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"Never mention the Second City to the Masters of the Bazaar. Mr Wines will look at you narrowly and give you its worst vintage. Mr Cups will fly into a rage. Mr Veils will harangue you for your discourtesy. Mr Iron will say nothing, only write down your name with its left hand."
"Certain of the Masters of the Bazaar - Mr Stones, Mr Apples and Mr Wines, and possibly others - seem to have a particular contempt for Egypt and the Egyptological. Perhaps they're simply reacting to the fashion for the Pharaonic that overcame London before the Descent. But it's unusual that they should care."
"...and the second betrayed..."
The Second City was originally located in ancient Egypt, dating back to the Eighteenth Dynasty (16th-13th centuries BCE). Its remnants live on in Visage and Arbor, and have more recently resurfaced throughout London. The Salt Lions hail from the city as well.
The best-known living survivor of the fall of the Second City is the Duchess, one of the six daughters of the city's pharaoh, who orchestrated the fall ostensibly to save her betrothed's life after he was bitten by a snake. The unfortunate betrothed was transformed into the Cantigaster by the Masters of the Bazaar, saving his life at a heavy price. Dissatisfied with the outcome of their bargain, the Duchess and her sisters devised a plan to "chain" the Bazaar by trapping the Masters for centuries in a tomb known as the House of the Feather.[1][2] As a consequence, the Second City became the longest-lived of the Fallen Cities, the consequences of which would be felt later. Thanks to the sisters' trick, the city and its inhabitants had an extremely antagonistic relationship with the Bazaar and its Masters, who resent their actions to this day.
Four of the Duchess's five sisters still live yet. The eldest sister sacrificed her life to ensure the success of the family's plan, but still remains as the undead Poisoned Priestess. The second is the Obstinate Adoratrice, who is intent on finishing her older sister's work in building the Palace of the Rising in Parabola. The third sister is the Mother Superior of Abbey Rock. The Duchess is most likely the fourth (though in some older text she gives her name as the youngest sister[3]). The fifth became the first Roseate Queen of Arbor. The sources that state that the Duchess is the fourth sister also mention that the youngest of the six died on the Surface.
The eldest two sisters built the Skin of the Sun to house the Second City's refugees and shine cosmogone false-sunlight across the dream-realm.
Historical Inspirations[]
While some neocartographers in London speculate in favor of Alexandria,[4] there is abundant proof that the Second City was instead Amarna, briefly the capital of ancient Egypt under Akhenaten. Akhenaten was notoriously incestuous and was betrothed to at least two of his daughters before his death; as such, it may be inferred that in the Fallen London timeline, he was betrothed to the Duchess, his fourth daughter - making him the Cantigaster. The date of Amarna's fall would have been around 1335 BCE.
With this in mind: the Poisoned Priestess is the eldest sister, Meritaten. The Obstinate Adoratrice, the second, is Meketaten. The Mother Superior is Ankhesenamun, Neferneferuaten Tasherit is the Duchess according to some sources, and the Roseate Queen is Neferneferure. Assuming the Duchess is the fourth of the six sisters, then Setepenre, the youngest who historically died very young, never made it to the Neath.
References[]
- ↑ Homecoming, Fallen London "How dare you", rasps Mr Spices, though it lacks the will to punish the transgression. "You can't imagine it. Tricked by creatures as low as you. Led into a trap. Imprisoned for aeons. The furthest I have ever been from home. Forced to sacrifice—" Its words catch in its throat.
- ↑ Homecoming, Fallen London Together you watch as a funerary procession makes its way towards a temple. A group of hooded creatures with clawed feet are led inside, and do not emerge for centuries.
- ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "There is no signature. Just two simple symbols, scribed in careful strokes: a disk, above a tool embedded in a wood block."
- ↑ Speak to the Dean of Neocartography, Fallen London "...I still hear speculation about Alexandria, but I'm sure that isn't true. The Second City didn't have nearly enough temples to be Alexandria."