"There are some things we were not meant to know, they say. But you wouldn't be down here if you took that seriously."
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"What larks we shall have! Fetch the giraffe-spoon, we have a bet to win!"[1]
The Young Stags' Club is an exclusive society of mischief and merriment, reserved for the youth of London's wealthiest families.
"Your larks are magnificent. Are you ready to don the Wag's Antlers and the Cardinal's Bloomers, and set forth on the Joining Guzzle? Assuming you're appropriately wealthy and well-bred, of course."
True to their motto "We Take Life Lightly,"[2] the Young Stags' Club is a group of young adults of noble or otherwise respectable birth[3] who enjoy engaging in wild indulgence and not-so-respectable behavior. Initiation involves an inconsistent series of challenges[4] called the "Joining Guzzle,"[5] which largely involve heavy drinking in a whimsical costume.[5][3] New members are encouraged to get tattoos of the Club’s emblem, the Stag’s Head.[6] They may also join any of various cliques within the club, each with its own forms of initiation: for instance, dressing as Jack-of-Smiles and leaping out from behind a corner to frighten young ladies.[7]
Life within the Stags revolves around high-spirited pranks and carefree escapades, known as "larks."[8] These larks range from harmless mischief, such as city-wide chases or impromptu comedy shows,[9] to more questionable activities like stealing valuables or undergarments.[10] While occasionally they may be arrested, members are largely insulated from legal consequences due to their wealth, connections, and a lack of serious damage.[11] Instead, each lark provides compromising leverage over its participants;[12] the Club's members are complicit in concealing their friends' crimes to essentially blackmail each other into loyalty.[13] No one truly leaves the Club, as current and former members alike are bound together by shared knowledge of each other's misadventures.[14][15][16]
The Stags' most prized possession is a golden croquet mallet given to them by the Empress.[17] They have a rival club at the University called the Stoats.[18]
Beyond this point lie major spoilers for Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies, or Mask of the Rose. This may include endgame or major Fate-locked spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.
You can find out more about our spoiler policy here.
"The inner circle of the Stags are surprisingly discreet. But if this Ragged King and Seven-Day Sovereign business is just a lark, they seem to take it very seriously, don't they?"[19]
The Placid Patriarch
The leader of the Young Stags is called the Ragged King, and wears an antlered, bell-adorned crown.[20] The current Ragged King is the Placid Patriarch.[citation needed]
Every seven years, the Ragged King announces a week-long sabbatical.[21] The Club holds a lottery open to all of London,[22] and the person whose number is drawn becomes the temporary Ragged King.[21] During the winner's Seven-Day Reign, they are allowed to appoint advisors and officials to assist in "ruling" the club.[23] While they are granted certain powers, such as deciding how parties are held[24] or judging violations of club rules,[25] the Patriarch does not actually rest; instead, he subtly directs the club’s actual operations while playing the role of a "jester."[26] At the end of the week, a private feast is held to commemorate the occasion, attended by only a favored few individuals and the thirteen sons of the Patriarch.[27] The temporary King becomes the quarry of a ritual hunt,[28] and is captured, cooked, and eaten by the inner circle.[29]
In true Young Stag fashion, this gruesome tradition was devised after a lark went awry: one Halfhearted Cadet was caught in a storm with his comrades, and they washed ashore at Kingeater's Castle.[30] He made an oath to the Old Voracity, which granted the Club seven years of prosperity so long as it devoured its king afterward.[31] And so, upon the Cadet's return alongside the few other survivors, he was crowned the first Ragged King and reigned for seven years before meeting his permanent end.[32] His successor met the same fate,[33] but the third Ragged King, the Patriarch, instead devised the concept of the Seven-Day Reign to create a scapegoat to be eaten in his place.[34]
The Young Stags' traditions have much in common with American fraternity culture, which is infamously rife with drunken and dangerous shenanigans. However, its exclusivity identifies it more closely with Oxford University's Bullingdon Club, which was established as a sporting club but is now best known for lavish dinners and its long history of mischief and vandalism.
Like the Bullingdon Club and most American fraternities, the Young Stags' Club is likely male-only, as its name might suggest; all the members depicted thus far have been men. However, the player character is generally an exception to any gender exclusivity, and anyone can win the Seven-Day Reign's lottery.
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"[...] A throne of splendid, cushioned mahogany stands there, its back emblazoned with the Young Stags' motto: 'We Take Life Lightly.' [...]"
↑ 3.03.1Join the Young Stags' Club, Fallen London"Your larks are magnificent. Are you ready to don the Wag's Antlers and the Cardinal's Bloomers, and set forth on the Joining Guzzle? Assuming you're appropriately wealthy and well-bred, of course."
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"The Placid Patriarch looks down at the hopeful trio who kneel before the throne. "Back in my day, of course," he says, "initiates had to pass the Parade of Midnights. And the Bucket." The gathered Stags shudder."
↑ 5.05.1Join the Young Stags' Club, Fallen London"What a Guzzle! What a Guzzler! Chuffy records the splendid length of your Guzzle in the club's ledger and reads out your personal recommendations to gales of raucous laughter. You are pronounced a Young Stag on the spot. You can barely see, and you can't really feel your lips any more, but that's hardly the point. The society of London's finest wealthy wastrels is yours."
↑If she finds out..., Fallen London"Chuffy has a spiffing idea for a lark. It involves catmint and unmentionables belonging to... who? A certain cat-owner? Good God. A lark's a lark, but this particular wheeze could get someone killed."
↑Having a Lark, Fallen London"A band of well-dressed robbers is preying on society events. They strut about, stealing watches and jewellery, then ride off on fine horses."
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"The initiation is jolly, ridiculous, and only mildly illegal. Will any of the initiates get into trouble for it? "Don't worry," the Placid Patriarch assures you. "We'll talk to our friends in the Constabulary. Records can be misplaced. After all, it's all just youthful high spirits, eh?"'
↑The Stag and the Shark, Fallen London"The boy doesn't understand the point of a proper lark. They're a sacrifice to show your commitment to the Stags. Jolly good fun, yes, but they're not meant to be improving, and they're certainly not b____y charity. A bit of debauchery so we know someone's our sort, and they know that we know what they did. Shows a chap's trustworthy."
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"[...] One of them is feeding notarised papers into the flame. "There you are, Justice: that should resolve the matter of your debt." The second man pulls a thick envelope from his pocket. "And this, sir, is the record of your recent arrest." He flings it into the brazier. The flame leaps."
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"All ex-Stags: justices, businessmen, academics, ministers, majors, auditors, barristers... They all help each other. They all keep each other's secrets: the things they got up to in the club. You never stop being a Stag."
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"A handful of memories survived the experience. The Stags get up to some genuinely scandalous things. Endangerment. Indecency. That business with the pig. But they trust each other absolutely. They must: each knows all the others' disgraces."
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London""Once a Stag, always a Stag," he reminds them. "You're brothers. If that's not enough, remember, Lieutenant, that the professor here knows all about the Carnelian incident. A court-martialling offence, I believe? And professor, the lieutenant is equally informed regarding your – how shall we put it? – domestic arrangements."
↑A matter of honour, Fallen London"The chair of the Stoats' Port and Wine Committee hatches a plan to humiliate the Stags by stealing their precious golden croquet mallet - a treasured gift from the Traitor Empress herself. Your help would be invaluable."
↑Stoats' Honour, Fallen London"The Young Stags Club, favourite haunt of the rich, young and idle, is trying to poach three leading members of the Stoats […] Help the Stoats maintain its reputation as the University's leading club dedicated to […]"
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"The Young Stags Club, favourite haunt of the young, rich and idle, parade along Childcake Street. They bear a throne, on which sits their Ragged King. A veil hides his face. Bells jangle, solemnly, on his antlered crown."
↑ 21.021.1The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London""Our king is weary!" cries the bare-chested Stag in the lead. "Who will rule us while he rests? Who will reign for seven days?" Behind, a cart carries a great bronze cauldron. Young Stags reach into it and fling something into the gathered crowds."
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"All may enter the lottery!" the lead Young Stag bellows. "The lot will be drawn tomorrow, in the Dent Suite!"
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"The Stag who crowned her bows, deeply. "Your majesty is of course free to appoint such advisers and officials as you see fit! Now, if you will accompany us to our Club, your reign may begin. I have no doubt it will be magnificent!""
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"WEDNESDAY!" the Young Stags roar, loud enough they shake the paintings on the walls. The Patriarch waits for silence to return. "Tell us, your Majesty – what is 'Wednesday'?"
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"By and large, the Stags consider the judgement hilarious. One of them produces a hideous hat – one festooned with tiny wax bats – insisting it is customarily worn by the sovereign's chronicler. The Enthusiast dons it in good grace. Only the Patriarch and his favoured Stags seem displeased."
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"Here is your palace! Here are your subjects! And I – the least among them – am your jester and your steward. I will take care of the day-to-day matters of your court, so that you can rule without distraction."
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"They won't even tell us where it is," he continues, glumly. "It's just for the favoured thirteen, and certain ex-members. And the sovereign, of course."
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"[...] Young Stags begin to distribute spears, bows and even slings among the guests. "But it is a game – or we have chosen to make it so. 'Take life lightly', eh? It will be a hunt! I should get a head start, if I were you.""
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"Your Majesty, you have one final duty to perform. I admit: it will be an inconvenience. You see, every seven years we must sacrifice our sovereign and – not to put too fine a point on it – cook and devour them. [...]"
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"According to the logs, the Cadet's ship – the Scapegoat – was caught in a storm and carried off course to Kingeater's Castle. According to the more lurid folklores, it is a place of pacts; the home of an old voracity."
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"[...] there's an oath, an old voracity in a castle at the end of the zee, and so forth. Afterwards, we choose a new king, and the Stags prosper for another seven years. This must come as a disappointment. It will, at least, be a brief one."
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"There, the logs end. But a newspaper report at the time recounts the Scapegoat's return with only a third of her crew (the Halfhearted Cadet among them). When he returned to the Stags, they crowned him their first Ragged King. He reigned for seven years, ultimately dying – according to a cursory obituary – of natural causes."
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"Beneath the portraits are plaques, stating the years in which the kings ruled. The first two kings reigned for exactly seven years each, but the Placid Patriarch's reign has yet to end. It began fourteen years ago."
↑The Seven-Day Reign, Fallen London"You gave us a better chase than the last one did," the Patriarch tells your Aunt. "But the promise is clear: every seven years we sacrifice our sovereign. And I'm d__ned if it's going to be me that goes in the pot."
