Editing The Avid Horizon

{{Extended spoiler}}{{Neath Location
|title1 = Avid Horizon
|image1 = <gallery>
avidhorizonheader.png | FL
avidhorizon.png | SSea
Horizon_Skies.png | SSkies
</gallery>
|caption1 = 
|image2 = 
|caption2 = 
|location = [[The Unterzee|Void's Approach]]<br>
[[Albion]] (1905)
|alias = The High Gate<br/>NORTH
|allegiance =[[The Masters of the Bazaar]]<br>
[[Albion]] (1905) 
|notable_inhabitants = The Watchers<br>
The Silent Mystic (1905)
|music = [https://failbettergames.bandcamp.com/track/storm-stone-salt Storm, Stone, Salt]
}}<blockquote>''"Two vast winged shapes guard a gate of something like resin, smooth but uneven. It is deep gant - the colour that remains when all other colours have been eaten. Ice crusts over the crack between its valves. Approach, and your breath freezes, falls tinkling in shards from the air. It would be utterly foolish to touch the thing."''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Avid_Horizon|Avid Horizon|Sunless Sea}}</ref></blockquote>The '''Avid Horizon''' is the gate that links the [[Unterzee]] to the [[High Wilderness]].__FORCETOC__

==Beyond These Gates, an End==
<blockquote>''"The narrow way past the Pale Wastes, past Codex, past Whither. Sought by those mad with strange hunger. All others, turn back now."''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Set_a_course_NORTH|Set a course NORTH|Fallen London}}</ref></blockquote>The Avid Horizon is the northernmost known place in the [[Unterzee]]. It is always accessible by traveling North, no matter where from. It is bitter cold here.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_place_that_is_no_place|The place that is no place|Sunless Sea}}''"The unterzee has no northern shore. Space is forbidden. Time contracts to a single frozen instant. There is only one way North."''</ref> Nobody has gone further; dozens have died trying.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Avid_Horizon|Explore along the shoreline|Sunless Sea}}''"Beneath the black and freezing water, a ship lies rusting. Its hull has been torn like paper - lifebergs' work?"''</ref> Zailors, of course, are advised not to go.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Set_a_course_NORTH|Set a course NORTH|Fallen London}} ''"Sought by those mad with strange hunger. All others, turn back now."''</ref>

One of the nearby docks offers those who have been exiled from [[London]] a chance to beg for forgiveness - but they must be willing to sacrifice everything,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Avid_Horizon|Retrieve Strategic Information|Sunless Sea}} ''"Below the sign, an authoritative hand has carved this message: IF YOU WISH TO RETURN TO LONDON - IF YOU SEEK THE FORGIVENESS OF THE EMPRESS - IF YOU WILL SACRIFICE ALL TO MAKE AMENDS - RECORD YOUR NAME AND CRIME."''</ref> and there is no guarantee the [[Admiralty]] will choose to accept their apology.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Avid_Horizon|Retrieve Strategic Information|Sunless Sea}} ''"Below are the names of murderers, traitors, hopeless villains who've fled into exile. They've made the icy pilgrimage here [...] to prove their desperation to return home. You record them all [...] The Admiralty will pick through the names and make their choice."''</ref>

The realm of the [[Judgements]], the [[The High Wilderness|High Wilderness]], lies beyond the freezing '''High Gate'''. However, opening it is easier said than done, and involves distracting the eternally vigilant '''Watchers.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Avid_Horizon|Open the High Gate|Sunless Sea}}''""We won't light them," he tells you confidentially. "We'd be seen. The Gate only opens when the Watchers are blind...""''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Venturer%27s_Passage|The Venturer's Passage|Sunless Sea}}''""The Gate," he tells you, "is a law, not a door. In a moment of inattention from its guardians, the law may be broken.""''</ref>''' Perhaps a candle will do.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Avid_Horizon|Open the High Gate|Sunless Sea}} ''"At the base of each statue, he constructs a kind of cage. At the heart of each cage is a candle."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/What_is_due%3F|What is due?|Fallen London}} ''"Fumble the candles to light."''</ref>
==Beyond These Gates, an Escape==
<blockquote>''"Bordered by two vast winged statues, the Gate towers over the shrouded sea that divides the port and the Gate. The other side of the gate opens far beneath the Earth, on the bleak shore of a subterranean sea."''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Avid_Horizon|Approaching the Avid Horizon|Sunless Skies}}</ref></blockquote>The Avid Horizon served as the Empire's gateway into the [[The High Wilderness|heavens]]; it was here that the ''Parzifal'',<ref name=":0">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Approaching_the_Parzifal|Approaching the Parzifal|Sunless Skies}}''"The first engine through the Avid Horizon [...] London's pride once. Captained by Lt Commander Percy Blythe. The engine was to chart new horizons beyond Albion. Never came back."''</ref> the first spacefaring locomotive ([[The Merchant Venturer|or so they say]]),<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/The_First_Venturer|Share stories|Sunless Skies}}''"I was the first through the Horizon. Not the Parzifal – I was. We opened the Gate and zailed through. I wasn't alone, as I am now."''</ref> was built and launched.<ref name=":0" /> After [[New London]] was built and the vast majority of the city had reestablished itself in the skies, the [[Empress]] sealed the gates to the Horizon "sarcophagus-tight;"<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Stair_to_the_Sea|Approach the Gate|Sunless Skies}} ''"he Gate between the statues is gant [...] It is sealed, sarcophagus-tight. When you touch it, it sears your fingers with the bitterest cold. It will not open for you."''</ref> there was a long enough span of time before this happened, however, that the '''Quiet Sea''' formed in space.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Avid_Horizon|Inquire about the sea|Sunless Skies}}''"A satisfactory scientific answer has yet to be presented. Theories have sprouted like mushrooms in its place.''

''Some say that when the Gate was opened, the Unterzee spilled through [...]"''</ref>

The Horizon is made of three parts: the '''Home Office''', a vestigial and bare-bones immigration facility; the '''Gate''', under the eternal eyes of the Watchers; and the Quiet Sea, the aforementioned inexplicable spillage of the nostalgic [[Unterzee]].<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Avid_Horizon|Avid Horizon|Sunless Skies}}''"The Avid Horizon consists of three parts. The Home Office: clinging to a pillar of ice. The Gate, through which Londoners entered the sky, flanked by its towering statues. And the Quiet Sea, whose waters are home to those left behind."''</ref>

It is worth noting that the Horizon is much bigger on the space side, and is also rather far from [[New London]].<ref>On the Sunless Skies map, London is in the center of the Albion ring and Avid Horizon is toward the outer edge.</ref> It is quite a feat of engineering that they got all the pieces of London so far away from the gate to the Wilderness.

Like its counterpart in the [[Neath]], the Empire uses the Horizon to get rid of people who anger its royalty, this time by forcing them to wait in front of the rather imposing gate for a pardon that will almost never come.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Avid_Horizon#The_Home_Office_2|Compile a Port Report|Sunless Skies}}''"The few bureaucrats stationed at the Avid Horizon for one departmental sin or another reside in desperate melancholy. Those detained within the faded confines of the Bureau are almost reconciled to their fate: listlessly hoping for a reprieve from London that will likely never come."''</ref> The Gate also has a mooring post nearby that is covered in crimes, confessions, and names, as an imitation of the tradition before the Wilderness was conquered - though it is not London that answers these pleas anymore, but a criminal organization called the '''[[Pan#The Gentlemen|Gentlemen]]'''.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/AvidHorizon_Randomiser|Avid Horizon Randomiser|Sunless Skies}} ''"The desperate make pilgrimage to Avid Horizon. They write confessions of their misdeeds, and wedge them in a crack of the mooring post. Sometimes, the Gentlemen of Pan will stop by. They read what is written, and recruit a chosen few. The mooring post flutters with paper – it is stuffed with secrets."''</ref> 

===The Cults of the Quiet Sea===
A flotilla drifts on the Quiet Sea, occupied by those left behind.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Aboard_the_Flotilla|Aboard the Flotilla|Sunless Skies}} ''"Here, among abandoned boats on the Quiet Sea, the similarly abandoned and forgotten of Albion have made their homes. The cults share this space; for warmth and for shelter. Some boats are covered, others converted into makeshift anchorages, refectories and cells."''</ref> They have roughly organized themselves into three feuding cults:
*'''[[The Supralapsarians]]''', led by the '''Illuminated Archivist''',<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Aboard_the_Flotilla|Aboard the Flotilla|Sunless Skies}} ''"The Supralapsarians, who follow the Illuminated Archivist, do everything by their Book (when they can agree upon the interpretation)."''</ref> who long for the time of Old [[London]] and try to pretend that they have never left.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/A_Conversation_with_an_Illuminated_Archivist|Ask about the Supralapsarians|Sunless Skies}}''"The Archivist smiles blissfully. "We are those who were left behind, so we have decided that we chose to stay. We keep with tradition.""''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/A_Close_Reading_of_the_Text|Finish your education|Sunless Skies}}''"You understand what it is to meditate on a better world, to contemplate a time when things were better."''</ref>
*'''[[The Sanctified]]'',''''' led by the '''Jolly Anchorite''',<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Aboard_the_Flotilla|Aboard the Flotilla|Sunless Skies}} ''"The Sanctified, the loose collection of souls who follow the Jolly Anchorite, are communal, fraternal, jovial."''</ref> a wine-loving bunch who venerate the [[Masters of the Bazaar]] as saints.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/A_Conversation_with_a_Jolly_Anchorite|Ask about the Cult of the Sanctified|Sunless Skies}}''"We are but humble acolytes of the Saints. They came among us long ago – before we departed for the Skies in our folly. Most abandoned them, but we pray to let them know that not all have forgotten their names. [...] Perhaps they'll even rejoin us, if enough learn their names and recite them here at the Gate."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Jolly_Anchorite|The crowning of the saints|Sunless Skies}}''"The Jolly Anchorite bursts with excitement as you present the gemmed chalice. He bids you lay the spices upon a cutting block and returns carrying a trinity of bottles: Old London vintages. "To learn the names of our final three, you must indulge!""''</ref>
*'''[[The Displeased]]''', led by the '''Careful Masquerader''',<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Aboard_the_Flotilla|Aboard the Flotilla|Sunless Skies}} ''"The Displeased, who follow the Careful Masquerader, treat distrust as a virtue and betrayal as a sacrament."''</ref> who have been betrayed and so they shall betray as well.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/A_Conversation_with_a_Careful_Masquerader|Inquire about the Displeased|Sunless Skies}}''"We are the abandoned, who in turn, shall abandon. We are the betrayed, who in turn, will betray. We are the despised, who in turn, shall despise. [...] London left us behind, decided we were unworthy, unwanted. We have spent the intervening years sharpening that rejection. It is who we are. All else is chaff."''</ref>
Presiding over them all is the '''Silent Mystic''', who attends the rites of all three cults<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Aboard_the_Flotilla|Attend a last rite (Supralapsarians)|Sunless Skies}} ''"The Illuminated Archivist smiles to greet you and pours you tea, which you are instructed to serve to the Silent Mystic. "I have been pleased by the observances of this cult," she says to you, "Perhaps there is something in it. Now that the king is gone, we must find a means to go on, mustn't we.""''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Aboard_the_Flotilla|Attend a last rite (Displeased)|Sunless Skies}} ''"In the centre is the Silent Mystic, tied to a chair. "The Displeased have followed the observances well," she explains, "So I have agreed to submit to one of their rites."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Aboard_the_Flotilla|Attend a last rite (Sanctified)|Sunless Skies}} ''""Come, the Mystic has honoured us with her presence, having been taken with our rites and mysteries. Tonight she drinks with us!" A chorus of cheers goes up from the gathered Sanctified.''</ref> when not busy meditating upon a wheel.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Aboard_the_Flotilla|Aboard the Flotilla|Sunless Skies}} ''"A woman is lying on a wheel that sits atop a pole that rises over the flotilla. She does not speak, but only watches the Gate."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Silent_Mystic|Attempt to speak to her|Sunless Skies}} ''"She rolls back her head to gaze at you. Her mouth twitches downward. A hand lolls listlessly in your direction. "I do not sense the hunger of the true ascetic in you. Where the name? The knife? Where the book? Begone and waste not my time." Her eyes roll back. "Return when you have learned something.""''</ref> She makes vague allusions to her seemingly prestigious past in London,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Aboard_the_Flotilla|Attend a last rite (Displeased)|Sunless Skies}} ''""Do go on, dear. Tell me what manner of fool now rules in my old halls." It is poetry of the Celestial school, beloved of Her Majesty's court."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Aboard_the_Flotilla|Attend a last rite (Sanctified)|Sunless Skies}} ''"The evening is long, and held entranced by the Mystic's long, incoherent stories of the fall of kings. When at last she is done, she gives you a donation of hours. "Stolen when I fled," she tells you, before turning away."''</ref> but nothing else is known about her.

==The Gate of Saints==
<blockquote>''"The gate did not go unwatched. If it was seen and not closed, was that license?"''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Silent_Mystic|Ask her for a secret of the Avid Horizon|Sunless Skies}}</ref></blockquote>The Watchers at the gate are not simple statues; they were in fact former servants of the [[King of Hours]], before the monarch's death.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Watchers|Provide a Royal Dispensation|Sunless Skies}}''"Once, the Watchers served the King of Hours."''</ref> The statues, referred to by the [[Cult of the Sanctified]] as the '''Saint of the Key''' and the '''Saint of the Lock,''' were built by and in the image of the [[Masters]], to guard the way behind them.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Silent_Mystic|Ask her for a secret of the Avid Horizon|Sunless Skies}}''"In their own image the saints made them, to guard the way behind them. [...] Here the Saint of the Lock and there the Saint of the Key."''</ref> It seems the [[Judgements]] do not keep a particularly watchful eye on the gate themselves; the King of Hours did not object to its existence, and after he was slain, no star had any investment in the matter.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Silent_Mystic|Ask her for a secret of the Avid Horizon (Displeased)|Sunless Skies}} ''"The gate did not go unwatched. If it was seen and not closed, was that license? [...] Time is; time was. Hours gambled; Hours granted."''</ref>

==References==
[[Category:Places]]
[[Category:The Unterzee]]
[[Category:The High Wilderness]]
[[Category:Formatted]]
[[Category:The Neath]]
[[Category:Albion]]

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