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"I saw it! Ask anyone! ...except her. Don't ask her."
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"The Topsy King: the notorious beggar-king of the Flit. Although he's far from royalty, you should probably present yourself. Oh yes: he's supposed to be incomprehensibly insane." "Who is the Topsy King? In his own words: 'A goden most capering! Hines the walkskies, chanter the powb raggedy men. Dab with viddlo, too, goden!' So there we have it."
The Topsy King is the ruler of the Flit.
A Goden Most Capering![]
A Raggedy Man.
He is often accompanied by his gang of lunatic beggars and thieves, known as the Raggedy Men. He collects paintings and tends to speak in nearly incomprehensible gibberish.
A little hint for you: he describes himself as "A most capering man! Rules the Flit, this king of the poor Raggedy Men. Good with a fiddle, too, he is!"
Who Was He?[]
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"You find the Topsy King... but this isn't the Topsy King. This fellow is Tristram Bagley. He's leaning on a long-cold chimney-breast, smoking a cigar. His bat is absent."
The Topsy King, whose given name is Tristram Bagley, used to be a court composer, scholar, and violinist for the Empress. He wrote part of an amazingly scandalous Correspondence-laden opera called "The Bell and the Candle." But before he could finish it, he bet his sanity in the card game called the Marvellous and lost, and that's why nobody can understand a thing he says. The opera is now a key to his sanity; seeing it performed restores him to his old self for a week or two before he breaks down again.
"Tristram Bagley looks down at his feet. He drops his cigar. A bat lands on his shoulder. The Topsy King looks up at you. 'Garbles,' he says softly. 'Garbles...'"
Historical Connections[]
It's possible that the Topsy King is inspired by Joshua Norton (1818-1880), an eccentric resident of San Francisco, California who proclaimed himself Emperor Norton I of the United States. The American government paid him no mind - but the people of his upstart city humored him, supported his delusions of grandeur, and thronged by the thousands to his funeral when he died.