Editing Mr Cups

{{Major spoiler}}
{{Character
|title1 = Mr Cups
|image1 = MrCups.png
|caption1 = Mr Cups
|location = [[London]]
|alias = <span style="background-color:purple">[[Mr Mirrors|<span style = "color:purple">Mr Mirrors</span>]]</span><br>Cups<br><span style="background-color:purple">[[Mr Mirrors|<span style = "color:purple">Mirrors</span>]]</span><br>The Saint of Chalices
|relationships = [[Curators]] (species)|allegiance=[[The Masters of the Bazaar]]<br>[[The Echo Bazaar]]}}<blockquote>''"A collection is only worth its lowliest piece, and as any good collector knows, one discovers better and rarer finds as the years pass! Indeed, one grows to live for the acquisition thereof!"''<ref name="robe">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Incarnadine_Fur_Robe|Incarnadine Fur Robe|Fallen London}}</ref></blockquote>

'''Mr Cups''' is a distant and proper [[Curator]] who serves as a [[The Masters of the Bazaar|Master of the Bazaar]].__FORCETOC__

== The Value of Vessels ==
<blockquote>''"Crockery, pottery, sculpture."''<ref name = "cups suspect">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Mr_Cups|Mr Cups|Fallen London}}</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>''"Mr Cups collects wares from across the Neath, almost indiscriminately. Almost."''<ref name="robe" /></blockquote>
[[File:Pocketwatch.png|alt=A pocketwatch.|thumb|A watch.]]
Mr Cups controls trade in all manner of miscellany: vessels,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Put_up_a_statue_honouring_Mr_Cups|Put up a statue honouring Mr Cups|Fallen London}}''"A celebration of glassware and vessels would suit Station VIII."''</ref> tableware,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Incarnadine_Fur_Robe|Incarnadine Fur Robe|Fallen London|}} ''"Mr Cups hunches before one of its many cabinets, holding a plate [...] Mr Cups [...] shows you an ancient tea set."''</ref> sculptures,<ref name="cups suspect" /> and relics.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Mr_Cups%27_Splendid_Commemorative_Ceramics|Mr Cups' Splendid Commemorative Ceramics|Fallen London}} ''"Customers can choose from an eccentric range of souvenir crockery [...] all beautifully handpainted with scenes from the Labyrinth [...] A Clay Man waits patiently to assist with your purchases."''</ref> It is also in charge of all the clockmakers in London;<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_trade_in_clocks|The trade in clocks|Fallen London|}} ''"There are clockmakers' shops in the Neath, but they are the preserve of Mr Cups, and it is difficult to find them. Apparently, he guards his monopoly on clocks jealously, as if this puts him in control of time itself."''</ref> in this capacity, it was one of the Masters who harassed the [[Watchmaker's Daughter]] in an attempt to exploit her skills with clockwork,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Listen_to_her_story|Listen to her story|Fallen London}} ''"Then unwanted gifts began to arrive. Mr Wines sent invites to torrid revels. Mr Cups sent threatening crockery. The Watchmaker's Daughter confided [...] she believed these two Masters [...] meant to own her."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Request_a_Clockwork_Drownie|Request a Clockwork Drownie|Fallen London}}</ref> resulting in her suicide.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Go_back_to_the_Albino_Rat|Go back to the Albino Rat|Fallen London}} ''"You know I was the Watchmaker's Daughter's [...] companion? [...] Did I tell you about Mr Cups and Mr Wines? [...] they tried to own her? That they drove her to drown herself?"''</ref>

Mr Cups rarely appears in public,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Distract_yourself;_read_the_newspaper|Distract yourself; read the newspaper|Fallen London}} ''"The front page carries a [...] story about 'Mr Cups' sudden spate of public appearances."''</ref> but can be contacted indirectly through its [[Relickers]], who work on its behalf<ref name="who relickers">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Sidebar_Snippets|Sidebar Snippets: Who are the Relickers?|Fallen London}}''"Mr Cups has recruited a small army of rag-and-bone men to sort discarded treasures from simple refuse. These are the Relickers, and their rats. Bring them something strange, and perhaps they'll give you something wonderful."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_moment_longer|A moment longer|Fallen London}} ''"A bell sounds somewhere in the outer chamber. [...] Cups turns and stalks out [...] Cups returns, pushing a Relicker's cart laden with new crockery [...]"''</ref> and act as its spies in [[London]].<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Leave_the_Auctioneer|Leave the Auctioneer|Fallen London}} ''"The Sanguine Auctioneer nods solemnly. "Should I be asked, I will give you up immediately. [...] There are several Relickers in the street now. They watch you leave."''</ref><ref name=":1">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Sidebar_Snippets|Sidebar Snippets: Why do the Relickers keep rats?|Fallen London|}} ''"The Relickers, the eyes and hands of Mr Cups, seek out scraps and sort strange gold from dross. Each keeps a rat as a... companion? Courier? Chaperone? It's hard to be sure. Be tactful."''</ref> It oversees a ceramics shop in the [[Labyrinth of Tigers]], but does not staff it personally.<ref name=":0" /> Cups likes to collect trash and discarded goods, in search of valuables in the scraps, and can restore even the most ancient of antiques.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Khan%27s_Tea_Set|The Khan's Tea Set|Fallen London}}''"It was shattered when the Khan's defences broke. It has since been immaculately reconstructed."''</ref> The reason for its focus on trash is simple; in its own words: ''"Everything lost and rejected is mine, but there's no better keeper. A bin for rubbish, you realise, is also a cup."''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Crocodile_Who_Would_Be_King|The Crocodile Who Would Be King|Fallen London}}</ref>

Once upon a time, Cups refused to grant ownership of trash to the foxes, instead giving it to the rats. The terms of this agreement are why there are no foxes in London,<ref>{{Citation|https://www.failbettergames.com/news/the-mysteries-answered|'Why are there no foxes in the city?'|Failbetter Games}}''"Because Mr Cups denied them dominion over scraps and refuse; that was given instead to the rats."''</ref> and likely the origin of the Relickers' rat companions.<ref name=":1" />[[File:Mirror4.png|alt=A red mirror.|thumb|A mirror.]]Mr Cups also trades as [[Mr Mirrors]] as of the modern [[Fifth City]],<ref>{{Citation|https://www.failbettergames.com/news/the-mysteries-answered|'How many Masters are there?'|Failbetter Games}}''"The count is complicated by [...] Mr Cups, who also trades as Mr Mirrors[...]"''</ref> and is in charge of the "frangible and the fine."<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Mr_Mirrors|Mr Mirrors|Fallen London}}''"The frangible and the fine!"''</ref> This fact is not known to the general public<ref name="ReferenceB">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Hand_over_a_multitude_of_scraps_for_a_Rumourmonger%27s_Network|Hand over a multitude of scraps for a Rumourmonger's Network|Fallen London}}''"Mr Mirrors will like this pile. Mr Cups. I meant Mr Cups."''</ref> and they are viewed as two separate Masters.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Something_to_burn%3F|Something to burn?|Fallen London}}''"Perhaps […] Mr Mirrors is Mr Cups."''</ref> Cups took on this identity after another Master, the original [[Mr Mirrors]], disappeared under mysterious circumstances.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Distract_yourself;_read_the_newspaper|Distract yourself; read the newspaper|Fallen London}} ''"This is, you suppose, what they do when one of them falls. As Cups took over Mirrors' identity and bailiwick [...]"''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Dreamer%27s_End|Dreamer's End|Fallen London}} ''"I am only a splinter of myself, now. A dream, dreaming. A reflection, cast by nothing."''</ref> In the [[The Fallen Cities|Fourth City]], Mr Cups was known by multiple different names, including the '''Khan of Shards''' and the '''Khan of Clutter'''.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_Dream_of_a_Thousand_Tails|A Dream of a Thousand Tails|Fallen London}} ''"They sought amidst the refuse-heaps and ejecta items that they knew would displease the picky Khan of Shards [...] and then, when the Khan of Clutter's patience was thin as gossamer"''</ref> In the ''Sunless Skies'' timeline, Mr Cups is called the '''Saint of Chalices''' by the [[Cult of the Sanctified]] at [[Avid Horizon]].<ref name="crowning saints">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Jolly_Anchorite|The crowning of the saints|Sunless Skies}}''""To learn the names of our final three, you must indulge!" You gulp your way through the swirling scarlet depths of the chalice. [...] "There now. All shall be well. You have met the last of them: the Saint of the Silk Road and the Saint of Chalices, and the Crowned and Crimson: the King of Saints!""''</ref>

==Personality==
<blockquote>''"Dear Friend: this has preserved more than you know. The plans of the great and of the good can proceed unimpeded. Anarchy is quelled. Beauty upheld. You have done, quite inescapably, the right thing."''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Lost_in_Reflections|Lost in Reflections|Fallen London}}</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>''"I would prefer to simply leave. Let the Bazaar be torn apart. What has she done for us lately?"''<ref name="inquire solution">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Inquire_about_a_solution|Inquire about a solution|Fallen London}}</ref></blockquote>
[[File:3DarkDropCoffee.png|alt=Many coffee cups.|thumb|Several cups.]]
Mr Cups presents itself as polite and affable,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Incarnadine_Fur_Robe|Incarnadine Fur Robe|Fallen London}} ''"Mr Sacks! Oh, my – I apologize. One moment!" [...] "There you are." [...] "The Khan's own; for fortune-telling. Take it!"''</ref> and it can be rather verbose.<ref name="lost reflections" /><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Incarnadine_Fur_Robe|Incarnadine Fur Robe|Fallen London}} ''"Mr Sacks! How seasonally apposite. How deliciously sentimental. How fortuitously timed!"''</ref> It typically communicates with others indirectly or through letters.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Master%27s_Voice|The Master's Voice|Fallen London}}''"You're not given an audience with Mr Mirrors itself, but a package is delivered [...] "Mr Mirrors wishes you good fortune," the messenger says. "He's certain you'll remember him.""''</ref><ref name="lost reflections">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Lost_in_Reflections|Lost in Reflections|Fallen London}} ''"Dear Friend: this has preserved more than you know. The plans of the great and of the good can proceed unimpeded. Anarchy is quelled. Beauty upheld. You have done, quite inescapably, the right thing. [...] MIRRORS [...]"''</ref> While its demeanor may appear pleasant, Cups is ruthless,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Demand_an_explanation_(from_Mr._Cups)|Demand an explanation (from Mr. Cups)|Fallen London}} ''"If it makes a difference, it was not personal. [...] I will not render you the disrespect of an apology."''</ref> remorseless,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Does_it_feel_remorse%3F|Does it feel remorse?|Fallen London}}''""No," it says, after a lengthy silence."''</ref> and self-pitying.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Conclude_the_rite|Conclude the rite|Fallen London}} ''"Poor Cups, a paragon of rectitude, only [...] working for a greater good that so few possess the wherewithal – or self-effacement! – to see."''</ref> When reminded of the [[Second City]], it is rumored to "fly into a rage."<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Sidebar_Snippets|Sidebar Snippets: What's the problem with the Second City?|Fallen London}}''"Never mention the Second City to the Masters of the Bazaar. [...] Mr Cups will fly into a rage."''</ref> It has no fondness for the [[Bazaar]] or its mission,<ref name=":2">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Inquire_about_a_solution|Inquire about a solution|Fallen London}} ''"I would prefer to simply leave," [...] "Let the Bazaar be torn apart. What has she done for us lately?"''</ref> and did not assist the other Masters in protecting London after the [[Grand Clearing-Out]].<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Inquire_after_the_other_Masters|Inquire after the other Masters|Fallen London}}''""Mr Cups has locked itself in its tower," growls Wines. "Neither it nor Mr Stones will cooperate with our scheme to protect London.""''</ref>

Cups enjoys collecting for its own sake; rather than hoarding, it discards lesser valuables to make room for new ones, keeping the process going.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Incarnadine_Fur_Robe|Incarnadine Fur Robe|Fallen London}} ''"A collection is only worth its lowliest piece, [...] one discovers better and rarer finds as the years pass! [...] one grows to live for the acquisition [...] So a winter cleaning!""''</ref> It is fascinated with empty vessels because, according to it, they can be filled with anything it wants.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Crocodile_Who_Would_Be_King|The Crocodile Who Would Be King|Fallen London}} ''"[...] they display the empty picture-frame [...] Receptacles are better this way, [...] Whether flesh or frame, we can fill them with whatever we want."''</ref> According to its iteration of [[Mr Sacks]],<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Mr_Sacks!_Take_my_ignorance_from_me._Are_you...|Mr Sacks! Take my ignorance from me. Are you...|Fallen London}}''"Yes, yes. I might be called Cups. Among other things."''</ref> Cups misses living under the [[Great Chain of Being]], as it enjoys the feeling of knowing its place in the hierarchy of the [[Judgements]].<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Mr_Sacks!_Take_this_dream_of_skies_untainted!|Mr Sacks! Take this dream of skies untainted!|Fallen London}}''"The Chain. The Seq— best not to speak of it. I should not miss them. I miss them. It is reassuring, my chick, to know your place in a greater order."''</ref>

==No Truce With The Furies==
<blockquote>''"Some things cannot be borne. You know this! The Bazaar's dream is a folly! Its message will be spurned, and when it is, its heart must not break, but ignite! For vengeance is hot as love! Let it suffer, and let the sun suffer – as I have suffered over the span of five cities!"''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Demand_an_explanation_(from_Mr._Cups)|Demand an explanation (from Mr. Cups)|Fallen London}}</ref></blockquote>[[File:Nemesis2.png|thumb|The blade of retribution.]]Mr Cups, like the other [[Masters]], is a [[Curator]],<ref name="master secret2">{{Citation|https://www.failbettergames.com/news/a-secret-about-the-masters|A secret about the Masters|Failbetter Games}}''"[...] the Masters' kind are denizens of the High Wilderness. Their hunting-grounds lie in the dark span between the stars. [...] Their chiefs are victorious, merciless pedlar-magnates."''</ref> a bat-like being who roamed the [[High Wilderness]] to accumulate treasures for its hoard.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Curator|Curator|Sunless Skies}}"''Intelligent, locomotive-sized chiroptera [...] Curators accumulate hoards, which they guard violently. Each hoard collects artifacts or creatures themed to the Curator’s particular obsession."''</ref> The transgressions against Curator law that led it into servitude under the Bazaar are unknown.<ref>{{Citation|https://www.failbettergames.com/news/a-secret-about-the-masters|A secret about the Masters|Failbetter Games|}} ''"Secondly, that the Masters were not Masters in the High Wilderness. Indeed, they accepted the position as emissaries of the Bazaar in order to escape misfortune, failure, and fruitlessness."''</ref>
At some point after the [[Fall of London]],<ref name="let suffer">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Demand_an_explanation_(from_Mr._Cups)|Demand an explanation (from Mr. Cups)|Fallen London}} ''"The Bazaar's dream is a folly! [...] Let it suffer, [...] as I have suffered over the span of five cities!"''</ref> Mr Cups concocted a grand scheme in which it hired an assassin named '''Scathewick'''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ambition:_Nemesis_1|Ambition: Nemesis 1|Fallen London}}''"You have just two clues: a name and an envelope of dried flower petals. The name is 'Scathewick'. The petals were found by the body."''</ref> to murder seven specific people on the [[Surface]].<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ambition:_Nemesis_0|Ambition: Nemesis 0|Fallen London}}''"Someone you loved is dead. You swore you'd scour the world for the killer. Your search brought you under the world."''</ref> Their vengeful loved ones were lured to the [[Neath]],<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/There_will_be_a_reckoning|There will be a reckoning|Fallen London}}''"You have crossed oceans and spent your whole inheritance to find this man. You even had yourself sent to New Newgate, as the quickest route down here to the Neath. Surely the hardest parts are behind you?"''</ref> where they would get their revenge<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Demand_an_explanation_(from_Mr._Cups)|Demand an explanation (from Mr. Cups)|Fallen London}} ''"You were one of seven. You were to take your vengeance on Scathewick and be satisfied. [...] I established a set of criteria, and by agents conducted matters accordingly."''</ref> or die trying.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ambition_Nemesis_%E2%80%93_The_Revengers%27_Court_(2)|Ambition Nemesis – The Revengers' Court (2)|Fallen London}}''"These are others who were tangled in Cups' manufactured tales of vengeance. […] They are you, if you had failed."''</ref> Their tragic tales would then be written on the [[Bazaar]] by the [[Lady in Lilac]], who was coerced into doing so by Cups.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ambition:_Nemesis_%E2%80%93_One_Last_Matter|Ambition: Nemesis – One Last Matter|Fallen London}} ''"The stories on the Bazaar's skin affect the [...] message it carries [...] on occasion [...] the contents of its heart [...]"''</ref><ref name="inking">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ask_Mr_Cups_about_Lilac|Ask Mr Cups about Lilac|Fallen London}}''"I commissioned her to ink seven stories upon the Bazaar. Of love; of vengeance. She resisted at first. I was forced to be persuasive."''</ref>

Ironically, Cups' motive for this scheme also involves revenge.<ref name="let suffer" /> It has grown exhausted of serving the [[Bazaar]],<ref name=":2" /> and by tampering with its message,<ref name="inking" /> Cups hopes that when the message is rejected, the Bazaar's heart will "ignite" rather than break, leaving both it and the Sun to suffer as Cups did.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Demand_an_explanation_(from_Mr._Cups)|Demand an explanation (from Mr. Cups)|Fallen London}} ''"The Bazaar's dream is a folly! Its message will be spurned, [...] its heart must not break, but ignite! [...] Let it suffer, and let the sun suffer – as I have suffered over the span of five cities!"''</ref> Six of these stories have already concluded, but one remains unfinished.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ask_Mr_Cups_about_Lilac|Ask Mr Cups about Lilac|Fallen London}} ''"The work is unfinished. [...] the seventh: it hasn't finished yet."''</ref>

==References==
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[[Category:The Masters]]

[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Nonhuman]]
[[Category:Curators]]