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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.
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"You have proven useful. But I am a step ahead. Observe. Caught him trying to sell the diamonds you gave him. New to the city. Didn't know that the diamonds are mine. All mine. Now he knows."[1]
Mr Stones controls trade in all kinds of stones and minerals, including jewels, quarrystone, salt, blasting powder, corrosive mineral compounds,[2][3] brick, metal,[4] moon-pearls,[5] and glim.[6]
Stones is an elusive Master who prefers to have its employees do its bidding.[7][8] It only intercedes personally when dealing with matters of business,[9] or when valuables catch its interest.[10][11]
Diamonds in the Rough
"Why are diamonds so hard to find down here? Does Mr Stones really keep them for itself?"[12]
"Magnificence! A piece of eternity! Especially brilliant. Exposed to the surface. Sunlight is trapped within. Pinned. Like insect in amber. Majesty. Mastery. Potential."[1]
A Magnificent Diamond.
Mr Stones is fascinated with diamonds, and has laid claim to all the diamonds in London.[13] Trading or hoarding diamonds without permission is illegal,[13][14] and any citizen,[14] visitor,[13] or rival jeweler who breaks Stones' rules is harshly punished.[15] Thanks to Stones, diamonds in London are considered rare,[12] and trades involving diamonds, even official ones, may happen without its knowledge.[16] Despite its laws, Stones does permit a few diamonds to be sold to those of "good character", such as patrons of the Bazaar Side-Streets.[17]
Stones is especially interested in any gems from the Surface[18] and has imposed a high tax on them.[19] A diamond,[20] or apparently any jewel,[21] can trap sunlight within itself, a quality that fascinates Stones.[22] In its workshop, Stones experiments on sunlight-diamonds and compels them to "blaze" with their trapped radiance.[23][24]
Stones has quarries in the Neath[25] staffed with Clay Men, who act as patrols and spot smugglers.[26] The mines are usually located far from London,[27] but when they tunnel too close they may cause earthquakes[28] and other disturbances.[29] The quarries also experience lacre flooding from the Bazaar, resulting in mass casualties.[30]
Other Domains and Names
"Most people think Mr Stones only cares about gems. But Mr Stones controls value itself. Precious minerals are just one way to manipulate it, to accumulate it."[31]
"Nowadays, nobody mentions the Khan of Gifts... or the Khan of Shackles. Those were other names for the Master. I have to keep my value high. No matter what."[31]
A Fabulous Diamond.
Mr Stones is not solely focused on the gem trade; it has domain over "value itself."[31] This may be one of the reasons for its fixation on gems[32] and why its products carry high price tags.[33] It also has domain over walls and certain boundaries, since it controls the sale of building materials.[34][35]
Mr Stones was known as Mr Marble until a recent issue with the Tomb-Colonies.[36] This matter probably involved the massive marble palaces being constructed there for the dead.[37]
In the Fourth City, Mr Stones was known as the Khan of Gifts and the Khan of Shackles, implying it was a slaver during that time period.[31]
Appearance
"Anyone else strutting about with this many exposed jewels, as ready to be plucked as ripened fruit, would be plucked very barren indeed in London. But Mr Stones plucks back."[38]
Mr Stones' talon.
Mr Stones is the most outlandishly dressed of the Masters. It is covered from head to toe in adornments,[39] including teeth made from gold and diamond,[40] fangs covered in jewels,[41] numerous bracelets under its robes,[42] and ornaments affixed to its hood.[43] Unlike the other Masters,[44][45] Stones does not wear gloves to conceal its claws. Its talons are very sharp and are unsurprisingly decorated with gems.[46]
Stones also has a darker-colored robe covered in minuscule and glittering diamonds.[47] It may dress anonymously in generic robes, but its fondness for adornments usually gives it away.[48]
Personality
"Stones is curt, impolite, wary, and very, very rich."[49]
"Dispose? Ignominy! Outrage! Flee, thou false little worm, before I tread thee underfoot!"[1]
A Flawed Diamond.
Stones has a menacing[50] and ill-tempered personality.[51] It is prone to threats,[52] intimidation,[53] and violence when enraged,[54] and it can be extremely persistent and focused,[55] especially when gems are involved.[56][57] It respects cunning, perseverance, brutality, and mercilessness, and those who display such traits may receive offers of employment.[58][59] Mr Stones is a greedy Curator: it desires everything that interests it,[60] and it reacts poorly[61] when denied.[62] For lesser valuables it may bargain, but its greed does not discern.[60] In spite of these qualities, it may reward charity when it is the recipient.[63][64]
Mr Stones speaks tersely,[58] and doesn't bother with formalities or politeness.[73] Its statements usually consist of single words or sentence fragments,[58] but when it feels verbose, it may speak an archaic form of English, using words like "thou" and "thee."[74]
According to its iteration of Mr Sacks, Mr Stones does not drink[75] and dislikes lacre.[76]
A Mindscape of Mr Stones
"Iron shackles circle your wrists and your ankles. You are dragged forward by copper-helmeted guards and deposited before a golden throne. Looking up, you find yourself faced with Mr Stones, dressed in a robe of fine silk, considering you as a schoolboy might consider an ant."[1]
"Behind it, an alcove of a dozen multi-faceted mirrors show six other iterations of Mr Stones: one dressed in furs, one in its familiar robes. One crouched over a well. One soaring upon an astral wind, and another squatted grotesquely atop a glittering heap. The seventh mirror is shining so brightly it hurts to look upon."[1]
"Thou has a request of me," says Mr Stones. "Speak now, and if thy words displease me, thy tongue is forfeit."[1]
Businesses
"Go as far upstairs as all the stairs at the Emporium will take you, and you may find Mr Stones' discreet little counter. The prices are monstrously expensive. Mr Stones knows the value of everything. But where else can you find sapphires of this quality?"[77]
A sapphire.
Mr Stones has many businesses to its name. It has a shop in the Labyrinth of Tigers called Mr Stones' Exquisite Gifts and Luxuries, which offers jewels such as emeralds, diamonds, and sapphires for very high prices.[78]
During the Grand Clearing-Out, Stones opened a tent in Moloch Street called Mr Stones' Pavilion of Subterranean Delights,[79] which sold items found in the dig sites to help with the excavation.[80] After the Grand Clearing-Out,[81][82] Stones was not present[83] during the Masters' efforts to quell the Stone Pigs attempting to destroy London.[84][85]
At some point, Hell made a deal with Mr Stones to explore the Hurlers,[86] but their expedition failed.[87] After the Great Hellbound Railway arrived, Stones established a trade outpost there[88] to obtain the Hurlers' many rocks and crystals,[88] especially those that "unmake boundaries."[89]
"Your footsteps echo in Mr Stones' cavernous workshop. The place is an assault on the eyes – a cascade of glimmers and glitters and gleams. Emeralds embedded in beeswax. Opals nested in silk cushions. Vats of smoking ochre. Precise tools with complex geometries laid meticulously upon a table top."[1]
A Winking Gemstone Ring.
Mr Stones typically dwells in its jewel-encrusted workshop.[92] It has a floor tiled with gems[93] whose colors are apparently chosen to match Stones' mood; for example, darker gemstones line the floor when it's feeling dreary.[94] In its workshop, Mr Stones inspects,[95] experiments with,[96] and cuts jewels with its various tools, which include hammers, chisels,[97][98] lenses, and clamps.[96]
Mr Stones has an Astrarium within the Echo Bazaar.[99] This chamber is massive and contains tunnels[100] lined with dark onyx and glass, with gems embedded within to resemble constellations in the night sky.[101] Inside, Stones has a glass box it uses to torture and execute prisoners. They're sealed within the box while diamonds cascade from above,[102][103] falling until they completely bury the victim.[104]
While traveling, Stones prefers luxurious transports, such as hansom carriages with interiors of gem and gold.[105] It has a train for the Great Hellbound Railway with a private car for itself, well-decorated and well-armed.[106][107]
The Affair of the Box
"This thing has seven locks, each more difficult than the last. You haven't yet found a way to open it."[108]
"...And Mr Stones is furious that its box has gone missing again. The Clay twins are tearing the place up looking for it. No box means no moon-milk. And that means our exiled captain won't provide it with the troops it wants. It'll just have to wait for its blessed Sixth City."[109]
Despite sharing an employer,[71] the Masters are not united.[110] Each has their own schemes and plots that oppose others,[111] and Stones is no exception.[112]
A Heavy Iron Box.
Mr Stones' own scheme began with capturing a moon-miser in an iron box.[113] The box also contained love letters from the Fourth City[114] that Stones stole from Mr Fires.[112] It was secured with a lock that could only be opened with a song from a Drownie,[115] and seven decoy locks were added along with fake keys scattered across London.[116][117]
Stones ordered two Unfinished Men, Jasper and Frank, to keep track of the box if it was ever lost.[118] It was also kept secret from the other Masters[119] and was transported around London repeatedly.[120] Given these facts, it's not surprising powerful figures in London took an interest in the box, such as devils,[121]Special Constables,[122] and the Gracious Widow.[123]
Mr Stones wanted to give the valuable moon-milk produced by the miser to an exiled captain of Hell.[124][109] In return, the captain would assemble an army and start a war in London.[109][125] It also wanted to give the love letters in the box to the Echo Bazaar.[126] These acts were intended to expedite the fall of the Sixth City, as Mr Stones tires of London.[109][127]
Adornment
"This is simple caprice. It is an obsessive. You are here to complete its collection. You flee. You do not get far, in this realm where the light is word is law. The weight of its gaze almost crushes you. It utters a single incandescent word."[1]
Like the rest of the Masters, Mr Stones is a Curator,[71][72] one of the bat-like beings that roam the High Wilderness in search of treasures for their collections.[128] Before it arrived in the Neath,[71] Stones repeatedly broke the laws of the Judgements.[129] Its sins eventually led to it being forced into service under the Echo Bazaar to avoid "misfortune, failure, and fruitlessness."[71]
Before its time serving under the Bazaar,[71] Stones' home was subjugated by a Judgement.[130] This star was a collector of creatures, and Stones was its latest "adornment."[131] The Judgement did not seem to know its captive was a criminal,[132] but it still kept Stones prisoner for an indeterminate amount of time.[133] Stones was outraged at this treatment and the Judgement's disregard for the rules Stones believed in,[134] and it was filled with inscrutable rage, bitterness, and shame.[135]
↑Paisley, Fallen London"Mr Stones [...] reminds you that it governs more than jewels. Blasting powder, hydrochloric acid, and numerous other corrosive mineral compounds [...]"
↑Establish a trading post, Fallen London"[...] a Calculating Lapidary arrives on the next train to officially oversee this 'trading post', [...] contracts are contracts, and when Mr Stones wants something, Mr Stones gets it."
↑The devil you don't know, Fallen London"[...] Mr Stones is furious that its box has gone missing again. The Clay twins are tearing the place up looking for it."
↑Adornment, Fallen London"[...] the Masters don't meet with just any riff-raff. [...] You send out word that you have acquired a [...] fine gemstone, requiring Mr Stones' personal attention... [...] A carriage pulls up outside [...]"
↑Adornment, Fallen London"[...] I am excellent at procuring [...] gemstones from the surface, and Mr Stones is interested in acquiring as many as possible."
↑Adornment, Fallen London"It turns the cursed diamond over in its claws. "Sunlight is trapped within.""
↑Adornment, Fallen London"[...] I am excellent at procuring [...] gemstones from the surface, and Mr Stones is interested [...] I recently closed a deal on a lapis lazuli curse-tablet [...]"
↑Adornment, Fallen London""Catchers of the light [...] "Especially brilliant. Exposed to the surface." [...] "Sunlight is trapped within.""
↑Incarnadine Fur Robe, Fallen London"Mr Stones grips a chisel [...] The diamond under its attention roars with light – not reflecting it, but blazing it."
↑Adornment, Fallen London"[...] you see Stones placing the diamond into a vice and surrounding it with [...] lenses. The diamond begins to blaze with an inner light [...]"
↑Adornment, Fallen London"[...] you can blame Mr Stones [...] Its quarries are getting too close [...]"
↑Adornment, Fallen London"You can blame Mr Stones [...] His mining works are getting too close to the city."
↑Adornment, Fallen London"[...] you can blame Mr Stones for all this shaking. Its quarries are getting too close to London [...]"
↑Adornment, Fallen London"Different areas of London, [...] continue to shake [...] Bats are unsettled [...] Church-bells ring [...] The Stolen River sloshes over [...]"
↑Adornment, Fallen London"LACRE," [...] "IT FINDS ITS WAY INTO THE MINES FROM THE RESERVOIRS SOMETIMES. CAN SWEEP AWAY WHOLE GROUPS OF MINERS."
↑A tiny gift, Fallen London"Mr Stones' cloak shimmers, more grey than black. [...] Perhaps it's the tiny diamonds woven into the fabric."
↑Enter the private compartment, Fallen London"The Master [...] is [...] in an unadorned robe, [...] any Master might anonymously wear, but there's no mistaking those gem-encrusted fangs."
↑Adornment, Fallen London"Mr Stones ignores its lackeys, stalking toward the Smuggler. [...] Its claws are extended, [...] As it approaches it seems to grow in size. [...] "Collapse my mines," [...] "Fool around with my diamond. Mine. How dare thee.""
↑Adornment, Fallen London""Dispose?" shrieks Mr Stones, [...] "Ignominy! Outrage! Flee, [...] before I tread thee underfoot!""
↑The Season of Stones, Fallen London"Ask the Masters how beholden they are to their desires [...] Mr Stones does not look up from examining its opal."
↑Adornment, Fallen London"It is currently engaged in its favourite activity: holding the [...] Diamond [...] admiring the glimmer within the stone, utterly transfixed."
↑Adornment, Fallen London""I have it!" shrieks Mr Stones [...] yanking something [...] from the Smuggler's eye. [...] the diamond sparkling [...] bright [...] "All mine!""
↑Adornment, Fallen London"You find Mr Stones [...] its robe dragging [...] through the lacre. "Is this it?" [...] speaking apparently to thin air. "Is this what thou hast been holding over our heads for so long? [...] The others will find me soon! It shall indeed be postponed further!""
↑The Season of Stones, Fallen London"Ask the Masters whether there are others of their kind [...] Mr Stones regards you, perfectly still. [...] you hear dark mutterings coming from Mr Stones' cowl; words which [...] might set a factory's engines ablaze, were they spoken much louder."
↑Inquire about the Clearing-Out, Fallen London"The Procedures provide for excavating the earth around the Bazaar in this eventuality [...] By my calculations, Londoners sped up the rate of excavation by several orders of magnitude [...]"
↑A Conclave of the Masters, Hastily Assembled, Fallen London""There will not be a next city!," [...] The Bazaar is being torn apart by the Stone Pigs' imminent escape." [...] "The timetable was accelerated considerably, outside of our control," [...] "There is no time to prepare London for dissolution."
↑Incarnadine Fur Robe, Fallen London"Mr Stones' workshop [...] shimmers. It scintillates! The floor, a mosaic of malachite and moonstone. The benches, [...] with lapidarists' tools. [...] Brass arrays of lenses scrutinise [...] sapphires. [...] a plate, [...] with emeralds. [...] garnets [...] on a bed of silk."
↑Incarnadine Fur Robe, Fallen London" Mr Stones' workshop floor [...] you [...] find it changed. Its new floor is [...] tiger eye and black tourmaline, as if [...] it pried free all its rainbow jewels to replace them with something befitting a gloomier mood."
↑ 96.096.1Adornment, Fallen London"[...] from the workshop, you see Stones placing the diamond into a vice and surrounding it with [...] angled lenses. The diamond begins to blaze with an inner light [...]"
↑Adornment, Fallen London"[...] Mr Stones hefts a hammer [...] [...] it grips the tiniest, [...] chisel you [...] seen. It hunches over a sapphire, tapping at the edges [...]"
↑Adornment, Fallen London"its Astrarium: a vast room [...] Maze-like tunnels of [...] ripple throughout [...]"
↑Adornment, Fallen London"Maze-like tunnels of onyx and smoked glass [...] darker than the darkest of nights, each embedded with [...] gemstones: [...] in painstakingly recreated constellations."
↑Adornment, Fallen London"You are confronted by the sight [...] He is imprisoned within a glass box, only a little larger than a coffin. [...] "Caught him trying to sell the diamonds you gave him," [...] Didn't know that the diamonds are mine. [...] Now he knows." [...] A hatch is open above [...] Thousands and thousands of [...] diamonds are raining down onto him [...]"
↑Adornment, Fallen London"It glances [...] at the box of diamonds. "And administer due punishment.""
↑Adornment, Fallen London"[...] it is over. [...] gone silent, completely immersed in diamonds. [...] Only a bloodstained fingertip is visible, [...] against the glass."
↑Adornment, Fallen London"Even the carriage interior is ostentatious – rubies beaded [...] on the door-handles, sapphires clinging to the windows [...] gold thread woven through the seats."
↑Interested parties, Fallen London"People are looking for your box. A devil is offering [...] rostygold for information. [...] suspected [...] Special Constables, are making discreet enquiries [...]"
↑Interested parties, Fallen London"People are looking for your box. [...] suspected [...] Special Constables, are making discreet enquiries [...]"
↑The devil you don't know, Fallen London"Stones hid the love-letters it stole from Fires in the box. I'm sure Stones was planning on presenting the letters to the Bazaar [...]"
↑Adornment, Fallen London"[...] you have transgressed, a hundred times [...] you [...] defied the law that is word that is light [...]"
↑Adornment, Fallen London"this creature, [...] in its blazing crown who now holds dominion over your former home [...]"
↑Adornment, Fallen London"this creature, [...] is a collector. [...] Its throne is decorated with writhing things. [...] It utters a single [...] word. "Adornment." [...] what happens, which is obedience."
↑Adornment, Fallen London"[...] you have transgressed, [...] but the arrogant creature does not know that."
↑Adornment, Fallen London"[...] what happens, which is obedience. [...] And the years fall down like hammer-blows..."
↑Adornment, Fallen London"How could they have done this [...] To you? [...] Does it all count for nothing? There are conventions. There are laws."
↑Adornment, Fallen London"The fury is all-consuming. [...] there's more. [...] Bitterness, shame [...]"