Tracking the notable souls of London, I expect. Like a wine guide.
I think Slowcake’s is functional, not recreational.[spoiler]The conditions for inclusion seem conventional: it’s the fallen Who’s Who. I mean, you can actually buy an entry at the Bazaar for the price of a decent pair of shoes.
Many small-souled people enjoy social prominence; indeed, one suspects that often their development may be hampered by their very respectability. What Devilish wine guide could be complete without its share of murderers and slum lords, obscure but brilliant poets, and those whose souls loom larger than the little confines of their lives? People like Marlo Stanfield and Harry Lime; Georg Trakl; Hamsun’s starving writer; Lydgate and Dorothea?
It’s not much of a wine guide, but I think it’s a good multitool. Some uses:
[ul][li]Generating revenue through the sale of copies and entries.[/li][li]Encouraging the almost notable to strive further, with concomitant effects on their souls.[/li][li]As an educational aid for junior Devils (Louche or otherwise), who find human manners and customs deeply unintuitive.
[/li][/ul]But most importantly, it’s a source of intelligence. Throughout London, ambitious individuals sit down to compile dossiers about themselves, and send them to the Embassy. Human investigators can be hired to pry into the secrets of anyone vaguely notable, without suspecting Infernal influences. These are not small advantages to an organisation in the business of cultivating souls through such subtle means as small adjustments to the mechanisms of a pocket watch.[/spoiler]
[li]Why are drownies unlike other dead?[/li]
With the release of the Nadir we’ve gained a clue.
The rare default here shows another. Could the drownies be dead people fed somehow with the Hesperidean Apple? I wouldn’t expect the peaches to give the same effect?
[li]What’s Lacre?[/li]
Again, a clue released with the Nadir. In An Unlikely Garden, we’re told the Rosers were the enemies of the 4th city. When asked where the Rosers went we’re told: "Into lacre," she whispers. "Into the underpipes. Where even souls cannot survive (See:Dip a soul in it). Leave me to my roses. Leave me to my roses!" Is this why Mr Ironsacks and all the others avoided the lacre? What does this make Dark-Carapaced Crustaceans?
This just clicked for me, and I am in no illusion as to its truth, or its freshness as a theory. Also, it is less of a mystery and more of a proposition. I propose that the Masters have traded before, but not as Masters. The Khan of Dreams is not a Fourth City Leader, but Mr Wines (Or Mr Spices). Hence, there is now a tussle between the good Masters, Wines and Spices, for the right to sell dreams, an issue dating back to the Fourth City.
I fancied this after an expedition turned up a Fourth City map with a route to the Bazaar, Mr Wine’s spire, that was labelled THE KHAN OF DREAMS. Furthermore, each bottle of Airag is labelled ‘For the Khan of Dreams’. While this implies that the bottle was sold to a member of Fourth City society, it could easily be a Master’s way of identifying his goods, like the honeydrop seal that Mr Spices favours.
Failing any other evidence, the mystery is, Just who is the Khan of Dreams?
And as an addendum, Why are there twelve members (presumably) of the Calender Council, yet at least thirteen Masters?
Very likely indeed - lore in the Nadir suggests that other Masters (Irons, Hearts, Apples, Fires, others?) went by similar titles. As for the Master-count, well, it’s damned hard to count people who wear feature-concealing robes, and are rarely if ever seen in groups. There may or may not be twelve Masters. There may or may not be twelve Months (as I have taken to calling the cell-leaders of the Calendar Council.) These two possibilities may or may not be related, though this model does have a pleasingly fearful symmetry.
It would be rather anarchic to put the wrong number of Months in the Calendar.
On the matter of the number of Masters, there’s a fairly recent discussion in the Fallen Cities thread, starting here.
Then (given that I have not yet breached the Cave of the Nadir, due to a lack of skulls, I mean, how exactly are you to find 5?!), on the faintest thread of speculation, I can infer that the Masters took names that best fit in with the ruling caste of the current Stolen City. After all, Masters seems to be common sense, and it is hard to believe that the Fourth City would crown multiple Khans, making the title Khan of Dreams redundant. Hence, it makes more sense as a title that Masters took. So what then, where they called in the Cities before? Pharaohs? And why would they do this? For shadowy, incomprehensible figures of an uncertain agenda, it seems superfluous to take on a title that befits the City. And on that note, if they were Khans in the previous City, why are they only Masters now, and not, say, Kings or Dukes?
edited by XiaoLi on 8/27/2013
I’m very much speculating here, but the Nadir hint suggests that, in the Fourth City, the Masters had different ways of operating. As we see them, they are very much powerful Londoners - that is, capitalists and traders, masters of industry, commanding their respective fields with the strokes of a pen. But, it seems that, for instance, Fourth City Mr Irons was not an ironmonger but a warrior, and Mr Apples (perhaps?) was not a fruit importer but a farmer, a lord of the land. (Also, worth noting: the actual emperor of all Mongols was not just the Khan but the Khan of Khans - there were many Khans but only one Khagan.)
This is completely irrelevant to the current discussion but I’d like to know if anyone else thinks this may be a possibility.
What if Parabola is the Bazaar’s dream?
I know there’s very little concrete known about the place, but it’s just an interesting idea to consider.
Mr Vimes, if what you’re suggesting is correct, then it would certainly explain why Dr Schmolo was writing on the Parabola.
Mr Tanah-Crook, then that fact begs the question (or at least in my mind it does), Are the Masters the same Masters as the previous cities? After all, we know that one previous Master has lost his status has such. Given their change of persona between cities, how are we mere, non-hooded and hunched, mortals to tell if they are the same. And for my factual inaccuracy as to the status of Khans, I apologise for my lack of knowledge, and realise that it is then obvious, a weakness in my theory.
[quote=Aximillio][li]Why are drownies unlike other dead?[/li]
With the release of the Nadir we’ve gained a clue.
The rare default here shows another. Could the drownies be dead people fed somehow with the Hesperidean Apple? I wouldn’t expect the peaches to give the same effect?[/quote]
First of all, if it’s an apple, I’ll eat my hat. I’m certain I have some of the ingredients in my inventory. Second, the Capering Relicker and maybe Mr. Apples are the only known sources of the HC, and it’s pretty danged rare. I’m also sure the hunger that made them eat the fruit was more of a Peckishness than traditional starvation.[li]
Also, don’t forget what river the Drownies are drowning in. It’s either Styx or Acheron, or the ‘River of Hate’ and ‘River of Pain’ respectively. No doubt that has something to do with it.[/li][li]
edited by OPG on 8/28/2013
[ul][li]Where are the Rubbery hatcheries located?[/li][li]Why do they come to London?[/li][li]Are they connected to the Masters or the Bazaar?
[/li][/ul]
[quote=Vae Victis][ul][li]Where are the Rubbery hatcheries located?[/li][li]Why do they come to London?[/li][li]Are they connected to the Masters or the Bazaar?
[/li][/ul][/quote]
Sadly, the answers to those are Fate-locked, or I would provide them for you.
[li]
[quote=Allanon Kisigar][quote=Vae Victis][ul][li]Where are the Rubbery hatcheries located?[/li][li]Why do they come to London?[/li][li]Are they connected to the Masters or the Bazaar?
[/li][/ul][/quote]
Sadly, the answers to those are Fate-locked, or I would provide them for you.
[li][/quote]
[/li][li]
[/li][li]Could you tell me what Fate-locked Storylets the answers are in?[/li][li]
XiaoLi - You can find the answers in the Flute Street.
Flute Street, though the language barrier there means we don’t get all the answers.
Thank you for telling me where to look. Am I correct to assume that the relevant story is the Rubbery Murders?
No, actually - Rubbery Murders doesn’t tie in to anything else. What you want is the Solving Cases story started after the Department of ------ storyline at the University, which leads to a card with a Fate-locked option.
Thank you! I’m currently at the lower stages of the University story, so I’ll be looking for that option.