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]] (deceased servant)<br>
[[The King who Speaks]] (deceased twin)<br>
[[The House of Rods and Chains#Masters in Exile|Mr Barleycorn]]
}}
<blockquote>''"A black and seething sun! The Halved sheds no light, and no law."''<ref name=":0">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Eleutheria#Spectacles|Eleutheria|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==
<blockquote>''"The attention of the Halved falls briefly on your vessel. Your crew wail as its eye fills your windows! The Halved! The sun turned to night!"<ref name=":0" />''</blockquote>The Halved watches over its kingdom of [[Eleutheria]], but sheds no light and thus does not enforce cosmic laws across the region.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Eleutheria#Spectacles|Spectacles|Sunless Skies|}} ''"A black and seething sun! The Halved sheds no light, and no law."''</ref> Just because Eleutheria is lawless, however, does not mean the Halved will not react to direct provocation. It despises its nearby rival stars, and it will not hesitate to send loyal servants of the [[Sapphir'd King]]<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Ambition:_Be_Cast_into_the_Depths_of_Piranesi|Claim you are beloved of the Regent of the Blue Kingdom|Sunless Skies|}} ''"For behold! You are Yoked to His service, and bear an Indulgence issued in His Name. [...] Above you, the midnight sun of Eleutheria [...] fixes its vast eye on the two of you. [...] The ground opens beneath you [...] and you are plunged down, down into the black belly of Piranesi."''</ref> or the [[Clockwork Sun]]<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Ambition:_Be_Cast_into_the_Depths_of_Piranesi|Claim credit for the current strength of the Clockwork Sun|Sunless Skies|}} ''"Because of you, the bleached light of the Clockwork Sun pricks even at the heavens of Eleutheria. [...] Above you, the midnight sun of Eleutheria [...] fixes its vast eye on the two of you. The ground opens beneath you [...] and you are plunged down, down into the black belly of Piranesi."''</ref> to its cosmic prison, [[Piranesi]]. The Halved's own underlings watch over its territories in Eleutheria, notably in [[Pan]], where a faction called the Word-Eaters enforces the settlement's ban on storytelling.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Hour_of_Veracity|Avoid them as you go about your business|Sunless Skies|}} ''"During the other hours, the Word-Eaters are everyday citizens of Pan. But when the piping permits, and their faces are grey with ash, they serve only the Halved Sun of Eleutheria."''</ref>

The Halved murdered its own [[Messenger]], the [[House of Rods and Chains]], for defying its command.<ref name=":1">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/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. We were free. My colleagues, fled. But I remained to serve the Halved."''</ref> [[Mr Barleycorn]], a [[Curator]] who previously served the House, is still loyal to the Halved, but the rest of its entourage have fled for greener pastures.<ref name=":1" />

==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>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Heart-Catcher_Gardens#The_Second_Storyteller|Drink from the bitter waters|Sunless Skies|}}</ref></blockquote>The [[Judgement]] we know as the Halved was once part of '''the Binary'''; together, this binary star governed distance and measures.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Dramatis_Personae#I._A_Prologue|I. A Prologue|Sunless Skies|}} ''""[...] Where the Twin Kings of Measure and Distance reigned [...]""''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/The_House_of_Rods_and_Chains|Consider Eleutheria's black sun|Sunless Skies|}} ''""My Lord. The Halved. Once-Judgement of Measures and Distance." Mr Barleycorn bows to it."''</ref> While this is considered the Halved's former domain because it has now rejected law, it certainly has not lost all its power over the concept, as the prison of [[Piranesi]] defies all notion of size or distance.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Piranesi|Why do you need a guide?|Sunless Skies|}} ''"Do not attempt to judge size or distance here. Piranesi is unmapped and unmappable. There are only a few areas we know how to reach."''</ref>

The other half of the Binary, [[The King Who Speaks|the King who Speaks]]''',''' was betrayed and murdered as it attempted to swear fealty<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/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 would-be Solonacean Conjunction.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/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 surviving half, '''the King who Wars''', went on a fiery rampage across [[Eleutheria]]<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/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.miraheze.org/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 Prophet Exile and his followers.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/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 Prophet Exile had claimed some of the Binary's servants, the [[devils]], as his followers,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Today%27s_Lecture|Listen to the lecture on 'the Binary'|Sunless Skies}} ''"The Supplicant speaks of devils in the Binary's service, responsible for preparing a raiment of killing light for one of their masters before he went to war, and a mantle of merciful radiances when the other went to parley. "But they betrayed their master," she says."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Dramatis_Personae#II._The_Forest_Of_Burning_Twilight|The Prophet Exile spoke to the Princes of Light|Sunless Skies}} ''"My Apostle. The first to shield me from the light that burned away my existence. The light of the arrogant Kings. Their Princes were not willing to languish in service in the hope of a glory that the Kings would never offer them. Ah, but wrapped up in stories of inevitable victory and cowering bravely behind my figurehead, their resentment became my serrated blade."''</ref> and a few devils whose remains are now scattered around [[Pan]] were likely killed in this rampage.<ref name=":2">{{Citation|1=https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Winter%27s_Reside#A_Solitary_Cobbled_Street|2=Find the tomb of the Mantle-bearer|3=Sunless Skies|4=}} ''"Somewhere in Winter's Reside lies the corpse of the armourer-saint, once squire-sommelier to the Binary, the twin kings of Eleutheria."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|1=https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Heart-Catcher_Gardens#The_Nurseries|2=Sanctify the corpse of the Chorister Saint|3=Sunless Skies|4=}} ''"You daub its lips with some of the vial of souls, and anoint its armour as it would have done when it accompanied the suns to war."''</ref> The Prophet himself was turned into a living story as a punishment for the murder.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/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> Speaking the Halved's former name is another excellent way to offend the star and find oneself in Piranesi.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Ambition:_Be_Cast_into_the_Depths_of_Piranesi|Name the Nameless|Sunless Skies|}} ''"Speak the true name of Eleutheria's sun. The name it shared before it was Halved. [...] You speak one harmony of the first syllable. [Your friend] pronounces the other. The midnight sun of Eleutheria shudders, and fixes its vast eye upon you. Something closes, cold, about your wrist. A lamp is shackled to your arm.  The ground opens beneath you both, and you are plunged down, down into the black belly of Piranesi."''</ref>

Some time later, against all odds, a Second Storyteller (the First being the Prophet Exile) was able to persuade the King to change its views; the Halved "turned to night," rejecting light and law<ref name="2ndstoryteller">{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Heart-Catcher_Gardens#The_Second_Storyteller|Eavesdrop as it slumbers|Sunless Skies}}''"As you are preparing to leave, its eyes snap open. "The first storyteller began a war and was cast into a well," it says. "The second turned a sun to night and was cursed to live. What will the third do, and how will they end?""''</ref> and allowing Eleutheria to become a haven of anarchy. Either as a form of gratitude or punishment, the now Halved sun turned this storyteller into the first of the plants known as the '''[[Heart-Takers|Heart-Catchers]]''',<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Heart-Catcher_Gardens#The_Second_Storyteller|The Second Storyteller|Sunless Skies|}} ''"The oldest of the Heart-Catchers is a crooked tree, roofed with rattling leaves. [...] All but one of its heads has grown huge, grown old, and died. Now they are great, grinning skulls. The last living head rests on an altar."''</ref> and granted it eternal life.<ref name="2ndstoryteller" /> Storytelling is now forbidden in [[Pan]] as a consequence of the upheaval the First and Second Storytellers brought to Eleutheria,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Hour_of_Veracity|The Hour of Veracity|Sunless Skies|}} ''"Twice, Eleutheria has been turned upside-down by storytellers. Now, the profession is prohibited in Pan. During the Hour of Veracity the Word-Eaters bare their feet, cover their faces with ash, and roam the city, confiscating stories."''</ref> but there do not appear to be prohibitions on the practice elsewhere. 
[[File:Hunterseye.png|thumb|The Eye in the Zee]]
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. 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.miraheze.org/wiki/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.miraheze.org/wiki/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> which proved to be true.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Airs_of_Blind_Hermits#HermitObserve|Airs of Blind Hermits (Description)|Sunless Skies}} ''"The Hermit lingers at the edge of sight, their rags the remnants of a zee-captain's uniform. Two of their eyes are closed tight. The third, carved with scars into their arm, seems to stare through you."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/Airs_of_Blind_Hermits#HermitObserve|Airs of Blind Hermits (Observe)|Sunless Skies}} ''"The Hermit whispers to the darkness. They pay you no mind as you look at their few remaining possessions. A trading log from a place far away, a faded photo of a love last seen in Old London. A diary that begins with scholarly descriptions of Eleutherian wonders and ends with nothing but scribbles of the same eye carved into their flesh. The last coherent entry is dated November 1886."''</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.miraheze.org/wiki/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> It claims to have changed since the death of its twin, but perhaps not as much as it thinks.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlessskies.miraheze.org/wiki/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>

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