Jump 441: Sunless Sea

Jump #441: Sunless Sea
>Ten of Wands (Oppression), reversed: Bearing the weight of ultimate responsibility without being crushed. Through careful conservation of their fuel, the engines of creation continue onward.
>Age: 23
Yes, time flows strangely indeed.
>Home Port: London
>Identity: Naturalist
>Drawbacks: (+100) Commissioned: The Gracious Widow
Well, I should be happy to help her. She has been such a kind host, after all.
>An Ambition of Wanderlust
After all, I am travelling between worlds. What's a little more travel within one?
>Steady As She Goes (1000)
When zailing the Zee, the value of ensuring a safe and steady trip CANNOT be understated.
>Scientifically Speaking (Free, Naturalist)
It's handy to be able to work from notes, at least!
>As Above So Below (700, Naturalist)
So at long as it isn't a one-off mutation but is actually something that breeds true, I can replicate any specimen's abilities via (Victorian) technology? You know what that means. I'm not going to use this for superpowers, but I am going to use this to duplicate Kryptonian solar power with brass-lined solar panels. As soon as I get somewhere with sunlight.
>Mirrors: Salted (600, Naturalist)
With zeebats providing aid in navigation, travels across the Zee are much easier in many ways, but even normal sight provides better
>Pages: Fathomed (350, Naturalist)
So it turns out that I know my name, as spelled out via Correspondence. That is, my ACTUAL name - not merely my birth name, though that is a part of it. This is simultaneously very neat and creepy as hell because I have purposefully not used that name during my chain. At all. Nothing but assumed names or pseudonyms the entire time. This is leaving aside the possibility of strengthening myself through debate and the pursuit of knowledge, among other things.
>Tattoo: Unblemished Skin
I would be a fool to accept a tattoo here. The mark would be indelible despite my skills.
>Bandaged Poissonnier (275)
A crew is nothing without a good cook! And he is a chef paramount... or will be, in time.
>Genial Magician (225)
What a delightful fellow, I'm sure he'll be satisfied with his work by the time we're through. Though that hook seems a bit silly - let's get you something a bit better, shall we?
>Tropic Explorer (175)
A delight to have aboard, quite competent and a lady after my own heart. No, no, that was supposed to be figurative, not literal--!
>Presbyterate Adventuress (125)
Coffee sorbet? I admit that's not something I'd tried, in all these years. Not bad! A pity about those assassins chasing after her, but then, I've sworn to keep my crew as safe as a captain might.
>Plausible Surgeon (Free, Naturalist)
He can, at least, work as an assistant for the ship's surgeon.
>Brisk Campaigner (50)
Speaking of, this lady is quite indomitable. And she gets along QUITE well with the Adventuress...
>Comatose Ferret (Free)
>Frost-Flecked Butcher Bird (0)
These two are an unlikely comedy duo, very unlikely indeed. But somehow they keep the crew's spirits high.

Now... this has been a very confusing time for me. Unearthly colors. Time split unevenly between sea and stone, learning all that I might, save for a handful of things that are too dangerous to inquire about, judging by the broken minds of those who gibber about them. I discovered a great deal of unique things for this world... and in the end, I left most of them behind.

I'm happy that I'm not bound to return to this world again. As curious as many things were, and as useful as learning Correspondence is, it will take a very long time for me to rework my universal magic system into something wrapped around such a powerful core concept. I used it to cast a light charm with it once as an experiment, and ... well. I had to set it in my warehouse as soon as I'd realized what I'd done, in hopes of extinguishing it later. Such light was never meant for the Neath.

Much of my work, both on land and sea, involved the Gracious Widow; I ensured she got what she wanted, she ensured I got what I needed, we greased certain wheels between others (or gummed them up as circumstances required), and all's well that ends well aside from the inevitable double-crossing of each other that we would laugh about over tea a week later. She was a delightful conversationalist, and a font of knowledge that aided my understanding of what to do and what not to do immensely.

So far as my time at sea went aside from that... thanks to the Widow, I had a solid crew from the beginning, though it grew as time went by. As well, the ship itself grew - the Zee is a strange place, and a ship made of living wood with a name carved in Correspondence on the bow makes for quite the sight to be seen.

Really, there's not much else to say - much of my time here was taken up the minutiae. In the end, I left the ship behind, its crew having changed over the years both by way of new crew relieving old and some becoming different.

I did take great joy in liberating as many crates of souls as I could while I was there, however. Trafficking in souls... there are some things that still offend my sensibilities, and that's among them. The Church was made responsible for smuggling them out of the city and to the surface, and things worked out quite well for them in that regard. Of course everyone would look at the Church in such a manner, but that's why it worked. No one would do something so obvious.