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"The show is cancelled, the poster claims. Mahogany Hall - London's most notorious Music Hall and theatre - is closed tonight. You know better."[1]
The Seventh Letter is a scandalous and forbidden play that dramatizes the story of the Echo Bazaar.
The Neathy Play[]
"The Seventh Letter! They only show that in secret at Mahogany Hall! A production at the Panopticon? How does the Ministry of Public Decency permit it?"[2]
The Seventh Letter has been banned by the Ministry of Public Decency,[3] so it is usually staged in secret; Mahogany Hall is known for hosting recitals of the play on days when the theater is announced to be closed.[1] However, it is said that Mr Wines enjoys the play, and it supposedly bribes the Ministry on occasion to permit public showings.[4]
While the play's subject matter is esoteric,[5] it is also notoriously moving and emotional.[3] The performances of the play's tragic characters can move even the most dignified audience members to tears,[6] and certain scenes are so horrifying that the play has an intermission beforehand for faint-hearted audiences to take their leave.[3]
In Summary[]
"They say only six letters of it should ever be written together. The seventh will doom all."[1]
The following is a summary of all that is known of The Seventh Letter.
Night[]
"Yet no sweeter than yours, great master. I acknowledge it so."[3]
A raven?
The actress playing the Raven is introduced. She sings her aria, the Hymn of Shames, which contains the following lyrics: "The glowing-hearted mountain / the river in the sky / the near night and the deep night..."[3]
The Raven comments that her song is superior to that of "the stone, the swan, the storm," but is interrupted by the arrival of the Messenger, to whom she defers, and whom she addresses as "great master".[7] The Messenger, played by multiple actors of multiple gender identities,[8] is dressed in "rags of cloud." They ask a question, into the darkness of the scene: why they should sing; when all of their songs are burned to their skin?[7]
Blood[]
"Ah, were it only my unfettered choice. But I owe him his hunts and the joys of his voice."[4]
A Master.
The Messenger is beseeched by the Owls, who have taken up shelter within the Messenger's spires.[9] The Messenger asks what the Owls are doing within its spires; they respond that "we watch. We wait. We eat."[10] The Messenger mentions that the Owls are on the run from a being known as the Hunter;[10][4] in response, the Owls beg for safety from the Hunter's wrath. However, the Messenger cannot simply do away with the Hunter, as they "owe him his hunts and the joys of his voice."[10]
The Hunter later confronts the Messenger, and the Messenger warns him to hold back his greed. In response, the Hunter screams at the Messenger a "litany of solar insults."[4]
Ice[]
"Aren't we touchy! I had no idea."[11]
The Phoenix, described as a "thing of fire",[12] is introduced. She recites her famous soliloquy: "I am so very tired of flames. I will drown myself in snow, and emerge in perfect serenity. Or emerge not at all."[13]
The Messenger then arrives abruptly, and asks the Phoenix what she is doing. The Phoenix responds by greeting them, and pointing out that the Messenger is the one carrying a troth from the Sun to another. The Messenger interrupts the Phoenix, and furiously demands that she does not speak the recipient's name.[12]
Later, the Phoenix prepares to undergo her Last Immolation. During certain productions of the play, rather than undress before her dramatic Immolation as would be expected, the Phoenix's feathered robes burst into blue flame, and she crackles like ice in the process.[14]
Glory[]
"Not yet enough. Not yet enough!"[5]
A Dragon's eye.
The Messenger is confronted by a Dragon, another servant of the Messenger's superior. The Dragon reminds them that their superior still awaits the Messenger; in turn, the Messenger begs the Dragon for more time, as they are not yet ready to deliver their message. The Dragon indifferently responds by stating that the Messenger still has time remaining, and that "two remain" if "this place" fails, but the Messenger believes that this is not nearly enough.[15]
Later, seven Dragons capture and hold a tribunal for their prisoners: the Messenger, the Chained Sun, the Messenger's Daughter. The Dragons also kill the Hunter and Time itself. Two of the Dragons' mouths are covered in the Blood of the World, and the Dragons drag their prisoners to the Wound in the World. The Seventh Dragon states the crimes of those accused: "Betrayal of Messages, Undelivery of Words, Vile Breeding, Conspiracy in Darkness, and Unlicensed Love."[16]
When the Seventh Dragon mentions the last crime, its fellows scream in an incalculable rage. The curtain then falls as the seven Dragons feast on their prisoners.[17]
Excerpts[]
--
Night
RAVEN: Truly my voice is sweeter than the song of the stone, the swan, the storm....
(Enter a MESSENGER beribboned with RAGS of CLOUD.)
RAVEN: (in haste) ...yet no sweeter than yours, great master. I acknowledge it so.
MESSENGER: O blackness, o blackness, wherefore should I sing? When all of my songs are seared on my skin?
(Exeunt.)
--[7]
Blood
MESSENGER: What do you among my spires?
OWLS: Why, great master, we watch. We wait. We eat.
MESSENGER: You watch and you wait and consume, you say. But is there not one who will make you his prey?
OWLS: ....pray, great master, preserve us. Let us hear his shriekings no more, and we will serve you always.
MESSENGER: Ah, were it only my unfettered choice. But I owe him his hunts and the joys of his voice.
--[10]
Ice
PHOENIX (to herself): I am so very tired of flames. I will drown myself in snow and emerge in perfect serenity. Or emerge not at all.
MESSENGER: What’s that? You have no more use for flame?
PHOENIX: Oho! A visitor!
MESSENGER: A pleasure. Will you guess my name?
PHOENIX: I know you. All we things of fire do. You are the ragged messenger who carries a troth from the Sun to -
MESSENGER: -name her not! Name her not, the b___h!
PHOENIX: Aren’t we touchy! I had no idea.
--[12]
Glory
MESSENGER: You, again.
DRAGON: Yes. I remain the servant of your master. As do you. He awaits you.
MESSENGER: Do not. I beg you, do not. He cannot yet hear what I have to say.
DRAGON: (carelessly) You have a little longer. Should this place fail, two remain. (Exit)
MESSENGER: Not yet enough. Not yet enough!
--[15]
Analysis[]
The following is a player-written analysis of the cast and story of the The Seventh Letter. Do note that this analysis is liable to change as the lore of Fallen London develops and evolves.
The scenes of the The Seventh Letter do not appear to follow any chronological order, and the last scene appears to be a possible ending for the Messenger in the future.
The "Messenger" is the Echo Bazaar; the Messenger bears a message for the Sun,[12][18][19] and possesses the Bazaar's iconic spires.[10][20]
The "Owls" are the Masters of the Bazaar. They reside within the Messenger's spires,[10][21] and the Masters' species, the Curators,[22] have been compared to owls.[23][24]
The identity of the "Hunter" is unconfirmed, but it is likely Mr Veils. Veils killed several other Curators during its time in the High Wilderness,[25] and is known to shriek as the Hunter does when acting as the Vake.[26][10]
The identity of the "Phoenix" is unknown.
The seven "Dragons" are Aeginae, beings that feed on time[27][5] and are often referred to as dragons.[28]
The Dragon that warns the Messenger is Storm; Storm is an Aeginae who is known to have interacted with the Bazaar in the past.[15][29][30]
The aforementioned Dragon mentions a time limit that will expire if "this place" and the "two remaining" fail;[15] this refers to the Fallen Cities, as London is known to be the Fifth of these,[31] and there are two further cities remaining[32][1][33] for the Bazaar to use in its mission to collect love stories to deliver to the Sun.[15][34][35]
The "Wound in the World" is the Avid Horizon, which has been called such, and a "wound in the sky."[36][37][38] The "Blood of the World" is likely the result of the damage done by the Dragons to spacetime; similar effects can occur through the use of Red Science as seen in a crimson chamber of Frostfound.[39][40]
The "Messenger's Daughter" is the Mountain of Light, also known as Stone, the daughter of the Bazaar.[41][42] The "Chained Sun" is the Sun, who in the play is presumably arrested by the Dragons for its experiments in the Neath, including the existence of Stone herself.[43][44]
The identity of the "Raven" is unconfirmed, but based on the name and lyrics of the Raven's Hymn,[3] she is likely one of the Shames, the beings created by Stone who were considered aberrations by the Judgements[45][46] and forced to stay in the Neath.[47][48] As such, the scene depicting the Raven most likely takes place in the Neath, as the Shames were known to roam the Neath freely in ancient times.[48]
References[]
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