"There are some things we were not meant to know, they say. But you wouldn't be down here if you took that seriously."
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"Don't look into the well, captain. The thing inside looks back."
"Mists spiral around the well's abysmal plunge. The movements induce intense nausea. A green-faced stoker rushes from your presence."[1]
The Well of the Wolf is a large sky-well located in the region of Albion. Its population consists mostly of unusually disheveled devils.[2]
The Bandstand
The main point of interest around the Well is the congregation of rag-wearing, silent devils who live in a system of hexagonal caves located at the rim of the Well.[3][4] The devils that come here "retire" by allowing giant chorister bees to enter their chest cavities through their mouths,[5][6] sacrificing their voices to let the bees sing through them.[7]
The disheveled devils regularly convene at a dilapidated bandstand, where they honor the entity trapped inside the Well by dancing Correspondence sigils and letting the chorister bees make use of their voices.[8][9]
The Ur-Devil
The King of Carols, also known as the Many-Mouthed and the Choir-in-One,[10] is a Grand Devil[11][12] who protested long ago against the rule of the Judgements by refusing to use his many beautiful singing voices.[13] In retaliation, the Judgements hung the King of Carols above the Well of the Wolf as a warning to anyone trying to oppose them.[11] As a final act of defiance, the King of Carols gave away all but one of his voices to his creations, the chorister bees.[11][14] For this he was forever imprisoned inside the Well. His upset subjects, the devils, attempted rebellion against the Judgements, with the King of Carols as a martyr for their cause.[14][15]
↑Speak to the congregation of devils, Sunless Skies"They emerge, curious, from the caves. Once, they were dapper in pinstripe or delicate in brocade. Now, they wea'."rags. Their brocade has frayed; their pinstripe faded to porridgey grey."
↑Speak to the congregation of devils, Sunless Skies"You ask about their lives here. Silence. When you persist, one steps forward and opens his mouth as wide as he can. Plainsong emerges: sweet, with a sonorous drone. The devil's lips and tongue aren't moving – the song is coming from deeper in his throat."
↑The Well of the Wolf, Sunless Skies"Away from the edge, a cluster of hexagonal cave-mouths perforate an icy cliff-face. The yellow eyes of devils gleam inside them."
↑Deposit the Infernal Philatelist, Sunless Skies"He takes the bee from the cage and you watch as his jaw [...] opening wider and wider and wider. The curious bee crawls inside, pushing unidentifiable organs aside to make room. Then the devil's mouth returns [...] the Philatelist sings with the bee's sweet, wordless voice. [...] He is part of the choir, now."
↑Speak to the congregation of devils, Sunless Skies"[...] one steps forward and opens his mouth as wide as he can. Plainsong emerges: sweet, with a sonorous drone. [...] The devil leans obligingly forward. You peer past his tongue, [...] see a large compound eye – insectoid, iridescent – peering back at you from his chest cavity."
↑Give the Patchwork Devil her bee, Sunless Skies"You open the bee's cage. "Thank you," [...] They are the last words she ever speaks. Her mouth opens extraordinarily wide. [...] The bee crawls frantically into the opening, down her throat, and nestles in her chest cavity. The Devil's mouth returns to its usual size, then emits a single seraphic note."
↑Watch a well-song, Sunless Skies"The devils mount the bandstand and begin to sing. Their lips are motionless, [...] Buzzing plainsong pours from their throats. The notes are scattered across the scale, creating only a tenuous harmony. Slowly, they begin to shuffle in what might be a dance. Its movements are performed only with the feet. Are they drawing an alphabet? Hieroglyphs?"
↑Decipher some of the dance-alphabet of the devils, Sunless Skies"You are sure the patterns of the devils' dance are a crude form of the Correspondence. The hymn itself, you think, is only inflection. By morning, you have assembled enough of a foundation to decipher the Devil's next service."
↑Listen to the first hymn, Sunless Skies"You are certain the rite is a lament, but struggle to identify who for, until you realise the congregation is using many names for one individual. [...] The Singular Choir? No – the Choir-in-One. The Many-Mouthed. The Master of— no. The King of Celebrants? No, the King of Carols. These are the names of the thing in the Well."
↑ 11.011.111.2Listen to the third hymn, Sunless Skies"The harmonies indicate a penultimate period; a period of punishment. The Choir-in-One (who was, you are now certain, an ur-devil) was – elaborated? Stretched? Hung? – above the well [...] The stars 'made a message of him,' [...] In defiance, he gave away his voices, bestowing 'all but one of them upon his—' The next part might be 'creations' or 'aberrations' or 'amalgamies'. Apparently, this was not well received by 'those who judged'."
↑ 14.014.1Deposit the Abstemious Devil, Sunless Skies"'Long ago, the Many-Mouthed gave all but one of his voices to his creations. I require a single live chorister-bee.' ... She removes a book from her suitcase [...] The Choir-in-One and other Martyrs of the Cause."
↑Listen to the fourth and final hymn, Sunless Skies"The Many-Mouthed was judged by the Regents in Gold, and cast into the well. His voices, all but the one he kept, 'were scattered to the hives'. His followers – 'the horned and brazen' – grieved, then raged, then rebelled. The Chain was broken. The fate of the uprising is unstated, but the sigils are melancholy. There is reference to an exodus, to 'a time of serpents'."
