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Beyond this point lie spoilers for Fallen London, Sunless Sea, or Sunless Skies. This may include midgame or minor Fate-locked content. Proceed with caution. You can find out more about our spoiler policy here. |
"This is Death's Door, where the dead tunnel to their final progress."[1] "A stoker sings: "The wind doth blow today, my love, and a few small drops of rain. I never had but one true love, and in cold grave she was lain.""[2]
Death's Door is where the valid dead of the Blue Kingdom go once they're ready to pass on. Located NORTH of the Blue Kingdom, the Door is the last barrier between mortals and the Sapphir'd King.[3] The port has few living residents, though it is full of waiting spirits who have taken up residence on the nearby premises.[4]
Death's Doorstep[]
"An austere, ugly little town has sprung up around the station, built and inhabited by spirits too afraid to pass beyond the Door."[5]
Death's Doorstep is a nameless city that officially doesn't exist. It is primarily inhabited by spirits who were "too cowardly" to pass on beyond the Door.[6] Other inhabitants include the occasional antedeceased individual, visiting to conduct business.[7]
The Shadow of The Sun[]
"She, at the centre, a nucleus of violent light. The daughter of a star. She is a pillar of blazing time and rushing song. A winged and skeletal sun. A seven-limbed, seven-headed colossus of sapphire and silk, whose words dance like fireflies on the burning wind. "Welcome," she says, her voice a howl and an orchestra and a shivering crystalline song."[8]
The Shadow of The Sun is a glorious garden-palace inhabited by many Yoked spirits, all in service to the Sapphir'd King's daughter, the Arbiter of Fates.[9] The gardens are meticulously maintained and filled with many different kinds of flowers; the most notable of these are the Unflowers, a parchment-like plant, with the unfinished stories of the spirits passing through Death's Door written on their petals.[10]
The Arbiter of Fates lives at the center of her kaleidoscopic palace. As the daughter of a Judgement, her power and form is too difficult for normal humans to comprehend or withstand. Anyone seeking an audience with her must replace their body and mind with more suitable materials, for instance light and fire.[11][12]
The Endless Furrows[]
"An endless expanse of churned black mud."[13]
Near the Doorstep lies the Endless Furrows. Once, it was known as the Seven Concentric Gardens, home to many forms of rich flora, but now it's little more than a muddy mess. Despite the apparent infertility of the Furrows, several Yoked spirits are still trying to cultivate new life here. Within the endless expanses of mud lies a door that leads to a spirit's death; each spirit has their own door, and to find their door, one must dig, and dig, and dig...[14][15]
At least a portion of the Furrows' mud is actually composed of spirits who were punished by the Arbiter of Fates.[16]
The Catafalque[]
"Below the mud, you find yourself in the Catafalque: a candle-decked labyrinth, filled with endless lines of shuffling, silent dead. Death's Door waits at the other end of the tunnels."[17]
The Catafalque is a massive labyrinth located under the Endless Furrows that leads to Death's Door proper. The labyrinth is patrolled by numerous Logoi, who occasionally administer tests of soul quality to the queued spirits. Notably, those who possess lightless souls are not permitted to pass.[18][19]
In order to progress deeper into the Catafalque, a spirit must pass the Test of Substance; passing this test leaves a spirit faceless.[20] Following this, a spirit must then pass the Test of Definition, which leaves a spirit nameless.[21] Then, finally, a spirit may pass Death's Door. No one who passes the Door returns, for obvious reasons.
Beyond Death's Door[]
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Beyond this point lie major spoilers for Fallen London, Sunless Sea, or Sunless Skies. This may include endgame or major Fate-locked spoilers. Proceed at your own risk. You can find out more about our spoiler policy here. |
"Ponderously vast, the golden Door opens. A cold, surgical light spills out. The daily tithe of spirits go rushing in."[22]
"The Blue Kingdom unfolds before you. Vast wheels turn, words dance on the wind. A landscape halfway between baffling machine and indecipherable pattern."[23]
What lies Beyond Death's Door? The true heart of the Blue Kingdom: where the blessed spirits go to receive their eternal reward, where the Logoi patrol with unparalleled fervor, where one can finally, finally see the Sapphir'd King in his full, unfiltered glory. His light subsumes all, and any mortal in his gaze will be judged by his immortal proclamations.[24]
What lies Beyond Death's Door? A machine of near-infinite complexity, consisting of gears, wheels, and rivers the likes of which no human has ever seen. Spirits are skewered on beams of light. They are dismantled, slowly and meticulously, and are fed to the inner workings. They squirm and and writhe and twitch, and the ever-vigilant Logoi ensure no intruder learns the secrets of Death.[25][26]
What lies further within? Only the maw of a gaping star, each soul only feeding a minuscule fraction of its eternal hunger.[27]
References[]