The Fathomking
"The Fathomking himself has risen from the seclusion of his abyssal retreat to preside over the feast. His jacket is tightly buttoned, to keep everything in place. His face is stiff with wax. An attendant swims a silk fan slowly above him to discourage nibbling fish. The King gestures floridly to the table, and diligent Drownie servants paddle over to set your place."[3]
The Fathomking is the mysterious and notoriously unpredictable ruler of the Drownies.
The Zee's Wild Card[edit | edit source]
"This is the salt-blown heart of the Hold. The Fathomking floats in his throne: a gem-starred bowl of sea-stone, the size of a banqueting table. He's wearing a dressing gown of purple brocade, soaked dark with salt water. He leans his chin calmly on his hand. Beneath the surface of the water in his throne, his hidden regions pulse, constantly, insistently."[4]
The Fathomking himself is quite the character; his favored term of address is "Your Complexity". Above all, he values a good story, and of course zailors have plenty of stories to tell. As such, the Fathomking has designated time for receiving visitors, during which His Complexity pays handsomely for information and stories.[5] He allows all comers from across the Unterzee - from Visage's crocodile-masked envoys[6] to Khaganian emissaries.[7] Executions - which are held in front of all guests - appear to be commonplace in response to certain transgressions, such as buying silk from spiders,[8] and His Complexity particularly dislikes when Chelonite visitors get too entitled.[9] Conversely, he particularly appreciates "gifts from the Myceligaean Mother," like blemmigans[10] and other mementos from the Uttershroom.[11]
The Fathomking is capable of reviving the deceased, albeit for a very steep price.[12] He is also willing to send Londoners of enough importance, or people who would provoke too much controversy in his court, back to the Slow Boat.[13]
The King is an occasional visitor to Mutton Island,[14] which has mistakenly come to worship him as the Drowned Man.[15] He would, however, like to be a kindly patron of the island,[16] and displays some sympathy for his counterpart.[15]
The Fathomking's Hold[edit | edit source]
"Like an iceberg, like a Bazaar-Master's scheme, like the Neath itself, most of the Hold is invisible."[17]
The Fathomking's Hold is an enormous coral structure that lies within the Promised Sea. Like the base of an iceberg, most of the Hold is hidden,[18] and its depths are lit a bioluminescent green.[19] It is implied that while the King can travel as he pleases - albeit with some help to move about on land[20][21] - a portion of his consciousness and/or power may lie within his Throne-Cyst or some other part of the Hold itself.[22][23]
The Pentamerous Bride[edit | edit source]
"'My bride.' The King-in-Coral's mood turns gentle. 'I thank you for visiting her this year. Her kind have ever been prone to change, and unalloyed they become eccentric. Paranoid, even.' He raises his palms in a slow, sad shrug."[24]
The Fathomking's partner, the Pentamerous Bride, is an extremely powerful Fluke.[25][26][27] He readily admits that she is the source of the majority of his power.[28] Due to the Bazaar's bargain with the beings of Axile, she cannot feel love, but the Fathomking loves her deeply, and established the Fruits of the Zee Festival and all its strange traditions to bring her joy.[29]
It is implied that the Fathomking's partnership with his Bride is what reshaped him from an ordinary human into the intriguing creature he is today.[30][31] As an incestuous side effect of this union, Mt Nomad is both the niece of the Fathomking and his Bride,[32] via her mother Stone,[33] and their grandniece via her father the Thief-of-Faces (who is in turn a child of the Flukes).[34] It would thus be doubly unwise to harm Mt Nomad on the Fathomking's watch.
References[edit | edit source]
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