Editing The Masters of the Bazaar

{{Major spoiler}}
{{Character|title1 = The Masters of the Bazaar|image1 = Master twitter.jpg|caption1 = A Master of the Bazaar.|location = [[London]]|allegiance = [[The Bazaar]]|relationships = [[Curators]] (species)
[[The Orphanage#The Masked Man|Poor Edward]]<br>
[[Sinning Jenny]]<br>
Neddy Men<br>
[[The Relickers]]|notable_members = [[Mr Apples]] ([[Mr Hearts]])<br>
[[Mr Iron]]<br>
[[Mr Cups]] ([[Mr Mirrors]])<br>
[[Mr Spices]]<br>
[[Mr Wines]]<br>
[[Mr Veils]]<br>
[[Mr Fires]]<br>
[[Mr Pages]]<br>
[[Mr Stones]]<br>
<font color="red">[[Mr Eaten]]</font><br>
|name=|alias=|music=}}
<blockquote>''"The Masters of the Bazaar - Mr Wines, Mr Spices, Mr Veils and the rest - speak in high-pitched whispers, and under their concealing cloaks they seem winged or hunchbacked. Fallen angels, stunted pterodactyls, mobile colonies of fungus? They dismiss all personal questions with an airy wave of their gloved hands."''<ref name="sidebar">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Sidebar_Snippets|Sidebar Snippets|Fallen London|}}</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>''"The Masters apply peculiar customs duties: to fish below a certain size, to green ribbons but not red, to speckled eggs but not plain. Perhaps their strangest tax is a heavy duty on stories of love, but it only applies to stories leaving the Neath..."''<ref name="sidebar">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Sidebar_Snippets|Sidebar Snippets|Fallen London|}}</ref></blockquote>

'''The Masters of the [[The Echo Bazaar| Bazaar]]''': it's hard to describe these cloaked, slightly creepy ''things'' as anything but, well, <font color="purple"><span style="background-color: purple">alien space bats</span></font>. They call themselves Mr, but they may not really be men. There are eleven titles, but two Masters take up four of them, and the rest have one apiece for a total of nine total Masters. Oh, and there are a few other titles that aren't ''really'' Masters, empirically speaking. Confusing? [[Fallen London|London]] is generally that way...

__forcetoc__

==An Introduction==
<blockquote>''"Authority is what's left when the money runs out."''<ref>https://twitter.com/Mr_Apples/status/6927249405</ref></blockquote>

The Masters of the Bazaar are in near-complete control of [[London]]'s trade economy. Each Master oversees a certain form of trade; for example, [[Mr Iron]] oversees the trade of metals and weapons. The Masters may seem united, but in truth, many of them run independent (and sometimes incompatible and clashing) schemes that occasionally span far beyond the scope of London. 

The Masters generally took on similar jobs and roles in the previous [[The Fallen Cities|Fallen Cities]]; for example, they were called '''Khans''' during the time of the [[The Khanate|Fourth]].<ref name="khans">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Dubious_attribution|Dubious attribution|Fallen London|}}</ref> As might be expected of these beings, the Masters are thousands of years old. Don't ''ever'' mention the Second City in their presence, however; they will all react in different but unanimously negative ways.<ref name="sidebar">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Sidebar_Snippets|Sidebar Snippets|Fallen London|}}</ref>

==The Masters as a Group==
'''UNDER CONSTRUCTION'''<gallery>
File:Chiropteroushoarder.png|Mr Apples (Mr Hearts)
File:MrIron.png|Mr Iron
File:MrCups.png|Mr Cups
File:MrMirrors.png|Mr Mirrors
File:Spices.png|Mr Spices
File:MrWines.png|Mr Wines
File:MrVeils.png|Mr Veils
File:MrFires.png|Mr Fires
File:Pages.png|Mr Pages
File:Mrstones default.png|Mr Stones
File:Well.png|And who might this be?
</gallery>

==The Masters' Artifacts==
Everyone has treasures they'd like to keep under wraps, and the Masters are no exception.
{| class="article-table" data-expandtext="show" data-collapsetext="hide" width="100%"
! colspan="3" |
===[[File:crimsonbook.png|40px]] The Crimson Book ===
|-
|<blockquote>"''The most stirring, the most wretched, the most savage tales of love and loss are here entombed. It has passed through fire and flood to rest in your hands. Leave it sealed... for now."''</blockquote>

'''The Crimson Book''' contains the most 'savage tales of love and loss' and has 'passed through fire and flood'. This indicates that the Crimson Book may have been written long before [[the Fifth City]]; perhaps it is still being added to today?<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_Sealed_Copy_of_the_Crimson_Book|A Sealed Copy of the Crimson Book|Fallen London|}}</ref> The Masters have allegedly assigned a group of Special [[The Constables|Constables]] to specifically seek out and confiscate any and all copies.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Speak_with_bohemians_about_lost_loves_and_the_Surface|Speak with bohemians about lost loves and the Surface|Fallen London|}}</ref>
|}

{| class="article-table" data-expandtext="show" data-collapsetext="hide" width="100%"
! colspan="3" |
===[[File:blood.png|40px]] Masters' Blood===
|-
|<blockquote>''"The most grandiose trophy an anarchist might aspire to. Was it shed in battle, or given as a gift?"''<blockquote>

'''Masters' Blood''' has many unusual and unique properties that separate it from normal blood. It is a far deeper red, is cold to the touch, and contains a song: 'an unending fading ring like black space struck with a fingernail.' It also emits a constant low vibration, and if left on a shelf, other items will physically move away from it.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Vial_of_Masters'_Blood|Vial of Masters' Blood|Fallen London|}}</ref>
|}

{| class="article-table" data-expandtext="show" data-collapsetext="hide" width="100%"
! colspan="3" |

===[[File:veilsvelvet.png|40px]] Veils-Velvet===
|-
|<blockquote>''"If Mr Veils shed hair - if blind orphans collected, carded and spun it over the years - it might just look like this."''</blockquote>

Little is known about '''Veils-Velvet''' aside from this quote, which would explain why this fabric is so incredibly valuable.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Veils-Velvet_Scrap|Veils-Velvet Scrap|Fallen London|}}</ref>
|}

{| class="article-table" data-expandtext="show" data-collapsetext="hide" width="100%"
! colspan="3" |

===[[File:Riverofblood.png|40px]] The Sceptre of [[Mr Wines]]===
|-
|<blockquote>''"Topped with a black ruby miniature of an unknown crown, this bronzewood sceptre represents all the authority of some far-away kingdom and its once and former king."''</blockquote>

A symbol of power that once belonged to a king. '''The Scepter of Mr Wines''' is as heavy as lead, covered in frost and talon-marks, and is topped with a jewel from a [[the High Wilderness|faraway land]].<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Sceptre_of_Mr_Wines|The Sceptre of Mr Wines|Fallen London|}}</ref> Mr Wines doesn't like looking at it much; maybe it's just insecure.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Property_of_Mr_Wines|The Property of Mr Wines|Fallen London|}}</ref>
|}

==What Lies Under the Cloak==

<blockquote>''"...everything I've ever told you was a lie. Except this. Mr Spices, Mr Iron, the rest, aren't the Masters of the Bazaar. They're its pets."''<ref>Rare success on "[https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Speak_with_your_consulting_cartographer Speak with your consulting cartographer]"</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>''"The second source is ''A Rhyming Revelry'', a slim book of nonsense rhymes written by a once-celebrated cellist. He was, for a time, a favourite at Mr Wines’ revels. One rhyme concerns eleven pilgrims who travelled from a cold and windy waste. It enumerates each of the reasons the pilgrims were unwelcome in their homeland."''<ref name="secret">{{Citation|https://www.failbettergames.com/a-secret-about-the-masters/|A secret about the Masters|Failbetter Games|}}</ref></blockquote>
[[File:Chiropteroushoarder.png|thumb|Mr Apples / Mr Hearts. Art from Sunless Skies.]]

Based on two controversial sources, one called ''On the Origins and Descent of the Masters'' and another called ''A Rhyming Revelry'', we may reveal the following information.

The Masters belong to a species native to [[the High Wilderness]] called [[Curators]]. These oversized space-bats hunt in the space between [[Judgements|stars]], often alone. On occasion, a group of Curators may band together to boast of their hoards and trade deals, and may fight amongst themselves for supremacy. Curator chiefs are described as "victorious, merciless pedlar-magnates."

In the grand scheme of things, the Masters of the Bazaar weren't Masters at all. Rather, they were a group of misfit criminals who joined forces with the Bazaar to escape "misfortune, failure, and fruitlessness."

=== The Crimes of the Masters ===
''A Rhyming Revelry'' provides hints about the crimes of the Masters, though which crimes correspond to what bat are based on conjecture and guesswork.<ref name="secret">{{Citation|https://www.failbettergames.com/a-secret-about-the-masters/|A secret about the Masters|Failbetter Games|}}</ref> The circumstances given in ''A Rhyming Revelry'' are:

*Hoarding (Stones)<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Steer_the_conversation_to_Mr_Stones|Steer the conversation to Mr Stones|Fallen London|"[...]one must wonder what all this wealth Mr Stones is accumulating is for. The Masters do not value wealth for its own sake. So what is it going to do with it all?"}}</ref>

*Light-bringing (Fires?)

*Impersonation, and the delivery of false testimony (probably Cups or Apples/Hearts, by process of elimination)

*Perpetration of the crimes of knife and of candle (Iron?)

*Idleness, and the dwelling-on of dreams (Spices?)

* Runtery, aberration (<font color="red">Eaten</font>)<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/No_map_knows_the_place_you_go|No map knows the place you go|Fallen London|}}</ref>(though also all of them)<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Convocation_of_Runts|The Convocation of Runts|Fallen London|}}</ref>

*Pursuit of a Treachery (Apples/Hearts for the Treachery of Breath<ref name="almost eternal">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Incarnadine_Fur_Robe|Incarnadine Fur Robe|Fallen London|}} ''"Mr Apples is hunched over a vast steel desk bristling with many-lensed contraptions. [...] This rare specimen is almost eternal [...]"''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Mostly_Stuffed_Bound_Shark|Mostly Stuffed Bound Shark|Fallen London|}}</ref>, or Cups for the Treachery of Clocks<ref>{{Citation|1=https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_trade_in_clocks|2=The trade in clocks|3=Fallen London|4="There are clockmakers' shops in the Neath, but they are the preserve of Mr Cups, and it is difficult to find them. Apparently, he guards his monopoly on clocks jealously, as if this puts him in control of time itself."}}</ref>)

* Failure and defeat; a fall from king to beggar (Wines)<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Cricket,_Anyone%3F|Cricket, Anyone?|Fallen London|}}</ref>

*Glass-whispering. And worse: charity (Mirrors?)

*Truth-strangling (Pages)<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Train_with_Mr_Pages|Train with Mr Pages|Fallen London|}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_Dream_of_Truth-Strangling|A Dream of Truth-Strangling|Fallen London|}}</ref>

*Violation of the Order of Days, “which determines the hour of the hunt, the feast, the council, the bargain, and the slaughter” (Veils)<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Hunt|The Day of the Hunt|Fallen London|}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Embattled_with_Curator_Mr_Veils|Embattled with Curator Mr Veils|Fallen London|}}</ref>

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

[[Category:Unfinished]]
[[Category:Curators]]