This may be one of the most out there theories about the lore, but please bear with me.
What’s the very first thing we read when we dock at Irem?
What exactly does this mean? At first glance, it may be taken as referring to the difficulty people have with tenses when referring to Irem, but that doesn’t really seem to be the same thing as lying about Irem. If your Terror is high, you may get the "Truth in Dreams?" random event, of which one possible result is
[quote=]A Dream of Spires
Mirror-faceted pillars rise around you like trees in a forest - more so, because each glows with a shifting green light. The zee laps at the base of the pillars. A voice from above cries out in seven languages, and you understand each one: "Once was this the face of Irem! It will be taken from us!"[/quote]
Now, in Fallen London, you can read in a few events about a place across the zee called the Pillars, which lies to the uttermost east and is possibly the source of the Widow’s brandy. Given that Irem is generally considered to have been inspired by a city in the Arabian Nights called Iram of the Pillars, it’s not that hard to conclude that Irem either is the pillars, or is closely related to it. So, what does all of this get us? Is it possible that Irem is actually the seven green pillars seen in the dream, and the description of the snowy, rose-petalled Irem we’re familiar with is a lie created by a property of the Pillars that makes it impossible to describe them truthfully?