The Second City

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"I saw it! Ask anyone! ...except her. Don't ask her."

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"There are some things we were not meant to know, they say. But you wouldn't be down here if you took that seriously."

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.

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"Never mention the Second City to the Masters of the Bazaar. Mr Wines will look at you narrowly and give you its worst vintage. Mr Cups will fly into a rage. Mr Veils will harangue you for your discourtesy. Mr Iron will say nothing, only write down your name with its left hand."[1]

"Certain of the Masters of the Bazaar - Mr Stones, Mr Apples and Mr Wines, and possibly others - seem to have a particular contempt for Egypt and the Egyptological. Perhaps they're simply reacting to the fashion for the Pharaonic that overcame London before the Descent. But it's unusual that they should care."[2]

"...and the second betrayed..."[3]

The Second City was originally located in ancient Egypt, dating back to the Eighteenth Dynasty (16th-13th centuries BCE). Its remnants live on in Visage and Arbor, and have more recently resurfaced throughout London. The Salt Lions hail from the city as well.

The Second Fall

As the First City neared the end of its unnatural lifespan, the Masters of the Bazaar turned their gaze elsewhere. The Pharaoh of a great desert civilization knew of the Bazaar,[4][5] made overtures to it,[6] possibly to sell his city to the Messenger[7] in exchange for a way to ascend the Great Chain of Being.[8][9] But whatever the Pharaoh had planned was undone by his own daughter.[10]

The Duchess, then a younger daughter of the Pharaoh, was formally betrothed to him by royal decree, yet her heart belonged to a humble scribe. In secret desire to escape her imposed betrothal and join her lover, she dispatched a cobra to poison the Pharaoh.[11] Almost immediately, remorse overtook her,[12][13] and she sought to undo her crime by bargaining with the Bazaar: she would surrender her entire city in exchange for her father’s life.[14][15] The Masters' methods kept him alive, but transformed him into the oozing venom-monster known as the Cantigaster.[16] He was apparently coherent enough early on to speak to his subjects, but it may be that his daughters was impersonating their father to hide his condition.[17]

When the city was drawn down into the Neath, the Masters declared themselves Pharaohs and ruled in the Pharaoh’s place.[18] However, the Pharaoh’s Daughters hatched a plan to remove the Masters from the equation: the sisters deceived the Masters by inviting them to a funeral procession,[19] which would conclude in a temple called the House of Feathers,[20] there they were led inside and the eldest sister went with them (or the funeral was for eldest and her being dead was part of the trick).[21][22] Whatever the case, the Poisoned Priestess's sacrifice successfully trapped the Masters in there for 2400 years, making the Second City the longest-lived of the Fallen Cities.[23] Unfortunately for the sisters, the Masters' long imprisonment would end eventually. The Masters were contacted by the Priest-kings of the future Third City[24] who wanted to sell their city to the Bazaar in exhange for a very special type of meat.[25] The Masters, desperate to be free, agreed to the bargain and the priest-kings then helped them escape.[26][27] Once they managed to break free, the Masters tricked one of their own into sacrificing himself to fulfill the deal with the priest-kings.[28] After their release, the Masters hunted the sisters. Most evaded them, scattering across the Neath and beyond. The Duchess, however, was captured and held hostage[29] (maybe she acted as bait, the sisters apparently drew straws for this).[30] Their imprisonment left a deep trauma in the minds of the Masters, and a mere reminder of the Second is enough to send them into a rage.[31] The field of Egyptology is suppressed.[32] Artifacts from the Second City are practically illegal.[33]

With the Masters imprisoned, the sisters sought a way to protect their people from the Bazaar’s lingering influence and a place to flee to if the Masters ever to escape.[34][35] They turned to Parabola, the dream-mirror-realm, and began plans there. Prior to the Second City, Parabola had very little light.[36] To bring light to Parabola, the sisters commissioned an artisan of the Neathbow, later known as the Mistress of the Skies,[37] to craft an artificial sun.[38] With the aid of ushabtis, she undertook the task.[39] The precise details of the Parabolan sun's construction are unclear, but it seems that the sisters modified the egg of the Boil of Calamities in its shell,[40] resulting in the egg presumably hatching into an object made of glass.[41] The citizens of the Second City then proceeded to construct and raise the Parabolan sun using a ritual involving glassblowing and prayer,[42] and the newly-born sun scorched the Parabolan landscape and melted the colors of the sky itself.[43] providing warmth and light for agriculture,[44] pottery, and the growing of wheat in the Neath’s lightless depths.[45] Encouraged, the sisters moved on to the next stage of their plan, and began work on the Palace of the Rising, so that the citizens of the Second had a place where they could live in sunlight once more.[46][47] The next step was to create ushabtiu, funerary vessels designed to house the preserved bodies of the Second City's people, allowing their minds to wander freely in Parabola. Unfortunately, their plans fell through and the sisters were forced to flee, leaving the whole project unfinished.[20] Another hitch in the plan was that the surge of lacre when the city neared its end annihilated most of the citizens' physical bodies alongside the rest of the Second City; the few who survived were changed irrevocably.[48] The ushabtiu that remain are able to retain their memories while sealed,[49] but when opened, their memories vanish,[49] and they become confused and filled with resentment.[50]

Survivors

Four of the Duchess's five sisters still live yet. The eldest sister sacrificed her life to ensure the success of the family's plan, but still remains as the undead Poisoned Priestess. The second is the Obstinate Adoratrice, who is intent on finishing her older sister's work in building the Palace of the Rising in Parabola. The third sister is the Mother Superior of Abbey Rock. The Duchess is most likely the youngest sister,[51][52] but some sources suggests the youngest is no more,[53] with even the Adoratrice suggesting the youngest perished on the Surface, which would mean that the Duchess is the fourth instead[54] (sometimes you just forget who your siblings are apparently). The fifth became the first Roseate Queen of Arbor.

Culture

The Second City was renowned for its mastery of toxicology, a field in which it excelled thanks to its access to exotic and now-extinct creatures.[18] Among these, none were more sacred than the crocodile.[55] These creatures were bred by the priesthood to be albino, adorned with elaborate jewelry, and venerated as divine symbols.[56] One such creature, the Yolk-in-Yearning, a crocodile possessed by a Fingerking while still in its egg,[57] served as the City's key to opening a path into Parabola.[58][59]

As with all the Fallen Cities, the Second engaged in diplomacy with the powers of the Neath. Though the extent of its success remains uncertain, it is clear that the Presbyterate harbored a lasting contempt for it.[60] Spiritually, the Second retained deep ties to its surface heritage: before the Fall, its people worshipped a sun-god[61] known as the Aten,[62]and even after descending into the lightless deep, they continued their solar devotions.[45]

Linguistically and culturally, the Second City evolved in strange directions. Its hieroglyphic writing began to diverge from surface conventions, increasingly shaped by the influences of the Correspondence.[63] While barley and beer remained staples of their agriculture, the Second also experimented with fungal fermentation, developing alcoholic brews from mushrooms, uniquely adapted to their new subterranean home.[64] The City had a developed irrigation system,[65] which they created by diverting the waters of Hell.[66] The streets of the Second City were illuminated with oil lanterns[67] and street lamps.[68]

Historical Inspirations

While some neocartographers in London speculate in favor of Alexandria,[69] there is abundant proof that the Second City was instead Amarna, briefly the capital of ancient Egypt under Akhenaten. Amarna was constructed around 1346 BCE on the east bank of the Nile, in a previously uninhabited area. Its creation was inseparable from the religious vision of Akhenaten, who broke with the powerful cult of Amun and elevated the Aten, the sun disk, as the supreme deity. This monotheistic or henotheistic shift (scholars debate the degree) was radical in a polytheistic society. Akhenaten claimed that the Aten could only be properly worshipped in the new city, away from the entrenched priesthoods of Thebes. Amarna was thus both a physical and symbolic break from tradition. The city’s layout centered around open-air temples designed for solar worship, with a direct axis aligned to the sun. It was built rapidly, reflecting the urgency of the king’s religious mission. Key structures included the Great Aten Temple, the royal palace, and a series of elite residences and administrative buildings. Hundreds of clay tablets in Akkadian (the diplomatic lingua franca), called the Armana letters, were discovered at a “Bureau of Correspondence” in the city, revealing extensive foreign relations.

The Amarna Period is perhaps best known for its distinct art style. Unlike the rigid formality of earlier Egyptian art, Amarna art portrayed the royal family with startling naturalism. Akhenaten, his wife Nefertiti, and their daughters are shown with elongated limbs, prominent stomachs, and tender familial gestures. These depictions were often deeply personal, showing the pharaoh not as a remote god-king but as a father and husband. This artistic revolution may have reflected theological beliefs: the king and his family were intermediaries between the people and the Aten. Literature and language also changed. Official inscriptions used a more casual and fluid hieroglyphic style, and the famous Hymn to the Aten, likely written by Akhenaten himself or his court poets, echoes themes found later in monotheistic traditions.

Despite its cultural vibrance, Amarna was not built on strong political foundations. Akhenaten's religious reforms alienated powerful groups, including the priesthoods and possibly even the military. Egypt’s foreign influence waned during his reign, as shown by the Amarna Letters—a cache of diplomatic correspondence found in the city—revealing vassals in Canaan pleading for help against invaders, often ignored. Akhenaten's death around 1336 BCE marked the rapid end of Amarna. His likely successors, including the boy-king Tutankhamun (possibly his son), quickly restored the old gods, moved the capital back to Thebes, and dismantled Amarna both physically and ideologically. Akhenaten's name was later erased from monuments, and his reign was condemned as heresy.

References

  1. ↑ Sidebar Snippet: What's the problem with the Second City?, Fallen London
  2. ↑ Sidebar Snippet: A peculiar antipathy, Fallen London
  3. ↑ Bask in the light, Fallen London
  4. ↑ Hand over a multitude of scraps for a Breath of the Void, Fallen London "The Shivering Relicker hasn't shown up in person: she's just given Pinnock a note for you. It reads "This is the sound of an invocation made by the Pharaoh to the Bazaar. Don't let it out.""
  5. ↑ My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "He will open his mouth to the stars. He will scream until his voice is gone, until his lungs are filled with blood, until the void between the stars opens between his teeth. And his daughters will bow, and his priests and attendants will pray, and the horizon will part like a sleeper's eyelids at sunrise."
  6. ↑ Follow your feet (Second City), Fallen London "This mud-brick structure is littered with tablets. Clay tablets, covered in scratchy needlepoint marks. [...] These sigils adorn the flank of the Bazaar. They scorch eyebrows and strain the melting point of lead. The Correspondence, that language of fire and light, imperfectly captured in stone. [...] At the foot of each tablet is a careful cartouche. A reed, a tiny sun, an ibis in profile."
  7. ↑ Listen, Sunless Sea "There is an air of celebration. As with many languages spoken in dreams, you understand the meaning without understanding the words: a great disaster has been averted, the King's folly is ended by the Princess' cunning, the heralds of night are bound. [...]"
  8. ↑ An Exceptional Story: The Attendants, Fallen London "It's about the Second City. A romance. Fiction, but you tell the Ministry that. About a king who leaves everything behind to get what he wants. Selfish, if you ask me. Wonderful characterisation. [...]"
  9. ↑ Follow your feet (Second City), Fallen London "They are flawed and shattered, but you reconstruct the sigils in your mind. Your thoughts flower like burning paper. A shared and mutual orbit. Recognition of a peer. A relative, afflicted with limerence. A plea to somebody – family? To become fire rather than be burned. A zealous desperation. At the foot of each tablet is a careful cartouche. A reed, a tiny sun, an ibis in profile."
  10. ↑ Agree with the bookseller, Fallen London "The Furtive Bookseller nods. "Too right. Doesn't do this king a lick of good, I can tell you. Gets sick and dies, all his dreams turned to ash. His own flesh and blood – well, I shan't ruin the ending." He tips his hat, and trundles his cart away. […]"
  11. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "She kills her betrothed. She kills him with a snake. To be with her lover, the scribe." The translator shakes his head. "The scribe knows it can never be. He knows they will find out, and they will come for him. He writes that he is already dead. And the betrothed doesn't even die. He becomes—"
  12. ↑ My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "Dart, little snake, dart. Bite, little snake, bite. Sink your fangs until your venom wells from welts as red as treachery. Come, little snake, come. I'll stroke your head. Now my betrothed is dead. What, little snake, have I done? What, little snake, have I done?"
  13. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "'Love is intoxicating, overwhelming. Age, status, rank – they offer no immunity. In the grip of love I did something I will always regret. I will never be free from the consequences, and suffer deeply for my actions then. Yet I still cherish the moments that led me there. I can never forget, and I do not want to."
  14. ↑ '...look forward so very much to your next visit...', Fallen London "A long time ago... three cities ago in fact... when I was more than a Duchess, but still a friend to cats... I was betrothed. I loved him a great deal, and when a serpent stung him, I was distraught. I would have done anything to save him. The Bazaar knew as much. [...]"
  15. ↑ My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "You had to do it, didn't you? But now you have a choice. High on the palace balcony, above the purple riverbank, they wait until the glyphs have dried – a disc; a tool embedded in a block – to collect the contract. Remember, above all, the sun will always rise somewhere."
  16. ↑ Set forth into the cellars, Fallen London "You can see immediately that the Cantigaster was once a man. Now he is a living, shuddering sac of poison. His flesh swells green and soft like rotting fruit. Foul venoms ooze beneath his skin."
  17. ↑ Press on, Fallen London "—our dreams are a haze of half-remembered heat. The Pharaoh speaks of sunlight, but the boundary stelae have not known the Aten's touch for months. The daughters promise—"
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Apply unwise chemical substances with wild abandon, Fallen London "The Second City was renowned for its poisoned practices. Many came from the forms of diverse long extinct creatures – many the province of their Pharaohs, the name the Masters stole for themselves. It is curious to compare the extrusions Mr Heart's made of its Second City animals compared to its current Fifth City batch."
  19. ↑ Homecoming, Fallen London "[...] your immense basalt paws [...] Your twin is at your side. [...] you watch as a funerary procession makes its way towards a temple. A group of hooded creatures [...] are led inside, and do not emerge for centuries.""
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 The Attendants, Fallen London "But the House of the Feather was opened before the Palace was completed. We four survivors fled. One remained with the City, while I retreated here."
  21. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "[...] hieroglyphs show a woman at the head of six, walking alone into a dark temple, [...]"
  22. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "The youngest of us perished [...] the eldest in the House of the Feather."
  23. ↑ This really can't be good for you, Fallen London "caught incarcerated caged two dozen centuries no space no space to spread my wings !unbearable! !release me! Spit venom at my judas gaolers may their kohl eyes gender worms may their bones burn in their flesh !unbearable! !release me!"
  24. ↑ Capture Third City Veils, Fallen London "THE OLD PRIEST-KINGS KNEW OUR KIND. WE WERE ALL GODS TO THEM. WE ALL ENTERED INTO THEIR BARGAIN."
  25. ↑ My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "Beasts slaughtered, feasts spread on the floor. [...] We chew. [...] we devour the dead until our hungers have been fed. Feed us. Feed us more than the dead."
  26. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "But the House of the Feather was opened before the Palace was completed. We four survivors fled. One remained with the City, while I retreated here."
  27. ↑ Buying secrets, Fallen London "[...] It was all for nothing, as it turned out. Those d__ned feather-wearing heathen P... no. That's a story for a different day. [...]"
  28. ↑ Homecoming, Fallen London "How dare you", rasps Mr Spices, though it lacks the will to punish the transgression. "You can't imagine it. Tricked by creatures as low as you. Led into a trap. Imprisoned for aeons. The furthest I have ever been from home. Forced to sacrifice—" Its words catch in its throat.
  29. ↑ Buying secrets, Fallen London "[...] My sisters and I have been watching the Vake for many years. Since the Second City, in fact. We were a royal house then. We played those black-cloaked vultures for fools, so we did. Beat them at their own game and pulled the nose of the Bazaar. And they never forgave us. Kept the youngest sister hostage while the rest of us ran for it. [...]"
  30. ↑ The Poisoner's Library, Fallen London "A speech from a banned play, staged only once before a letter campaign by the Duchess put an end to it. 'The fifth says to the last: my straw is not the shortest...'"
  31. ↑ Sidebar Snippet: What's the problem with the Second City?, Fallen London "Never mention the Second City to the Masters of the Bazaar. Mr Wines will look at you narrowly and give you its worst vintage. Mr Cups will fly into a rage. Mr Veils will harangue you for your discourtesy. Mr Iron will say nothing, only write down your name with its left hand."
  32. ↑ Examine Relics of the Second City, Fallen London "Information about the Second City is suppressed, even more so than material about the other Fallen Cities. Benthic scholars date artefacts of the City to over three thousand years ago, but they stop short of engaging in Egyptology – a discipline which the Masters despise."
  33. ↑ The Crocodile Who Would Be King, Fallen London "As every shopkeeper in London knows, artefacts related to the Second City are practically contraband. Only a few enthusiasts have managed to acquire collections worth talking about. [...]"
  34. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "The Palace of the Rising was to be a refuge from the Masters and the Bazaar."
  35. ↑ Homecoming, Fallen London "The jungle below is bathed in orange light [...] you see people basking in your glow. They are seeking refuge from something [...]"
  36. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "We found it in dreams and brought light to it. [...] The sisters found it in twilight and in dreams. [...] This was a twilight place that the Second City made brighter."
  37. ↑ Mistress of the Skies, Fallen London "I do not remember the name I had before, [...] and I did not choose this one. In my city, royalty declared themselves gods, for if they were not gods, they were just people who lived in splendour whilst others did their bidding. I am far from royalty, but I did conceive a sun. The name was given to me. I resisted. Not well enough."
  38. ↑ Mistress of the Skies, Fallen London "I come from a city of sun and sand and edifices, [...] I was a person of no consequence until I discovered an aptitude for a certain kind of engineering. The spectrum in the Neath has peculiar properties, and I became adept at putting them to use. It made me useful to people of great consequence. They used me, and used my creations to take power they believed was theirs."
  39. ↑ Mistress of the Skies, Fallen London "I have heard of it, [...] Built by ushabti, yes? Like my sun. [...] Do you know what ushabti are? They are servants, buried with royalty, created to serve their masters for eternity. And when the royals force these servants to build edifices in their names, they are credited with great vision."
  40. ↑ Climb the dome itself (Fingerkings), Fallen London ""The sun was born," [...] "With certain modifications. Those women augmented it in the shell.""
  41. ↑ Study the Boil of Calamities, Fallen London "[...] ("the Boil of Calamities, Lord of the Seething Sky, wept a drop of shining glass...") [...]"
  42. ↑ My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "Pray to the gods [...] Blow the glass, blow until it glows, and raise it high into the sky."
  43. ↑ My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "Another sun rises inside your head. Iron and glass, smouldering in a dream [...] Palm trees bow and shrivel in the heat. [...] withering grass. Colours run down the sky's face [...]"
  44. ↑ Dig a little distance from the river, Fallen London "The remains of crockery and glass and silvered implements; tiny spoons, for measuring substances that come by the grain; mesh strainers. This might have been half of a destroyed pestle."
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 Trace the boundary of the Is-Not, Fallen London "[...] Put their terracotta potsherds under a microscope. It's subtle, but the crystalline structure undeniably shows signs of sun-drying before they were kiln-fired. Examine their texture and you will see the telltale abrasions found in vessels used to store millet seeds. Even in pottery made decades, centuries after their City fell. And depictions of the sun continue in Second City iconography throughout. If those images were carved from memory, they must have been very strong memories indeed – strong enough to dry clay, or grow wheat."
  46. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "This is Parabola. We [...] brought light to it. The ushabti were built to construct a new home for the Second City, where we could live forever beneath the skin of the sun."
  47. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "A new sun was raised in the sky so the citizens might walk in light again."
  48. ↑ The Palace of the Rising, Conquered, Fallen London "I did not mean for them to die. Our bodies were meant to endure in the Second, while our minds ranged, free. But we did not predict the lacre. The greying of the bodies that survived. The effect it had on my attendants."
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 The Palace of the Rising, Conquered, Fallen London "In dreams they wander, and are lost. But in clay, even here, they remain themselves. The ones I have known for centuries."
  50. ↑ The Palace of the Rising, Conquered, Fallen London "[...] They come back, though. Vengeful amnesiacs, forgetting my love in place of their hate."
  51. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "There is no signature. Just two simple symbols, scribed in careful strokes: a disk, above a tool embedded in a wood block."
  52. ↑ My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "You had to do it, didn't you? But now you have a choice. High on the palace balcony, above the purple riverbank, they wait until the glyphs have dried – a disc; a tool embedded in a block – to collect the contract. Remember, above all, the sun will always rise somewhere."
  53. ↑ Dig a little distance from the river, Fallen London "You pull out six tiny clay women, faience-glazed. One carries a mirror, one an ankh, one a cat, one a rose. One is snapped in half, her head and hands missing. The last holds a flask, of perfume or of poison."
  54. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "I am the only one left now. The youngest of us perished on the Surface, the eldest in the House of the Feather. The rest are lost to me. I keep this place in their memory."
  55. ↑ Hunt a feral crocodile, Fallen London "Feral: A domesticated animal that has reverted to its wild nature. The sacred crocodiles of the Second City were oversized and overfed; abandoned by their masters, they have developed a ravenous appetite and a cantankerous disposition."
  56. ↑ Finish off the crocodile, Fallen London "Like others of its kind, it is entirely white – perhaps bred to be this way by the Second City's priests. Its huge, scarred body is covered in armoured skin that bulges and sags out under the creature's mass. The pelt will be a fine prize, but the true wealth is in what it's wearing: Second-city era jewellery and adornment, including delicate glim inlays meant to imitate lapis..."
  57. ↑ The Crocodile Who Would Be King, Fallen London "Early Second City. Commissioned by the High Priest of (defaced). Notice the hieroglyphs, in which the egg is placed into the golden pool, and the spirit enters the egg. [...]"
  58. ↑ The Crocodile Who Would Be King, Fallen London "[...] I'm very familiar with Egyptian rites to open the glass. They needed to create a hybrid, you see, with one foot in this world, and one foot decidedly not. [...]"
  59. ↑ The Crocodile Who Would Be King, Fallen London "I remember this place, [...] Before I crept into the egg, I was here. This is home. But the other kings don't understand. How could they? And the pharaoh's daughters didn't always care for me. After I opened the glass, I was lucky to get scraps under the table. I have lived under the table ever since. [...]"
  60. ↑ Study the diplomatic overtures of cities past, Fallen London "It is a catalogue of failure. The College of Mortality had no opinion on the First, a deep distaste for the Second, a strong desire not to be anywhere involved in the Third, and a singular hatred for the Fourth. Their opinions on the Fifth are not yet recorded anywhere, and must therefore be concluded to be unspeakable."
  61. ↑ Follow your feet (Second City), Fallen London "The bottom third is occupied with a cityscape, low and modest against the expanse of sky above – the Second City. Above, a vast disc gleams, painstakingly graven with a cartouche of delicate hieroglyphs. A reed; a fluid zig-zag; a half circle above a tiny sun. From the disc erupts a halo of grasping rays, reaching down to the city below. At the terminus of each finger-thin ray of sunlight is a hand. Open-palmed. Beckoning."
  62. ↑ Required Repairs, Fallen London "What you see here is nothing. Out there, the spiders have seized a star. Did you ever see Second City etchings? The Aten sun-disk? It is no fantasy. Once we complete the symbol in these tunnels, the golden ray will descend to bathe us all. Think of it! The cavern roof incinerated, and the starlight streaming in."
  63. ↑ Supply Relics of the Second City, Fallen London "On the Surface, the hieroglyphic script became more stylised and easier to write as time went on. In the Second City, we observe the opposite trend – note the emergence of ideograms influenced by the Correspondence."
  64. ↑ Walk around Veilgarden, Fallen London "[...] Bohemians use crowbars to crack open wax-sealed clay urns, exposing the mushroom beer inside."
  65. ↑ "Irrigation Through The Ages proves more interesting than the title would suggest. It seems some palaces in the Second City under royal control were altered to permit a profusion of water features. Some, but not all."
  66. ↑ "A gossipy text from the Fourth City on the foibles of past cities and the follies of their rulers suggests that the rulers of the Second sought to divert the waters of Hell to their own purpose."
  67. ↑ Leave the place undisturbed, Fallen London "Bowl-shaped oil lanterns abound in the house, but they are all empty and unlit. The windows are high and small. Even the gloom of the Neath seems bright when you walk through the front door – which slams shut behind you."
  68. ↑ Take the air, Fallen London "[...] You remember dim streets lit by nooked lamps. Drifts of sand fringed the square houses. Even all these years after the Fall, there was still sand. Glassless windows yawned in plastered buildings. Statues stood on every corner, crested with head-dresses. A black river murmured past the Beloved's Palace. At the heart of the city, between the Bureau of Correspondence and the Temple of Judgement, the Bazaar's spires climbed into the gloom."
  69. ↑ Speak to the Dean of Neocartography, Fallen London "...I still hear speculation about Alexandria, but I'm sure that isn't true. The Second City didn't have nearly enough temples to be Alexandria."
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