Viric

From The Fifth City Wiki
Revision as of 20:58, 5 February 2025 by AsartaBot (talk | contribs) (Change reference links to point to new sites, replaced: sunlesssea.fandom.com → sunlesssea.miraheze.org)

"Behind your mirror, V names VIRIC, the colour of shallow sleep."[1]

A color of the Neathbow, viric is the green of shallow sleep. The word "viric" probably comes from the Latin viridis, meaning "green, blooming, vigorous," a word that also spawned the name of the similar color viridian.

Properties

Viric is heavily associated with the Fingerkings;[2] the eyes of Fingerking-possessed creatures burn with viric fire,[3][4] and a box of dream-snakes will also glow this shade of green.[5] When viric light comes into contact with vegetation, it causes it to flourish and grow at an exponential rate.[6]

Viric has been portrayed as a variety of shades of green, including forest green, emerald, and chartreuse.[7]

Uses

The priests of Varchas use viric Mirror-Charms[8] to ward off Fingerkings from their dreams.[9] Viric has also been used to induce trance-dreams of romance, which become a lucrative seasonal business in London during the Feast of the Exceptional Rose.[10] Viric can be used to induce lassitude in others, making them inattentive and absentminded.[11]

Gallery

References

  1. A Page from 'The Neathbow': Viric, Sunless Sea
  2. Give it your enigmatic painting, Sunless Sea "The Fingerkings. Our enemies. The enemies of everyone..."
  3. Allow the Mechanic to enjoy his sleep, Sunless Sea 'The Man's eyes seethe with viric flame! It's struggling against the efforts of the zailors to restrain it. [...] the other manages to snap the box closed. Instantly the Man goes stiff - a lifeless clay statue. The viric glow now pulsates from the box."
  4. Gawp, Fallen London "In the viric depths of its eyes, something stirs[...]"
  5. A Mirrorcatch Box Full of Very Angry Dream-Snakes, Sunless Sea "A sullen viric glow leaks from within. Sometimes it rattles. Best not to open it."
  6. Discoveries, Sunless Sea "A burst of viric radiance! Over the next hour, the vegetables in your galley sprout leafy, frondular growths."
  7. Bruno (FBG), Failbetter Games Discord Server "But all the neathbow colors are sort of a range... viric runs from forest green through emeralds through chartreuse [...]"
  8. A Mirror-Charm, Sunless Sea "Dream-green snake-skin and scraps of close-written paper."
  9. Dreams of Smoke, Sunless Sea "He gives you a charm of bloodied snakeskin and scraps of paper written in an angular, unfamiliar script, and tells you to hang it upon the nearest mirror before you sleep."
  10. Ask the Shopkeeper in Viric about the purpose of these stories, Fallen London "Viric is the colour of the outskirts of Parabola [...] That's where I keep this shop, when it cannot afford to be in London. [...] A viric trance is more than a daydream, less than sleep."
  11. Viric Frock, Fallen London "People who look at you always blink afterward. Perhaps the colour is that powerful. Perhaps they find themselves on the edge of a nap. They never remember there was anything odd about the sight."