 |
Beyond this point lie spoilers for Fallen London, Sunless Sea, or Sunless Skies. This may include midgame content. Proceed with caution. You can find out more about our spoiler policy here. |
"Why do they call it the Elder Continent?"
"That vast continent to the South with a glowing mountain at its heart - where the Presbyter has ruled for a thousand years - is older by far than any of London's civilisations. Which is embarrassing."[1] "Your road runs beside the nameless river that flows from the Mountain to the zee. The waters are thick with blood – thicker still as you travel South. Scabs float on the water like foam. The coppery scent of it rises about you."[2]
The Elder Continent is a vast, warm, and humid landmass, bathed in the soft glow of the Mountain of Light, that forms the southern edge of the Unterzee. More ancient than any of the Fallen Cities, the Continent is home to wildlife, demographics, and kingdoms the likes of which London has only just begun to dream of.
Civilizations[]
The primary civilization on the Elder Continent is the Presbyterate, an empire of seventy-seven kingdoms that has possibly been in the Neath since before the Bazaar arrived. At the heart of the Continent, within the Mountain of Light, lies the Garden, the source of all the Neath's unnatural vitality.
The coast of the Elder Continent is home to Port Carnelian, London's sole imperial possession, and the mirrored city of Varchas. The hidden city of Arbor also has strong ties to this place.
Flora and Fauna[]
"What can you find on the Elder Continent?"
"Travellers tell of strange tribes and incomprehensible religions, carnivorous flora, pygmy elephants and giant mice. But no-one believes travellers' tales, do they?"[1]
A Blue Prophet's royal blue feather.
Tigers are a powerful and influential faction here; it is advised that one does not press their luck with them. Currently, they are vying for control of the Carnelian Coast against London and the Khanate.[3]
Heart-Takers are also native to the Elder Continent.[2]
A species of bird called the Blue Prophet flocks near the Elder Continent; these birds are known for their sky-blue feathers and the superstition that they can prophesize the deaths of certain individuals by crying out their names.[4]
An Epicurean War-Helm.
A group of renowned hunters known as the Epicurean League hails from the Presbyterate kingdom of Skite. These connoisseurs stalk the most dangerous, and delectable, animals of the Elder Continent; using the skin of their first kills, they fashion war-helms which are worn during subsequent feasts. As a result, these helms are often covered in blood, juices, and condiments.[5]
An intriguing fruit that grows in the Elder Continent is the chertapple, known to be nourishing "to the bone." They taste like earth, induce dreams of the South,[6] and can apparently be used for navigation. Chertapple trees are often plagued by creatures known as bloatfingers, snakelike things so enraged by their own ugliness that they unleash their rage upon all who look at them.[7]
Strange Dangers[]
"On rare days, an impossible tempest sweeps out of the Elder Continent: a wild wind carrying the scent of boiling honey and a storm of molten wax. Ships that fall prey to the Wax-Wind float like filthy icebergs in the Unterzee, their crews confined in wax, mouths fixed in endless screams."[1]
It should go without saying that the Elder Continent is not a very safe place. People who harvest the massive mushrooms that grow here often suffer from Lung-Bloom, especially in places like Varchas where fungal blooms are common. A chronic condition, Lung-Bloom begins as a bad cough, but soon progresses into growths of fungus on one's extremities, before sprouting out of other orifices. Yikes.[8]
The Wax-Wind is a flood of molten wax that engulfs ships zailing near the Elder Continent.[1] Contact with the Wind is invariably fatal, as it can melt the very skin off one's bones.[9] The Presbyterate is capable of invoking the Wax-Wind against its enemies, whether as a form of warfare,[10] or as a means of execution.[11] Strangely, this wind may manifest in far-off places like Polythreme; this may have something to do with the unnatural vitality there.[12] According to certain stories, the Wax-Wind is actually the weeping of Stone.[13]
Falling asleep in the deeper regions of the Elder Continent can be dangerous, as one might encounter the Conjunction of Fancies, where the dream-realm of Parabola presses against the skin of the world.[14]
And one must not forget Animescence, the soul-burning affliction endemic to the Continent...
Adam's Way[]
"To the south: the Elder Continent, and the seventy-two [sic] cornucopian kingdoms of the Presbyterate. Are the stories true - rivers of honey; castles of ivory?
"Who can say? Foreigners (that's you) are forbidden from the interior. The closest most get is Adam's Way: a shouting, feasting, thieving riot of a port."[15]
Adam’s Way, the estuary of the blood-tinged Nameless River, is the gateway to the Elder Continent, flanked by two massive statues of stone bees. Only living ships may pass through it with some semblance of safety; the red blood of Stone corrodes and destroys any other ships that try to venture SOUTH.[16]
Apis Meet[]
"All ships that approach Adam's Way are intercepted by the Gracious - the Presbyterate's splendidly head-dressed coastguards. A quaint but inviolable tradition governs entry: you must tell them one of three stories. In return you will be permitted to spend a single day in the port."[17]
A Tree of a Single Day.
The port of Adam's Way, Apis Meet, is always well-populated and busy. In order to enter, a visitor must tell a story of intrigue to the Gracious, the Continent's coastal guard. According to the Gracious, prolonged exposure to the soil of the Elder Continent may cause "hysteria, rapture, [and] animescence", so foreigners may only stay in Apis Meet for one day per visit, and cannot venture further South without permission. The duration of their stay is measured using the aptly-named Tree of a Single Day, which grows, buds, and withers over the course of twenty-four hours. Visitors must leave before the tree bends over and breaks.[17]
Apis Meet is home to numerous attractions enjoyed by visitors and locals of all stripes (some rather literal). It is a thriving business hub; Londoners with a fascination for the grotesque can observe the strange exhibits of the Sober Showman, who showcases Snuffers, Starved Men, and more.[18] It is also home to the Temple of the Mountain's Mother, which is dedicated to the Echo Bazaar and accepts deliveries of the mysterious sphinxstones.[19] Soldiers of the Elder Continent known as the Replete occasionally host Funeral Feasts in Apis Meet; unfortunately, the central dishes of these feasts are the Replete's recently deceased.[20]
References[]
|