Behind the Mirror [many spoilers]

[theodor_gylden]

When I first came to Fallen London, I collected references to ‘behind the mirror.’ ‘It’s behind the mirror,’ said the wind in the dream. ‘This one’s been in the mirror too long,’ warned a cat. Then that mirror appeared at the carnival, and I crossed the first time into the Mirror Marches – the borderlands, one might assume, of the Mirror Country. The light still in my eyes, I entered the House of Chimes and Mr Chimes spoke of rivers of roses, apples of glass, wonders that even the Marches did not hold.

So what is this place? Why does it exist? We know the Fingerkings work there, that its frame show glimpses of other places, and a lioness mentions a war fought between fire and water. And recently, very recently, I spied upon a Deranged Medium and glimpsed the light of the Marches again–
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Green light flares in the mirror propped against the boathouse wall: a light you’ve seen before, perhaps? The Medium is singing, a breathy refrain that switches between English and Loamsprach, the language of the Clay Men. You can only catch phrases: 'We will exist! ’ ‘Clothed in jade and clothed in mud!’ ‘The king with a hundred hearts!’ ‘No flying thing, no thing that flies!’ ‘The garden gates, with faces locked…’ Abruptly she spins once around and falls convulsing into a kind of fit. For a moment you see in her mirrored reflection a wriggling movement, as if serpents crawl in her hands and hair. Then she lies still.

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What could it mean? How is the place behind the Mirror connected to the animation of the Clay People, or to the possessed men and women held in the Labyrinth of Tigers, or even to the visions of a certain Writer and the Gates of the Garden? How might its jungles be related to the jungles of the Third City, or it ruins suggest the fates of cities past? Theories, thoughts? Or does anyone have, like me, only a string of questions?

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edited by theodor_gylden on 3/8/2012

[patrickreding]

I assume this will form the core of the endgame Watchful (or possibly Shadowy, given what you find at Mahogany Hall) content, so the development team is likely playing their cards close to their chest for now. And unlike the Fallen Cities thread, we don’t have any outside context, historical or otherwise, to build theories from.

That said, it’s curious to note that the “king with a hundred hearts” came up elsewhere: If you investigate the Overgoat, you hear that it ate said king’s tongue. Probably not the literal truth, but it does suggest the Overgoat and Parabola are connected somehow.

[ruphoschartenhauer]

I’m not sure about the extent of the overlap, but the whole thing about worlds behind mirrors has some similarities to that story Alexis Kennedy wrote for O2 a year ago. If nothing else, it’s proof for the writer’s fascination with the topic.


“So I open the city photo, and step through into Reverse, the place behind.”
“…here, behind the photographs, we have Lumière. Behind the mirrors, Puerta Spejo. Callity over there behind paintings.”

[patrickreding]

[quote=Wieland Burandt]I’m not sure about the extent of the overlap, but the whole thing about worlds behind mirrors has some similarities to that story Alexis Kennedy wrote for O2 a year ago. If nothing else, it’s proof for the writer’s fascination with the topic.


“So I open the city photo, and step through into Reverse, the place behind.”
“…here, behind the photographs, we have Lumière. Behind the mirrors, Puerta Spejo. Callity over there behind paintings.”[/quote]
I knew I can’t have been the only one here who has read that. That said, I doubt there’d be much overlap between Sunlight/Shadow and Echo Bazaar. I’d expect a cameo at best.
edited by Patrick Reding on 3/11/2012

[ruphoschartenhauer]

@Patrick Reding

I knew I can’t have been the only one here who has read that. That said, I doubt there’d be much overlap between Sunlight/Shadow and Echo Bazaar. I’d expect a cameo at best.

A cameo would be great! Actually, when I became embroiled in the Wars of Illusion I was immediately reminded of the war between Lumière and Puerta Spejo. :)

[alexis]

[color=#009900]There’s categorically no crossover or shared canon between Sunlight/Shadows and Fallen London (O2 own the IP of Sunlight / Shadows, so I was quite careful about this). And as it happens, Yasmeen is the lead on the Mahogany Hall / Wars of Illusion / mirrors stories. But, yes, inevitably there are shared themes and influences. :-)[/color]

[alexis]

[color=#009900]Same goes for my story here:[/color]
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[/color]
[color=#009900]http://www.pandemonium-fiction.com/smoke.html [/color]
[color=#009900]
[/color]
[color=#009900]but I’m going to plug it anyway. You might like it.[/color]

[ladymadsci]

We know who the King with a Hundred Hearts is now. Seek to the Sea of Voices.

[azarias]

Indeed. After the Sea of Voices, the reference to the King with a Hundred Hearts makes sense. I wonder, too, if the bit about 'No flying thing, no thing that flies!’ can be understood by those who have had diplomatic experience. Could the Mirror Country be a reflection of just what is going on in Fallen London? Telling us straight what we’ll only understand later?

[pinstripeowl]

Wouldn’t the Mirror Marshes count as Mirror country?

[streetfelineblue]

Necroposting this thread for a bit of wild speculation: after long delay, I went for the finishing act in the Wars of Illusion at Mahogany Hall (Glass side), read the description of the feat, and together with the bits and scraps heard here and there, I can’t shake the feeling that [color=rgb(255, 255, 255)]the Fingerkings are quite the actual bad guys in the Neath. Even more sinister than the “affably evil” Masters of the Bazaar; while the Masters, more than downright evil, seems to be strongly focused on their own personal interests (no matter the consequences for everyone else caught in the deal), the Fingerkings outright creep me out[/color].

Another nodal point that I can’t really get (possibly due to my extremely lazy outlook on the matter: I never really kept notes or the like) is the relation between [color=rgb(255, 255, 255)]the Fingerkings and Parabola on one side, and the King with a Hundred Hearts and the Clay Men on the other. There was a quite extensive chat with the King himself in the last segment of Heart’s Desire Ambition, but nothing that came out really hinted me any connection with the Fingerkings[/color].
edited by streetfelineblue on 6/13/2012

[ruphoschartenhauer]

The Fingerkings are a complete mystery to me, too. I’ve no idea how to imagine what kind of beings they even are, or why they’re called by that name!

[streetfelineblue]

I’ve got half a dozen possible reasons, almost none of them short of absolutely trivial :)

Sooo… The Mirror Marches ARE Parabola?
edited by streetfelineblue on 6/13/2012

[endy]

I’m of the opinion the Marshes are an outlying area of Parabola.

Presumably the Fingerkings wouldn’t want strangers plopping down in the middle of whatever passes for their city.

[estelleknoht]

[quote=streetfelineblue]I’ve got half a dozen possible reasons, almost none of them short of absolutely trivial :)

Sooo… The Mirror Marches ARE Parabola?
edited by streetfelineblue on 6/13/2012[/quote]

It is at least a part of Parabola; the header of Mirror Marches is

http://images.echobazaar.failbettergames.com/headers/headersnew/parabola.jpg <-
(I just hope they don’t stop letting us use filenames as confirmations)
edited by Byron Man on 6/14/2012

[streetfelineblue]

The most disquieting factor is that, if I’m not mistaken, there’s still no hint as to a Fingerking nature and appearance. They get mentioned (by fellow illusionists, and, in the Mirror Marches, by [color=rgb(255, 255, 255)]snakes[/color]), but are never described, and we still have to see one with our own eyes. Unless something in Parabola visions actually is a Fingerking (a snake? a bird?) and we don’t know yet. Sure in one of the Mirror Marches Opportunity cards [color=rgb(255, 255, 255)]a snake asks about them[/color], but I’m not sure what this implies.

[martinhopfield]

@streetfelineblue

The most disquieting factor is that, if I’m not mistaken, there’s still no hint as to a Fingerking nature and appearance.

Well while working at my newpaper some interesting spirit photographs came across my desk, which made me think of Fingerkings… [color=rgb(255, 255, 255)]The photographs are incredible. There, clear as day, are ghostly shapes gathering around the lady’s fireplace. There is the blurred motion of what could be tiny wings. The glow they shed is even reflected in the mirror. There’s only one thing, though. The figures have quite a sinuous quality. In fact, they’re rather…. serpentine, for faeries. But by the time the pictures have been through the presses, no one will notice.[/color]

[streetfelineblue]

@Martin Hopfield

[quote=streetfelineblue]The most disquieting factor is that, if I’m not mistaken, there’s still no hint as to a Fingerking nature and appearance.

Well while working at my newpaper some interesting spirit photographs came across my desk, which made me think of Fingerkings… [color=rgb(255, 255, 255)]The photographs are incredible. There, clear as day, are ghostly shapes gathering around the lady’s fireplace. There is the blurred motion of what could be tiny wings. The glow they shed is even reflected in the mirror. There’s only one thing, though. The figures have quite a sinuous quality. In fact, they’re rather…. serpentine, for faeries. But by the time the pictures have been through the presses, no one will notice.[/color][/quote]

That’s interesting. So, snakes AND birds, quetzalcoatl-like?

[estelleknoht]

A little more hint from the early-game living stories (Starving Poet Delayed Storylet):

Oh yes, now you remember. The poetry is awful - clumsy and overwrought. And it contains many barely-concealed digs at Mr Fires and Mr Cups. Best keep this book away from the Constables. But there’s one poem, the last one. It’s about jungles and green skies and the [color=rgb(153, 0, 0)]half-made serpentine horrors that watch us enviously from behind mirrors.[/color] It raises hairs on your neck. Perhaps he only had one good poem in him. Or perhaps, when he was weak and dizzy from hunger, The Starving Poet saw something.

Serpentine, definitely. Birds, not sure.

Also from the Labyrinth of Tigers. Coil 3:

The cage opens, and the exhibit steps to freedom. He turns to you and whispers. He is one of many. They wear many faces, [color=rgb(153, 0, 0)]and they stare back at you from behind the mirror[/color]. They are the true [color=rgb(153, 0, 0)]lords[/color] of London, and their time is coming. He lopes away before you change your mind.

And also from Coil 3:

You turn away from the exhibit, and he emits [color=rgb(153, 0, 0)]a low, hissing scream[/color][color=rgb(153, 0, 0)] [/color]that [color=rgb(153, 0, 0)]should not come from a human throat.[/color] You catch a glimpse of [color=rgb(153, 0, 0)]suddenly slitted pupils[/color] as you step smartly away from the cage. You are confident that you have left a menace contained.

So many hints. Touched by [color=rgb(153, 0, 0)]Finger[/color]work. The [color=rgb(153, 0, 0)]Fingerkings[/color]. The [color=rgb(0, 0, 0)]true [/color][color=rgb(153, 0, 0)]lords[/color] of London.

edited by Byron Man on 6/20/2012

[misseustacia]

Tezcatlipoca, perhaps? I’m afraid I’ve not yet gone to this place, but when you talk of mirrors and birds, and the possibility of a sort of quetzalcoatl, smoking mirrors leap to mind.