Mr Wines
"To the wicked and the wise! To the hungry and the sharp!"[1]
"Trade in anything drinkable comes under the jurisdiction of Mr Wines. Though it can't be bothered with water. Entertainment, music and the business of the ladies of the evening are also its domain. There's supposed to be some sort of dispute about dreams."[2]
Mr Wines is an extravagant and indulgent Curator who serves as a Master of the Bazaar.
Party On[edit | edit source]
Known for entertaining guests at huge revels, this Master in charge of the trade in all things drinkable, including medicine and excluding water.[2] It also oversees the sex trade, with a particular interest in the Parlour of Virtue.[3] As one of the more accessible Masters, it is out and about in London relatively frequently.[4] Most of the time, though, it conducts business through its favored servant, Jervaise.[5] It is in charge of a group of dancing beauties who are often misattributed by zailors to Mr Veils.
Though Mr Wines is not known for its misdeeds, it and Mr Cups drove the Watchmaker's Daughter, a talented craftswoman whose toys came alive, to suicide.[6] Mr Wines is also London's most notorious cheque-skipper, and has a reputation for leaving others holding the bill for parties here and there.[7][8] It also sells harmful substances under the label of "absinthe", including one that aids "a friend and colleague."[9][10]
Mr Wines appeared as the Cloaked Emissary in Surface Karakorum in The Silver Tree,[11][12], was known as the Khan of Dreams during the time of the Fourth City,[13] and is called M. Mourvèdre in visions of a possible future Paris.[14] In the Sunless Skies timeline, to the Cult of the Sanctified at Avid Horizon, it is the Crowned Saint, or alternatively the Crowned and Crimson: the King of Saints.[15][16]
Ozymandias[edit | edit source]
"WE SAT AMONGST THE STARS. WE ENTERTAINED TRADERS FROM DISTANT SUNS. WE OPENED GATES. WE BROKERED FATES. WE COUNTED CITIES IN OUR PALM LIKE COINS."[17]
Mr Wines was once a Merchant-King of unimaginable power and privilege, whose domain stretched across the High Wilderness.[18] Called a "cosmic monarch," the authority it wielded was nigh incomparable; its will was law, its desires were instantly fulfilled, and its wealth defied calculation.[19] And of course, it held revels on an interplanetary scale, with a degree of excess that made its current debaucheries look like a birthday party.[20] Courtiers of every kind flocked to its court, pleading to be elevated above their station in exchange for worshipful devotion.[21] The arrogant Merchant King promised them both ascension and affection,[22] but failed to keep those promises, if it ever intended to at all.[23] Eventually its empire crumbled; it lost everything, and was cast down from glory by a mob of those it had betrayed with false promises. Now it drinks, to drown the memory of its fall from grace in endless intoxication.[24]
There is a notable amount of stellar imagery associated with Mr Wines' past as the Merchant-King. Its kingdom "sat amongst the stars,"[25] its courtiers revolved in its "royal orbit,"[26] it sat upon "a throne whose seat is a sunrise,"[27] and if we take its words literally, it may have been able to manipulate smaller celestial bodies like comets and asteroids.[28] As such, the Merchant-King may have been a Judgement or a being of similar stature, but there is no explicit confirmation or further evidence of its prior status.
References[edit | edit source]
|
