to evade death and transform into the Storm that Speaks.[12] The Unseen Queen heavily resents her father for creating the endless day where she never shone, as well as for using her as a contingency to escape his death. One day, she may take her revenge.[3]
One of the erstwhile questers for the Cup, and one of the most successful of them, says that the Queen "is nothing; she is less than nothing. She never existed."[13]
↑Hand over the Dignity of Albion Bill, Sunless Skies""We know. There is an order to creation; a Chain of Being. Things such as you cannot be the death of things such as we. [...] When a murder is committed correctly, only two creatures know what occurred: one is the murdered; the other..." She says no more, but opens one of her thousand plumed hands [...] A trophy, plucked from the corpse of a star."
↑Contemplate the dead sun, Sunless Skies"When Her Majesty entered Albion, she slew the sun with an experimental weapon: an Unclear Bomb. Then she claimed the sun's throne and dominion. Leaving the remains here is a clear message: not even the suns are above the Empire's reach."
↑Discovered: A Brilliant Future, Fallen London"Book of Roses 1:3: AND THUS SPAKE THE KING OF HOURS: “For those who wear crowns, let their kingdoms be counted; and for those who wear ashes, let their miseries be counted; and for those who keep this tally, let their debts be counted.” Upon hearing this, the people struck him down." (The Book of Roses is an approximate chronology of the history of the devils. Ensuing excerpts recount their exile in Parabola, then their journey through the Neath to found Hell. The devils take undue credit for the murder here.)
