Jillyfish

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"The Khanate's light-bulbs aren't necessary yet. All around your diving-bell, luminous jellyfish swarm. Rippling yellows and phantasmal greens. Frills burnished with gold. Blues in so many hues – turquoise, aquamarine, apocyan – that where the flesh ends, where the water begins, seems to fluctuate like a shadow moving under waves. Another shadow, deep purple, looms into view."

"A jillyfish," says the Naturalist. "Toxic tentacles on that beauty. Rare to see one with Atolla oizys like this. They're the glowing group – my specialty."[1]

Jillyfish are enormous jellyfish-like creatures that roam the Unterzee. Their caps are made of "hardened ramming-goo" they use to damage hulls,[2] and their tentacles are laced with dangerous paralytic toxins.[3][4] They sometimes gather in shoals,[5] and dissolve quickly when killed.[2] Jillyfish are partially edible[6] and can be prepared in a dish called shredded jillyfish.[7] This dish retains the jillyfish's toxins,[8] and when prepared well induces pleasant sensations and odd thoughts. Preparing it poorly, however, can cause gastrointestinal distress and even death for the consumer.[9][10]

Each jillyfish's cap is imprinted with an image of a woman's face. This image resembles the face of the Flourishing-of-Years on Visage, and may appear to mouth the word "HOME" upon the death of its host.[11][12]

Jillyfleur[edit | edit source]

"The jillyfleur. Is it a young jillyfish? A lesser subspecies? Do the dreams of jillyfish become real? In any case, now it's a sad slick of goo, dissolving into the zee."[13]

"According to the brief, Spirit of the Zee is a weak mushroom spirit with a live jillyfleur in the bottle. The unfortunate creature affects neither the taste nor the properties of the drink until it is killed, at which point it dissolves, turning the liquid iridescent and bestowing the drinker with visions."[14]

An island with a large structure resembling a face.
Visage

Jillyfleur are creatures that appear to be juvenile jillyfish, but may be a separate species or something else entirely.[15] Like jillyfish, their bodies are imprinted with a face that resembles the Flourishing-of-Years, but these faces do not mouth words.[16] Tiny jillyfleur can be bottled up in mushroom wine to make a drink called Spirit of the Zee. This drink is basically an ordinary spirit, but when the jillyfleur inside dies, its material dissolves into the drink. This gives the imbiber bizarre visions,[17] which include the feeling of venomous tentacles constricting the mind, and "liquid thoughts."[18]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Look through the porthole, Fallen London
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Jillyfish, Sunless Sea "It was a colossus of toxic tentacles, capped with hardened ramming-goo. Now it's a smear on the ocean's surface. Jillyfish dissolve in minutes once they're dead."
  3. ↑ The Chelonate, Sunless Sea "Her face is half-immobile from a jillyfish sting."
  4. ↑ Snuffer Hunting, Sunless Sea "[...] the snuffer is identified, isolated, subdued with the gift of a carefully poisoned hat steeped in paralytic jillyfish extracts [...]"
  5. ↑ Use your hard-won knowledge of monstrous behaviour to predict its movements, Fallen London "You corral a nearby shoal of jillyfish into the lifeberg's path [...]"
  6. ↑ Scoop up what's left!, Sunless Sea "It might be edible. Parts of it might be edible. Parts of it might be anything."
  7. ↑ Try the shredded jillyfish, Sunless Sea "It's not to everyone's taste."
  8. ↑ Try the shredded jillyfish, Sunless Sea "Urgh. You'll regret it later. The jillyfish's venom numbs your tongue and roils your stomach."
  9. ↑ Try the shredded jillyfish, Sunless Sea "Traces of its venom still remain - just enough to make your tongue tingle and alter your consciousness a touch. Your pulse accelerates, and odd thoughts sparkle in the forefront of your mind."
  10. ↑ We Absolutely Meant to Go to Zee, Fallen London "The shredded jillyfish is a risk – depending on how well it is prepared, the venom could make your tongue tingle, and make you pleasantly giddy. But it's far more likely to send you running to the toilet for the rest of the day. Unless it kills you, of course."
  11. ↑ Let it disperse, Sunless Sea "From above, the jillyfleur's cap does look a little like a woman's face. She dissolves like smeared paint."
  12. ↑ Let it disperse, Sunless Sea "It looks very like Flourishing-of-Years - the grand shrine-face of Visage. Something about the eyes, the sternness of the mouth. Perhaps only that it stares at the roof, just as Flourishing-of-Years does. Now it dissolves. You could swear it's mouthing a word. "HOME"...?"
  13. ↑ Jillyfleur's End, Sunless Sea
  14. ↑ Spirit of the Zee, Fallen London
  15. ↑ Jillyfleur's End, Sunless Sea "The jillyfleur. Is it a young jillyfish? A lesser subspecies? Do the dreams of jillyfish become real?"
  16. ↑ Let it disperse, Sunless Sea "It looks very like Flourishing-of-Years - the grand shrine-face of Visage. Something about the eyes, the sternness of the mouth. Perhaps only that it stares at the roof, just as Flourishing-of-Years does. Now it dissolves..."
  17. ↑ Spirit of the Zee, Fallen London "According to the brief, Spirit of the Zee is a weak mushroom spirit with a live jillyfleur in the bottle. The unfortunate creature affects neither the taste nor the properties of the drink until it is killed, at which point it dissolves, turning the liquid iridescent and bestowing the drinker with visions."
  18. ↑ Have a drink, Fallen London "The first few glasses of Spirit of the Zee are earthy, sour, and much like any other mushroom spirit. [...] the jillyfleur has stopped moving. You watch as its body dissolves into a rainbow-coloured swirl. With unsteady hands, you pour another glass. The iridescent liquid tastes different now, sharper and— Throbbing tentacles wrap around your mind, releasing venom with every pulse. Your thoughts become liquid."
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