The Nacreous Outcast
"A Rubbery Man rises from a cyst in the floor. An iridescent cicatrice crosses its face. Even in this flood of silvery light, it pulses like a fevered moon."[1]
The Nacreous Outcast is a Rubbery Man from the Principles of Coral.
A Star-Crossed Creature
"Flif your hanf on the ftool. Farphaf! Ophen your eyess."[2]
"I ushed to love - "[3]
The Nacreous Outcast's most striking physical feature is a scar glowing with silver light. Unlike most Rubbery Men yet encountered, it can speak both English[1] and the Rubbery language,[4] though its speech in the former can be difficult for some to understand.[1] It is familiar with esoteric culinary arts[2] - though it prefers its food uncooked.[3] It is typically very terse[5] and has a reserved demeanor.[6]
The Outcast was exiled on account of multiple crimes, most of which cannot be described by human languages. One of them was love,[3] which is forbidden among the Axiles,[7][8] and it is implied that the recipient of its affection was a Fluke.[9] As punishment, it was abandoned at Port Cecil; here it became an emissary[1] to the Shining Mind,[3] the entity whose mind once suffused the Principles of Coral.[10] The Outcast also has a residence in an isolated part of London, where it draws figures in the windows and sings.[11][12]
The Principles of Coral wished to descend the Great Chain of Being[13] and free itself of thought forever.[14] To this end, the Outcast was ordered to gather materials[1][15] for a chess game against an outside opponent,[16] and act as a surrogate for its master.[17] It was to lose on the Principles' behalf, upon which the minds of both beings would perish.[14][17] Of course the Outcast feared this fate,[14] but fortunately for this hapless Rubbery Man, it was not to be permanent. While the Principles is definitively slumbering, leading to the exploitation of its reef,[18] the Outcast is alive through unknown means.[19]
