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eorzeanalmanac · 5 years ago

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Sastasha Seagrot - The Reaver’s Lair

Excerpt from ‘The history of Vylbrand, from Nym to Limsa Lominsa’ by Archon Niniri Niri.

An extensive system of caverns on the western coast of Vylbrand, Sastasha was carved from the rock by eons of erosion. The cave’s initial inhabitants were the sahagin, an aquatic race of spoken hailing from the depths of the Indigo Deep. Common knowledge amongst the people of Western La Noscea dictates that the sahagin used the cove as a meeting place, and that the name ‘Sastasha’ derives from this, meaning ‘many shells’ in their native language. The cove is sometimes referred to by a longer name, Sastasha Seagrot, and Seagrot is likely a portmanteau of sea and grotto, with a grotto being a partially submerged cave system.

Roughly fifty years ago the sahagin were driven from Sastasha by the dread pirate Mistbeard, who went on to use Sastasha as his base of operations on Vylbrand. The structures found within today are relics of this period, and once acted as docks, crew quarters and recreational facilities for the pirate king’s crew. This era in Sastasha’s history drew to an end when Mistbeard disappeared with little trace twenty-two years ago, heralding the descent of the Seagrot into decrepitude.

It was not long, however, until the sahagin returned to the cove, spurred on by the effects of the Seventh Umbral Calamity which decimated the race’s existing spawning grounds. They commanded the Serpent Reavers, a large crew of pirates tempered by Leviathan, to retake the Seagrot in their name. After doing so the Serpent Reavers have made it a habit of theirs to harry the people of Limsa Lominsa as much as is feasibly possible.

The Wauling Pond

Upon first entry to the Seagrot one finds themselves in the Wauling Pond, an area of raised stone pathways over a rather sizeable drop to the cave floor below, surely a consequence of the erosion that created the Seagrot. Various forms of bioluminescent flora and coral can be found within, including common brain coral species that seem to glow a soft blue or red. Odd pillars of coruscating blue light litter the area, a sure sign of the abundance of water-aspected aether within Sastasha.

While the reasons behind the name of the Wauling Pond are not immediately clear, one can make assumptions based on the evidence provided. It is well known that for some time the pirates of Vylbrand have smuggled exotic beasts onto the island and that Sastasha was home to feline beasts such as the coeurl. To waul is to screech in a mournful tone, especially when applied to felines. Although there is no outright water in this area, there almost certainly once was judging by the erosion that carved out the chamber. This then must have been a pond where the cries of the felines from deeper within could be heard.

The Cattery

Further within the Seagrot is a vast cavern, partially submerged in water. The area can accessed by a series of stone platforms joined by paths of clustered coral. The ceiling of the chamber is perforated by a series of holes which let natural sunlight into this cavern, named the Cattery. This name derives from the coeurls that are stored within the depths of the area. A secret door exists in the rock at the terminus of the cavern, accessed by a small button in the stone. This was likely engineered by Mistbeard as a method for defending his holdings and was then adopted by the Serpent Reavers.

The Rambade

There are a pair of circular chambers within Sastasha commonly called Rambades by the pirates that inhabit the Seagrot. They seem to serve as storage facilities and defensive measures, acting as an airlock manned by members of the pirate crew. The Rambade aboard a ship is an area above the artillery that acts as an area for onboard combat or as a command post. This may be a reference to the presence of the captain within the area when adventurers sent by the Maelstrom cleansed the Seagrot of the Serpent Reavers.

The Dead Man’s Drink

Deep within Sastasha are the facilities constructed by Mistbeard for his crew. The central room of the area is a large chamber with a wooden structure used as storage and as the tavern for the crews of Mistbeard and later the Serpent Reavers. A number of side-chambers branch off of the center, providing quarters for the various roles in the crew, from rowers to deckhands, navigators and even the captain. There is also an additional chamber named the Hole which reports indicate acted as the communal cell for those taken captive by the pirates.

The Sultana’s Lap and Mistbeard Cove

The end of Sastasha is found in a large cove open to the ocean, originally occupied and constructed by the docks of Mistbeard’s crew. The cove under the Serpent Reavers was home to a number of storage facility as well as the residence of the Sahagin warrior chosen to oversee the Serpent Reavers and provide strategy for their operations.

The Bestiary of Sastasha

Black Bat

Taxonomy: Cloudkin (Bat)

Description: Bats reside within the dark places of the world, roosting in caves and other secluded locales. It is common knowledge that they are nocturnal creatures, but more dedicated research by the scholars of the realm has uncovered that they are capable of feats of extremely keen hearing and a technique called echolocation. Although most bats feed on insects and fruit, folklore has long held that some of them instead feed on blood.

Cave Aurelia

Taxonomy: Wavekin (Jellyfish)

Description: Unusual creatures, dissection has demonstrated that the Jellyfish is capable of a crude form of flight by expelling gas from its body. The tendrils of a jellyfish contain potent stinging barbs which can disable their foe.

Giant Clam

Taxonomy: Wavekin (Clam)

Description: A frankly bizarre specimen, the researchers sent into the Seagrot report that these giant clams were capable of emitting clusters of minor ashkin. The mechanism for how this might be achieved would take a finer aetherologist than I to divine, but some researchers have posited that they might gather the aether of those who perish in the Seagrot as sustenance which then forms into the corpselights and are released as defensive measures.

Shade Seeker

Taxonomy: Ashkin (Will-o’-the-wisp)

Description: Amongst the simplest of the ashkin, wisps such as these are found in folk tales across the realms as lures leading the lost into further danger. Theories as to their true nature abound, however, and alternate from orbs of burning gas animated by the aether of the corpse they emitted from to the souls of the dead themselves.

Fossilshell

Taxonomy: Wavekin (Crab)

Description: Giants crabs such as these, often called snipper crabs, are abundant across Eorzea and beyond. Their strength makes them a thoroughly inconvenient food-source however, and only the qiqirn rat-folk commonly eat them due to the effort needed to pierce their iron-hard shells. The true reasons for their naming by the people of Vylbrand is unclear, but one might posit that the fossils mentioned in their name refers to the beast’s habit of consuming limestone, a rock composed of long-dead wavekin, in order to reinforce their shell.

Sastasha Orobon

Taxonomy: Wavekin (Orobon)

Description: Previously considered myth due to the only reports of their existence coming from fishermen catching sight of something in their deepest fishing nets, the orobon has since become an uncomfortable reality. They, like the sahagin and so many other aquatic creatures, have been driven to the surface by the Seventh Umbral Calamity.

Etymology Notes: The orobon, or orabau, is named for a cryptid of Brazil reported by the priest Andre Thevet in the 14th century. Most noted for being foul-tasting, the orobon was almost certainly a misidentified reptile but the name serves to reinforce the pseudo-mythical status of the orobon in Eorzea pre-calamity.

Chopper

Taxonomy: Beastkin (Coeurl)

Description: When the adventurers returned from their purge of Sastasha they reported a most unusual creature found within, a fearsome coeurl named ‘Chopper’ by the Serpent Reavers that smuggled it into the cove. Indeed, it was rumors of a wild coeurl pack within Sastasha that kept the settlers of Western La Noscea away from the cove, allowing the Reavers to settle it without conflict. These beasts are native to the Near East, and are famed for both their savagery and ability to channel lightning-aspected aether through the long appendages attached to their face.

Capabilities: According to the adventurers that slew Chopper the beast was as capable as any coeurl at channeling lightning aether through its appendages, a technique we will name ‘charged whisker’.

Scurvy Dog

Taxonomy: Beastkin (Jackal)

Description: A subspecies of the common wolf found most commonly on Vylbrand, the jackal is an expert tracker and although they are usually content to scavenge their hunger can sometimes drive them to violence. So, it seems, can, the urgings of men, as seen by the ferocity of the guard dogs of the Serpent Reavers.

Captain Madison

Taxonomy: Spoken (Hyur)

Description: The former captain of the Serpent Reavers met his end at the hands of his sahagin overlords after failing to hold off the assault of the adventurers that purged the Seagrot. Madison was famously craven but managed to rise the ranks due to his low cunning. Records held by the Admiralty at Limsa Lominsa indicate that he was a simple navigator aboard a merchant vessel with crippling gambling debts, forcing him to flee from the city. He joined the Serpent Reavers and was quickly tempered by Leviathan, albeit only very lightly.

The Serpent Reavers

Taxonomy: Spoken (Various)

Description: The Serpent Reavers are an expansive pirate crew of sailors tempered by Leviathan and used as fodder by the sahagin in their offensive against Limsa Lominsa and the Maelstrom. Their ranks appear to be organized into groups named as Shallow, and then their role. A Shallowclaw is a pugilist, for example.

Denn the Orcatoothed

Taxonomy: Spoken (Sahagin)

Description: The sahagin assigned as the overseer of the Serpent Reavers stationed in the Seagrot, Denn was a warrior of renown amongst his kin and earned the title of Orcatoothed due to his viciousness and tenacity, compared to the fearsome orca. He was also a noted strategist, and the intelligence gatherers of the Maelstrom report that it was he who was pioneer of the sahagin’s use of tempered men in their invasion of Vylbrand’s coast.

Capabilities: Denn is capable, as so many sahagin are, of using water-aspected aether to cast watery spells to damage his prey.

Baleen Guard

Taxonomy: Spoken (Sahagin)

Description: Lesser sahagin, these were likely the personal guards of Denn dispatched alongside him by the Indigo Matriarch, monarch of all the sahagin. Baleen, my fellow archons tell me, is an array of filaments used by whales to strain their food through water. This may be a metaphor for the responsibility of these guardians in filtering who is allowed access to Denn, but who can truly gauge the intentions of the sahagin.

#Sastasha #Vylbrand #Duty Guides #La Noscea #Sahagin #ffxiv #ff14 #final fantasy 14 #final fantasy xiv

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