Death

A slow boat passing a dark beach on a silent river. Art from FL.

The Boatman

> *"Death in the Fifth City isn't necessarily the end. If you're stabbed or shot, someone may come along and sew you back together soon enough. If you're drowned, you'll wake with a hangover. If you die of old age or disease, or if you're hacked to pieces, it's a more serious matter. But in any case, once you die and return to life down here, you'll never be permitted to return to the surface...unless you're one of the few who find a way to immortality."*
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**Death** is the end to all things. But in the Neath, and beyond, death can be, for lack of a better term, quite strange.

## Not Again

> *"Your wounds have proven too much for you! You collapse. It's like going to sleep. If going to sleep really hurt."*
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Thanks to the light and vitality of Stone, death is not always permanent in the Neath. Londoners tend to recover unless they have been literally dismembered, while those who die far out in the Unterzee often aren't so lucky. The newly impermanent nature of true death has caused some... *changes* in London's society. Serial killers like Jack-of-Smiles aren't nearly as feared as those on the Surface, and the newly devised game of Knife-and-Candle essentially consists of players competitively murdering each other. And God's Editors have had to significantly revise the Bible in the wake of this strange new status quo.

There are still a few things that can tighten mortality's grip on a Londoner permanently, however. Generally, if one has lost their heart or head, or otherwise been chopped up into mincemeat, they are very, very unlikely to return to life. Cantigaster venom is also a convenient tool with which to end someone's life for good. Death of natural causes and old age create varying results; the would-be deceased usually becomes a tomb-colonist if they don't die permanently of illness.

## The Boatman

Beyond this point lie **major spoilers** for *Fallen London*, *Sunless Sea*, or *Sunless Skies*. This may include **endgame** or **Fate-locked** content. **Proceed at your own risk**.
You can find out more about our spoiler policy **here**.

> *"Well, apparently he plays chess in paintings and folk-songs. Which are always accurate, of course."*
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> *"'Enjoy it while it lasts,' he growls. 'You're all of you mine in the end.'"*
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**The Boatman** is the Neath's Grim Reaper; it is his job to ferry the spirits of the dead across the river to the far shore. The Boatman appears to the dead as a skeletal figure, always wearing a brimmed top hat and possessing a softly glowing lantern. He has a special fondness for chess and dice, and winning against him may grant a spirit a little more time in the lands of the living, and he also seems to like weasels and bats.

The Boatman has hinted that he may answer to a higher power, possibly even the Judgements themselves, though he has also stated that he "failed" these powers in some way, forcing him into exile.

The job of the Boatman seems to be a bequeathed one to an extent, as the current Boatman is actually capable of passing on his position to those who seek it. Taking up the Boatman's oars gives the recipient a uniformly skeletal appearance, though those who have died several times are sometimes capable of telling the Boatmen apart. The Boatman is actually capable of looking into the memories of the dying, which can be useful for gathering intelligence, and he is held in his boat by a mysterious force: there must always be a Boatman, to prevent the dead from piling up on the near shore.

## A Slow Boat

> *"Placid black water. Barren trees. A boat filled with pale and shivering passengers. That must be the place of the dead, over there on the far bank. Oh good."*
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> *"Where was it you left your body, now? In the street? At home in bed? How is the old thing getting on?"*
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People who die in the Neath, whether temporarily or permanently, end up on **a slow boat passing a dark beach on a silent river**, a limbo of sorts. The dead await the boat on the near shore, and travel to the far shore to rest forever. Those who come to this place often have neither their bodies nor their souls, as both facets of their being still exist in the world of the living.

The land of the dead is almost completely disconnected from the land of the living, though on occasion, items such as spectacles may cross over. The land also has five rivers, implying similarities to the Greek Hades, and it's implied that it *may* have ties to the place beyond mirrors.

The Constables have agents that die and return regularly to ensure that certain personages stay dead permanently. Such a task is extremely mentally taxing, for obvious reasons.

### The Far Shore

> *"All around you, the dead cringe low and moan in desperate fear. You'll carry only a few desperate fragments of what you saw back to the land of the living. If you get there. Perhaps that's for the best."*
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> *"The ground erupts. Grey, wizened figures scrabble from walls of meat, clawing at one another, fingers locked in bone and socket, dragging at your wrists and ankles, tangling hair and tendons. With cracked tongues they beg for transport, promising grisly favours for one day's respite."*
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## The Deep, Dark Zee

> *"You, and all your crew, are gone. London will speculate in vain as to how you might have met your end."*
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> *"A wall puckers open, and a guard in a thorned exoskeleton brings in a shivering zailor."*
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> *""Go," the Fathomking says languidly. "I won't release her twice.""*
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Zailors who die on the Unterzee generally do not return. Some may turn up as Drownies, especially if they ate genuine rubbery lumps.

The Fathomking is considered by some to be the lord of the Zee's dead. He is the ruler of the Drownies, and he is actually capable of reviving the dead, for a price. Sometimes, the Fathomking may add "enhancements" to those he revives; for example, he may cure a native of the Elder Continent of their animescence, or grant a Rubbery Man the soul of a Lorn-Fluke. That being said, His Complexity's revivals are not always completely perfect; there may be differences, noticeable or not.

Those who spend too long in the depths of the Unterzee may meet the spirit Lady Black instead.

## Death in the Heavens

> *"The Ephemera are the many, many dead who have come to the Blue Kingdom to enter by Death's Door. They are Ephemera only until they pass through, and then... but it is forbidden to speak of that higher mystery."*
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Dying in the High Wilderness sends a spirit to the Blue Kingdom, an *enormous* bureaucracy that processes and judges the dead. The spirits who roam the Kingdom are called **shades**, and they often wear white, porcelain masks. All kinds of creatures can end up becoming shades, including animals, plants, and even Rubbery Men.

The dead are sent to the Toll-Tower near Sky Barnet and stand before the House of Days to be considered Ephemera, and thus properly registered, by the Kingdom's bureaucracies. Following that, they must face final judgement by the Stone-Faced Court near the White Well; those who are deemed worthy are granted the privilege of passing through Death's Door to an unknown fate. However, certain individuals, such as immortality seekers, end up imprisoned forever within the Well, and the dead who linger in the Blue Kingdom for too long often simply fade into nothing.

## References

2. ↑ A sudden darkness!, *Fallen London*
3. ↑ Go ashore with the Adventuress, *Sunless Sea*
4. ↑ Play chess with the Boatman, *Fallen London*
5. ↑ A friendly greeting, *Fallen London*
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Shallows, *Fallen London* *"That skull looks directly at you. Those fingerbones beckon you forwards. Into your left hand, he places his lantern [...] Into your right hand, he places his oar [...] he lifts the hat from his head and places it on yours."*
7. ↑ Dice with the Boatman, *Fallen London*
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Category:A boat trip, *Fallen London*
9. ↑ Offer the Boatman a sacrifice, *Fallen London*
10. ↑ Your move..., *Fallen London*
11. ↑ The Season of Family Ties, *Fallen London* *""I disappointed them. I failed in my service, and this is my exile." He surveys his boat and its passengers. "Now, I fulfil my duty as well as the Neath permits. But it will never be enough." He grins – but then he always grins."*
12. ↑ The Shallows, *Fallen London* *"You have taken on the mantle of the Boatman. To the dead, you will appear skeletal, sinister; the embodiment of Death."*
13. ↑ The Shallows, *Fallen London* *"You're not the real Boatman," he says."*
14. ↑ The Shallows, *Fallen London* *"When you concentrate, you share the images he sees. [...] Is this some power the Boatman holds?"*
15. ↑ The Shallows, *Fallen London* *"You can't seem to leave the boat and walk towards the realms of the living. What is this force that holds you? "There has to be a Boatman," the previous Boatman says. "Otherwise, the dead would simply build up here, on the border.""*
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Remember where you fell, *Fallen London*
17. ↑ The Shallows, *Fallen London* *"The Skittish Engineer waves his spectacles [...] "Incredible that these passed over with me. I can't tell if they're clean or not.""*
18. ↑ Trail your fingers in the water, *Fallen London*
19. ↑ Gaze into Heart%27s Mirror, *Fallen London*
20. ↑ Where the Dead Go, *Fallen London*
21. ↑ You can almost see details., *Fallen London*
22. ↑ The Shallows, *Fallen London*
23. ↑ Lost With All Hands, *Sunless Sea*
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "I have come to plead for a zailor's life.", *Sunless Sea*
25. ↑ Yes, *Fallen London*
26. ↑ Descend to an audience with the Fathomking, *Sunless Sea*
27. ↑ "Your Complexity: I pray you, give me back my Campaigner.", *Sunless Sea*
28. ↑ "Give me back my Outcast.", *Sunless Sea*
29. ↑ "Give me back my Magician.", *Sunless Sea*
30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 What is Ephemera status?, *Sunless Skies*
31. ↑ The Blue Kingdom, *Sunless Skies*
32. ↑ Served by Shades, *Sunless Skies*
33. ↑ The Court of Mules, *Sunless Skies*
34. ↑ The Porch of the House of Days, *Sunless Skies*
35. ↑ The Toll-Tower, *Sunless Skies*
36. ↑ The Stone-Faced Court, *Sunless Skies*
37. ↑ Intercede on the Failed Dead's behalf, *Sunless Skies*
38. ↑ Make the writhing spirit as comfortable as possible, *Sunless Skies*