Moulin
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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. |
"This village has only ever wanted to be left alone, by both London and Hell. Now your railway has brought both to our doorstep. Ahead of your construction crews, the Ministry of Public Decency erected a barrier around our town. This 'cordon' threatens our livelihood. We've been here nearly forty years, digging up the remains of the Campaign of '68 and delivering mementos and remains to both sides. This trade has afforded us a measure of protection and some modest means to keep ourselves."[1]
Moulin is a town near a wasteland in the Hinterlands. It is the seventh station of the Great Hellbound Railway.
History for Sale
"On the window, a sign proclaims the sale of Souvenirs & Mementos of the Campaign of '68."[2]
Moulin is a hamlet surrounded by a muddy heath whose jurisdiction is disputed.[3][4] The town's attractions are a pub called the Forked Tongue,[5] and an antique shop selling relics from the Campaign of '68. The shop is owned by the Wayward Historian,[6][7] and his partner, a deviless called the Exiled Antiquarian.[8]
When the Great Hellbound Railway arrived, Moulin's wastes were barricaded by the Ministry of Public Decency,[9] which claimed that Moulin's citizens are Londoners and need protection.[10] The antique shop's owners rely on the waste's artifacts to make a living, and to protect themselves from London and Hell, so they would prefer that the barrier be removed as soon as possible.[11][12]
The Moulin Waste
"Piles of discarded military paraphernalia accumulate in a muddy trench in the Waste: tarnished buttons from uniforms, rusting cavalry sabres, outmoded rifles rotting away. Whatever magnetism collects these things here, it causes them to vibrate together, generating an unnerving buzz."[13]
"Water flows oddly in the Moulin Waste, sometimes bubbling up through the surface of the muddy soil and streaking across the landscape in streams. The water's surface glows Viric; it sounds like murmured voices and out-of-tune violins."[14]
The Moulin Waste is a vast, damp, and muddy stretch of uninhabited no-man's land.[15] The terrain is dangerous and impossible to map,[16][17] but the area's abundance of artifacts makes it a haven for treasure hunters and historians.[18][19] The Waste is supposedly a battlefield of the Campaign of '68,[20] so it is littered with weapons,[21] uniforms,[22] and tools from London's veterans,[23] as well as devices of infernal manufacture.[24][25] It is also pockmarked with trenches and craters from Hell's ordinance;[26] some of these craters are snap-gaps that forcefully warp travelers from one edge to another instantaneously.[27] The Waste is also rife with other dangers, such as sorrow-spiders,[28] patches of living clay reminiscent of Polythreme,[29][30] and trenches containing Rubbery remains.[31]
Bizarrely, however, traces of history with no ties to the Campaign of '68 also show up in the Moulin Waste[32] - such as artifacts from past Fallen Cities,[33] or from across the Unterzee. Notably, relics that document the life of Nicator can be found here, but are of dubious authenticity.[34][35] The Moulin Waste is also said to be "curiously adjacent" to Parabola: trinkets of the Cats' war with the Fingerkings litter the area,[36] and it is possible to cross the terrain via dreams using Prisoner's Honey and glasswork.[37] Rivers of viric-tinged water also flow here, but are risky to cross.[38]
The Wellspring of Moulin
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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. |
"Of course. But much of 'this place' was carried in from the Waswood. So yes, London fought Hell here. But 'here' has had additions. We think of place and time as fixed. And yet, every day, we look at a place deep beneath the Surface, thousands of miles from England, and call it 'London.'"[39]
"The facts are committed to your memory, anyway: a Historian short one soul. A Deviless cast out from her kind. Two creatures with their dreams knotted together into tangles, one needing raw material for his work, the other seeking protection for them both. A bargain struck with the kings of Dream, and a large mirror brought to a cave in a forgotten part of the hinterlands."[40]
The Moulin Waste's anomalies are caused by the Wellspring of Moulin,[41][42] an enormous mirror in a hidden grotto that is linked to a river in the Waswood.[43] The water flows from the Waswood out of Parabola via the mirror, and travels upstream out of the cave into the soil of Moulin.[44] The Waswood is a place of things past and forgotten,[45] and since part of its river flows into Moulin,[44] the area is no longer solely a battlefield from '68; rather, it is saturated with many other traces of history and relocated relics.[46][47] It is unclear if it originally was a battlefield before the mirror was installed.
The Wellspring was the design of the owners of Moulin's antique shop. The two are close,[48][49] and implied to be romantically involved;[50][51] in Parabola, their dreams manifest as two entwined trees,[50][52] one hollow, and the other buzzing and covered in snakeskin.[53] The Historian lacks his soul and needs material for his work, and the Antiquarian was exiled from Hell and needs protection for both herself and her partner. The couple struck a deal with the Fingerkings to install the Wellspring mirror, and all parties were enriched.[54][55]
Since what Was is in a sense a form of Is-Not, the Fingerkings believe that if the Was flooded the Is, it would aid in the Fingerkings' conquest of the Is. Confusing? Parabola is generally that way.[56][57]
References
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