Senweigh
Look at any crew along the eastern seaboard and you will find someone like Senweigh. Dark hair braided back, light brown eyes, average build, rough clothing. Bare feet on the deck, solid boots on land. Nothing remarkable. That is the point.
Senweigh joins a crew the way any sailor does: willing hands, easy company, months of shared labor and shared meals. They learn the ship. They learn the crew. They learn which hands aboard are Saltwise, who might provide food or water when the stores run dry. Then, when the ship puts out to sea for a longer voyage, the work begins.
The provisions go first. Salt ruins everything edible aboard; a Saltwise knows exactly how much it takes. The other Saltwise are next, dealt with quietly so no one can replace what has been destroyed. Then the accidents begin. Rigging snaps. Sails tear. The engine seizes. The ship stops moving, and the crew, already dehydrating, does not think clearly enough to understand what is happening until it is far too late.
The ships come back. They always come back, drifting into port with the tide. The crews are still aboard: husks that died and returned and died again, over and over, until the bodies themselves gave out. No signs of violence. No saboteur to blame. Just a tragic voyage gone wrong.
Senweigh, meanwhile, is already ashore. A small vessel staged on a sandbar, an accomplice waiting with water and rations just out of sight. They fake their own death with the rest of the crew, slip overboard, and vanish. The Adherents of Betrayal deploy Senweigh only for the worst of the worst. The method demands it. There is nothing surgical about what happens aboard those ships. It is total, slow, and final.
Senweigh joins a crew the way any sailor does: willing hands, easy company, months of shared labor and shared meals. They learn the ship. They learn the crew. They learn which hands aboard are Saltwise, who might provide food or water when the stores run dry. Then, when the ship puts out to sea for a longer voyage, the work begins.
The provisions go first. Salt ruins everything edible aboard; a Saltwise knows exactly how much it takes. The other Saltwise are next, dealt with quietly so no one can replace what has been destroyed. Then the accidents begin. Rigging snaps. Sails tear. The engine seizes. The ship stops moving, and the crew, already dehydrating, does not think clearly enough to understand what is happening until it is far too late.
The ships come back. They always come back, drifting into port with the tide. The crews are still aboard: husks that died and returned and died again, over and over, until the bodies themselves gave out. No signs of violence. No saboteur to blame. Just a tragic voyage gone wrong.
Senweigh, meanwhile, is already ashore. A small vessel staged on a sandbar, an accomplice waiting with water and rations just out of sight. They fake their own death with the rest of the crew, slip overboard, and vanish. The Adherents of Betrayal deploy Senweigh only for the worst of the worst. The method demands it. There is nothing surgical about what happens aboard those ships. It is total, slow, and final.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Senweigh is a Saltwise assassin of the Adherents of Betrayal who destroys ships from within. Average in every visible way, with dark braided hair, light brown eyes, and rough sailor's clothing, Senweigh ingratiates themselves with a crew over the course of several months. They earn trust, share meals, and become part of the ship's routine.
When the ship goes out to sea for a longer voyage, Senweigh strikes. They salt all provisions to the point of being inedible, eliminate any other Saltwise aboard who could provide alternative nourishment, then cause systematic mechanical failures: rigging snaps, sails tear, motors break. The ship becomes a drifting coffin. By the time the crew realizes what is happening, dehydration has already impaired their judgment. Senweigh always stages a small escape vessel on a nearby sandbar or has an accomplice waiting out of sight, fakes their own death, and swims to safety. Ships return to port crewed by corpses that died and revived repeatedly from thirst. Senweigh is reserved for the worst of the worst.
When the ship goes out to sea for a longer voyage, Senweigh strikes. They salt all provisions to the point of being inedible, eliminate any other Saltwise aboard who could provide alternative nourishment, then cause systematic mechanical failures: rigging snaps, sails tear, motors break. The ship becomes a drifting coffin. By the time the crew realizes what is happening, dehydration has already impaired their judgment. Senweigh always stages a small escape vessel on a nearby sandbar or has an accomplice waiting out of sight, fakes their own death, and swims to safety. Ships return to port crewed by corpses that died and revived repeatedly from thirst. Senweigh is reserved for the worst of the worst.
Saltwise ship-killer for the Adherents of Betrayal. Turns vessels into floating coffins from the inside.
Children
