Be it Wry Functionary, his Audit story would contain some hints.
So either June or December - well, he/she/it/whatever is clearly either inhuman or immortal and fared High Wilderness for some time, and Liberation is sponsored by some sort of denizen.
Opposed to the Duchess idea - she doesn’t look the type. But not opposed to Akhenaten idea - there were some very vague mentions in latest ES, after all.
edited by Aro Saren on 8/8/2017
edited by Aro Saren on 8/8/2017
[quote=Anchovies]June is most likely the Worshipful Purser, who is to my knowledge only seen in The Last Dog Society. Well-organized social diversions are perfectly at home in the Society’s activities. She’s definitely considered a superior by her allies, and her enemies seem equally convinced that she’s in charge. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that she’s the head of the entire New Sequence - the Commodore oversees matters at the Grand Geode - but she’s a better fit as June than any other existing character. Her artwork was also used for the Bright-Eyed Sequencer in Sunless Sea, but that may have been an asset recycled for convenience’s sake.
[/quote]
I don’t think June can be anyone working for Dawn Machine right now. Dawn Machine is in direct ideological opposition to the Council, anyone under its influence will definitely be banished and maybe also killed to preserve secrecy. The Aten connection is definitely interesting and probably meaningful - there aren’t that many man-made sun gods aimed at centralizing power under one source. It’s just that Akhenaten’s Aten failed and Dawn Machine … was too big of a success.
I agree with Aro Saren, this doesn’t seem like Duchess. Dawn Machine was an Admiralty-led project, so whoever designed it had to have strong Palace connections to persuade and even meet them, which Duchess posesses. However, the biggest strike against June = Duchess is that she didn’t simply take her story from the Calendar library. We don’t really know anything of Akhenaten’s fate, so he is even more of a wild guess.[li][/li][li]
edited by menaulon on 8/8/2017
[quote=menaulon]I don’t think June can be anyone working for Dawn Machine right now. Dawn Machine is in direct ideological opposition to the Council, anyone under its influence will definitely be banished and maybe also killed to preserve secrecy.[/quote]Good point. June may be the architect, but to stay on the Calendar Council she might’ve had to cut ties with her creation. There’s also the possibility that others on the Council see the Dawn Machine as an alternative to the Device. Sunless Sea (specifically "Unborn time", from sailing past the Dawn Machine) suggests that the Machine wants to destroy time and end the Chain, which doesn’t sound far off from the Liberation of Night. The Device would darken the day, and the Dawn Machine would illuminate the night; either way, the natural laws of the Surface would be eradicated.
[quote=menaulon]The Aten connection is definitely interesting and probably meaningful - there aren’t that many man-made sun gods aimed at centralizing power under one source. It’s just that Akhenaten’s Aten failed and Dawn Machine … was too big of a success.[/quote]I chalk this up to the nature of reality in the Neath. With the sun gone, and death far more distant than before, ancient Egyptian religion would have been shaken to its core. For over a thousand years their kings had been Horus (later Ra and Amun-Ra, but always a sun god) in life and Osiris in death. Without the sun, where is Horus? Without death, where is Osiris? Akenhaten promised them a new sun. He may have also promised them a new death; I recall reading something about people of the Second City descending into a light, and the Dawn Machine is suggested to accept human sacrifices in Sunless Sea. The Machine in its current form is too complex for the tools and methods of ancient Egypt at the time of Akenhaten’s reign on the surface, but Akhetaten persisted for a very long time in the Neath.
The Maya and Mongol civilizations were far less nautically inclined than the ancient Egyptians (let alone the Victorian British, who had just started building ironclad steamships by the time of the Fall), so it’s possible that a proto-Dawn Machine could have been left completely neglected for some thousand years. Perhaps the Second City saw the beginnings of a light which was then rejected by the Third City, unknown to the Fourth City, and reawakened by the Fifth City. If the structure and machinery around the light were built by the Admiralty, then the light’s creator could be Akenhaten while the architect - the person who put it in order and brought it into the shape which we know as the Dawn Machine - would be from London.
[quote=menaulon]I agree with Aro Saren, this doesn’t seem like Duchess. However, Dawn Machine was an Admiralty-led project, so whoever designed it had to have strong Palace connections to persuade them, which Duchess posesses.[/quote]In The Last Dog Society, the Purser’s opponent had vague royal connections. I’m not familiar with the Duchess’s relations with the Crown beyond the Duchess being allowed at the Palace but not, apparently, near the Empress’s Court. Does anyone with more knowledge about the Duchess want to chime in?
[quote=menaulon]And we don’t really know anything of Akhenaten’s fate, so he is even more of a wild guess.[/quote]Wry Functionary is Akenhaten confirmed
P.S. Any game which gets me to open the Wikipedia pages for "Horus", "Mesoamerican chronology", and "History of the Royal Navy" - all at the same time, no less - is truly a quality game.
edited by Anchovies on 8/8/2017
Where is Wry Functionary confirmed to be Akhenaten?
I’m pretty sure that’s a joke.[li]
I’m pretty sure that’s a joke.[li][/quote]
It’s far more than a joke; it’s my new accepted headcanon.
Okay, I laughed.
If we assume the answer may not be entirely in FL, follow my 2 cents about the Dawn Machine architect using some Sunless content.
[spoiler]
We know that:
In Sunless Sea, we have the Dark-Spectacled Admiral.
Reason why he can be the architect: what led someone to use dark spectacles in a sunless place like the Neath? My guess is his eyes are touched by the Dawn Machine. If that is true, he got near enough to be marked but the machine wasn’t yet strong enough to mind-control him, what indicates an early stage of the project. Also (but a weaker point), if you rise the Dawn Machine Supremacy to 7 (TRIUMPHANT) in Sunless Sea, the Admiral is gone.
Also in Sunless Sea, we have the Carnelian Exile as one of the First Officers, whose eyes are marvelously bright with amber irises and white flecked with gold. When asked, she says that “I was too close to the New Sequence, and the Machine. I have repented of that now, but I’ll never go home”. Since she isn’t mind-controlled as well, it indicates an early stage of the machine.
If neither of them are the architect, the only other person I recall that has marked eyes is the Bright-Eyed Sequencer (also from Sunless Sea). But seems a too generic character.
[color=#ff0000]
[/color]
[color=#ff0000]A[/color][color=#ff0000]nyone recalls someone else that has amber/bright eyes (preferably from FL)?[/color] I know that the original architect may not be marked, but would be an interesting detail (at very least we can possibly find someone related to the Dawn Machine that we didn’t know).
I don’t have a good memory for this kind of detail, but, for non-marked characters, the only one I recall that has showed knowledge about the Machine was the Wry Functionary (Fate-locked conversation), but it seems unlikely to be him. L
[/spoiler]
edited by Arch Senex on 8/15/2017
[quote=Arch Senex]If we assume the answer may not be entirely in FL, follow my 2 cents about the Dawn Machine architect using some Sunless content.
[spoiler]
We know that:
In Sunless Sea, we have the Dark-Spectacled Admiral.
Reason why he can be the architect: what led someone to use dark spectacles in a sunless place like the Neath? My guess is his eyes are touched by the Dawn Machine. If that is true, he got near enough to be marked but the machine wasn’t yet strong enough to mind-control him, what indicates an early stage of the project. Also (but a weaker point), if you rise the Dawn Machine Supremacy to 7 (TRIUMPHANT) in Sunless Sea, the Admiral is gone.
Also in Sunless Sea, we have the Carnelian Exile as one of the First Officers, whose eyes are marvelously bright with amber irises and white flecked with gold. When asked, she says that “I was too close to the New Sequence, and the Machine. I have repented of that now, but I’ll never go home”. Since she isn’t mind-controlled as well, it indicates an early stage of the machine.
If neither of them are the architect, the only other person I recall that has marked eyes is the Bright-Eyed Sequencer (also from Sunless Sea). But seems a too generic character.
[color=#ff0000]
[/color]
[color=#ff0000]A[/color][color=#ff0000]nyone recalls someone else that has amber/bright eyes (preferably from FL)?[/color] I know that the original architect may not be marked, but would be an interesting detail (at very least we can possibly find someone related to the Dawn Machine that we didn’t know).
I don’t have a good memory for this kind of detail, but, for non-marked characters, the only one I recall that has showed knowledge about the Machine was the Wry Functionary (Fate-locked conversation), but it seems unlikely to be him. L
[/spoiler]
edited by Arch Senex on 8/15/2017[/quote]
The maid at Hunters’ Keep has yellow eyes; not sure that counts as 'bright" or "amber."
The Dark-Spectacled Admiral isn’t affiliated with the Dawn Machine at all; he’s explicitly an enemy of the Voracious Diplomat, who is. He wears dark spectacles so that others in the Admiralty don’t realize his eyes aren’t gold.
[quote=Arch Senex]If we assume the answer may not be entirely in FL, follow my 2 cents about the Dawn Machine architect using some Sunless content.
[spoiler]
We know that:
In Sunless Sea, we have the Dark-Spectacled Admiral.
Reason why he can be the architect: what led someone to use dark spectacles in a sunless place like the Neath? My guess is his eyes are touched by the Dawn Machine. If that is true, he got near enough to be marked but the machine wasn’t yet strong enough to mind-control him, what indicates an early stage of the project. Also (but a weaker point), if you rise the Dawn Machine Supremacy to 7 (TRIUMPHANT) in Sunless Sea, the Admiral is gone.
Also in Sunless Sea, we have the Carnelian Exile as one of the First Officers, whose eyes are marvelously bright with amber irises and white flecked with gold. When asked, she says that “I was too close to the New Sequence, and the Machine. I have repented of that now, but I’ll never go home”. Since she isn’t mind-controlled as well, it indicates an early stage of the machine.
If neither of them are the architect, the only other person I recall that has marked eyes is the Bright-Eyed Sequencer (also from Sunless Sea). But seems a too generic character.
[color=#ff0000]
[/color]
[color=#ff0000]A[/color][color=#ff0000]nyone recalls someone else that has amber/bright eyes (preferably from FL)?[/color] I know that the original architect may not be marked, but would be an interesting detail (at very least we can possibly find someone related to the Dawn Machine that we didn’t know).
I don’t have a good memory for this kind of detail, but, for non-marked characters, the only one I recall that has showed knowledge about the Machine was the Wry Functionary (Fate-locked conversation), but it seems unlikely to be him. L
[/spoiler][/quote]
As far as I know, the Dark-Spectacled Admiral is hiding his eyes because he isn’t marked at all, and he’s hiding it from the rest of the Admiralty, as they would immediately take up arms and bring him straight to Grand Geode.
In regards to FL, we have the Sear-Eyed Visionary and his cult in Our Lady of Pyres. The Bright-Eyed Sequencer also shows up in the Last Dog Society, IIRC, so more credit to her.
Most male/nonbinary possibilities for June are probably getting tossed out the window, unless June has been changing her pronouns, which sabotages the Dark-Spectacled Admiral’s (and the Sear-Eyed Visionary’s) chances of being on the Council.
Now, in regards to her current involvement with the dawn machine or not, it’s worth mentioning how little sway the Liberation crowd actually holds in the Council.
A good chunk of suspected members aren’t interested in the mass-scale changes the Liberation proposes:
July is off doing her own thing, making deals with the Orts and stopping Paris. She was also a big addict for sunlight, which I suspect wouldn’t be supported by those who want to put the sun out.
March/John Cussel was giving out coffee to the masses as a protest against Mr Wines’ practices and was a proponent of Temperance, which directly clashes with June’s shown hedonism as another member of the Council.
August/Jovial Contrarian and May?/Manager of the Royal Beth are both refusing to support the Liberation, and both have seemingly been doing so for quite a while (August is mentioned as being recalcitrant, again; Manager is all the way from the First City).
Now, only March was dealt with and replaced by the Liberation Crowd (July can also be given over to February, but I attribute that to the PC, rather than February herself), which shows us how little actual power other members of the Council can muster to dethrone one of their own.
There are schematics for something quite similar to the Dawn Machine located in one of the seasonal room displays of the Calendar Code, so presumably all three months were involved. (July’s approval of the project as a sunlight addict should be obvious, and June is the architect. August might’ve seen it as a safer way to achieve the Liberation’s goals?) You’d need a lot of power to put somebody who has the partial support of 2 other months, alongside London’s Navy and the Admiralty, out of commission.
June still working alongside the Dawn Machine is far from unlikely. (I’d even wager that she’d already be replaced if she had cut ties, as she wouldn’t have the Admiralty’s power behind her to resist attacks, and would face a similar fate to March.)
P.S. Trying to guess the dawn-machine-related person without them being related to the dawn machine just seems a bit too much of an ask for FBG to make of us, so throw all the Machine’s allies as well.
edited by Vavakx Nonexus on 8/15/2017
I would like to make a correction concerning the Manager. He seems pretty explicitly pro-Liberation:
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Menaulon?fromEchoId=9005324 (from 2016 election)
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Menaulon?fromEchoId=12296558 (Renown 40 item)[li]
Additionally, I still can’t imagine Dawn Machine, as is, getting any Month support. Its motto is literally "progress without change", the least revolutionary thing possible. I also don’t see more anti-Liberation Revolutionaries as being a significant force in the Council. July is a serious revolutionary, she is just more focused on the Surface and so not as interested in Liberation, which will affect Neath first. Neither does she have much respect for the Chain or Law, considering she works with Orts. Both previous March and Contrarian are more moderate, but they are still interested in making long-lasting change. Contrarian even isn’t completely against Liberation: http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Menaulon?fromEchoId=9000068 (note the "necessarily" part).
Now, I can definitely see Dawn Machine having revolutionary support when it was first build. It could weaken the Bazaar and allow to modify the Chain without tearing everything apart. The brainwashing, after all, wasn’t part of the Admiralty’s plan, so it stands to reason that it wasn’t part of June’s either. Current Dawn Machine, however, is a direct threat to the revolution that threatens to turn Neath into a place as constrained by the Law as the Surface. It might be able to help the Revolutionaries, but I haven’t seen anything in the Sunless Sea pointing to it doing anything of the sort. Its Supremacy is separate from the Revolutionaries.
As we see from death of the previous March and the lack of serious support for the Dauntless Campaigner, the Council even has trouble uniting under the more moderate supporters. I simply can’t imagine it having a brainwashed agent of their enemy, maybe even the most dangerous one in the Neath, as part of the Council. June might be affected by the Dawn Machine, but she would have to act in opposition to at least its current attempts to enslave Neath to not be kicked out from the Council. As for the answer, I currently think that "June" will likely suffice or we’ll get more information later.
[quote=menaulon]Now, I can definitely see Dawn Machine having revolutionary support when it was first build. It could weaken the Bazaar and allow to modify the Chain without tearing everything apart. The brainwashing, after all, wasn’t part of the Admiralty’s plan, so it stands to reason that it wasn’t part of June’s either.[/quote]I keep seeing the word "brainwashing", but that’s really not the right word for how people tend to be changed by contact with the Dawn Machine. The Machine doesn’t seem to interact with individual people; "unborn time" is by far the closest thing to direct contact, and that’s just getting near enough to see some of the Machine’s workings. The effects of the Machine on a human mind is much better described as a compulsion or influence. Contact with the Machine tends to inspire a person to feel a need to help the Machine, in a manner comparable to how opening a mirrorcatch box of sunlight tends to inspire a person to open more boxes. I chalk it up to the Machine being a robo-Judgement, because the surface Judgements would exert a similar influence on the lesser beings around them.
[quote=menaulon]It might be able to help the Revolutionaries, but I haven’t seen anything in the Sunless Sea pointing to it doing anything of the sort. Its Supremacy is separate from the Revolutionaries.[/quote]Important correction: there is no "Revolutionaries" supremacy quality. You are misremembering the Supremacy: Anarchists quality. The New Sequence and the Anarchists are both revolutionary causes, and they both want to stamp out the laws of the surface and to defy the Chain itself.
Fair enough, although I think my point about the unexpected control of Dawn Machine over its makers still stands. And the line between brainwashing and compulsion isn’t really clear-cut, especially if the influence comes from the Law.
Thank you very much for this correction. I did misremember, my bad. Nevertheless, I don’t think what Dawn Machine wants can be considered "stamping out the laws". Its Supremacy text talks about worshipping Great Light and creating wind (in reality or in peoples’ minds) The New Sequence - Official Sunless Sea Wiki . These things are part of the Law of Judgements, they are just altered to be aimed only at the Dawn Machine. The Dawn Machine isn’t really revolutionary. It doesn’t try to change the system, it just wants to progress up to the top. When the player character tries to do a similar thing - usurp the law of Judgements to gain power - December attempts to murder you http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Menaulon?fromEchoId=6405033 . So I still don’t think there is enough common ground for Revolutionaries and Dawn Machine to not seek each other’s destruction (or compulsion).[li]
The Dawn Machine does, at least, have rather passionate long-term plans to destroy both the Great Chain and Linear Time.
[quote=Dawn’s fingers]Worm-fates crawl on your skin. The Machine is sick. Its hatred threads your veins. Time will die. The Chain will end.[/quote]The fact that it does that without destroying other Judgement-related paraphernalia (normal light that doesn’t mess with your memories, wind) just due to it being related to some stars could even put it into the favour of the less radical revolutionaries who do not wish to see the light go out.
It’s also worth stating that there isn’t much of a uniting thread between the revolutionaries themselves beyond their wish to remove both the Masters and the Bazaar out of the equation, something which the Dawn Machine does rather handily. Thusly, it at least fits into the basic technical definition of revolutionary we’re presented with. Same for the more specific definition that requires dealing with the Great Chain and inequality in it.
I think a good point of comparison for this would be Feducci, who had offered (partial) ascent up the chain to London’s lower classes. Not breaking, just ascent. Now, he is bemoaning his inability to create new laws and gathers supporters for the sake of ‘upending the board’ to install his system (a sequence, you could say :P). He gives out Revolutionary Favours if you fight for his entertainment.
The latter plans sound rather similar to the Dawn Machine’s idea of taking over London and creating a new system of Laws in the Neath and beyond that allow for 1) wind 2) happiness 3) eventual destruction of the great chain & linear time. If anything, the Dawn Machine is the more revolutionary of the two.
[quote=Vavakx Nonexus]
[quote=Dawn’s fingers]Worm-fates crawl on your skin. The Machine is sick. Its hatred threads your veins. Time will die. The Chain will end.[/quote]The fact that it does that without destroying other Judgement-related paraphernalia (normal light that doesn’t mess with your memories, wind) just due to it being related to some stars could even put it into the favour of the less radical revolutionaries who do not wish to see the light go out.
It’s also worth stating that there isn’t much of a uniting thread between the revolutionaries themselves beyond their wish to remove both the Masters and the Bazaar out of the equation, something which the Dawn Machine does rather handily. Thusly, it at least fits into the basic technical definition of revolutionary we’re presented with. Same for the more specific definition that requires dealing with the Great Chain and inequality in it. [/quote]
Thank you very much for this correction. I admit the wind cannot be considered as serious evidence and that the Dawn Machine is more revolutionary than I may have portrayed it. Still, I am not really sure how to reconcile its "the Chain will end" claim with the fact that its Supremacy is about it achiving even greater control over London than the Bazaar ever could. My guess is that this contradiction is about the Dawn Machine shifting priorities against its makers’ expectations to not just starting the process, but overseeing it.
[li]
I think we also disagree in our perception of the Revolutionaries and the Calendar Council. I agree the Revolutionaries as a group are diverse and some might be the Dawn Machine supporters, even with the need to accept the Dawn Machine as god ( through Great Light prayers) dissuading a lot of potential supporters. The Dawn Machine Admiralty faction, after all, originally planned to use the Dawn Machine to remove Bazaar’s control over London, which is revolutionary. The Revolutionaries, however, are distinct from the Calendar Council.
The Calendar Council, at least to me, isn’t a council representing the goals of revolutionaries as a whole. I talked about this more in my response to your previous post, but I see the Council as more or less the Liberation faction of the Revolutionaries. In addition to the evidence in that post, they seem pretty united when the Liberation does happen: Scandal & Indulgence - From A Dream of Something Obscure: Option 2,... . The reason Council appears in Doesn’t high-level actions like Nadir and high Renown increases is mostly because they are the most organized and far-reaching group.
Focusing more on the specifics of narrowing down June’s identity, she is chasitised by the text just for the creation of the Dawn Machine. If she is aiding its interests right now or the Dawn Machine is considered an ally by at least some Council members, it would be an oversight or at least an intentional obfuscation not to mention it, especially considering how the title - Bury the Council’s Secrets - refers to the Council as a whole "from January to December", not to a faction within it. http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Maleclypse?fromEchoId=12257640
If you think I have missed something, I would definitely appreciate a clarification. My Dawn Machine is far from perfect, as you have seen, so there might be information that disproves my objections. Or Failbetter might release it later in the year.
The various displays in the Calendar Code left me under the impression that they weren’t as unified either, with each season having their own set of rough plans for the Cause which were displayed in the ES.
We can’t really say for certain whether the neutral and anti-LoN Months we know of currently are exceptions to the rule or a large enough part of the Council without knowing all the months’ alignments on the issue. There’s rather vague evidence pointing in both directions (again, Calendar Code and the Revolutionary Renown gains), so we just have to wait for something more overt to come up in the near future.
For the June search specifically, I’d also like to note her big focus on time and seasons as defining of what celebrations are conducted, which really strongly reminds me of how Dahut functions (They are also able to produce sunlight, and the whole island seems to function as a visual illusion a la the New Sequence’s perceived wind). I’d say that we should keep an eye for mentions of that particular city in the near future.
EDIT: Dahut is absolutely related to the New Sequence. It has done all it aims to. There is light, there’s progress, and there isn’t change nor time at all. It’s also treason against the laws of swimming and breathing, letting you do both in water.
[quote=Sing a Drownie Love-Song]You cannot sing the song as well as its original singer, but it still captivates: the memory of seduction, the willingness to be seduced again, the glory of the Zee and its inhabitants. The air around you seems brighter than ever, the Drownies more beautiful. You fancy that the creatures of the surrounding Zee are gathering at the perimeter of Dahut to look in with wistful desire. In your song there are no pincers, no teeth, no calendars and no clocks.[/quote][quote=Investigate the Calendar]The dates in Dahut do not progress as they should. The seasons sometimes overlap. Sometimes it is no season at all.[/quote][quote=Times and dates]Before you can investigate, you have to remember that you’re underwater, because the illusion is so strong that it is tempting always to walk on the ground. But you can swim up to the clock face on the Cathedral, close enough to see the tertiary dial. You should bring a good lamp, because even when there is sunlight elsewhere in Dahut, it never illuminates this part of the clock. If you do that, you can see dials that indicate today’s dates: one hand pointing to December, one to June, and a stubby shorter hand pointing to the last of October. That hand is growing longer.[/quote]It can be midsummer, and spring, and midwinter, all in the same visit.
edited by Vavakx Nonexus on 8/18/2017
[quote=Vavakx Nonexus]The various displays in the Calendar Code left me under the impression that they weren’t as unified either, with each season having their own set of rough plans for the Cause which were displayed in the ES.
We can’t really say for certain whether the neutral and anti-LoN Months we know of currently are exceptions to the rule or a large enough part of the Council without knowing all the months’ alignments on the issue. There’s rather vague evidence pointing in both directions (again, Calendar Code and the Revolutionary Renown gains), so we just have to wait for something more overt to come up in the near future. [/quote]
I agree that we don’t have enough information about most Months to confirm one way or another.
[quote=Vavakx Nonexus]
For the June search specifically, I’d also like to note her big focus on time and seasons as defining of what celebrations are conducted, which really strongly reminds me of how Dahut functions (They are also able to produce sunlight, and the whole island seems to function as a visual illusion a la the New Sequence’s perceived wind). I’d say that we should keep an eye for mentions of that particular city in the near future.
EDIT: Dahut is absolutely related to the New Sequence. It has done all it aims to. There is light, there’s progress, and there isn’t change nor time at all. It’s also treason against the laws of swimming and breathing, letting you do both in water.[/quote]
I agree that Dahut has parallels to the Dawn Machine’s plan, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s related to the New Sequence. There is a sort of parallelism in place where most non-Judgement forces with a lot of power alter the Laws, often in similar ways.
The Flukes are definitely trying to alter the laws, especially the Great Chain. The Rubberies, moon-misers, and Lorn-Flukes are prime examples. I would say that the Lorn-Flukes are the more obvious choice for Dahut, with Drownies and all that. They are also associated with visions of the future as seen at the Festival and even affecting memories with Aigul, so it’s not completely out of character for them.
There is also Nook, a place of freedom with breathable water inside a giant beast, a sort of Liberation-lite that isn’t really affiliated with the Calendar Council.
The Devils are making their own Liberation blueprint with the Iron Republic and aren’t as tied to the linear time as humans. The Dawn Machine actually has an interesting similarity to Devils through the Low Barnet and the souls.
The New Sequence brought the bell there.
The bell takes your soul and transfers it to the Dawn Machine if you ring it. This might be more related to the function of the Dawn Machine as a faux-Judgement than to the Devils, but it is still a fascinating glimpse into the Dawn Machine’s end-game.
Even the Mountain has some parallels. A sapphire from the Carnelian Coast with its light grants visions of the future during Hallowmass. Its light creates change without progress. Constant influx of life infuses and changes all, but it’s often so great that stuff dies just as quickly. The Mountain is also worshipped as a God and some Revolutionaries are interested in utilizing or snuffing out its power, including December. http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Menaulon?fromEchoId=6404899 . The Mountain can also warp souls, its shard making the King with a Hundered Hearts into Polythreme, with one soul for numerous lifes, which pisses off the devils. http://fallenlondon.wikia.com/wiki/Dealing_with_the_deviless
Parabola kind of combines many of the characteristics, which makes sense considering it’s pretty much anti-Law.
I don’t think this forms some sort of a conclusion, but there are definitely a lot of different places that may be glimpses into different ways the laws can be altered and different ideas the revolutionaries may have.
[li]
Dahut’s oddities are definitely from the Fathomking’s power. They’re Drownies for one thing, but at the Liturgy of Souls you can also learn about how the Fathomking used to visit them for the major events but hasn’t attended in a while.
With regards to the identity of June, I had a thought that perhaps it could be the Shivering Relicker? She was after all, a Scholar of the Correspondence, thus extremely intelligent and capable of creating such a thing. She also seems to have Revolutionary ties and does not like working for the Masters, constantly trying to escape…yet so far having no success. The reason for this could be that as the unwitting architect of the Dawn Machine, she’s burned some serious bridges with her fellow Council members and Revolutionary allies, possibly even been driven slightly mad by the huge contradiction in ideals and goals she’s brought about (in addition to the effects of the Correspondence itself) and thus has really nowhere to go and no one to turn to. Alternatively, her being forced into service as a Relicker could be her ‘punishment’ for what the Dawn Machine has become. Turned over to the Masters, perhaps asked to spy on them as penance, but obviously caught between several powerful forces that all distrust and hate her for various reasons.
I’d want more information before saying this was anything definite, but story and character wise, it’s an interesting possibility.
edited by Indigo Clardmond on 8/22/2017