Winking Isle
|
WARNING: Beyond this point lie spoilers for Fallen London's most infamous storyline: Seeking Mr Eaten's Name. Turn back now. You can find out more about our spoiler policy here. |
"The summit of Winking Isle is two dozen paces across, a flat lawn of springy grass -- black, or a deep green that seems black in this light. In the very centre stands a Well of black brick. As you cross the grass, scents arise: crushed flowers, camphor, ice. There may, or may not be, a lighthouse."[1]
Winking Isle is a small island containing a single well and a darkened lighthouse.
Camphor and Ice
"You could spend your whole life here, until even the vitality of the Neath gutters in you, and you lie brittle beside the Well."[2]
Winking Isle is a lonely island apparently located to the East of the Unterzee,[3] but it can also be accessed via dreams through a certain ritual.[4] In fact, it exists in the line dividing the High Wilderness and Parabola.[5] When seen through dreams, the surroundings of Winking Isle are quite strange; the "ocean" below is in fact a starry night, and the "sky" above is the sea.[6]
The rest of the Isle is more concrete: a gravel path leads to the Isle's summit from its starlit-silver sands.[6] The summit is a small, candlelit lawn of dark green grass with a Well of stone at its center, and has a distinct scent: "crushed flowers, camphor, ice".[6][7] The Well is traditionally circled thrice at a time, but some circle seven.[8]
The Lighthouse
"The lighthouse would warn ships, but no ships come here. It would give light, but there is only darkness in its core. It has no door, and no windows. It is not here. But still it flashes, flashes, flashes. Winking Isle."[9]
The Lighthouse of Winking Isle gives off no light, as there are no ships to alert.[9] Such light is invisible, and can only be seen by certain eyes.[10] The Lighthouse does not have a door, inscribed with a sigil of the Correspondence, and it does not have a dark, metallic handle. The Lighthouse's interior is marked by many Correspondence sigils, and it has seven thousand steps leading to its top.
At the top of the Lighthouse lies its lens and Apparatus, as well as several journals written by Mr Candles, penned in Correspondence on meteorites and burnt leather.[11] In ages past, Mr Candles held dominion over dreams,[12] and the Lighthouse was likely how he lit the very edge of sleep.[13]
"Here he once stood, on the border between Parabola and the Wilderness, to look out across his wounded realm. Or perhaps he only imagined it. Perhaps you only imagined it. This is a dream that wounds, but it is a dream."[14]
References
- ↑ The Well, Fallen London
- ↑ Fasting and Meditating to a Foolish End, Fallen London
- ↑ The Pentecost Predicament, Fallen London "Yes, yes, darling, from Codex to the Winking Isle and back."
- ↑ Sleep with the Calling Card crumpled in your fist, Fallen London
- ↑ Enter the lighthouse., Fallen London "Here he once stood, on the border between Parabola and the Wilderness [...]"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Bend to the oars, Fallen London
- ↑ The Well, Fallen London "[...] a [...] lawn of [...] grass -- [...] a deep green [...]"
- ↑ Circle the well, Fallen London
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 The Lighthouse, Fallen London
- ↑ Sleep with the Calling Card crumpled in your fist, Fallen London
- ↑ Enter the lighthouse., Fallen London "No door - marked with the glyph [...] you do not extend your hand to depress the handle of blackened iron [...] Glyphs light the walls. [...] the room of the lens and the Apparatus. [...] His notes are here, scratched into [...] achondrites, charred into [...] leather, [...]"
- ↑ Ask him what he wants, Fallen London "Wine and Spices stole what was mine."
- ↑ Accept the Name!, Fallen London
- ↑ Enter the lighthouse., Fallen London
