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.
"He went to Spite? While I'm sure it was edifying for him. Whatever he saw there will be forgotten as soon as he lays eyes on a Bound-shark. No one who has seen one up close – witnessed the way they thrash and strain – could fail to be moved by their suffering. The first time I saw one, it changed everything for me."[1]
Bound-Sharks are enormous sharks that roam the Unterzee.[2] Their bodies are marred by implanted metallic rods, mechanisms, and cages, warping their internal organs into an unrecognizable mess.[3] The poor sharks live in a tortured state,[4] but their frenzied rage makes them extremely dangerous regardless.[5]
The bindings that torment Bound-Sharks are not the work of nature, nor of any supernatural entity. Rather, these contraptions are attached to the sharks by the New Sequence,[6] who capture sharks to bind them,[7] and also manage a shark-nursery at Grand Geode.[8] Their specific reasons for doing so are unknown. According to one member, who views the New Sequence as a means to free London from its "old shackles,"[9] the act gives sharks "purpose;"[10] when she saw a Bound-Shark for the first time, she was fascinated by its suffering and "everything changed" for her.[11] This implies that the binding of sharks may serve a dual purpose, being both a ritual and recruitment tool for the Sequencers.
↑Examine its cage-armature, Sunless Sea"Someone has bound it [...] with black iron - sunk bands and joined mechanisms deep into its flesh. [...] The cage has begun to distort its shape- [...] Rods of iron inserted deep into its flesh have done impossible things. There are organs in there that none of you recognize."
↑The Stag and the Shark, Fallen London"[...] I used to catch and bind the sharks. Drive the iron into their flesh, reshape them. Give them purpose." She smiles at the memory [...]"
↑The Stag and the Shark, Fallen London"He went to Spite? [...] Whatever he saw there will be forgotten as soon as he lays eyes on a Bound-shark. No one who has seen one up close – witnessed the way they thrash and strain – could fail to be moved by their suffering. The first time I saw one, it changed everything for me."
