#sskies

[dandelioncasey]

...i started this save fifteen minutes ago

[the-clay-quarters]

pros and/or cons to drinking around engineers

[the-masterless-press]

How many people here have ocs that are over the age of 30?

Doesn't have to be a PC, can be any character within the universe

[house-of-mirrors]

Charm told me to go look at the Rat Market and whoa... can't believe they did nothing while we were out to zee hunting lifebergs

They made the freakin... three witches from Shakespeare into rats akshkshdjdj

Three aspects of Hecate... three fates, three furies... the number 3 in fairy tales... the rule of three (a motif appears and on the third time it is relevant)... Hunter's Keep... three sevens... the number nine in the discordance and the inferno... so interesting. Three bodies, the sun, earth, and moon, aligned for an eclipse.

Detailed analysis under the cut!

The Absent Rat references something from Irem (which also to me suggests this was written by Bruno... we do talk about Bruno)

Revisionist history, of course. Well, we know from Mr Menagerie in skies that there was a world before the Judgements. I wonder what that was. The colonization theme, and also the theme from cosmic horror that "there is always something greater."

The Erased Rat.

The Sequence - The Great Chain. And it was at this moment I fully realized what the name New Sequence implies, as if I didn't already know the theme: it's just a new tyrant.

Also the watchdog line is doing things to me

The Hollow Rat of course references parabola. Storm-toss'd kin, I wonder if that references The Prophet Exile in the Well of Wonders. And surely there are other wells with parabolan criminals.

Iambic Pentameter <3

[neath-to-reach-zine]

Neath to Reach Zine 3!

It's official, we will be doing a third installment of the Neath to Reach Zine!

SIGNUPS ARE NOW OPEN!

This year's theme will be "Field Guide to Biology".

You can now sign up by filling out the above google forms! There is no selection of participants - rather, the first 60 people who sign up WILL get to be in the zine, assuming they have joined the discord server for the zine!

(You can also join the server without signing up for the zine just to hang out!)

Signup will close on February 29, 2024 OR when all 60 participant slots are filled, whichever comes first!

[hippopotatoe]

today i have so many feelings abt albion in sunless skies, esp the parts around london+the brabazon workworld like. hyperindustrialism. in victorian london. in space. with capitalism being aided by both lovecraftian horror and scifi. it's peak steampunk horror in all the best and worst ways, where the horror isn't just horror, it's also overworking and dehumanisation of the working class and (especially) those outside of the class structure such as prisoners. are there also straight up monsters, eldrich gods and the inherent terror of vast empty spaces? of course! but terrors beyond your comprehension is on par with capitalistic greed - just as horrifying and, frankly, beautiful

all set to artwork and music that lures you to find it... uplifting, in a way

[the-avaricious-meddler]

[sunless-smash-or-pass]

[iamthepulta]

I NEED a paper on dissected scrivespinsters I really want to understand how they work?! Can someone else write about the hiving habits of chorister bees???? And I NEED a greenhouse engineering design for food growth in the Neath and maybe we can talk about Nook?????

OR we can talk about Hybras OR photosynthesis after the Halved shut off-

FEED ME. I NEED HEADCANONS. I'VE BEEN STARVING FOR SO LONG.

[the-insouciant-scientist]

Barleycorn my enormous beloved

[the-dye-stained-socialite]

pennies is a skrunkle muppet and i adore it

[the-clay-quarters]

today on What Is This Supposed To Be: Sskies Edition

what is going on with the cabin on the spatchcock,,, the 2 heights one makes more sense but then again in the art the front piece looks different/separate to the side pieces,,,

(and yes they're likely roof overhangs but the heights are still the issue)

I also feel the need to say that these things are Huge. usually train cabins fit like 2-3 people at most, but look at this beast

thats a whole person standing there! this is Not a normal sized cabin and its causing me so many issues

[the-masterless-press]

Do you like this kind of doodles?

Would you like a silly MsPaint rendition of your blorbos, both homemade and from elsewhere?

Theb you've come to the right account!

Since I am in the midst of this weird phase, I am open to requests for more mouse and MsPaint doodles other than Betty being a gremlin

[house-of-mirrors]

I've created a side by side comparison of The Ballad of the Solonacean Conjunction in Sunless Skies and A Ballad of the Solonacean Conjunction in Lost Time in Fallen London. I've clipped only the relevant parts from Skies, as the full story is longer and worth a read.

I'll preface this by saying the Well of Wonders is my absolute favorite part of Skies and I haven't stopped screaming. Text and analysis below the cut!

(Everything is from "Dramatis Personae" in Skies or "Night in Elutheria [sic]" echo in FL except for the last paragraph on the left, which comes from "The Second Storyteller" in Skies. Sources linked at the end of the post.)

I've wondered for a long time what would happen if the brothers' roles were switched, and now we see this alternate timeline. The King Who Speaks is presented as "ambassadorial" and less hot-headed than the King Who Wars, but he's equally, if not more, ruthless as the Halved. Love this. Good for him.

Some of the small word changes are really sticking out to me. The change from the direct article to an indirect article. Not the story, but a version of the story. "False King" where the Halved is the King Who Wars vs. "True King" where the Halved is the King Who Speaks. This sure has Implications.

In real binaries, sometimes one star is a lot bigger than the other, and at least in this alternate timeline, it was the King Who Speaks who was older and stronger which adds such layers to the dynamics and the story. (How can one be older if they're twins? Oh well...ha ha ha. Well.)

Somehow I didn't pick up on the hint in the title of the book that this would be about the Halved, but the moment I read, "It is a play, dramatis personae obliterated, lines obscured," I Knew. It took me a while to even read past the first line of the main body of text because I was too excited.

The scream I scrumpt when I got a few paragraphs in and realized that this would be an AU where the brothers' roles were switched, and then the scream I scrumpt when the King Who Wars was thrown into his own well. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really wish I could convey the journey my facial expressions went on. Truly an experience of every emotion known and some unknown to humankind in just one act!

This gives us an answer for an outstanding question in Skies. If the Halved was sundered by a power from Parabola, why did it decide to start killing stars? Here we get the line: "Cast out the stars that dared to shine on this act." It's about the misdirected blame! It's about the guilt and grief that get buried below armor! It's about the vengeance that will never end and will only find new targets! Yeah!

We're left with some new questions. Who are the Sacrifice, the Mourner, and the Expunged recruited to play these roles? We get a short bio of all the "actors" in Skies. Are we meant to interpret the performance in the library book as the principle characters playing themselves? There probably isn't a deep answer but I still have curiosity.

I remember the exact date and time I first played through the Well of Wonders because it had that big of an impact on my psyche. September 17, 2022, after sunset, in the old recliner. I'm not even pretending to be normal about this. Category 5 special interest event.

Stars hot and themes hot, my final message, goodbye.

Source 1 ("Dramatis Personae" wiki entry)

Source 2 ("The Second Storyteller" wiki entry)

Source 3 (Echo from my FL profile)

[waterlogged-detective]

First draft of BerryBeth, design not final just playing around shes a lawless space pirate :D

Thoughts on punchy lady?

Got back into sunless skies btw!!!! Hehehehe

[thegreatyin]

i love encountering text in fallen london that makes me go oh right. this goofy funny blorbo simulator is a horror game. it's like just enough shock to the system that i'm unsettled but simultaneously just expected enough that i'm not too disturbed and close the tab