Achlys

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"Coppery lights away in the fog: the lamps of Achlys, a shanty-market for spices and vices."[1]

Near the broken Reach-Eleutheria transit relay lies Achlys, a haven for merchants of tea and spices.

Care for Some Tea?

"The bulk of the market is devoted to brews and incense, and the almost priceless Midnight's Favour. Every breeze carries a different scent."[2]

The Floating Market of Achlys is small, bustling, and unsanctioned.[3] Its merchants, Londoners and native Eleutherians alike, primarily hawk tea and spices, though salts and opiates can be found here as well.[4]

The market's buildings are all on stilts;[5] the village lies at the edge of the Achlean Marshes, an overgrown swamp[6] that produces a poisonous,[7] hallucinogenic mist.[8] Rumor has it there is a lush garden somewhere deep within the Marshes,[9] though whether this prospect is worth being driven mad by fumes is anyone's guess.[10]

Central to the market of Achlys is the Court of Tea and Spices. Amberley Murgatroyd, daughter of Old London's Murgatroyd family, has established a shop here, called Murgatroyd's Taste of Albion.[11] Unfortunately, her family's tea pales in popularity to other blends[12] - especially the priceless Midnight's Favour. What's in this prized tea? You won't get a straight answer; most traders will simply remark that they are not worthy of Midnight's Favour. The ones who are worthy refuse to sell it to just anyone.[13]

There is a statue of Achlys' founder in the middle of the market, but the plaque at their feet has had all of its information scratched out.[14] Other landmarks around Achlys include the Midnight Garden, where Bohemians host Eastern-style tea ceremonies[15] and allow worthy visitors[16] a single taste of Midnight's Favour;[17] and the House of Silks, the hookah parlor[18] where the Curator Mr Pipes languishes its days away.[19]

The Ringbreakers

""HOJOTOHO! HOJOTOHO!" The war-cry echoes through the marsh. Urchins – Ringbreakers from Old London, from the look of them – surge at the attackers..."[20]

Achlys is guarded by the Ringbreakers, a group of urchins who also came from Old London. They had been brought to the Wilderness by some "old bugger" to do chores for him, but revolted and made their way to Achlys,[21] where they dutifully protect their new home.[22] Friends of Old London's urchins might recognize the Ringbreakers' feathered colander helmets, broom-handle spears,[23] and signature war cry: "HOJOTOHO!"[24][25]

The Ringbreakers have set up their headquarters in a wrecked and remodeled engine, the Vigilant Nightingale,[26] left here by Achlys' mysterious founder.[27] This is where they train for battle[28] and even have their own "brig."[29] They are led by a precocious (if not quite literate) young Valkyrie named Sigrid Spitesdottir.[30]

The Monastery

"Petrified veins run down the side of this ancient structure. Two giant featureless doors block the crumbling entrance, far too large for any human to open. The metal is unfamiliar, but resilient. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the monastery itself."[31]

Near the market of Achlys is an ancient, ruined monastery, guarded by immense metal doors[32] but barely holding fast above the swampy ground.[33] As the source of Midnight's Favour, it has become contested ground. Amberley Murgatroyd's hired grunts regularly attempt to attack the monastery[34] to wipe out her competition,[35] but her attempts have continually been thwarted by the Ringbreakers.[36] The urchins are aware that she is responsible for the attacks, even though she takes care not to personally involve herself.[37]

The Hour of Deepest Regrets

"Are you quite sure you want to know this?"

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.

You can find out more about our spoiler policy here.


"They say the Monastery opens only for those undergoing great torment. Rumours are less clear on exactly how 'they' know this."[38]

At the top of a bell tower deep within the monastery[39] dwells the source of the port's most famous tea: an enormous,[40] sentient plant with green vines and black and purple leaves,[41] fittingly named Midnight.[42] Long ago, Midnight stretched across the stars[43] and held influence over countless worlds,[44] in part due to its ability to absorb and grow from the pain and regrets of others.[45] Today, however, Midnight is a supporter of the Liberation of Night;[46] after all, what are the Judgements if not the greatest sources of pain and regrets in the universe?[47]

Tended and harvested by masked monks,[48] Midnight's Favour is made from Midnight's leaves; like Midnight itself, it consumes the regrets of those who drink it.[49][50] It also transports them into the monastery - the only way in.[51] The monks who brew Midnight's Favour are unharmed and unaltered, but are completely at peace[52] since Midnight also feeds on their deepest regrets.[53]

References

  1. ↑ Achlys Log Entries, Sunless Skies
  2. ↑ Visit the Court of Tea and Spices, Sunless Skies
  3. ↑ Achlys, Sunless Skies "An illicit haven of tea and spices..."
  4. ↑ The Court of Tea and Spices, Sunless Skies "Clouds of rich scents hang in the air. Though the market is small, it is bustling with both London and native Eleutherian traders. Each cramped stall and barrow is piled high with the region's finest tea leaves, opiates, salts and spices."
  5. ↑ The Floating Market, Sunless Skies "Rotting wooden huts on stilts stretch up out of the marshland, connected by rickety walkways and gently swaying rope bridges. Red paper lanterns line the paths, offering just enough flickering light to avoid unfortunate tumbles into the dark mud below."
  6. ↑ Forage in the swamps, Sunless Skies "The flora of the Reach has flourished in these poisonous swamps after being brought here by the early settlers."
  7. ↑ Achlys, Sunless Skies "An illicit haven of tea and spices, glowing gently in the darkness of a poisonous marsh. Sweet scents drift down from the market above, soon lost in the noxious flumes."
  8. ↑ Achlys Log Entries, Sunless Skies "Don't trust the mists. They reveal things that are not there, and conceal things that are."
  9. ↑ Achlys' Garden, Sunless Skies "You emerge from the mud into a leafy green clearing. Sweet smells compete for your attention; jasmine, alyssum, rose."
  10. ↑ Go mad, Sunless Skies "When you wake up, it's back on the train with your crew worriedly looking you over. They have questions. Quite important ones. [...] Why were you found running naked through the market, covered in rabbit's blood and screaming excerpts from Wagnerian opera? Most importantly of all, what happened to the locomotive's mascot, and why won't it come out from the signaller's footlocker?"
  11. ↑ Murgatroyd's Taste of Albion, Sunless Skies "Proprietress Amberley Murgatroyd glares at you from behind a slender cigarette holder, twitching at the inconvenience of your presence."
  12. ↑ Murgatroyd's Taste of Albion, Sunless Skies "Although one of the more professional looking barrows in the market, the Murgatroyd family's special tea blends have gained little traction."
  13. ↑ Ask about Midnight's Favour, Sunless Skies "Your enquiries draw little but averted eyes and apologies that they 'are not worthy of Midnight's Favour'. The select few who trade in it consider it far too precious to simply sell."
  14. ↑ Examine a prominent statue, Sunless Skies "The Mysterious Founder, it can be assumed. If not, someone equally important to the market port. They look somewhat more imp than man, with a flag on their lapel that matches the crest on the nearby wreck of the Vigilant Nightingale. Peering closely, there is a plaque between the figure's feet. Someone has scratched out all the details. Perhaps the subject themself, preferring to maintain a sense of mystery... or plausible deniability."
  15. ↑ The Midnight Garden, Sunless Skies "Bohemians calling themselves Midnight Connoisseurs have built a wooden pagoda overlooking the monastery to savour the taste of the leaves that grow within."
  16. ↑ Attend a tea ceremony, Sunless Skies "Midnight Connoisseurs are extremely choosy about who gets to savour the tea here."
  17. ↑ Attend another tea ceremony, Sunless Skies "The Midnight Connoisseurs seem shocked at your request. Few enough get to sample their precious tea once. Nobody gets to have seconds."
  18. ↑ The House of Silks, Sunless Skies "Behind, the shadows of wealthy traders lie in the embrace of soft, well-plumped cushions, gently sipping from bronze hookah pipes until their eyes and troubles are somewhere else entirely."
  19. ↑ Request an audience with Mr Pipes, Sunless Skies "The hooded proprietor keeps to itself at the back of the House. A particularly large hookah pipe delivers smoke into the darkness of its cloak."
  20. ↑ Enter the port, Sunless Skies
  21. ↑ Ask about the Ringbreakers, Sunless Skies "Don't just be thinkin' we're a bunch of kids. You hear of the Valkyrie? Greatest warrior in Old London she was. Yeah, well, in her name we kicked out the old bugger what brought us to the Wilderness to clean out his chimneys or whatever, an' now we've a home."
  22. ↑ Ask about the Ringbreakers, Sunless Skies "Why are Urchins acting like the constabulary in this port? "Someone's gotta, right? [...] now we've a home. Can't blame us for wantin' to protect it, right? Even if it is a bit damp in bits.""
  23. ↑ Enter the port, Sunless Skies "Urchins – Ringbreakers from Old London, from the look of them – surge at the attackers, armed with broomsticks with sharp objects taped on the end, colander helmets, and cardboard armour."
  24. ↑ Enter the port, Sunless Skies ""HOJOTOHO! HOJOTOHO!" The war-cry echoes through the marsh. Urchins – Ringbreakers from Old London, from the look of them – surge at the attackers [...] "In the name of the Valkyrie!" they shout, launching their attack. "For Sigrid!""
  25. ↑ HOJOTOHO! (Story), Fallen London "There is a Valkyrie in London, wearing a colander and carrying a sharpened broom. She is the stuff of song."
  26. ↑ The Vigilant Nightingale, Sunless Skies "This broken down engine has been comprehensively gutted to serve as the Ringbreakers' home and base."
  27. ↑ Examine a prominent statue, Sunless Skies "The Mysterious Founder, it can be assumed. If not, someone equally important to the market port. They look somewhat more imp than man, with a flag on their lapel that matches the crest on the nearby wreck of the Vigilant Nightingale."
  28. ↑ Train with the Urchins, Sunless Skies "Their equipment may smack of the schoolyard, but they take their fighting seriously."
  29. ↑ Visit the 'brig', Sunless Skies "A mix of angry, doleful and drunk eyes stare back at you from the darkness. All the prisoners have been stripped to their underthings. The Ringbreakers do their best to keep them happy by regularly throwing them boiled sweets. It doesn't appear to be working."
  30. ↑ Sigrid Spitesdottir, Sunless Skies "Despite being the youngest Ringbreaker to be declared Valkyrie, Sigrid has the glare of a seasoned general and the scars to back it up. She sits sternly behind a mahogany desk almost as tall as she is, carefully engrossed in a copy of Sun Tzu's The Art Of War. It is a show of military diligence only slightly undercut by it being upside down."
  31. ↑ The Ruined Monastery, Sunless Skies
  32. ↑ The Ruined Monastery, Sunless Skies "Two giant featureless doors block the crumbling entrance, far too large for any human to open. The metal is unfamiliar, but resilient."
  33. ↑ Arrival in Achlys, Sunless Skies "Nearby, what remains of an ancient monastery just holds on against the ravages of time and the swampy ground below."
  34. ↑ Enter the port, Sunless Skies "A woman smoking a cigarette watches from the shadows, unaware of your presence, as a group of grizzled skyfarers attempts to force the monastery's doors. Unlike the crumbling stone, these are made of solid, new metal, and more than up to the task of repelling the attack. However, with every blow against them, the monastery itself seems to shudder."
  35. ↑ Speak with Amberley Murgatroyd, Sunless Skies "I'm sure you've heard of Midnight's Favour. It's all anyone wants around here. Well, I have plans to deal with that."
  36. ↑ Enter the port, Sunless Skies ""In the name of the Valkyrie!" they shout, launching their attack. "For Sigrid!" They swiftly rout the attackers. The woman with the cigarette is long gone, leaving behind nothing but the smell of expensive ash."
  37. ↑ Ask about the War of Midnight, Sunless Skies "Sigrid's face darkens. "Shouldn't have let that Amblerley Murgatroyd get her boots dry after striding into port. We know it's her trying to destroy the Midnight Tea so everyone'll buy daddy's old scrapings instead [...] But we'll get her. Oh yeah.""
  38. ↑ Demand entrance, Sunless Skies
  39. ↑ Continue through the monastery, Sunless Skies "The vines stretch onwards into a belltower. It is one of the few recognisable structures remaining."
  40. ↑ Continue through the monastery, Sunless Skies "When you reach the top, even the low-light of the bell tower is suddenly blinding; the writhing light of the sun, obscured by an immense black-leaved plant."
  41. ↑ The Midnight Plant, Sunless Skies "Its black and purple leaves drink in the light. Its green vines pulse, spreading throughout the monastery."
  42. ↑ Midnight, Sunless Skies
  43. ↑ Think about letting go of the vine, Sunless Skies " It was not always so small. Its vines stretched across the stars themselves. They yearn to do so again. But the universe is slow, and people are so unpredictable."
  44. ↑ Think about what it is offering, Sunless Skies "The vines wrapped tight around your wrist have stretched across more worlds than most can count. They have seen that there are some that the universe breaks upon its anvil, and others on whom even the stars themselves may be shattered."
  45. ↑ Midnight, Sunless Skies "The hour of deepest regrets. The Midnight Plant wraps its vines around you, its sharp thorns working deeper into your sleeping flesh. They lick at your mind. Taste your memory. Savour your pain. On distant vines, old griefs birth fresh flowers."
  46. ↑ Think about Midnight's Favour, Sunless Skies "There is value in pain | Midnight knows it intimately. [...] it flourishes in the plant's purple leaves. Not the pain of torment. The empathy of pain. Distilled. Shared. Offering the Liberation only the night can grow. Favour for those who might grow from it. Midnight's song to those who remain trapped in a cage of their own making."
  47. ↑ Think on the word 'Liberation', Sunless Skies "A crusade for others to proselytise. But would it not be unethical for Midnight to watch a man burn when it might so easily extinguish the flames? And what are the Judgements, if not damned to burn brighter and longer than any in the carrying out of their Laws? The pain of a sun is a mighty engine."
  48. ↑ Pull yourself up, Sunless Skies "A handful of silent monks wearing animal masks tend to glistening fields of fresh tea. Some water. Some pick. All ignore you as you stumble around them, under siege from old regret."
  49. ↑ Something calls to you, Sunless Skies "For a moment, the world seems no less cruel, but endlessly more endurable. Something in the back of your mind caresses the bad memories, and soon they melt away into pleasant dreams."
  50. ↑ Behind The Wall, Sunless Skies "Your head throbs. Not the pain of a headache, but something deeper. The sense of something digging for something. Regrets. Mistakes. Thorned vines twisting deep into your darkest memories."
  51. ↑ Behind The Wall, Sunless Skies "You awaken on a soft patch of leaves and fungus, staring up at the high monastery walls from inside."
  52. ↑ Attempt to talk to one of the monks, Sunless Skies "Underneath, there is simply a human face – calm, at peace. [...] The monk regards you with a placid look and lowers the mask, resuming his humming and his work."
  53. ↑ Think of the monks below, Sunless Skies "They are free. They may leave if they wish. They simply choose a life without suffering or remorse. As a chef puts a part of himself into every meal, so do they imbue the leaves they tend with their deepest regret. Midnight fills the void with its song."
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