The Fifth City: Fallen London's Lore Wikia
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"A book for children. One page is devoted to each of the colours of the Neath, which are not found on the Surface."[1]

The Neathbow is the collective term for seven colors which cannot be seen on the Surface. They are commonly observed in the Neath, hence the name,[2] but they also appear in places like Parabola[3] and the High Wilderness.[4][5] The origin of the Neathbow is unknown, but the colors seem to arise from properties of light that only exist "in the dark."[6][7]

Colors[]

Origins[]

The Neathbow as a concept was likely inspired by real-life impossible colors. The specific shades of the Neathbow were likely inspired by the additive (for light) and subtractive (for pigments) color wheels.

Below is fanart of the Neathbow arranged to correspond with the additive and subtractive color wheels. Art by MidnightVoyager:

The beige shade of gant may have been inspired by the color eigengrau, which people in real life reportedly see in the absence of light.[8] It may also be a reference to cosmic latte, the beige-like average color of the universe.

Name Origins[]

Each color's name likely has the following inspiration:

  • "Irrigo" is a Latin word meaning to "flood or overwhelm," or to "diffuse or shed"
  • "Violant" may stem from violent and violet
  • "Cosmogone" stems from cosmogony, the study of the origins of the solar system, and cosmos and gone
  • "Peligin" is a portmanteau of the Latin pelagus, meaning "sea," and the color fuligin. Fuligin is darker than black and is derived from the English word "fuliginous" meaning soot-like; this color was used by Gene Wolfe in his science fiction novel The Shadow of the Torturer
  • "Apocyan" stems from the color cyan, which has a similar hue, and the Greek prefix "apo-", meaning something between "off, away" and "descended from" - like the words apostate (gone-away-from-a-cause) or apocalypse (un-covering)
  • "Viric" stems from the Latin viridis, meaning "green, blooming, vigorous;" this word that also spawned the name of the similar color viridian

References[]

  1. THE NEATHBOW, Sunless Sea
  2. THE NEATHBOW, Sunless Sea "[...] each of the colours of the Neath, which are not found on the Surface."
  3. Parabola tattoo, Fallen London "There are colours which can only be seen in sleep [...] Cosmogone and viric."
  4. Approach the Gate, Sunless Skies "Two vast winged shapes guard a gate of something like resin, smooth but uneven. It is deep gant [...]"
  5. Story description, Sunless Skies "The only light comes from smouldering apocyan pyres [...]"
  6. The Prelapsarian Museum: Optical Exhibits, Fallen London "The centrepiece of this wing will be a series of exhibits on neathy optics – the properties of light that can only exist in the dark."
  7. Whoever you can, Fallen London "[...] the variant spectrum of night: the colours called irrigo, cosmogone, violant, apocyan."
  8. Eigengrau, Wikipedia
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