The Copper

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"But their enemies – the Rosers, the Copper, the Motherlings – do those survive in any form?"[1]

The Copper is a religious sect that worships the God-Eaters. It arose during the days of the Third City, and held significant influence in the Fourth City. In the era of the Fifth City, they persist mainly in the remnants of the Tomb-Colony Xibalba.[2]

Blood and Ravenglass[edit | edit source]

"The Emissary's black robes meet the black glass of the road almost seamlessly. The man above melds into the smoky reflection beneath until you cannot be certain where one transitions into the other, gliding over the razor-sharp rocks without worry."[3]

Ravenglass, a black volcanic mineral mainly found on Xibalba,[4] is central to the religious practices of the Copper. Reflective like a mirror, it offers worshippers a glimpse at the lost city of Xibalba, hidden somewhere between the Is and the Is-Not, and at the God-Eaters residing there.[5][6] Each member of the Copper aims to visit or even permanently live in the version of Xibalba seen in ravenglass.[7] It is unclear whether ravenglass is another word for obsidian, or whether it is merely inspired by the mineral.

Chipped ravenglass naturally forms very sharp edges that easily draw blood.[8] Ravenglass knives have been used in blood-sacrifices since before the Third City fell,[9] and are still used for this purpose to this day.[3] The God-Eaters enjoy the resistance and struggle of their sacrifices, as well as the feeling of betrayal in their last moments;[10] consequently, Copper rituals also involve deceit and betrayal as a central pillar.[3]

In addition to their ravenglass equipment, worshippers wear jewelry made from copper and jade, often in the form of beads.[11][12] Both priests and acolytes also wear wide-cut, black garments.[11][13]

The Copper is responsible for the distribution of mysterious black lenses that have often found their way into the hands of struggling, nervous artists.[13][14]

The Copper With Their Burning Dreams[edit | edit source]

"Finally, she speaks: of the end of the city that came before London. Of its factionalism and its bitter civil war; of its warriors in copper and its dreamers in roses."[15]

The Copper grew highly influential in the Fourth City; they became key contributors to the factionalism and ensuing civil war that ushered in the city's demise,[16] and were at one point described as "the greatest enemies" of the final Khan.[17] Outsiders mainly recognized them by their martial tendencies. The Gracious Widow describes them as warriors,[16] while the Celestial Embassy used a sword as a symbol for the Copper.[18]

The God-Eaters' influence had been centered on the Tomb-Colonies ever since the Third City;[19] during the Fourth, priests of the Copper acted as emissaries for the Grand Sanatorium.[20] Closer to the city, in what is now the Forgotten Quarter, the Copper built the Chalcocite Pagoda as well as the Temple of the Uttermost Wind. The Chalcocite Pagoda in particular shows the syncretism between the cultures of the Third and the Fourth: it blends both architectural styles, and shows imagery of Fourth City citizens worshiping the Third City's Priest-Kings.[21] Both temples are sparsely decorated, save for a piece of ravenglass instead of an altar.[22][23]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Losing , Fallen London "But their enemies – the Rosers, the Copper, the Motherlings – do those survive in any form?"
  2. ↑ The Path of Blood and Smoke, Fallen London ""What do you know of the Copper?" The Emissary's jade beads bump softly against his bandages. "Servants of the Priest-Kings. They persisted long after the Third. Even had prominence, for a time, in the Fourth City. Their scattered remnants survive in the colonies. Disciples of the knives and the well. Black glass and blood." "
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Path of Blood and Smoke, Fallen London
  4. ↑ The Path of Blood and Smoke, Fallen London "The chasm that forms this road is uneven and rough. Knife-edges are everywhere. Flat planes of glass conceal razored shards. Perfect daggers flake away beneath your palm, as if the landscape itches to be weaponised. "Most of the ravenglass in the Neath is mined from here," says the Lace-Wrapped Emissary. "They send workers from Venderbight to chip it away. When they can be spared from constructing the Sanatoria.""
  5. ↑ The Chalcocite Pagoda 2, Fallen London "As you look into the glass, something draws your eye. Hunched figures, like shadows cast on a cave wall, sit in perfect stillness. There are three, at least. They shuffle away from the glass, and are swallowed into the dark."
  6. ↑ The Path of Blood and Smoke, Fallen London "A word rises unbidden in your mind: Xibalba. The lost tomb-colony, nestled here between Is and Is-Not."
  7. ↑ The Path of Blood and Smoke, Fallen London ""Show me. I have done as I was bid. Show me. [...] Take me to Xibalba.""
  8. ↑ The Path of Blood and Smoke, Fallen London "You rest a palm on an outcropping of this abysm-glass to help yourself over a minor crag, and your palm comes away bloody. The glass is sharp."
  9. ↑ The Path of Blood and Smoke, Fallen London ""On the Surface, priests of the Third City engaged in ritual bloodletting. The body was pierced – with ravenglass knives, or shark teeth, or stingray spines – and the blood collected on amate, then burned into smoke. This way, their blood could nourish their deities.""
  10. ↑ The Path of Blood and Smoke, Fallen London "The Priest-Kings were selfish. Distrustful. Hungry, ravenous above all else. They would expect an offering to fight; would delight in the betrayal, in the writhing and struggling that preceded the bloodletting. They would savour a sacrifice's unwillingness to bleed."
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Path of Blood and Smoke, Fallen London "a Tomb-Colonist with fine lace wraps, dressed head to toe in priestly black. A sparse headdress of jade and crimson beads hangs over his face."
  12. ↑ The Path of Blood and Smoke, Fallen London "Beside you, the Emissary runs his fingers over the beads of his headdress, in benediction or in warding."
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 The Path of Blood and Smoke, Fallen London "Black-robed acolytes of the Copper chip new lenses from the road, dreaming of immortality in the lost kingdom of their lords."
  14. ↑ Lens of Black Glass, Fallen London
  15. ↑ The Widow at Hallowmas, Fallen London
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 The Widow at Hallowmas, Fallen London "Finally, she speaks: of the end of the city that came before London. Of its factionalism and its bitter civil war; of its warriors in copper and its dreamers in roses."
  17. ↑ The Chalcocite Pagoda 1, Fallen London "Obscure journals suggest that this place was sacred to 'the greatest enemies' of the Final Khan."
  18. ↑ Spelunking in the Sunken Embassy, Fallen London "Papers are printed with symbols to help categorise them. Roses denote those who fell sway to the whispers behind the glass. Black spiders for those who sought solace with the Sorrow-Spiders. Swords denote those who clung to an old rite and an antique calendar."
  19. ↑ The Path of Blood and Smoke, Fallen London "The Tomb-Colonies are not solely a sanctuary for the disgraced scions of London socialites. In the Grand Sanitorium we can trace the colonies' history back to the Priest-Kings of the Third City – the ones they call the 'God-Eaters'."
  20. ↑ The Path of Blood and Smoke, Fallen London "Here, in a Crumbling Anthropologist's The Annals of Dust, you find reference to the black-robed emissaries of the Sanatoria – in the time of the Fourth City."
  21. ↑ The Chalcocite Pagoda 2, Fallen London "Fourth City columns, thick as a warrior's arm, support a copper roof that spirals upwards in Third City style. As you walk, you notice the motifs on the columns: figures with the heads of snakes and jaguars and cinnabar birds leading a procession of people in Fourth City clothing."
  22. ↑ The Chalcocite Pagoda 2, Fallen London "At the centre of the pagoda is a shard of black glass, standing on a battered plinth. A hollow has been worn into the stone before it, as though from the knees of thousands peering into the glass. Below; offerings, old and dust-shrouded. The glass is immovable."
  23. ↑ A Temple of Uttermost Wind (7 FATE), Fallen London "There is no altar: only a lump of volcanic-looking rock."
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