Gull

From Cam-Wiki

Contents 1 This Character is a NPC 2 Cycle of the Tide 3 Quotes 4 Other superstitions often muttered by Gull

This Character is a NPC

If you are interested in playing this Character please contact Ren

Clan	Gangrel ••
Covenant	Unaligned
Bloodline	Mara
Coterie
Sire	Sednu
Embrace	850 AD

Notable Traits: Slightly rotting clothing, damp smell, slight blue sheen to his skin, Gold Hoop earring in his right ear, Tattoo on his left cheek, always steps forward with his right foot first.

Titles: Ancient

Concept: Cycle of the Tide, Dead Sailor, Sea Witch, Sea Monster

Lineage: House of the Pure

Cycle of the Tide

The potency of the blood effects most kindred in strange ways, but for the gangrel this tie has always been far stronger and beyond most kindred understanding, and among them there a few who’s whole personality hinges upon it’s strength.

An example of this is the creature known as the Gull, exiled from his family who could have taught him of their curse, his identity has shifted in a cycle over time dependant on how strongly his blood hummed within his veins, this shift is not something that happens in an instant but like the ocean slowly carves away at the beach so does his personality shift. Combined with the blurring of torpored dreams each time this cycle resets itself he awake unaware of his true past and his likely destiny. What few scattered memories that remain within his mind are like myths and superstitions that seem familiar but distant with out any true connection, occasionally a face or beast remains familiar from the previous cycle but wether it was a foe or lover has been washed away with the topored dreams.

Below are some stories and myths that the kindred of the House of the Pure have heard while traveling the world, they have been recorded as heard and beleived to be inspired by actions of Gull.

A sailor who crosses paths with a cross-eyed woman, is sure to have bad luck for his entire journey

Portside is always a time of celebration for a sailor, it is a time of relaxation, excess and most of all spending the small fortune you just made on your last voyage. The real challenge was always making sure you ran out of money just before you had to set sail again. Too early and you got bored and might go hungry, too long and the second mate and his friends would bash you over the back of the head and drag you back, whether you were prepared to walk back or not.

Like many before him a young sailor named Coll was stumbling back to his ship in a foggy and blurry state early one evening, when he tripped over several guardsman and a chained haggard old woman dressed in rags. The crone glared at the young sailor muttering some curse in a strange language he did not understand and was dragged back into the crowd before he could even stand back up.

The next couple of days back on the ship where always a struggle, the unending throbbing from his head and the memory of shore was still at the fore front of his memory. While on watch one evening he slipped down into the hold to catch a few minutes sleep hoping to avoid the second mates lash. Settling down between some barrels he was about to slip into a deep sleep when he heard a shuffling from deeper within the hold, leaping up in fear of the 9 tails he looked around and discovered the movement coming from underneath several well warn tarps. Expecting to find another lazy sailor Coll crept up to the tarps and ripped them of his fellow sailor, but leapt back in fear as he saw the crone from the dock chained up against the mast.

The next evening with his curiosity getting the better of him, Coll yet again snuck down into hold, this time removing the tarps covering the old women carefully; as soon as her coverings were off the Crone locked her demon like gaze upon the young sailor. Her burning red eyes glared into his soul, terrified Coll was unable to move. Finally she spoke “Son of the salt, release me from my bindings and I will raise you above men and give you the essence of the sea.” Still shaking in fear he turned around slowly and bolted back up to the deck.

3 more nights pasted upon the ship, Coll tried his best but could not forget the Crone and her offer. Even while hard at work when normally all other thoughts would be washed away it distracted him, and distracted sailors make mistakes, and those mistakes earnt him more than a dozen lashes. In pain and angry at the second mate, Coll stalked down into the hold hoping the Crone would be able to give him the strength to get revenge for the 6 lashes he was wearing across his back. Grabbing a crowbar he stalked towards the tarps, his rage so blinding that he failed to notice that the tarps covering the withered crone again. All the warning tales he had been taught as a boy; and even the simple fact women on a boat where just plain unlucky and anything he would get from her would obviously be cursed.

The Crone bared her twisted teeth in a strange smile as Coll tore the tarps from her for a third time. She did not flinch as he brought down the metal bar upon the chains wrapped around her hands unsuccessfully three times. “Smash my hands child” the crone demanded, but the young sailor hesitated only for a second before complying with her wishes. His anger cooling as he noticed the lack of blood that should have been covering the womans mangled hands as she pulled from her manacles. “Help me to the barrel of water, Son of the Salt for I need it for my powers to work.” Confused and aware of the fear slowly growing in his belly Coll help the women to a barrel of water and tore of its lid, his mouth gapped open as she tipped it over so it spilled across the hold. Sitting Coll down the crone began to drag her ruined hands through the water which finally began to bleed, forming strange demonic patterns as the water spiraled around the young sailor. Mesmerized by the patterns he did not notice the crone stepping up behind him, tearing out his throat with her teeth until he felt the his own blood rushing down his chest to meet the blood encircling him in the water.

He woke the next evening underneath the same tarp that once covered the crone leaning against the mast, with a hunger like he had never felt gnawing at his mind. Terrified of what he would see when he got out of the tarp. He remained underneath for a while gathering his strength trying to piece together what had happened the night before. Only the muffled scream caused him to leap up as he saw the Crone dragging the second mate into the hold and throwing him at Colls feet, “Eat and be strong for you are now part of the sea”, before he could even think the young sailor sated his thirst upon his foe the second mate. When he finally looked up from the now dead mate he realised the crone appeared different than before, whether it was her soaked rags or perhaps she was just cleaner, either way she definitely appeared younger although definitely still ancient. Ignoring him she began to chant, spilling her blood upon the still wet hold of the ship, and soon began to rock as great waves began to hit the bow and thunder rumbling so loud that it echoed through the ship. The crone cackled with glee as she began to climb up to the deck “Come childe, now see the Sunken Mothers vengeance upon those who drag her children upon the land” Coll confused stumbled up to the deck as the ship rocked back and forth more furious than he had experienced in any storm before. As he followed the witch, he slowly began to realise the true consequences of his actions. For the first time he noticed her fingers where actually gnarled claws as he watched them tear two crew men apart as easily as a farmer butchers a lamb with an axe. Scream’s echoed from the water as the crew washed overboard were savaged by sharks which normally remained quiet in such dangerous weather.

By the end of the conflict the deck of the ship was thick with blood. Only one creature had survived the onslaught of the Crone other than Coll himself. A passenger, a noble lord who had remained locked in his room the entire journey and without a doubt the one who had imprisoned her in chains and who the now dead soldiers belonged to.

With a loud sigh the noble drew his golden sword from his sheath, “Boy, are you the one who unleashed this monster upon the land again” he demanded of Coll “was your curse worth the death of your loyal friends and crew” but before he could finish the crone had leapt upon the lord, her claws rendering his fine armour to shreds, while she ignored the blows he rained upon her with his golden blade. When finally the noble lord could fight no longer the crone dragged him into the watery depths never to return.

As dawn rose slowly in the distance the hag climbed back upon the ship, declaring the young sailor was now bound to her, but the guilt of the carnage that surrounded him forced him to leap into the ocean hoping to drown like some of his luckier brothers.

But Coll awoke the next night, realising he been cursed for his wrong deeds and the only way to make amends was to save those who he had let die the night before.

Dolphins are a lucky sign

Why are dolphins lucky you ask my son? Well I will tell you a tale my grandfather told me and his before him about his grandfather. He was second mate on a small cargo ship, not one of these two mastered ships we sail in today, it had only one and was so small that the sea and bind on a calm day blew them around. They were making a short crossing of two days when a huge storm appeared in front of them, they hardly had time to batten down the hatches before it hit. Four days and four nights the storms rocked their tiny ship, taking a third of the crew including the captain and the first mate into the depths.

When the sky finally calmed, the ship was a ‘Rack and Ruin.’ The mast had been split in two and were adrift under a strange sky that none of the left over crew could identify. The second mate now in command could not sleep and stared out at the night sky when he heard splashing sounds by the portside of the boat, a lone dolphin circled the boat which was strange. Over the next couple of nights as the food dwindled and the crew sickened, the dolphin returned watching over the boat. The Second mate who watched the dolphin swim around the boat prayed to the gods of the ocean to help the crew survive, promised them anything, if he and his crew returned home to port.

Perhaps the dolphin heard the prayer or he was a messenger from the gods but the dolphin suddenly leapt into action set out away from the boat. The next night it did not return, nor the one after finally just towards dawn there was a rushing of sound and the mate look out to see a whole group of Dolphins and before them was a huge school of fish rushing towards the boat. The second mate woke up the crew and they set out nets and caught enough fish to last them for weeks.

After a week more at sea they were discovered by another vessel and toed back into a harbor. Discovering they had travelled 6 days East of their destination from the storm they were lucky to even been spotted except the ship that saved them had been off course themselves.

Unlucky to kill a Seagull

It was a time when ships were powered by the wind and the iron muscles of warriors, and the Vikings terrorised all the coasts within a week sailing. The Gods and Spirits of the sea were close to the world and enacted justice themselves, but few of the most viscous predators of the sea ignored the teaching of the ocean believing themselves strong enough to battle these gods.

One such crew was lead by Eric the Bloody for his preference to eat his meat bloody and bathing in his foes blood. It was during one winter voyage when Eric saw a seagull and other sea birds crossing the ocean. Bored of the salted meat he had gotten during their raid he cried out to his men to shoot him down a bird for food then tore the bird apart before throwing the scraps into the ocean. That night the only crewmen not in a drunken stupor was a young boy forced to work upon the ship. Normally half starved he snuck around the ship like a practice thief, riffling through his fellow sailors belongings pocketing food and the odd thing of value. He nearly jumped out of his skin when a wet hand touched his back, seeking some excuse that would save his throat he turned around slowly and nearly scream again as his eyes met that of a 3 day old boated corpse of a sailor standing before him.

In a gurgling like voice the spirit declared itself seeking those who dared kill the seagull that day. Too scared to speak, the young boy pointed toward the crewman who had shot the gull. The spirit slid across the deck in perfect sink with the rocking boat, lifting up the still sleeping sailor he scaled the top of the single mast and impaled the sailor on it.

The crew awoke to the screams of their fellow warrior as he died upon the mast. Only the young boy saw the spirits form blur and shimmer as he became part of the sail before disappearing entirely. When Eric heard the story from the young slave boy he laughed and ordered his men to ready there bows, not even the gods scared him, let the sea run red with the blood of the sea birds. As the sun began to set the next day the ship was leaving a red murky trail across the ocean from the hundreds of dead birds slaughtered in the boat.

Eric was ripping apart one of the many dead seagulls and feasting upon its flesh when a great storm began to gather around the boat. Within half an hour the sky was covered in dark storm clouds and the heavens thundering with all there might. As the rain hit the boat did the spirit rise from its sleeping place within the sail its screams of anger echoed across the sea between the beating of the thunder in the sky. Leaping from the mast as the first great wave hit the ship the vengeful spirit tore two crew men in half with its jagged claws and began to make it ways towards Eric. As many men died to the titanic storm filled waves beating against the ship as to the bloody talons of the spirit, it seemed to know which men had been cruel to the birds and which had merely killed them. Taking its time to painfully kill the former and provide quick deaths to the later.

But for Eric the Bloody it reserved a special punishment, tearing out the big metal nails that held the ship together he was attached to the bow of the boat his head resting against a bell, then dragged the boat down slowly into the depths. Eric the Bloody knocking his head against the bell as it sunk. Only one member of the crew remained alive, the young slave boy who awoke inside an empty barrel bobbing just off the coast of his home country.

Swallows seen at sea are a good sign.

You would be best not to insult those you call witches granddaughter before we left the homeland, and your mothers savior brought us their true faith, we worshipped the old gods and women like her where closer to them than any of us. We did not need to have faith in our gods granddaughter we saw their chosen vessel using their magic, infernal magic perhaps but if not for it, you would never have been born, nor your mother or even the last 4 generations of the family.

Crone was a respectable title in those days, and the village was blessed for the fact one lived in the nearby cave. She blessed new born children, conducted the nocturnal rites of the old gods, and all she asked for was a tithe in blood for the gods. No childe, we did not sacrifice people but made a blood offering once a month to her. In times of great danger or sickness she would provide cures for the village or when people were injured.

As you know childe, we lived upon the ocean in the homeland We were not these weak people who tended the land. We hunted upon the ocean where others feared to sail and the salt was in our veins, the farmers would travel from far and wide to trade for our catches. The ocean is a harsh mistress and every time we went out was a constant battle but that was the way we lived.

A Captain at the time was disrespectful of the ways, frugal and did not offer the normal sacrifice to the gods as the boat went out. This angered the sunken gods who summoned a great storm which washed the boat out into the depths where the current was stronger and the wind tore through the boats sails.

Now unlike her husband, the women of our family respected the gods then and fearing for her husband and son at sea when the great storm hit the shore, she battled through it to the nearby caves in search of the crone and her help. She was forced to her knees from the pelting rain and powerful winds more times than she could count, but after what seemed like eternity she reached the caves.

Knowing to break tradition would likely cause the crone to refuse her request your great great grandmother stood at the opening as the wind and hail barrage her until she was welcomed inside. As evening rose her strength finally gave out and she dropped towards the ground but the gnarled hand of the crone caught her and helped her into the debts of the cave.

After to listening to her request the crone nodded and advised her of the blood price of such a miracle to the sunken god, willing to give her life for her husband and son she cut open her own wrist and gave blood till the crone pushed her wrist away. Drinking the blood on behalf of the sunken god the crone began the ritual that had been handed down for more generations than your one god has existed. Calling upon a sparrow to give its life the crone drank its blood then gave it the strength her god to bring it back from death far stronger than it ever was in life. Drifting into a trance the crones spirit flew with the bird through the storm and beyond searching and finding your ancestors and directed them back to land safe.

Quotes

• "To behold the monster is to see the Earth's essence distilled. Grace. Age. Glory. Power. When it's ebon back breaks the icy waves, stars are ensnared and minds torn from their moorings. I have never known a reality more relevant than that manifested by Gull. I await the return of my destroyer." - Spindrift

• "Gull knows the secret. The truth that we share. It's in his eyes. He's been there, in the crushing, empty black, where no light shines and nothing lives that can see. Kind sings to kind; we are in the blue together. He understands the music of the deep." - Ivy Darling

• "My theology tells me otherwise, but my instinct tells me that Gull will still be at the end of all things. What will he be? I cannot answer that; speak with him for a while and you may gain some inkling of it yourself. - Verdigris, to a neonate at a gathering of the House of the Pure

• "Bloody HELL!" - Regimental Colour Sergeant Simon "DoW" Fyrsmythe upon seeing what was pulverizing the pirate skiffs during the skirmish on the voyage.

• “Everyone of us has the beast inside, some learn to live in tune with it, others push it deep down inside where it waits growing stronger, wilder, and raging, and when you are at your weakest it will break loose” - An often repeated lesson given by Gull to young gangrel

• “I have seen him fight twice now. Once I was against him, once I was with him. Vicious, mean. I prefer the with, but if my Lady will, it will be against" - Lillian Slaughter

Other superstitions often muttered by Gull

• Red sky in the morning, sailors give warning, red sky at night, sailors delight

• Cutting your hair or nails at sea is bad luck.

• Church Bells heard at sea mean someone on the ship will die.

• St. Elmo's Fire around a sailors head means he will die within a day.

• When the clothes of a dead sailor are worn by another sailor during the same voyage, misfortune will befall the entire ship.

• Never say the word Drowned at sea.

• The caul of the head of a new-born child is protection against drowning and will bring the owner good luck.

• The feather of a wren slain on New Years Day, will protect a sailor from dying by shipwreck.

• A ships bell will always ring when it is wrecked.

• Never start a voyage on the first Monday in April.

• Don’t start a voyage on the second Monday in August.

• Starting a cruise on Dec. 31 is bad.

• Black traveling bags are bad luck for a seaman.

• Avoid people with red hair when going to the ship to begin a journey. And if you do you must speak to them before they speak to you

• Never say good luck or allow someone to say good luck to you unanswered.

• Avoid Flat-footed people when beginning a trip. And if you do you must speak to them before they speak to you

• A stolen piece of wood mortised into the keel will make a ship sail faster.

• A silver coin placed under the masthead ensures a successful voyage.

• Disaster will follow if you step onto a boat with your Left Foot first.

• Pouring wine on the deck will bring good luck on a long voyage.

• Throwing stones into the sea will cause great waves and storms.

• A stone thrown over a vessel that is putting out to sea ensures she will never return.

• Flowers are unlucky on board a ship.

• A dog seen near fishing tackle is bad luck.

• Black cats are considered good luck and will bring a sailor home from the sea.

• Sighting a curlew at sea is considered bad luck.

• A cormorant sighted at sea is bad luck.

• Handing a flag through the rungs of a ladder is bad luck.

• Loosening a mop or bucket overboard is a sign of bad luck.

• Repairing a flag on the quarterdeck will bring bad luck.

• Turning over a hatch will cause the hold to fill with seawater.

• Never say the words "Drowned at sea"