#Irem of the Pillars

[asleepinawell]

Irem, the Pillared City: Futures

[failbettergames]

It will have been time.

Complete the Youthful Naturalist’s story in the Pillared City of Irem

22nd June

www.fallenlondon.com

[geraldofallon]

Fallen London Travel Guide:

Pillared Sea

Where Irem lies. Will lie. Has lain.

[wyrmfedgrave]

Pics: Just a small sampling of H. P. Lovecraft's influence on popular world culture...

1. There's stores now that only sell Lovecraftiana!! This is as amazing as the 1st stores that sold comics & related paraphernalia alone...

2. This would make for a great paper head on your personal website...

3 thru 5. Here we see the effects of more modern culture on Lovecraft's own ideas. An unholy melding of humor, madness & the commercial realms of the Peanuts, a now free Disney rat & (fittingly) sea monkeys!!

6. This 1 is a new ad - but, is it real?! Or, just another fever dream?!! I can't tell...

7. The long time coming - strange eons? - meld between the Great Old One & Victorian retro-stylings. Hoping for more to come...

Like say, an 'armed' (Heh) Cthulhu Pirate-King!!

Make it so...

8. Finally, the finality of the human race is on!

But, is it so?

Remember, everyone who can hear or even know about the Lovecraftian Truth of Reality... Goes Mad!!

So, I wouldn't be too quick to accept some mad dude's tale... There's no telling what's in his brain stem.

Remember, the original story was that we'd become 'like' the Great Old Ones! Free to know 'beyond' Good & Evil.

If that 'fate' has changed - then, any future possibility is possible...

1914: "End of the Jackson War."

Intro: When writing of HPL, writers use letters, essays & biographies about him. Even his stories can tell us much about his innermost being.

Taken together, this mass of info make Howard 1 of the most well documented fellows ever!

There seems to be few periods that we don't know something about Lovecraft's life.

Even during the "Lost Time" of HPL's retreat from society - as new info is always been discovered...

Researchers now know what books Lovecraft read, who he was with & what they spoke about.

They even know what flavor of ice cream Howard was eating & when!

A good example is how HPL never mentions James Dwyer's "City of the Unseen" published in the Argosy mag of December 1913.

It's not a good story, but, not only did Lovecraft read it, it's central image¹ reappeared in HPL's own later works.

We know Howard owned a copy of it, because this issue contains the 1st return volley in the weird Lovecraft/ Fred Jackson Letter War.

Which HPL had originally instigated in the earlier September 1913 issue of Argosy.

But, all things must pass...

In the end, Lovecraft wrote his War's epitaph. And he didn't use overlong or overblown language!

But, he did sneak in some martial terms...

Work: "Pray spare an inch or two², (to) print (these) critics's joint adieu."

"So long... since we began (this) fray, That readers swear we've (stolen) your Log³ away!"

"Forgive... sinners that presume. To fill with... verse⁴, such precious room."

"Inflamed by war & in... martial rage, We held awhile the center... stage."

"Til, blinded by... (such) furious fire, We battled on, forgetting to retire."

"But, (even) feuds draw... to their ends & foe(s) live to meet as friends:"

"So do we now... in lasting peace, Lay down our pens & slander(s) cease."

"What sound is this? ...A joyous yell, As we say farewell."

Notes:

1. Dwyer's "City of the Unseen" is a Lost Race story about an ancient city in the Arabian "Empty Quarter"!!

This sounds a lot like Howard's Irem! The City of Pillars that was swallowed by the sands of Araby!!

It was the lost city mentioned in the holy Koran... And, it might have been found - thru spy satellite footage!

2. This is about the measurement of column space given over to stories, pics & letters in newspapers, mags, etc...

In some cases, stories had to be cut in length, summarized or re-edited to fit the available space.

At the worst, the affected story would be 'saved' for later publication...

3. The "Log" was probably the name of the Argosy's letters page...

Some mags might also use a 2nd name like "Action Log", "Adventure Log" - even just "The Letters Log."

4. As mentioned in earlier posts, some letter writers used poetry to project their 'attacks' & to 'defend' each other.

And, Lovecraft was right in the middle of it all, slinging poetic barbs at Fred Jackson's writing skills...

It was this Letter War that brought HPL to the attention of the mighty UAPA.

More next time...

[changelingchilde9]

It was just her luck that the Starved who were invading were not of a country whose tongue she knew. Probably one of the tribes closest to London, while she came from one of the cave pillars that dotted the seas around Irem. It made everything much more difficult, especially since no one here was even slightly willing to give the Starved (what a stupid thing to call an entire species of people) the benefit of the doubt. Which meant that she, as both a long-term spy and an accidentally important person, couldn’t use any of the pass-phrases for meeting another nation.

Of course they were far enough away that they might not even use those. She’d tried before, back when she had to deal with the Hybrid Child, and gotten only the slightest hint of comprehension. Enough to keep them from attacking en mass, but little more than that.

She didn’t think this was the same nation as either she’d seen then, too many small differences that Surfacers would never notice. Still, she didn’t want to fight her own on behalf of London. Doing nothing would be far too obvious, however, so helping people it was. It was fairly obvious that this attack was not against the people—and probably not an attack at all, frankly, but try explaining that to Londoners—so rescuing the poor fools caught in the middle should be fine. Fixing anyone who got changed unwillingly, too. It required becoming her Shapeling-expert self, with a hint of words-sweet-as-venom to keep them from panicking, but that trick’s a simple one.

She was willing to fix the ‘harm’ being done to the city as well, but only in ways unlikely to actually undermine what her kind was doing. Adding bone to flesh, healing bleeding streets, creating a functional city out of Shapeling materials. And if anyone questioned that? Well, everyone knew that she had a fondness for the Rubbery Men. A truth that made for an easy cover, the best kind.

[squadron-of-damned]

neither I nor the Soft-Eyed Mycologist has any idea of what is going on in Irem of the Pillars, but buttons go smash.

[lothricknightgirl]

I'm sending you to irem

Snow, ice, vaguely ominous pillars of indeterminate and rose petals

What's not the love :D

[tunaafishyy]

“Look Into Later” Genshin Lore Note — H.P. Lovecraft References:

The Nameless City

1. Partially inspired by passage he saw on Irem, City of Pillars/Atlantis of the Sands:

[…] after the annihilation of its tenants […] remains invisible to the ordinary eye, but occasionally, and at rare intervals, revealed to some heaven-favoured traveller

Irem is also called "Irum", "Irem", "Erum", "Ubar"

Appears on Book of One Thousand and One Nights ("The City of Many-Columned Iram and Abdullah Son of Abi Kilabah")

City of Pillars is also used for alternate name of Tulaytullah in Genshin

Wiki entry mentions “Thamud”. Thamud (Thamudians) one of the 3 peoples under Deshret

2. Achievement for completing the Hidden Exploration objective that gives the Mysterious Parchment mentioning Shiruyeh is called “Call of The Nameless City”

3. The text on the mysterious parchment icon is a quote from The Nameless City:

That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die.

Dreams in the Witch House

1. Witch (Keziah) has a “rat-bodied human faced familiar” (Brown Jenkin). Rat-bodied human faces creatures are mentioned in Genshin’s Tales of Shirin and Shiruyeh

2. Triangle Abyss

[theultrablog]

Pulp Storytime #33: Beignet, Done That!(Adapted from The Heart of Yhtill by Jason Vey.)

Beware the hand that drags you out of the water… When you don’t even know you’re drowning. New Orleans, August 1935. A low patter of rain drums against the windows of the House of the Rising Sun. Penelope “Penny” An’Te pulls in a pile of chips. She dragged her buddies Giula "Lala" Santinella and Florence Zee here to show off America’s amazing nightlife. And everything goes fine until Bebe Brossard takes the stage. Devika and Penelope literally hold Florence back from storming the stage to “join” her biggest musical rival. As Brossard exposes the crowd to the latest and hippest invention, the electric guitar, a bunch of calamities occur. And the session was so action-packed I can only hope to summarize, not retell. Interspersed with action was levity and some of the weirdest drama of the campaign so far. A disguised waiter shoots a blow dart, accidentally hitting JP Diamond, private eye. He’s ZOMBIFIED, and only the combined efforts of the characters can keep him down, literally. They toss tables and chairs, anything within arm's reach, until the bouncers can gag and remove the biting deadman. They manage to get the dart, and through their contacts, find out it’s similar to a design by Marie LeVeau, the voodoo queen of New Orleans. Here are just a sampling of the conflicts: *Piloting a fan boat into the bayou, and helping the voodoo queen hold off a siege by the grotesque Juillet Family. (Turns out the villains of "Wives of March" aren't as extinct as previously thought!) At this point, the players return in their muddy eveningwear, trudging through the hotel lobby and arguing about who gets the first access to the shower. When they wake up, they get good and bad news: the private detective’s companion last night is offering them a lot of money to investigate her missing husband in their stead. The bad news is that a hurricane is hitting the city. *Next is investigating a creepy southern mansion as the floodwaters rise. Penny, former Hawaiian lifeguard, drops down to a one piece and explores the murky basement with the flashlight. Not a master of investigation, stunt woman Lala just grabs bags and bags of everything. The owner of the house had gone mad looking for Irem of the pillars, the mystical city of Muslim folklore. The gang rushes to the airport. Before they land, they realize that Saudi Arabia isn’t the greatest place for unaccompanied women… —— Once they arrive, the players discover an ancient brotherhood trying to prevent anyone from finding Irem. (They discover this by almost getting killed via blow dart.) They spend the gambling winnings ASAP, fueling up for a journey into the desert…But there is one person who wants to meet the players. One of the world’s most famous female directors, and she has a starring role that would be perfect for Lala, who agrees immediately. As they head out on a two-week desert journey, Lala brags about her newfound fortune. Florence explains who Leni Riefenstahl is. The desert was filled with action. Impatient Penny refuses to wait for the camel-using Brotherhood. *The exhausted trio arrives at the semi-ruined city… and is immediately accosted by giant monsters. They just barely evade a roc with a wingspan the size of a school bus. They take cover in a temple, but accidentally awaken its guardian, a flesh worm multiple stories tall. To be continued!

Marie LeVeau.

[ranarh]

Tower of Flesh

For roleplaying publishers Sons of the Singularity. It's a cheek-in-tongue horror image in the style of a holiday postcard set from the Lovecraftian mythos city of Irem, the city of pillars, where they built a tower of people - but not in a nice way. I think there are some perspective issues but who's to say they only used humans in that tower. I took cues from the Taj Mahal for the layout and used a limited palette provided for the setting specifically.

The Kickstarter for this RPG book is now live: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/singularity-sons/the-blessed-and-the-blasphemous

[jj-baruch]

Legends of Webber Mesa

Northwest of Coventry, across the line into Seelig County, one finds the strange location known as Webber Mesa. The only sign within the distance of the horizon of modern white settlement in the area is a group of roving Arabian oryx, their tawny white coats stark against the reddish-black of the land, that escaped from an attempt at domestication of the beasts in the 1960s. Compared to their far more arid homeland, the region is a veritable paradise with its seasonal rains and scattered scrub. Their curling, twisted horns, if seen without the beast and only one at a time, might well explain later legends of the unicorn so prominent in European myth. But there are stories enough about Webber Mesa not to worry about them.

Rising above a skirt of fallen rubble, the mesa itself is hardly an imposing structure, perhaps 100 feet in height, all banded and colored with different layers of harder rock left behind when the Great Plains were eroding away to their present level, and covering some three square miles at its top. The ascent is marked by a wide, flat, and obviously artificial path of uncertain antiquity. The summit is deceptively smooth when seen from the air or by the few visitors on the ground. Around the edge, one finds a narrow walkway or trail, theories diverge as to its origin, with solid, smooth stone, pallid white against the ochre of the material underneath. Woe unto any who strays too far away from this edge! The stories are many of ranch hands and entire herds lost after making their arduous way up the trail to the crown. For, beneath a thin coating of dust that often swirls with heat vortices, lies a strange layer of material with nigh unto zero friction and sworn by some not to be of this Earth.

Scientists at Coventry University were and still are quite baffled as to the origins of this material, which, up on examination, appears to be an exotic species of buckminsterfullerene unknown in any other natural context and which, indeed, would seem to deny full classification. While the exterior shells of the little spherules are comprised of a lattice of iron, copper, and aluminum, as one might expect, the atom trapped within is a mystery. Analysis shows it to have an absurdly high atomic weight and number, leading some to speculate privately about a “Second Island of Stability” well beyond the range of known elements. None has yet published on the matter, so the question may remain forever unanswered.

Whatever the case, surely this strange composition cannot fully explain the more than supernal horror at mere impending death that infused the final shout of one Thaddeus Spencer (d. 1903), who called out as he was lost, “It’s got me, Dan!” Speculation was rife at the time and, no doubt, would continue to be so if anyone of a modern mindset gave more credence to such legendry as low dunes that shifted and swirled of themselves, or of occasional sightings of what appeared to be a pair of many-tined antlers rising therefrom in the sunset light. Few have dared to stay long enough for a good look and fewer still who have had no look at all believe them.

Native legends are, of course, not believed, though perhaps they should be. The Comanche, when they would speak of the place at all, called it Hweebuur, which may in fact be the origin of the English name, as no one named Webber can be associated with the geologic structure by antiquarian investigators. The meaning is obscure and even the Tribe’s oldest elders admit they do not know the meaning of it.

Their stories tell of a once-great city, fallen to ruin when its people displeased the gods, of a Lord of Obsidian and a Lady of Quicksilver who ruled over the People of Stone. They grew haughty in their wealth and power in a great edifice of brass that surrounded an ever-full spring set amid a courtyard of many pillars. Merchants came from all the world over, as they knew it, to exchange their wares and do homage to the Lord and Lady and People. Jade and feathers from the far south. Maize and beans from the east. Gold and medicines from the west. Furs and hides from the north. Dreams and far stranger things from somewhere known only as “Below.” All that the Lord and Lady and People might desire was brought to them and came to them in the tithe of the traders as they met and assembled in the court of pillars around the only source of water for many, many miles around.

As profits rose, so did prophets, denouncing the debaucheries and cruelties of the Lord of Obsidian and Lady of Quicksilver and People of Stone. Foul treatments did they give to strangers who did not amuse or enrich them as much as they might desire. And these prophets denounced the Lord and Lady and People for seven years. Their hearts were hardened. For seven years, the spring ran dry and the traders came no more. Still, their hearts were hardened and what had formerly been brought to them, they now went out and took by force of arms, heaping cruelty upon cruelty, making their former depredations seem as the blushing sins of youth against those of men and women full grown in evil.

And then the prophets, those who had survived the tortures of the Lord and Lady and the People, left one night. The many-pillared court of brass resounded with triumph, songs of how they had proven themselves mightier than the gods themselves. And on the seventh day of feasting, they were taken. An antlered serpent, miles long with eyes of obsidian and scales of quicksilver and teeth of stone, arose over the mesa and breathed out smoke and fire and dust, melting and burning and burying all. This serpent, called Hweebuur in the telling gathered by an ethnologist of a century ago interested in snake tales, took up residence in the shifting piles of death and destruction, to guard against any who might dare to resurrect the lost splendor of the city that had fallen to its wrath.

Thus does the legend end and none today visits Webber Mesa save the fleet oryxes of distant Arabia in their gamboling search for scrub plants upon which to feast in the craggy outskirts of a place avoided by mankind.

For this and more stories, visit me at https://patreon.com/jjbaruch

[tumblrisweird]

I’m putting together a list of real-world references to people and places in Fallen London. Most of this is speculative; I am not an authority in any way. I’m sure there are plenty I’m missing and I omitted the most obvious ones like the Royal Family, Big Ben, etc. Note that there are some lore spoilers here that you might want to figure out yourself. Feel free to add more! (“=“ means “is the FL version of” and “->” means “gets its name from or is inspired by”)

Royal Beth = Bethlehem Royal Hospital (where we get the term Bedlam House)

The Manager of the Royal Beth = Gilgamesh

The King with a Hundred Hearts = Enkidu

The First City = Uruk

The Duchess = Ankhesenamun

The Cantigaster = Tutankhamen, a.k.a. King Tut

The Second City = Thebes or Amarna

The Third City = a major Mayan city, possibly Tikal EDIT: or Chichen Itza

The Gracious Widow = Shirin, Daughter of Mongke Khan

The Fourth City = Karakorum

Mt. Palmerston -> Henry John Temple a.k.a. “Lord Palmerston”

St. Fiacre's = St. Paul's Cathedral (via St. Fiacre)

Wilmot's End -> Montague Wilmot

Spite = Spitalfields

New Newgate -> Newgate Prison

GHRR -> Devil's Highway

Blythenhale = Bethnal Green

Bugsby's Marshes = Moorfields

Elderwick = Aldwych

Irem = Iram of the Pillars

Low Barnet -> Chipping/High Barnet

Venomous Caricaturist = Carlo Pellegrini

Dashing Debunker = Harry Houdini

Mr. Huffman = Charles Dickens

Benthic College = University College (via Jeremy Bentham)

Summerset College = Kings College (via Somerset House)

Epigrammatic Irishman = Oscar Wilde

Dr. Schlomo = Sigmund Schlomo Freud

The Jovial Contrarian = Georges Auguste Couthon

Hood’s Bridge = Waterloo Bridge (via The Bridge of Sighs by Thomas Hood)

[honourablejester]

i happened to see that you have a sunless sea and fallen london tag - that's so cool! i've played fallen london on and off for years now, and just bought sunless skies recently and started playing it, and have been really enjoying it. i'd love to hear how you got into the games, if you ever played sunless skies, fav npcs, or anything else you'd be up to share!

If I’m being 100% honest, I found Sunless Sea on TV Tropes while reading Lovecraftian tropes. Heh. I love cosmic horror, and maritime horror, and victorian horror, and it just looked like a fabulous merge of all three. My sister, who is the one mostly responsible for my forays into video games, bought it for us, and the rest is history. 

(I haven’t actually played either Fallen London or Sunless Skies yet, although Sunless Skies *might* happen soon. It’s just Sunless Sea for now)

Fav NPCs from Sunless Sea ... The Pirate Poetess! I wanted to romance her so bad, but at the time my sister had an *arrangement* with a Dapper Gentleman in London, and wouldn’t allow us to cheat on him. She’s so cool, though. She’s a finished Clay Man that rebelled anyway, and has poetry tattooed all over her body, and is looking for a worthy opponent, and the way to romance her is to shoot about six ships out from under her while welcoming her aboard politely for a meal after. I love her so much.

From the Officers, I love the Presbyterate Adventuress. No spoilers, but she has a fair bit in common with the Pirate Poetess. Also the Brisk Campaigner, for similar reasons. The Tireless Mechanic is a lot of fun (especially if you romance him), and I wanted to adopt and take care of the Sigil-Ridden Navigator. Same with the Nacreous Outcast.

In London, both me and my sister are very fond of the Dark-Spectacled Admiral, if only because his reactions to your various port reports are so hilarious. And, as you find with a certain radiant questline, he’s smarter and more subtle than he seems. The Alarming Scholar is also a lot of fun.

In the wider Unterzee, the Fathomking also gets points for falling in love with a lorn-fluke and apparently surviving.

My favourite locations are probably Irem of the Pillars, Godfall, Avid Horizon, Aigul, Frostfound and the Principals of Coral (best soundtrack). Nuncio and Visage also get a look-in. I do prefer the north end of the map, because it’s more my stripe of horror. The southern continent isn’t as fun for me.

My least favourite anything is Saviours Rocks, because nothing needs that many spiders. Nothing

My sister’s least favourite is either the north, because Mount Nomad (which is a fantastic monster, by the way), or the giant eyeball on the ocean floor. More likely the giant eyeball.

Basically, Sunless Sea is a fantastic game, and I love it to bits, and I’m looking forward to Sunless Skies when I eventually get around to it!

[jiskblr]

Beyond Is and Is-Not

There is no good term for "the entirety of places a person can visit", truly. 'The world'? There are many of them. 'The universe'? Again, it's seems quite likely that it is not singular. 'Reality'? Outright incorrect; many of the places one can visit are decidedly, distinctly un-real. Many scholars would say there are two universes, or worlds, or what have you; there is the one we know, to which humans are native, where the planets orbit stars, light is law and the Judgments rule from atop the Great Chain of Being. This is the realm of Is. Then, on the other side of mirrors, behind the glass, lies Parabola; ruled by the Fingerkings, home to great cats and the eldest of devils, outside time and life and law. This is the realm of Is-Not. They neatly carve up all that could be; a thing either Is, or it Is Not, and lives in the corresponding realm, and so these are the two univeres. That's the theory, at least; as you may have gathered, I disagree.

Firstly, consider the Neath. A great cavern under the earth, where sunlight does not reach and most of the laws of nature are suspended. But merely suspended, not negated; death is strange in the Neath, but not unknown. Breaching the Great Chain and elevating oneself (or, theoretically, debasing oneself, were it not that the Great Chain considers humans to be nearly as debased as it is possible to be) is possible, here, but difficult, and nearly impossible without a counterweight which moves the opposite direction on the Chain with the same magnitude. It is easy for us to access Parabola, especially compared to the Surface, but we are manifestly not in Parabola, as you may note easily from the fact that causes lead to effects, motion passes through the intervening space, and the vast majority of locations are in the same place on Sunday as they will be on Friday week. We are not Is-Not, but not quite Is either.

Then, consider Irem, far across the Zee. Irem sits outside time, and one can take a stroll through its pillared streets and find yourself in Parabola, then wake from that dream and find yourself in an unfamiliar bed in a room you will have never entered. Irem will be, is, and has ever been, all at once, and ideas may be held in the hand, there. It will be very much like Parabola, and clearly will not be in the realm of Is, but it will not quite be Is-Not either. (The odd tense in which one will always find oneself speaking of Irem will be another aspect of its unreality.)

These establish that the distinction between Is and Is-Not blurs and has gradations, not a simple binary. But even within the Neath, there are stranger realms in evidence. Consider Frostfound. It is a realm of ice, in which time does not pass linearly, suggesting that it Is-Not. And the reflections in the mirror-bright ice of Frostfound have a life of their own, likewise similar to Parabola's gateways. But one cannot reach, or even see, Frostfound from dreams, and the Fingerkings not only have no power within its walls, but appear to find it utterly terrifying. If time is a river flowing to the ocean, Parabola is a placid lake where eddies swirl in any or every direction, but Frostfound is a boulder sitting mid-stream. It defies time, deflecting or imprisoning anything which attempts to impose causality upon it. This is very hard to reconcile with any gradation of the Is/Is-Not distinction, indicating strongly that it lies outside that spectrum.

I submit that the explanation can be found in one myth of Frostfound's formation, which is in at least some sense true. This myth goes that a stray Judgment entered the Neath; not the Lovelorn King who Surfacers call 'the Sun' but a star from a far-distant land. This traveling king sought something, something it felt a powerful need for. It sought it across the High Wilderness but in vain, for what it sought is not. Judgments cannot visit Is-Not, nor would they be permitted if they tried, but it heard that the Lovelorn King had made a realm outside star's light and yet not Parabola, and so it opened the Avid Horizon and entered the Neath. When it was here, it sought its desire in the irrigo depths of the Cave of the Nadir, it sought it from the Mountain of Light which is the god Stone, and it sought it in the peligin deeps of the Zee, but still in vain. the Traveling King spoke to the shapelings of the Neath-roof, and learned that what it sought cannot be found in any star's light - d___ inconvenient, as it was itself a star. But it is the Neath, and breaking the Chain is possible. The Traveling King could make itself no longer a star. It carved from its timeless nature an eternal island, so that whatever changes it might undergo would have always been so, and yet it would still know how to appreciate things it had once wanted; this was Irem. It carved out its memories of its search and the hunger Stone's light had amplified, and placed them as a great castle at the edge of Stone's light, and this was Kingeater's Castle. But it was still too much a star, and so it carved out the desire itself, creating something that eternally Was and yet Is Not. The twin paradoxes of this need being always true-in-the-past but never true-in-the-present, and of the Traveler excising the need and yet remaining driven by it, made water, minds, and even time freeze around it, and that was Frostfound. And then the Traveler, no longer a king, went East from Irem, seeking its desire in the unlit eternity of the East.

Frostfound is, according to this story, a crystallized paradox, Is-Not created from the raw soul-stuff of a Judgment, which is anathema to Is-Not. Like a hole dug so deep that it wraps around to fall from the sky, Frostfound is at the same time the direct opposite of Parabola and a duplicate of it. This explains a number of events and phenomena where items extracted from Frostfound both have transportative properties reminescent of prisoner's honey but also inhibit prisoner's honey or Glass-work by their presence. I posit furthermore that just as the nature of Law-distortion, as developed from Parabola and demonstrated in the Iron Republic, forms the discipline of the Red Science, investigating the nature of Frostfound in detail will reveal an equal and opposite discipline, which I shall provisionally name the Blue Science. This is not limited exclusively to Frostfound; the Drownie bubble-London of Dahut, on the floor of the Unterzee, seems to operate along the same lines. (This suggests that the Fathomking may have some skill in the Blue Science, though as His Complexity is known to trade with the Fingerkings, that picture is manifestly - pardon the pun - a complex one.) Certain reports from the High Wilderness, in domains such as the Garden-King's realm which no longer possess a shining Judgment, also point to similar principles; I particularly note the Silent Saint and certain well-substantiated ghost stories. The Saint may have been formed by a similar mechanism as Frostfound, but no record survives of its formation. The ghost stories are more intriguing; multiple stories from the former-Garden include principal figures capable of acting as living men for considerable time, hours or days, and which leave physical traces of their presence and actions, which remain even after their ghostly nature is discovered and the figure himself has disappeared. These walking shadows appear to share the Was-Yet-Is-Not nature of Frostfound and the Blue Science, and without the direct involvement of a Judgment, which is quite intriguing; should I venture to the High Wilderness myself, confirming and investigating these stories shall certainly be my first research subject. Broadly, I expect from these examples that the Blue Science is not capable of effects as dramatic and powerful as the Red Science, but that it is will also prove much easier to control and harness, avoiding a known shortcoming of that anarchic field.

However, the existence of this realm invites a broader point. First it appeared that there was a binary choice between Is and Is-Not, and later a spectrum which admits of many gradations of gray, and even positions on this spectrum which could be manipulated selectively so that some aspects were close to Is and others to Is-Not (the subject of the Red Science). But this realm is not on that spectrum; if we view degree of reality as the number line, with zero at Is and unity at Is-Not, then this realm is not a fraction. It may be a negative number, which would be perplexing given its observed properties but not entirely inconsistent. More interesting is the idea that it lies outside the real numbers entirely; not entirely orthogonal to the axis of Is to Is-Not, but skew to it, a complex number of whatever magnitude. This raises the question: if more than one direction, one angle in the polar form of complex coordinates, is possible, why only two? How many other realms of strange quasi-reality are attainable? Is there a whole rainbow of cousins to the Red Science? Is there a Green, a Silver, a Violet Science? For that matter, is there a Gant, Irrigo, or Violant Science? And if these do exist - and surely, some of them must, as where there are three categories there must surely be many - how might we begin to uncover them? I admit without shame that this question has consumed me since I first conceived of it, despite having no idea how it might be answered. Beyond even this is a further question, which in candor I am not even sure how to ponder: If realms may be mapped as rays in complex space, not merely scalars, why confine them to only a single plane? As the late Irish Arch-Theorist described the complex plane, these rays are vectors, rooted at the origin. And if we use his framework in describing the relation that the Blue realm has to the spectrum from Is to Is-Not, we can ascertain only that it is neither a more extreme form of one of those two, nor is it orthogonal. But any two non-parallel vectors may define a plane, and so until we find a third, we have no reason to think there is a single plane that all possible vectors lie within. They may differ on many axes; a space of three, five, even a dozen dimensions. It may even be that they are not simple vectors at all, but more akin to Sir Hamilton's more esoteric work - namely the system of quaternions - or to the octonions of Benthic's Prolific Fellow, or to mathematics yet more arcane. I have utmost confidence, however, that whatever the system may be, it shall be describable by mathematical means. Even in the darkness beyond Law, the study of Number has remained the Queen of the Sciences, and has not admitted of any field which was not Her subject.

[vake-hunter]

Light Fingers Lore Post

Moon-Misers

Normal Moon-Milk is a poison they use to make their prey walk right into their mouth. It’s not meant to last for long.

Babies are rare, only born about once a decade! “A Moon-Miser can only be born when the stars align. It must also be coaxed from the womb with a Song of Birthing.” Once born it must be fed special nectar extracted from stalactites. Who knows what that’s made of! “At birth, Moon-Misers are wrapped in their mother's silk, forming a protective membrane while their carapaces develop.”

Here, have some NEAT Red Science quotes: “You are forging a new link of a great chain. This is the most impossible and unforgiving of occasions: the creation of something new. In this tent, you usher a brand new species from the vaults of possibility. You are spitting in the face of the gods. You are violating laws written in starlight before the world began.”

This is VERY important Lore: the baby has your eyes.

(If Baby is more human) As the zeppelin ascends, the Hybrid raises its voice in solemn song. As you listen, a thrill runs down your spine. For a moment, swept up in the song, you experience a vision: in your mind's eye, a blazing-bright king unites the tribes of the Starved Men under one banner, and harnesses the Moon-Misers as steeds. He leads his subjects on a crusade against the city below - a city that is no longer London, but that still harbours the Moon-King's greatest nemesis, now much embittered at the failure of its schemes. The resulting war will prove its final undoing.

Mr Fires

Is trying to bankrupt the Bazaar in a way. 

If it makes a bunch of fake love stories, that can trick Wines and Spices and the Bazaar, eventually the Bazaar won’t know what love is real and what isn’t, thus, hopefully, discouraging the Bazaar and the other Masters. 

“A bitter edge creeps into its sibilant voice. "Once a suitable love story is found, it’ll be the end of London. Can you imagine?" The lamp trembles in its hand. Its voice rises an octave. "The end of London! I couldn't bear it! I love this city. It's my sole comfort, the greatest joy I have discovered in all my centuries. I'd do anything to preserve it."

“In the longer term, the Hybrid's milk is the only thing that can save the city. Once seeded across the populace, all love stories will be rendered suspect. Any love, no matter how pure or moving, could simply be the symptoms of an aberration's venom. Love will be robbed of its allure. The Bazaar will not know which stories it can truly believe in."

"If my plan succeeds, the other Masters will abandon London as a failed venture." Mr Fires holds up its lamp; here at the bottom, the shelves are lined with leather-bound volumes. "They shall depart, and I shall make arrangements to preserve the city."

It is very defensive of what it did at the Orphanage, in a way that almost makes it sound like it's guilty. It does insist it would do it again, and it doesn’t care about the people, just London as a city. 

Confirmation Fires likes science. 

More evidence Masters can shapeshift to change their sizes and when they are upset, they have trouble staying small. 

Its very fucking excited to burn things down and upset Wines. 

(Giving the baby to Fires) "One day, London will be a city glutted with love," says Mr Fires, returning its gaze to the Hybrid. "Or at least, reliably-replicable facsimiles of it. The effect will be subtle. A modest adjustment, year on year. Wines won't suspect a thing until it is too late." It glances at you. "You and I, [Addressed As], have saved London today."

Boil of Calamities

Possibly the first Fingerking or at least a very very old and strong one.

Seven Heads like the statue at Irem. 

The Sun and the Spire that connects it are sacred places to the Fingerkings and the Boil protects them. “They may allow your kind to trespass across the rest of their kingdom, you slumbering oafs, you mortal morsels, but not here, not the hallowed spire. Insolence! Blasphemy!”

Huge coils that appear in the sky. Black scales, a knot of snakes or just one massive one. Like storm clouds with huge fangs. Tongues flicker like lightning.

It once took tributes and accepted people as servants but the the door to its Chamber seems long abandoned. 

The Chamber is found in the shadow of the Dome of Scales. “Inside is a cavern that smells faintly of spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamon. Heavy silk banners hang from the walls, depicting battles between cats and serpents. Seven braziers burn merrily with viric fire. Plates of delicious-looking food have been set out: pomegranates, bloody steak, bunches of plump indigo grapes. At the centre sits a majestic basalt altar, carved with dozens of runes and symbols, a silver bowl waiting atop.”

If you make a Pact with the Boil, you must shed your skin. Don’t worry, there’s more skin under there. Better skin, you’re told. You peel yourself with a Ravenglass knife and it uses the same wording as in my Kingdom for A Pig and the Third City Deal :) 

“There is indeed new skin underneath. It is tender and dry, with the faintest silver sheen. The effect is subtle. Only a lover or a doctor would notice.”

“You look up to the Boil, your skin flashing silver, and bow deeply. The overbearing tangle of coils slips apart, separating, loosening. You find yourself breathing more easily.”

Court of Cats

The Duchess is capable of calling a meeting with the Court. 

They slew the seven daughters of the Boil. 

They have a spear made from a Fingerking’s fang that is capable of piercing the Skin of the Sun. However only cats are allowed to wield it. So if you want it you must become an Honorary Cat.

“The Lord High Seneschal pronounces you the 'Lyon Pursuivant of Arms Extraordinary,' officially a cat, and thus entitled to take possession of one of the cats' greatest trophies.”

“As they fall quiet, you ask why they have never wielded this spear against their enemies in the past? "Because cats do not have thumbs," says the Knight Marshall, with a haughty look.”

“Hephaesta draws back her Herculean arm and hurls the spear of the Sleeping King, putting every hard-wrung ounce of her strength behind the throw. It flies, like a shell from a cannon, cracking the Skin of the Sun and sinking a foot deep. At the point of impact, the glass buckles and twists and shrieks. Hephaesta and the tiger roar in triumph.”

“A great, hollow crack rings across Parabola. A shadow mars the cosmogone sunlight passes over the sun.”

Parabolan Sun (Not strictly Lore just from Light Fingers but Important)

Parabola was not always bright. It seemed to be in perpetual twilight before the Second City Sisters rose the Sun. 

“This is a place that is not. It was not always light, though once it was brighter. The sisters found it in twilight and in dreams. The night was thus sacred to the Second City. They would not be pursued here. The ushabti were created to help in the construction of the Palace. The Second City could have lived here forever.”

This also seems to imply there was no moon either, as the moon is a cat. It probably came with the Second City as well. "Look, there are patterns there, just like the surface's moon. Only... these don't resemble a man, or anything else so much as a cat, curled up asleep."

The Sisters of the Pharaoh (minus the Duchess) fled to Parabola when the Third City fell to avoid being killed. “We four survivors fled. One remained with the City, while I retreated here.”

"The Palace of the Rising was to be a refuge from the Masters and the Bazaar. A new sun was raised in the sky so the citizens might walk in light again.”

The thing is. The Sun was built with the help of what appears to be the God of the Fingerkings. "the Boil of Calamities, Lord of the Seething Sky, wept a drop of shining glass..."

The Boil protects the Sun and the Cats hate the Fingerkings. It seems the Four Sisters betrayed the Cats and their other sister, the Duchess, in order to make the Sun. "It also is the mother-father of the egg that is the Parabolan sun," adds a dark-faced tabby. Its reflection is that of a snarling puma. "Though others played a part in that, too." The Duchess' lips tighten.”

Physically: A huge glass dome held to the land by a stone pillar. Even the sky around the dome appears to be glass. (Interesting given how the Second City imprisoned the Masters was to cover the Neath in glass. From The Mind Of A Long Dead God: “Glass Walls Everywhere! They surround me. They reflect one realm inwards and keep me from the other. These barriers should be fluid!” Note that the Neath IS Storm’s corpse.)

NORTH

Rubbery Men plan to fly north. “They take off again in an instant, heading North, waving you farewell. Where do they ultimately hope to go? Again, it's impossible to tell. Perhaps they hope to find their way home.”

If baby is more Moon-Miser: As the zeppelin ascends, the Hybrid raises its voice in solemn song. A thrill runs down your spine. For a moment, swept up by the song, you experience a vision: a blazing-bright king of Moon-Misers leading its glimmering subjects on a pilgrimage across the roof and through a door far to the North. Below, in a city that is not London, the citizens point and murmur in fear as their false-stars crawl into the distance and blink out one by one, leaving only darkness behind.

Item Rewards

Lyon Pursuivant of Arms Extraordinary: For the purposes of having legal custody of a famous war trophy, you have been made an honorary cat, with the associated title, privileges, and dignities. [Affiliation; Shadowy +3, Persuasive +6, Dangerous +2, Respectable +1]

Tatterskin Shawl: Once, you offending the Boil of Calamities. To make amends you offered up your own skin as a gift. The Boil was thoughtful enough to return your old skin to you, though it no longer fits as snugly as it once did. [Clothing; Shadowy +6, Persuasive -2, Dreaded +1, Bizarre +1, Mithridacy +1]

A Loyal Nightmare of Poor Edward: You married what remained of Poor Edward. Now he is a nightmare, bound by the miser-milk to the dreams of the Orphanage. Sometimes, you visit him there. [Affiliation; Shadowy +2, Persuasive +1, Dreaded +1]

A Kitten-Sized Diamond, Liberated from the Mountain: It was torn from the Mountain that looms on the Elder Continent. If set near wounds, they heal. If left in one place for too long, flowers bloom around it. If left near lesser diamonds, they will hatch. [Home Comfort; Persuasive +10, Respectable +2, Artisan of the Red Science +1]

A False-Star of your Own: Above London, false-stars shine. One is your bastard child, a Hybrid, a diamond the size of a cow. It is a hundred times brighter than its fellows, a blazing pinpoint; every month or two, for just a few days, it passes directly over the city. For that brief period, London's gloom eases into a velvety twilight. (In addition to the stat advantages, this Companion allows you a unique opportunity while zailing.) [Companion; Watchful +6, Shadowy +12, Shapeling Arts +1, Bizarre +2]

[thearkhound]

Arcade Game Gallery: R-TYPE Leo

The following is a translation of the Arcade Game Gallery article that appeared in the February 1993 issue of Micom BASIC Magazine written by Naoki Yamanaka. It features concept art and settings for IREM’s arcade R-TYPE Leo, along with an overview of the series thus far at the time.

History of the R-Type Series

R-TYPE Leo

is the latest entry in the R-TYPE series, which debuted in 1987. Its novel gameplay system became a hot topic everywhere following its release. The original

R-TYPE

was a large influence on many games that came afterward with its novel ideas, starting with the presence of the Force, an auxiliary weapon that was not only invulnerable, but could also ram into enemies, followed by large enemy warships that couldn’t fit the screen and the beam-wave cannon launched by holding down the shot button. Its popularity was not limited to the arcades, as it spread to consoles and computers with versions for the Sega Master System and TurboGrafx-16, as well as the MSX2 and Sharp X68000 [and even western computers like the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga].

A sequel titled R-TYPE II was released for the arcades two years later, which introduced the Beam-Wave Scattering Cannon, a more powerful version of the Beam-Wave Cannon that is launched when you hold the shot button a bit longer. A reworked port titled Super R-TYPE was released for the Super NES.

In R-TYPE LEO, the bits (now known as the Psi-bits) that have played a role as a secondary auxiliary weapon in prior games, have replaced the Force as the main auxiliary weapon.

In relation to the rest of the series, R-TYPE LEO is not a sequel to the previous R-TYPE games, but rather it is a side-story set in an alternate universe where some events in the past happened differently. As a result, the Bydo Empire did not came into existence in this world and because of this, the Force does not appear in this game.

R-9 (Leo) & The Psy-Bits

The R-9 from LEO, which serves as the player’s ship, is basically the same ship as the R-9 that was deployed to battle in the original R-TYPE, aside from the fact that it’s not equipped with the Beam-Wave Cannon.

Instead, the bits, which were energy condenser intended for defense, were modified for attacking. It adds a laser converter and rechargeable energy known as “Cip” (pronounced saipu), and employs a system in which the pilot’s psychowave is entered as input for the ship’s controls. The result is a new type of Bits known as Psy-Bits.

R-9 Equipment

Psy-Bits

They’re equipped above and below the R-9 after acquiring the Laser Unit.

The Psy-Bits will aim towards the opposite direction depending on whether the joystick is being pushed forwards or backwards.

By holding and releasing the shot button, you can initiate a “Psy-Bit Cipher” attack, in which they will seek out and ram into enemy ships. It can also pass through hurdles.

The Psy-Bit Cipher Attack will be canceled if you let go of the button or the energy display at the bottom of the screen runs out. Energy will be automatically replenished when the Psy-Bits are attached to the ship.

Weapons

The weapon that can be used by the R-9 itself and the Psy-Bits will differ depending on the color of the second Laser Unit picked up.

There are three types of weapon: a Cannon Laser (red), a Reflect Laser (blue) and a Homing Laser (green). They can be upgraded by up to three levels.

From left to right.

The Laser Unit. It changes colors over time.

Guided Missiles. Unlike the previous games, there’s only one type instead of two.

Speed-Up. You can keep taking it without any problem.

Enemies

From left to right and then up to down, starting from the upper left corner:

Lead,Jiita, Base, Spleet, Kaito

Spidd, Gerudo, Meteo, Cannon, Domu, Teal, Pillar

Prisoner, Ladder, Orudo, Laser Bee, Lamia, Daria, Skader

Gieg, Bigu, Spark, Thunder Cannon, Druid, Leather Rock, Hazard Rock

Paradox, Logic, Crazy Cannon, Moo, Loader Mother, Sadondeal, Loader

From top left to right and then bottom left to right

Sadistin, Daggerd, Foress

Zera, Twin Coil, Cyber-Brain, Messiah