Editing Flukes

{{Major spoiler}}
{{Character|image1 = Flukeheader.png|caption1 = Down among the Lorn-Flukes. Art from FL.|image2 = Fluke.png|caption2 = Look at all those spikes.|name = Axiles|location = Flute Street<br>
[[The Unterzee]]<br>
[[The High Wilderness]]|allegiance = [[The Dawn Machine]] (splinter faction)|relationships = [[Rubbery Men]] (progeny)
[[Drownies]]|notable_members = [[The Pentamerous Bride]]<br>
[[The Principles of Coral]]<br>
Lorn-Flukes<br>
Dawn Flukes<br>
Lornest-Flukes<br>
Scorn Flukes<br>}}<blockquote>''"Crushing black silence. Thoughts like mud. Focus on light. Recall the surface. Recall the Surface! You are human. Three great presences. Deep as stone. ''

''"The Drowning Feast. The greatest yet. Dishes like treasures. Gifts from above. Gold, wood, brick. Flesh, hair, eyes. Words, rhymes, thought. Why remain below? Flee far above. The wrong place. The wrong time. Abandon your plan. Or be resolved.''

''"WHAT HAVE YOU BROUGHT US? Voice in bones. Words in water. Answer in haste. They are hungry."''<ref name="gifts">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Gifts_for_the_Feast|Gifts for the Feast|Fallen London}}</ref></blockquote>'''Flukes''' are otherworldly beings and masters in the arts of changing the flesh, which often resemble giant sea urchins.

==Alien Artisans==
<blockquote>''"The secret. 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."''<ref name="pulse">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.gamepedia.com/The_Pulse_of_the_Principles|The Pulse of the Principles|Sunless Sea}}''"These sea-lords you slay... they give of themselves for the Drowning Feast."''</ref></blockquote>[[File:Amber.png|thumb|A piece of amber.]]
Flukes come from the planet of [[Axile]], somewhere between the stars; consequently, they and other Shapeling species are referred to as '''Axiles'''.<ref>{{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."''</ref> They seem to be natural masters of the '''Shapeling Arts''', the practice of altering and changing the flesh of living creatures, and agreed in an ancient deal to come to the Neath at the behest of the [[Bazaar]] and the [[Masters]].<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Who_-|Who -|Fallen London}}''"The message in skyest blue, which it sent to its servants when the visitors came. The Messenger, the pirate-pedlars."''</ref><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> Although the Flukes did this in order to gain greater control of the Shapeling Arts, it is currently unknown what the Bazaar's end of this deal is - unknown even to the Flukes themselves. The Flukes promised never to love as part of the bargain.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/What_-|What -|Fallen London}}''"The visitors gave it the key to changes undreamt-of! Novelties and delights beyond the Judgements' Chain!"''</ref><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>

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 ancient [[Pentamerous Bride]], states that [[Stone]] is his sister-in-law;<ref>{{Citation|1=https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Fathomking's_Answer|2=Present the Fathomking with a Mountain-sherd|3=Sunless Sea|4=}} ''""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>{{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><ref>{{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> 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.

Even in the Neath, the Flukes continue to practice their arts. Through the use of things like [[amber]], they created the [[Rubbery Men]], which they use as intermediaries between themselves and humans; however, they do not understand why the Rubbery Men are having so much trouble integrating into human society.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/You_are_no_longer_standing_in_the_engine_room|The tunnel branches|Sunless Sea}} ''"The Rubbery Men do not do what they are supposed to do. (We try to improve them.) Among humans, they are sad. (We should have made them with more teeth.) Among Flukes, they disobey. (We should pierce them with more spines.) "''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Flute_Street|Flute Street|Fallen London}} ''"The Fluke is exasperated with its minions. [...] Haven't they been given every adaptation to pass unseen in human society? Don't they appreciate how many Vital Essences were spent in their enhancement? Ungrateful wretches."''</ref> Nowadays the Flukes can be found all across the Neath - many reside deep within [[Flute Street]], others roam the [[Unterzee]], one crashed long ago into a [[Aigul|particular ship]], and one Fluke even resides inside the [[Cave of the Nadir]].<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Do_you_recall_how_they_came_to_that_place%3F|Do you recall how they came to that place?|Fallen London}}''"A spined shape the size of a seal floats curled within."''</ref>

[[Mutton Island]]'s genuine rubbery lumps might be made out of Flukes, and it would appear the delicacy makes its consumers more likely to become [[Drownies]] should they suffer death by water.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Yes|Yes|Fallen London}}''"Lank hair, hollow eyes, stinking white skin. "I could have chosen differently," he says. "If I hadn't eaten it. The flesh, the fruit. I might only be dead.""''</ref> Speaking of Drownies, the [[Fathomking]] has claimed the hand of an ancient Fluke in marriage - the [[Pentamerous Bride]] - yet he dines on the flesh of Flukes at his Drowning Feast.<ref name="pulse" /> How very strange.
==Fluke Biology==
<blockquote>''"The deliquescing body is full of incomprehensible organs that collapse at your touch. You understand nothing, and very quickly, there is little left of it. But at its centre, you find a vast lump of resin or congealed gall, the size of a barrel, flawed with darkness."''<ref name="lorn">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.gamepedia.com/Lorn-Fluke|Lorn-Fluke|Sunless Sea}}</ref></blockquote>We know a surprising amount about the biology of the Flukes.
===Needles===
[[File:Flukeneedles.png|thumb|100px|Dead Flukes. Art from Sunless Sea.]]
The most striking feature of the Flukes must undoubtedly be their spines. These gigantic spikes have strange memory-altering qualities; if one is pierced by a spine that's still attached to a Fluke, they enter something of a trance state, in which some of their memories and the Fluke's memories will meld and mix together. Severed needles are capable of removing memories - specifically regrets - from the memories of those pierced with them. These needles can then be used again to inject those regrets into someone else.

The Fluke itself also serves as a massive repository of the memories of those it has killed; when someone takes a memory from the Fluke, a spine containing that regret will grow upon the receiver.

The ground down powder of these spines is silver in color, and is a component in the manufacture of [[heartmetal]] at [[Station III]].<ref name="scorn"/><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.gamepedia.com/Aigul|Aigul|Sunless Sea}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.gamepedia.com/Station_III|Station III|Sunless Sea}}</ref>

===Fluke-Cores===
<blockquote>''"Sentiments and histories coil, prisoned by irrigo as the irrigo is prisoned by amber. Mourn the mind that has passed."''<ref name="core">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Fluke-Core|Fluke-Core|Fallen London}}</ref></blockquote>[[File:flukecore.png|thumb|A Fluke-Core.]]
The core of a Fluke acts like its heart: when a Fluke dies, much of its body will simply dissolve away, but its '''Fluke-Core''' is one of the only parts of the beast that stays corporeal. These cores are always drenched in [[irrigo]], suggesting they may be responsible for the Fluke's ability to drain away memories.<ref name="core"/>

===Flute Street===
''"Flute Street, the home of the Rubbery Men. It's a cavern. Nothing like the size of the Neath, but still huge. There's light here. A hazy golden glow, like the bottom of a honey sea, of uncertain source. You brush past delicate floating motes, the seeds of coral dandelions."''<ref name = "flute street">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Flute_Street|Flute Street|Fallen London|}}</ref>
[[File:Flutestreet.png|thumb|centre|400px|Flute Street. Art from FL]]
Underneath London lies the Rubbery city of '''Flute Street'''. Here, the [[Rubbery Men]] are able to practice their Shapeling Arts in peace, amassing large quantities of amber, molding bodies into strange and esoteric figures, and communing with the Flukes. The Flukes here control the Rubbery Men of London, sending them out into the city to gather '''Vital Essences''' and to attempt to better understand humanity. The Rubbery Men seem frustrated by this, due to the fact that many in London greet them with stones instead of words, but they continue to dutifully serve their mission. The Flukes are also fascinated with human life, and see people as extremely lucky to be able to experience simple things like breathing, fire, and music.<ref name = "flute street"/>

Deeper below Flute Street, ancient proto-Flukes and Rubbery Men alike lie encased in amber. Presumably, these are the original forms of the creatures, as they were in Axile.<ref name = "flute street"/>

==Lorn-Flukes==
<blockquote>''"The oldest Lorn-Flukes. Too vast now. Swollen with hate. Swollen with wisdom. Tendrils glisten dully. Light contracts nodules. Watch them flex."''<ref name="gifts" /></blockquote>[[File:Fluke_top.png|thumb|A Lorn-Fluke.]]
Furious and prone to confrontation, [[Lorn-Flukes]] are Flukes who are overcome by their anger and seek to destroy anything that crosses their paths. Lorn-Flukes are feared by zailors, who know that these spiny monstrosities can skewer a ship with their spikes and scream words in [[the Correspondence]] to drive the ship's crew mad.<ref name="lorn"/>

Although Lorn Flukes will fight almost anything, they are more specifically plotting the downfall of [[the Bazaar]] and [[the Masters]] due to the deal they made with them that trapped them in the Neath, far from their homes.<ref name = "gifts"/>

===Lornest Flukes===
<blockquote>''"There is a mournful keening. The zubmarine reverberates with the weight of it. You remember home, where the sky is impossible and the stars -"''<ref name="lornest">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.gamepedia.com/Lornest-Fluke|Lornest-Fluke|Sunless Sea}}</ref></blockquote>[[File:Lornestfluke.png|thumb|A Lornest-Fluke.]]
'''Lornest Flukes''' are Lorn Flukes that have submersed themselves under the zee and changed in the darkness. Lornest Flukes are less formidable than their more traditional cousins (perhaps due to their single large, exposed eye), but their ability to drive anyone nearby mad still makes them exceptionally dangerous. These Flukes seem to be infused with violant light as well as the usual irrigo, making them capable of transmitting their memories to other beings without direct contact.<ref name="lornest"/>

===Dawn Flukes===
<blockquote>''"You send your crew out into the dark. From the observation dome, you watch them become silhouettes against the light of the Fluke. Its pale radiance grows in strength as the flesh sloughs away. It is like the last moments of a near-spent candle."''<ref name="dawn">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.gamepedia.com/Dawn_Fluke|Dawn Fluke|Sunless Sea}}</ref></blockquote>[[File:Dawnfluke.png|thumb|A Dawn Fluke.|100px]]
'''Dawn Flukes''' are Flukes that have been transformed and modified by the power of the [[Dawn Machine]]. While they still look like sea urchins, their bodies have been mechanically enhanced with metal plating and artificial spikes. Dawn Flukes seem to have been fundamentally changed by the influence of the artificial judgement, and their cores constantly emanate sickening and maddening false-sunlight. Upon dissection, it would appear that the innards of such flukes may have become more dawn-light than Fluke; they quickly dissolve into light and warmth upon death. Just like any Fluke, be careful when handling a Dawn-Fluke: their light is still capable of driving zailors mad with chants of THESUNTHESUNTH-<ref name="dawn"/>

==Scorn-Flukes==
<blockquote>''"This close, your sky-suit cannot entirely protect you: when you finish coughing, the dizziness is overwhelming. You can smell the Fluke's dying wishes, are ravaged by its regrets: the search it leaves incomplete; its fear that the search is impossible and will never end; the jagged, excruciating recollections of being outcast and the certainty that only the outcast have a chance of success"''<ref name="scorn">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Scorn_Fluke|Scorn Fluke|Sunless Skies}}</ref></blockquote>[[File:Scorn Fluke.png|thumb|A Scorn Fluke. Sprite from Sunless Skies.]] 
Those familiar with Lorn-Flukes will be surprised/terrified/driven to insanity to learn that Flukes also roam the skies of [[the High Wilderness]]. Known as '''Scorn-Flukes''', these Flukes have ritually scarred their exteriors, and they tear through the skies in search of information and guidance to their home, Axile. This might be a sympathetic mission, but they plan on gathering this information by attacking ships, destroying them, and then harvesting the crew's souls to probe their memories for information. They seem to meld these stolen memories with their own, often increasing the total misery that the creature constantly secretes.<ref name="scorn"/>

A Scorn-Fluke is responsible for the extremely outlandish setting of [[Worlebury-juxta-Mare]]. A cult, known as '''The Church of They Who Must Grieve''', has formed around the Fluke and wants to appease the great beast. They do whatever they can to share in the Fluke's grief, while the Fluke performs various apparently random actions, including giving visitors bodily growths and augmentations, creating monstrous egg-laying goat creatures, and generating mysterious mists around the port.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Lowered_into_the_Mists|Lowered into the Mists|Sunless Skies}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Into_the_Mists|Into the Mists|Sunless Skies}}</ref>

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


[[Category:Axile]]