Prisoner's Honey

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"The most delightful secret of the Neath: the honey of lamplighter bees fed exclusively on the Exile's Rose."[1]

Prisoner's Honey is the preferred drug of the Neath.

Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)[edit | edit source]

A honey jar.

"The sweet honey melts on your tongue like a syrupy snowfall. Your ears fill with the somnolent drone of bees. You fade from the honey-den couch: your eyes open on an amber glade, beneath a cosmogone sun. Mellow conifers bow before a sweet breeze. You are in Parabola, the Is-Not, kingdom of dream."[2]

Prisoner's honey is made from a flower called Exile's Rose pollinated by the lamplighter bee.[3] Eating the honey, or walking through a mirror[4] daubed with it,[5] physically transports[6] the user into the mystical alternate world of Parabola.[7] After a variable interval of time,[8] they will return to the precise spot they departed from.[9] The length of a honey-trip can be controlled by mixing the substance with sphinxstone and other chemical buffers.[10] Shared dreams are possible[11][12] when multiple individuals ingest honey from the same batch while in close contact: holding hands, sitting side by side, or lying next to each other.[13][14] If one consumes prisoner's honey while closely interacting with an animal, they may be drawn into its dreams instead.[15][16] The nature of honey-dreams varies according to its origin: when, where, and how the honey was made.[14][17]

A Honey-mazed person.

This drug is popular among bohemians,[18] who meet in "honey-dens" to find artistic inspiration in Parabola[19] or to experience heightened sensual pleasure. Habitual users can become addicted,[20] and may be susceptible to returning from a trip too early.[21] These "honey-mazed" people are physically present in reality, but their minds and senses are still in Parabola[22] until the drug fully wears off, or until they are forcibly roused.[23] It is not uncommon to find honey-mazed individuals on the streets of London; they smell faintly of honey,[24] have vacant expressions,[25] and may be betrayed by a yellow stain on their lips.[26] They may stagger about mumbling nonsense[27] or startle strangers;[28] as a consequence, the honey-mazed often serve as fodder for the public’s mockery and irritation.[29] However, these unfortunate honey-sippers are most often a danger to themselves.[30] Animals can also become honey-mazed, since at least some other species are affected by prisoner's honey in the same manner as humans.[31]

Prisoner's honey can be brewed into mead, which produces unpredictable effects when consumed.[32]

Honey-Dens[edit | edit source]

"You deserve a little treat. Life is so effortful! You've learned of a number of honey-dens in the back streets of Veilgarden, where you can lie on a quiet couch and be transported to extraordinary places."[33]

Veilgarden is rife with honey-dens,[34] with many concentrated on Hollow Street in particular.[35] Because of the stigma associated with honey addiction, honey-dens are considered disreputable establishments.[36] Many disguise themselves as more respectable businesses to avoid scrutiny and draw in customers who would otherwise be discouraged from being seen at such a place.[37][38] Silverers use honey-dens as their preferred entrance into Parabola,[39] as the frequent traffic creates well-worn dream-paths that are easier to navigate.[40]

Inside, customers recline on "fading couches" and cushions, and sip honey to enter into their fantasies.[41] Honey trips are often preceded by alcoholic drinks to get visitors "in the mood,"[42] or a glass of spiced milk when alcohol is unavailable or not preferred.[43] Since the honey-mazed can sometimes be quite violent,[44] honey-dens have tight security[45] and may employ Clay Men as both guards and servants.[46][47]

The honey trade is tightly controlled by Mr Spices,[48] who often fights with Mr Wines for dominance over the honeyed roads into Parabola.[49] There are a few more sinister variants of this already dangerously alluring substance; Gaoler’s Honey (red honey) and Cardinal’s Honey (black honey) are illegal and may have painful or life-threatening effects. Some dens offer red honey discreetly,[50] but even the most daring refuse to deal in the black.

Honey-Mazed Secrets[edit | edit source]

Spoilers ahead: May include midgame or minor Fate-locked content.

You can find out more about our spoiler policy here.

"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…"[51]

Devils were responsible for the creation of prisoner's honey. 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.[52] 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.[53] 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."[54] Thus, the Fingerkings could more easily possess humans and progress toward achieving their eternal goal of entering reality.[55]

Real-Life Inspirations[edit | edit source]

Prisoner's honey was inspired by the real substance called "mad honey." The in-game quote attributed to Pliny the Elder is a nod to his real writings on the subject.[56] Mad honey is a naturally occurring and rare psychoactive substance produced when bees forage on certain species of rhododendron, particularly Rhododendron ponticum and Rhododendron luteum. These plants, native to mountainous regions like the Caucasus, the Himalayas, and Japan, contain a potent neurotoxin called grayanotoxin. As bees collect the nectar, the toxin becomes concentrated in the resulting honey. When consumed, mad honey can induce a wide range of effects depending on the dose and an individual’s sensitivity. While mild symptoms may include dizziness and nausea, its most distinctive and notable effect is the onset of delirium or hallucinations. Symptoms typically begin within 30 minutes to three hours after ingestion, and usually resolve within 12 to 24 hours, though recovery can take longer in severe cases.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Drop of Prisoner's Honey, Fallen London
  2. ↑ Reunion, Fallen London
  3. ↑ Drop of Prisoner's Honey, Fallen London "The most delightful secret of the Neath: the honey of lamplighter bees fed exclusively on the Exile's Rose."
  4. ↑ A mahogany-framed mirror, Fallen London "It seems brighter in here, somehow. What is that sound? ...birdsong? Where are you?"
  5. ↑ Continue watching Gebrandt's demonstration, Fallen London "A woman in cosmogone spectacles stands beside the mirror, smiling faintly at Gebrandt. She produces a small vial of honey and applies it to the edge of the glass. [...] The change in the mirror is nearly imperceptible; glass turns to a threshold, and the museum on the far side becomes ever so slightly off-kilter. [...]"
  6. ↑ Celebrate thoroughly, Fallen London "[…] What happens under the influence of wine and lust is hazy […] Only one pair had kept aside […] They had shared something […] from a silver spoon. Then vanished […] "Prisoner's Honey […] You should try it […]"
  7. ↑ Sidebar Snippets, Fallen London "The most delightful secret of Fallen London: a substance which physically transports you to a dream. It is gathered by bees from the black roses which grow here. There is another kind of underground rose from which honey may be made, but that's rather less safe."
  8. ↑ The Case of the Sealed Vault, Fallen London "[...] A conventional dose of Prisoner's Honey transports its consumer bodily into Parabola, returning them after an unpredictable stint."
  9. ↑ Mr Pages: Honey, Mask of the Rose "Honey transports the user, for a time, to a place that Is Not. [...] There is always a return. [...] One returns to one's exactible source."
  10. ↑ The Case of the Sealed Vault, Fallen London "This honey has been doctored – through the addition of pulverised sphinxstone and chemical buffers – to be more precise. [...] This particular, adulterated strain leads to each user reappearing in the Is after an exact, reproducible span of time. Extrapolating from the levels of dilution, the original honey would have displaced the thief for precisely sixty minutes"
  11. ↑ Reunion, Fallen London "Honey may be shared; dreams commingled."
  12. ↑ Train with Mr Pages, Fallen London "Mr Pages insists you share the honey with it ("Only the finest spoonfuls!"). You lie back against soft cushions. [...] Pages eyes you warily when you wake. "How intimate. More than I expected you to see. It is not the truth, of course. Such is the way of dreams. [...]""
  13. ↑ Dream with the others, Fallen London "The couches are set next to one another; the dreamers hold hands, like children jumping into a pool. The honey is provided by the Rubbery men."
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Share a honey-dream with the Bohemian Sculptress, Fallen London "[...] You lie beside her on the dais, nestling between the bronze figures, and sip the honey that the Sculptress had prepared. The honey-dream comes heavy and fast, like a python coiling around your body. […] you are sinking. Below: Utter darkness, until your eyes adjust. […] you see […] the silvery tips of the purple spines […]"
  15. ↑ Ask her for help with Parabolan research, Fallen London "She spends a long time communing with the Albatross, staring into its centre. She sips honey, she visits its Eyrie. When she comes back, she has a report."
  16. ↑ Ask her for help with Parabolan research, Fallen London "The Silk-Clad Expert sips a spoonful of honey and dozes off with her hand resting against the egg's membrane. Half an hour later, she wakes with a gasp, spots of colour blooming on her pale cheeks. "So alone! Misbegotten and only half-conceived, yet full of such yearning." She gives the slimy egg a fond stroke. [...]"
  17. ↑ Dream of the Fourth City, Fallen London "The dreams this honey brings are like the substance itself – crystallised nearly into dust. They never seize you completely; even as you walk down the streets of the Fourth City, you still feel the weight of your body slumping over your desk. In this weak, thin dream, your legs are stiff and your throat is too scratched to talk. The city is a gauzy impression of itself, devoid of people – just the shadow of curved roofs overhead; the feeling of scales on skin. You draw and sketch what you see. Much of the lost geography of the Fourth City is revealed to you."
  18. ↑ Stripes of Wrath, Fallen London "You, of course, are familiar with [...] Prisoner's Honey. Popular among a Bohemian set for its inspiring and sensual qualities. It induces a dreamlike state. [...]"
  19. ↑ Accept, Fallen London "Now to find sufficiently colourful material. Back to the honey-den!"
  20. ↑ Doing the decent thing, Fallen London "The Hollow-Eyed Hedonist snaps... just as he hands over the last jar. "No! It's mine! All mine! I must have it! Thief! Thief! Give it back!" Excitable chap, and he's making enough noise to attract the gentlemen in blue."
  21. ↑ Dreams: A Choice of Reverie, Fallen London "The Detective's body is elsewhere – back in a flat in Moloch Street, most likely. But his mind is here, as present in Parabola as any dream-shade. He is kneeling on the jungle floor, measuring the pawprint of a panther."
  22. ↑ Let the vagrant finish their pattern, Fallen London "The honey-mazed are those whose bodies have left their dreaming minds behind. What might this dreamer's mind be attempting to communicate?"
  23. ↑ Shake the vagrant awake, Fallen London "The honey-mazed may sometimes be brought back to reality with a sharp enough shock. Once their mind returns, they will surely move on."
  24. ↑ Approach him boastfully, Fallen London "His rooms are scrupulously clean, but the sweetish fug of prisoner's honey hangs in the air, and his eyes are hooded with dreams. "No doubt," he says. "I'm honoured to make your acquaintance." It's difficult to read his tone."
  25. ↑ Stripes of Wrath, Fallen London "Although the Detective is semi-retired, his sallow, honey-slack features are still capable of an occasional flash of animation when the brain is stimulated by a complex problem. You're seeing that now."
  26. ↑ An Exceptional Story: The Hollow Triptych, Fallen London "The vagrant does not cease their hypnagogic activity. […] You do not need to see the yellow residue around their mouth […] to identify one of London's honey-mazed unfortunates."
  27. ↑ An unusual wager, Fallen London "A capering and probably honey-mazed individual is flinging handfuls of small coins at passersby and shrieking."
  28. ↑ The Airs of London, Fallen London "A portly man sits weeping in the road. "The Menagerie," he sobs, "the Roses. They can no longer grow." A hackney carriage veers round him: "Honey-mazed," the driver sneers."
  29. ↑ An Exceptional Story: A Musical Diversion, Fallen London "A small crowd has gathered to mock a crazed woman on the street. She plays an imaginary violin, […] oblivious to the jeers […] "Honey-mazed, ain't she?" whispers the fellow beside you."Them fancy buggers never bl_y know to leave a good thing well alone.""
  30. ↑ A frosty reception, Fallen London "A bad business, honey-mazing. The honey-mazed often end up under carriages, or in the river, or as prey for villains. Terrible business."
  31. ↑ Promise to pursue the Honey-Mazed Bear, Fallen London "There follows a graphic description of the effect when a full-grown bear consumes half a firkin of Prisoner's Honey at a go. It vanished; it returned in a dazed state, with dripping fur, and had a roar at all the customers; it vanished a second time. In fact, it might well be in Parabola."
  32. ↑ Throw in a coin and take a drink, Fallen London "The mead is made from honey. Is it prisoner's honey? What madman would do such a thing? When it comes, the dream is of a screaming city. Bats over the domed temples. Screaming as the earth opens."
  33. ↑ The Honey-Dens of Veilgarden, Fallen London
  34. ↑ Reunion, Fallen London "Veilgarden is speckled with honey-dens, like mushrooms after rain - but one has to know where to look. You know of a small den near the Singing Mandrake. The quality of its honey is passable but the quality of its clientele is evident in their having dressed up to attend a honey-den."
  35. ↑ Veilgarden, Fallen London "A haunt of poets, prostitutes and other low types, and location of the notorious Singing Mandrake. Elderwick is famous for its booksellers. Hollow Street offers the best honey-dens in the city."
  36. ↑ The Heretic of Hollow Street, Fallen London "Occasionally someone will come in and ask about your 'other services,' seeking honey or pleasure or some other illicit commodity. The Barber invariably turns them away, telling them they have got entirely the wrong idea and should be ashamed of themselves."
  37. ↑ Reunion, Fallen London "The den masquerades as a public house, though its fixtures have long been replaced with cushions, soft furnishings and a steady flow of syrup."
  38. ↑ The Heretic of Hollow Street, Fallen London "Here for a haircut? [...] Or are you just another dream-addled addict? Because if so, I must say for the third time today that we are perhaps the only establishment on this street that is not secretly a honey-den."
  39. ↑ Complete a Route to Parabola, Fallen London "The Silverers have their own ways into Parabola, via the Honey-Dens. For everyone else, the route is perilous and secret."
  40. ↑ Establish a Parabolan Base-Camp, Fallen London "Honey-dreams lie far from the headwaters of the Writhing River. Nevertheless, the dreamers here wear a rut that the River's distributaries may sometimes follow."
  41. ↑ The Honey-Dens of Veilgarden, Fallen London "You deserve a little treat. Life is so effortful! You've learned of a number of honey-dens in the back streets of Veilgarden, where you can lie on a quiet couch and be transported to extraordinary places."
  42. ↑ Supply wine in exchange for Prisoner's Honey, Fallen London "Before they take to their fading-couches, honey-dreamers often like a glass of something to get in the mood."
  43. ↑ Reunion, Fallen London "[...] The proprietor arrives first with spiced milk, and then with honey. [...]"
  44. ↑ A rough business, Fallen London "These maniacs must be dreaming of wars never fought, of monsters that cannot exist, of duels with giants. They scream and leap at you. After a few minutes of this, you cease to be gentle with them."
  45. ↑ Ambition: Nemesis – Reaching Mackay, Fallen London "Honey-dens are well-guarded. And Mackay is a favoured customer with a private room. You'll need a way to get in there."
  46. ↑ Search the honey-den, Fallen London "[…] 'As if I'd keep money on the premises! Ha ha ha!' He's still chuckling when a pair of Clay Men appear to escort you from the premises."
  47. ↑ Reunion, Fallen London "[...] He calls the Clay Man for more wine and engages in a lengthy discourse with him [...] Like any good servant, the Clay Man reveals nothing of his opinion. He merely thanks the Prince and returns to the other guests. [...]"
  48. ↑ Pose as a new honey-supplier, Fallen London "You'll need a shipment to sell. Honey is not illegal, but the trade is tightly controlled by the Bazaar Master known as Mr Spices."
  49. ↑ Mr Wines, Fallen London "[...] He covets the honeyed roads into Parabola: he and Spices have fought over them for centuries, since their colleague was cast down. [...]"
  50. ↑ Steeped in Honey, Fallen London "You emerge into a vaulted cellar lined with chaise longues bearing Honey-takers, some slumped in ecstasy, others hunched in anguish. The Gimlet-Eyed Proprietor gestures to an empty chaise. "That patron is in the Chambers of the Heart now, but she will return soon. Come, I have a special booth for our most valued clients.""
  51. ↑ Order Serpentine, Melancholy, Fallen London
  52. ↑ 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…"
  53. ↑ 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..."
  54. ↑ 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..."
  55. ↑ 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..."
  56. ↑ Alexis Kennedy, Failbetter Games Forums "What goes around comes around. Mad honey was, in fact, the original inspiration behind prisoner’s honey; hence the Pliny pastiche that you may have seen in the sidebars."
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