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NOTICE: Beyond this point lie SPOILERS regarding the GLORIOUS CLOCKWORK SUN. There is much here to LEARN about the RADIANT AND UNDYING ONE. PROCEED NOW PROCEED NOW PROCEED NOW NOW NOW NOW. You can find out more about our spoiler policy HERE. |
"The light of the Clockwork Sun oozes into your cabin like rancid honey."[1]
"Pistons pump, cogs turn, and suit-swaddled figures tend to the enginery, bellowing over the shrieking metal."[2]
The Clockwork Sun is the artificial star that gives light to Albion.
THE SUN! AGAIN![]
"Sunlight seeps like syrup through cracks in the stained-glass ceiling. The floor shudders in time with the churning machinery far beneath your feet. The air has a tang of chemicals, bonfires and rain."[3]
The Clockwork Sun is the Dawn Machine 2.0: an actual, functional, artificial Sun! Its power allows Empress Victoria to preside over time itself, and her Throne of Hours is framed in its hollow glow. The Clockwork Sun is the symbol of Albion's dominion, for as long as it shines, the Sun will never set on the British Empire.[4][5]
While the Clockwork Sun enjoys a reputation of reverence and awe among the people of New London, it is one of the most dangerous stations in Albion, as its sick, buttery light turns people into glass, slowly and excruciatingly, and drives them insane. As a result, the station is almost completely deserted. Its only residents are several overworked and exhausted engineers, and the Dawn Rats, a group of Rattus Faber engineers who eventually took to thieving.[6][7][8]
The station is also home to a priest of the New Sequence (which is basically the state religion at this point), the Dazzled Sequencer, who conducts his rites in the shadowless sundial of Azimuth. Despite his eccentricity, he may be inclined toward charity. Azimuth also serves as an access route to the Sun-Shattered Dome, an extremely dangerous abandoned museum of sorts that's packed with relics and the glass statues of former tourists. Within one of the exhibition halls lies the Glasshouse, a prison of sorts that holds several insane and vitrified prisoners.[9][10]
The Clockwork Sun also causes time to unravel, creating Wefts of Unraveling Time, which can cause time-warps and aging effects. The official position of the Horological Office is that, one, the Wefts do not exist, and two, if they did exist, then Her Majesty could fix them easily. If she did not do so, it would be because such an act was beneath her. Those who aren't bound to believe only things convenient to Her Majesty's government may find this less than convincing, but they'd be well served not to contradict it while in Albion or the more British parts of the Reach.[11][12]
The Sun is Still Sick[]
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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. |
"There is. The winds whisper to you of the usurper-sun. Of its hollow, mocking light. Of its ravening and monstrous pride. Teach it a lesson, the winds say. Bring it down a peg or two. Perhaps then the Storm that Speaks will forgive you."[13]
"You notice the densely-packed scrawl on the walls behind her. Two words, repeated thousands of times, often misspelled, eventually running into a single garbled stream."[14]
Like all Judgements, the Clockwork Sun is a sapient being, notorious for its unstable and vitriolic personality. It often aggressively brainwashes people into praising it endlessly, especially those that dare doubt its superiority, turning them into unwilling Sequencers called the Dazzled, assuming it just doesn't glass them outright.[15][16][17]
The Clockwork Sun took over the King of Hours' domain after the King was murdered; this explains its precedence over time. Naturally, The King's spirit, the Storm that Speaks, is furious at the Usurper, and will support anyone who pledges themselves against the Clockwork Sun.[18] It's also implied that the Clockwork Sun is dying; it brainwashed all the engineers tasked with keeping it working into Dazzled, who failed to notice the false-sun's increasingly severe mechanical breakdowns. This decline in its... health, after a fashion, has not done its disposition any favors. It hates us - but you can't fix perfection. There's no such thing as dusk...[19][20][21]
The Broken Steward[]
"The Broken Steward has been working on the Sun since before it first shone. She has been here far, far longer than any of the engineers above."[22]
The Broken Steward is the sole senior engineer who still maintains the Clockwork Sun. Despite her special protective outfit, her work has caused most of her teeth and bones to be vitrified.[23]
It is vital that the Steward's mental well-being is paid attention to, as she's the only senior engineer who isn't brainwashed or entirely made of glass by now. Should anything bad happen to her, maintenance on the Clockwork Sun will probably cease, leaving it in disrepair.[24]
References[]