For those of you which sailed to the the principalities of coral, we know that there seem to be several structures there half encased in the coral - buildings that appear to be from the fall of london, if not from the previous cities. Now, we know that london, once it fell, mostly stuck its landing around the stolen river - with a few outlying suburbs falling some distance away and faring rather well (like Mutton Island) or not (low Barnet…). But the principalities of coral are quite a long way away from london - longer than Shepard’s Wash, london’s country "hinterlands" in the Neath. How, then, do buildings clearly belonging in an urban environment get as far away from london proper? it doesn’t seem to make much sense, unless the principalities are subject to Zee changes that place them much closer to the city, or with an in-fiction explanation as to how buildings from the Fall are displaced so far away and into deeper Zee.
I know it’s a little weird to be bothered by this, but the mechanics of fiction interest me immensely (which is why I’m so fascinated and frustrated by Fallen London’s ambiguity). Will this be addressed in Sunless Sea? Has it been addressed already? Or is this a matter of there being no answer to give? edited by IHNIWTR on 6/15/2014
The only thing that’s been bothering me has been the grammatical difference between “Principalities of Coral” and “Principles of Coral”. Especially the “The Principles of Coral enjoys a nice game of chess.”
I figured the settlement was post-Fall; it never particularly occurred to me that the buildings in the Principles of Coral might have come from one of the Bazaar’s cities, and for the reasons you gave it seems like an improbable idea. It could have been built into the coral, or the coral could have still grown over it but done so a lot more recently than you thought. After all, there’s occasional references in Fallen London to some sort of black coral with an alarming growth rate, mostly in storylets that take you near the zee. Perhaps the talking somewhat-animate coral from the Principles is related to that coral.
Also I don’t think I’ve ever seen it rendered as the Principalities of Coral in-game? Everywhere I can recall seeing it referred to by name, it was the Principles of Coral. (I can’t say the same for the port, which is usually called Port Cecil but a few references to the place call it Port Cyril or Port Principle.)
The wreckages of ships half encased in coral, as well as the decrepit state of the buildings on coral islands away from Port Cecil led me to my conclusion, but most of all it was one of the exploration events there: describing buildings from previous cities bobbing up near the port, encased in lemony ember - very reminiscent of the ones from Flute Street, tossed this way and that when their respective cities (London included) fell.
And yeah, it is Principles of Coral. I don’t know why I wrote Principalities; must have gotten confused. edited by IHNIWTR on 6/18/2014
When I gave my port report on Port Cecil to the Admiral he said something along the lines of “I don’t know why anybody thought that settlement was a good idea” which implies that it is indeed an outpost of London established post-Fall.
[quote=IHNIWTR]The wreckages of ships half encased in coral, as well as the decrepit state of the buildings on coral islands away from Port Cecil led me to my conclusion, but most of all it was one of the exploration events there: describing buildings from previous cities bobbing up near the port, encased in lemony ember - very reminiscent of the ones from Flute Street, tossed this way and that when their respective cities (London included) fell.
And yeah, it is Principles of Coral. I don’t know why I wrote Principalities; must have gotten confused. edited by IHNIWTR on 6/18/2014[/quote]
Ah. I haven’t seen that event, probably because I make a beeline for the scintillack or occasionally the chess every time I go to Port Cecil.
The New Khanate’s existence demonstrates that previous cities also built colonies and outposts on the zee, although I have no idea if there are any recognisable descendants of First, Second, or Third City colonists hanging around. Whether there are living descendants or not, though, it seems likely that their architecture and artifacts would be recognisable in the ruins of a colony of theirs that didn’t ultimately survive.
Either that, or those buildings were located where Port Cecil now stands and they were taken underground the same way. Who knows what’s under those reefs?
when you come to port the description of one coral growth specifically mentions it looks like a “horse’s head” - sounds very Fourth City to me.
I’m just trying to figure out whether the structures seen around the Principles of Coral (excluding Port Cecil) originate from the Fall itself or were constructed post Fall. Construction would imply that the Principles are, and were, simply an attractive destination for colonization. Fall origins would “muddy up” the water, as they would have to explain how such buildings got as far away from the city - and whether or not there is some tangible connection between their relocation and the appearance of structures and substences from Flute Street there.
Well, it would stand to reason that because the bodies of shapelings of the Lorn-Flukes can be found there, that denizens of other cities have gone there before London, driven by the strange whisperings of the Lorn-Flukes and the mysteries of the city. The coral grows rapidly enough that people stuck there before the fall of London are dead for various reasons, and things from before are from explorers from all parts of history. Lots and lots of people came there. The question is how many of them remain, and in what form… edited by ZackOak on 6/22/2014
ah, but the bodies of the shapelings aren’t just lying around - you find them in a bubble of amber that popped up to the surface of the Zee; a bubble which also contained ancient buildings. And we know from the browser game that buildings from London, as well as the other cities, found their way to Flute Street in a haphazard way. So, are the buildings scattered around the Principles the result of post-Fall construction, the scattered remains of Surface London cast about the Zee, or rather buildings from London that wound up in Flute Street and somehow, in some fashion, “bubbled up” in the Principles and encased?