Grand Devils

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"Do you know how long it takes one of our lords to die?" He shakes his head. "No, I don't either. Aeons, perhaps."

The Grand Devils, also called the Saints of Hell, are the former princes of Hell who once ruled over devilkind. They were overthrown by their subjects in the Season of Revolutions, and were left scattered, dead, or otherwise indisposed.

Correct and Proper and Beautiful[edit | edit source]

The Prismatic Dowager

Vast, eight-legged,[1] perfume-breathed,[2] leather-winged, many-eyed,[3] chitin-plated, and millipede-like,[4] the Grand Devils are a diverse group of powerful beings. They have the ability to share their memories and thoughts with others; for a mere mortal this may be a rapturous experience, or one that they will never speak of again lest they relive it.[5] When the Grand Devils ruled Hell, they each had a specific purpose, and their bodies may have had unique attributes to match.[6]

The Grand Devils' palace guard were known as the Brazen Brigade; the Brigade still worships and tends their prisons and resting places.[7] They also still have loyalists, called the Brimstone Convention, who have taken refuge at Mount Palmerston.[8]

In the Sunless Skies timeline, multiple Grand Devils have been liberated and brought to the skies, including the Piper (thanks to the Brazen Brigade)[9] and the Drummer.[10] The corpses and husks of others, including the Chorister[11] and the Mantle-bearer,[12] never left the High Wilderness.

Known Grand Devils[edit | edit source]

Most of the Grand Devils appear to be dead. This does not hinder communication with them as much as one might expect.

  • The Drummer, whose beat is irresistible
  • The Mandolinist, impaled by a thousand viol bows (for some reason)
  • The Chandler, martyred for forbidden love
  • The Vintner, an ancient Saint who oversaw the distillation of souls
  • The Prismatic Dowager, left fuming over her own murder
  • The Piper, a leader of the ancient rebellion against the Judgements who found the way into Parabola
  • The King of Carols, now imprisoned in the Well of Wonders for defiance
  • The Bellows Saint/The Mantle-bearer, once the "armourer-saint" and "squire-sommelier" to the Binary[12][13]
  • The Chorister/The Chorister Saint, who accompanied the suns to war[14] and shed his shells to escape death[11]
  • The Violist, a "queen-saint"[15] and, one might suppose, the rightful owner of the bows that impale the Mandolinist
  • The Fiddler,[16] implied to rest in the grave at the Pale Tabernacle[17]
  • The Rose-in-Webs[18]
  • Tuulchi, the alias of a devil who ascended to Grand Devil status during the era of the Fourth City. He experienced a particularly ignoble death and descended to being a normal devil again after a botched resurrection.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Heed the call, Fallen London "[...] some vast, eight-legged thing watches."
  2. ↑ The Mandolinist, Fallen London "Its breath is sweet as roses, perfuming the rotting of its body."
  3. ↑ Approach, Fallen London "Two great wings, leathery and dappled with red and gold eyes are unfurled beside it, pinned against the stone."
  4. ↑ The Brass Grail, Fallen London "It's long and curved, like a millipede tucked into a spiral, and it's the size of an ironclad warship. Its vast chitinous plates glitter"
  5. ↑ For All The Saints, Fallen London "The Deacon shrieks, then begins to sing. His voice arcs like a vault, ululating and high."
  6. ↑ The Chorus of Hell, Fallen London "The Dowager is but one court, specialised and singular."
  7. ↑ Permit the pilgrims entry, Fallen London "Once you promise them entrance, the devils become more voluble. They are of the Brazen Brigade, they tell you. Once they were the palace guard of their Hellish saints. Now they are exiled from Hell and forbidden from their worship. They make journeys across the hinterlands, preserving the sites and shrines of their dead."
  8. ↑ Chat to the port-folk about the Brimstone Convention, Sunless Sea "Chat to the port-folk about the Brimstone Convention [...] There was a revolution in Hell: and the aristocracy of devils fled here. Here, they plot in exile. [...] “They don't do us any harm. They stay up there, and we stay down here."
  9. ↑ Entreat the Piper to emerge, Sunless Skies "She is not pleased that the Brigade have returned her to the heavens she fled, and has no intention of leaving the confines of her idol. But she is merciful today, and sends you on your way."
  10. ↑ Entreat the Drummer, Sunless Skies "Below Caduceus, the Drummer plays. One of the greatest Saints of Hell, all Caduceus dances to his beat."
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Return to the Scarlet Condottiere (Chorister), Sunless Skies "Of course you encountered one of his shells. The meat of him is elsewhere. Our Chorister was not so easily vanquished."
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Find the tomb of the Mantle-bearer, Sunless Skies "Somewhere in Winter's Reside lies the corpse of the armourer-saint, once squire-sommelier to the Binary, the twin kings of Eleutheria."
  13. ↑ Find the tomb of the Mantle-bearer, Sunless Skies "The Binary went to war. Against the storied sons of the Solonacean. And the Bellows Saint did mantle the king in a raiment of killing light."
  14. ↑ Sanctify the corpse of the Chorister Saint, Sunless Skies "You daub its lips with some of the vial of souls, and anoint its armour as it would have done when it accompanied the suns to war."
  15. ↑ Receive the Blessing of the Violist, Sunless Skies "The Condottiere produces an ivory fiddle and dons the reliquary to play. "You shall dance," he tells you. "These are the steps." [...] The air resounds with the wail of the viol and those who descended here. [...] the Condottiere promises that you have been blessed by the Violist. "You drip with sanctity." He gives you a pilgrim badge, a token of the queen-saint."
  16. ↑ Explore the temple, Sunless Skies "Each holds a reliquary to a single figure. One is to the Fiddler, another to the Piper, a third to the Drummer, the Chorister and the Violist."
  17. ↑ The Pale Tabernacle, Fallen London "The isle is full of noises; long, tuneful notes like gently bowed strings. It seems to have no source [...]" "I don't care what it is," says your quartermaster, sweeping the bosun into hold. "I just want to dance to it."
  18. ↑ The Rose in Webs, Fallen London "The Blind Pianist walks across the bridge, intent on a small archway ahead. "We should have killed that thing in the Fourth. But the grand devils are so very bad at remaining dead. Come on," she says, gesturing. "It will be back." [...]"
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