"Waves lap the slabby sides of a vast turtle-shell - bigger than any cathedral. Chelonites loaf on wooden docks around the shell-sides, staring sullenly. Lamps hang like decorations in a festive butcher's window. All around you, the sea is rank with scraps of ancient flesh."[2]
The Chelonate is an enormous zee-turtle carcass inhabited by Monster-Hunters.
A City On a Shell[]
"The remains of a vast turtle shell. Voracious hunters. Rotting flesh."[3]
The Chelonate is a settlement built on a deceased zee-turtle in the eastern Unterzee,[4] inhabited primarily by Monster-Hunters who have consumed the peligin flesh of zee-monsters.[5] The smell of rot here is so overwhelming it addles the mind, and fights often break out where the stench is foulest.[6] The Chelonites firmly believe that their ancestors slew the turtle that they now call home,[7] and will respond to doubt or disrespect with whatever weapons happen to be nearby.[8] The waters near the Chelonate are patrolled by the Eater of Names, a deadly barge crewed by Chelonite zealots.[9][10]
The Chelonate is a relatively small nation, and its citizens patrol the eastern regions of the Zee in search of beasts.[11] They also congregate at Scrimshander, where they stage historical plays depicting great heroes.[12] Other zee-factions seem to have a strained relationship with the Chelonate, as the Khanate has protocols against Chelonate raids,[13] and the Chelonites react poorly to suspected spies from Polythreme.[14] The Chelonate also has agreements with the Fathomking, justified by their ancestors' killing of the great zee-turtle.[15] However, neither party seems fond of one another,[16][17] and the Chelonites are required to pay tribute to him.[18]
Culture[]
"The hunters' tales are characteristically grim: lives cut short by ill-considered dives; ships torn apart by bound-sharks or squirming neithers; eerie lights rising up from the sea. But they're always tinged with defiance: the monster is always scarred in the fight; there's always one wily sailor who lives to tell the tale."[19]
"The Bone Man awaits you. His face and chest are streaked with white clay. His forehead bears a glyph, in the deep code of the void. Long ago, his mother ritually severed his littlest finger."[20]
A Monster-Hunter's eye.
The Chelonites' culture is based heavily around monster-hunting.[11] They regularly embark on hunts across the Zee,[11] and are skilled trackers and cartographers.[21] They also partake in other activities and industries, such as bone carving and free-diving.[22][23] Chelonites are formidable fighters, and one of their most infamous tactics is launching themselves out of cannons to assault enemies head on.[24][25] They are also skilled swimmers, though they struggle against armored enemy vessels.[26]
Chelonites are seen as dour and morbid by others,[27] but they possess a defiant spirit, celebrating even the smallest victories and pursuing great challenges.[28] Their diet appears mostly meat-based, and includes viscera from the nearby Gant Pole.[29] This even extends to their beer, which is supposedly made of eel-blood, zee-fungus, and other ingredients.[30] According to rumor, Chelonites that "die cowards" are not permitted to rest at Zee; instead they are buried on any land that will accept their bodies.[31]
The Chelonites revere Storm and worship him with visceral rituals.[32] The Bone Men are warrior-priests dedicated to Storm;[33][34] they wear white clay on their faces and chests, have sigils of the Correspondence etched onto their bodies, and are missing their littlest fingers, which were removed at a young age.[35][36] The Bone Men are extremely skilled butchers,[36] and maintain the Chelonate's store of treasures, including the heirlooms of those declared doomed.[27]
The Glory's Tale[]
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"I've long sought the tale of the Glory's end - Glory's what we call this beast. None still live from those days when we slew her. But the saying is: the tale still lives on history's beach. Bring me that tale, zee-captain. Please."[37]
"I broke my first shell. I roamed to the Unterzee. I feasted on monsters. I battened on whales. I grew city-vast. I sickened. The Gant Pole drew me, and there I died of age and weariness, turning on my back to rot until the hunters found me."[38]
The Chelonites pride themselves on their ancestors' killing of the Glory, the turtle whose body became their home,[39] and they are willing to bury evidence that may challenge this narrative.[40][41] However, this story of strength and bloodshed is largely myth. In truth, the Glory was born in Parabola, where it hatched from a violet, carriage-sized egg. It roamed the Unterzee and grew massive, but eventually fell ill and journeyed to the Gant Pole to die. It turned over on its shell to lay at rest, and a starving hunter later arrived at the scene, founding a new nation.[42][43]
References[]
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