Sunless Skies Wiki
Register
Advertisement

This article is a stub. You can help Sunless Skies Wiki by expanding it.

Wreck of the Berrenger
Wreck generic b ambience
Wreck of the Berrenger (Sidebar)
Located in Eleutheria
Ports None

Wreck of the Berrenger is a Discovery in the outer circle of Eleutheria.

When close to the wreck, you will be prompted to "Approach" by pressing R, beginning the storylets.

Log Entries[ | ]

A gleaming hulk in the dark: a wreck of a type you've never seen before.


Approaching the Berrenger
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 300054


Approaching the Berrenger[ | ]

A vast wreck, larger than any other locomotive you've seen. Armour rattles in the wind. An Albion flag flies, tattered almost beyond recognition. The hull is cracked like an egg, a charred and tangled engine exposed to the air. The Berrenger, reads the nameplate, though some wag has appended a question mark. As you approach, you see figures scrambling behind guardrails; revolutionary slogans graffitied across every rusted surface. The Berrenger is still very much occupied.


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Board the Berrenger
A dozen figures in heavy coats hang from the side of the wreck, waving joyously as your engine docks.
A masked welcome
You step into the Berrenger's halls, to a swelling crowd and a babble of cheery greetings. Every one is wearing a mask.

The crowd parts; a woman glides to your side. Her scarlet leather jacket gleams with buckles and vestigial straps; her face is hidden behind a mask in the shape of a screeching bat's face.

"Glad to have you aboard," says the Unassailable Founder, shaking your hand.
Board the Berrenger
A dozen figures in heavy coats hang from the side of the wreck, waving joyously as your engine docks.
A masked welcome
You step into the Berrenger's halls, to a swelling crowd and a babble of cheery greetings. Every one is wearing a mask. "Welcome back," says the Unassailable Founder, shaking your hand.



The Wreck of the Berrenger
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 299943


The Wreck of the Berrenger[ | ]

Visited the Berrenger(berrenger_description)

Visited the Berrenger(berrenger_description2)


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Speak to the Unassailable Founder
Before you don a mask, you have questions. Who is she? How did the Berrenger end up out here?
Questions, Questions
How did a London dreadnought end up wrecked in Eleutheria, crowded with devotees of the Liberation of Night? The Founder waves a gloved finger disapprovingly. "I can't go prattling my secrets to just anyone, can I? Join our community, put your trust in us, and I'll extend some trust in return."
Choose the Mask of the Aspirant
A sculpted silver rose, blank, eyeless, mouthless. "The Aspirant listens," says the Founder. "And blossoms."

Game note: This mask gives opportunities to listen to lectures.

The Aspirant
As the mask slips over your face you realise that it is ingeniously designed so that you can see perfectly between the folds of the silver petals. "The Aspirant's role is to absorb," says the Founder. "Go to the Library and read a book, or go to the Forum and enjoy yourself. Stay quiet. Grow."
Choose the Mask of the Supplicant
"The Supplicant's job is to talk," says the Founder, fastening the mask of a hideously-toothed angler fish over your face. "And, perhaps, entice."

Game note: This mask gives opportunities to deliver lectures.

The Supplicant
A miniature lantern dangles from your new mask, swinging back and forth between your eyes. "The Supplicant gives speeches in the Forum," says the Founder. "Thanks to the mask, a person's reputation or lack thereof doesn't matter here. Just stand and talk and if you're saying something worthwhile, perhaps you'll attract an audience."
Choose the Mask of the Scintillant
A woman's face, wreathed in glorious flames. "The Scintillant learns through experimentation," says the Founder. "Putting aside concern for the safety of others or themselves."

Game note: This mask gives opportunities to conduct experiments.

The Scintillant
The flames on the mask are orange-yellow tissue which rustles as you move your head. "The Scintillant's purpose is to visit the Laboratories and take part in the experiments," says the Founder, clapping you on the back. "Good luck! Last time I went to the Laboratories I lost a finger."
Choose the Mask of the Recalcitrant
A snarling face halfway between bulldog and gargoyle. "A difficult role," cautions the Founder. "A squabbler. Recommended for those who've spent time as an Aspirant."

Game note: This mask gives opportunities to debate.

The Recalcitrant
The mask is oddly uncomfortable, digging into your skin, cutting off the blood to your ears. You peer out through a wall of gruesome fangs. "Go to the Forum or the Debating Halls, and raise hell," says the Founder. "Ask impertinent questions. Hit close to home. The mask allows you to speak loudly and truthfully without losing friends."
Seek out the Diabolical Contriver
She is said to be working on an experimental engine somewhere on the Berrenger.
    • Engine exotic icon An Experimental Engine = 10 [Speak to the Diabolical Contriver at the Wreck of the Berrenger. The Berrenger can be found in the rough environs of Langley Hall, not far from Wolf's Manse]

Visit the Diabolical Contriver
You are known to her. Her guard, a burly, huffing goat-demon, will let you pass.
Collect the Devourer of Distance from the Diabolical Contriver
The Devourer, when not in use, somehow returns to the place where it was brought to life.
Reunited
The Contriver is at work on a looming church of an engine, brassy and bristling with pistons. She waves you towards a corner of the hold. The Devourer sits there, clattering to itself under a tarpaulin. You pull the sheet away, and the Devourer falls silent, so as not to frighten you. But as you order your crew to carry it to your locomotive, it can't keep itself from ticking, eagerly.
Leave the Berrenger
The anarchists gather at the railings to wave you goodbye.
Your face, returned
Your crew express a measure of relief at leaving behind the Berrenger's babble, its crowds, its ceaseless bustle. Not to mention that riotous smell of rust and sweat and gunpowder. As the unremittent darkness swallows your train again, their relief turns to dismay. Maybe the Berrenger wasn't so bad, they say. Maybe you could turn around?




A Teeming Wreck
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 300052


A Teeming Wreck[ | ]

"The Berrenger's rusting innards have been hollowed. The walls and floors of a dozen interlocking corridors have been methodically stripped away, carving a vast hive-like atrium draped with ladders and criss-crossed with rope bridges. Anarchists bustle back and forth between a circle of iron doors below. The largest are labelled "LABORATORIES," "FORUM," and "HALL OF DEBATE." Mask: The Recalcitrant(berrenger_description)"

Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Head to the Forum
A stream of Aspirants, Supplicants and Recalcitrants are barrelling through the double-doors.
Head to the Forum
A stream of Aspirants and Recalcitrants are barrelling through the double-doors.
Head to the Forum
A stream of Aspirants and Recalcitrants are barrelling through the double-doors.
Make your way to the Laboratories
A crude orange mask-symbol has been painted above the door. Next to it, someone has scrawled 'DANGER! Science occurs within!'

Advanced query needs investigation


The Hall of Debate
Recalcitrants barge in like ants invading a rival nest. Some wit has painted over the door: "Abandon the slippery slope all ye who enter here."

Advanced query needs investigation


Approach the Unassailable Founder
Strike up a conversation, or perhaps swap your mask.
Leave the Berrenger
You hook your mask by the door on the way out.
Your face, returned
Your crew express a measure of relief at leaving behind the Berrenger's babble, its crowds, its ceaseless bustle. Not to mention that riotous smell of rust and sweat and gunpowder. As the unremittent darkness swallows your train again, the crew's relief turns to dismay. Maybe the Berrenger wasn't so bad, they say. Maybe you could turn around?


A Goat Demon Stands Guard
Devilshell
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 319983



A Goat Demon Stands Guard[ | ]

Goat demons were common in Old London, but are rarities in the sky. Most of them remained behind in the damp and the gloom where, some say, the devils invented them.

This one is typically hirsute and enormous. Its hooves are planted squarely before the door to the Contriver's laboratory, its arms folded across its chest. It huffs in warning. Little pilot-flames dance from its nostrils.


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Tell it you have a letter for the Contriver from the Admiring Engineer
It is probably of the utmost importance.
Implacable
The goat demon does not move. Apparently, the Contriver has told it that she does not want to be disturbed. If you want to get by, you'll need some leverage.
Impress upon it your expertise
You secured your fame in academic circles with your masterpiece: a remarkable invention that pushed the boundaries of engineering. You can be of use.
Admittance
The goat demon seems impressed by your credentials. After listening to a (drastically simplified) summary of your breakthrough, it pushes the door open and clumps aside. Beyond lies a walled-off section of the Berrenger's hold: the Contriver's workshop.
Try to bribe it
Goat demons covet rare souls. No one's sure what they do with them.
Failed event
A blank expression
The demon nods, and tucks the souls under one arm. You look at it expectantly. It blinks. Then, tentatively, it reaches out and pats you on the head. It thought the souls were a gift. It's hard to bribe something this stupid. Presumably that's why the devils employ them.
Successful event
Admittance
The goat demon's eyes burn with avarice when you produce the souls. It cradles them in its arms and shuffles aside. It has no attention to spare for you. You make your way through the door it guarded. Beyond, a section of the hull has been walled off and converted into the Contriver's laboratory. It bustles with activity.
Invoke your academic credentials
You carry several letters of recommendation for just such occasions. They should convince the goat-demon you can provide assistance to the Contriver.
Admittance
The goat demon peers at the letters. Its face folds, horribly, with the effort of concentration. It grinds its flat, yellow teeth, Its eyes narrow and begin to smoke. At length, satisfied by the length and complexity of the words, the demon pushes the door open for you. Behind is a section of the Berrenger's hold, walled off and converted into the Contriver's workshop.
Simply nod and enter
The devils know you. Their servants should, too.
Admittance
You tell a joke, the punchline of which would only be understood by devils, their intimates, and their minions (is there any difference between the last two?). Chuckling – a sound like a bear being strangled – the goat demon pushes the door open for you. Beyond, a section of the hold has been walled off and converted into the Contriver's laboratory.
Drop a name
Perhaps you know someone of import; someone with connections to the devils and their ilk.
Admittance
When it hears the name of your benefactor, the goat demon recoils and its goaty eyes go round as marbles. Its ears flatten. Hastily, it steps aside and pushes the door open for you. Beyond, a walled-off section of the hold has been converted into the Contriver's laboratory. As you pass it, the goat demon tries, awkwardly, to curtsy.
Return to the rest of the Berrenger
No need to bother your goatiness further. Are those your actual horns? Goodness. How coily.


The Diabolical Contriver
Engine
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 319989



The Diabolical Contriver[ | ]

The Diabolical Contriver is lean and brusque. Her hard bun of hair is threaded with grey. She is assisted by several industrious devils, somehow still dapper in lab coats and spectacles.

They are hard at work on an experimental engine of unfathomable complexity. Its components are so small, so delicate, that the devils don't use spanners and screwdrivers, but tweezers and silver pins.


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Introduce yourself
You want to know more about her work. Perhaps the letter from the Admiring Engineer will break the ice.
    • Engine exotic icon An Experimental Engine = 10 [Speak to the Diabolical Contriver at the Wreck of the Berrenger. The Berrenger can be found in the rough environs of Langley Hall, not far from Wolf's Manse]

Old mistakes
The Contriver doesn't even read the letter before tossing it into a nearby furnace. "I don't believe in repeating old mistakes. He was a tolerable husband, but a mediocre scientist. I have found more satisfactory collaborators." The devils smile, cheerily. "I was frank about my priorities when he first courted me." You change the subject. Admiring the half-built engine, you ask a few well-informed questions. The Contriver is intrigued. "In point of fact, there are certain practical matters in which we could do with some assistance. Would you be willing to help?"
    • Engine exotic icon An Experimental Engine = 15 [You have introduced yourself to the Diabolical Contriver, at the Berrenger. She is building an experimental engine. Perhaps you can help]

Discuss how you can assist
"If you help us complete this prototype," the Contriver informs you, "and if it works, you can keep it. This is only a step toward my eventual goal."
    • Engine exotic icon An Experimental Engine = 15 [You have introduced yourself to the Diabolical Contriver, at the Berrenger. She is building an experimental engine. Perhaps you can help]

Cutting-edge scientific inquiry
"The theory is sound, but we have several practical requirements." She ticks them off on her fingers.

"We need a word in the language of the heavens – a conflagration word – to light the law-furnace.

"We need the soul of a Griever. One of my associates will accompany you to do the needful." A petite devil with a polite smile steps forward. She carries something long and narrow, wrapped in silk.

"And we need a substantial amount of Navaratine gemstones, for... well, for technical reasons. Can you furnish us with all of these materials?"
Deliver the soul of a Griever
"There is a limit to the speed that an engine can achieve, and a limit to the speed that the human body can tolerate. Therefore we have been forced to cheat."
Eating up the miles
The Contriver gives a thin, pleased smile when you hand over the bell jar. "The Grievers once devoured places that were never meant to be. Our engine will duplicate their appetites – rather than simply propelling your locomotive, it will consume a portion of the miles before you, removing the need to traverse them. The effect will be more distance covered in less time." She seems pleased by this egregious disrespect of fundamental cosmic laws.
Deliver a large quantity of gemstones
"The central mechanism is too complex and precise to be fashioned from any physical material. Instead, we must construct it from light. The gemstones will be our refractors."
The radiant heart
One of the devils is a lapidarist, and begins cutting the gems into exact shapes. He carefully positions a candle in their midst, its light reflecting in brilliant beams from one jewel to another. You watch as, gem by gem, the heart of the engine is constructed from arcs of varicoloured light. Once complete, it is a beating luminosity. It courses with colour, and dazzles the eyes. A devil encases the heart in a lead box, and installs it in the centre of the new engine.
Deliver a Searing Enigma
"Certain laws of science impede our work. We have a law-furnace, that will allow us to unmake those laws. But the thing is a devil to light."
Ignition
The law-furnace is a squat, brutish machine of black iron, currently cold. You lean close, and whisper a word in the language of suns. Lazy flames lick at your throat, and something catches light in the fire pan: a flickering blue ember.

The devils hurry forward to feed it with statute books, and transcripts of court judgements, and stern tablets from the Blue Kingdom. Gradually, the fire grows.

You ask the Contriver which laws she needs to break to make her engine.

"Just one," she says. "The law that determines what can be alive."
Complete the experimental engine
You have provided everything the Contriver required. Now, only the final stages of construction remain. It will take several days.

Game note: This will award you an exotic engine.

The Devourer of Distance
With the vital components in place, the engine comes together like the final pieces of a puzzle. Its radiant heart quickens in anticipation as the casing closes around it. Its workings, more delicate than a Swiss pocket watch, click like the scuttling of a thousand brass beetles.

The Contriver has already lost interest. "Take it. It was only ever a prototype. The act of creating it was the point, and has taught me what I needed to know. I am eager for the real work to begin." The devils grin, and flex their fingers.

You lay your hand on the engine and it quivers, emitting a noise like laughter. It likes you.

Game note: The Devourer of Distance grants a reasonable increase to base speed, but a significant enhancement to full steam mode. Beware: once activated, it takes a long time to disengage. Should you ever lose the Devourer, it will return to the Berrenger, and you (or another captain in this lineage) can retrieve it from here.

Return to the Berrenger
You have other things to attend to.
    • Engine exotic icon An Experimental Engine ≥ 15 [You have introduced yourself to the Diabolical Contriver, at the Berrenger. She is building an experimental engine. Perhaps you can help]


Advertisement