Sunless Sea Lore Glossary - Beginner Edition

Admiralty - They pay you for port reports.

Anarchists of the Calendar Council - The ruling cabal of anarchist revolutionaries in Fallen London. Their goals and methods are inscrutable to most outside their ranks.

Brass Embassy - Hell’s Embassy in Fallen London run by the current government of hell. It was established shortly after London’s defeat in the Campaign of ‘68.

Campaign of ‘68 - In 1868, shortly after London’s fall to the Neath, London staged a war upon hell known as the Campaign of ‘68. The war ended poorly for London as almost all of her army never made it any closer to hell than the Forgotten Quarter. The Brass Embassy was established in London shortly after the war.

Clathermont - A London tattoo artist whose patrons are mostly spies. He tattoos coded messages on them as part of the Great Game.

Clay Men - As the name says, they are men made of clay (think golems). They hail from Polythreme and work in Fallen London as menial laborers. Clay Men live in the Clay Warrens below London.

Correspondence - A peculiar language of the Neath. Known to ignite incautious scholars.

The Dawn Machine - [THE SUN THE SUN THE SUN]

Devils - Devils are hot to the touch and their bodily fluids are extremely acidic. Their most striking feature is their yellow eyes. Devils come from Hell and their ambition is to collect souls.

Drownies - People who died of drowning and who are convinced they are still drowned. They live in bodies of water and are known for their eerie singing and penchant for drowning others.

Echo Bazaar - Large, dark, and covered in burning sigils, the Echo Bazaar is an engine of commerce in Fallen London and beyond. The Masters oversee its operations. It is located in the heart of Fallen London.

Echos - The currency of Fallen London.

Elder Continent - The Southern Continent. Port Carnelian, a colony of London, is on its shores.

Fallen Cities - Cities dragged from the surface into the Neath by the Bazaar. These cities are stolen or ‘purchased’ by the masters on behalf of the Bazaar by brokering special deals with the leader of the city. London is the Fifth City to fall in this way.

False Stars - Strange lights that move about on the cavern roof. Useful for predicting glim falls.

Flukes - Buff spiny creatures of the deep Zee.

Forgotten Quarter - The border between Fallen London and Hell. It’s the last standing remnants of the Fourth City, and a favorite haunt of devils.

Glim - A luminescent material used as a core component in ship prow lights.

The Great Game - The surface nations have interests in the Neath. The surface nations and their spies are known as the Great Game. The spy-games of the Surface nations are not the only Great Game; the Bazaar’s schemes, the Powers of the Unterzee are all, in their own way, other Great Games.

Hell - A land of abundant fuel and brass. It is ruled by a bureaucracy of devils who overthrew their former monarchy and aristocracy some years ago. One can catch a train from Fallen London to Hell and the Stolen River flows through it. Hell provides the fuel Fallen London needs to run, which is the origin of the joke that Fallen London’s gas lamps are fueled by burning sinners. Full of fields of burning roses, chapels of devilbone and slave-rowed triremes.

Hunters Keep - A house on an island just north of Fallen London. Three sisters and their maid live there.

Khanate - Survivors of the Fourth City who took to zee before the fall of London.

The King With A Hundred Hearts - Ruler of Polythreme, the King With A Hundred Hearts exports Clay Men to London.

Labyrinth of Tigers - The London zoo. It is literally run by a talking tiger in a fez.

Lacre - Neathy ‘snow’. Curiously unlike the surface variety, with a distinct aftertaste of ammonia.

Masters - Agents of the Bazaar, these cloaked entities oversee various areas of commerce in Fallen London. There are eleven masters and they take names related to their areas of commerce, such as: Mr Irons, Mr Veils, Mr Mirrors, Mr Cups, Mr Veils, Mr Hearts, Mr Apples, Mr Wines, Mr Stones, Mr Spices, and Mr Pages. The player stats are named after the Masters.

Mt Nomad - A living mountain of dark skyglass that eats ships. It lives in the far North.

Mushroom Wine - Grapes are hard to come by in the sunless environment of the Neath. Mushrooms however are abundant. And people love to drink alcohol. Mushroom wine is made from the fermentation of mushrooms, most notably by the vintners of Greyfields and Morelways.

Mutton Island - An island just south of Fallen London with quaint and archaic traditions.

Neath - A continent sized cavern that is located miles below the Earth’s surface. Space and Time are strange there, making islands shuffle about and death to be less than permanent. The Neath contains Fallen London, Hell, The Elder Continent, and of course the Sunless Sea. Parabola, the dream-dimension, is closer to the Neath than the Surface.

Parabola - A land of dreams hidden behind mirrors.

Prisoner’s Honey - The opiate of the Neath. Prisoner’s Honey transports its consumers bodily into their dreams, and return is not always guaranteed.

Rattus Faber - Intelligent talking rats. Rattus Faber are known for their fine craftsmanship and advanced engineering.

Red Honey - This is one of the most awful substances in the Neath. It's too dreadful to be properly illegal.

Rubbery Men - The Squid Men who trade mysterious sticky amber. In Fallen London, Rubbery Men are often treated as second class citizens.

Sapphires - Blue gemstones mined in Port Carnelian.

Salt - One of three Gods of the Zee, Salt is the god of horizons, the outward urge, and farewells.

Secrets - Mysteries are fire. Truth burns. Potent enough secrets are occasionally represented as tangible objects, but one way or the other, they’re often used as currency in the Neath.

Snuffers - Snuffers are creatures from the Elder Continent that cut-off faces (typically human ones), tan them, and wear them as masks - convincingly so. It is a challenging task to identify a snuffer should one sneak on board your ship and replace a crew member. Snuffers are also known for eating candles, and are particularly fond of beeswax.

Sorrow Spiders - Spiders with the habit of stealing the eyes of their prey. Their name comes from the tears that flow from the remaining eye.

Souls - Can be extracted from humans by means of a tool known as a Spirifer’s Fork. According to the Devils, Souls are something you won’t miss much and you probably don’t even need. So why not sell them yours today. Purchasing and selling of souls is legal in Fallen London for those with the proper licenses.

Stone - One of three Gods of the Zee, Stone is the god of home, hearth, and healing.

Storm - One of three Gods of the Zee, Storm is the god of violence, valour and the crash of waves.

Tomb Colonies - places where the fallen cities shipped their tomb colonists. Venderbight is the flagship tomb colony where the most presentable tomb colonists reside. There are other tomb colonies out there in the zee, including ones founded by previous fallen cities but those are rather obscure.

Tomb Colonists - Death is rarely permanent in the Neath. However, some injuries are too great to heal even if they don’t outright kill you. Zombie-looking people too grotesque or too falling apart for polite society are wrapped in bandages and shipped off to the Tomb Colonies. These people are known as Tomb Colonists, the bandaged dead (who aren’t quite dead just yet).

The University - A place where you can sell rare artefacts in Fallen London.

Unaccountably Peckish - The Cannibal Taint, if you have this you’ve probably consumed human (or humanoid) flesh. Sometimes, though, you’re just really that hungry.

The Unterzee - the old dark ocean under the world, where the majority of Sunless Sea is set. Named in honour of the Dutch explorers who discovered Venderbight and thereby gave London a place to offload the bandaged rotting not-quite-dead individuals now called Tomb Colonists.

Zzoup - A favoured delicacy of the devils. The recipe is a closely guarded secret.