Gods of the High Wilderness

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Just like the the Unterzee, the High wilderness contain many incomprehensible things. Leaving the Neath doesn't remove ex-zailor's superstitions, rather it has replaced their paganism with another one. Tall tales of these entities spread and terrifyingly, these story is no different than their Zee's counterpart: their superstitions may actually hold some truth.

The Beast, the Thunder, and the Outcast

Just like their Unterzee counterpart, these gods made an immense impact to those who traverse the heavens.

The Burrower Below

"You dream of falling. It's a common dream, here. The fogs that bedevil the High Wilderness are thick about you, and through them, below, you see something stir. A beast. A behemoth. Almost a dragon; almost a whale; almost a continent. It gnaws on the roots of heaven, and all the fogs of the Wilderness are its steaming breath. Its maw opens, wide as the gulf between stars."

"You discover a stoker angrily defacing the engine's bible. He claims that here in the heavens, there are more pertinent gods than that of King James. Immediately, he launches into a sermon about the Burrower Below: the wyrm-mother, general-progenitrix of the Devourers of Days, who are called the Aeginae. "She tunnelled the paths across the sky! Every transit is a trespass! We must give praise!""

The Burrower Below is the mother of all dragon, such as Storm or the Silent Saint. She governs the lower region of the High Wilderness and the "forgotten path of the sky", which include the Avid Horizon and those that are used by the Transit Relay. Frequent user of the relay might risk displeasing the Burrower.

The Burrower is associated with promise. Skyfarers who broke promise or oath, especially those that are made under the Burrower's name, are despised by the Burrower. Skyfarers who angered the Burrower will have their souls marked for taking. They will be troubled by unusually thick fogs called "The Burrower's Breath" (which may or may not be her actual breath).

Similar to her progeny, the Burrower eats time. Not just the mined geode of Hours, but also an age of a person. To bargain with the Burrower, a Sky-Captain may sacrifice either a geode of Hours, or several of their oldest crew.

Storm that Speaks

"You dream of a storm whose lightning scratches words across the sky, and whose thunder is a cacophony of voices belonging to people you have known. Its winds pluck, pitifully, at your clothes. You are wearing black: sombre, funereal black."

"The body of the sun is still cooling. A few embers continue to glow at its core, a low and sullen red. When Her Majesty entered Albion, she slew the sun with an experimental weapon: an Unclear Bomb. Then she claimed the sun's throne and dominion. You can't help feel that, as you gaze on the sun, the sun gazes back."

The Storm that Speaks is the lingering tormented ghost of the King of Hours. The Storm can be physically encounter in Albion, speaking with voices from the past of those who listen. For example an ex-zailor might hear the voice of their former crew, a poet might hear the voice of their former rivals, or a scholar might hear the voice of their teachers. You can identified the worshipers of the Storm that Speaks by their tattoo of a storm with multiple mouth. They usually sanctify the past.

Those who gain his attention might feel a sudden outbreak of nostalgia. This would either disturb skyfarers or gave them inspiration. The Storm can also banish phantom of the past for those who gain its attention.

Those who gain his anger will be hunted by two of his lackeys: The wandering sigils of lighning, not unlike the Logoi, who strike locomotives and show visions of the past, and the Whisperwinds who entranced skyfarers with the voice of their loved one, luring them to leave their locomotives.

It is said that those who meet the Whisperwinds may avoid its lure by sworing an oath to sabotage the "usurper-sun", who are extremely despised by the Storm for taking his empty throne.

Waste-Waif

"You search your stores, but there isn't a flammable thing left in them which hasn't been frozen to the brittle consistency of old, bleak bone. The cold deepens, taking its toll of the crew. Shivering, wild-eyed, several of them report seeing a child on board. Clad in rags. Gaunt as twigs. Mouthless. They pray for deliverance from the Waste-Waif.""

"You have seen impossible things while you died. An April field sprouting across the bridge, bright with bluebells. People from your past, who kept you company as you froze. Now you see something else. A child. Frostbitten, hairless, wearing rags. It has no mouth. It reaches out, to close your eyes. How cold its fingers are! Colder than the frost that mantles you. Colder than your heart, now silent and still."

Abandoned place are the Waste-Waif domain. From empty cabin of a locomotives, to abandoned frozen domain of the stars. The Waif sheperds the cold wind of the heavens The Waste-Wind. The Waif favoured the outcasts, the starving, and the dying. It is said that the Guests, the Wilderness sentimetnal train-parasite, pray to the Waste-Waif.

The Waste-Waif often appears to those that have its attention (or its anger) in form of a pale child wearing ragged clothing. Gaining the attention of the Waste-Waif may let the wind lead you to somewhere bountiful or/and abandoned.

Those who anger the Waste-Waif might be troubled by unusual cold, have their crew frozen, or worse: lured to the Empty House.