Rupho Schartenhauer
Posts: 787
1/2/2012
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Does anyone actually have an idea on this (besides the fact that foxes don't generally live in cities anyway)?
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Rupho Schartenhauer has killed a Master, well: most of it.
Cortez the Killer has killed a Master, definitely.
Deepdelver has become the progenitor of London's brightest star. It's... complicated.
Dr. Kvirkvelia, gone NORTH on 23/12/1894.
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Rupho Schartenhauer
Posts: 787
2/17/2012
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Patrick Reding wrote:
That's more a "where" than a "why", though.
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
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Rupho Schartenhauer has killed a Master, well: most of it.
Cortez the Killer has killed a Master, definitely.
Deepdelver has become the progenitor of London's brightest star. It's... complicated.
Dr. Kvirkvelia, gone NORTH on 23/12/1894.
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KatarinaNavane
Posts: 462
1/26/2012
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News on the foxes! When fortunate when trading Zee Ztories for partial maps, the zailor tells you: (spoilered)
'...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?'
edited by KatarinaNavane on 1/26/2012
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Storynexus sn Katarina Navane.
My art page (much of which is dark, Victorian, and/or full of tentacles): http://www.facebook.com/demonkittydesigns
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Ambrose Smith
Posts: 45
1/25/2014
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There are foxes all over the city; you can spot them by their red stockings and the fans they use to hide their smiles. The Widow imports them from the orient, I hear
Hint; don't lift their skirts.
edited by Ambrose Smith on 1/25/2014
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Patrick Reding
Posts: 440
1/2/2012
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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.
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http://echobazaar.failbettergames.com/Profile/Yana
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Armand D'Alterac
Posts: 37
1/3/2014
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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).
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Excerpts from a Frenchman's journal
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Hiram Cunningham
Posts: 11
1/24/2014
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I'm fairly certain at this point that the foxes have gone to the Elder Continent, perhaps the Presbyterate. Here is my reasoning:
1. The Salty Fabulist, in a less than reliable narrative, tells us that the foxes went to the mountain of fire and ash at the furthest south. This is, presumably, the Mountain of Light, the echoes of which we see in dreams of the Fire Sermon. He says their location there is why they call them fox-fire candles.
2. Mr. Eaten Sacks comes wearing a fox-fur cloak and bearing the Wax Wind. The wax wind blows from the Mountain in the Elder Continent. Also, "Wax" wind. Wax, candles, etc
3. In the Doubt Street content, some judicious journalism unveils the fact that a notable church imports their candles from the Presbyterate.
None of this is concrete, but in general, I think there are a handful of hints that connect foxes and the elder continent. A better question is why they chose to go there if in fact they did?
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Dolan
Posts: 296
1/3/2014
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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.
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RageBox Alice
Posts: 112
2/22/2012
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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.
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Facebook: RageBox Alice
Twitter: @rageboxalice
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Hiram Cunningham
Posts: 11
2/25/2014
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I think I've finally noticed one of these oblique hints. The Muffled Intriguer, who I think is also the Civet, has a strong distaste for cheese. Cheese being the food of rats, it might suggest a hatred for rats in general. The Civet, in some of the Foreign Office content, is implied to be a fox, or at least has some foxy descriptions in the text.
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Pyrodinium
Posts: 639
1/4/2014
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Inky Petrel wrote:
So the answer for "why are there no foxes" might actually be "they're still here" ? Oooh, I like that theory.
Well cats are the patron saints of Shadowy so they hide in plain sight. Foxes are the patron saints of Persuasive so it's not unlikely that they hide within our social circles instead.
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* All social actions except photographers and loitering welcome!
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Armand D'Alterac
Posts: 37
1/4/2014
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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?
edited by Armand D'Alterac on 1/4/2014
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Excerpts from a Frenchman's journal
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Riley37
Posts: 125
1/4/2014
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Pyrodinium wrote:
I wonder what the fox will say if I can catch one.
Indeed. What DOES the fox say? Will we ever know?
How much of the land around London was translocated, and how suddenly? How large is the Neath? How long and wide are the connection or connections to the Surface, and at what point or points, and does that change when the Masters bring a city into the Neath? Were there dinosaurs in the Neath, in the Jurassic period? Were there humans in the Neath 50K years ago? 10K? 3K?
What is on the Surface, at the spot on the river Thames where London used to be?
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Rupho Schartenhauer
Posts: 787
7/20/2014
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Suitov wrote:
Well, now we know the official answer from Word of Tiger.
Mr. Cups granted dominion over scraps and refuse to the rats instead of the foxes... although we wonder if the foxes subsequently left, were banished, or fell afoul of L.B. skullduggery.
streetfelineblue wrote:
Now I'm wondering what are the "oblique hints" to the foxes' whereabouts; I think i've missed them all o_O
Sorry for reviving this old thing! I just saw this on someone's journal and couldn't help but wonder whether it might be the obliquest of all oblique hints:
Not out-foxed, but certainly out-ratted!
http://fallenlondon.wikia.com/wiki/A_lull_in_hostilities:_redouble_your_efforts
(it's the tagline of the failure message)
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Rupho Schartenhauer has killed a Master, well: most of it.
Cortez the Killer has killed a Master, definitely.
Deepdelver has become the progenitor of London's brightest star. It's... complicated.
Dr. Kvirkvelia, gone NORTH on 23/12/1894.
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æsc
Posts: 73
1/27/2014
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Samson set fire to foxes' tails to defeat the Philistines; it seems an incredible coincidence all this foxtails and fire business.
"And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails." (Judges 15:4)
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Dr Cecily Morgan
an inescapable, sagacious, irresistible and breathtaking lady.
Devoted Scholar of the Correspondance, Author, and Excellent Dancer.
No photographers please. Most pleasant socials, invitations and calling cards welcome. Happy to accept Guest of Honour invites to salons looking for Authors.
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Maddyanne
Posts: 67
2/26/2012
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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.
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Parthenia in Fallen London http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Parthenia
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Abraham Bounty
Posts: 251
2/26/2012
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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.
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News in the Neath: Noted citizen of Fallen London, Abraham Bounty, has acquired six hundred and sixty six souls. Additionally rumour has it that the lion's share of those souls was from a theft of The Brass Embasy itself. We are quite certain that this portents nothing ominous for him. Well, nothing unusually ominous anyway.
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Inky Petrel
Posts: 370
1/3/2014
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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?)
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Re: Fallen London, please don't invite me to things or send me things, I'm only on occasionally, so you will waste your candle  Thank you.
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spunweb
Posts: 8
2/21/2012
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Because the RENT is TOO DAMN HIGH.
More seriously: I think they're marshalling their forces to protect the unFallen city of Tokyo.
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@spunweb on Twitter
sp1nweb in Fallen London
Looking for people interested in Contests of Cunning and Plant Fighting
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