"There are some things we were not meant to know, they say. But you wouldn't be down here if you took that seriously."
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"A wiry gentleman of the Khanate, his graven expression is unimpressed. "This is Arik," Mariam tells you. Engraved on his plinth are the words 'THE SECOND OF THE SEVEN'."[2]
"I remember that he was the first I recruited to my scheme. He was a scion of the Taimen, injured in a battle against my homeland. I saved his life. My father was not pleased."[2]
"Arik seized the Polythremi vessels we needed to navigate the red river. He commanded our fleets."[2]
Arik is an elderly man and a member of the Seven Against Nidah.[3][4] He is mute,[5] which may be due to a past injury to his neck, and communicates via a notebook chained to his wrist.[6] He is a former officer of the Taimen Clan; before the founding of the Khanate, he participated in the Great Khan's attempt to settle on the shores of the Elder Continent.[7][8] Arik was wounded in the resulting war, but was rescued by Mariam,[7] the daughter of the Presbyter at the time.[9][10] Mariam was to be gifted immortality by her father, but she bestowed this gift to Arik instead, much to her father's displeasure.[11][7] She then schemed to overthrow the city of Nidah's rule over death,[12][13] and Arik was the first of her recruits.[7]
Arik served as the Seven's Captain, commanding a fleet of living ships up the Nameless River so their armies may reach Nidah.[14][15] He captured these vessels from Polythreme in a naval battle alongside Lorenzo,[15][16] and one of his subordinates in this skirmish would go on to rule Wisdom as its Governor.[17][18] Arik and Lorenzo were also romantically involved;[19] the two were sparring partners, and Arik still wears the ascot Lorenzo gifted him.[16][20] Unfortunately, the Seven were defeated, and its members were forced into hiding.[21]
Hidden Away
"Arik's plan involves steering Temtum from the zee, across the Elder Continent, and using the beast as a siege engine. 'Temtum will topple the walls like meringue,' his report claims. He seems confident. But it will take a long period of gradual excursions for the great city-beast of Hideaway to build up a tolerance for life above the waves."[22]
"The Investigator threatens to destroy Hideaway and everything you and I have worked towards. He must be killed."[23]
Arik escaped to Hideaway, where he began working towards the Seven's return.[24] He now diligently maintains the city's complex electrical grid with the help of many laborers,[4] and he is able to directly command the giant crustacean upon which the city is built via a brass control module.[25] However, the crustacean, named Temtum, is on the verge of molting its shell.[26] Arik hopes to use Temtum to one day smash the walls of Nidah wide open,[27] but his plans require that Hideaway remain settled and bustling,[28][29] and he is willing to kill or even instigate war to ensure his scheme may continue without interruption.[30][31]
↑Aid the Sprightly Visionary, Sunless Sea"[...] he writes a short message in the notebook chained to his wrist. 'Thank you. [...] he hands you the note he looks up, revealing his neck. It's one huge scar."
↑ 7.07.17.27.3The Captain, Sunless Sea"[...] he was the first I recruited to my scheme," [...] "He was a scion of the Taimen, injured in a battle against my homeland. I saved his life. My father was not pleased."
↑What news gave her such angry pleasure?, Sunless Sea""The Presbyterate do not share their immortality," [...] "But one of them made an exception for his daughter, [...] "Mariam — the daughter — she gave the gift away to a Khaganian general, to spite her father and punish the Presbyterate. The last person they would have wanted to immortalise."
↑Ask who she is, Sunless Sea"I was estranged from my father. He tried to win me back with a gift that wasn't his to give. I spurned it. I rebelled. I founded the Seven Against Nidah."
↑Ask why she opposes Nidah, Sunless Sea"[...] what my colleagues would have said: 'to live eternal', 'to undo the injustice of death'. But I was offered immortality and gave it away. [...] "Perhaps I just dislike smugness. [...]"
↑Leaving Hideaway, Sunless Sea"One request: find the Gov. of Wisdom, remove his mask. Tell him his capt. orders him to Hideaway; say I swear by Lady Miriam [...]"
↑Deliver a letter of farewell to a Sprightly Visionary at Hideaway, Sunless Sea"[...] the Almost Dead Man croaks. How did this he come to know one of the exiles of Hideaway? [...] the old man displays a broken grin. "The old history of foolhardy youths," he confides, "Who somehow became old men." [...] Undercrow: The Almost Dead Man = 3 [Saying farewell to a lover in Hideaway.]"
↑Fixing a fault, Sunless Sea"In the centre of Hideaway is a small building [...] In the centre of the room is a raised brass panel and a chair. The panel is covered in switches and gauges. 'Central control of Hideaway. [...] Arik flips a switch; the ground shakes, and you're thrown left. He flips another; you're thrown right. Arik beams [...]"
↑Miserable realisations, Sunless Sea"It's Temtum. The beast is growing. Should have already shed its shell, [...] It's going to outgrow Hideaway. Soon."
↑Breaching Nidah's walls: deploy a leviathan from the depths of the zee, Sunless Sea"Arik has not been idle since the defeat of the Seven. He has tamed a monster of the deep zee, [...] Arik's plan involves steering Temtum from the zee, across the Elder Continent, and using the beast as a siege engine. 'Temtum will topple the walls like meringue,' [...]"
↑Story description, Sunless Sea"The Investigator threatens to destroy Hideaway and everything you and I have worked towards. He must be killed."
↑Silence the Investigator's intrusive band, Sunless Sea"The Visionary's maps of the city are pinned to the wall behind him. Instead of planning the city's electrical grid, they now present lines of battle. The Visionary, [...] details his plan of attack to you and your brigade."
