'He contains;
he brings gifts;
he does not destroy.' [1]
he brings gifts;
he does not destroy.' [1]
Giribrago is one of several obscure Hours about which little information is currently known. Extremely vague references to them seem to exist currently in Cultist Simulator, alongside Blackbone and Snow, which implies that these three Hours have been "cast down", and information about them has been suppressed. Leaked developer notes and some promotional material suggest that the Giribrago was once referred to internally as the Egg.[2]
Relationships[]
- The Egg Unhatching (?): Assuming the working title of this Hour as the Egg still holds some weight, the connections to the old god-from-stone are hard to ignore.
- The Sun-in-Splendour (?): The Sun-in-Splendour was the Hour which seemingly replaced the Egg Unhatching. Has Giribrago then replaced the Sun to some degree since the Intercalate?
Real-World References[]
- Being the 21st Hour, Giribrago may have taken the place of the World in the Tarot of the Hours, as the Sun-in-Splendour was speculated to have been in that role before the Intercalate. The World represents success, completion, and perfection. It marks the end of the cycle of life and a new beginning. One journey has been completed, and now new ones await.
- The name Giribrago may be a variation of "Girivraja", which in the Indian epic Mahabhrata is the name used for the ancient city Rajgir. It was the home of Jarasandha, an invincible king who could rejoin lost limbs. He was finally defeated by being split in half, with both halves turned to face one another so that they could not be rejoined.
Other Notes[]
- Giribrago and the other leaked Hours appear be hinted at in the Priest Legacy, when preaching about the aspect of Heart, as “those who were cast down, wave or wound or snow”. For a time it was also postulated that this could simply be a reference to the dead gods-from-stone, who can similarly be tied to these symbols, but the official reveal of Giribrago and his alternate title as "the Wound" appears to clarify this issue. A similar reference exists about incantations used to defend against Worms as well as “the Wave and the Wound”, though these Protections apparently haven’t been performed for at least a thousand years.[3][4]
- When a full list of the Hours was leaked to the community prior to official reveals, the Hour numbered 21 was called the Egg. As a result the community frequently referred to this Hour as "the Second Egg" to differentiate it from the Egg Unhatching.
- The image on the WF Catalogue page[5] depicts Jabal al-Nour, a well-known real-world mountain whose Arabic name means "Mountain of the Light".
Theories and Questions[]
- There are a few theories about what Giribrago or how he came to exist. Based on it's old name, it might be some piece of the Egg Unhatching’s power that survived, similar to how the Watchman holds some of that dead Hours’ former Light, or that has returned with the death of the Sun-in-Splendour, since that role in the House was made vacant. Support for this reading still exists with the alternate titles of "the Remnant" and "the Wound".
- Alternatively, newer information perhaps indicates a connection to the old god of fire and earth, the Flint, due to the connection to mountains and alternate titles such as "the Shard" and "the Diamond".
- Another speculation about Giribrago and the other leaked Hours is that they might have been existing Hours which were “displaced” by the Intercalate, which created the Solar Hours and the Wolf-Divided and pushed them into their current odd position outside the “standard” Tarot but within the 24 Hour day. Giribrago is a little more awkward with this interpretation though, since it does fit into the Tarot as the 21st Hour, even if it hasn’t been presented as such yet.
- There may be some inspiration from the developer's previous work on Fallen London and Sunless Sea, in which there exists the Mountain of Light, a god of the unterzee also known as Stone. Stone is the daughter of the Sun and the Bazaar, and emanates a powerful aura of life. Holy fragments of the Mountain of Light can be acquired in Fallen London as large diamonds, referred to as "Mountain-sherds".
- It might also just be something entirely different tied to Glory in some way. No one can really be certain right now.
- The 'A Lesson of Many Facets' memory in Book of Hours is internally named lesson.giribrago. Given the imagery of the Rite Intercalate used in this lesson, the Snow's status as a god-from-Nowhere, and the lesson's principles (all of the extant ones), it is likely that the Giribrago is also from Nowhere, and that possible the Giribrago is heavily connected to the Sun-in-Splendour and his demise.