Salt

Out here, a captain needs all the help he can get. Even from sad strange gods of farewells. [...] That night, as you stand on the foredeck, a soft breeze comes out of the East, the Salt's direction; tousles your hair; passes.

Salt is one of the three gods of the Unterzee.

The Traveller

Of the gods of the Zee, Salt is the most elusive, said to dwell beyond the horizon. It is the god of farewells, and may be the embodiment of the Zee itself. Its speech is a light across the water, a sea breeze, a splash in the distance - always from the East, calling fellow travellers toward it. It is always approaching, but never arriving. It can provoke an intense sadness as it passes, and those who anger it might find their family driven to volent act.

Where its voice sings, a white zee-bat might follow. Where its influence is felt, a message is often found: TRAVELLER RETURNING.

Salt is feared and worshipped by zailors, who give it their stories and secrets, and call its wrath upon those who wrong them. It also punishes those who steal from shipwrecks.

Who is Salt?

"Are you quite sure you want to know this?" Beyond this point lie major spoilers for Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies, or Mask of the Rose. This may include endgame or major Fate-locked spoilers. Proceed at your own risk. You can find out more about our spoiler policy here.

Salt is a Judgment. It is now in exile in the Neath, but before it came here, the White asked it a favor: to find what the Sun had hid (probably his daughter Stone). It promised a treasure at the end of the search, and perhaps something else. Salt accepted because it sought something it could not find between the stars, and entered the Neath, at a terrible cost. It saw Stone's light and found it appetizing, but she was too far away, so instead it sated its hunger by corresponding with her. At some point during this time, but long before the Bazaar came to the Neath, it made a treaty with the Presbyterate. Eventually it made the castle of Frostfound to record its story,, shed its past and future in the place now called Kingeater’s Castle, and went East to change further and shear itself.

Amid the forests and the mountains of the East, it dreams of the stars it left behind, and and forget that it no longer is by cotemplating the land there. It is now perpetually in movement and yet standing still, calling those who wish to explore the last horizon. One day, it will rise to fight the White - but there is no happy ending.

Salt is sometimes called the Sun-Beneath-the-Sea.

What lies East?

"We will sail East, and the islands will fall behind. The zee will be troubled by greater waves. The false-stars will pale, until the Neath-roof grows invisible above. New scents will prickle the air: something like spice and something like pine."

If a Zailor is brave (or foolish) enought to who zail at the furthest East of The Unterzee, they will first notice the water transition from its typical black coloration to a dark shade of green, the green becoming lighter and lighter the further east they go, until they reach a place called the Deconstruction, an empty region of the Zee where silence reign and no sound can be made, due to the light coming from Salt itself. Even the false-star do not go that far. This intense silence can be supported if the Zailor carries with them Salt’s song. Meanwhile, all light is bent by the weight of the roof, until it reach a breaking point, and time penetrate into space. Past this limit is a beautiful shore of golden beaches, green forests, blue rivers and great mountains with snowy caps. Sometimes, a wind carrying the scent of pines come from there. This is the Last Horizon, a land that some can glimpse while looking East, then immediately forget.