As per the title, I’ve recently been taken with the idea that the identity of the "Hungry Monarch" referred to in the Stone and Storm results of fumbling in the darkness in Frostfound’s Dark Room is none other than the Fathomking. Some evidence:
"Distant acquaintance" refers to a relationship between the monarch and Stone. Presenting Mt Nomad’s Heart to the Fathomking reveals that Mt Nomad is the Fathomking’s niece by marriage. Mt Nomad is the child of Stone and the Thief-of-Faces. The Fathomking is thus married to a ‘sibling’ of the Thief-of-Faces.
"Shapeling days" refers to a thunder-dragon in the roof, who caused some trouble for the hungry monarch until the monarch learned the dragon’s name and forced the dragon to listen/obey. Presenting Mt Nomad’s Heart to the Fathomking provokes him into placing Storm’s Curse on you, which implies that the Fathomking has some means of commanding Storm.
An unanswered question:
"Distant acquaintance" mentions that the monarch departed and their appetite was transformed. I don’t know what to make of this. Perhaps the Fathomking used to be the monarch of something else?
What do you think? I can’t think of any other satisfying answers as to the hungry monarch’s identity. edited by Anchovies on 8/3/2017 edited by Anchovies on 10/30/2017 edited by Anchovies on 10/30/2017
The Drownies’ interest in and the ability to purchase crew at the cost of Scintillack, at least, supports that the Fathomking and his court hold interest in goods from Axile.
Isn’t the Fathomking married to a big ol’ Lorn Fluke? That’d be a link and a half.
Source: a half-remembered post on SM9’s blog - please correct me if I’m wrong!
Edit: this post here, although I/someone would have to do more digging to find the in-game text. SM9 seemed to think that the Hungry Monarch was Salt, however. edited by Barse on 6/28/2017
[quote=Barse]Isn’t the Fathomking married to a big ol’ Lorn Fluke? That’d be a link and a half.
Source: a half-remembered post on SM9’s blog - please correct me if I’m wrong!
Edit: this post here, although I/someone would have to do more digging to find the in-game text. SM9 seemed to think that the Hungry Monarch was Salt, however. edited by Barse on 6/28/2017[/quote]
That could’ve done with some more arrows, had a hard time trying to comprehend that humans are somehow descended from drownies.
[quote=Anchovies]As per the title, I’ve recently been taken with the idea that the identity of the "Hungry Monarch" referred to in the Stone and Storm results of fumbling in the darkness in Frostfound’s Dark Room is none other than the Fathomking. Some evidence:
"Distant acquaintance" refers to a relationship between the monarch and Stone. Presenting Mt Nomad’s Heart to the Fathomking reveals that Mt Nomad is the Fathomking’s niece by marriage, which confirms that the Fathomking is married to Stone.
[/quote]
"Niece" implies that the Fathomking is an "uncle", not a "father".
The hungry monarch was almost certainly Salt. The third result for fumbling in the darkness, "Need", is very clearly about Salt after all and having one unrelated passage would be very odd.
Also, "the monarch’s appetite was transformed, like blood into tears" reminds me specifically of the event "Tears", which is unlocked with Salt’s Attention. Sounds to me like Salt shifting from its work as the White’s pawn to whatever drove it to abandon its identity and go East. edited by Optimatum on 6/30/2017
Each of the “grope around” results in Frostfound’s Dark Room is about one of the gods of the Unterzee. Salt is “Need”, Stone is “Distant Acquaintance”, Storm is “Shapeling days”.
If you offer the Nacreous Survivor as a guest, the Fathomking says to the Survivor: “You will learn the shapeling arts from my Bride. I will reward the one who brought you here, with gifts of pearl and knowledge, and with the Word that compels attention.” Shapeling arts, and a word which compels attention? Sounds like “shapeling days” to me.
Giving an account of the Coral Principles’s end:
Giving the Fathomking a Mountain-sherd reveals that Stone is his sister by marriage, as suggested by the Nomad’s Heart result.
The other two results for groping around are about one of the gods of the Unterzee and their interactions with the monarch. The only result which does not refer explicitly to the monarch is "Need", which is solely about Salt. But why would only one of the three results not describe the monarch interacting with a god? Because the monarch and that god are one and the same.
Besides, why would some extremely lore-heavy text found in the very heart of the castle built by Salt, a location key to the ambition about Salt, just randomly be about the Fathomking instead? I don’t think there’s a single mention of the Fathomking elsewhere in Frostfound.
Shapeling arts because the Survivor is a shapeling and the Fathomking is married to a Lorn-Fluke. You’re also given a Word that compels attention for offering the Bandaged Chef-Paramount as a guest. And a Word that compels attention doesn’t sound anything like the name of a specific entity forcing that one entity to listen.
The Fathomking is married to a Lorn-Fluke, the Flukes apparently created the Thief-of-Faces, and the Thief is linked to Stone. I would think that would make Stone more of a daughter-in-law but who knows. Anyways, I’m not sure how this would indicate any connection between the Fathomking and the hungry monarch.
The information about the hungry monarch just doesn’t jive with what we know about Salt from elsewhere in the game. Outside of the “grope around” results, Salt has no connection to Axile, and no interactions with Stone or Storm of any sort.
“Salt is the hungry monarch, therefore Salt built Frostfound, therefore Salt is the hungry monarch” is circular reasoning.
In the Corridors of Frostfound, the Sapphire Chamber and the Iridescence describe Frostfound’s “ice-crystal walls”. The fifth letter of the Name-Which-Burns can be “the White”, described as “that fierce old thing in the dark”. The sixth letter can be “a palace of poisoned crystal”, described as “that place of white and black, so cold after its season of heat”. “Green and Gold” tells us several things: “One came below, long ago, seeking what the Sun had hid. One will rise, one day, to face the White in its hall of poisoned crystal.” “This is the last horizon; the one that tempted an emissary, a pawn of the fierce pale thing in darkness.” Frostfound is not the Hungry Monarch’s castle; rather, it is the White’s hall of poisoned crystal.