Does anyone actually have an idea on this (besides the fact that foxes don’t generally live in cities anyway)?
The only clue is the candles…
(puts on biologist hat Actually foxes do live in cities; especially if there are large stretches of green-space or actual woodlands. But they’ve adapted quite well to city life, following the rabbits, rats, and non-native birds into urban habitat.)
'Tis possible the lack of natural light has something to do with it?
~MF
A curious Lady
There’s a persistent rumour that they’ve all been turned into foxfire candles, except for a lone phantom fox that stalks churchyards every night. But these are just stories.
More likely, it has something to do with the fact that their primary food source is now heavily armed.
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.