Editing The Halved

{{major spoiler}}
{{Character
|title1 = The Halved
|image1 = Halved-0.png
|caption1 = The sun is black. It ''squirms''. Art from Sunless Skies.
|location = [[Eleutheria]]
|allegiance = [[Revolutionaries|The Liberation of Night]]
|alias = The Binary<br>
Once-Judgement of Measures and Distance<br>
The King Who Wars<br>
The Aberrant Twin
|relationships = [[The House of Rods and Chains]] (former servant)<br>
[[The King who Speaks]] (deceased brother)<br>
[[The House of Rods and Chains#Masters in Exile|Mr Barleycorn]]
}}
<blockquote>''"The attention of the Halved falls briefly on your vessel. Your crew wail as its eye fills your windows! ''</blockquote>

<blockquote>''"The Halved! The sun turned to night!"''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Spectacles#Eleutheria|The Halved|Sunless Skies|}}</ref></blockquote>

'''The Halved''' is a [[Judgement]] that presides over the region of [[Eleutheria]], in the [[The High Wilderness|High Wilderness]].__FORCETOC__

==WE ARE BEHELD==

The Halved governs distance and measures, and it has an array of servants, just like the other Judgements. In fact, the Halved murdered its own space-crab messenger, the [[House of Rods and Chains]], for defying its command.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Mr_Barleycorn%27s_Belfry|Talk with Mr Barleycorn|Sunless Skies|}}''"There were seven of us, once. Outcasts, bound to this Messenger's service. But the Messenger defied the Halved's command, and the Halved slew it."''</ref> The Halved is directly responsible for Eleutheria's lawlessness, as it radiates darkness instead of light. The Halved is also the leader of the many organizations in its realm, such as [[Piranesi]] and [[Pan]], and it is the arch-enemy of the [[Sapphir'd King]].<ref name = "piranesi">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Ambition:_Be_Cast_into_the_Depths_of_Piranesi|Ambition: Be Cast into the Depths of Piranesi|Sunless Skies|}}</ref> The Halved claims to have changed, but perhaps not as much as it thinks.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Venerable_Flautist|The Venerable Flautist|Sunless Skies|}}''"But I remember the Halved before the death of its twin. It hasn't changed half so much as it pretends. So I won't either."''</ref>

==The Sun Turned Black==
<blockquote>''"You see a blazing, golden sun, so close it fills the sky. It shudders. It dims. You watch as it draws its fires into itself, becoming sullen, crimson coals. Its surface cools, scabbing over with a black crust. Shadows flood this region of the sky."''<ref name="2ndstoryteller">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Second_Storyteller|The Second Storyteller|Sunless Skies|}}</ref></blockquote>The Halved is a former binary star; its other half, [[The King Who Speaks|the King who Speaks]]''',''' was betrayed and murdered as it attempted to swear fealty<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.fandom.com/wiki/Dramatis_Personae#V._A_Night_Of_Transfiguration|The Prophet took the King Who Speaks' Fealty|Sunless Skies|}} ''"THE KING WHO SPEAKS: You have my sword. You have my pledge. You have my service. From now until my darkening."''</ref> to the [[The Well of Wonders#The Ballad, Abridged|Prophet Exile]] of the newly founded Solonacean Conjunction.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/V._A_Night_Of_Transfiguration|The Ballad of the Solonacean Conjunction: Act V. A Night Of Transfiguration|Sunless Skies|}}''"The PRINCES OF LIGHT and the PROPHET EXILE welcome their latest Disciple — the KING WHO SPEAKS. [...] At their Prophet's signal, the Princes drew their knives! They stabbed the King's unprotected soul."''</ref> The death of the King who Speaks also caused the remaining half, formerly called '''the King who Wars''', to go on a rampage across [[Eleutheria]]<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.fandom.com/wiki/Dramatis_Personae#VI._The_King_In_Mourning|VI. The King In Mourning|Sunless Skies|}} ''"The obsidian throne of the King of Light has crumbled. The hall shakes with the KING WHO WARS' fury. Burning marble rains down from the ceiling, exposing a blood red sky."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.fandom.com/wiki/Dramatis_Personae#VI._The_King_In_Mourning|The King Who Wars mounted his chariot|Sunless Skies|}} ''"The King Who Wars' chariot thundered through the sky / The night burned crimson, the forests became ash / This was how a King fought, with fire and light [...]"''</ref> as it destroyed the Conjunction.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.fandom.com/wiki/Dramatis_Personae#VI._The_King_In_Mourning|The King Who Wars mounted his chariot|Sunless Skies|}} ''"This was how a King fought, with fire and light / And the Princes learned the folly of their youth. [...] THE KING WHO WARS: Scream not for the comfort of oblivion / Such mercy is not for traitors to know / As you burn forever in my palace / In the flames of anger you have ignited."''</ref> The storyteller was turned into a living story as a punishment for the murder.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/VII._Fall_of_a_Prophet|The Ballad of the Solonacean Conjunction: Act VII. Fall of a Prophet|Sunless Skies|}}''"Let Justice be done, and all gathered bear witness / As we cast this outsider into their final rest / Let their flesh rot till all that's left is a cry / That shall never escape this echoing place / A story to rage in the darkness, never to be told [...]"''</ref>

Against all odds, another storyteller was somehow able to persuade the King who Wars to change its views. The King abandoned its law, and started to actively radiate darkness instead of light. This is the reason for Eleutheria's bizarre and [[Revolutionaries|Revolutionary]]-friendly nature. Either as a form of gratitude or punishment, the now Halved sun turned this storyteller into the plant now known as the '''[[Heart-Takers|Heart-Catcher]]'''.<ref name = "2ndstoryteller">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Second_Storyteller|The Second Storyteller|Sunless Skies|}}</ref> Speaking the Halved's former name is a one-way ticket to [[Piranesi]], as is the crime of storytelling in its presence.<ref name = "piranesi">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Ambition:_Be_Cast_into_the_Depths_of_Piranesi|Ambition: Be Cast into the Depths of Piranesi|Sunless Skies|}}</ref>
[[File:Hunterseye.png|thumb|The Eye in the Zee. Art from Sunless Sea.]]
It is heavily implied that the colossal Eye that lies beneath the [[the Unterzee|Unterzee]] is the Halved; this curious entity sprouts extra eyes on the bodies of zee-captains as a form of "message" to the Neath. And one zailor foolish enough to dive ''into'' the Eye claimed that it serves as a doorway to the House of Rods and Chains...<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.gamepedia.com/Under_Sunless_Skies|Under Sunless Skies|Sunless Sea|}}''"Welcome, Trespasser, to the House of Rods and Chains. Your daring is notable, and rare."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/Adrift_On_A_Sunless_Sea|Adrift On A Sunless Sea|Sunless Skies|}}''"In the darkness— In the darkness, an eye! It opens and the world is upside down. You fall to the floor of Mr Barleycorn's study, coughing up water."''</ref>

The Halved has strong ties to the [[Revolutionaries|Liberation of Night]], possibly to seek revenge upon other Judgements. One star, the [[The Garden-King|Green Regent]] of the Reach, has already fallen victim to its machinations.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/The_Bones_of_the_Sun|Strive to hear the death-cry of a fallen sun|Sunless Skies|}}''"You hear distant, thundering words, accompanied by blazing visions. They rage against the sun's death at the hands of a half-sun, a midnight murderer."''</ref>

== References ==
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[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Nonhuman]]
[[Category:Eleutheria]]