Wrack: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 06:42, 16 May 2023
"Ships lured in by false promises and lights litter the zee-floor. Their broken hulls make a city for the wreckers. The citizens are in constant motion, working to survive and appease the Fair King, who sits deep within the city on his wheeled throne."[1]
Wrack is a city of sunken ships found on the floor of the Unterzee.
Sunken Delights
"We found Wrack, and were safe from the wreckships that had hunted us. But there are sweeter dangers in the City of Delights."[2]
Wrack is a settlement of scoundrels built on the zee-floor from many, many sunken ships. The city is the home of the infamous Wreckers, pirates who use trickery and craftiness to destroy unsuspecting vessels for plunder and infrastructure.[1][3]
Above the Zee, the Wreckers travel from port to port to lure ships loaded with riches to the waters above Wrack,[4] using a combination of carefully crafted poems, lies,[5] and fantasies of riches and wonders.[6][7] Once the victims arrive at Wrack, their ships are destroyed by underwater minefields,[8] and the sunken ships are added to the city's infrastructure while their treasures are used to contribute to the city's resources.[3]
Below the zee, the Wreckers use vessels disguised as shipwrecks to lure in unsuspecting zubmarines searching for plunder and blinded by greed. The pirates' Wreckship will then surface for battle and either sink the opposing ship or be sunk itself, but even a destroyed Wreckship is dangerous; its inhabitants, like the ship itself, make use of the tactic of playing dead when boarded.[9][10]
Wrack was founded by the captain of a particularly durable ship that sank to the bottom of the Zee. The ship's crew managed to survive thanks to the captain's leadership, and the captain declared herself Queen of their fledgling settlement. She then started her career as a wrecker to claim further territory and expand the city.[11] The most recent Queen chose a baby whose mother gave birth in Wrack after being brought there by a shipwreck, and intended to adopt the baby as her daughter and future Queen. The child received tutelage in a variety of subjects, and became the new ruler of Wrack following the Queen's death. He was not, as it turned out, a daughter, and is now known as the Fair King.[12] It is implied that adoptive princesses were a tradition, a succession of queens. However, this is never stated outright; the age of Wrack is unclear and the tradition may have occurred as planned only once, or not at all.[12]
Tether
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"There is a weed that grows on the broken ships: to taste it is a privilege reserved for successful wreckers."[13]
"That's tether for you. Sometimes people find each other."[14]
The inhabitants of Wrack cultivate an unusual but highly valuable weed called tether, which grows on the broken hulls of the ships the Wreckers destroy.[15][16] The Wreckers use thick gloves and long clippers to harvest tether,[5] as touching it with one's fingers can remove one's ability to taste tether forever. Which would be unfortunate, as consuming tether can be highly addictive, similar to Prisoner's Honey.[17] Wrack's primary stockpile of tether can be found in the Sanctum, a heavily guarded vault in a sunken battleship, and the strange plant is primarily reserved for successful Wreckers.[13]
Consuming tether grants the consumer a mysterious vision of living someone else's life, sometimes from the past,[18] present,[19] or even the future,[20] and these visions may take place in the Neath,[19] on the Surface, or as far as the reaches of the High Wilderness.[21][20] The nature of these visions can also be specified by taking tether while holding a certain memento, and specified further by clearing one's mind and focusing on an object or aspect of one's surroundings during consumption.[22][23] Tether is often used as a recreational drug,[2][17] though some inhabitants of Wrack use tether for reasons other than indulgence: tether-visions can be useful for gathering information or for learning new expertise.[12] Repeated exposure to tether may have side-effects,[24] however, such as visions manifesting without warning when visiting familiar locations.[25] This may cause issues with knowing one's present identity.[26]
Interestingly, there's always a consistent theme in tether-visions: the people one can live through via tether are always accompanied by someone else, like a friend or lover.[14] [27] Sometimes, two people may share the same tether-visions of each other: a meeting of sorts between the two in a different time and place.[28] These couples are considered to be tethered, should they meet outside of their visions, and the people of Wrack consider this evidence of a strong, fated connection.[29] It is also customary in Wrack for the recipient of the first gift exchanged between a tethered pair to bury said gift in Dahut.[30]
The Fair King
"The wreckers fear and adore their King. With the right offering, you may be able to meet him."[31]
"Yes, your ships came. Promise them riches, promise them knowledge, promise them pretty toys - it's all the same! They come, and our stores replenish; the tether has new hulls to grow on. Take this gift of scrap to the priestess - look for me in the other times."[32]
Seemingly leaping straight out of a fairy tale, the beautiful Fair King leads the Wreckers from his throne room in the Royal Hull deep in Wrack.[33] The King's fairness doesn't just refer to his appearance; he notably goes without any special privileges during times of crisis, and is as such beloved by Wrack's populace.[34][31] This fairness goes both ways, however, as the King will still subject any idlers who neglect their work on the city's infrastructure to severe punishments,[34] and he'll also offer outsiders a taste of tether... for the price of luring ships to their doom.[32]
The Fair King is an extremely well-read individual thanks to his upbringing and usage of tether,[12] and he is very knowledgeable of the secrets and politics of the Neath, often dedicating his time to analyzing charts and maps as well as to other studies.[35][36] He is also wheelchair-bound by the loss of his legs, which have been tanned and made into banners that hang on one of his walls.[37]
A Frozen Mirror
"At the rear of his chamber, the Fair King keeps a mirror made of ice. It holds a reflection - neither yours nor his, but that of a narrow, bespectacled gentleman."[38]
"I am never sure what it is we are seeing. The gentleman's hopes? His fears? He certainly seems to have an ambitious imagination."[39]
At the back of the Fair King's chamber is his greatest treasure, a mysterious frozen mirror taken from Frostfound.[38][40] This mirror doesn't reflect the Fair King or anyone else in Wrack; rather it holds an image of a strange bespectacled gentleman.[38] It may also show a vision of a future where the Bazaar is a "blasted ruin" and "DEATH HATH NO MORE DOMINION", or perhaps another future where the bespectacled man can share flasks of Hesperidean Cider with men and women from the Surface, for the cause of "liberty, equality, and eternity".[39][41]
The person trapped within the mirror is Bourdain of the Seven Against Nidah,[42] who sought to liberate and democratize immortality from the rule of the Presbyterate in the Elder Continent.[39][43] Unfortunately, he was forced into hiding in Frostfound, where he was mysteriously absorbed into a slab of ice, hence his current predicament. Not that he really minds.[43]
