It’s quite clearly stated somewhere that Foxfire Candles aren’t made out of foxes. But maybe foxes can’t stand how they smell?
…Foxes are all too wise to thread in the Neath? XD
Are you implying that the Celebrated Artist’s Model is not a fox?
If so sir, I am willing to discuss the matter at a time and place of your choosing. At length.
In all seriousness, my theory is that they’re in the Winewound Heath. Afterall, there’s far more to the 'neath than Stolen London. I mean Fallen London.
News on the foxes! When fortunate when trading Zee Ztories for partial maps, the zailor tells you: (spoilered)
[color=#ffffff]’…and they say that the Neath would be brighter than the Surface, but for the mountain of glass and ash at the farthest south. That’s where all the foxes went. Why do you think the candles are so-named?’[/color]
edited by KatarinaNavane on 1/26/2012
That’s more a “where” than a “why”, though. Though the candles make a bit more sense now: they must be so-called because [color=rgb(255, 255, 255)]volcanic ash from this island[/color] is used in their manufacture!
I might’ve found the "why", Patrick… as this particular mystery is mentioned in connection with the Fourth City, I googled for "mongols" and "foxes". I came upon an article called A survey of the fox in Mongolian folklore and folk belief in a German anthology called Der Fuchs in Kultur, Religion und Folklore Zentral- und Ostasiens. I recommend reading the whole article, it’s in English and it’s fascinating. In short, the fox was a "taboo animal" in Mongol belief, an "ill-omen". The different Mongol tribes had various instructions on how to avoid foxes, how to avoid killing them, how to kill them if absolutely necessary, and what to do with their remains in the event of killing one: for example, to burn them after cutting off the fox’s tail. So, this could explain the origin of the term "foxfire candles" as well as why all Neath-foxes decided to get lost after a Mongolian city arrived in the Neath. As these Neath-foxes presumably are highly intelligent, they may have even negotiated a kind of truce with the Mongols: "we’ll stay out of your way and you stop going after our tails." And because there still are remnants of Fourth City population in the Neath, the foxes decided to stay hidden for now (or the "new-Neathy" foxes of the Fifth City told them about the English nobility’s favourite sport…)
edited by Rupho Schartenhauer on 3/24/2015
I might’ve found the “why”, Patrick… as this particular mystery is mentioned in connection with the Fourth City, I googled for “mongols” and “foxes”. I came upon an article called A survey of the fox in Mongolian folklore and folk belief in a German anthology called Der Fuchs in Kultur, Religion und Folklore Zentral- und Ostasiens. I recommend reading the whole article, it’s in English and it’s fascinating. In short, the fox was a “taboo animal” in Mongol belief, an “ill-omen”. The different Mongol tribes had various instructions on how to avoid foxes, how to avoid killing them, how to kill them if absolutely necessary, and what to do with their remains in the event of killing one: for example, to burn them after cutting off the fox’s tail. So, this could explain the origin of the term “foxfire candles” as well as why all Neath-foxes decided to get lost after a Mongolian city arrived in the Neath. As these Neath-foxes presumably are highly intelligent, they may have even negotiated a kind of truce with the Mongols: “we’ll stay out of your way and you stop going after our tails.” And because there still are remnants of Fourth City population in the Neath, the foxes decided to stay hidden for now (or the “new-Neathy” foxes of the Fifth City told them about the English nobility’s favourite sport…)
edited by Wieland Burandt on 2/17/2012[/quote]
All this is very interesting!
Great find, Wieland! If this isn’t what the developers were going for, it ought to have been.
Now, I suppose the next question is where they got a boat.
Because the RENT is TOO DAMN HIGH.
More seriously: I think they’re marshalling their forces to protect the unFallen city of Tokyo.
Weiland seems to have hit the nail on the head for me. The only thing I can add to this discussion is a snippet I got discussing Fallen London with others while I was a free boarder at the Royal Bethlehem. “There are no foxes in Fallen London. Why is that? Are their tails still afire?” This chimes with the Mongolian belief described.
I have my own theory… they are [color=rgb(255, 255, 255)]disguised as cats[color=rgb(0, 0, 0)].[/color][/color]
Doubtful. Cats have an excellent sense of smell. They could root out a canine interloper in a heartbeat.
I think some of them became urchins. There are a good many shape-shifting foxes in folklore and lots and lots of urchins in the Neath.
True. There are a large number of shape-shifting foxes in folklore. Admittedly they usually take the forms of beautiful high-society women (whatever that means for the culture the folktale comes from) rather than filthy urchins (or cats), though I suspect this says more about who is writing and reading the folklore than about shape-shifting vixens.
One thing many people seem to have overlooked is that ‘foxfire’ may not relate to foxes at all.
‘Foxfire’ on the Surface is the name given to the bioluminescence produced by certain species of fungi. The name may not have anything to do with foxes: it is thought to be derived from the Old French ‘fols’, meaning ‘false’, so ‘False Fire’.
However, the Wikipedia article concerning this matter does note that foxes have traditionally been associated with the foxfire in other cultures and folklore, particularly Japanese (where for obvious reasons the word wouldn’t be ‘foxfire’ anyway).
One thing that seems to have been overlooked so far is Mr. Eaten-Sacks’s robe is trimmed with foxfur. And we know who Mr. Eaten used to be.
I think I know who, but I’m not too sure.
Going on the assumption he is who i think he is, then whatever happened to him could have somehow involved the foxfire candles and the current lack of foxes, like what turned him into eaten got rid of the foxes.
[li]
edited by Jules Asimov on 1/3/2014[/li]
edited by Jules Asimov on 1/3/2014
I assumed the “foxfire” of foxfire candles was simply related to the foxfire fungus, which is bio-luminescent and glows green (given the prevalence of mushrooms in the Neath) I hadn’t noticed the bit about the Mountain though, cool! (Why does the popular answer in “mysteries” seem to be “their tails are still afire” btw? what was that from?)
It seems foxes are associated with fire and light in many different cultures:
http://finland.fi/Nature_Environment/aurora/beliefs.html
"The origin of the northern lights has various explanations in folklore and mythology. The Finnish name for the northern lights "revontulet" is associated with the arctic fox. According to a folk tale, an arctic fox is running far in the north and touching the mountains with its fur, so that sparks fly off into the sky as the northern lights. Another version of the story says the fox throws the northern lights up into the sky by sweeping snow upwards with its tail. A more developed version then explains how moonlight is reflected from the snowflakes swept up into the sky by the fox’s tail."
Foxes running far in the North? Amidst mountains? Hrm.
Actually, having just had a brief further look into the folklore surrounding foxes (with thanks to the gentlegenderdescription who posted the ‘Der Fuchs in Kultur’ acticle earlier), they’re very often associated with ill-omen, and:
"… the power of transformation into a human being or terrifying demon, …"
"The fox, as a messenger of the underworld, hunts souls, …"
Now… I just had a glance at the colour of a foxes’ eyes, and the shape of their pupils. Is it possible that there are no foxes in the city…
… Because they’re the servants of the Brass Embassy, and walk among us as devils?
As a small slice of further evidence to this theory, the Devils hunt humans in the Forgotten Quarter with baying hounds and brass horns. A revenge for the fox hunts of England’s nobility?
[li]
edited by Armand D’Alterac on 1/4/2014
As a general rule, pay no attention to the popular answers to the Mysteries. For instance, the common Third City answer of South America likely stems from one of the earliest Third City clues you get about numbers and string which strongly implicates the Inca. Once you get a critical mass of people saying something, more people put it in as a guess, and then it’s all you get.