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| | {{Uncited}} |
| {{Spoiler}} | | {{Spoiler}} |
| {{Character | | {{Character |
| |image1 = sigilriddennavigatorgaz.png | | |image1 = sigilriddennavigatorgaz.png |
| |caption1 = | | |caption1 = Has that tattoo grown since last you looked? Art from Sunless Sea. |
| |location = [[The Unterzee]] | | |location = [[Fallen London]] |
| |allegiance = | | |allegiance = |
| |alias = | | |alias = |
| |relationships=[[The Correspondence]]}}<blockquote>''"When you ask about his past, he winces. '[...]This -' he taps the livid sigil on his temple, which twitches like a scorpion's sting '-has burned away my memories.'"''<ref name=":0">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea. miraheze. org/wiki/Sigil-Ridden_Navigator|Invite him to dine with you| Sunless Sea}}</ref></blockquote> | | }}<blockquote>''"When you ask about his past, he winces. '[...]This -' he taps the livid sigil on his temple, which twitches like a scorpion's sting '-has burned away my memories.'"''<ref name=":0">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Sigil-Ridden_Navigator|Invite him to dine with you| Sunless Sea|}}</ref></blockquote> |
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| The '''Sigil-Ridden Navigator''' is a nervous and timid zeeman, whose right temple is marked with a sigil of the [[The Correspondence|Correspondence]]. | | The '''Sigil-Ridden Navigator''' is a nervous and timid<ref name=":0" /> zeeman, whose right temple is marked with a sigil of the [[The Correspondence|Correspondence]]. |
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| ==A Wretched Past== | | == A Wretched Past == |
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| "''I regret it all. I will do anything. Please.''"<ref name=":1">{{Citation|1=https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Navigator%27s_Confession|2=Read the third page|3= Sunless Sea|4=}}</ref></blockquote>Sometime before 1887, the Navigator and his brother, Richard, were both engaged aboard the ''Bonny Swan.<ref name=":2">{{Citation|1=https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Navigator%27s_Confession|2=Read the first page|3= Sunless Sea|4=}}''"In May, my brother Richard and I took service on the Bonny Swan - he as bosun, I as navigator. The captain, Swinburne, was a good man, but ambitious."''</ref>'' The ship passed beyond [[Kingeater's Castle]], hoping to find another port<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Navigator%27s_Confession|Read the first page|Sunless Sea}} ''"When we reached Kingeater's Castle our supplies were low, but we pressed on in the hope of finding land. There was none."''</ref> - but the Navigator made a critical error, and the crew found themselves with no supplies and no sign of land.<ref name=":3">{{Citation|1=https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Navigator%27s_Confession|2=Read the second page|3= Sunless Sea|4=}}''"I mistook my readings and set a bad course. [...] Our supplies ran out, and still no sign of port. [...] Ravening, desperate, raving, we agreed to draw lots, with the loser giving up life and flesh so the others could go on."''</ref>
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| The crew were forced to turn to cannibalism in order to survive, drawing lots to determine who would meet this fate.<ref name=":3" /> The first to be eaten were the ship's captain, Swinburne,''<ref name=":2" />'' and the Navigator's own brother.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Navigator%27s_Confession|Read the third page|Sunless Sea}} ''"The first of us to draw the short straw was the captain. The second was my brother."''</ref> By the time the ''Bonny Swan'' returned to port, seven of her crew had been eaten.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Navigator%27s_Confession|Read the third page|Sunless Sea}} ''" Seven times we drew. Seven of our number went into the pot, and not a one of them quietly."''</ref> Although the survivors vowed silence, one of them confessed, and the Navigator returned to zee in order to avoid execution for his crimes.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Navigator%27s_Confession|Read the third page|Sunless Sea}} ''"Those of us who made it back to port swore never to speak of our crime, but one of us - someone whith a keener conscience than mine - confessed. I fled the noose to zee again."''</ref>
| | "''I regret it all. I will do anything. Please.''"<ref name=":1">{{Citation|1=https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/The_Navigator%27s_Confession|2=Read the third page|3= Sunless Sea|4=}}</ref></blockquote>Sometime before 1887, in the month of May, the Navigator and his brother, Richard, were both engaged aboard the ''Bonny Swan<ref name=":2">{{Citation|1=https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/The_Navigator%27s_Confession|2=Read the first page|3= Sunless Sea|4=}}</ref>''. The ship had reached [[Kingeater's Castle]], and, due to incompetence on the Navigator's part, the crew found themselves with no supplies and far from any port.<ref name=":3">{{Citation|1=https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/The_Navigator%27s_Confession|2=Read the second page|3= Sunless Sea|4=}}</ref> |
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| ==Almost Never Remembered==
| | The crew were forced to consider cannibalism in order to survive: the first to be eaten was the ship's captain, Swinburne<ref name=":2" />, and the Navigator's own brother<ref name=":3" />. All told, seven crew members of the ''Bonny Swan'' were eaten until the rest could return to port.<ref name=":1" /> |
| <blockquote>"''If I cannot be forgiven, then I will forget. The Chapel of Lights will help me, for a price.''"<ref name=":4">{{Citation|1=https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Navigator%27s_Confession|2=Read the fourth page|3= Sunless Sea|4=}}</ref></blockquote>[[File:Scrawl1.png|thumb|''Almost Never Remembered'', the sigil on the Navigator's temple.]]Overwhelmed with guilt, the Navigator zailed to the freezing [[The Avid Horizon|Avid Horizon]], and recorded his name and deeds at its dock<ref>{{Citation|1=https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Avid_Horizon|2=Lead the Sigil-Ridden Navigator to a certain dock-pillar|3= Sunless Sea|4=}}''"Your Navigator hunts through the slips of paper. [...] He stops, stares at one, pulls it free. 'This is mine,' he says. 'I wrote this.' It is a confession."''</ref> for a chance at clemency from the [[The Admiralty|Admiralty]]. He was not selected for a pardon; in his desperation to simply forget what had happened, he turned to the [[The Chapel of Lights|Chapel of Lights]],<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Navigator%27s_Confession|Read the fourth page|Sunless Sea}} ''"You did not answer. If I cannot be forgiven, then I will forget. The Chapel of Lights will help me, for a price."''</ref> paying them to inscribe a sigil of the [[Correspondence]] on his forehead. The sigil, which means '''"Almost Never Remembered''',"<ref>{{Citation|1=https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Frostfound|2=Show the squatters your Navigator's sigil|3= Sunless Sea|4=}}''"A vertical sheet of ice rises before you, reflective as a conjurer's glass. Engraved upon it, twenty feet high, is the Navigator's sigil. [...] 'It means'' Almost Never Remembered''.' "''</ref> has erased the Navigator's memories of the incident as well as much of his past.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Sigil-Ridden_Navigator|Invite him to dine with you|Sunless Sea}} ''"When you ask about his past, he winces. "I can't say. This -" he taps the livid sigil on his temple [...] "- has burned away my memories. I recall I have a brother but not his name or where he is. I remember the names of the ships I've served on - the ''Implicit,'' the ''Bonny Swan'' - but not their crew.""''</ref> He now mistakenly believes that someone has cursed him with the sigil, but cannot say who.<ref>{{Citation|1=https://sunlesssea.miraheze.org/wiki/Sigil-Ridden_Navigator|2=Invite him to dine with you|3= Sunless Sea|4=}}''"How did he come by the sigil? He clutches his head. 'I don't know, I don't know. Thinking about it is like fire in my skull.' He grits his teeth. 'Someone must have hated me very much to curse me with it. But I can't even remember my enemy.' "''</ref>
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| == Historical Inspirations ==
| | Although the survivors vowed silence, one of them confessed, and the Navigator fled to the zee in order to avoid legal retribution<ref name=":1" />. |
| The legal case ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Dudley_and_Stephens R v Dudley and Stephens]'' (R being Queen Victoria) took place after the starving crew of the yacht ''Mignonette'' killed and ate their cabin boy, and established in British legal precedent that necessity was not a valid defense against a charge of murder. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin%27s_lost_expedition John Franklin's voyage] to the Northwest Passage, in the Canadian Arctic, infamously also resulted in what is known as "survival cannibalism."
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| ==References== | | == Almost Never Remembered == |
| | <blockquote>"''If I cannot be forgiven, then I will forget. The Chapel of Lights will help me, for a price.''"<ref name=":4">{{Citation|1=https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/The_Navigator%27s_Confession|2=Read the fourth page|3= Sunless Sea|4=}}</ref></blockquote>Overwhelmed with guilt, the Navigator sailed to the freezing [[The Avid Horizon|Avid Horizon]]<ref>{{Citation|1=https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Avid_Horizon|2=Lead the Sigil-Ridden Navigator to a certain dock-pillar|3= Sunless Sea|4=}}''"Your Navigator hunts through the slips of paper. [...] He stops, stares at one, pulls it free. 'This is mine,' he says. 'I wrote this.' It is a confession."''</ref>, where penitents travel to, recording their name and crime in the hopes of being afforded forgiveness by the [[The Admiralty|Admiralty]]<ref>{{Citation|1=https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Avid_Horizon|2=Retrieve Strategic Information|3= Sunless Sea|4=}}''"Below are the names of murderers, traitors, hopeless villains who've fled into exile. [...] The Admiralty will pick through the names and make their choice."''</ref>. |
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| | Having not been selected for pardoning, the Navigator decided to solicit the [[The Chapel of Lights|Chapel of Lights]], to forget about his actions and his guilt<ref name=":4" />. Indeed, he payed the Chapel to inscribe on his forehead the sigil of the [[The Correspondence|Correspondence]] meaning "'''Almost Never Remembered'''"<ref>{{Citation|1=https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Frostfound|2=Show the squatters your Navigator's sigil|3= Sunless Sea|4=}}''"A vertical sheet of ice rises before you, reflective as a conjurer's glass. Engraved upon it, twenty feet high, is the Navigator's sigil. [...] 'It means'' Almost Never Remembered''.' "''</ref>, which has drained his memories of the incident, as well as much of his past. |
| | [[File:Scrawl1.png|thumb|''Almost Never Remembered'', the sigil on the Navigator's temple.]] |
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| | The Navigator now mistakenly believes that someone has cursed him with the Sigil, but cannot say who<ref>{{Citation|1=https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Sigil-Ridden_Navigator|2=Invite him to dine with you|3= Sunless Sea|4=}}''"How did he come by the sigil? He clutches his head. 'I don't know, I don't know. Thinking about it is like fire in my skull.' He grits his teeth. 'Someone must have hated me very much to curse me with it. But I can't even remember my enemy.' "''</ref>. |
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| | == References == |
| [[Category:Characters]] | | [[Category:Characters]] |
| [[Category:Human]] | | [[Category:Human]] |
| {{Scroll box|text=<references/>}}
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| [[Category:Cited]]
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