Editing The Nacreous Outcast

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The Nacreous Outcast's most striking physical feature is a scar glowing with silver light. Unlike most [[Rubbery Men]] yet encountered, it can speak both English<ref name="sunlesssea.miraheze.org">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Pulse_of_the_Principles|Offer assistance with dissolution|Sunless Sea}} ''"A Rubbery capable of human speech [...] "My emissary," the cave whispers. "Treat it gently." The whisper follows you back up the steps."''</ref> and the Rubbery language,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Overheard_at_Zee:_Materials|Overheard at Zee: Materials|Sunless Sea|''NACREOUS OUTCAST: Fotharoothathoth! [...] Etha! Ssithakothothooth!''}}</ref> though its speech in the former can be difficult for some to understand.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Pulse_of_the_Principles|Offer assistance with dissolution|Sunless Sea}} ''""Shalt-Flions," it wheezes. Unprecedented! A Rubbery capable of human speech (in however debased and pitiful a mode!) "''</ref> It is familiar with esoteric culinary arts,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Nacreous_Outcast|Increase your Hearts|Sunless Sea}} ''"The Outcast has gnostic secrets of profound culinary import to impart. Even its lesser revelations are enough to touch your dreams with the dread of drowning."''</ref> though it prefers its food uncooked.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Nacreous_Outcast|Invite it to dine with you (2)|Sunless Sea}} ''"Where did it learn to cook? Not in its amber-smeared home-tunnels, because it obviously prefers its food raw. Between gulps and flabbers, it attempts to chat."''</ref> It is typically very terse<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Shattered_Citadel_Encounters|Let the Nacreous Outcast approach the altar|Sunless Sea}}''""Imitatorsh," the Outcast burbles. "They shtole our Axile artsh. They fought. They would be ush. [...] Shtill, the change remainsh. The change remainsh!" It's the longest speech you've ever heard from it."''</ref> and shy.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Nacreous_Outcast#Interactions|Invite it to dine with you|Sunless Sea}}''"[...] and besides, it's terribly shy."''</ref> In addition to its home in the Principles, it has a residence in a run-down nook of [[London]], where it entertains itself with art and song.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_visit_to_the_Outcast|A visit to the Outcast|Fallen London}}''"Childish depictions of men and women are drawn in a soot-darkened window. The Outcast's great eye peers at you through the grime."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Collect_a_Confession_from_the_Nacreous_Outcast|Collect a Confession from the Nacreous Outcast|Fallen London}}''"Today, you will head down a dark alley avoided by even the dregs of society. At the end there is a shoddy tenement. Somewhere within, the Nacreous Outcast tries to sing."''</ref>

The Outcast was exiled on account of multiple crimes, most of which cannot be described by human languages. One of them was love,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Nacreous_Outcast#Interactions|Invite it to dine with you (2)|Sunless Sea}} ''"It begins to say "I ushed to love - " and then suddenly excuses itself."''</ref> which is forbidden among the species of [[Axile]],<ref name="principles heartmetal">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Pulse_of_the_Principles|Give the Principles Heartmetal|Sunless Sea}}''"I was forbidden love, by the Bazaar, when I left the world Axile. But I don't regret it. I never regret."''</ref><ref name="eolith">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Pulse_of_the_Principles|Give the Principles an Ambiguous Eolith|Sunless Sea}}''"Kneel, kneel, and my Emissary will gift you Scintillack. The secret. The Bazaar brought me; brought us all, all us shapelings, Axiles. The Flukes, the misers, even my Emissary. Why? Too deep a secret for me, my friend. Even here, too deep for me. Perhaps when you end me..."''</ref> and it is implied that the recipient of its affection was a [[Flukes|Fluke]].<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/A_visit_to_the_Outcast|A visit to the Outcast|Fallen London}} ''"[...] the Outcast lopes toward a mirror, and wheezes against the glass. [...] A foggy circle forms. [...] [It adds] a border of spikes to the circle. The Outcast [gestures] [...] A forlorn lover? [...] A foolish partner?"''</ref> As punishment, the Outcast was abandoned at [[Port Cecil]], where it became an emissary<ref name="sunlesssea.miraheze.org"/> to the entity whose mind suffuses the [[Principles of Coral]].<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Nacreous_Outcast|Invite it to dine with you (2)|Sunless Sea}} ''"The Principles found it an apt tool, and has been its patron ever since."''</ref>  

The Principles of Coral wished to descend the [[Great Chain of Being]]<ref name="give idol">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Pulse_of_the_Principles|Give the Principles a Wakeful Idol|Sunless Sea}}''"I will devolve [...] To satisfy the Chain, we must have an ascension."''</ref> and free itself of thought forever.<ref name="game last">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Pulse_of_the_Principles|The Last Game|Sunless Sea}}''"The Emissary, trembling, takes his place across the board from you. "He will dissolve with me," the Principles tells you, consolingly. "It's for the best. You must win the game. Defeat him, and he and I will end. I will leave treasure. Hurry. My thoughts grow burdensome.""''</ref> To this end, the Outcast was ordered to gather materials<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Pulse_of_the_Principles|Offer assistance with dissolution|Sunless Sea|}} ''"A Rubbery Man rises from a cyst in the floor. [...] "My emissary," the cave whispers. "Treat it gently." The whisper follows you back up the steps. "Take it to the Salt-Lions...""''</ref> for a chess game<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Salt_Lions#Interactions|"Shalt-Flions"|Sunless Sea}}''"It holds a sphinxstone chess-piece aloft in its hand... "Principles," it wheezes."''</ref> against an outside opponent,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Pulse_of_the_Principles|Setting up|Sunless Sea}}''"Yes. I'll need to complete my chess-set. And then you'll need to defeat me."''</ref> and act as a surrogate for its master.<ref name="win match">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Pulse_of_the_Principles|Win the match|Sunless Sea}}''"The Principles will be reduced, as it desires, to a mindless hump of coral. The Outcast stands trembling behind the board, ready to enact the Principles' moves: its mind will be destroyed with its master's."''</ref> It was to lose on the Principles' behalf, upon which the minds of ''both'' beings would perish.<ref name="game last" /><ref name="win match" />  

Of course, the Outcast feared this fate,<ref name="game last" /> but in the ''Fallen London'' timeline, events played out a bit differently than expected. Somehow, the Principles was significantly weakened,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ask_around_town_about_the_scintillack_refinery|Ask around town about the scintillack refinery|Fallen London}} ''"[...] the Principles ain't wot they were.""''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Meet_with_a_bright_and_fading_mind|Meet with a bright and fading mind|Fallen London}} ''"—o my piece, [...] I yearn to topple still..." [...] The Fading Mind flutes a sigh [...]"''</ref> while the Outcast, now called the '''Nacreous Survivor''', was spared its demise.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Nacreous_Survivor|Nacreous Survivor|Fallen London}} ''"What has changed this Rubbery Man?"''</ref> However, this meant that by 1899, the Principles could no longer defend its reef from exploitation.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ask_around_town_about_the_scintillack_refinery|Ask around town about the scintillack refinery|Fallen London}} ''"Used to be the reef [...] rise up against thieves, but the Principles ain't wot they were." [...] someone breaks off [...] coral without [...] eyes all burned out. [...] London's [...] on our doorstep."''</ref> The Survivor is dismayed at the ill treatment of the being that once gave it a home,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Speak_with_the_Nacreous_Survivor|Speak with the Nacreous Survivor|Fallen London}} ''"The [...] Survivor runs a tentacle over [...] rock, [...] "Zhis ish hhwat it hwanted.""''</ref> but it feels a mixture of grief and relief, both for itself and the purpose it once bore.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Speak_with_the_Nacreous_Survivor|Speak with the Nacreous Survivor|Fallen London}} ''""Am fflike zhis," [...] "becoshh offh Prinshhipulssh." Anger; grief; relief. "Washh not hhwaht I hwanted.""''</ref>