Treacheries

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*"Clocks, Maps, Breath, Glass – and the three beyond. This is what protects the Courier and its toadies. You cannot end that. You cannot."*

A **Treachery** is an anomaly in the laws of physics, created by a obscurant that prevents the laws of the Judgements from applying within a certain area. The Red Science is also capable of enforcing Treacheries through its mysterious practices and devices.

## The Neathy Treacheries

*"The Seven Treacheries guard the Neath, but there is one place more closely guarded still: a place the Masters can't touch, a place the Bazaar can't see, a place beneath St Cerise's well. This is the wound of which Cerise's redness is only a shadow. The place where hearts go. The Nadir."*

The Neath is protected by seven Treacheries, four of which are known, and three of which are not. These Treacheries are a result of the strong concentration of irrigo within the Cave of the Nadir, which prevents the Judgements from seeing within the Neath, keeping the Echo Bazaar's activities hidden from their sight.

The **Treachery of Maps** is responsible for the unreliability of maps in the Neath. It can be extremely difficult to assemble a map of the Neath sensibly, assuming they make any sense in the first place. This Treachery can also cause seemingly immobile objects, such as ports or islands, to inexplicably drift in location. For example, a zee-captain may find Demeaux Island to the north-east of London, while another will report it due East. This anomaly may also affect the more chaotic and sunless regions of the High Wilderness, such as the Reach.
The Treachery of Maps may additionally blur the definition of the word "here". Through esoteric rituals, it may be possible for a being to exist in two places at once.

The **Treachery of Clocks** is responsible for the strange behavior of time and causality in the Neath. Causes will usually precede effects, and events that happened will usually remain happened, but sometimes, there may be exceptions, as history and memory are mutable. Furthermore, doing the exact same task repeatedly may yield different results, contrary to typical common sense. Sometimes, the Treachery of Clocks may also manifest in the forms of visions in certain situations of various potential futures, visions so engrossing that an individual may forget the events of the present.
Interpretations of time can get quite interesting when an individual resides in a place where time is mutable. An unenlightened mind may see time as a simple wheel, but the Fingerkings of Parabola see it as a flame: coolest at its heart, and wildest near the edges. Certain artists of the Neath may also represent the Treachery of Clocks through paintings, such as via a depiction of a landscape that shifts based on viewing between unfinished, complete, or ruined structures.

The effects of the **Treachery of Breath** are largely unknown, but it likely has something to do with the fact that citizens of Fallen London can return from death.

The **Treachery of Glass** is related to Parabola, and is likely related to the opening of the mirrors by Mt Nomad. This Treachery may also manifest when traveling carelessly through mirror-walled hallways, resulting in feelings of disorientation and the apparent warping of paths and directions.

## Other Treacheries

*"Your current work belongs to a form of science generally hidden even from avid University researchers."*

There exist Treacheries which may or may not be part of the seven that protect the Neath. These Treacheries warp reality in their own unique ways, and may manifest in lawless places such as Eleutheria, or through the Red Science.

Not much is known about the **Treachery of Shapes**, but it is apparently of interest to some elements within the Tracklayer's Union. If "inverted", the Treachery of Shapes can cause difficulty communicating, in addition to the other usual effects of the Discordance.

The **Treachery of Distance** is known to cause oddities regarding the measurement of the volumes of interior spaces compared to their corresponding exteriors. One such example of this Treachery is Langley Hall, a structure of respectable size on the outside, but possibly infinite on the inside.

The **Treachery of Measures** may be exploited to modify the volume, and apparently even the mass, of objects. Objects can be made larger or smaller regardless of their original size, and the results vary from the size of a fingernail (or smaller) to the size of a large room (or larger).
The **Betrayer of Measures** is a powerful Red Science tool that has the appearance of a ruler or scale inscribed with the Correspondence. It can be used to adjust the size of objects via the Treachery of Measures, but, as befitting something with such power, it is also very dangerous. Any object that makes contact with it will have its dimensions changed, and handling it unsafely can cause severe personal injury.

There are "lesser-known" Treacheries as well. For example, ordinary routines can be extrapolated from information that would seem completely unrelated.

## References

2. ↑ St Erzulie's Candle (Action), *Fallen London*
3. ↑ Talk about this place of obscurity, *Fallen London*
4. ↑ Ask how she evades notice so effectively, *Fallen London*
5. ↑ A fragile flake of vellum, *Fallen London*
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Puzzling Map, *Fallen London*
7. ↑ Accept a share of the coffer of Admiralty maps, *Fallen London*
8. ↑ Map, *Sunless Sea*
9. ↑ Locations, *Sunless Skies*
10. ↑ "No. But then we aren't even here anyway, are we?", *Fallen London*
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Genial Magician, *Fallen London*
12. ↑ Perhaps she was happiest before (30 FATE), *Fallen London*
13. ↑ Decipher graffiti, *Fallen London*
14. ↑ The Game Matures: Time, *Fallen London* *"You see yourself defying time [...] living hale and healthy into a new age of the world."*
15. ↑ Drive the visions away, *Fallen London* *"A parade of futures assails you. [...] But you can't see which way the cards are going to fall [...]"*
16. ↑ Admire the work of a fellow Nocturnal artist, *Fallen London* *"[...] sometimes the reflected tower is fully constructed, but at other times it looks crumbled or unfinished."*
17. ↑ What happens when you die in Fallen London? (3), *Fallen London*
18. ↑ What happens when you die in Fallen London?, *Fallen London*
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Share confessions with the Widow, *Fallen London*
20. ↑ Who opened the mirrors?, *Failbetter Games*
21. ↑ Recover the Dauntless Knight, *Fallen London* *"[...] old concords with the powers behind the Glass ward the towers into a mirror-maze. Today, the path through eludes you [...]"*
22. ↑ Red Science Focus, *Fallen London*
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Disputate!, *Sunless Skies*
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Finish your work resizing a human ribcage using the Red Science, *Fallen London*
25. ↑ Demand a frank explanation of the risks, *Fallen London*
26. ↑ Demand a frank explanation of the risks, *Fallen London* *"Some are more interested in the Treachery of Shapes."*
27. ↑ Safely dispose of a cold word, *Fallen London* *"The Restricted Librarian has trouble even telling you what's wrong. Her tongue cleaves to her palate; her teeth swivel like compass needles. When she tries to write, the oak gall ink floods from its bottle and pours itself over her face."*
28. ↑ Try the Betrayer of Measures on a human ribcage, *Fallen London*
29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Betrayer of Measures, *Fallen London*
30. ↑ Complete and test the Betrayer of Measures, *Fallen London* *"It's no good moving it with tongs, either: not if you want to use the tongs more than once."*
31. ↑ Nine of Livers: The Calculations, *Fallen London*