'The air trembles. A breath of change passes.' As it ever has down here in the Unterzee, the subterranean archipelago where London wound up after the ground gave way, where islands jostle for position as you live the gloomy lives of a succession of sea captains. This time, however, change runs fathoms deep. Depending on the state in which you left your ship and fortune in Failbetter's masterpiece, the journey toward owning your first submergible vessel may be long and onerous. After all, the Admiralty doesn't sanction this arcane contraption. Most shipbuilders will shrug or recoil if presented with an order for one.
On one of Her Majesty's distant colonies, however, a research team with a hidden workshop, funded by a chunky philanthropist (whose accent has "a hint of Midlands melancholy to it") tinkers illicitly. Bring these engineers money and schematics and, eventually, they'll find a way to modify your ship, and all ships that follow it into your possession, to dive beneath the waves. And in this way, a breath of changes passes again, opening the door to a netherworld within a netherworld.
Eleven ports await your arrival down there on the wriggling seabed. There's Wrack, a city built from the hulls of wrecked vessels, whose gaunt king beseeches you to lure trading vessels into its trap waters for cash. There's Anthe, whose inhabitants slowly turn to crystal (will you join them?). There's Dahut, an exact replica of London, where visitors are able to breath water like it was air. And beyond the ports, with their caged entrances, you'll also be able to see what lies beneath Sunless Sea's familiar landmarks: the Sea of Statues, Mount Palmerston, and the forsaken Dawn Machine. The best news of all, perhaps is that you're finally able to visit Low Barnet, whose weird customs include rap-battle style story-offs.
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