Mariam
"Her skin is the exact black-blue of the bone walls. She brushes dust from her apron. A small copper kettle steams on the floor at her feet, emitting an sharp, nutty odour.
Every surface in the chamber - a tessellation of cemented bone - is engraved. Amongst the threading scrawl, certain phrases repeat.
REMEMBER THE WAX-WIND
IT WILL FIND YOU
I AM A CANDLE
WIND WAX-WIND WAX-WIND WAX"[1]
Mariam is the founder and coordinator of the Seven Against Nidah, and as the daughter of the Presbyter himself, a former princess. She was always rebellious,[2] and in an attempt to appease her, her father broke all kinds of Presbyterian law to offer her the gift of immortality.[3] It is implied that Mariam gave this gift to a Khaganian general in another act of defiance, displeasing her father greatly.[4] It is also implied that said general was none other than Arik, the second person to join the Seven.[5]
She was the last of the Seven to retreat; she "would not leave until she knew Nidah would stand."[6] After the Seven's loss at Nidah, the Wax-Wind was invoked against Mariam personally, and she fled to the Fathomking's Hold. The Fathomking turned her skin peligin, cursed her to forget everything she knew, and sent her to the deepest parts of Scrimshander, where she made statues of her comrades and carved memories into the walls in an attempt to remember her grudge.[7]
References
- ↑ Mariam, Sunless Sea
- ↑ Ask why she opposes Nidah, Sunless Sea ""Perhaps I just dislike smugness. The Presbyters are very, very smug.""
- ↑ 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. I failed. I fled. I bargained. I hid here. I make statues, and try to remember.""
- ↑ Ask why she opposes Nidah, Sunless Sea ""I can remember what my colleagues would have said: 'to live eternal', 'to undo the injustice of death'. But I was offered immortality and gave it away.""
- ↑ The Captain, Sunless Sea ""I remember that he was the first I recruited to my scheme," Mariam says. "He was a scion of the Taimen, injured in a battle against my homeland. I saved his life. My father was not pleased.""
- ↑ Salvage!, Sunless Sea 'We parted at the confluence of the three rivers and the heretic ran on ahead with his armies but the daughter of the city stayed behind. She will not leave until she knows Nidah will stand: we begged because there was no mercy coming but she must see for herself.'
- ↑ Why is she here?, Sunless Sea ""As punishment for our attempt on their city, the Nidaheen promised me to the Wax-Wind. I sought sanctuary in the Fathomking's Hold, and made an arrangement with His Complexity. He changed me," she runs a finger down her peligin cheek. "I forget things, now, unless I write them down, or put faces to them.""
