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| {{Neath_Location|title1 = Kingeater's Castle|image1 = Kingeaterscastle.png|caption1 = '''''<font color="red">Lose your mind. Eat your crew. </font>'''''|location = [[The Unterzee|The Sea of Statues]]|alias = Despair's Fastness|allegiance = [[Salt]]
| | ''"An old voracity lives here, in the far reaches of the zee. The priests are long gone, but sacrifices are still made here. Perhaps you have come here to make a sacrifice. Perhaps the sacrifice is you."'' |
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| The Kingeater|notable_inhabitants = The Kingeater|music = [https://failbettergames.bandcamp.com/track/flukes-fathoms Fluke's Fathoms]|port=Pennington}}<blockquote>''"An old voracity lives here, in the far reaches of the zee. The priests are long gone, but sacrifices are still made here. Perhaps you have come here to make a sacrifice. Perhaps the sacrifice is you."''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|Kingeater's Castle|Sunless Sea}}</ref></blockquote>'''Kingeater's Castle''' is a castle at the end of the world.
| | [[File:Kingeaterscastle.png|frame|'''''<font color="red">Lose your mind. Eat your crew. </font>''''' (Art from Sunless Sea)]] |
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| ==Everything is Horrible== | |
| <blockquote>''"A dead wind which blew from the north. A hungry sun rode the wind. It made of memories a castle. There are mirrors in the ice. A thousand doors and none. The end of the chain is horizon's beginning. Horizon's beginning. Your throat is bleeding."''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|Lose your mind|Sunless Sea}}</ref></blockquote>Kingeater's Castle is an abandoned, half-ruined citadel in the Sea of Statues, an eastern region of the [[Unterzee]]. Most of the structure is submerged, but a dark tower rises above the waves,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Green_King|The Green King|Fallen London}}''"It frowns on the horizon, like a stilled thunderhead. Brown-black parapets glower over a sullen zee. A sunken tower broods at its summit, its walls too wide, its windows too few."''</ref> which is also (or contains) a well.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Green_King|The Green King|Fallen London}}''"[...] Stairs lead further up in exposed arcades, circling the ruin of the tower which lurches roofward. Drawing closer, you see the hollow of its insides plunging deeper and deeper into the cavity of the castle. The tower houses a well; it is, perhaps, a well."''</ref>
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| The earth around the Castle and its desolate dock is littered with bleached bones.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Green_King|The Green King|Fallen London}}''"Rotten moorings clutch a basalt quay, where small, bleached bones litter the black ground. [...]"''</ref> Life naturally withers here,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|Put a blemmigan ashore|Sunless Sea}}''"The blemmigan creeps down the ramp, on to the stones of the Castle, past the litter of bones. It slows. It collapses, with a sigh like a deflating toy balloon. Even as you watch, its skin begins to shrivel and dry. No blemmigan will ever prosper here."''</ref> and its visitors find themselves saying and doing things they would not otherwise do: from brief bouts of violent thoughts,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|Match the knife to its twin|Sunless Sea}}''"This is the knife that once lay in the heart of your father. When you take it up - gingerly - a dark and shouting joy rushes through you. Your bones tighten, your eyes sharpen, your blood pounds! Your zailors back away as you raise it, growling with feral energy."''</ref> to being driven insane enough to devour everyone around them.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|Eat your crew|Sunless Sea}}''"Not all of them will go easily."''</ref> This phenomenon is most likely brought on by a feral and hungry force that resides here.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|An act of burning faith|Sunless Sea}}''"Which god holds sway here? Storm, Stone, Salt? Perhaps no god that is elsewhere named. But if you feed it, it will calm your mind."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|Sacrifice three zailors|Sunless Sea}}''"The Castle is hungry, but it can heal your flesh."''</ref>
| | An empty, ruined arena. This is '''Kingeater's Castle'''. You may come here if you pray to [[Gods of the Unterzee#Salt|Salt]], but you wouldn't want to do that. Everything you can do here before you leave will almost definitely be destructive in some way, shape, or form: such options as losing your mind, eating your crew (or sacrificing some of them), telling all the stories you've collected (which will probably bring you somewhere else), speaking your name in [[The Correspondence|Correspondence]] (warning: this hurts), and giving up your past or future to continue your journey East for Salt's sake... among other detriments. |
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| The danger of this place has made it into a potent ritual site. Most of these rituals are known only through rumor and typically result in the deaths of all involved,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|Your Father's Bones: at Kingeater's Castle|Sunless Sea}}''"All around the altar, bones lie in brown drifts, like naked fossils. If the Admiral is to believed, your father's bones are here among them. But which? Where?"''</ref> though a few may be lucrative; after all, ''"the heart is destiny's engine."''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|An act of burning faith|Sunless Sea}}''"At Kingeater's Castle, one finds unexpected words rising easily to the lips. You speak them, and so do your zailors, as they build the offering pyre. "The heart is destiny's engine," the bo'sun mumbles. He looks embarrassed. "We shall all return," you find yourself reply. You light the pyre and stand back. The flames warm you, warm your crew. The light plays on your faces and your outstretched hands. The darkness shrinks back. In crackling of the flames is the sound of home."'' </ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|Construct the Fulgent Impeller|Sunless Sea}}''""Yes, I know," the Sage says, a little sadly. "The heart is destiny's engine." He climbs into the capsule at the Impeller's heart, and locks the framework into place behind him. The Mechanic strikes the tubes which contain the Element, and it spits forth a sizzle of rosy light. The ivory blazes instantly with energy! The capsule, instantly incandescent with heat, seals shut forever. With a ticking sound, it slowly begins to cool."''</ref>
| | A priest called the Sixth Witness is here, staring to the east. She knows she will see nothing. She waits for the Seventh Witness, who will replace her, just as she replaced the Fifth Witness. The Seventh Witness will see something to the east. |
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| ==An Old Voracity==
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| {{Major spoiler small}}
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| <blockquote>''"The Dawn Machine's radiations crackle. The Mountain glows, across the Continent to the South. Flukes roil irrigo in the zee. The wind staggers you - you lean into it, and barely keep your feet -''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|Give up your past|Sunless Sea}}</ref>
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| ''Storm roars its approval. In the pulsing depths of his throne-pool, the Fathomking raises a wine-glass. At the summits of the columns around you, one by one, the stone hearts of the Castle wake to thunderous life. The Kingeater has accepted your sacrifice."''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|Give up your future|Sunless Sea}}</ref></blockquote>With no conveniences, stairs, or ladders in sight, the descent into the depths of the tower-well must be made with climbing gear and great caution.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Green_King|The Green King|Fallen London}}''"Grooves in the stone; places for handholds, caltrops, rope. Marks scored on the walls: this far, safe. This farther, unsure. The present a cold grip in the dark, the beat of the heart, the sweat on the palm. The future, darkness and an uncertain depth."''</ref> In the darkness below<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Green_King|The Green King|Fallen London}}''"You slide further. The darkness grumbles its approval. The rope goes farther and farther and the darkness deepens, as though swallowing you. Does the well narrow? Does the gullet tighten? Does what remains here take stock of you, as it appraises you with whatever appendage it has – so warm, so moist, so lonesome – for measuring, weighing, finding?"''</ref> dwells the '''Kingeater'''.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|Give up your future|Sunless Sea}}''"[...] At the summits of the columns around you, one by one, the stone hearts of the Castle wake to thunderous life. The Kingeater has accepted your sacrifice."''</ref> Also called "the Old Voracity,"<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Green_King|The Green King|Fallen London}}''"The Old Voracity's empty voice is raw with need. [...]"''</ref> "His Avid Majesty,"<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Green_King|The Green King|Fallen London}}''"His Avid Majesty wakes. And when he wakes, he hungers."''</ref> and "the Old King,"<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Green_King|The Green King|Fallen London}}''"The Old King wants something else. [...]"''</ref> the Kingeater is the hunger of a king made flesh, and a synthesis of all he has devoured.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Green_King|The Green King|Fallen London}}''"Can hunger be a king? Can starvation wear a crown? Can shame forgive itself, if it gorges again? Shame hangs in violant, bound below a tower (a well). Nothing is here, dripping in light. Can hunger be a king? Can starvation wear a crown? Can shame forgive itself, if it gorges again and again? This is a self formed of all that it has eaten, purged in a colour of the Neathbow that will not let it forget what it does. What it is."''</ref> He wears no crown<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Green_King|The Green King|Fallen London}}''"The violant coalesces into the ruined shape of a king. There is a groove in his gnarled, bowed head where something once sat. He has no eyes: those have long since been eaten. The violant radiance glisters like gold, as though once this vast king was illumed. Now he is the after-image of light. This is what remains when hunger feasts."''</ref> as his was stolen,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Green_King|The Green King|Fallen London}}''"They stole his crown. [...]"''</ref> and he sees without eyes because he is hunger itself.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Green_King|The Green King|Fallen London}}''"Hunger speaks with a human voice, raw with a thousand thousand sanguine feasts. "Do you bring what was taken? Have you come to return my majesty?" It is a question that demands an answer."''</ref> However, his power has waned without his crown,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Green_King|The Green King|Fallen London}}''"[...] The king has two bodies, [...] The mirror and the prince, the symbol and the mortal. One can scarce survive without the other: here is proof of that."''</ref> and it is possible to escape his grasp.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Green_King|The Green King|Fallen London}}''"[...] Together you pull, and wrench yourselves away from the king, who without his crown is uncertain in his demesne. His territory is not as it was, and there is a gap there that can be exploited. You emerge, choking, in the dolorous surrounds of the castle, where below, the king who is not, remains bound."''</ref>
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| Long ago, a Traveller called [[Salt]] came to the Castle in preparation for going further East than anyone had before. No one travels East without a hole in their heart, however,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|After the sacrifice|Sunless Sea}}''"So much emptiness - so much lost. That's good. No one travels East without a hole in the heart. [...]"''</ref> and so the Traveller decided to sacrifice their past and future to the Kingeater.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|Give up your past|Sunless Sea}}''"Now the wind is rising. The Exile raises her voice. "The Traveller comes! O my captain, give up the lessons of your life!""''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|Give up your future|Sunless Sea}}''"Sacrifice what comes!" the Exile shouts. Her voice is almost lost in the wind. "Give up what you have cherished!"''</ref> A haunted few speak of the '''Name-Which-Burns,'''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|Speak your name|Sunless Sea}}''"The Carnelian Exile waits to bear witness, lips parted. Wind tugs a strand of her hair free from beneath her cap. Thunder growls softly overhead. Light flickers red-gold in the West, pale in the South. Waves prowl the isle's edge. The powers of the zee will bear witness, too. And Salt? Salt is silent."''</ref> and its connection to this place; the Traveller is always returning, after all.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Kingeater%27s_Castle|Give up your future|Sunless Sea}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Green_and_Gold|Once, you said...|Sunless Sea}}''"Look back one last time, at where the zee is dark, and the lights of London invisible. You cannot go back; and yet the traveller is always returning. One came below, long ago, seeking what the Sun had hid. One will rise, one day, to face the White in its hall of poisoned crystal."''</ref>
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| The Kingeater's true identity is uncertain; it is even possible that they are Salt themselves, or at least a part of them. Salt used to be a rather hungry monarch, after all.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Corridors_of_Frostfound|Fumble in the darkness|Sunless Sea}}''"Long ago a hungry monarch built a castle. The monarch saw a light in the south, in the palace of the south's queen. In those days, hungry as the monarch was, that light provoked nothing but appetite. But she was too far to devour. [...]"''</ref>
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| == References ==
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| [[Category:Places]] | | [[Category:Places]] |
| [[Category:The Unterzee]] | | [[Category:The Unterzee]] |
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| [[Category:The Neath]]
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| {{Scroll box|text=<references/>}}
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