The Fallen Cities

From The Fifth City Wiki
(Redirected from The Falling Cities)

Spoilers ahead: May include midgame or minor Fate-locked content.

You can find out more about our spoiler policy here.

"There were four cities before London. One day you may know all their secrets."[1]

London is not the only city to have been brought down to the Neath. Four other cities came before it, all traded to the Bazaar for their own various reasons. Very few wish to consider the possibility of any coming after.

Traces of these former cities can be found throughout London. The Fourth City is the most present by far, as a remnant, the Forgotten Quarter, stands on the outskirts of London. London is also in frequent contact and rivalry with the Khanate, the floating city-state established by Fourth City refugees on the Unterzee.

What Does It Take For a City to Fall?[edit | edit source]

"Two figures step into the chamber, hunched and garbed in many-petalled black cloaks. Masters of the Bazaar. One carries a clay cup, the other an unlit candle. The one with the cup says, 'I think we can be of service to each other. Allow me to propose an exchange...'"[2]

The Echo Bazaar

When an existing Fallen City held by the Echo Bazaar reaches a period of instability or rebellion,[3] the Masters deliberate to determine their next candidates. Each city might have a specific quality or collection of objects that at least one Master covets.[4] At least one of the Masters travels to the Surface to broker a deal with a city's rulers, offering a solution to a problem[5] (sometimes a manufactured one)[3] and typically using love as a motivation for a ruler to accept.[6][7] Curiously, the interval between Fallen Cities has grown shorter over time;[8] according to developer commentary, London and the cities after it might not even endure a full century under the Bazaar’s dominion.[9]

The Masters of the Bazaar

After the signing of a transaction,[10] the city's elite are usually given a brief window to prepare the citizenry.[11][12] However, under urgent conditions, the Fall may happen immediately (as seen with the Fourth City, which was about to be razed by invaders).[13] The majority of the population of the previous Fallen City are led into the Bazaar's lacre-vats, where they are drowned; a few lucky souls manage to escape to the zee.[14] Their plight is a source of more love stories for the Bazaar, but their collective sorrow also triggers the lacre to overflow and flood the city.[15] After this, the Stone Pigs churn the city to rubble[16][17] while a tide of lacre washes away the ruins and any surviving stragglers.[18]

Bats numbered like the stars of the sky!

Meanwhile on the Surface, on the command of the Masters,[19][20] a swarm of bats darkens the sky, and the ground opens beneath the freshly sold city[21] to allow its transport into the Neath.[22] A hole opens in the Roof,[23] dropping the new city atop the old one[24] after the tide of lacre drains;[25] it is then subjugated by the Bazaar, and business carries on as usual.[26] The repeated occurrence of this process has created an archaeological stratification in the area around the Bazaar, pushing the ruins of old Fallen Cities deeper into the earth, and allowing direct descent through the layers in certain locations.[27]

In extraordinary cases, and in part thanks to the very impermanent nature of death in the Neath, certain individuals from previous Fallen Cities may survive long after the obliteration of their original city. The majority of these people now reside in the Tomb-Colonies, owing to their great age. Anybody who could survive that long and still remain a part of Fifth City life is either incredibly wily, powerful, or simply useful.


The First City, ca. 27th century BCE[edit | edit source]

Ruins of the First

"Only two things are known to remain of the First City: the name, the Crossroads Shaded By Cedars, and the saying: even the First City was young when Babylon fell."[28] "The first taught restraint..."[29]

The First City, known as the Crossroads Shaded By Cedars, was located in ancient Mesopotamia.[30] Its priest-king, desperate to save his dying merchant lover,[31] struck a bargain with the Masters: the merchant’s life in exchange for the city.[5] The Masters fulfilled their end by embedding a sherd of the Mountain of Light into the merchant’s chest, transforming him into the living island of Polythreme. Though preserved, the merchant was horrified by what he had become, and in his anguish, turned against the priest-king who had doomed him.[32] An astronomer, having foreseen the Fall, warned the people, prompting many to flee before the city's descent.[33] Blaming her for disrupting the deal and his lover's transformation, the priest-king imprisoned her in a lightless dungeon,[34] then handed her over to the custody of Mr Apples, who ensured she would suffer further.[35] Among the few known survivors are the priest-king himself, now the Manager of the Royal Bethlehem Hotel, and the transformed merchant, now Polythreme’s King with a Hundred Hearts.

The Second City, circa 1335 BCE[edit | edit source]

Ruins of the Second

"Never mention the Second City to the Masters of the Bazaar. Mr Wines will look at you narrowly and give you its worst vintage. Mr Cups will fly into a rage. Mr Veils will harangue you for your discourtesy. Mr Iron will say nothing, only write down your name with its left hand."[36] "...and the second betrayed..."[29]

The Second City was located in ancient Egypt. The Duchess, a younger daughter of the Pharaoh, was formally betrothed to him by royal decree - but her heart belonged to a humble scribe. In order to escape her fate, she dispatched a cobra to poison her father.[37] Almost immediately, remorse overtook her,[38][39] and she sought to undo her crime by bargaining with the Bazaar: she would surrender her entire city in exchange for her father’s life.[40][41] The Second was the longest-lived of the Fallen Cities, enduring two millennia and four hundred years in the dark.[42] This was not by chance; not long after the Fall of the Second City, the Masters were deceived by the Pharaoh’s Daughters[43] and imprisoned for centuries.[44] Ever since then, the Masters have had a marked distaste for all things Egyptian.[45][46] Remnants of the city live on in Visage and Arbor; the Salt Lions hail from the Second as well. Survivors of the Second City include the Duchess and most of her sisters, as well as the Cantigaster.

The Third City, 9th-10th century CE[edit | edit source]

Ruins of the Third

"No-one talks much about the cities that preceded London. The Third City seems to have been acquired a thousand years ago. It had five wells, they say. And the weather was better."[47] "...The third taught us hunger..."[29]

The Third City was Mayan; there is some debate as to its identity. The priest-kings of the city were already aware of the Masters and their bargains,[48] and offered the flesh of a god as a bargaining price. The Masters accepted in desperation,[49] rattled by the catastrophe of the Second City,[50] and chose Mr Candles as their sacrifice. Mr Veils led a scheme to trick Candles into believing that only a small portion of his flesh would be taken,[51] but in truth he was ambushed and devoured alive by the priest-kings. His mangled remains were discarded into one of the Bazaar’s lacre wells.[52] What was left of him became Mr Eaten, a being of vengeance and madness haunting the Neath.[53] As for the Priest-Kings, they ascended the Great Chain of Being[54] and became the God-Eaters.[55]

The majority of the Tomb-Colonies are built upon Third City architecture and mythology. There are a handful of living survivors of the Fall of the Third City, including the First Curator, and of course, the God-Eaters themselves.

The Fourth City, 1254 CE[edit | edit source]

Ruins of the Fourth

"Who carves horse-head amulets out of bone? Whoever lived in the Fourth City. If all the Fourth City amulets on sale are real, they must really have liked horses."[56] "...the fourth we remade..."[29]

The Fourth City has been well-studied, and many of its survivors are known to London - for instance, the Gracious Widow. Once called Karakorum, it was the capital of the Mongol Empire, and fell just over six hundred years before London.[57] The Masters were drawn to Karakorum[7][6] by the romantic entanglement between Princess Cheren, the Khan’s favored daughter, and William of Paris, a captive sculptor;[58] the fraught relationship between Cheren and her father was also of interest.[59] Mr Wines was dispatched to initiate negotiations for the eventual purchase of Karakorum.[60] An invasion by the Khan’s relatives from Cathay[61] (China) provided a timely opportunity, and Mr Wines sought to use this conflict to pressure the Khan into selling the city.[62] The siege soon turned against the defenders;[63][64] grievously wounded and desperate to save his city and his daughter, the Great Khan accepted the Bazaar’s offer.[13] As a result, both Karakorum and its besiegers were drawn into the Neath.[65] Unlike the rulers of other Fallen Cities, the Khan did not survive to witness the outcome, as he succumbed to his wounds shortly after signing the deal.[66][67] While physical remnants exist in London's Forgotten Quarter, the Fourth City's true legacy continues in the Khanate.

The Fifth City, 1862 CE[edit | edit source]

Not-yet-ruins of the Fifth

"The city around the Bazaar is called the Fifth City because, they say, it's not the first the Bazaar chose as a home. You can still turn up bricks from the older cities, now and then. Look: here's one marked with an eye."[68] "...The fifth will live on in the heart of the Sun..."[29]

The Fifth City became the home of the Bazaar just over forty years ago. There are numerous living survivors of the Fall of London. When the Prince Consort fell ill with typhoid and died in 1861,[69] Queen Victoria was shattered. Her overwhelming grief drew the attention of the Masters,[70] who offered to preserve him in exchange for everything she owned, including London.[71] Victoria agreed. Parliament was informed[72] but chose to keep silent, fearing unrest.[73] On February 14, 1862,[74] the Masters returned and took the city into the Neath, crushing the ruins of the Fourth City beneath it. It is widely known that the Empress arranged the Fall to save her beloved Prince Consort. The Consort seems rather wan, however, and something else has already befallen the rest of the royal family...

The Sixth City, and the Seventh?[edit | edit source]

Paris?

"The Masters have always been fond of Paris."[75] "...and the sixth..."[29]

Who knows what the Sixth City will be? There are rumors that the Masters might buy Paris[76][77] - after all, Paris is the City of Love. As for the Seventh City, there are similar whispers of Moscow, when "the Comet" - Halley's, perhaps - passes in the 21st century.[77] But these are mere speculations, and time is known to be treacherous; it could just as well be Berlin in the 1980s.[78]

Real-Life Inspirations[edit | edit source]

There are a variety of known examples of “tells:" the archaeological term for a settlement built directly atop the ruins of its predecessors. Rather than excavate down to bedrock, when rebuilding a city destroyed by war or disaster, inhabitants leveled the gaps between ruined structures with earth, rubble, and other means of landfill. Over centuries, this cycle of construction, destruction, and leveling produces a vertical “layer cake” in which every horizon corresponds to a distinct era of occupation. The sites of Uruk and Babylon have had dozens of occupation layers revealed by archaeologists, constituting at least 4500 years of settlement, and at least five distinct urban periods during the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE have been identified at Tell Brak in northeastern Syria. One particular ziggurat in Babylon was destroyed and rebuilt so many times that its ruins now lie meters beneath later streets!

Many tells formed because the original site of a city offered enduring advantages, even after a catastrophic collapse. For instance, Jericho was built around a perennial spring in an otherwise arid region, and has been the site of dozens of successive communities - from late Stone Age hunter-gatherers circa 10,000 BCE, to the present day. Much of the time, however, building a new city on top of the old one simply made practical sense. River flooding, like the cyclical flooding of the Nile or the Euphrates, deposited sediment over ruins that provided a stable surface to build on after the waters receded. When wind-blown dust and leaf litter gradually buried an abandoned area, new construction could simply begin atop it. Lastly, not only was it labor-intensive to clear away the whole of a ruined wall rather than reusing the materials, but some locations simply provided too much religious or cultural significance to be abandoned; in fact, medieval European churches were often built to incorporate the remains of an earlier basilica or Roman temple.

Tells, at least conceptually, are not exclusive to the Middle East. The Roman city of Londinium was founded over a Celtic settlement on marshy ground. After the Roman evacuation, the Anglo-Saxon Lundenwic sat nearby, and eventually grew enough to reuse Roman roads and walls. As medieval, Georgian, and Victorian London expanded, new streets and buildings rose over layers of Roman timber wharves, medieval clay, and more recent foundations. Today's engineers are constantly navigating this patchwork of buried history to build subway tunnels and upgrade sewers.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Walking the Falling Cities, Fallen London
  2. ↑ Looking in the garden, Fallen London
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lost in Reflections, Fallen London "His daughter had a wasting-disease that no doctor could cure... but the Masters of the Bazaar had come with their arts and their fungal elixirs, and made the Emperor a promise he couldn't refuse. She has her suspicions, does July. The timing of the disease is convenient – just as London becomes difficult for the Masters to control – and its symptoms resemble a certain Neathy poison. [...]"
  4. ↑ Mr Pages: Stories, Mask of the Rose "I assured them – when we chose London rather than another city – we said it was for her books. For her collection, her wealth, her hoard of printed things. Mr Fires alleged that this was a personal greed, but I assured them that I acted in the good of all."
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Looking in the garden, Fallen London "Two figures step into the chamber, hunched and garbed in many-petalled black cloaks. Masters of the Bazaar. One carries a clay cup, the other an unlit candle. The one with the cup says, "I think we can be of service to each other. Allow me to propose an exchange...""
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Emissary's Secrets: Ambush, Silver Tree "'My cohorts and I would buy this city. We want to take it somewhere it would live forever. The story of the Princess, the Sculptor, and their love is delicious.'"
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Karakorum was too powerful, The Silver Tree "Love - love is the key. It overcomes religion, politics, self-preservation. It is the end of all things. Let us discuss the city's loves, and how we may use them…"
  8. ↑ Former Developer Bruno Dias, on Discord "It's already implicit in a lot of the existing lore that the Masters are going through cities faster and faster with each one."
  9. ↑ Bruno Dias (former FBG designer), Discord "Obviously the first, second, and third lasted a lot more than the Fourth, and if you take it as given that the Sixth drops sometime in the mid-20th century, well, that's not even 100 years for London."
  10. ↑ Mr Pages: Theories or Manifesto for Archie, Mask of the Rose "Transaction recorded on vellum, violant-inked, in chancery hand, interlinearly transubscribed in the Normanated tongue of your Conqueror! In all matters conformant with legalities above and below, compliant even in the sight of Judgement!"
  11. ↑ The Committee, Fallen London "'The Queen is convinced the delegation has the ability to follow through on its promises, and has transferred ownership of the capital to our new friends. The Queen has negotiated a period of seven days before the transfer will take place. We are well aware of the potential for social unrest at this news, and on no account must this be allowed to jeopardise the exchange. The Queen therefore instructs the Government to decide how and when this information should be presented to the public.'"
  12. ↑ My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "You had to do it, didn't you? But now you have a choice. High on the palace balcony, above the purple riverbank, they wait until the glyphs have dried – a disc; a tool embedded in a block – to collect the contract. Remember, above all, the sun will always rise somewhere."
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 My Kingdom For A Pig, Fallen London "You have no time. We have the paperwork. Can you not hear them knocking down the walls? Soon everything you know and love will fall. But every fall is not alike, great khan. Remember, please remember, above all, that there are worse fates, far worse fates for a city, than selling it to the Bazaar."
  14. ↑ Inheritance, Fallen London "Before each city fell, [...] the inhabitants of the one beneath slid into vats of lacre. They couldn't resist. Everything that was once them is in those pools."
  15. ↑ Look out across the zee, Fallen London "A group of desperate survivors throng once-grand docks. A handful of boats linger in the dark zee, where the False-Stars twinkle in the depths. There is violence: space is limited. [...] Webs hang over the docks. There is a toll of eyes for others wishing to flee. The lacre tide rises and soon all is washed away. The last boats zail on."
  16. ↑ Look down into the depths, Fallen London "The process is efficient. Space is cleared as buildings crumble beneath the weight of the lacre, brick and stone and marble breaking into dust, churned up into the lacre and swallowed away. A few ruins on the edge of the city limits linger, upstanding."
  17. ↑ My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "Some people call them Stone Pigs. When the Fifth City fell, they awoke. That's why the Fourth City doesn't exist anymore. They churned it into the ground."
  18. ↑ Look out across the zee, Fallen London "[...] The lacre tide rises and soon all is washed away. [...]"
  19. ↑ A strange figure by the town gate, The Silver Tree "[...] the Cloaked Emissary [...] shambled along the path up the hill to stand on a rocky outcrop. I watched as he spread his arms [...]. A cloud of bats flew from under the trees and surrounded his head; I heard sibilant sounds, hissing and screeching, as if he were speaking with them..."
  20. ↑ The Cave of Bats, The Silver Tree "[...] There was no sign of the emissary, but there were letters of fire scrawled across the cave walls. Clouds of bats massed and swirled, so I could not see if the letters had meaning... but what else could I conclude but that the Emissary had left a message of some sort for the bats? [...]"
  21. ↑ Share memories of London, Fallen London "Like night, it were, [...] Came over the city all at once. You could hear their wings. You could feel them. Right down in your bones. Like a river, roaring. Then the ground opened. The ground opened - "
  22. ↑ Recalling the Past: Introduction, Mask of the Rose "The dimming of the sun at three in the afternoon. The sky turning the colour of rust. The horrible bang and the cloud of dust from the direction of Westminster. The tolling of the bells. The horseman who rode down the street, liveried in the garb of the palace, shouting: In her Majesty's Name, go indoors! And then the sky was full of bats."
  23. ↑ Moss: Concerns, Mask of the Rose "I lived through the Fall, as you know. The Fourth, already fallen into rack and ruin. I had searched its remnants for May. But even that chaos could not have prepared me for what happened. The screaming tear in the roof, the piteous howls of the falling, the flap of great, razored wings -"
  24. ↑ Great-Aunt Beatrice's Legacy, Fallen London "He says, 'The rest of the city? Well, it's gone, isn't it? Your wretched London fell from the Roof and squashed it flat.' The King abates into melancholy. 'It's all gone. Flattened into the ground. Perhaps there's some remains left, deep down. You could look down where the Rubbery Men live. Yes. Go and bother them. Leave me to my dreams of fire...'"
  25. ↑ Inheritance, Fallen London "Lacre once coursed through those channels, [...] After it drowned the First City, it flowed away to some place beneath, and took the remnants of the city's people with it. There must still be traces of them."
  26. ↑ My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "[...] Beneath you is the Third City, as it was just after its fall. It hums and bustles, citizens scurry like beetles from a disturbed log – it seems Londoners were not the only people to swiftly adapt to the Neath."
  27. ↑ Inheritance, Fallen London "[...] "This staircase led to the house's cellar, [...] until the cellar collapsed right over some Fourth City ruins. My mother bought the house." Your ears pop as you slide down the curved dome of a vast stupa into a temple. Deep inside the brightly painted ruins is a collapsed floor that empties you onto the remains of a stepped pyramid. "Third City," mutters the Archivist. The weight of the falling Fourth City caused a crack in the pyramid so wide that you are able to slip through it and onto the vast basalt head of a lion. [...] The three of you clamber down to the sand at the lion's feet. Before you is a tomb. "That leads to what's left of the First City," [...]"
  28. ↑ Sidebar Snippets: What was the First City?, Fallen London
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 29.5 Bask in the light, Fallen London
  30. ↑ Crouching in a low stone building, Fallen London "the land between the Caspian and Mediterranean seas"
  31. ↑ Looking in the garden, Fallen London "The traveller writhes and twitches on a stone slab, in some kind of fit. He looks wretchedly thin and haggard. A short step from death. The priest-king weeps over him."
  32. ↑ Meeting the King, Fallen London "[...] The Masters took a diamond from the great glowing mountain in the South and gave it to me for a heart. They made me like this."
  33. ↑ Inheritance, Fallen London "Astral clouds are billowing over the desert. The heavens are churning. You hurry back to the city and warn people that a calamity is coming. Many leave. The king summons you. Thinking he wants your help to evacuate, you go willingly. You are wrong. He has sold the city, and its people were part of the price. You have put the deal in jeopardy."
  34. ↑ Inheritance, Fallen London "So dark is your prison that at first, you do not realise you are underground. One night, the king visits you. He exchanged the city for his lover's life, but something went wrong. Perhaps if there had been no exodus, his lover would not be – as he is."
  35. ↑ Inheritance, Fallen London "The king gives you to a cloaked figure and asks it to make you feel his grief. The creature promises to prolong your torment. It knows about such things. The creature grinds a mountain into you and drowns you in memory-snow until you are filled with the sadness of the whole city. You never see the king again."
  36. ↑ Sidebar Snippets: What's the problem with the Second City?, Fallen London
  37. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "She kills her betrothed. She kills him with a snake. To be with her lover, the scribe." The translator shakes his head. "The scribe knows it can never be. He knows they will find out, and they will come for him. He writes that he is already dead. And the betrothed doesn't even die. He becomes—"
  38. ↑ My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "Dart, little snake, dart. Bite, little snake, bite. Sink your fangs until your venom wells from welts as red as treachery. Come, little snake, come. I'll stroke your head. Now my betrothed is dead. What, little snake, have I done? What, little snake, have I done?"
  39. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "'Love is intoxicating, overwhelming. Age, status, rank – they offer no immunity. In the grip of love I did something I will always regret. I will never be free from the consequences, and suffer deeply for my actions then. Yet I still cherish the moments that led me there. I can never forget, and I do not want to."
  40. ↑ '...look forward so very much to your next visit...', Fallen London "A long time ago... three cities ago in fact... when I was more than a Duchess, but still a friend to cats... I was betrothed. I loved him a great deal, and when a serpent stung him, I was distraught. I would have done anything to save him. The Bazaar knew as much. [...]"
  41. ↑ My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "You had to do it, didn't you? But now you have a choice. High on the palace balcony, above the purple riverbank, they wait until the glyphs have dried – a disc; a tool embedded in a block – to collect the contract. Remember, above all, the sun will always rise somewhere."
  42. ↑ "caught incarcerated caged two dozen centuries no space no space to spread my wings !unbearable! !release me! Spit venom at my judas gaolers may their kohl eyes gender worms may their bones burn in their flesh !unbearable! !release me!"
  43. ↑ Homecoming, Fallen London "[...] your immense basalt paws [...] Your twin is at your side. [...] you watch as a funerary procession makes its way towards a temple. A group of hooded creatures [...] are led inside, and do not emerge for centuries.""
  44. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "But the House of the Feather was opened before the Palace was completed. We four survivors fled. One remained with the City, while I retreated here."
  45. ↑ Buying secrets, Fallen London "[...] My sisters and I have been watching the Vake for many years. Since the Second City, in fact. We were a royal house then. We played those black-cloaked vultures for fools, so we did. Beat them at their own game and pulled the nose of the Bazaar. And they never forgave us. Kept the youngest sister hostage while the rest of us ran for it. [...]"
  46. ↑ Sidebar Snippets: What's the problem with the Second City?, Fallen London "Never mention the Second City to the Masters of the Bazaar. Mr Wines will look at you narrowly and give you its worst vintage. Mr Cups will fly into a rage. Mr Veils will harangue you for your discourtesy. Mr Iron will say nothing, only write down your name with its left hand."
  47. ↑ Sidebar Snippets: What was the Third City?, Fallen London
  48. ↑ Capture Third City Veils, Fallen London "THE OLD PRIEST-KINGS KNEW OUR KIND. WE WERE ALL GODS TO THEM. WE ALL ENTERED INTO THEIR BARGAIN. I ALONE SAW ITS BEAUTY."
  49. ↑ My Kingdom For A Pig, Fallen London "It isn't really much to pay. Not much to pay, not much at all. Especially since we won't pay, since someone else can take the fall to feed them, feed them something more. Just sign here. Right here. Above all, remember that this world is delicious."
  50. ↑ Homecoming, Fallen London ""How dare you," rasps Mr Spices, though it lacks the will to punish the transgression. "You can't imagine it. Tricked by creatures as low as you. Led into a trap. Imprisoned for aeons. The furthest I have ever been from home. Forced to sacrifice—" Its words catch in its throat."
  51. ↑ The price, the price, the price, the price, the price, the price, the price, the price, the price, the price, the price, Fallen London "They said – they called me by my name – I need only go up and the priests would take a little. The gratitude in their song! We embraced before I rose. You of cloth and shadow, you enemy, you proud-singer, you led the way. I will poison you with airs."
  52. ↑ Pervert your studies, Fallen London "He came up (you do not write) to offer a little. They hooked him (you do not declare) like a fish. Their knives (you do not suggest) were dark and sharp as the Mountain's daughter. He screamed then (you have not recorded) and they opened their mouths, red and white and rich with treasure. O but the feast was too short: sweet as the stars, bitter as the sun, all with that old redolence (which you might well footnote) of a certain ammonia. He breathed (your ink does not flow) until his vents were stifled with tears. If he had a soul (you might conjecture; you do not conjecture) it would have skipped and sizzled like rich blood on a griddle."
  53. ↑ ENDURE, Fallen London "If the Sun is Its master, let the Sun be drowned [...] My hate will not be contained until the Sun is cindered and damned, until Its heart is empty as theirs. [...] The Message: no more."
  54. ↑ You have rejected wine and song, Fallen London "[…] the flesh and blood of the Twelve is intoxicating and transcendent. If you consume something greater, then you may incorporate it: unless it incorporates you. […] This is the lesson of Couriers. This is the lesson of the knives and the pool."
  55. ↑ Look into the water 1, Fallen London "A celebration! The God-Eaters lick their fingers, not to waste a scrap. They will live forever now. Much good will it do them."
  56. ↑ Sidebar Snippets: Fourth City relics, Fallen London
  57. ↑ The Silver Tree, Fallen London
  58. ↑ The Emissary's Secrets: Ambush, Silver Tree "'My cohorts and I would buy this city. We want to take it somewhere it would live forever. The story of the Princess, the Sculptor, and their love is delicious.'"
  59. ↑ The Ending for the Khan and his daughter, The Silver Tree "'Cheren is wilful, but I do love her above all else,' said the Khan. 'My father is flawed, but I do love him very dearly,' said the Princess."
  60. ↑ I Confronted the Emissary, The Silver Tree "[…] In fact, you may call me by my true name, now: Mr Wines, at your service! […]"
  61. ↑ I Confronted the Emissary, The Silver Tree "The invading forces must have come from Cathay, from the most belligerent branch of the Khan's family."
  62. ↑ 'This city will betray you...', The Silver Tree "He told me that letting him buy the city was the only way to save it - armies from Cathay and Persia marched on it even now."
  63. ↑ My Kingdom For A Pig, Fallen London "A field where every flower is an arrow-shaft. They stick where they have landed, stabbed through dead bodies and dirt. Another volley launches. Generals thunder commands. And now the horses join the fray as storm-clouds roll across the sky; and soldiers charge soldiers, and pray they will not be the first to die."
  64. ↑ My Kingdom For A Pig, Fallen London "Fires, fires in the dark, leaping across the land. Crane your neck. Watch the inferno rise. Above the walls, into the dark, until the stars are embers and the heat has lashed and lashed your face again. Crackled and cooked. Listen, and you may hear screams before the fire's roar engulfs them too."
  65. ↑ I stayed and fought for the city, The Silver Tree "[...] And now the fighting slows, as the warriors drop their weapons, citizen and besieger alike, to stare at the sky. Their wings are everything. There is no earth. There is only this: a peaceful, starry sky, cold as distant love. Time passes. Time has passed. It is very dark in Karakorum now. [...]"
  66. ↑ Wisdom, Fallen London "The wind passes over, and the sun is still. The earth is freshly turned. The cup has fallen from your hand. Let it lie still." [This option gives you airag.]
  67. ↑ Truth, Fallen London "I know, I know. It can be hard at first. Be at peace. You need never move from this place. Yes, this red rock. The grass will cover you. Your ribs will give rest. We will raise stones to honour you, who saw the sky."
  68. ↑ Sidebar Snippets: Look: an eye., Fallen London
  69. ↑ My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "...enjoyed such invariable good health... and lived so regularly all his life, that the public thought nothing of his illness until they were startled yesterday morning by the bulletin announcing a restless night and the appearance of unsatisfactory symptoms..." [Editor's note: This is a snippet from a newspaper announcing the death of Albert in 1861]
  70. ↑ My Kingdom for a Pig, Fallen London "Nobody can enter. Nobody can leave. Except for the thing on the roof. Have you witnessed its wings? Amongst the towers, perching, preening, entering and leaving when its talons tap the shuttered windowpane. Tap, tap, tap. Let me in. I have come bearing gifts. Tap, tap, tap. Let us in. We have come bearing gifts."
  71. ↑ Mr Pages: Theories or Manifesto for Archie, Mask of the Rose "Her consort was dying. A loss not to be contemplemitted. We preserved him. In exchange: everything else she possessed. London and all that lies in fluminate propinquity, together with the oddments of the imperial hoard."
  72. ↑ The Committee, Fallen London "'The Queen is convinced the delegation has the ability to follow through on its promises, and has transferred ownership of the capital to our new friends. The Queen has negotiated a period of seven days before the transfer will take place. We are well aware of the potential for social unrest at this news, and on no account must this be allowed to jeopardise the exchange. The Queen therefore instructs the Government to decide how and when this information should be presented to the public.'"
  73. ↑ The Committee, Fallen London "Some felt there would be riots in the street; a revolution in the French style. Others believed that the Queen's bargain included the lives of Londoners, their dreams—[...] Their love stories. We didn't know what the Masters were capable of, and we feared total destruction. It was a capitulation. Every day since, I have thought of the children who might have chosen a life under the sun, but instead were forced into darkness. [...]"
  74. ↑ "London Stolen By Bats!", Failbetter Games
  75. ↑ ...acquire a Sixth City, Fallen London
  76. ↑ Lost in Reflections, Fallen London ’’"It's a knot of... I don't know, exactly. Imaginary magpies. Feathered dreamsnakes. It collects memories. […] it sends me back a black bird with a dream of the future."’’
  77. ↑ 77.0 77.1 Sinning Jenny's Finishing School, Fallen London ’’Paris now and Paris to come. […] "The Sixth City. […] then, at the passing of the Comet in the 21st century, Moscow falls, and only Berlin remains in the light of the Sun."’’
  78. ↑ A Neon Future, Fallen London
Retrieved from "https://thefifthcity.wiki/w/index.php?title=The_Fallen_Cities&oldid=20481"