Deep
below the earth of where Queen Victoria's London used to lie, there
exists a cavernous ocean named the Unterzee. The Zee there holds many
mysteries and dangers, so what draws people here, below the depths,
is known only to themselves. For those of us neath-dwellers who were
born here already, we have little choice but to make do. Within the
Unterzee, riddled with disease and the unknown lurking beneath every
ripple, it is ill advised to venture far from what can scarcely be
called civilisation. The largest and most prosperous 'civilised'
territory inhabiting the Unterzee is that of Fallen London. Life
there is not as it is on the surface and it is from this sunken City
that all Zee-Captains begin their journey.
These
folk, foolish as they may be, see the Zee as an opportunity. Whether
it be for fame, riches, knowledge or some personal quest, there are
those who will risk a life at Zee. These folks are known as the Zee
Captains and it is I who makes the claim that they ought be
remembered, lest their deaths be in vein. Through one cause or
another, Zee Captain after Zee Captain find themselves in Fallen
London and proceed to venture out; dedicating the rest of their lives
to the Zee.
The
first Zee Captain was a philosopher by the name of Ylvanna. She
sought knowledge and a life in Fallen London. She was naive. Not
much is known of Ylvanna, save some tales of what she found at Zee,
but she set forth a path that many were to follow in her wake. Of
course, she was not the first, but she was the first of interest.
Life in the Unterzee has been going on for many years, there are
tales of colonies that sailed the entire Zee and settled far away,
there are those who sail and stick to the safest waters for trade,
and there are those who have sought isolation on one of the many
islands. There are also the pirates and rogues who live off the Zee
to varying degrees of success. Ylvanna, though, was the first to
actively seek exploration. She was the first to be heard in the
stories. She was the first that deserves a name in the history books.
What
follows is the story of Ylvanna to the best of our knowledge.
Ylvanna
set trends on her journey that other captains would follow, such as
keeping a journal, working in towns, trading information and setting
out with a pet; she had a ferret. She was able to plan how she would
survive the Zee, but her naivety was her downfall. Many say she had
family on the surface that drove her down below, others claim she was
struggling too much as a philosopher on the surface to make a name.
Whatever her reasons, her goal, it is said, was to explore, map and
discover the Zee and get her research in the history books.
The
course of her journey is little known, though she was seen within the
first month gathering information in London, and some of the local
colonies. She recruited a first mate very quickly and a gunner soon
after. In that first month, all seemed promising. The first of her
mistakes was visiting the Hunter's Lodge without invitation. Though
she was allowed in and drank tea with the ladies there, her curiosity
at how questionable the building was got the better of her she was
seen taking multiple return journeys over the next few months.
Rumours say she made friends with Phoebe at the Hunter's Lodge. By
her third month, she was said to have hunted and collected research
on giant crustaceans, bats and ceased the activities of multiple
pirate gangs. This was an early mistake, however, as her aggressive
activities towards Zee-life caught the attention of the unending
anger we call: 'Storm'.
Her
trading consisted mainly with scholars and men willing to tell tales.
Over the next two months she began making mistakes. Upon a return
visit to Fallen London, she had garnered the attention of an
underground group who decided to send her a present for her loyalty.
As she had no desire to meddle with such groups, taking the present
under the impression that it was purely a generous present was
testament to her nativity. Later that same week, she allowed a hermit
on an outlier beach island to tell her a story, in the hope she might
trade it. The story, however, was more of a hex and when she woke,
she woke with stolen rations and coin. The tales she told quickly
became tales of madness and fear, tales enough to frighten those in
the Iron Republic, south of Fallen London. These were tales she
claimed to have gathered from dead folk. Eventually, she struggled to
keep the crew of her boat calm in the darker waters.
There are those who claim to have experienced the change in sanity of Ylvanna's crew over time. An obsessive scholar who had many dealings with Ylvanna for he was a collector of Zee tales stated:
"...when taken port I was excited; my greatly valuable source of new theory material as she was - something was changed. She stank like one of those Northerners. A once-jolly telling-style was replaced with that of a stare over my shoulder and monotone - I was fascinated to see how crazy she could get, so I encouraged her to head out and find me more to learn. Alas, I never saw her again!"
On her next trip out, trading for information seemed not to pay off when her management of
fuel and rations wore thin, so they say. With madness and hunger,
sailing became tough. One misjudged trip ran them empty of fuel
before they could return to Fallen London the following week or so. There was little to be
done. It is told, then, that she did not take long to make a deal
with the anger god, Storm. She sacrificed her own crew members in the
hope that it may deliver them from imminent demise. Storm answered
the call, but not in the way she wanted. She was granted strength to
fight, she was granted fortitude of ship, she was not granted fuel
nor food. She and all remaining crew abandoned ship.
Somehow,
with scarce many of her crew remaining, she survived and landed
afloat near the town around the entrance to the surface. Those there knew
who she was and immediately stocked her with a new boat, rations and
food only enough so that she may survive the trip back to Fallen
London. Favour was on her side and her storytelling benefited her in
this. When setting off with too much, stuff however, her ambition is
what killed her. Rather than sailing north to Fallen London and
safety, she sailed south. Those at the docks claim to have heard her
utter something about trading a stolen barrel of salt for prosperity.
If this was the case, it was her last mistake. Her boat was found
abandoned two weeks later.
There exists one survivor of her first abandoned vessel, though as a latecomer of the crew they held a crazed demeanor and a lack of willingness to talk openly about her travelling with Ylvanna. What information has been garnered from her is present in the rest of this written here. However, with no other known survivors of her downfall there is little we can do to pry for any more information.
A
week further was the last sight of Ylvanna's existence. A sodden mostly ruined journal tied to a bottle with Ylvanna's map of the Zee bobbed into the harbour of Fallen London. It was found by
someone Ylvanna had dealings with, and who went on to become the
second Zee Captain...
--- Howard Sterling, Chronicler Of The Fallen London University
To
Be Continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment