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Piranesi
Piranesi ambience
Piranesi (Sidebar)
Located in Eleutheria
Ports The Niobe Seclusion
Shops Trade with the Chaplains

Piranesi is a station in the outer circle of Eleutheria, located in the same segment as The House of Rods and Chains.

Log Entries[ | ]

A stoker sings: "Prideful, a prince was locked in the dark; while a poet was set free. I was the prince, alone and forgot; the poet, too, was me."
Piranesi. A prison without doors!
You approach Piranesi. Is it near? Far? Impossible to say: distance is malleable, here.

Fatalistic Signalman: "I don't like it here."
Inconvenient Aunt: "A pity Piranesi is so far from Albion. I could a suggest number of people who would benefit from a spell here."
Loud, frightened barking thunders through the locomotive one night, followed by the Chiropterous Hoarder's laughter.
Repentant Devil: "I took an interest in Piranesi once, but it espouses change for the sake of change. It lacks direction."
The Incognito Princess looks toward Piranesi through the window: "This place makes my eyes itch."
You near Piranesi. The Eccentric shrugs, eyes down. "For some it's a punishment. For others it's a gift."
"Captain, I have an idea," the Clay Conductor asks, smiling wickedly, "Why don't we leave the Navigator here?"
"There are easier ways to make a new person," observes the Forged Companion, of Piranesi.

The Niobe Seclusion[ | ]

A mansion of immense size, surrounded by acres of neatly-kept garden. It is tranquil here; in fact, it appears utterly devoid of life.


Explore the gardens of Piranesi
Genericcharacter
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 303732


Explore the gardens of Piranesi[ | ]

Things are quiet outside the prison. The doors rarely open to let newcomers in, and almost never to let reformed prisoners out. The chaplains busy themselves caring for their small garden. It has no flowers, only exquisitely-tended weeds.

Trigger conditions

Calendar icon DateClock icon An Opportunity in Piranesi,
Clock icon An Opportunity in Piranesi ≥ 1

Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Contemplate the sculptures
Euclid would not approve of their impossible angles.
A puzzle for the eyes
The sculptures of Piranesi follow no law but chaos. The chipped marble juts in and around itself, its polyhedrons offering no perceptible start, end, or often middle either. Fascinating. You could stare at them for hours. In fact, you do.
Recruit a former prisoner
The prison doors have opened. Someone stands, freshly released, before them
A wayward soul
The former prisoner takes a deep breath of freedom. The person they were when they entered Piranesi is gone. The person they are now remains to be discovered. They happily sign up with your crew in the hope of finding out who it is.


The Prison and the Cottage
Bronzewood
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 285092

The Prison and the Cottage[ | ]

Polyhedric sculptures, the dimensions eye-wateringly off. Grass of uniform colour and uniform length. Placid canals, criss-crossed at right angles. All bisected by a pale gravel path, leading to the door of a broad ivy-shrouded mansion. Only its lack of windows betrays Piranesi as a prison. Utter silence, bar the crunching of gravel beneath your feet. As you approach, you take note of a tiny cottage, incongruously nestled beside the mansion like a louse. A curtain twitches.

Trigger conditions

Calendar icon DatePiranesi icon Piranesi is Closed to Visitors,


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Accompany the Felined Eccentric to the gardens
She said that here you would learn about her malevolent cats, and why she can't be rid of them.
The Eccentric tells her tale
"I entered Piranesi as something else – something vast and inhuman. Something tired. In my nightmares I remember a cold court. Countless statues. I remember the dead, prostrate before me as I pronounced sentence." she shudders. "I wasn't kind."

"Piranesi changes you, but it's merciless. I cut off those parts of myself that were false and laid them on the Protean Altars. I outwitted the Facemonger and chose a countenance of my own. I hauled my better self through the Labyrinth of Names. I defied the judgement of the Moon's Locks, and they opened.

"I emerged: new, raw, happy; the person – more or less – that I'd chosen to be. But the cats came too." She scowls at one, which is clawing at a sapling. "I have my suspicions about them."

She stops. A stern, grey-haired woman is watching you both from beside one of the sculptures. "We don't get many return visitors," the woman remarks. "Tea?" She leads you to the little cottage.
Enter the cottage
The prison is locked, but the cottage door swings open at your approach.
Enter the cottage
The prison is locked, but the cottage door swings open at your approach.
Enter the cottage
The prison is locked, but the cottage door swings open at your approach.
    • Piranesi icon Completed Tours of Piranesi = 1 [You have completed a tour of Piranesi! The Chaplains will only allow two tours at a time before they temporarily close the prison to visitors.]

Take the lamp
Do you still want it?
Victory at what cost
Once, it was important that you claimed it. Now, it lies in the gravel: dull, broken. To think that it was once yours. It does not even fit your wrist now. You could return to the Brazen Brigade and present the lamp from Piranesi. If such things still matter to you.
Spend some time in the gardens
There is a beauty to them, once you get past the eye-strain.

Advanced query needs investigation



The Chaplains
Chippedmugoftea
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 287826


The Chaplains[ | ]

"The only sound in the cottage is that of a teaspoon clinking against porcelain. A group of brown-robed figures turn to regard you. One – grey-haired, grey-eyed – offers you tea. "We are the Chaplains," she says. "Our role is to help inmates reach egress. You must understand: none may leave Piranesi unaltered." "We can be your guide," pipes another. "Two tours per visit. Choose your chaperone, and take care to follow the rules." "

Game note: Piranesi is a treacherous port, and not amenable to low-level visitors. Be wary.


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Ambition: Ask the Conformer for the location of the Martyr-King's Cup
Tell her you've proven you are worthy. Unfurl the Cloak of the Lion.
Disapproval
"A tattered flag." The Grey Conformer rubs the Cloak disapprovingly between thumb and forefinger. Her fingers come away smudged with dirt. "This is evidence not of your worth, but of your delusion. You should place less stock in the mirages she creates for you." She holds your gaze with cement-grey eyes. "It has been a long time since I was a quester, and I have no more appetite for the Queen's games. I know the location of the Cup, but I will only reveal it to those who truly prove themselves. Bring me a treasure of actual value."
Ambition: Give a Captivating Treasure to the Conformer
In exchange, she has promised to reveal the location of the Cup.
The Cup's location
The Conformer reviews your incalculably valuable gift with a critical eye. "Satisfactory."

She turns her solemn gaze to you. "The Cup is in the possession of the Arbiter of Fates, daughter of the Blue Kingdom's sun. She keeps it locked within an impenetrable vault, deep beneath Death's Door.

"It is impossible for any mortal to access. I advise you to give up. The Queen is not worth dying for. In fact, she is nothing; she is less than nothing. She never existed."

Real or not, you suspect the Unseen Queen will be ecstatic to finally learn the Cup's location.
Ambition: Give 5 Casks of Navaratine Gemstones to the Conformer
In exchange, she has promised to reveal the location of the Cup.
The Cup's location
The Conformer reviews your incalculably valuable gift with a critical eye. "Satisfactory."

She turns her solemn gaze to you. "The Cup is in the possession of the Arbiter of Fates, daughter of the Blue Kingdom's sun. She keeps it locked within an impenetrable vault, deep beneath Death's Door.

"It is impossible for any mortal to access. I advise you to give up. The Queen is not worth dying for. In fact, she is nothing; she is less than nothing. She never existed."

Real or not, you suspect the Unseen Queen will be ecstatic to finally learn the Cup's location.
Why do you need a guide?
The windowless prison is large, but surely it can be mapped?
A choice, a gambit
The grey-eyed woman sips her tea. "Do not attempt to judge size or distance here. Piranesi is unmapped and unmappable. There are only a few areas we know how to reach."

"I'll show you the statue garden," says the bearded Chaplain with kind eyes. "Where I help prisoners achieve redemption."

"I know the warrens." Beneath the shadows of the third Chaplain's hood you glimpse a slithering mass of disturbed flesh. He says nothing more.

The final Chaplain wears round spectacles, but his eyes are gone. His grin threatens to break free of his face. "Come with me, come with me! Oh, please, I am so very bored."
Locate the 'silly old thing' for the Princess
The Incognito Princess left a 'silly old thing' in a the most secure prison in the skies. She wants it back.
    • Clock icon Something Old = 20 [The Incognito Princess has what she needs from the Crossroad. She wishes to head to Piranesi]

    • Taleofterror icon Tale of Terror ≥ 1

The Ugly Duckling
"When I was a lesser person than I am now," explains the Princess, as you approach the prison, "I had awful habits. I went through a phase that was best described as monstrous. Too much wild red honey, I'm afraid."

"Perhaps it was all for the best," she says. "If I hadn't gone through that awkward stage, I wouldn't have ended up where I am today. However, before I can safely move on, I need to tidy up. As such, it really can't be alive any more. I just won't stand it."

"So... we have the candle and a tale. We can begin!" she says.
Inter the skin of the Incognito Princess.
Will the Chaplins free you of this turbulent skin of a princess?
A Little Wisdom
When you present the beautiful and disturbing skin to the Chaplains they instantly understand the predicament. With long metal tongs they lift the squirming suit and convey it to Piranesi. As it disappears from view its empty fingers wave goodbye, seemingly delighted.

Her absence leaves only questions. If you repeated the journey, what steps would you change? Would you have refused her the ring? Consumed the candle? Would it have been wisest to leave her sitting on her luggage receiving homage? In truth, what have you learned, and what would you do differently given the chance to wind back the hands on time's clock?

Such musings are unlikely to be more than idle fancy. The Princess was many things, but unique most of all.
Choose the Gallant Reformer as your guide
A Chaplain with an amiable smile and grey-streaked hair.
Into Piranesi
The Gallant Reformer nods, putting aside his tea and fetching an old iron lamp from a high shelf. "Once more unto the breach," he says with a tired smile. You follow him out of the cottage, up the gravel path, to the doorstep of Piranesi. Footprints are worn into the stone. He has no key – he simply knocks on the grand oak door, and it opens. There is nothing and no one on the other side. You follow the Reformer into the dark.
Choose the Gallant Reformer as your guide
A Chaplain with an amiable smile and grey-streaked hair.
Into Piranesi
The Gallant Reformer nods, putting aside his tea and fetching an old iron lamp from a high shelf. "Once more unto the breach," he says with a tired smile. You follow him out of the cottage, up the gravel path, to the doorstep of Piranesi. Footprints are worn into the stone. He has no key – he simply knocks on the grand oak door, and it opens. There is nothing and no one on the other side. You follow the Reformer into the dark.
Choose the Gallant Reformer as your guide
A Chaplain with an amiable smile and grey-streaked hair. He reminds you that this is your last tour of the day.
Into Piranesi
The Gallant Reformer nods, putting aside his tea and fetching an old iron lamp from a high shelf. "Once more unto the breach," he says with a tired smile. You follow him out of the cottage, up the gravel path, to the doorstep of Piranesi. Footprints are worn into the stone. He has no key – he simply knocks on the grand oak door, and it opens. There is nothing and no one on the other side. You follow the Reformer into the dark.
Choose the Glistening Deformer as your guide
His hood hides the worst of him.
Into Piranesi
A knotted, multi-jointed limb unwinds from the Glistening Deformer's sleeve. With surprising dexterity, he plucks an iron lamp from a high shelf. "Follow me," he commands. You follow him out of the cottage, up the gravel path, to the doorstep of Piranesi. Footprints are worn into the stone. He has no key – he unfurls a notched, scabbed finger from his unpleasant limb, and slides into the keyhole. The door opens with a click, and you follow the Deformer into the dark.
Choose the Glistening Deformer as your guide
His hood hides the worst of him.
Into Piranesi
A knotted, multi-jointed limb unwinds from the Glistening Deformer's sleeve. With surprising dexterity, he plucks an iron lamp from a high shelf. "Follow me," he commands. You follow him out of the cottage, up the gravel path, to the doorstep of Piranesi. Footprints are worn into the stone. He has no key – he unfurls a notched, scabbed finger from his unpleasant limb, and slides into the keyhole. The door opens with a click, and you follow the Deformer into the dark.
Choose the Glistening Deformer as your guide
His hood hides the worst of him. He reminds you that this is your last tour of the day.
    • Piranesi icon Completed Tours of Piranesi = 1 [You have completed a tour of Piranesi! The Chaplains will only allow two tours at a time before they temporarily close the prison to visitors.]

Into Piranesi
A knotted, multi-jointed limb unwinds from the Glistening Deformer's sleeve. With surprising dexterity, he plucks an iron lamp from a high shelf. "Follow me," he commands. You follow him out of the cottage, up the gravel path, to the doorstep of Piranesi. Footprints are worn into the stone. He has no key – he unfurls a notched, scabbed finger from his unpleasant limb, and slides into the keyhole. The door opens with a click, and you follow the Deformer into the dark.
Choose the Grey Conformer as your guide
Grey hair, grey eyes, and a grey expression. More cement than steel.
Into Piranesi
"Very well." With marionette precision, she puts aside her tea and fetches an iron lamp from a high shelf. "I will guide you to the best of my ability." You follow her out of the cottage, up the gravel path, to the doorstep of Piranesi. Footprints are worn into the stone. She takes an ornate silver key from her pocket, and when the door is unlocked, she holds it open for you. The Conformer follows you into the dark.
Choose the Grey Conformer as your guide
Grey hair, grey eyes, and a grey expression. More cement than steel.
Into Piranesi
"Very well." With marionette precision, she puts aside her tea and fetches an iron lamp from a high shelf. "I will guide you to the best of my ability." You follow her out of the cottage, up the gravel path, to the doorstep of Piranesi. Footprints are worn into the stone. She takes an ornate silver key from her pocket, and when the door is unlocked, she holds it open for you. The Conformer follows you into the dark.
Choose the Grey Conformer as your guide
Grey hair, grey eyes, and a grey expression. More cement than steel. She reminds you this is your last tour of the day.
    • Piranesi icon Completed Tours of Piranesi = 1 [You have completed a tour of Piranesi! The Chaplains will only allow two tours at a time before they temporarily close the prison to visitors.]

Into Piranesi
"Very well." With marionette precision, she puts aside her tea and fetches an iron lamp from a high shelf. "I will guide you to the best of my ability." You follow her out of the cottage, up the gravel path, to the doorstep of Piranesi. Footprints are worn into the stone. She takes an ornate silver key from her pocket, and when the door is unlocked, she holds it open for you. The Conformer follows you into the dark.
Choose the Glib Performer as your guide
Eyes like coalpits, incongruous above a broad and delighted smile.
Into Piranesi
The Glib Performer hoots with laughter. He grabs an iron lamp from a high shelf and hurries you from the cottage. "We shall be the very best of friends, you and I!" He prods and shoves you up the gravel path, to the doorstep of Piranesi. Footprints are worn into the stone. He has no key – he simply stands back, whistles sharply, and the grand oak door opens without further protest. There is nothing and no one on the other side. You follow the Performer as he dashes into the dark.
Choose the Glib Performer as your guide
Eyes like coalpits, incongruous above a broad and delighted smile.
Into Piranesi
The Glib Performer hoots with laughter. He grabs an iron lamp from a high shelf and hurries you from the cottage. "We shall be the very best of friends, you and I!" He prods and shoves you up the gravel path, to the doorstep of Piranesi. Footprints are worn into the stone. He has no key – he simply stands back, whistles sharply, and the grand oak door opens without further protest. There is nothing and no one on the other side. You follow the Performer as he dashes into the dark.
Choose the Glib Performer as your guide
He tells you that this is the second of your three tours. The other Chaplains wearily correct him.
Into Piranesi
The Glib Performer hoots with laughter. He grabs an iron lamp from a high shelf and hurries you from the cottage. "We shall be the very best of friends, you and I!" He prods and shoves you up the gravel path, to the doorstep of Piranesi. Footprints are worn into the stone. He has no key – he simply stands back, whistles sharply, and the grand oak door opens without further protest. There is nothing and no one on the other side. You follow the Performer as he dashes into the dark.
Leave the cottage
You have not yet completed two tours of Piranesi, but you can come back later. The Chaplains offer you a chorus of polite goodbyes.
    • Piranesi icon Completed Tours of Piranesi ≤ 1 [You have completed a tour of Piranesi! The Chaplains will only allow two tours at a time before they temporarily close the prison to visitors.]

Leave the cottage
You have completed your two tours of Piranesi. As you exit, you hear the door lock behind you.
Inquire about borrowing a lamp
The Scarlet Condottiere has told you that you'll need one if you wish to rise in the ranks of the Brazen Brigade.
The price of Piranesi
The Glistening Deformer and the Grim Conformer exchange a glance. They go to speak, speak over each other, then lapse into polite silence. The Conformer tries again. "You're not the first to ask this. There have been others."

The Deformer convulses, as though shaking his head.

The Conformer continues. "You will have to be incarcerated. You will have to change utterly. A lamp will be waiting for what of you emerges, if you can. The lamp will be bound to you as you are now. If you can change, and get out, you may take it with you.

"If you know of another way to get what you want, I suggest you take it."
Accept Incarceration
It is the price of a lamp.
In Carceri
A sudden weight at your wrist. A lamp, shackled to your arm. Piranesi expands, staircases lengthening, walls retreating.



Join the Grey Conformer for tea
Chippedmugoftea
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 310619


Join the Grey Conformer for tea[ | ]

The Conformer is stern and brusque, but fascinated by the Eccentric and her cats. She brews you strong, dark tea and peppers your officer with questions.


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Ask about getting rid of the Eccentric's cats.
Is it really impossible, as the Eccentric claims?
The changes of Piranesi
"Oh yes. You can't cast them aside any more than you could cast aside your shadow. They are vestiges of that version of you that entered Piranesi long ago; vestiges you chose not to keep. For some reason they followed you out. Perhaps the old you was not cast deep enough into Piranesi. He was notably stubborn."

"You see?" the Eccentric says to you. "I'm stuck with them."

"Of course," the Conformer says, slurping her tea loudly, "they could choose to leave you."

"Wait, what?" the Eccentric's head whips around to face her. "Why didn't you bloody say so?"
Enquire about convincing the cats to leave
The Conformer said that the cats could choose to leave the Eccentric. Perhaps they can be encouraged to do so.
The carrot and the stick
"This is an unusual case," the Conformer says, defensively. "But these vestiges are – in essence – aspects of the being who entered Piranesi and emerged as you. They have opinions and preferences, as do we all.

"If you find somewhere they like, they may stay there. Or if you do something they hate, they may leave! Carrot, or stick."

The Eccentric frowns at the cats. "How do we know what they like and hate?"

The Conformer shrugs. "No one knows them better than you."

The tea is finished. You return to your engine. "I need to think," says the Eccentric.

Game note: Talk to the Eccentric to discuss how to deal with her three cats.



The Prison and the Cottage
Bronzewood
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 288276

The Prison and the Cottage[ | ]

Polyhedric sculptures, the dimensions eye-wateringly off. Grass of uniform colour and uniform length. Placid canals, criss-crossed at right angles. All bisected by a pale gravel path, leading to the door of a broad ivy-shrouded mansion. Only its lack of windows betrays Piranesi as a prison. Utter silence. The Chaplains' cottage is dark and empty, and your knock goes unanswered.

Trigger conditions

Calendar icon Date ≤ ( Piranesi icon Piranesi is Closed to Visitors)-1,

Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Accompany the Felined Eccentric to the gardens
As she climbs from your locomotive, her cats spring down after her and follow you along the path. She said that you would learn about them here, and why she can't be rid of them.
The Eccentric tells her tale
"I entered Piranesi as something else – something vast and inhuman. Something tired. In my nightmares I remember a cold court. Countless statues. I remember the dead, prostrate before me as I pronounced sentence." she shudders. "I wasn't kind."

"Piranesi changes you, but it's merciless. I cut off those parts of myself that were false and laid them on the Protean Altars. I outwitted the Facemonger and chose a countenance of my own. I hauled my better self through the Labyrinth of Names. I defied the judgement of the Moon's Locks, and they opened.

"I emerged: new, raw, happy; the person – more or less – that I'd chosen to be. But the cats came too." She scowls at one, which is clawing at a sapling. "I have my suspicions about them."

She stops. A stern, grey-haired woman is watching you both from beside one of the sculptures. "We don't get many return visitors," the woman remarks. "Tea?" She leads you to the little cottage.
Turn and leave
It seems Piranesi is closed to visitors today.
A Chance Encounter
As you leave you come across the Glistening Deformer in the cottage's herb garden. He's still wearing his hooded robes, but he's stuffed gardening gloves over the sleeves, and is engaged in a furiously futile attempt to stamp his shovel into the stony soil.

"We're currently indisposed," he grunts, noticing you for the first time. "We'll be open to visitors again in two weeks."

As you turn to leave, he finally manages to embed his spade into the ground, and levers up something tendrilled and twitching from the soil.



Ambition events in Piranesi[ | ]

WARNING: These pages contains ambition events that can appear in New Winchester which contains heavy spoilers for your captain's ambitions.


DyingstarTruth ambition[ | ]

Visionoftheheavens Ambition: Be Cast into the Depths of Piranesi


Shops[ | ]

Trade with the Chaplains

The Chaplains sell handfuls of Navaratine gemstones recovered from the prison's knotty depths. No food or fuel can be bought, though: there's barely enough to keep the chaplains fed, and they have no interest in making it easier to leave. This is a prison, after all.

Item Buy Sell
Navarantinegemstones square icon Cask of Navaratine Gemstones Sovereigns icon 300 Sovereigns


Locations
Region Hub Ports Discoveries / Spectacles
The Reach Newwinchester icon New Winchester Carillon icon Carillon

Hybras icon Hybras
Naturereserve icon Leadbeater & Stainrod's Nature Reserve
Lustrum icon Lustrum
Magdalenes icon Magdalene's
Circus icon Polmear & Plenty's Inconceivable Circus
Portavon icon Port Avon
Portprosper icon Port Prosper
Titania icon Titania
Traitorswood icon Traitor's Wood
Transitrelay icon Transit Relays

Signalbox icon An Abandoned Signal Box

Default icon Faith's Fall
Well green icon Old Tom's Well
Regentsgrave icon Regent's Grave
Rose icon The Flowerfields
Default icon The Regent's Tears
Wreckgeneric icon The Silent Saint
Reach icon The War of Fossils
Wreckgeneric icon Wreck of the Parzifal

Albion London icon London Avidhorizon icon Avid Horizon (The Stair to the Sea)

Perdurance icon Perdurance
Brabazon icon The Brabazon Workworld
Clockworksun icon The Clockwork Sun
Floatingparliament icon The Floating Parliament
Serenemausoleum icon The Most Serene Mausoleum
Royalsociety icon The Royal Society
Transitrelay icon Transit Relays
Worlebury icon Worlebury-juxta-Mare

Default icon Skyhenge

Lantern icon St Anthony's Lighthouse
Avidhorizon icon The Avid Horizon
Well purple icon Well of the Wolf
Wreckgeneric icon Wreck of the Boatman

Eleutheria Pan icon Pan Achlys icon Achlys

Caduceus icon Caduceus
Eaglesempyrean icon Eagle's Empyrean
Langleyhall icon Langley Hall
Piranesi icon Piranesi
Houseofrodsandchains icon The House of Rods and Chains
Transitrelay icon Transit Relays

Default icon The Xanthous Moon

Well yellow icon The Well of Wonders
Wreckgeneric icon Wreck of the Berrenger

The Blue Kingdom Tolltower icon Sky Barnet Deathsdoorstep icon Death's Door (The Shadow of the Sun)

Forgeofsouls icon The Forge of Souls
Whitewell icon The White Well (Wellmouth)
Transitrelay icon Transit Relay

Deathsdoorstep icon Horologion
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