Mt Nomad

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Their glassy blackness recalls Mt Nomad, the predatory terrain feature which haunts the blackness of Void's Approach. What is their connection?"[2]

Mt. Nomad is a Zee-beast who lurks near Avid Horizon.

The Midnight Mountain[edit | edit source]

"It blots out the false-stars. It breathes night. In the vitreous midnight of its skin, you see your vessel's reflection ripple, as if it had already consumed you."[3]

One of the Unterzee's most ferocious predators, Mt Nomad is a colossal mountain of purple-black glass adrift in the far northern reaches of the zee, close to the mysterious Avid Horizon. She appears to share some kinship with the Lifebergs that haunt the Void's Approach: like her, they are sculpted from black glass, and they roam the same desolate waters.[4] Mt Nomad is incredibly robust, her heart a great golden egg that pulses with life.[5] Even carving it out only injures her for a time.[6][7]

Confoundingly, Mt Nomad also stalks the Forgotten Quarter, in faraway London. Among the Quarter's many dangers: limping footsteps in the dust, serpents that speak, and a certain unsettling shade of violet light, explorers must also watch for the Midnight Mountain herself.[8] How a creature of her immensity moves across land is unclear, but she is capable of creeping upon unwary archaeologists and snatch them away without a trace.[9] In a shadowed corner of the Quarter, a tree displays the grisly trophies she has taken.[10]

A Living Weapon[edit | edit source]

"The Mountain cast us all out of the Garden, when it found that our progenitor had taken jewels from its wombs, to make a weapon to serve its hatred. I will tell you of the weapon it made."

"[...] And you see the black glass shadow on the green glass of the zee. You hear its groaning hunger, and the death of the ships it breaks. You see its father the Thief-of-Faces, coming and going, dwelling in it for a time like a maggot in a peach."[11]

Mt Nomad is the issue of the zee-god Stone, making her the granddaughter of the Echo Bazaar;[12] her father is the Thief-of-Faces, progenitor of the Snuffers.[13] The Thief claims the Lifebergs as its grandchildren, implying that they are, in turn, children of Mt Nomad.[14] Through her mother Stone, Mt Nomad is niece to the Fathomking and his Bride;[6][15] through her father, who descends from the Flukes, she is their grandniece as well.[16] Her family tree is very complicated.

Long ago, the Thief-of-Faces stole jewels from Stone's wombs and used them to create Mt Nomad, a weapon to "serve its hatred."[17] The Thief uses Mt Nomad as a hiding place in which to change identities.[18] The Thief hates a lot of things: the Bazaar, the Flukes, the Mountain, on and on.[19] It has passed on the hatred for all things to Mt Nomad and her children.[20][21] Despite, the circumstances of Mt Nomad's birth, Stone seems to view her fondly, reaching out to talk to her daughter whenever the rare opportunity presents itself.[22]

Mt Nomad "opened the mirrors" to Parabola.[23] The Boatman remarks that she is still young and steeped in self-pity, and that the opening of the mirrors was a thoughtless act of youthful selfishness.[24]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ A supply cache!, Fallen London "The Midnight Mountain predates the Third City. At the very least they memorialise it in their skyglass knives. In fact 'skyglass' may be a misnomer: I see no reason to believe that the material is meteoric in nature, or volcanic. I conjecture that their ambassadors brought fragments from the Neath to the Surface – we know they had commerce with the depths before their own Fall."
  2. ↑ Lifeberg, Sunless Sea
  3. ↑ MT NOMAD, Sunless Sea
  4. ↑ Lifeberg, Sunless Sea "Their glassy blackness recalls Mt Nomad, the predatory terrain feature which haunts the blackness of Void's Approach. What is their connection?"
  5. ↑ Mt Nomad's Heart, Sunless Sea "In the depths of the mountain lay a great egg of smooth gold. Once every hour, it pulses with slow and deadly life."
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Present Mt Nomad's Heart, Sunless Sea "Were you aware, [...] that this is the heart of my niece? By marriage, not by blood; and I doubt you have truly ended her. She is robust. Nevertheless..."
  7. ↑ A shattered cliff, Sunless Sea "A ship cannot destroy a mountain. All you have won is life and time while it sinks and heals. But for now, Mt Nomad is silent. And here - the wreck of another, half-consumed ship slides from within. Quickly!"
  8. ↑ Blood-red tales, Fallen London "You don't understand all the dangers of the Quarter... but you know where they are greatest just now. Walk carefully. Avoid limping footsteps, snakes that speak, a particular shade of violet light... and 'Mt. Nomad', whatever that means."
  9. ↑ A supply cache!, Fallen London "Tents, cooking fire, a latrine trench. A trestle table spread with papers weighted against stealthy breezes. A lamp burning low. No sign of anyone: no sound. A bar of golden sealing-wax, and a ring with an apple-seal. Maps. Translations of Fourth City sky-prayers. A letter! To one "S". It begins with certain unwise intimacies, but settles into a scholarly rhythm: "The Midnight Mountain predates the Third City. At the very least they memorialise it in their skyglass knives. [...] We may know more when we find the Cave of the Nadir. [...] Robbins has been absent too long. I must pause to ensure that nothing untoward has occurred— ""
  10. ↑ A supply cache!, Fallen London "One of your men cries out: "God!" Another falls to his knees. A tree stands here, an old old tree, cripple-crouched beside a dark reflecting pool. The false-stars glimmer in the pool's depths. Owls line a roof-ledge. Bones hang from the tree's branches. Dozens of bones. Hundreds, perhaps. Femurs all. Did a murderer make it? Or did someone gather the dead of the Fourth City's fall and tune them into a mourning-tree? [...] On the barkless bole of the tree, a strong hand has slashed these words: "DONE FOR THE MIDNIGHT MOUNTAIN. GIVE US BACK OUR FACES.""
  11. ↑ Flint, Fallen London
  12. ↑ Just one, Fallen London "We don't choose our memories, though we might wish we could. Here is recorded the name of Mount Nomad, grand-daughter of the Bazaar. She will not rest in peace. May she roam the Zee in silence."
  13. ↑ The Gift, Fallen London "You turn two dials, aligning the symbol for the Thief-of-Faces with that of the Bazaar's Daughter. With a click, they unlock a panel that reveals a third wheel. You rotate it until it shows the jagged hieroglyph for Mt. Nomad, their issue."
  14. ↑ Where You and I Must Go, Fallen London "She warms her hands at the dying dregs of your fire. "Grandchildren," she complains, "are a perpetual disappointment. Take my advice: invest your affections elsewhere." She sits on the empty, half-snow-covered coffin you dragged all this way. "You’re looking for the Harris boy? He’s not dead, you know. He’s in London. I suppose one’s preferable to the other, although I’d struggle to tell you which.""
  15. ↑ Present the Fathomking with a Mountain-sherd, Sunless Sea ""The God called Stone," he says. "My sister by marriage. Of all of us, she is the best. [...]""
  16. ↑ Flint, Fallen London "The Thief-of-Faces. It is old almost as the Axiles, the things you call Flukes. It is their child."
  17. ↑ Flint, Fallen London "The Mountain cast us all out of the Garden, when it found that our progenitor had taken jewels from its wombs, to make a weapon to serve its hatred. I will tell you of the weapon it made."
  18. ↑ Flint, Fallen London "[...] to make a weapon to serve its hatred. I will tell you of the weapon it made." [...] you see the black glass shadow on the green glass of the zee. [...] You see its father the Thief-of-Faces, coming and going, dwelling in it for a time like a maggot in a peach. You cannot see the Thief's shape clearly: but you can see his old shapes slough from him, like flakes of flint."
  19. ↑ Flint, Fallen London "Whatever it is, it hates, and whatever it has been, it hates and will work to destroy: it will change endlessly and never be satisfied. And it hates the Bazaar. It hates the Flukes, and the Mountain."
  20. ↑ (215) The Lifeberg attacks!, Sunless Sea "They kill from malice, not hunger."
  21. ↑ Use your hard-won knowledge of monstrous behaviour to predict its movements, Fallen London "Lifebergs kill out of blind malice rather than hunger; [...] providing a nearer and easier target for its hatred. You corral a nearby shoal of jillyfish into the lifeberg's path [...] The lifeberg's awful attention is fixed [...] on the zee around it [...]"
  22. ↑ Scent your pillow with it, Fallen London "In your dream, you pass above the waters of the Unterzee like a stately shooting-star, grappling the air as a monkey climbs a hedge. There – a pinnacle of black glass, growing among the waves. Call out to it! Draw the letters! It's been too long since you spoke –"
  23. ↑ The Mysteries Revealed, Again, Failbetter Games "Who opened the mirrors? Mt. Nomad (or the Bazaar's Granddaughter/mountain's daughter)"
  24. ↑ The Season of Family Ties, Fallen London "I've had more news of her daughter. [...] I'm not without sympathy. She is young, and filled with self-pity. But opening the mirrors? Others will judge her harshly – and those who spawned her. Her act was thoughtless. But it is the privilege of the young to be selfish."
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