Editing Axile

{{major spoiler}}
{{Neath_Location|image1=Delirium.png|caption1=[[Do you recall?]]|location=[[The High Wilderness]]|allegiance=A [[Judgement]] (formerly)|notable_inhabitants=[[Flukes]] (formerly)<br>
[[Rubbery Men]] (formerly)<br>
[[Moon-Misers]] (formerly)<br>
[[Eye-Scuttlers]] (formerly)}}<blockquote>''"I remember my brother – sister? – as vast as a church. The sky – bruise purple, black as stout, but the storms: as violent and beautiful as music. I woke crying. I turned towards the stars. I lost it. Was it my fault? I need to go home."''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Scorn_Fluke|Commune with the Scorn Fluke (15 - 24)|Sunless Skies}}</ref></blockquote>'''Axile''' is a planet in the [[High Wilderness]], and the ancestral home of the '''Shapelings''', also called the '''Axiles'''.

==A World of Shapes==
<blockquote>''"Lightning sparks above you in the purple-black sky. The pool you dragged yourself from smells sharp and acid. You'll have to make the eye-scuttlers clean it out when you return."''<ref name="spirit">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_fellow_spirit_recognised|A fellow spirit recognised|Fallen London}}</ref></blockquote>[[File:Amber blue.png|alt=Blue amber.|thumb|A Nodule of Trembling Amber.]]
Axile is a harsh and rocky planet with a surface marked by craters and pools.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Flute_Street|Flute Street|Fallen London}} ''"Your tendrils grasp the smooth stones [...]"''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Flute_Street|Flute Street|Fallen London}} ''"Shallow pools of clear viscous liquid."''</ref> Though now devoid of life,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/For_A_Dream_Of_Innocence|For A Dream Of Innocence|Fallen London}} ''"On the now-abandoned surface, [...] as Axile spins away [...]"''</ref> its atmosphere was once composed of thick alkaline vapors<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/For_A_Dream_Of_Innocence|For A Dream Of Innocence|Fallen London}} ''"[...] the safe and beautiful curtain of alkaline vapour dissolves."''</ref> that lent its skies a dark purple color,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Flute_Street|Flute Street|Fallen London}} ''"A sky of a purple that is almost black."''</ref> and its clouds thundered with violent lightning storms.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_fellow_spirit_recognised|A fellow spirit recognised|Fallen London}} ''"Lightning sparks above you in the purple-black sky."''</ref> The inhabitants of Axile primarily resided within the pools on its surface,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Flute_Street|Flute Street|Fallen London}} ''"Back to your pool. [...] you heave your [...] bulk home."''</ref> and are apparently adapted to aquatic environments as a result.<ref name="no bones">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Flute_Street|Flute Street|Fallen London}} ''"The Rubbery Men were once something quite different. The changes are gradual, but here they were four-winged and four-legged. There they were something like a vertebrate octopus. In the deepest tunnels, there are no pseudo-bones. Were they without bones, in their original form? Or without bodies altogether?"''</ref> These pools served as refuges for the [[Flukes]] and the ancestors of the [[Rubbery Men]] from threats, such as the planet's dangerous winds;<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Flute_Street|Flute Street|Fallen London}} ''"The killing wind will come soon. Back to your pool."''</ref> the deepest of the pools were also stores of '''Vital Essences''',<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/For_A_Dream_Of_Innocence|For A Dream Of Innocence|Fallen London}}''"Those [...] retreated to the deepest places, the greatest stores of Essence."''</ref> and thus served as places to practice the [[Shapeling Arts]].<ref name="amber limbs">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Accept_a_memory_of_amalgamy|Accept a memory of amalgamy|Fallen London}} ''"When I lay in the pools, limbs shining with amber [...]"''</ref>

During their time on Axile, the ancestors of the Rubbery Men may have possessed malleable and boneless bodies.<ref name="no bones" /> They used [[Moon-Misers|moon-misers]] as mounts to traverse the terrain of Axile, and relied on creatures called [[Eye-Scuttlers|eye-scuttlers]] to do menial tasks for them.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_fellow_spirit_recognised|A fellow spirit recognised|Fallen London}} ''"[...] make the eye-scuttlers clean it out [...] mount the glistening carapace of your miser and ride [...]"''</ref> The ancient Rubbery Men sculpted many-roomed structures within their pools made out of black coral that contained contraptions, such as musical instruments.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Flute_Street|Flute Street|Fallen London}} ''"Built [...] from black coral. [..] look at the supports! Another liquid – something more viscous. [...] This building isn't from the Earth at all. [...] The building is arranged in rooms [...] At the centre [...] could be a musical instrument [...]"''</ref>

==The Curtained Star==
<blockquote>''"By the standards of its kind, the star above is venerable and weary. It is tired of existing, but most of all it is wearied of the life below it in the pools. The fatigue of aeons makes its hatred no less deadly."''<ref name="fallenlondon.wiki">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/For_A_Dream_Of_Innocence|For A Dream Of Innocence|Fallen London}}</ref></blockquote>[[File:Visionoftheheavens largeicon.png|150px|alt=A sun behind clouds.|thumb|[[Judgement]] Awaits]]
Long ago, Axile orbited a [[Judgement|star]].<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/For_A_Dream_Of_Innocence|For A Dream Of Innocence|Fallen London}} ''"[...] the star above is venerable and weary."''</ref> The atmosphere of the planet protected the shapelings from its gaze, but over time, this veil began to diminish, leaving the shapelings exposed and vulnerable.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/For_A_Dream_Of_Innocence|For A Dream Of Innocence|Fallen London}}''"The purple-black light brightens and the safe [...] curtain of [...] dissolves. It happens nearly every day now."''</ref> The Judgement of Axile was old, weary, and so very tired of existing. However, it also grew tired of its planet, and grew ''especially'' tired of the shapelings that lived on the planet's surface.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/For_A_Dream_Of_Innocence|For A Dream Of Innocence|Fallen London}} ''"[...] the star above is venerable and weary. It is tired of existing, but most of all it is wearied of the life below it in the pools. [...]"''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/For_A_Dream_Of_Innocence|For A Dream Of Innocence|Fallen London}}''"Axile spins away from the star that hates it."''</ref> 

Despite the star's advanced age, its hateful light easily scorched [[moon-misers]] to dust.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/For_A_Dream_Of_Innocence|For A Dream Of Innocence|Fallen London}} ''"The light will [...] sear your moon-misers into dust. [...] The fatigue of aeons makes its hatred no less deadly."''</ref> Even in the deepest places, the light of the star could be felt by the wise.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/For_A_Dream_Of_Innocence|For A Dream Of Innocence|Fallen London}} ''"[...] these crushing depths. [...] even here, the purple light of the star can be felt by the wisest, [...]"''</ref> The weaker [[Flukes]] who were unable to retreat there in time could only cower in their shallow pools, the starlight exposing their flesh and reducing them to nothing.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/For_A_Dream_Of_Innocence|For A Dream Of Innocence|Fallen London}} ''"You retreat into your pool [...] knowing that it won't save you. [...] and be undone.''</ref>

==Ennobled Spires==
<blockquote>''"Do you recall how they came to that place? And we sang of our lightnings and shapeful disgrace? They tilted their vanes and ennobled their spires. We welcomed them then and commingled all choirs."''<ref name="violet amber">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Nodule_of_Violet_Amber|Nodule of Violet Amber|Fallen London}}</ref></blockquote>[[File:Bazaar2.png|alt=A spired building.|thumb|[[The Echo Bazaar]]]]
Long before the fall of the [[First City]], when the [[Echo Bazaar]] was en route to the [[Neath]],<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Nacreous_Survivor#Interactions|Invite it to dine with you|Sunless Sea}}</ref> it along with its entourage of [[Curators]] visited Axile.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Who%E2%80%94|Who—|Fallen London}}''"The message in skyest blue, which it sent to its servants when the visitors came. The Messenger, the pirate-pedlars."''</ref> The Bazaar and the [[Masters]] arrived and listened to the shapelings sing of the their pleasures and [[Shapeling Arts]].<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Fertilise_the_tree_with_the_twin_powers_of_electricity_and_hedonism|Fertilise the tree with the twin powers of electricity and hedonism|Fallen London}}</ref> Following this grand welcome, the two groups proceeded to "commingle all choirs" in a uproarious ceremony involving [[amber]] and other delights.<ref name="amber limbs" /><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Chapel_of_Lights#Interactions|Attend a service at the Chapel (Erzulie)|Sunless Sea}}''"The Priest lets the robe fall from the amber flesh of his shining shoulders. "Now," he declares. "Now, O thou faithful, we shall commingle our choirs. And then we shall feast.""''</ref> Afterwards, the Bazaar and the Masters offered the shapelings a deal. While the exact terms, or the Bazaar's motivations for the deal,<ref name="eolith">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Pulse_of_the_Principles|Give the Principles an Ambiguous Eolith|Sunless Sea}}''"The Bazaar brought me; brought us all, all us shapelings, Axiles. The Flukes, the misers, even my Emissary. Why? Too deep a secret for me, my friend. Even here, too deep for me. Perhaps when you end me..."''</ref> are not known precisely, it is known that the Bazaar offered to share secrets with the shapelings to advance their arts to even greater heights,<ref name=":0">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/What_%E2%80%93|What -|Fallen London}}''"The visitors gave it the key to changes undreamt-of! Novelties and delights beyond the Judgements' Chain!"''</ref> as well as escape their dying planet.<ref name=":1">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_fellow_spirit_recognised|A fellow spirit recognised|Fallen London}} ''"The New Visitors are offering [...] Ascent. Growth. Escape. Endless amalgamy."''</ref> In exchange, the shapelings would travel with the Bazaar to the Neath.<ref name="principles heartmetal">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Pulse_of_the_Principles|Give the Principles Heartmetal|Sunless Sea}}''"I was forbidden love, by the Bazaar, when I left the world Axile. But I don't regret it. I never regret."''</ref> 
[[File:Amberpurple.png|alt=Purple amber.|thumb|A Nodule of Violet Amber.]]
While the benefits of the Bazaar's deal were many for the shapelings, the cost was steep: unable to find another price, the Bazaar demanded that the shapelings never love.<ref name="principles heartmetal" /><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Consent_to_a_potentially_depraved_union|Consent to a potentially depraved union|Fallen London}}''"The Rubbery Men have no ceremonies of commitment. No marks of betrothal. Such things were lost to them when the black spires came to them, and failed to find a price."''</ref> While some shapelings refused, perhaps out of principle,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/For_A_Dream_Of_Innocence|For A Dream Of Innocence|Fallen London}}''"You refused the price of love. [...] you will not be a puppet [...]"''</ref> plenty of others accepted.<ref name="principles heartmetal" /> Many of the [[Flukes]] and [[Rubbery Men]] would go on to found a city that now lies deep below five [[Fallen Cities]], called [[Flute Street]],<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Flute_Street|Flute Street|Fallen London}}''"[...] Flute Street has been built up on layers of earlier remains, [...] You pass through the Bazaar's known history as you descend."''</ref> while the powerful [[Lorn-Flukes]] chose to roam the [[Unterzee]].<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Lorn-Fluke|Lorn-Fluke|Sunless Sea}}</ref> After spending millennia in the Neath, many of the shapelings have grown nostalgic for their former home;<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_stroke_of_luck!_(3_FATE)|A stroke of luck! (3 FATE)|Fallen London}} ''"Remember us. Long have we been lost. So long."''</ref> the Lorn-Flukes in particular have developed a boiling hatred for the Bazaar as a result of the terms of the deal.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/%22I_bring_the_Bazaar.%22|"I bring the Bazaar."|Fallen London}} ''"Do you hate the Bazaar [...] that much?"''</ref> In the ''Sunless Skies'' timeline, outcasts of the Flukes called [[Scorn-Flukes]] roam the [[High Wilderness]], searching frantically for their home planet by attacking the memories of unfortunate skyfarers.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Scorn_Fluke|Commune with the Scorn Fluke (10 - 14)|Sunless Skies}}''"There is a scent of sweat, sharp like fear. The sound of a scream cut short. A crew – not yours – destroyed, punctured. (They had travelled far. Not far enough.) [...] (She claimed to have seen it all. She had not.) An Empyrean vessel, broken between rocks and the Fluke's bitterness. [...] (None knew of Axile. But someone must.) Body after body: broken, pierced, soulless. (Someone, somewhere, must have a clue to its location.)"''</ref>

The arrival of the Bazaar in Axile and the bargain that followed are memorialized in the recurring [[Do You Recall?]] poem.

=== The First Visit? ===
<blockquote>''"THERE ARE GODS WHO LIVETH ON THEIR FATHERS, FEEDETH ON THEIR MOTHERS"''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Down_among_the_Lorn-Flukes|Down among the Lorn-Flukes|Fallen London}}</ref></blockquote>There are implications that the [[Flukes]] (and possibly other shapelings) are in some way children of the Bazaar, although it is left unclear whether the Sun is their other parent. The [[Fathomking]], who married [[The Pentamerous Bride|an ancient Fluke]], states that [[Stone]] is his sister-in-law;<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Fathomking's_Answer|Present the Fathomking with a Mountain-sherd|Sunless Sea}} ''""The God called Stone," he says. "My sister by marriage. Of all of us, she is the best. [...]""''</ref> there are other veiled allusions<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Down_among_the_Lorn-Flukes|Down among the Lorn-Flukes|Fallen London}} ''"THERE ARE GODS WHO LIVETH ON THEIR FATHERS, FEEDETH ON THEIR MOTHERS"''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Deliver_a_Discordant_Missive|Deliver a Discordant Missive|Fallen London}} ''"You're not a courier. You're definitely not'' that ''courier. You accept the missive from an elderly gentleman [...] then skedaddle across town. Unfortunately, when you stop to purchase a pie along the way [...] two Constables stop with you. Their hands grip your shoulders. [...] As for the letter inside: there is no letter inside. [...] You demand to know where the Constables stashed your confiscated pie, because you're still peckish." (The pie is a Rubbery Pie.)''</ref> and references to a great secret<ref name="eolith" /> that hint at the events of eons ago, and the wise [[urchin]] Slivvy suspects the Bazaar had other children.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Sell_the_location_to_Urchins|Sell the location to Urchins|Fallen London}} ''""We knew it once. Our ancestor-tribes. We go back farther than anyone knows. Some says the Second City." (His stutter's gone.) "But I think we goes back farther than that. I think the Bazaar had other children." He clutches his mouth as if he realises he's said too much..."''</ref> The Flukes as a species are seemingly primordial,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Commune_with_the_Novice_Lamp-Cat|Commune with the Novice Lamp-Cat|Fallen London}} ''"Before the Bazaar. Before the Sun opened its flaming eye. You are a polyp. You are a pulse." (This is a communion specifically with the very ancient Principles of Coral.)''</ref> but since the Bazaar and the Masters later returned promising "endless amalgamy,"<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> the Bazaar's prior visit may have involved teaching the Flukes the Shapeling Arts in the first place and/or "evolving" or "amalgamating" them into the ancestors of their current form.

===The Wheel Turns===
<blockquote>''"The voice shakes the stone around you and churns the thick black waters around you into purple foam. The symbols brand themselves into your flesh. A RECKONING LONG POSTPONED. TRANSGRESSION OF SEVEN GREATER LINKS. REPLETION IS ABOLISHED. ANCHORS ARE WITHDRAWN."''<ref name="fallenlondon.wiki"/></blockquote>[[File:Correspondence4.png|thumb|Hear and be transformed.]]
Unfortunately, the shapelings who refused the Bazaar's deal did not fare much better than their brethren who accepted. After the exchange was complete, an unknown speaker proceeded to shout blazing [[Correspondence]] from the sky, churning Axile's pools and branding the remaining Flukes with sigils.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/For_A_Dream_Of_Innocence|For A Dream Of Innocence|Fallen London}} ''"The voice [...] churns the thick black waters [...] The symbols brand themselves into your flesh."''</ref>

Soon afterward, the planet spun away from the star that hated it, leaving Axile a barren rock floating through the [[High Wilderness]], abandoned and darkened, forever.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/For_A_Dream_Of_Innocence|For A Dream Of Innocence|Fallen London}} ''"On the now-abandoned surface, the purple radiance fades, as Axile spins away from the star that hates it. None dream there now. None will dream there again."''</ref>

==References==
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[[Category:Places]]
[[Category:The High Wilderness]]


[[Category:Axile]]