The Shadow of the Sun | |
---|---|
The Shadow of the Sun (Sidebar) | |
Located in | the Blue Kingdom |
Ports | The Shadow of the Sun |
Shops | None |
The Shadow of the Sun is a platform in the northern part of the Blue Kingdom.
Guide[]
Captains of any status can write Port Reports or visit the Garden of Unflowers.
Unflowers want to go to Lustrum, the Mausoleum and the Empyrean. Delivering one and returning will earn you an Unlicensed Chart.
Captains must be Yoked to seek an audience with the Sun’s Daughter. This requires Preparation.
Litigator | Cost |
---|---|
None | 1 Cask of Navaratine Gemstones, 1 Moment of Inspiration, 1 Vision of the Heavens |
Embittered Devil | 1 Cask of Navaratine Gemstones |
Nameless Spirit | 1 Moment of Inspiration |
Cowled Loquacitor | 1 Vision of the Heavens |
Completing preparations leads to The Sun’s Daughter.
Log Entries[]
A garden in glory is kept here, the preserve of the Daughter of the Sun.
This is the court of the Sun's Daughter, whose radiance is a glory of the heavens.
The Shadow of the Sun[]
Thriving flowerbeds. Statues. Obsessively-trimmed grass. An ornamental lake, shining and perfectly circular, like a dropped shilling. These surround the glittering palace called the Shadow of the Sun.
The Shadow of the Sun | |
---|---|
Category | Story Event |
Type | Story |
Data ID | 306024 |
The Shadow of the Sun[]
The Shadow of the Sun is a meticulously kept garden-palace, sitting at the centre of miles of spirit-churned mud. The gardens are vast, ornate, resplendent. The flowers have been grown in exquisite regiments. As you follow the pale gravel path, you notice a Yoked spirit carefully and individually measuring each blade of grass. At the centre of it all sits the palace where the Sun's Daughter dwells: colossal, gleaming, its walls cascading with lilies.
Interactions
Actions | Requirements | Effects | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Ambition: Break into the Arbiter's vault
After wandering the gardens you discover a stone door set into the side of a grassy barrow. It is guarded by a pair of shades.
Game note: You will need the Blue Kingdom status: Yoked. |
|
Opening the Vault
The shades wave you through. You are, after all, a Yoked spirit like them. The stone door grinds slowly open, revealing stairs down.
The portrait of the Unseen Queen is tucked under your arm. They don't give it a second glance. It's as though she doesn't exist. Just as you're beginning to suspect the stairs will never end, you are faced by another stone door, larger than the first and engraved with sigils. There are three locks, each deeply scorched. One by one, you touch the locks with the captured fires of the Logoi. The door groans. A few sigils flare. It opens.
![]() |
|
Write a Port Report
You spot a bench beneath a willow tree, beside a mirror-smooth lake. A place to sit, take out your notebook, and jot some observations.
|
A Report on Death's Door
When you write your report on Death's Door, it is difficult to avoid slipping into philosophy. What does it all mean? Is this all there is? After a few attempts, you find more luck in writing about the spirits of the dead as baldly and bluntly as though they are imported cabbages.
Shades arrive in ever-greater numbers. The Blue Kingdom finds it difficult to meet demand. You've heard rumours that there are even disguised members of the living among the influx of spirits, trying to slip through the Door while alive. Outside the Shadow of the Sun, a rising chaos is barely contained.
|
||
Seek an audience with the Sun's Daughter
She is the Arbiter of Endings, the daughter of the Sapphir'd King. The Shadow of the Sun was built for her and around her.
|
|
The Carefree Attendant
Outside the Palace doors, the Carefree Attendant bows deeply. He is wearing a robe of red feathers and a pair of startling green boots; his voice echoes from a pot in his arms.
He leads you to a structure at the edge of the ornamental lake. It's halfway between tree and lighthouse; it's a branching tower with a blazing globe nestled in its upper reaches. You are taken upstairs to a windowless room with off-putting implements hanging from the walls.
![]() |
|
Seek an audience with the Arbiter
She is the Arbiter of Fates, the daughter of the Sapphir'd King. The Shadow of the Sun was built for her and around her.
|
|
Foiled
As you approach the palace, a pair of Yoked spirits bar your way.
"Only the Yoked are permitted an audience with the Arbiter of Fates," says one of the spirits, his voice emanating from the jar in his hands. "We cannot help you. Be on your way."
|
|
Visit the Garden of Unflowers
At the centre of the ornamental lake is a garden-island where unfinished stories are planted and fed.
|
|
Passage across
A rowboat sits at the lake's edge, occupied by a Yoked spirit with an oar at the ready. It doesn't take long for him to row you across the placid water. Any conversation is decidedly one-sided.
![]() |
|
Seek an audience with the Arbiter
She is the Arbiter of Fates, the daughter of the Sapphir'd King. The Shadow of the Sun was built for her and around her.
|
The Carefree Attendant
As you make your way toward the Palace, the Carefree Attendant raises a white-gloved hand in cautious greeting.
"She is terribly angry with you," says the Attendant, his voice uncharacteristically subdued. "I'm glad you came to face your fate. Perhaps now she will show mercy."
![]() |
Advanced query needs investigation
| |
Seek an audience with the Arbiter
She is the Arbiter of Fates, the daughter of the Sapphir'd King. The Shadow of the Sun was built for her and around her.
|
|
Foiled
As you approach the palace, a pair of Yoked spirits bar your way.
"Only the Yoked are permitted an audience with the Arbiter of Fates," says one of the spirits, his voice emanating from the jar in his hands. "We cannot help you. Be on your way."
|
Advanced query needs investigation
|
Seek an audience with the Arbiter
She is the Arbiter of Fates, the daughter of the Sapphir'd King. The Shadow of the Sun was built for her and around her.
|
|
The Carefree Attendant
Outside the Palace doors, a Yoked spirit bows deeply. He is wearing a robe of red feathers and a pair of startling green boots; his voice echoes from a pot in his arms.
He leads you to a structure at the edge of the ornamental lake. It's halfway between tree and lighthouse; a branching tower, a blazing globe nestled in its upper reaches. You are taken upstairs to a windowless room with off-putting implements hanging from the walls.
![]() |
Advanced query needs investigation
|
Drop off the Brittle Servitor
It stares from the window of its cabin, its porcelain face as expressionless as ever.
|
|
A welcome home
As the Servitor descends from your engine, spirits of lesser Yoked cluster at its feet, faces pressed against gravel.
"Welcome back," says the Carefree Attendant, who does not bow, but merely inclines his head. "None of our kind have ever returned from Piranesi. Did you compromise?" "I did not," says the Servitor. The Attendant turns to you. "Addressed As(CapitalFormal), you have the Blue Kingdom's eternal gratitude. As much as anything can be eternal. In addition..." After a moment's whispered orders, the Yoked spirits hurry away. They return carrying a golden sarcophagus, jewel-studded and ornately-engraved with stories of your adventures. "This will serve you well, one day."
|
|
Drop off the Brittle Servitor
It stares from the window of its cabin, its porcelain face as expressionless as ever. It taps its foot relentlessly.
|
|
A harsh sentence
As the Servitor descends from your engine, the Carefree Attendant waits.
"None of our kind have ever returned from Piranesi," says the Attendant. "Did you compromise?" The Servitor hesitates. "I did." "I know," says the Attendant. He gestures; a gang of Yoked spirits hurry forward and chain the Servitor's wrists and ankles. They drag him from your sight. The Attendant turns to you. "Addressed As(CapitalFormal), thank you for returning our wayward servant. We will throw him into the fires of grief, and subject him to the Unmaking Arts. If he survives a decade of purification, he will be a Servitor again."
|
|
Preparation | |
---|---|
Category | Story Event |
Type | Story |
Data ID | 306028 |
Preparation[]
"Your eyes must be replaced by gemstones," says the Attendant, measuring your face with calipers. "That is the simplest part of the procedure." He lifts a small bell and rings it, carefully watching your response. "Your thoughts must become song, or they will turn against you. We will have to replace your skin with the language of light, and your tongue with flame. All perishable flesh must remain here for safekeeping."
Interactions
Actions | Requirements | Effects | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Allow him to ready your form
Your eyes must become gemstones, your thoughts become song, your tongue fire, your skin Correspondence.
|
A state of readiness
The Attendant lays you on the bare stone floor, at the centre of a circle of engraved Correspondence symbols. He takes from the wall a scalpel as long as a sword.
"This will hurt for a moment," he says. "Then you will lose your comprehension of pain." Symbols flare like stars. The scalpel slides into you, just above the collarbone, and traces your outline with delicacy and precision. There is only a little blood. Your skin comes away in rinds, like shucked fruit. The blaze of Correspondence devours you. The world falls away.
![]() |
||
Allow the Embittered Devil to assist in readying your Form
Your eyes must become gemstones, your thoughts become song, your tongue fire, your skin Correspondence. The Devil has thoughtfully anticipated the latter of these requirements.
|
|
A state of readiness
The Attendant lays you on the bare stone floor, at the centre of a circle of engraved Correspondence symbols. He takes from the wall a scalpel as long as a sword.
"This will hurt for a moment," he says. "Then you will lose your comprehension of pain." Symbols flare like stars. The scalpel slides into you, just above the collarbone, and traces your outline with delicacy and precision. There is only a little blood. Your skin comes away in rinds, like shucked fruit. The blaze of Correspondence devours you. The world falls away.
![]() |
|
Allow the Nameless Spirit to assist in readying your Form
Your eyes must become gemstones, your thoughts become song, your tongue fire, your skin Correspondence. The Spirit has anticipated the stones and the skin. Making your tongue become fire is on you.
|
|
A state of readiness
The Attendant lays you on the bare stone floor, at the centre of a circle of engraved Correspondence symbols. He takes from the wall a scalpel as long as a sword.
"This will hurt for a moment," he says. "Then you will lose your comprehension of pain." Symbols flare like stars. The scalpel slides into you, just above the collarbone, and traces your outline with delicacy and precision. There is only a little blood. Your skin comes away in rinds, like shucked fruit. The blaze of Correspondence devours you. The world falls away.
![]() |
|
Allow the Cowled Loquacitor to assist in readying your Form
Your eyes must become gemstones, your thoughts become song, your tongue fire, your skin Correspondence. The Loquacitor has been waiting for this and has gems and inspiration aplenty. The Correspondence you will have to provide yourself.
|
|
A state of readiness
The Attendant lays you on the bare stone floor, at the centre of a circle of engraved Correspondence symbols. He takes from the wall a scalpel as long as a sword.
"This will hurt for a moment," he says. "Then you will lose your comprehension of pain." Symbols flare like stars. The scalpel slides into you, just above the collarbone, and traces your outline with delicacy and precision. There is only a little blood. Your skin comes away in rinds, like shucked fruit. The blaze of Correspondence devours you. The world falls away.
![]() |
|
On second thoughts...
You either lack the required materials to ready an appropriate form, or the will to go through with it.
|
|
![]() |
|
The Island of Unflowers | |
---|---|
Category | Story Event |
Type | Story |
Data ID | 306037 |
The Island of Unflowers[]
The Unflowers have petals of parchment. Their stems are tightly-wound scrolls. The island is filled with them, but they are not allowed to grow as they please. Instead they are cultivated in meticulous patterns. A Yoked spirit tends to the island, pruning and studying the Unflowers with infinite diligence. She is known as the Gardener-Archivist; she greets you at the dock, hand raised in silent greeting.
Interactions
Actions | Requirements | Effects | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Offer to conclude one of the Unflowers' stories
The Gardener-Archivist will select an Unflower whose story you can end.
|
|
The Unflower
She hands you a flowerpot. It contains an Unflower, a huge and delicate papyrus-blossom, sprouting from ink-black soil.
![]() |
|
Tell her the conclusion you wrought
You finished one of the Unflowers' stories on her behalf.
|
|
A denouement
The Gardener-Archivist listens with delight, hanging onto every word.
"I am so glad you managed to finish one," she says when you are done, clapping her hands together. "Oh, but there are so many more left to conclude..." By way of reward, she hands you a bundle of yellowing maps. "These maps show the secret pathways of starlight," she tells you in a hushed whisper.
|
|
Pick an Unflower and read it before it wilts
Densely-packed words cover the petals. As you start to read, the parchment blackens.
|
|
Failed event |
Advanced query needs investigation |
Too slow
You try to drink in as much of the text as you can, but only manage to read a few oblique paragraphs before the parchment crumbles. You are left with nothing but paper cuts and dissatisfaction.
| |||
Successful event | |||
Unsatisfying
You manage to skim the Unflower's page-petals faster than they can deteriorate. It's the story of a trial; an accused murderer who didn't commit the crime. A bribed judge, a duped jury, a callous prosecutor.
Only the defending lawyer can save him, but the odds are overwhelming. She receives a strange note, perhaps from the actual culprit. She embarks on a fateful search for the truth... But as you approach what could be a conclusion, she catches an obscure strain of flu. The trial proceeds without her. She dies, coughing and bedbound, not knowing its outcome. The parchment crumbles to nothing between your fingers.
| |||
Pick an Unflower and read it before it wilts
Densely-packed words cover the petals. As you start to read, the parchment blackens.
|
|
Failed event |
Advanced query needs investigation |
Too slow
You try to drink in as much of the text as you can, but only manage to read a few oblique paragraphs before the parchment crumbles. You are left with nothing but paper cuts and dissatisfaction.
| |||
Successful event | |||
Unsatisfying
You manage to skim the Unflower's page-petals faster than they can deteriorate. It's a fascinating story, packed with vibrant characters and surprising twists.
But as you approach what could be a conclusion, your protagonist unceremoniously dies. The story collapses. No ending is reached. The parchment crumbles to nothing between your fingers.
| |||
Ask about the Unflowers
What are they?
|
|
Grown from unflourished seeds
"When the dead pass through the Catafalque we extract their unfinished stories. Spirits afflicted by unfinished stories are bitter, detestable things." The Gardener-Archivist keeps her voice in an empty flowerpot; it echoes dolefully.
"At first, we did not know what to do with our harvest. We could not destroy them – then they would remain unfinished forever. We found that we could plant them, and Unflowers would grow from the seed. The stories remain unfinished but at least now they are pleasing to the eye."
|
|
Ask the Gardener-Archivist what's wrong
She is fidgeting with her robes. She looks like she's working up the courage to ask for a favour.
|
![]() |
||
Return to the central gardens
The ferryman is waiting patiently for you, his oar across his knees.
|
|
![]() |
|