Editing Piranesi

{{Spoiler}}
{{Sky Location
|title1=Piranesi
|image1=Piranesi.png
|caption1=You do not talk about Piranesi. Art from Sunless Skies.
|region=[[Eleutheria]]
|allegiance=[[The Halved]]
|music=[https://failbettergames.bandcamp.com/track/forlorn-prison Forlorn Prison]
}}
"''Piranesi. A prison without doors!"''

"''A stoker sings: 'Prideful, a prince was locked in the dark; while a poet was set free. I was the prince, alone and forgot; the poet, too, was me.'"''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Piranesi#Log_Entries|Log Entries|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>

'''Piranesi''' is a labyrinthine and perhaps even unmappable prison in [[Eleutheria]].

==A Prison of Mazes==
''"Polyhedric sculptures, the dimensions eye-wateringly off. Grass of uniform colour and uniform length. Placid canals, criss-crossed at right angles. All bisected by a pale gravel path, leading to the door of a broad ivy-shrouded mansion. Only its lack of windows betrays Piranesi as a prison."''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Piranesi#The_Prison_and_the_Cottage|The Prison and the Cottage|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>

On the outside, Piranesi resembles a large, windowless mansion surrounded by a weed-filled garden. Within the garden lie statues so alien that Euclid would have a stroke just by looking at them.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Piranesi#Explore_the_gardens_of_Piranesi|Explore the gardens of Piranesi|Sunless Skies|}}</ref> Nearby the prison lies a cottage that houses the four '''chaplains''' of Piranesi; these individuals act as tour guides for visitors.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Piranesi#The_Chaplains|The Chaplains|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>

Indeed, only a portion of it can be reached by its own chaplains. Tours are, as would be expected, held very infrequently.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Chaplains|The Chaplains|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>

This prison was made by [[the Halved]], to serve three purposes<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Venerable_Flautist|The Venerable Flautist|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>:
* An experiment in the breaking of taboo.

* An insult to those who follow the fundamental laws.

* A question; "If '''I''' can change, why can't '''you'''?"

== The Rules ==
There are three rules of Piranesi, and those that break them are instantly imprisoned. Unfortunately, there's also a fourth unwritten rule that the chaplains cannot explain the rules to the visitors, which leads to some unfortunate Monty Pythonesque situations...<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Rules_of_Piranesi|The Rules of Piranesi|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>
* Don't look back.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Follower|The Follower|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>

* Don't give names to the nameless.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/A_Formless_Thing|A Formless Thing|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>

* Don't learn the Third Rule.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Beams_and_Empty_Bird-cages|Beams and Empty Bird-cages|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>

That being said, [[the Halved]] is still the highest authority in [[Eleutheria]], hypocrisy aside, and it's capable of locking up anyone that angers it. For example, allying with the [[the Sapphir'd King]] can land you here for ''an entire century'' worth of changes.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Ambition:_Be_Cast_into_the_Depths_of_Piranesi|Ambition: Be Cast into the Depths of Piranesi|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>

== The Chaplains of Piranesi ==
''"The only sound in the cottage is that of a teaspoon clinking against porcelain. A group of brown-robed figures turn to regard you. One – grey-haired, grey-eyed – offers you tea. "We are the Chaplains," she says. "Our role is to help inmates reach egress. You must understand: none may leave Piranesi unaltered." "We can be your guide," pipes another. "Two tours per visit. Choose your chaperone, and take care to follow the rules.""''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Piranesi#The_Chaplains|The Chaplains|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>

The prison is staffed by four chaplains. All four of them are ex-prisoners, altered by the nature of the prison.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Statuaries|Press the Reformer for information on the other Chaplains|Sunless Skies|}}</ref> Each of them encourages the prisoners to change in a different way.

* '''The Gallant Reformer''' persuades prisoners to confess their sins, to redeem themselves so that they can change for the better.<ref name = "the reformer">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Statuaries|The Statuaries|Sunless Skies|}}</ref> His tour takes one to '''the Statuaries''', "a forest of jutting stone limbs and impassive heads."<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Statuaries|The Statuaries|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>

* '''The Glistening Deformer''' cajoles the prisoners to alter their physical forms like itself.<ref name = "the deformer">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Warrens|The Warrens|Sunless Skies|}}</ref> His tour takes one to '''the Warrens''', an enormous pit with a single honeycombed column in the center.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Warrens|The Warrens|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>

* '''The Grey Conformer '''encourages the prisoners to forget their old identities. She handles inmates in '''the Flooded Cellars''', where "the most deeply condemned wallow".<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Flooded_Cellars|The Flooded Cellars|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>

* '''The Glib Performer''' forces prisoners to change through torment in '''the Bridges and Balconies'''. You don't want them as your tour guide; they'll trick you into landing in a cell.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Bridges_and_Balconies|The Bridges and Balconies|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>

==An Identity Uncovered!==


''"the Reformer. Well. [...] The oldest. The one for whom this prison was built, the one who changed the most severely. And for all that he prattles about redemption, he never mentions that he once was the worst of monsters. Imprisoned here for depravities beyond my understanding. Theft of hope, perversion of worlds. Several extinctions."''<ref name="the deformer">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Warrens|The Warrens|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>
This is a fairly odd thing to say, since if the Reformer was so terrible, and yet was redeemed by Piranesi, then that makes his argument that Piranesi can redeem any prisoner ''more'' true, not less. There isn't enough information to identify the Reformer's old identity, but it seems he left a mark on the skies that is still remembered.

''"The Deformer was the rebellious servant of a lightless star. Its sentence was harsh. It changed itself to become human, then less than human."''
This clearly means the Deformer once served the Halved, but is less clear on what capacity it served in. Perhaps the Deformer was one of [[The_House_of_Rods_and_Chains#Mr_Barleycorn|Mr. Barleycorn's]] litter; we do not know the names or fates of three of them. Perhaps the Deformer was once the Messenger itself, though it's not clear whether or how it could enter Piranesi and still leave a corpse hanging in the sky.

''"The Conformer was a legendary piratess, dashing, extraordinary, heroine of a dozen skies. Piranesi extinguished her."''
We don't have enough information to identify the Conformer's past life. It was long before the ascension of Albion, and not world-shaking enough to leave legends. Beyond this, all we know is that she was one of the first to seek the [[Judgements#The_King_of_Hours|Martyr-King's Cup]], and one of the most successful questers.<ref name="conformer's cup">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Piranesi#The_Chaplains|Ambition: Ask the Conformer for the location of the Martyr-King's Cups|Sunless Skies|}}</ref><ref name="queen's cup">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Ambition:_the_Unseen_Queen|You have proven you are worthy of the Martyr-King's Cup|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>''"the Performer... I know less, except that he fled from Old London, escaping the wrath of a [[The Dawn Machine|false]] [[Clockwork Sun|god.]] I remember what he was like when incarcerated - courteous, circumspect, and though he had [[The Dark-Spectacled Admiral|the bluest eyes you ever saw, he hid them behind dark spectacles.]] The eyes changed first."''<ref name="the reformer">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Statuaries|The Statuaries|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>

The Performer is almost certainly [[The Dark-Spectacled Admiral]], who fled the victory of the New Sequence as London ascended to become Albion.


==References==
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[[Category:Places]]
[[Category:Eleutheria]]
[[Category:The High Wilderness]]