Salt

"A zailor has grown fretful and disobedient, reluctant to go on deck, even in port."

"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!"

Salt is one of the three Gods of the Unterzee.

The God of Farewells

"Out here, a captain needs all the help he can get. Even from sad strange gods of farewells."

The Unterzee

Salt is the nameless god of farewells and of the horizon. It is fond of change and associated with travels, and may embody the Unterzee itself. Its domain lies in the Uttermost East.

Salt's presence may be marked by a light from the horizon or a sea breeze, both from the East. It may provoke intense melancholy or convey prescient dreams. Lost faces are sacred to Salt, and it is associated with the phrase "TRAVELLER RETURNING." It can apparently transmute matter, such as flesh into salt, but this is rarely seen.

A zee-bat.

White zee-bats are Salt's messengers. Being watched by a white zee-bat is an ill omen, as the subject may never reach home again. Feeding a white zee-bat incurs Salt's favor and may cause other strange occurrences, while harming one incurs Salt's wrath.

Salt's Song, and its light, tempt travelers to venture East, especially if they lack a home. Salt's hum permeates the wind near the Eastern zee and the sound of the zee's waves, giving listeners strange dreams of its domain. Anyone who zails too far East will find themselves under Salt's scrutiny, which silences all sound. Salt's light will bloom from the Unterzee, and any unworthy travelers will be forced to turn back.

Salt appears to be connected in some way to Irem and Kingeater's Castle, though the exact reasons why are unclear.

Worship

"The face of the northern sphinx is all but gone. Lost faces are sacred to Salt, they say. You are drawn there. To what end? Salt's voice is distant, but clear..."

The House of the Question

Salt is worshipped by zailors, who make offerings to it by dropping treasures, such as moon-pearls, into the Unterzee. Zailors also maintain shrines to Salt; these may be constructed of a circle of salt and an arrow of chalk. The House of the Question in Whither has a shrine to Salt with walls inscribed with stories. Providing stories for the shrine grants Salt's favor, but seeing where the tale will be written is considered bad luck.

Salt's favor has varying effects. Beseeching the zee-god may grant strange revelations, and its voice may hint of treasure near its hallowed places. However, in times of crisis, Salt has its own ideas of "help." For instance, it might summon a Tyrant-Moth to accost the unlucky.

Salt's Curse

"You won't take me? Well, you'll take my curse! Salt, witness me! My curse on this captain without charity! Others will abandon you, as you abandoned me! Curse you! Curse you!"

The Nocturne. Beware.

Salt's curse is feared by zailors; they would rather sacrifice transgressors to the Unterzee than risk its effects. Its curse may be inflicted by harming white zee-bats, or stealing from partially-submerged shipwrecks. Zailors can also invoke it upon others as punishment. Methods include a ritual of speech, blood, and spit, complex sign language, or written cursing-signs.

The effects of Salt's curse are dire: a victim may find their family gone upon returning home. They may receive the comfort of a farewell note, or their loved ones might vanish entirely, leaving behind nary a trace besides Salt's mark.

Lifting Salt's curse is possible in the House of the Question. The process is unclear, but a white flower petal appears afterwards to signal that the curse has been lifted.

The Traveler's Journey

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"Recall who sent you here. That fierce old thing in the dark."

"Find her, and you will find the treasures. Go down. You need only take a little. My aid is cheap. You will have what I promised."

The White

Salt was once an exiled Judgement from the High Wilderness. It visited the palace of the White and was tasked with finding what the Sun had hid in the Neath; this may have been Stone herself. The White promised a treasure at the end of the search, and may have promised some other boon. Salt did not know anything about the Neath at the time, and feared it may never come back from the journey, but a "need" drove it to accept.

En route to the Neath, Salt was hunted down by beasts of the High Wilderness. Salt slaughtered them all, leaving their enormous carcasses to drift in space. Salt then entered the Neath in a painful process that may have involved the Red Science.

The Castle of Ice

"Long ago a hungry monarch built a castle. The monarch saw a light in the south, in the palace of the south's queen. In those days, hungry as the monarch was, that light provoked nothing but appetite. But she was too far to devour. Over time, their correspondence calmed the monarch, and when the time came for the monarch to depart, the monarch's appetite was transformed, like blood into tears."

Frostfound

When Salt entered the Neath, it rode a "dead wind" from the North. It built a castle of ice out of its memories that would later be called Frostfound. The once-star was famished, and saw Stone's light to the South, finding it appetizing. But Stone was too far to reach, so Salt corresponded with her instead. Their exchanges calmed Salt, and over time, its hunger was transformed, like "blood into tears."

Salt also sent several messengers, including beings from Axile, to communicate with Storm, but Storm devoured them all. Salt then found Storm's true name, and Storm had to take heed. What transpired next is unknown, but it was not beneficial to either of them.

It is implied that Salt made a deal with the Presbyterate before the Echo Bazaar came to the Neath, and it may have made a later deal with the Bazaar, but neither claim is confirmed.

The Horizon's Road

"Long ago, a traveller went East, seeking something that could not be found in the black and starry kingdoms of the High Wilderness, nor in the irrigo temptations of the Nadir. Not in the glow of the Forge nor the crushing silence of the Unterzee deeps. Not in the shapeling citadels, not in the light of the South, not of the Sundered Sea. The traveller went East, and others may follow."

"To travel is to change. Travel further; change more. This is the winnowing before the spring, the shearing of selves; the cold scarring of alteration. A stranger savours a warm breeze on a golden shore, and forgets all that they no longer are."

Salt wandered the Neath to satisfy its "need," but no place it visited provided fulfillment. But then Salt looked East, and it was fascinated by the horizon. In search of answers, Salt changed itself completely and utterly; it left behind the last remnants of its former self, and the Name-Which-Burns, in Frostfound.

The Uttermost East

Salt's current status and future are unclear. They say Salt rests on the shore of the Uttermost East, recalling the stars it left behind. They say it has forgotten all that it once was. They say it will sail onward, seeking new horizons.

They say the Traveller is always returning. They say that Salt will come to Kingeater's Castle, and the last of seven Witnesses will see something cataclysmic. And they say that one day, the Traveller will rise to face the White in his palace of poisoned crystal.