The Season of Revolutions

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"Hell underwent a revolution, in which our old 'Princes' were all overthrown. Vanquished, according to their station. To make way for more enlightened thought."[1]

The Season of Revolutions was a rebellion in Hell that resulted in the overthrow of its Princes and the founding of the New Democracy of Hell.

Known Events[edit | edit source]

Virginia, heroine of the Revolution

At some point during the Fourth City period (or possibly after its exodus and destruction),[2] the Republican faction of devils began an extensive campaign against Hell’s Princes.[3] While human historians are not privy to many records of the ensuing war, it is more widely known that the deviless Virginia was a hero of the Revolution. She held a prestigious place as the paramour[4][5] of the Prince of the Perfection of Bells,[6] but exploited his trust[7][8] and plundered the Vineyards of the Honeyed Exile, securing provisions for Republican forces.[9] Virginia herself believes that her actions made victory in the Revolution possible.[10] While eyewitnesses suggested that this particular Prince may have grown sympathetic to the rebels' cause, Virginia has remarked that it was necessary that he be cast down alongside the other Grand Devils.[11]

In another key victory, Republican forces dug beneath the Drummer's temple and utilized Rubbery tunnels[12] to infiltrate his sanctum.[13] The Drummer was physically bound in a prison of devilbone, and his consciousness was trapped in a glass entanglement in Parabola.[14]

The most pivotal battle of the Season of Revolutions was the Siege of Silence.[15] A loyalist Chorus sang their war-anthems to sap the resolve of the rebels,[16] and the Republican army countered by deafening themselves with molten brass[17] and singing their own countersongs. Eventually, the Chorus was broken and the Mandolinist was torn from the walls of the White City.[18]

Aftermath[edit | edit source]

"The Revolution is never over. Like Hell, it is eternal."[19]

In the wake of the Republican devils' victory, the New Democracy of Hell was established. Its leaders promised that royalists who stood aside would be hailed as heralds of the New Democracy and honored in song for their compliance.[20] While the full details of the peace negotiations are not known, the Treaty of the Marigold was a key component.[21] According to its terms, dissenting devils are offered a choice: recant and reforge themselves to conform to the New Democracy,[22] or "take up the Marigold."[23] The latter group are inducted into the Order of the Marigold and given a badge. They are then exiled, and may only return upon completing a typically impossible task.[24][25] Many of these Knights of the Marigold meet bitter ends,[26] and Hell does not truly want them to succeed; rather, they cultivate false hope so these dissenters may run themselves into the ground.[27][28]

Captured Grand Devils were put on trial, including Virginia's former lover,[29] who was sentenced to execution and interred on Corpsecage Island.[30] Some Princes escaped judgement,[31] but most were entombed across the Hinterlands east of Hell.[32] A contingent of the aristocracy fled to Mount Palmerston, where they formed the Brimstone Convention.[33] While at least one Grand Devil resided on Mt Palmerston at some point,[34] as of 1899, the Convention believes all of Hell's former princes are slain.[35] Another band of royalists formed the Brazen Brigade, visiting and tending the Princes' resting places and prisons[36] throughout the Hinterlands[37] and revering them as saints.[36]

Historical Inspirations[edit | edit source]

The devils' Season of Revolutions may have been inspired by the Revolutions of 1848 in Europe, also known as the Year of Revolution.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Virginia: The Story, Mask of the Rose
  2. ↑ Virginia: The Story, Mask of the Rose "It is true that we do not send the same envoys who were sent to the Fourth City. Hell has had a Revolution; I am its heroine."
  3. ↑ Dwell on his revolutionary tendencies, Sunless Skies "He speaks of his last fight with the Baroness. She did not wish him to leave, or to join the Republican faction. The fight was lengthy and violent. He still has scars. Why do you think he has had to grow his sideburns out?"
  4. ↑ Virginia: The Story, Mask of the Rose "Friendship in the sense you mean is not in our style. But I allowed him to suppose he knew me. To suppose I was predictable."
  5. ↑ Milton: Virginia's Past, Mask of the Rose "I have heard that they were lovers. That for her he made a special vintage, Apis Tears. You can, perhaps, guess at the provenance."
  6. ↑ Uncover the location of a One-Time Prince of Hell, Fallen London "Gradually, you assemble your answer from obtuse scraps and omissions; from the gant-inked redactions in ledgers censored after the revolution. You learn that Virginia's lover ruled a Principality called the Perfection of Bells. That she did not survive her betrayal unscathed – you uncover a requisition order for 'a new face – to replace one disfigured in the course of revolutionary service'"
  7. ↑ Virginia: The Story, Mask of the Rose "We had had an understanding, though our positions were unequal. My proximity fostered an opening, which was ripe for exploitation, like a canker in a rose."
  8. ↑ Enquire with your devilish contacts, Fallen London "Virginia made incalculable sacrifices for the sake of the revolution. No soldier took a greater risk. She was... involved with... a Prince of Hell – an enemy of progress. Thanks to Virginia he was overthrown, condemned, and imprisoned. She is a hero [...] and I'll see you damned for making me put her at risk."
  9. ↑ Chapter V: Provisioning, Fallen London "[...] When a Hero of the Revolution – face so different from the one worn in London's time – hefted the crate and spilled the contents across a war-table [...]. When the biscuits were fed to vast, insectoid war-mounts, disgorged from the stables of the Exultation of Peace [...]"
  10. ↑ Virginia: The Story, Mask of the Rose "I toppled one of our Saints, who in their hubris called themselves Princes. The Prince's fall opened for us the Vineyards of the Honeyed Exile. That is what made victory possible. Afterward I came to London, trusted by all our people."
  11. ↑ Virginia: The Story, Mask of the Rose "Milton: From more familiar sources, I've heard the Apiarist was increasingly sympathetic to our cause.Even that he considered defection. No doubt he saw himself in command, still. Though of course, he could not live under our new law."
  12. ↑ Chapter CIX: Warrens, Fallen London "The Shapelings had infiltrated the Chrysanthemum Graves, and built warrens that passed beneath the Drummer's poisoned hedgerows. The Traveller was permitted to bargain for access."
  13. ↑ Chapter IX: The Dig, Fallen London "The Traveller was not permitted to know what awaited them: the horned towers and roofless chambers of the Drummer's thundering temple. The Traveller was worked until their hands bled, tunnelling beneath Hell's notice."
  14. ↑ Epilogue, Fallen London "And the Traveller was forgotten in the trenches below, as the earthworks became the skin of a drum, trembling to the beat of the old king's rhythm. Struts bent and brass melted; the air was treacly and thunderous. As the sappers reinforced the walls with devilbone, and the true revolutionaries prepared the glass entanglements, none but the drumbeat noticed the Traveller's absence."
  15. ↑ The Book of All Hours: Ephemeroptera, Fallen London "[...] The written histories recall instead the Siege of Silence, where the Chorus was broken and the Mandolinist torn from the walls of Hell. [...]"
  16. ↑ Chapter III: Preparations, Fallen London "[...] The hive buzzed, hard at work to stave off the dread. The Traveller was directed to cover their ears as [...] as the Chorus struck up another war-anthem."
  17. ↑ Chapter VI: Confluence, Fallen London "[...] The drones massed for war. They poured molten brass into the Traveller's ears, to deafen against the war-songs of the Chorus. They waited in silence for the sappers' signal, feeling the vibrations of the earth beneath their feet."
  18. ↑ Erratum: Melodies, Fallen London "[...] And the Traveller was never allowed to finish, but sang until the old king fell from the walls. In time, the hives of Hell joined in the song, buzzing new armour against the Chorus. Against so many, even these old powers were drowned."
  19. ↑ Virginia: The Meeting With Mr Pages, Mask of the Rose
  20. ↑ Chapter VI: Coddling, Fallen London "[...] After a thousand such pleas, their vanities were sated. They were to be remembered as the heralds of the New Democracy, those brave enough to stand aside. Their names were to be sung though the new White City, when all was said and done."
  21. ↑ Accept a commission 2, Fallen London "The Season of Revolutions [...] At its end, the Treaty of the Marigold was a critical component of the peace that followed."
  22. ↑ Chapter IX: Verminous, Fallen London "[...] And so the Traveller was told to approach the holdouts, whom the other builders regarded as vermin, and broker a multi-part deal. [...] The Traveller granted each royalist a candle from the Lilymire, and the promise of an unfettered birth into the New Democracy. None could be permitted to remain, to tend to the Dowager's halls."
  23. ↑ Accept a commission 2, Fallen London "The Treaty established a provision for dissenters, [...] who oppose a decision of the collective body of Hell. Such devils must acquiesce with the majority, or [...] take up the Marigold."
  24. ↑ Accept a commission 2, Fallen London "A Marigold-bearer is given a badge [...] burdened with an often impossible task. [...] they must leave Hell, exiled. [...] to return, they must complete their task."
  25. ↑ Recover the Dauntless Knight, Fallen London "A living member of the Order of the Marigold languishes somewhere within the Edict."
  26. ↑ Accept a special commission, Fallen London "The Knights usually perish, or disappear, or give up, never to return to Hell and home – isn't that what Hell desires?"
  27. ↑ The Payment of Hell, Fallen London "The Gnarled Stationmaster [...] "Nasty business, the Marigolds. [...] We must always offer the possibility of redemption – even if we never mean to fulfil it."
  28. ↑ Speak to the Dauntless Knight (Starshine), Fallen London "The Stationmaster [...] "We have to let one of the Marigold bearers succeed, once in a while, to let hope ruin the rest.""
  29. ↑ Delve into the Church's archives about Virginia, Fallen London "Virginia's file is thick for a devil of her rank. Towards the end, you find an account of her activities during the season of revolutions. "Virginia's a zealot," the Bishop says, peering over your shoulder. "Betrayed – then testified against – her own lover, a Prince of Hell. They imprisoned him, somewhere." There. In the Medusa's Head, they call that leverage."
  30. ↑ Uncover the location of a One-Time Prince of Hell, Fallen London "You pour night after night into research. At last, you find it. Hell's rulers interred the Prince on a miserable flyspeck of an isle, far to zee: a place called Corpsecage."
  31. ↑ A message in the language of Hell, Fallen London "The sheet is brief. There is an address and a name. The address means little, though you could find it easily enough. But the name belongs to a Prince of Hell, long-since driven out. There are many people in Hell and outside it who would take an interest in this information – either to try to restore him to his throne, or to make sure he never has a chance to try."
  32. ↑ The Reported Location of a One-Time Prince of Hell, Fallen London "The charting of Hell is sanctioned by seven different treaties. When the devils rebelled against their Princes, they entombed them in Hell's hinterlands. Their discovery is possible, but not wise."
  33. ↑ Chat to the port-folk about the Brimstone Convention, Sunless Sea "There was a revolution in Hell: and the aristocracy of devils fled here. Here, they plot in exile."
  34. ↑ The Forsaken Crown of a Prince of Hell, Fallen London "The gargantuan horned headpiece of a one-time Prince of Devils. [...] The zee must have brought it all the way from Mount Palmerston."
  35. ↑ Ask about her mission, Fallen London "Mt Palmerston believes all of the princes are dead, [...]"
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Permit the pilgrims entry, Fallen London "Once you promise them entrance, the devils become more voluble. They are of the Brazen Brigade, they tell you. Once they were the palace guard of their Hellish saints. Now they are exiled from Hell and forbidden from their worship. They make journeys across the hinterlands, preserving the sites and shrines of their dead."
  37. ↑ The Twelve-Fifteen from Moloch Street, Fallen London "There is a princess on the other side of the gate."
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