The Sirens of the Open Ocean

This post is dedicated to the lovely PRIME. Out in the western islands around the Lantern Berth there are many stories of the strange beings and monsters that make their homes in the dreaming, sun-drowned seas of the Barony. Some of these are not really stories at all - the raider 'salt drinkers' that plague the sea caves and sand bars of the outer islands are very real, and kill and eat lone travellers and isolated families from time to time, and the monsters and great serpents hunted by the whalers of the Lantern Berth are infamous across the world.But others are myths and stories, something like dreams themselves, and the Islanders keep on their secret face when land dwellers ask after them. The fierce and terrible Sea People who live in silver towers and hold court with sailors who stray too far, and can never return to sane shores; the millions of drowned children who attend to the King of the Isles; fragments and echoes. None of these stories are as important to the culture and…