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.
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"Once, we gathered here. We held our bargains and boasted of our chiefs. Our bands displayed the finest of goods. Our magnanimity was sharp as knives. All knew our worth. Then the light came. They made of our grounds sport. A dancing place. A laughing place. They made bargains of their own. And now you do the same."[2]
"Scouts? We trade scouts. For things and stories. We're leaving soon."[3]
After the House of Rods and Chains was slain by the Halved for disobedience,[4] Mr Menagerie became a vagabond of the High Wilderness,[5] traveling from port to port to sell pets and scouts.[6] It has a moody personality,[7] red eyes,[8] and a raspy voice.[9] It is considered a Runt among Curators, meaning it lacks a part of the "dual nature" that most of its species possess;[10] the Halved despised Menagerie for its perceived weaknesses, and Mr Barleycorn expresses surprise at its continued survival.[11]
A Maudlin Gift from the Heavens.
Mr Menagerie was an acquaintance of the Masters of the Bazaar, and chose not to follow them to the Neath.[12][13] It sent them a frozen scout-bat as a gift, which according to Mr Pages symbolizes "good service and diligence."[14] The Chiropterous Hoarder was also once a customer of Menagerie's, and calls its products "delicious."[15]
Mr Menagerie knows of the existence of the Courtesy,[16] the secret procedures and laws that the Judgements use to murder one another. However, it burnt much of this knowledge from its mind to avoid the attention of the Fire that Follows, leaving its head badly scarred.[17][18]
Chained No Longer
"Light reigned once. Light hated. No mercy, no bargains. Only judged what is. Now light was. Lights can fail. We are the haunters of dark. We are the shrieks in the voids. We are the peddlers of midnight. We welcomed light's failing. You bargain with us. We supply your needs. You supply ours. Such novelties you bring to our collections."[2]
"A mistake to come back. A place of chains; a place of servitude; a place of torment. And treachery. The light binds. The light blinds. All things it places in a chain. Our place is our worth. Some accept; we liberated."[2]
Mr Menagerie is an old soul who remembers when the "skies were young." During its youth, it hunted in places like the Ormswold near the Royal Society,[19] and gathered with other Curators to exchange bargains and boasts near places like the current location of Polmear & Plenty's Inconceivable Circus. However, the Judgements subsumed the Curators' gathering places for their own purposes and deals,[20] and Menagerie can no longer hunt where it used to.[19]
After the Judgements' takeover, Mr Menagerie procured souls[21][22] for the Garden King's dinner table at Port Avon, watching in fear of its power.[23] It later served the House of Rods and Chains, an experience it associates with servility, torment and treachery.[24] During this time, it was seen as troublesome by the Halved for refusing to let go of its old customs, or commit fully to its role.[25]
Now free of its past obligations, Mr Menagerie holds great pride in having broken its chains.[26][27] It believes that the Judgements use chains to dictate a being's worth,[26] and that all must either bear or break their chains to avoid being broken themselves.[27] Menagerie also comments that the Judgements are capable of failing, and that it and the Curators are the "peddlers of midnight" who welcome their demise.[28] It calls Mr Barleycorn a "chained one" and hopes it will one day set itself free,[29] but Menagerie itself wears a chain around its neck,[30] implying it may not yet be free of all its burdens.[31]
↑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."
↑Hear Mr Menagerie's story, Sunless Skies"We left the kingdom of ways and measures behind. We sought something new, but became lost in the sunless sky. Then you arrived, with your delicious novelties, your items ripe for collection."
↑Show Mr Menagerie the Seal of Mr Barleycorn, Sunless Skies"A hiss; a heavy jab in your ribs. "Put it away! We will not look!" It covers its face with its wing. "We are not ready to look. Still a long way to go. When we rest maybe, maybe then we will be ready.""
↑Story Description, Sunless Skies"Its garnet-hued eyes gleam from the darkness of its hood. "Scouts?" It rasps hopefully, its voice like a cleaver on a whetstone."
↑No map knows the place you go, Fallen London"A Tree which lacks the Dual Nature is less. A Beast which lacks the Dual Nature is no less. This kind are not Trees, nor are they Beasts. Each Clutch has sometimes its Runt, who lacketh part of the Nature. Even the Runt has uses. Consider the Owl."
↑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."
↑Incarnadine Fur Robe, Fallen London""Mr Sacks! Your arrival is deliciously apposite. We have discovered a munificorium from the Heavens! A touching gift, sent by indeterminate means at an indeterminate point in the past. Look—" A frozen bat is thrust into your face; [...] "It is unquestionably a token from Mr Menagerie: a sometime acquaintance of ours who chose, disjudiciously, not to accompany us to the Neath." [...] "This was a noble messenger, [...] a symbol of good service and diligence, [...]"
↑Ask if it knows Mr Menagerie, Sunless Skies"Silence, the kind not unalike a man trying to recall a favourite meal, overtakes the Chiropterous Hoarder for an interval. At last, it brightens. "It sells delicious things.""
↑Ambition: Ask Mr Menagerie about the Fire that Follows, Sunless Skies"Ask what the Courtesy is [...] "Don't know. Knew once, but managed to forget." Mr Menagerie shakes its hooded head. [...] Only a hollow now, where once was knowing. I think... A compact? A law? A living word, spoken into being!"
↑Put the pieces together, Sunless Skies"[...] you learned that 'the Courtesy', a pact between the stars, determines the procedures by which they may murder one another. [...] you discovered that the Courtesy conceals the existence of the bloodshed. If you learn the truth, you are hunted by the Fire that Follows."
↑Ambition: Ask Mr Menagerie about the Fire that Follows, Sunless Skies"Ask if it knows this secret of the suns [...] "Once, I did." Menagerie pulls its hood to one side, revealing a bat-like muzzle, mottled fur, and a livid burn mark across one side of its skull. "Burned it out. Better my fire than theirs.""
↑ 19.019.1Listen to a story of things past, Sunless Skies"Mr Menagerie gestures to the Ormswold, out beyond the cozy confines of the Royal Society. [...] "Old ground. Hunting ground. When wings spread free and soared, and we were indigo in tooth and claw." [...] "When the skies were young. When we were young. Our bargains were savage, our hunts were sacred, we lifted all wings, our appetites naked." [...] "All gone now. Things change. Time takes all.""
↑Listen to a story of things past, Sunless Skies"Mr Menagerie gestures to the spindle of rock that anchors the circus [...] "Once, we gathered here. We held our bargains and boasted of our chiefs. Our bands displayed the finest of goods. Our magnanimity was sharp as knives. All knew our worth. Then the light came. They made of our grounds sport. A dancing place. A laughing place. They made bargains of their own.""
↑Yearning, burning, Sunless Sea""Finally," you read long ago, "a soul returns to the sky, for the Judgements to absorb and savour and add to their nature. I do not regard this as ascension. I regard it as digestion. But I fear it comes to us all.""
↑Listen to a story of things past, Sunless Skies"We were in service here. Long ago – a bargain struck with the old king in the woods. We served at table. Procured deliciousness. Watched. Witnessed. Feared. Freedom is better."
↑Listen to a story of things past, Sunless Skies"Light reigned once. Light hated. No mercy, no bargains. Only judged what is. Now light was. Lights can fail. [...] We are the haunters of dark. We are the shrieks in the voids. We are the peddlers of midnight. We welcomed light's failing."
