Entity inspired Tarot by Grace Holsten

“The feeling that you’re just… alone. Maybe there’s no one else there at all, maybe you just can’t connect.”
- Gerard Keay, MAG 111

The Lonely is one of The Entities. It is a manifestation of the fear of isolation, of being completely cut off and alone, the fear of being disconnected. Victims are generally either predisposed to isolation or simply have the misfortune to cross paths with the Lukas Family. The Lonely often manifests as fog, ships, travel and faceless crowds.

Many entities prey on isolated victims or isolate victims while they are tormented in other ways, including The Buried, The Stranger, The Web, and The Spiral. Episodes where a victim is alone or ends up on their own are not inherently connected to The Lonely, and are not listed as such unless the episode specifically centres around an intense fear or love of isolation or distance.

Aliases

Forsaken
The One Alone

Fears

Autophobia
Abandonment

Manifestations

Fog
Silence
Travel
Crowds
Things that seem human but don’t have any personality to them

Episodes

Statements

Other Appearances

MAG 66 - Held in Customs (A Disappearance)
MAG 80 - The Librarian (A Disappearance)
MAG 100 - I Guess You Had To Be There (partially, Peter Lukas)
MAG 123 - Web Development (mentioned, Peter Lukas)
MAG 126 - Sculptor’s Tool (partially, Peter Lukas)
MAG 134 - Time of Revelation (Martin Blackwood, Peter Lukas)
MAG 149 - Concrete Jungle (partially, Martin Blackwood)
MAG 151 - Big Picture (mentioned, Peter Lukas)
MAG 158 - Panopticon (The Lonely, Martin Blackwood, Peter Lukas)
MAG 181 - Ignorance (Lonely Painting, mentioned)
MAG 183 - Monument (Martin’s Domain, mentioned)
MAG 188 - Centre of Attention (Domain, mentioned)
MAG 196 - This Old House (Mentioned)

Characters

Martin Blackwood: Groomed by Peter Lukas to serve the Lonely, as he required someone with the ability to bridge the gap between the Lonely and The Eye in order to utilise the power of Jonah Magnus’ panopticon.
The Lukas Family worships the Lonely.
- Peter Lukas: Captain of The Tundra and a particularly noteworthy avatar of the Lonely.
- Mordechai Lukas: A member of the Lukas Family, who knew Jonah Magnus.
- Conrad Lukas: A member of the Lukas Family, who was responsible for the isolation study making up Carter Chilcott’s portion of the Daedalus mission.
- Evan Lukas: A member of the Lukas Family, set to be engaged to Naomi Herne before his untimely death.

Artefacts

A Disappearance: A Leitner pamphlet that causes its reader to disappear if read to completion.
Tadeas Dahl’s Boatswain’s Call: Seems to have the ability to summon the Lonely.
Lonely Painting: A drab English pastoral with the power to draw its viewer into The Lonely. Sold by Mikaele Salesa.

Locations

Moorland House: The Lukas Family’s home in Kent.
The Tundra: Peter Lukas’ ship.
The Lonely: A separate, foggy dimension that is absent of any life, with the exception of any victims sent there. It is most commonly accessed by the Lukas’, who use it both for their own benefits and the removal of victims, who lose themselves within the domain. It is the direct manifestation of the Entity itself, thus is capable of appearing on its own accord.
The House Domain: A large building filled with fog and faceless wanderers. Victims within are unable to accurately recall anything that may have once brought them comfort or safety.
Martin’s Domain: A domain that is a mix of the Lonely and The Eye. Inhabited by a few people who fear that no one will ever know of them, that they shall suffer in silence, and be mourned by nobody.
The Suburb: A domain in the post-Change world theorised to feed off the fear of secret domestic abuse, as suggest by clues such as “But if you think there’s a lack of violence or suffering, then I’m afraid you’re mistaken,” “the suffering here is deep. And it’s private.” John and Martin passed through it on their way to London. Herman Gorgoli was trapped in a similarly sprawling, empty suburb in MAG 150, with identical beige houses lining bland, interchangeable streets.

Ritual

Peter Lukas orchestrated a ritual for the Lonely, naming it “The Silence.” He commissioned a tower block designed to isolate its inhabitants and filled it with people predisposed to loneliness. For the culmination of the ritual, he planned to lock them in and leave them to die. The ritual was disrupted by community outreach programs and think pieces after Gertrude Robinson tipped off The Guardian newspaper.

Connections with other Entities

The Lukas Family provides funding to The Magnus Institute, so it is possible that the Lonely is aligned with The Eye in some manner.
- Peter Lukas acted as the interim Head of the Institute while Elias Bouchard was in prison.
- In MAG 159, John says that the Lonely is powerless if people don’t know how alone they are.
Jonah Magnus and Mordechai Lukas were also apparently good friends, and it is possible that the Lukas Family may also have been acquainted with Maxwell Rayner and Robert Smirke.
Like The Fairchilds with The Vast, the Lukases have been serving their entity for at least two centuries. However, “Fairchild” is apparently an assumed name, whereas the Lukases marry “spooky singles” and bear children with them.
- While speaking with Martin Blackwood, Simon Fairchild, an avatar of The Vast, implies that the Lonely and The Vast may have a mutually beneficial relationship, based on the grounds that being alone often makes the space you’re in feel larger and very empty, while, conversely, the larger a space you’re in, the easier it is to feel alone.
The Lonely, The Desolation, and The Dark are all associated with cults. The Lukas Family is described by Evan Lukas as very “religious”, The Desolation has The Cult of the Lightless Flame, and The Dark has The People’s Church of the Divine Host. Additionally, the descriptions of locations (particularly churches) magically changing to other locations appear to be connected to both the Lonely and The Dark.
- The Lukas Family teamed up with both the Fairchilds and The People’s Church of the Divine Host to send their Avatars and victims to space aboard the Daedalus.
The Lonely and The Buried seem to have several features in common. In MAG 13, Naomi Herne describes the second half of her experience in ways more commonly associated with The Buried: thick fog pressing in and making it hard to breathe, open graves trying to suck her in, frequent mentions of dirt and pressure, and lost time/memories. In MAG 48, Andrea Nunis describes being thirsty and hot in a manner reminiscent of the suffering from The Buried in MAG 66 and MAG 132. (And, interestingly, Peter Lukas appears in MAG 66 at the end of Vincent’s ordeal.)
- Conversely, MAG 2, MAG 15, MAG 71, and MAG 129 all describe ways The Buried isolated the statement givers, such as Joshua living completely alone in a large building, Laura and Kulbir being separated from their sisters, and several lone travellers being taken on the night train by The Buried.
- Anchors also seem to be effective in defeating both the Lonely and The Buried. Andrea survives her experience by thinking of her mother as Gerry advised in a way similar to Kulbir’s anchoring to his grandfather via the knife.
Annabelle Cane and The Web planned on having Martin join them but his allegiance to The Lonely partially prevented them.
The Lonely and The Dark both appear to have the ability to block The Eye’s perception.
- Leitner uses A Disappearance to hide from Elias Bouchard while living in the old Millbank Prison tunnels. In MAG 170, Jonathan Sims claims that it was harder to find Martin through the Lonely domain.
- Places associated with The Dark such as Ny-Ålesund are difficult for John and Elias to properly know about.
The Lonely, The Vast and The Buried are the only Entities that can manifest themselves as separate realms.

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The Lonely