"Out here, a captain needs all the help he can get. Even from sad strange gods of farewells."[2]
Salt is the nameless god of farewells[2] and of the horizon.[3] Fond of change,[4] it is seen as a patron of travelers,[5] and additionally associated by some with lost faces.[6] Its domain lies in the Uttermost East.[7]
Salt's Song is a light on the horizon, a sea breeze, a splash in the distance;[8][7] it tempts travelers to venture East, especially if they lack a home.[9][10] It is always approaching, and never arriving;[11] it may provoke intense melancholy[12] or convey prescient dreams.[13][14] Where its influence is felt, a message is often found: "TRAVELLER RETURNING."[15][16]
Salt's hum[17] permeates the wind near the eastern Unterzee[18] and the sound of the zee's waves,[19] giving listeners strange dreams of its domain.[20] Anyone who zails too far East will find themselves under Salt's scrutiny, which silences all sound.[21] Here Salt's light blooms from the Unterzee, and any unworthy travelers will be forced to turn back.[22]
A zee-bat.
White zee-bats are Salt's messengers. Being watched by a white zee-bat is an ill omen, as the subject may never reach home again.[23] Feeding a white zee-bat incurs Salt's favor and may cause other strange occurrences,[24] while harming one incurs Salt's wrath.[25]
"The face of the northern sphinx is all but gone. Lost faces are sacred to Salt, they say. You are drawn there. To what end? Salt's voice is distant, but clear..."[6]
Salt is worshipped by zailors, who make offerings to it by dropping treasures,[28] such as moon-pearls, into the Unterzee.[29] Zailors also maintain shrines to Salt;[3] one known example is constructed of a circle of salt and an arrow marked in chalk.[30] The House of the Question in Whither has a shrine to Salt with walls inscribed with stories. Providing stories for the shrine grants Salt's favor, but seeing where the tale will be written is considered bad luck.[31]
Salt's favor has varying effects. Beseeching the zee-god may grant mind-bending revelations,[32] and its voice may hint of treasure near its hallowed places.[33] However, in times of crisis, Salt has its own ideas of "help;" for instance, it might summon a Tyrant-Moth to accost the unlucky.[34]
There has been one recorded instance of a willing follower of Salt being transformed by the zee-god into a pile of salt.[35]
"You won't take me? Well, you'll take my curse! Salt, witness me! My curse on this captain without charity! Others will abandon you, as you abandoned me! Curse you! Curse you!"[36]
The Nocturne. Beware.
Salt's curse is feared by zailors; they would rather sacrifice transgressors to the Unterzee than risk its dire effects.[37] This curse falls upon anyone who kills a white zee-bat,[25] or steals from half-drowned shipwrecks.[37] Zailors can also invoke its curse upon others as punishment, in response to whatever method of communication with it is most convenient.[38][39][40]
A victim of Salt's curse may find their family gone upon returning home. They may receive the comfort of a farewell note,[41][42] or their loved ones might vanish entirely, leaving behind nary a trace besides Salt's mark.[15]
It is possible to lift Salt's curse, but only at the House of the Question in Whither. The performer will not remember the ritual, so no details are known, but a white flower petal appears afterwards to signal that the curse has been lifted. (All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.)[43]
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.
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"Recall who sent you here. That fierce old thing in the dark."
"Find her, and you will find the treasures. Go down. You need only take a little. My aid is cheap. You will have what I promised."[44]
Salt was once an exiled Judgement from the High Wilderness.[45] It visited the palace of the White[46] and was tasked with finding what the Sun had hid in the Neath;[47] this may have been Stone herself.[48] The White promised a treasure at the end of the search, and may have promised some other boon. Salt did not know anything about the Neath at the time,[44] and feared it may never come back from the journey, but a "need" drove it to accept.[46]
En route to the Neath, Salt was hunted down[49] by beasts of the High Wilderness; it killed most if not all of them, leaving their gigantic carcasses drifting in space.[50] Salt then entered the Neath in a painful process[51] that may have involved the Red Science.[52][53]
"Long ago a hungry monarch built a castle. The monarch saw a light in the south, in the palace of the south's queen. In those days, hungry as the monarch was, that light provoked nothing but appetite. But she was too far to devour. Over time, their correspondence calmed the monarch, and when the time came for the monarch to depart, the monarch's appetite was transformed, like blood into tears."[54]
After Salt entered the Neath, riding a "dead wind" from the North, it built a castle of ice out of its own memories[27] that is now called Frostfound.[55] The once-star was famished, and saw Stone's light to the South, finding it appetizing.[56] But Stone was too far to reach, so Salt corresponded with her instead. Their exchanges calmed Salt, and over time, its hunger was transformed, like "blood into tears."[57]
Salt also sent several messengers, including beings from Axile, to communicate with Storm, but Storm devoured them all. Salt then found Storm's true name, and Storm had to take heed. What transpired next is unknown, but it was not beneficial to either of them.[58]
It is implied that Salt made a deal with the Presbyterate before the Echo Bazaar came to the Neath,[59] and it may have made a later deal with the Bazaar,[60] but neither claim is confirmed.
"Long ago, a traveller went East, seeking something that could not be found in the black and starry kingdoms of the High Wilderness, nor in the irrigo temptations of the Nadir. Not in the glow of the Forge nor the crushing silence of the Unterzee deeps. Not in the shapeling citadels, not in the light of the South, not of the Sundered Sea. The traveller went East, and others may follow."[54]
"To travel is to change. Travel further; change more. This is the winnowing before the spring, the shearing of selves; the cold scarring of alteration. A stranger savours a warm breeze on a golden shore, and forgets all that they no longer are."[61]
The Traveller called Salt wandered the Neath to satisfy its "need," but no place it visited provided fulfillment.[62] Then it looked East, and it was fascinated by the horizon.[63] No one travels East without a hole in their heart, however,[64] and so the Traveller decided to change itself completely and utterly,[65][66] and sacrifice its past and future at Kingeater's Castle.[67][68] The last remnants of Salt's former self, and its former name, the Name-Which-Burns,[69] are stored in Frostfound.[70][71]
No one truly knows where Salt is, or what its future holds. Legend has it that it rests on the shore of the Uttermost East, recalling the stars it left behind;[72] and yet they say it has forgotten all that it once was.[73] It is always sailing onward, seeking new horizons;[74] and yet the Traveller is always returning.[75][76] It is perpetually in movement, and yet it stands still.[77]
Salt's followers say that one day it will return to Kingeater's Castle,[78] and the last of seven Witnesses will observe something impossible.[79] And they say that one terrible day, the Traveller will rise to face the White in its hall of poisoned crystal.[47] There is no happy ending.[45]
↑ 2.02.1Permit it, Sunless Sea"Out here, a captain needs all the help he can get. Even from sad strange gods of farewells."
↑ 3.03.1A skilled crewman, Sunless Sea"This is the zailor who came begging to you for a berth [...] he's keeping a little shrine to the Salt, the nameless god of the horizon, at the back of the hold."
↑Permit it, Sunless Sea"That night, as you stand on the foredeck, a soft breeze comes out of the East, the Salt's direction; tousles your hair; passes. "
↑Bread and Salt, Sunless Sea"She leans closer. "Salt's Song," she whispers. "I hear it on the wind. The way East. The horizon's road. Will you go East, my captain? Will you take me with you?""
↑The Colonists will look East, Sunless Sea"They will be drawn to the edge of the isle, where Salt's realm opens out into the darker zee: the places beyond the edge. What will they see?"
↑Swim to the beach, Fallen London"You are halfway to the beach, swimming eagerly. Warm water splashes on your face. You are halfway to the beach. You can feel the gentle resistance of the water against your breaststroke. You are halfway to the beach. Someone is singing a meandering song, somewhere, in the distance. You are halfway to the beach. Sunlight warms your back. You are halfway to the beach."
↑Tears, Sunless Sea"Your cheeks are wet. You think for a moment that it's zee-spray - but then the sorrow hits you like a falling stalactite. You are weeping. You double over, inconsolable."
↑The New Jonah, Sunless Sea"Salt tells me that you'll find my father in the belly of a monstrous eel. Gods never lie."
↑A blessing, Sunless Sea"This is the dream that Salt has sent you, whispered in the ear of your agent."
↑ 15.015.1Appalling news, Sunless Sea"...vanished, every one, all on the same night. On the wall of the room where your heir slept, we found this message painted: TRAVELLER RETURNING. No other trace remains."
↑...a light beneath, Sunless Sea"The road runs east across the waves. Dappled images like footprints, glaze of light. A traveller returning. "
↑Look, Fallen London"Sunlight casts the peak in stark, contrasting lines. Your eye follows the craggy paths, brimming with snow at the top, filled with trees towards the bottom. From where you are, you can see the way the sunlight glances off each leaf on each tree. A humming vibration is all around you [...]"
↑The surrounding light, Sunless Sea"Golden light will fill your vessel. It will glare through every porthole, peer under every door. Its scrutiny demands silence."
↑The light below, Sunless Sea"The silence will be too much, and the scrutiny of the golden light rising beneath us. We will have no choice to turn back..."
↑A white zee-bat, Sunless Sea"There's a white zee-bat watching me up there. Salt's messenger. Salt's got its eye on me. I'll never see home again!"
↑ 27.027.1Lose your mind, Sunless Sea"A dead wind which blew from the north. A hungry sun rode the wind. It made of memories a castle. There are mirrors in the ice. A thousand doors and none. The end of the chain is horizon's beginning. Horizon's beginning. Your throat is bleeding."
↑Gain Salt's Attention, Sunless Sea"The walls around Salt's shrine are written over with tales. Bring it a story. [...] 'Leave now. If you see where I write your story, it's the worst kind of luck.'"
↑Prayer to the god called Salt, Sunless Sea"Look east, where the zee and the roof are one in the mist. Your gaze unlocks the horizon like a puzzle-box. The Neath is reconfigured and transfigured. It lasts a single heartbeat."
↑Salt's Rites, Sunless Sea"Float there in the quiet, until your lungs are bursting, until light blooms behind your eyes. Rise gasping to the prickle of false-stars, the shocked faces of your crew. You've brought something with you."
↑Make a sacrifice to Salt, Sunless Sea"You whisper your prayer into the dark. Something has heard it: you're terribly certain of that. Perhaps this is Salt's idea of helping. Or perhaps you're just very unlucky."
↑ 37.037.1Board this empty mausoleum, Sunless Sea"[...] a zailor caught slipping a jewelled trinket into his unmentionables [...] his crewmates have him by all the limbs, hurling him and his cursed plunder to join the Drownies in the black. None may steal from a half-drowned ship. There is no gold in the zee worth Salt's ire. Only sacrifice absolves."
↑Leave him here, Sunless Sea"He spits on the floor and slashes his arm to release the blood. His eyes roll: tears burst from them and roll down his cheek. You leave him to rant and weep..."
↑Refuse it, Sunless Sea"She spits on the ground ...shakes her head, slowly: and makes a complex sign with her hand. The sea crashes on the shore. Someone is watching."
↑Let him off with a warning, Sunless Sea"Your crew are not impressed. Just how unimpressed, you discover when you find a cursing-mark on the corridor wall opposite your cabin. Zailors have a keen sense of justice."
↑A letter from the Dapper Chap, Sunless Sea"...body and soul, into the... waking dreams which tear my skin... before the whirlpool draws you in too. Beloved, I must leave you. We must both leave you -"
↑An official notice from the Foreign Office, Sunless Sea"...cannot disclose details of her ultimate fate, but I regret that, in all likelihood, it was bright and cold and lonely. It is with infinite regret that I must inform you that your child shared this fate."
↑Lift Salt's Curse, Sunless Sea"No - you had gone. [...] you can remember almost nothing. "All shall be well," someone told you, "and all manner of thing shall be well." Clutched in your hand is a single white petal, as fresh as if plucked just now on the Surface. It's the token of the curse's ending."
↑ 44.044.1The fifth letter: the White, Sunless Sea"Find her," he said to you, "and you will find the treasures. Go down. [...]" The light of his nimbus guttered, as if he were laughing. You knew nothing of the Neath, then. Perhaps you would never have come, if you did."
↑ 45.045.1A Travelling Light, Sunless Sea"This is the story of the star. An exile from the High Wilderness took up a mask and a burden, and recorded its pilgrimage here below. There is no happy ending."
↑ 46.046.1The sixth letter: a palace of poisoned crystal, Sunless Sea"Recall that place of white and black, so cold after its season of heat. [...] You walked a while, considering his offer. Radiations tugged at your sleeves [...] The Neath was far from everything you had done and known. You might never return home. But that need, that need..."
↑ 47.047.1Once, you said… "The zee is wide, but I'll always return home.", Sunless Sea"Look back one last time, at where the zee is dark, and the lights of London invisible. You cannot go back; and yet the traveller is always returning. One came below, long ago, seeking what the Sun had hid. One will rise, one day, to face the White in its hall of poisoned crystal."
↑The Amethyst Gallery, Sunless Sea"Vast and shadowy shapes hang lifeless in the distant cloud, fluid staining their hides. Whale-things and beast-things, bigger than dirigibles, bigger than cities. [...] Once again, there is a voice, lifeless as leaden type. THERE WERE CASUALTIES."
↑The Cavity, Sunless Sea"THIS IS ONLY A MEMORY, a voice intones. THE CRIME IS FORGOTTEN. ITS SHADOW REMAINS. "
↑Surrender to the traces of horror, Sunless Sea"Whatever was remembered here is gone - but even its traces still scald the air. [...] All living things are joined in the Chain [...] When the Red Science breaks it, even time is scarred. Now that scar has touched your spirit."
↑Fumble in the darkness, Sunless Sea"Long ago a hungry monarch built a castle. The monarch saw a light in the south, in the palace of the south's queen. In those days, hungry as the monarch was, that light provoked nothing but appetite."
↑Fumble in the darkness, Sunless Sea"Over time, their correspondence calmed the monarch, and when the time came for the monarch to depart, the monarch's appetite was transformed, like blood into tears."
↑Fumble in the darkness, Sunless Sea"Long ago a hungry monarch built a castle. The monarch sent messengers to the thunder-dragon in the roof, but the dragon ate them all. The monarch sent more messengers - shapelings from Axile, malleable and eager - but the dragon ate those too. Then the hungry monarch found the dragon's name, and the dragon had to listen. It didn't do either of them much good."
↑An understanding with the Presbyterate, Sunless Sea"You speak the words you've learnt - the opening lines of a treaty made between the Presbyterate and a certain other power, long before London fell, before the Bazaar ever came to the Neath -"
↑One Last Voyage? (9 FATE), Fallen London"A Bazaar Permit has been affixed to the wall with a species of resin. In the section for 'Services Contracted', the notary has scrawled the words TRAVELLER RETURNING."
↑Fumble in the darkness, Sunless Sea"Long ago, a traveller went East, seeking something that could not be found in the black and starry kingdoms of the High Wilderness, nor in the irrigo temptations of the Nadir. Not in the glow of the Forge nor the crushing silence of the Unterzee deeps. Not in the shapeling citadels, not in the light of the South, not of the Sundered Sea. The traveller went East, and others may follow."
↑After the sacrifice, Sunless Sea"So much emptiness - so much lost. That's good. No one travels East without a hole in the heart. [...]"
↑Peer into the depths, Sunless Sea"There are changes which will wash away all that you were and all that you are. Nothing is familiar. Everything is new as morning. Your sight is dazzled, your perceptions confounded."
↑Give up your past, Sunless Sea"Now the wind is rising. The Exile raises her voice. "The Traveller comes! O my captain, give up the lessons of your life!""
↑Give up your future, Sunless Sea"Sacrifice what comes!" the Exile shouts. Her voice is almost lost in the wind. "Give up what you have cherished!"
↑TRAVELLER RETURNING, Sunless Sea"Your finger touches the first letter of the Name. [...] Yes, this is what you wrote, before you went East. [...] The second letter. This is what he required, that fierce old creature in the dark. The third letter. When you came below, you knew it would hurt, but not this much. Not this much. The fourth letter -"
↑Voyage of the Snow Child, Sunless Sea"I will row [...] I will take myself where the light beneath glass shines green and gold, past the beach where an exile recalls the warmth of suns he left behind. I will find the frozen forest and climb trees tall enough to touch the moon. I will remember you, Captain."
↑Once, you said..., Sunless Sea"Look back one last time, at where the zee is dark, and the lights of London invisible. You cannot go back; and yet the traveller is always returning. One came below, long ago, seeking what the Sun had hid. One will rise, one day, to face the White in its hall of poisoned crystal."
↑Look, Fallen London"You are staring at the beginning of an avalanche, and you can almost imagine, almost feel all that snow collapsing down the slopes towards you. But you are safe in a moment that's been stretched, pulled like taffy, soft and warm and enveloping your body."
↑The Sixth Witness, Sunless Sea"You pick them up and look to the East. [...] Somewhere, in the deepest distance, a light flickers. You hear the splashing of a distant wake, getting closer. But it is gone as fast as any other passing fancy. The memory is already fading as you leave."
↑Ask the Sixth Witness' Question, Sunless Sea"In your head, an impossible answer forms, an answer to a question never meant to be asked. A Witnessing that will change everything in ways that send shivers deeper than any bone."
