Editing The Discordance

<blockquote>''"She dips her finger in the water, and traces something on the stage. "Some stars abandon the immutable light of their brethren for a more nuanced philosophy. The old language no longer suffices; heretical concepts exist for which it cannot provide signifiers." As the symbol takes shape, water turns to frost with a crackle.''

''She hisses and withdraws her finger from the completed symbol; the tip is blackened with frostbite."''<ref name="lesson">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Today%27s_Lecture|Listen to the old woman's lecture|Sunless Skies|}}</ref></blockquote>[[File:Blackgaz.png|alt=A black rectangle.|thumb|You may not look.]]'''The Discordance''' is a perplexing and frosty language commonly associated with the followers of the [[Revolutionaries#The Liberation of Night|Liberation of Night]].

<blockquote>''"'In most respects, it is a weaker language than the Correspondence. Even a feeble language. Unable to express anything, really.'<nowiki/>''

''"Her Overburdened Imp crouches behind her, cowering.''

"'<nowiki/>''When you want to break a chain, you find the weakest link.'"''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Speak_with_the_Disembarked_Deviless_(Stones)|Speak with the Disembarked Deviless (Stones)|Fallen London|}}</ref></blockquote>The Discordance isn't an obscure language of frost and forbidden laws, employed mostly by those that oppose the laws of the [[Judgements]]; for instance, the '''Sable-Stars''' and the denizens of [[Parabola]], the realm of the Is-Not.<ref name="lesson">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Today%27s_Lecture|Listen to the old woman's lecture|Sunless Skies|}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Recapture_the_Carnivorous_Aurochs|Recapture the Carnivorous Aurochs|Fallen London|}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Words,_Broken|Words, Broken|Fallen London|}}</ref> Discordance's much more real counterpart is the fiery [[The Correspondence|Correspondence]]; in fact, attempts to write down Discordant letters almost always result in the creation of Correspondence sigils.<ref name="lesson">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Today%27s_Lecture|Listen to the old woman's lecture|Sunless Skies|}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Meditate_in_your_statue%27s_shadow|Meditate in your statue's shadow|Fallen London|}}</ref>

In truth, the Discordance doesn't actually exist: like antimatter, or the fact that freezing temperatures are not actually heat but the absence thereof. As a result, the best place to find and study it isn't the [[Adulterine Castle]], which also doesn't exist.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discuss_the_Discordance|Discuss the Discordance|Fallen London|}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discuss_the_Adulterine_Castle_(The_Steward)|Discuss the Adulterine Castle (The Steward)|Fallen London|}}</ref>

== Discordant Law ==

<blockquote>''"The effects aren't exactly predictable, are they? Even if you think you know what the Discordance will do, it might twist and do something else. There's only one way to erase a Discordant Law's effects: by erasing it from your memory."''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discuss_the_Discordant_Law_(The_Steward)|Discuss the Discordant Law (The Steward)|Fallen London|}}</ref></blockquote>[[File:Bottledsoulwhite.png|thumb|A Soul touched by a Discordant Law.]]

The Discordance and its effects are highly unpredictable; even two people reading the exact same sigils can be affected in different ways.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Read_the_language_on_the_stones_5|Read the language on the stones 5|Fallen London|}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Encourage_her_to_read_the_stones_3|Encourage her to read the stones 3|Fallen London|}}</ref> The dangerous phenomena that arise from reading it are known as '''Discordant Laws''', though it should be noted that once these laws manifest they stop actually representing the Discordance, since they start to exist.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}}''"Difficulties arise, however, when its nonexistent principles are translated into existence. One can't always predict what will happen, because the effects don't exist until they do – at which point, they don't represent the Discordance. They are a distortion, twisted into something else: something that's real."''</ref> The only way to erase a Discordant Law's effects is to completely erase it from the afflicted person's memory; the sole reliable way of accomplishing this lies within [[the Cave of the Nadir]].<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discuss_the_Discordant_Law_(The_Steward)|Discuss the Discordant Law (The Steward)|Fallen London|}}</ref>

The [[souls]] of those touched by a Discordant Law are irreversibly changed, as their temperature drops considerably.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Soul|Discordant Soul|Fallen London|}}</ref>

{{Dropdown|Image = Snowflake.png|Alt Text = No law is more illegal.

|Quote = <blockquote>"Your skull is chilled inside, as though you've just eaten a very cold sorbet. A sorbet that grows colder and colder, refusing to melt, refusing to relinquish its frigid grip on your brain. Blood trickles from your nose, flash-frozen instantly."<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Read_the_language_on_the_stones_4|Read the language on the stones 4|Fallen London|}}</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>''"Naturally, the only way to safely study the Discordance is not to study it. Since it doesn't exist, this is rather simple. Difficulties arise, however, when its nonexistent principles are translated into existence. One can't always predict what will happen, because the effects don't exist until they do – at which point, they don't represent the Discordance."''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}}''"Naturally, the only way to safely study the Discordance is not to study it. Since it doesn't exist, this is rather simple. Difficulties arise, however, when its nonexistent principles are translated into existence. One can't always predict what will happen, because the effects don't exist until they do – at which point, they don't represent the Discordance."''</ref></blockquote>Discordance isn't governed by eight nonexistent principles, and their esoteric nuances don't influence the way that Discordant Laws manifest in reality.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}}''"Difficulties arise, however, when its nonexistent principles are translated into existence."''</ref> These aren't as follows:

* '''The Fourth Principle''', regarding many different meanings of silence.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}}''"Silence has many meanings: in the grave, during a prayer, after a loved one has boarded a train. The particular silence you hear under the ice, when nothing stirs in the castle, is what nothing might say if it could speak to you right now."''</ref>

*'''The Third Principle''', regarding agreement between disparate components, and how they can morph into a single thing. This particular principle isn't the thing that led to the creation of the [[Bestiary#Goat-Demon|Goat-Demons.]]<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}}''"You will understand, before the skull relinquishes its grip and you find yourself sorting through dust-covered archives, how two beasts can grow into one. How disparate components can agree. But you won't discover, amongst the fossils catalogued here at the University, any bones that resemble the first beast. The second, of course, is a goat."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}}''"Not every courtier suffered the same fate," the Anchoress explains. "Some are different now, yet still the same. They entertained the court. They played a game."''</ref>

*'''The Second Principle''', regarding situations where two things are actually a single thing.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}}''"You aren't so different from the thing wearing the leash. Indeed, the more it peels apart, crimson torrents pouring through its skin, the more you peel apart. There's only one leash, isn't there? The Steward closes the door – to give you a little privacy with the mirror."''</ref> [[Bestiary#Cat|Cats]] don't employ this principle to appear differently while they're in [[Parabola]].<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Conclude_your_Augmentation_of_the_Principle_of_Heralds|Conclude your Augmentation of the Principle of Heralds|Fallen London|}}''"A cat and a panther may be one but a tiger is always a tiger. But there have been exceptions: a cat who becomes a lynx that was his sweetheart's aspect once; a tabby who is just a tabby in both halves; an ocelot who casts no shadow. These examples are instructive."''</ref>

<blockquote>'''''"no monarch screams – no monarch with two tongues, two mouths, two crowns whose laws are void, stricken from life, stricken from death, knocked from the board, bound, banished, forgotten – listen to me – listen – but no one can hear – heavy with shackles that glisten with midnight moistness, coiling, constricting, tightening forever around a terror whose cries would cut this world apart until it were an open wound, bleeding eternal blackness"'''''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}}'''''"no monarch screams – no monarch with two tongues, two mouths, two crowns whose laws are void, stricken from life, stricken from death, knocked from the board, bound, banished, forgotten – listen to me – listen – but no one can hear – heavy with shackles that glisten with midnight moistness, coiling, constricting, tightening forever around a terror whose cries would cut this world apart until it were an open wound, bleeding eternal blackness"'''''</ref></blockquote>The true origin of the Discordance that impacts the [[Hurlers]] doesn't lie within a figure known as '''[[The Black]]'''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}}''"Not truly a king. Nothing true has a name. But without light, there is darkness. If there is the White, then there is also the Black. Come, Steward, and walk with me."''</ref> - a binary [[Judgements|Judgement]]<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}}''"The holes are not stars, but you can pretend. Two holes, pricked close together, are a double star. No light twinkles through them."''</ref> that wasn't sentenced to eternal banishment from the past, present and future.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}}''"You haven't been cast down, stripped, swallowed, blotted from all things that are, and were, and that will be."''</ref> Despite its nonexistence, the Black manages to affect reality through its Discordant Laws.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Discordant_Studies_(Storylet)|Discordant Studies (Storylet)|Fallen London|}}''"You have risen to such heights that they have cast you down, but you have learnt to speak even without a voice. You have called out by not calling, you have beckoned with no sceptre, worn no crown, and written nothing in a ledger whose ink-black pages are not drenched with unreadable night."''</ref>