Editing Fingerkings

{{Major spoiler}}
{{Character|image1 = Fingerking.png|caption1 = Don't sleep. Art from Fallen London.|location = [[Parabola]]
[[The Labyrinth of Tigers]]<br>
[[Caduceus]]<br>
[[The Well of Wonders]]|allegiance = [[Parabola]]|alias = The Serpents<br>
The Lords of Glass<br>
The Wriggling Courts<br>
The Many-Fingered Kings|relationships = [[Cats]] (enemies)
[[Devils]] (enemies)<br>
[[The Red-Handed Queen]] (enemy)|notable_members = The Catastrophe of Crowns
The Boil of Calamities<br>
The Serpent of the Dome<br>
The Parlous Knot<br>
The Sleeping King<br>
The Prophet Exile<br>
The Orts|image2=Mirror.png|caption2=What lurks behind the glass?}}<blockquote>''"Humans rule the waking world, more or less. And the Fingerkings rule most of this place. A long time ago, some rather careless people made these images to imprison Fingerkings. I'm not so careless. I can use it to enact my revenge on the 'king that took my hand."''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Irem|Retrieve a Serpent-Image|Sunless Sea}}</ref></blockquote>'''Fingerkings''' are snake-like entities that rule over the majority of [[Parabola]].__FORCETOC__

==The Emerald Coils ==
<blockquote>''"The Fourth City trapped Many-Fingered Kings behind mirrors and tortured them for information: the rulers of the Is-Not, by knowledge of their domain and process of elimination, know all there is to know about the Is. But as the Khaganians today say, there is no greater curse than knowledge you cannot verify."''<ref name="fallenlondon.wiki">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Examine_a_Relic_of_the_Fourth_City|Examine a Relic of the Fourth City|Fallen London}}</ref></blockquote>[[File:Snakehead2.png|thumb|A Dream Serpent.]]
Fingerkings are serpentine beings that rule the dream-lands of [[Parabola]]. Their point of origin is unclear; some claim that they came from the country-sized lake that contains the [[Drowned Forest]].<ref name=":0">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ask_what_became_of_him|Ask what became of him|Fallen London|}} ''"We breached the Drowning Forests [...] The spawning ground of the Fingerkings. A thousand fortresses drowned in a lake, at the bottom of which they lay their eggs. It may even be where they originated, but Parabola is treacherous."''</ref> The Fingerkings are the royalty of the '''dream-snakes''',<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/A_Mirrorcatch_Box_Full_of_Very_Angry_Dream-Snakes|A Mirrorcatch Box Full of Very Angry Dream-Snakes|Sunless Sea}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Grasp_the_vine|Grasp the vine|Fallen London}}</ref> who do not exist.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Bishop_of_Southwark_2|The Bishop of Southwark 2|Fallen London}} ''"A billion serpents [...] "They don't exist"''</ref>

Since they are native to the lands of the Is-Not, the Fingerkings desire a true existence above all else, and derive sustenance from the memories and substance of beings from outside the world of dreams.<ref>{{Citation|https://www.failbettergames.com/the-mysteries-revealed-again/|The Mysteries Revealed, Again|Failbetter Games}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Lay_a_tribute_of_memories_before_the_Fingerking|Lay a tribute of memories before the Fingerking|Fallen London}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Request_a_demonstration|Request a demonstration|Fallen London}}</ref> The main way a Fingerking might achieve true existence is through possessing someone from outside Parabola, causing gaps in memory and a change in the appearance of their eyes - anything from a simple change in gaze to their pupils narrowing to reptilian slits.<ref name="ReferenceC">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Deal_with_mirror-smugglers|Deal with mirror-smugglers|Fallen London}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Your_Salon:_invite_Silas_the_Showman_as_a_guest_of_honour|Your Salon: invite Silas the Showman as a guest of honour|Fallen London}}</ref> People who are possessed by Fingerkings may also have silver eyes,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Greet_Catastrophe%27s_Emissary|Greet Catastrophe's Emissary|Fallen London}} ''"He is handsome, beaming and silver-eyed."''</ref> as well as unusually high strength.<ref name="ReferenceC"/> Fingerkings can also possess other creatures native to the Is-Not, though they don't wish do so unless said being can survive in the real world.<ref name="ReferenceD">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Accept_a_gift_on_behalf_of_your_Principle_of_Hollows|Accept a gift on behalf of your Principle of Hollows|Fallen London}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Offer_a_habitation_to_seven_very_small_Fingerkings|Offer a habitation to seven very small Fingerkings|Fallen London}}</ref>

Fingerkings are very knowledgeable creatures; their vast knowledge of the Is-Not combined with the process of elimination allows them to know essentially everything.<ref name="fallenlondon.wiki"/> This great knowledge, combined with their power over dreams, leads many individuals to make bargains with and seek favors from the Fingerkings.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Claim_the_aid_of_Fingerkings|Claim the aid of Fingerkings|Fallen London}}</ref>

Fingerkings, while persuasive, rarely speak in a traditional sense. Communication with a lesser being is incomprehensible to powerful Fingerkings, and too subtle and complex for minor Fingerkings. As such, most communicate through dreams and visions, with some able to project their thoughts directly into other people's minds.<ref name="ReferenceE">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Sit_with_the_Catastrophe|Sit with the Catastrophe|Fallen London}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Sleep_beside_the_statue|Sleep beside the statue|Fallen London}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceF">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Light_Fingers:_The_Boiling_Sky|Light Fingers: The Boiling Sky|Fallen London}}</ref> Certain Fingerkings can also transmit information through their venom.<ref name="ReferenceG">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Receive_the_story_in_the_form_of_cascabel_venom|Receive the story in the form of cascabel venom|Fallen London}}</ref>

==The Wriggling Courts==
<blockquote>''"The chamber is filled with unmoving, asymmetric shapes that blossom into lively colour under your lantern's glow. Painted statues, their pigments as rich as the day they were made. Red. Yellow. Black. You tap one. Wood. This one is a chimaera with a tiger's head, a horse's feet, and an angel's burning wings. The next is thirteen serpents knotted by their tails. A serpent-council? And covering the far wall, a fresco of cedar and ebony. In it, great oaks rise like battlements. Behind them soar towers of pine. At their centre, a gate of rosewood prickles with thorns."''<ref name="gallery of serpents">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_Gallery_of_Serpents_(7_FATE)|A Gallery of Serpents (7 FATE)|Fallen London}}</ref></blockquote>[[File:Serpentwhite.png|thumb|An example of a white Fingerking.]]
The Fingerkings' biology is, like the rest of Parabola, rather flexible. That said, individual Fingerkings tend to appear as colorful venomous serpents, with red, yellow, and/or black scales.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> These scales are regularly sloughed off; the great [[The Dome of Scales|Dome of Scales]] is built from the scales of the first Fingerkings.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_Twitch_of_Whiskers|A Twitch of Whiskers|Fallen London}}''"Conversationally, she informs you that the dome was wrought from the sloughed scales of the first of the Fingerkings."''</ref> This quality is also extended to the Fingerkings' servants, who regularly slough off ''their own skin'' during certain rituals.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Shed_your_skin|Shed your skin|Fallen London}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Display_yourself|Display yourself|Fallen London}}</ref> Fingerkings reproduce by laying eggs; their most popular breeding grounds include the [[Drowned Forest]] and the dream-side of the great city of [[Varchas]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Varchas_from_Behind_the_Glass|Varchas from Behind the Glass|Fallen London}}</ref>

The most notable trait of the Fingerkings, beyond all of the above, is their ability to combine many individual serpents into a single hive-mind known as a congregation.<ref name="ReferenceH">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ancestral_Stories|Ancestral Stories|Fallen London}}</ref> These unions are vastly more powerful and intelligent than their individual components, and serve as princes, kings, and other influential positions in serpentine society.<ref name="ReferenceD">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Accept_a_gift_on_behalf_of_your_Principle_of_Hollows|Accept a gift on behalf of your Principle of Hollows|Fallen London}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceI">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ask_about_the_massive_snake_in_the_Dome_of_Scales|Ask about the massive snake in the Dome of Scales|Fallen London}}</ref> Congregations can vary wildly in appearance, from a single many-headed serpent to a giant mass of knotted serpents that blots out the sky itself.<ref name="ReferenceF"/><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Satrap-Saints|The Satrap-Saintss|Fallen London}}</ref> They are further divided into many specific types, such as '''Knots''', '''Boils''', '''Catastrophes''', '''Conclaves''', '''Orts'''.<ref name="ReferenceE">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Sit_with_the_Catastrophe|Sit with the Catastrophe|Fallen London}}</ref> Orts are known for being particularly cunning even in comparison to others of their kind;<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Enter_in_the_company_of_a_Fingerking_(Restored)|Enter in the company of a Fingerking (Restored)|Fallen London}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Lost_in_Reflections|Lost in Reflections|Fallen London}}''"The Orts is a boil of Fingerkings – a knot of magpie-dreamsnakes that hungers for human memories. It takes little part in the wars between snake and cat – it is more cowardly and more cunning than most of its cowardly and cunning kind."''</ref>

==The War of Many Fronts==
<blockquote>''"On the fifth day, as the host still advances, a bronze trumpet sounds. From behind the Fingerking host, you make out pennants and spears: a vast army of bronze-helmed lions and lynxes, pouring into the valley. A great red lion is their general, his mane golden, his breast-plate gleaming."''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Defend_the_castle|Defend the castle|Fallen London}}</ref></blockquote>While the Fingerkings hold sway in many regions of the Is-Not, such as the [[Castle of Forests]],<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Within_the_Castle_of_Forests|Within the Castle of Forests|Fallen London}}</ref> the [[Drowned Forest]],<ref name=":0" /> and the [[Coiling Spire]],<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ask_what_became_of_him|Ask what became of him|Fallen London}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceF"/> they are not the undisputed masters of [[Parabola]]; many other factions constantly fight them in a giant, endless war. The foremost amongst these are the [[Cats]] and [[Tigers]], tasked with an ancient duty to protect the real world from Parabola. The war between cats and snakes has culminated in fabled battles, like the '''Battle of Pulled Claws''', that heavily impact the politics of Parabola.<ref name="ReferenceJ">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Make_a_convincing_case_to_the_Court_of_Cats|Make a convincing case to the Court of Cats|Fallen London}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Court_of_Cats_(Story)|The Court of Cats (Story)|Fallen London}}''"That comes with the job, Arbiter. An Ambassador must flatter, empathise, and understand. War is conducted with claws and formations. Diplomacy is conducted with smiles."''</ref> Two groups of humans loyal to each of the factions, known as '''the Shroud''' and '''the Glass''', fight their own Parabolan proxy war in [[London]], called the '''Wars of Illusion'''.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Embroiled_in_the_Wars_of_Illusion|Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion|Fallen London}}</ref>

The Fingerkings also have a complex relationship with the [[Red-Handed Queen]], who is known as both the ruler and a prisoner of the Fingerkings.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Heretic_of_Hollow_Street|The Heretic of Hollow Street|Fallen London}}''"She rules in dreams and behind glass" [...] Sometimes she is their prisoner, sometimes their queen."''</ref>

==The Little Snake and The Grumpy Bee==
<blockquote>''"The devils swarming into Parabola longed for many things: for souls, for escape, for their own deaths and the things that waited beyond each death. The Fingerkings saw their longing, and welcomed them as food.''

''"The devils were bargainers, contract-writers, enemies of the stars. The Fingerkings saw their nature, and welcomed them as allies.''

''"The devils were hollow, skin-shedders, eternally in chrysalis. The Fingerkings saw their capacity, and welcomed them as salvation."''<ref name="ReferenceG"/></blockquote>Fingerkings and [[devils]] have a long and tumultuous history. Long ago, when the devils sought an escape from the [[High Wilderness]], the serpents allowed them to enter [[Parabola]] through [[Caduceus]] and stay there for as long as they wished, in exchange for allowing the devils to be possessed when they chose to leave the Is-Not. The Devils agreed to the deal because such a thing was impossible; the inside of a devil is too changeable and corrosive to properly host a Fingerking, and one of the Fingerkings' leaders, the '''Parlous Knot''', found this out the hard way.<ref name=":02">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discovered:_A_Neon_Future|Discovered: A Neon Future|Fallen London}} ''"Book of Roses 7:7-9: AND WHEN THE TIME CAME for the people to depart the Is-Not, they made their passage through Irem. [...] And so said the Eglantine Regent: “For the future to arrive one must have a present.” And the Parlous Knot cursed the name of the Eglantine Regent. And the Parlous Knot perished."''</ref> And so, when the time came for the devils to leave for their new home, they did so without a single Fingerking among their ranks.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Recognise_a_well-known_pain|Recognise a well-known pain|Fallen London}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Hold_steady|Hold steady|Fallen London}}</ref> This story is understandably a very sore topic for the two groups, and it may have led to the Fingerkings manipulating the [[Fourth City]] into a war with [[Hell]].<ref name="fallenlondon.wiki"/>

Devils were also responsible for the creation of [[Prisoner's Honey|prisoner's honey]], which allows for easy travel to Parabola and in turn makes the imbiber much more vulnerable to Fingerking possession. At some point after humans arrived in the [[Neath]], the Fingerkings found themselves terribly lonely in Parabola, with only memories and their old rivals for company.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Order_Serpentine,_Melancholy|Order Serpentine, Melancholy|Fallen London|}} ''"ONCE UPON A TIME there was a little snake, no bigger than your finger, who lived behind the mirror. The little snake was very lonely, and the only friends he could find behind the mirror were old memories and strangling roots and the grumpiest bee above or below the world. And so…"''</ref> In search of more friends, a "little snake" consulted "the grumpiest bee in both worlds" (probably a representative figure of the devils as a whole). In what may have been an attempt to settle the earlier grudge between the two parties, the Fingerkings offered to give one-fifth of the proceeds of their endeavors to Hell.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Order_Serpentine,_Sorrowful|Order Serpentine, Sorrowful|Fallen London|}} ''"...THE LITTLE SNAKE asked the grumpiest bee in both worlds for help. And the bee said, why should I help? And the snake said, I will give you one-fifth of all I gain thereby. So the bee thought, and he said, in a far place there grows a rose. And that rose..."''</ref> In return, the devils used the Hellish [[Exile's Rose]] to brew the first batches of prisoner's honey and bring the Fingerkings their "new friends."<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Order_Serpentine,_Lachrymose|Order Serpentine, Lachrymose|Fallen London|}} ''"...THE ROSE, WHICH IS CALLED EXILE'S ROSE, has a property of passage. So shall I brew a honey from its dusts and pollens, and the honey shall be sweet, and it shall bring those who taste it, here to your dwelling. And sometimes they shall stay forever. And the little snake was very pleased with all the new friends the honey brought, but..."''</ref> Thus, the Fingerkings could more easily possess humans and progress toward achieving their eternal goal of entering reality.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Order_Serpentine,_Silent|Order Serpentine, Silent|Fallen London|}} ''"ALL THE LITTLE SNAKE'S NEW FRIENDS spoke fondly of the place outside the mirror. And the little snake thought: what if I could walk there among all my friends-to-be? They need not leave. We would be all so very happy. But I may not walk in my own skin. So perhaps my friends shall lend me their skin..."''</ref>

==The Serpent Compendium==
{{Dropdown|Image = Snakehead.png|Alt Text = The hiss and the boil.
|Section Header = List of Known Fingerkings
|Quote = <blockquote>"Speech is a burden to the Fingerkings. To the Knots and Boils, Catastrophes and Conclaves, to communicate with a lesser is beyond their comprehension. To the single serpents, speech is a subtle, complex art, rarely mastered."<ref name="ReferenceE">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Sit_with_the_Catastrophe|Sit with the Catastrophe|Fallen London}}</ref></blockquote>
|Text = Below is a list of all known Fingerkings.

*'''The Boil of Calamities''', Lord of the Seething Sky, who tends to the sacred places of its kind.<ref name="ReferenceJ">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Make_a_convincing_case_to_the_Court_of_Cats|Make a convincing case to the Court of Cats|Fallen London}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Listen_(Light_Fingers:_The_Burial_of_the_Dead)|Listen (Light Fingers: The Burial of the Dead)|Fallen London}}</ref>
*'''The Catastrophe of Crowns''', currently locked away together with the [[Fourth City]]'s final Khatun.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Speak_with_the_Khatun|Speak with the Khatun|Fallen London}}</ref>
*'''The Parlous Knot ''', who made the unwise deal with the devils of old, dying in the process.<ref name="ReferenceH">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ancestral_Stories|Ancestral Stories|Fallen London}}</ref>
*'''The Sleeping King''', a mysterious figure that might be partially responsible for the smoke that fills the [[Smoking Shore]].<ref name="ReferenceJ">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Make_a_convincing_case_to_the_Court_of_Cats|Make a convincing case to the Court of Cats|Fallen London}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_Twitch_of_Whiskers|A Twitch of Whiskers|Fallen London}}''"A bank of smog rolls off the churning sea. It smothers the idols in their neat lines and closes over you.(...)"The sleeping king is stirring in his sleep," your companion rasps."''</ref>
*'''The Serpent of the Dome''', a nameless king raised from great tithes gathered throughout Serpentdom.<ref name="ReferenceI">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ask_about_the_massive_snake_in_the_Dome_of_Scales|Ask about the massive snake in the Dome of Scales|Fallen London}}</ref>
*'''The Prophet Exile''', an exile amongst its kind and the former leader of an ancient Solonocean Conjunction.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Dramatis_Personae|Dramatis Personae|Sunless Skies}}</ref>
*'''The Destroyer of Undeserved Admiration'''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Offer_a_habitation_to_a_moderate-sized_Fingerking|Offer a habitation to a moderate-sized Fingerking|Fallen London}}</ref>
*'''The Conjunctions of Misery'''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Reach_the_Hollowed_Refuge|Reach the Hollowed Refuge|Fallen London}}</ref>
*'''The Sliver of Treaties'''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/How_was_the_Viscountess_trapped%3F|How was the Viscountess trapped?|Fallen London}}</ref>
*'''a Lesser Boil of Smoke and Salt'''<ref name="ReferenceD">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Accept_a_gift_on_behalf_of_your_Principle_of_Hollows|Accept a gift on behalf of your Principle of Hollows|Fallen London}}</ref>
*'''The Blistered Boil '''<ref name="ReferenceK">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Fair_Unknown|The Fair Unknown|Fallen London}}</ref>
*'''The Puce Boil of Perfidies'''<ref name="ReferenceK">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Fair_Unknown|The Fair Unknown|Fallen London}}</ref>
*'''The Boil of Raptures'''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Court_of_Cats_(Story)|The Court of Cats (Story)|Fallen London}}''"My father defended it from the Boil of Raptures!"''</ref>
*'''Reconciler of Friends'''<ref name = "gallery of serpents"/>
*'''Procurer of Lost Dignities and Favour'''<ref name = "gallery of serpents"/>
*'''Revealer of Fortune'''<ref name = "gallery of serpents"/>
*'''Bauble of Ecstatic Repose'''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Daylight|Daylight|Fallen London}}</ref>
}}

== References ==
[[Category:Creatures]]


[[Category:Parabola]]

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