Drownies

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"The Drownies swim with the ship now. In their song is the taste of salt, the hundred colours of darkness, the loving coil of the current. Come home, they say: come home to us."[1]

Drownies are humans who drowned, but recovered (because death is weird). Some of their anatomy, however, has changed in the process.

What Are They?[edit | edit source]

"Drownies are, for practical purposes, walking drowned men. They shiver, they complain, they try to drag you under the Stolen River's surface and make you one of them. They are not neighbourly."[2]

Drownies can be best described as ambulatory, waterlogged corpses.[3] They have pale, decay-softened skin,[4] and sunken peligin eyes.[5] They are understandably rather melancholic most of the time,[6] but become far more active when interested in drowning an unwary passerby.[7] At Hallowmas, Londoners traditionally throw raw meat to the Drownies in the Stolen River[8] to offer them a meal.[9]

  • Drownie Male
    Drownie Male
  • Drownie Female
    Drownie Female
  • Drownie Female
    Drownie Female

Biology[edit | edit source]

"The Drownie rises from the water slightly, and points to her throat, shaking her head. Long years in the briny Unterzee have not done her previously-human body any favours - fluttering strips like gills flower on the sides of her neck. She closes her eyes and muscles flex beneath the skin. Song bubbles from her mouth like water from a spring, wordless and gurgling. Whatever faculty for melody her Drownie nature has given her, it has left her unable to speak as humans do."[10]

Aqua Lachrymosae

When Drownies cry, they exude a substance called Aqua Lachrymosae,[11] which is black[12] and iridescent like crude oil,[13] and contains no salt.[14] Contact with another Drownie's tears will fill a Drownie with a deep sense of longing.[15] It is unclear whether Drownies can reproduce; while children of this... species?... have been observed,[16] it is unclear whether they are drowned human children or the offspring of Drownie parents.[17]

The waters a Drownie inhabits slowly shape their biology:[18] at least one was observed to have grown gills and lost the ability to speak,[19] so one can only imagine what a sewer-dwelling Drownie might look (and smell) like.[20] Despite such adaptations, Drownies can walk on land and breathe air when called for, just as they once did in life.[21] They can temporarily restore their human appearances, but all known methods seem to work by conjuring illusions, which are short-lived.[22] Drowning has a certain effect on the soul[23] that is undesirable to anyone who would care about a soul's status.[24]

Society[edit | edit source]

"The Fathomking is the lord of the Drownies - those dead who won't stop swimming. By some accounts, he's the lord of all who die at sea. Bring him a story to tickle his curiosity."[25]

The Fathomking

Drownies travel in groups[26] called choirs.[27][28] Choirs of Drownies roam the Stolen River,[29][30] singing to passersby and attempting to drag them into the water[31] - a danger that zailors know well.[32] Constables patrolling the Evenlode use barge poles to swat at the Drownies and drive them off.[33]

Despite their unsettling appearance and habits, Drownies are entirely sapient beings who retain much of their humanity after death. They are servants of the Fathomking,[34] the sovereign of all who perish at zee;[35] they can often be found in his Court, where they are more sociable and eager to negotiate or barter, usually in exchange for scintillack.[36] The Fathomking can release Drownies from his service and back to life on dry land, usually for a very steep price.[37][38] There is also a separate Drownie settlement, a beautiful and dangerous underwater city called Dahut.

Abilities[edit | edit source]

"A song rises from the calm waters. The eerie singing of the drownies is known to lure men to their doom; one Zailor is already leaning over the parapet."[39]

Down, down, down...

Like the sirens of ancient Greek myth, Drownies are inextricably linked with song. Becoming a Drownie grants a person the ability to sing strange and potent melodies,[40] which are fatally alluring to humans[41] and have other apparent magical effects;[42] for instance, one calls on moon-misers to shed their glim from the Roof,[43] by mimicking the song moon-mothers sing to induce their larvae to emerge. Another darkens the surrounding area and slows the movement of its listeners, evoking the eerie hush of the lightless deep.[44][45] In turn, a human can also summon Drownies by singing the right tune.[46] Attempts to prevent an individual from being lured into the zee by Drownie songs may provoke the entranced person to react violently,[47] but their songs can be washed out by loud noise or by blocking one's ears.[48]

What Births Them?[edit | edit source]

Spoilers ahead: May include midgame or minor Fate-locked content.

You can find out more about our spoiler policy here.

"Captain. I walked the shore at the edge of the coral-caps. The Drownies sported there. They called my name. They said I could join them, if I partook of the Feast. Their eyes were red pearls. Captain, I dare not sleep. There is such a hunger on me - "[49]

At false-summer’s end, Mutton Island holds the Fruits of the Zee Festival, inviting all to sample the bounty of the zee. Meanwhile, deep beneath the waves, a far older and stranger celebration takes place: a great Drowning Feast. Drownies invite human guests to the depths (but not before ensuring they can breathe underwater),[50] and both parties are served meat from the greatest of zee-creatures[51] - even the Flukes.[52] The Feast, in fact, doubles as a funerary rite; the Flukes have an arrangement with the Fathomking, allowing his servants to dine on the flesh of Flukes that died of (presumably) natural causes.[53]

The Pentamerous Bride

Partaking in the Feast grants glimpses of the future[54] - but more importantly, it is also a significant step of "recruitment" for new Drownies.[55] A human can only transform into a Drownie if they die at zee and if they have eaten Fluke flesh; otherwise, they simply die and return unchanged (where possible).[56] The Fathomking does not give those who sink down into his court much choice in becoming Drownie: either they eat the flesh or they are imprisoned until they are willing to do so.[57] Mutton Island's genuine Rubbery Lumps,[58] crafted from Fluke meat delivered by the Drownies, are also another means of "recruitment."[59] That said, some individuals are simply too significant to the world around them to be worth keeping underwater, as they would bring trouble to the Fathomking if they ended up in his Court.[60] These people are usually either sent to the Boatman[61] or spirited back up to shore.[62]

Some of the oldest Drownies did not eat Fluke meat, but were baptized beneath the waves by the Fathomking himself, drinking from the cups of his Bride.[63][64]

Cultural Inspirations[edit | edit source]

The Drownies’ ability to captivate with song immediately evokes the sirens of Greek mythology, whose melodies nearly led Odysseus’s crew to their deaths. That said, their undead nature also aligns them with Slavic water spirits like the Rusalki - restless souls of drowned young women who linger in the waters of their demise, pulling both people and animals into lakes and swamps. Similarly, Norse folklore featured the Nøkk (also called Näcken or Nixies), male spirits who were not always described as handsome but could lure anyone to a watery grave with their singing or musicianship. English folklore features river hags like Jenny Greenteeth and Peg Powler, while Japanese legends speak of the amphibious kappa, who drag their victims underwater. Across cultures, myths abound with malevolent water spirits who seek to drown the living, and it's little wonder why; drowning is a universal fear, and a terrifying and all-too-common death.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ The Drownies' Welcome, Sunless Sea
  2. ↑ Sidebar Snippets: Watch for the Drownies, Fallen London
  3. ↑ Look through the porthole, Fallen London "Another face peers back through the porthole. Bloated flesh in bloodless tatters, ripped, bone visible. Slimy hair undulating like kelp. Green teeth, overgrown with algae, set into a snarl when the Drownie suddenly notices the Youthful Naturalist."
  4. ↑ Dance with a Drownie, Fallen London "You are shivering with cold when the song ends. You remove your hand from her shoulder. It leaves the imprint of your fingers behind on her flesh, as if you'd been squeezing a rubbery lump too hard."
  5. ↑ The Mudlark's Lament, Fallen London "The pallid face of a Drownie emerges from the gloom. Glistening skin, wide peligin eyes and sunken sockets. [...]"
  6. ↑ Old, New, Drowned & Blue, Fallen London "They say Drownies are what remains of those who die at zee. These ill-fated and waterlogged fellows tend to be a bit... morose. Believing one is dead tends to do that to a person. They spend their soggy days singing, moping, and following the rule of the Fathomking, their regent below the waves."
  7. ↑ Sidebar Snippets: Watch for the Drownies, Fallen London "Drownies are, for practical purposes, walking drowned men. They shiver, they complain, they try to drag you under the Stolen River's surface and make you one of them. They are not neighbourly."
  8. ↑ Feeding the River, Fallen London "In the Stolen River, beneath the Embankment, the Drownies cluster, calling beguilingly to passers-by. It is the tradition in this season to feed them with raw meat: butchers' off-cuts, offal. They were human once. It's not clear whether they still are. Will you feed them too?"
  9. ↑ Feeding the River, Fallen London "Drownies throw back their heads and bolt the meat like seagulls eating fish. Other Drownies applaud ironically. 'Forlorn!' one shouts, but she is quickly hushed – indeed ducked."
  10. ↑ The Mudlark's Lament, Fallen London
  11. ↑ A Faceted Decanter of Drownie Effluvia, Fallen London "Drownie tears, [...] It's said that in Dahut, they weep when they sing. And the tears form bubbles of this stuff: Aqua Lachrymosae." She wrinkles her nose. "Sounds unhygienic, to me."
  12. ↑ Offer your devotion, Fallen London "You did not know that it was possible for Drownies to cry. Your lover sobs into a handful of veil, and the tears are the colour of squid-ink. [...]"
  13. ↑ Offer a Faceted Decanter of Drownie Effluvia, Fallen London "It shimmers like an oil spill, alien and beguiling."
  14. ↑ Speak to her, Fallen London "Saltless tears"
  15. ↑ Use just a little Drownie Effluvia, Fallen London "A Drownie comes up through the water and the film of Effluvia washes over her face. Her eyes widen, her mouth opens in an expression that might be longing. The light gleams on her skin. Then she dives back under, as though she has been called away to a place in the deep Zee."
  16. ↑ Ask about the Bone Men and their lost treasure, Sunless Sea "He crooks a finger, and a Drownie-child brings forward a pale bone on a mouldering cushion. [...]"
  17. ↑ Sing a Song of Broken Hulls, Sunless Sea "[...] You recognise names inscribed by the door of the Crypt: an Admiralty woman lost at Zee, a well-known merchant. They are Drownies now, or parents of Drownies."
  18. ↑ Sub-Basement, Fallen London "At the hole's edge sits a drownie – or something more than a drownie. She has been swimming in lacreous waters. Her teeth are sharp and her face the colour of moonstone. She has sucked down three casks of contraband brandy and she is entirely awake."
  19. ↑ The Mudlark's Lament, Fallen London "The Drownie rises from the water slightly, and points to her throat, shaking her head. Long years in the briny Unterzee have not done her previously-human body any favours - fluttering strips like gills flower on the sides of her neck. She closes her eyes and muscles flex beneath the skin. Song bubbles from her mouth like water from a spring, wordless and gurgling. Whatever faculty for melody her Drownie nature has given her, it has left her unable to speak as humans do."
  20. ↑ Pursue the dreams of cities, Fallen London "An engineer dreams of a greater sewer system. A politician dreams of the cost. A radical of the Sunken Parliament, emerging covered in excrement. A nightsoilman dreams of the sort of Drownie such an event might produce. [...]"
  21. ↑ We Absolutely Meant to Go to Zee, Fallen London "Finally, she speaks to you, not the children. "Please. Help me." She wheezes the words, as if she's out of practice speaking, unused to breathing air."
  22. ↑ We Absolutely Meant to Go to Zee, Fallen London "It is as if the room has become colder, dimmer. There was never any colour in Matilda's cheeks, it was only ever a trick of the light. Her fresh-salt aroma is the stench of water death. The Drownie turns away from the children. [...]"
  23. ↑ Visit the Repentant Devil, Sunless Skies "Did you know, by the way, that death by drowning changes a soul? A small but measurable effect. Some suns find it distasteful."
  24. ↑ Concede her your soul, Sunless Sea "I'll keep it safe. Much safer than at zee. If you drown, it'll be here, with me, for always. Mortals do drown so."
  25. ↑ Descend to an audience with the Fathomking, Sunless Sea
  26. ↑ Confront the Drownies, Fallen London "A member of the Black Ribbon Society has taken up with the Drownies. Feducci wants her dealt with. You track her down where she loiters on the docks, with a pack of her new friends."
  27. ↑ Meet with spies, Fallen London "A few spies you recognise are meeting discreetly near the drownie choir. The astounding noise masks their words."
  28. ↑ Sponsor a trading voyage to the farthest reaches of the zee, Fallen London "[…] you reach an agreement with a promising new-made captain. […] he drinks your entire advance, falls into the river and drowns. You find him next morning singing dissonantly with the Drownie choir. […] you could swear he looks embarrassed."
  29. ↑ Pistons and glim, Fallen London "[...] There is a colony of Drownies nearby, drowned half-dead who know the tricks of calling glim-fall with song. They know other songs, too."
  30. ↑ Net whatever is in the river, Fallen London "Is that a Drownie? Do Drownies come this far up-river? They do."
  31. ↑ Feed three of the brawlers to the Drownies!, Fallen London "The water is full of Drownies, drawn by light and sound. Their song is barely audible now – but anyone you send into their arms won't return."
  32. ↑ What do the Drownies Sing?, Fallen London "A song rises from the calm waters. The eerie singing of the drownies is known to lure men to their doom; one Zailor is already leaning over the parapet."
  33. ↑ Who is bustling about the Evenlode?, Fallen London "The shout goes up. "Drownie! Get yer plugs in!" Railway workers shove wax in their ears. Police fetch barge poles, ready to encourage the drownie to move along."
  34. ↑ Greet the Fathomking, Fallen London "[...] This is the Fathomking, His Complexity, Receiver of all the Zee's Wreck and the lord of the Drownies."
  35. ↑ Descend to an audience with the Fathomking, Sunless Sea "The Fathomking is the lord of the Drownies - those dead who won't stop swimming. By some accounts, he's the lord of all who die at sea. Bring him a story to tickle his curiosity."
  36. ↑ Trade for Drowning-Pearls, Fallen London "The Drownies have a peculiar appetite for scintillack, that silvery northern coral. They whisper and giggle as they haggle."
  37. ↑ Old, New, Drowned & Blue, Fallen London "I begged The Fathomking to return him to me, to land, [...] He agreed. I don't know why. But only if I would provide something in return. I had to replace my husband in his court, and keep replacing him. Luring men to zee to join him, time after time for as long as I live, as payment for the soul he returned to me. And I... agreed to those terms."
  38. ↑ "Your Complexity: I pray you, give me back my Campaigner.", Sunless Sea "She died at sea. Perhaps he can return her. His price will be steep."
  39. ↑ What do the Drownies Sing?, Fallen London
  40. ↑ Sing a song the Drownies sing, Fallen London "Perhaps you missed that middle C, or maybe you're just not Drownie enough. It's hard to do the misery of the song justice unless you've had to chisel whelks from your gusset."
  41. ↑ Keep the crew from listening, Fallen London "You try to get their attention over the singing, but the zailors only respond with glassy stares. The ship drifts slightly out of course as the helmsman slackens. You're moving too fast for the drownies to catch up and clamber aboard, thankfully – but not fast enough to keep that one zailor from letting his body fall over the railing."
  42. ↑ Get the thing open, Fallen London "Song. There's a point. The drownies know all sorts of strange songs. Perhaps they know one that can open locks."
  43. ↑ Song under the water, Fallen London "You [...] hear the Drownies at their songs. Their song calls glim to fall from the cavern ceiling above. A glittering shower falls all around you, glinting in the moonish light: a few pieces land on the crane near you. [...]"
  44. ↑ Song under the water, Fallen London "Their next song is of considerable professional interest. It recalls the lightless depths of the deep Unterzee. It brings darkness and silence, even as it chills your blood. You will not forget that song, and you think you might even be able to repeat it."
  45. ↑ Sing the Song of the Deep, Fallen London "Your song dampens even the sun above. You sing a vast silence, a crushing and dreamless dark. The writhing coils slow, and finally still. Tongues flicker desperately across the sky. It seems to be suddenly having trouble finding you. You find yourself walking. Slowly. Trudging as though ankle-deep in mud, as though weighed down by stones. Clara and Dr Vaughan follow in a trance, their hands in yours, led by your mournful song. Down, down. (Deep, deep!) Down, down. (Drown, drown!) [...]"
  46. ↑ Old, New, Drowned & Blue, Fallen London "Zailors' wisdom suggests that Drownies have a special relationship to song. Usually they are the ones singing, leaving the poor zalts aboard the ships to do the listening, and the blocking their ears with wax, and the walking into the zee. But sing the right song, they say, and the drowned will come to you."
  47. ↑ Listen to the songs, and for your quarry, Fallen London "When your bosun snaps you out of it with a bucket of water to the face, you are covered in scratches and tied to a cannon. You had not, it appears, taken kindly to your crew preventing you from jumping into the ink-black waters. Worse still, the Drownies are still following you ship."
  48. ↑ Keep the crew from listening, Fallen London You grab a zailor by the shoulders and drag him away from the parapet, screaming over the drownies' song, ordering his fellows to clamp their ears. They do so with their hands at first, and then with wax or rags; the next few miles are spent in tense silence as your ship zails away from the source of the singing.
  49. ↑ Permit shore leave, Sunless Sea
  50. ↑ Offer your Strange Catch to the Drownies, Fallen London "The zee rises [...] When it closes over your head, the Drownies press a strand of zeeweed between your lips. It fizzes on your tongue, filling your mouth with effervescence. As long as you keep chewing, you can manage something approximate to breathing."
  51. ↑ Continue listening to the Naturalist, Fallen London "The Drowning Feast" "[...] dead men and women – Drownies – [...] I kept sinking – down to a table, a whole feast spread on the zee-floor, where the Drownies were eating with the Fathomking [...] carving a catch, something bloated and pale – I can still taste it, I'll never forget it, like lemons if lemons were sweet, and it opened my eyes [...] to what my life has been leading towards—"
  52. ↑ The Pulse of the Principles, Sunless Sea "These sea-lords you slay... they give of themselves for the Drowning Feast."
  53. ↑ Deliver the Lorn-Fluke, Sunless Sea "[...] Our King keeps a discreet accord with the Flukes, one which I maintain. Their dead must be appropriately disposed of, using the traditional manner. If this were ten years ago, perhaps the boy could have kept it. But since the lorn-flukes were taught ambition, they are best not antagonised. I will deliver this corpse to my liege. I have no doubt his chef will prepare it most respectfully."
  54. ↑ Ask about the Sacristan's interrogation, Fallen London "[...] Drownies took me down [...] to the Drowning Feast. They were eating, well, I don't know what, but I could taste it in the water. Like lemons if lemons were sweet. Everything opened. My eyes for the first time. Time itself. I saw my future. Destiny. I've been running from that vision ever since."
  55. ↑ The Hollow-Eyed Tragedian, Fallen London "[...] I never finished the Courier's Chase, [...] Not before the drowning, and the Feast... oh, I can't talk about the Feast. Not with you. Unless I were to recruit you. But I don't want that. [...]"
  56. ↑ Let him be, Fallen London "He'll be back from the river in no time. I checked, personally – he said he's never eaten lumps. Not a thing you forget. [...] Drownie duty. Character building. Every Evenloder has to do it. Keep the b______s away from shore."
  57. ↑ The Web, Fallen London "If there is only one possibility, [...] If I can only accept, or refuse, to be imprisoned until I accept – is that a choice at all?"
  58. ↑ Drinks at the Cock and Magpie, Sunless Sea "Tonight they're serving Rubbery Lumps, the Mutton Island way! They make them down in London, but they're not the same. These are like gristle if gristle could be golden. Saltier than any decent food should be, but somehow you can't stop eating them."
  59. ↑ Spy on a delivery for the Custodial Chef, Fallen London "A pair of Drownies struggle up the beach. They carry a packet the size of a hansom's wheel, folded in a shroud peeled from some drifting zee-burial. "With the King's regards," they say, and heave it before the chef's feet. He, pragmatically, has brought a wheelbarrow. [...] you search the sands where the exchange took place. Here! A nugget of something fibrous, peligin in hue: the fathomless colour of the zee-depths. You squeeze it between thumb and forefinger. It is distinctly rubbery."
  60. ↑ In the Court of the Fathomking, Fallen London "This is an inconvenience, [...] You are a Londoner of some importance. Your absence would be felt. [...] Moreover, you are a figure of some controversy. More trouble than you'd be worth to me. [...] We will permit that you offer a gift, then. To resolve this impasse, before we allow you to move on."
  61. ↑ Offer your sympathies, Fallen London "Go, then. Give my regards to the boatman. Try not to come back."
  62. ↑ A conversation with the Youthful Naturalist, Fallen London "I might've mentioned that the Drownies don't like me," says the Youthful Naturalist. "The Fathomking sent me back up. [...]" [Editor's Note: The Youthful Naturalist was much too important to other great powers to become a Drownie]
  63. ↑ Dance with a Drownie, Fallen London "She tells you she's a proper Drownie, as you waltz clumsily through the surf. One of the earliest. Chosen by the Fathomking and baptised in the bride's cup. "Not one of these latecomers, who ate their way down to the algae-orchards and the silt-breezes," she huffs"
  64. ↑ Dance with a Drownie, Fallen London "You play the part of one of the first Drownies, [...] baptised by the Fathomking himself. You have few lines, the Thespian taking the role of His Complexity and delivering a number of overblown speeches on flesh and the natures of love. But when the Drownie drinks from the bride's cup, a drowned rhapsody rises unbidden in your mind like a bobbing corpse. [...]"
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