Dahut

"Drownies built a copy of London as it never was: a cathedral, and houses, and fields of flowers, all underwater. The water is cool and luminous, and at the same time it is breathable air."

Dahut is an under-zee city inhabited by Drownies.

They Sing

"Water and air are the same thing here: a betrayal of nature, or a truce between opposites. Swim up the side of the Cathedral, if you like, and peer in through its rose windows. (You won't be able to make out anything inside.) Breathe deep. Fill your lungs with a substance cooler and more cleansing than ordinary air."

Dahut is a beautiful underwater city, it's waters perfectly breathable and save to traverse. The Drownies that inhabit this place are keen to welcome any visitors coming there; most of them arriving due to the frequent shipwrecks that happen near the city.

During a person's stay in the city they are met with much hospitality from the resident Drownies; they are made to feel special and unique and get to take part in the city's many festivals, during which they can eat a variety of bizzare foods and even partake in sexual intercourse with some of the Drownies.

The passage of time in Dahut is quite strange, with multiple months and seasons all mixing together and constanly changing, which creates nonexistant months, such as Janupril.

They Scream

"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. You can find out more about our spoiler policy here.

"You sing, and the Drownies around turn, arrested, to stare at you. They do not want to hear this song. The Cathedral beams creak, and you see that the buttresses are also the bones of a wrecked clipper. The Zee-grass ripples, and you see the crabs hiding in it. The water-air shimmers under the weight of the ordinary Zee above."

Dahut's hospitality and beauty is simply an illusion; it's warm bonfires are actually geothermal vents and it's grand cathedral is built out of wrecked ships of the city's visitors.

A portion of the people visiting the city are unable to see it's illusory beauty, likely as a result of already living in their own personal delusions. These people are often imprisoned indefinitely under the city's cathedral, with a portion of them being turned into new Drownies on a regular basis.

The Drownies of Dahut created the city and it's illusions as a play in honor of the The Fathomking, who used to regularly visit and preside over their religious ceremonies. However, The King had stopped his visits to the city at some point, which left the city's Drownies in a somewhat morose mood.

Origins

Dahut in mythology is a name of the princess of Ys - a city on the coast of France, supposedly flooded and sunk after she opened the city gates to the devil.