Salt
"A zailor has grown fretful and disobedient, reluctant to go on deck, even in port."[1]
"There's a white zee-bat watching me up there. Salt's messenger. Salt's got its eye on me. I'll never see home again!"[1]
Salt is one of the three Gods of the Unterzee.
The Traveller
"That night, as you stand on the foredeck, a soft breeze comes out of the East, the Salt's direction; tousles your hair; passes."[2]
Of the gods of the Zee, Salt is the most elusive, said to dwell beyond the horizon.[3] It is the god of farewells,[4] and may be the embodiment of the Zee itself.[5] Its speech is a light across the water,[6] a sea breeze,[7] a splash in the distance[8] - always from the East, calling fellow travellers toward it.[9][10] It is always approaching, but never arriving.[11][8] It can provoke an intense sadness as it passes,[12] and those who anger it might find their families driven to violence.[13]
Where its voice sings, a white zee-bat might follow.[14] Where its influence is felt, a message is often found: TRAVELLER RETURNING.[15]
Salt is feared and worshipped by zailors, who give it their stories and secrets,[16] and call its wrath upon those who wrong them.[17][18] It also punishes those who steal from shipwrecks.[19]
Who is Salt?
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Salt is a Judgment.[20] It is now in exile in the Neath,[21] but before it came here, the White asked it a favor:[22] to find what the Sun had hid (probably his daughter Stone).[23] It promised a treasure at the end of the search, and perhaps something else.[22] Salt accepted because it sought something it could not find between the stars,[24] and entered the Neath, at a terrible cost.[25] 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.[24] At some point during this time, but long before the Bazaar came to the Neath, it made a treaty with the Presbyterate.[26] Eventually it made the castle of Frostfound to record its story,[21][22], shed its past and future in the place now called Kingeater’s Castle,[27][28] and went East[29] to change further and shear itself.[30]
Amid the forests and the mountains of the East,[23] it dreams of the stars it left behind, and strives to forget its old home by contemplating its new domain.[30] It is now perpetually in movement and yet standing still,[8][31] calling those who wish to explore the last horizon.[10] One day, it will rise to fight the White[23] - but there is no happy ending.[21]
Salt is sometimes called the Sun-Beneath-the-Sea.[32]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Story description, Sunless Sea
- ↑ Event description, Sunless Sea
- ↑ The Colonists will look East , Sunless Sea
- ↑ The Gods of the Zee: Salt's Curse, Sunless Sea
- ↑ Break on through to the other side, Fallen London
- ↑ Their bandages will be soaked with tears , Sunless Sea
- ↑ A breath of air , Sunless Sea
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 The rewards of curiosity , Sunless Sea
- ↑ Eastern Wind, Fallen London
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 A brisk dinner, Sunless Sea
- ↑ Swim to the beach, Fallen London
- ↑ Tears, Sunless Sea
- ↑ Dark News, Sunless Sea
- ↑ A white zee-bat, Sunless Sea
- ↑ Not Helpful, Sunless Sea
- ↑ Lift Salt's Curse , Sunless Sea
- ↑ Strong words , Sunless Sea
- ↑ Gratitude... and curses , Sunless Sea
- ↑ A harrowing emptiness , Sunless Sea
- ↑ The Sun within the Sea, Sunless Sea
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 A Travelling Light, Sunless Sea
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 The Name-Which-Burns, Sunless Sea
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Green and Gold, Sunless Sea
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Fumble in the darkness, Sunless Sea
- ↑ The Iridescence, Sunless Sea
- ↑ An understanding with the Presbyterate , Sunless Sea
- ↑ Give up your past, Sunless Sea
- ↑ Give up your future, Sunless Sea
- ↑ "There!" , Sunless Sea
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 Release your Uttermost Eel into the waters, Fallen London
- ↑ Look, Fallen London
- ↑ The Sun beneath the Sea, Sunless Sea
