Kelstani
The Covenant of the Coast
They’re a traveling people, fed up with the world. Traveling about like a caravan on water.
- Lysander Riverwind, Navigator and cartographer for the Royal Institute of Otherworld Studies
The ocean is a harsh, exacting mistress. Quiet and soothing, yet still cold and merciless as the winter sea. It’s a hard life for anyone that travels the waves, seeking adventure, fortune, or a means to an end. But then there are those that look to the ocean and her turbulent temper as a safe refuge from their past lives.
It isn’t any different in the Caribbean where allegiances shift as quick as the tides while honor runs twice as deep. Among the islands, intrepid souls haunted by circumstance or a clouded past leave the land behind. They have nowhere to turn and no place to go. So they built their home from the sea itself and the timber that floats on her.
An Unlikely Gathering
They come from all walks of life. People from different cultures and places that blend to form a nomadic way of life. They’re often shunned by town and Trading Company alike, and considered dangerous outcasts at best. In the worst case, they’re considered vagabonds, outlaws, or pirates. But unless you cross or cheat them, they’re nothing of the kind. They are the Covenant of the Coast, or the Kelstani.
The Covenant’s name for themselves is the Kelstani, but many nickname them the Sea Rovers. They’re a nomadic people, always on the move and owing no allegiance to a single land or country. A culture living most of their lives aboard extra-wide ships turned floating islands that roam the waves between actual islands and coastlines.
They sail in small convoys of ships, often up to six at a time. This forms the basis of a Kelstani village, what they consider a tribe or a clan. Each ship in the convoy has a special purpose, with the wide galleon or galleons serving as the ‘heart’ of the village. A ‘town square’ which is central to the community.
Tale from Before Time
One of those Kelstani clan ships sailed up about a year after the ‘Fall, in 1713. I’d seen nothing like it. When asked where they hailed from, they just said that they’d always been there…
- Elias Johann St. Claire, Shipwright
The first Kelstani ships were spotted off Havana in 1713, a year after Crossings Fall changed the world. A galleon similar to Spanish make, she was the Malumbe, but was far wider than any normal galleon. With her sailed two frigates named the Shagar and the Nargol that kept a protective watch on the larger vessel.
Little is known or recorded about Kelstani clan history. Most of it came from the crews of those first three ships that day in Havana harbor. Tales from those crews, and any Rover clan since, simply explain they’re Children of the Sea, and that the Sea Goddess watches her own. But rumors suggest a more complicated origin.
References from grimling Sept records suggest that Sea Rover history spreads back to Otherworld before it shattered. There, legend has it that the first Sea Rovers were a morasu fleet that owed allegiance to the Tomia Harogara noble house. But Tovec Masatame, the fleet’s admiral, or Saj’ni in the ancient morasu language, disagreed with his Imperial leaders over their suicidal battle strategy. Instead of open war, he took his followers and fled to the deep seas.
Over time, their numbers grew slowly from among those across Otherworld that felt lost, cast aside, or were displaced from their own lands. When Crossing’s Fall shattered the Otherworld, it also sent the last of the surviving Kelstani to Earth. As is their tradition, they simply kept moving.
Heraldry of the Kelstani, the Covenant of the Coast by CB Ash*
- Sea Rovers
- Covenant of the Coast
By Any Other Name
Kelstani names come from a wide collection of sources. Since they tend to adopt lost newcomers looking for a home, there are few rules to a common naming practice. But family names are passed down over generations that come from the far corners of Otherworld, and more recently, Earth.
The Capture of the Royal Prince by Willem van de Velde II
Strength of the Clan
The Kelstani are divided into clans, with each clan spread across a collection of ships in a given convoy or flotilla. No one knows how many Kelstani clans there are, just that there are several. This network of convoys makes up the Covenant of the Coast, that encompasses all of what people think of when the Kelstani is mentioned.
A single clan comprises one convoy, usually three to six ships. The core of this floating village is the House Galleon. That vessel is the seat of power and government for that Kelstani clan, where the chieftain and Elden Council reside or at least hold court. House Galleons are typically where many Kelstani clans also keep their main workshops, vertical gardens, libraries, and clan essentials.
Support ships range in both type and size, from sloop to frigates. They also bear the unusual wider than normal shape like the House Galleons. These smaller ships are a combination of home, gardens, and sometimes barns. Goats, chickens, swans, and donkeys are a common sight in the case of a ‘barn’ ship. In general, the Kelstani only keep smaller animals aboard, including dogs, cats, and gargoyles. They avoid anything larger than a donkey, such as cows or horses, simply because of the lack of space.
No matter their day to day use, all Kelstani ships are well armed and stocked warships. If anyone dares attack a Kelstani clan, they face a coordinated force that uses weapons not seen anywhere in the world. Devices that are a product of Kelstani engineering that can have a devastating effect on attackers.
A Unique Sort of Design
Their ships, like anything they make, are a pure work of art. But that art also tells a long, long story…
- Elias Johann St. Claire, Shipwright
The Kelstani have many secrets and their ship design is high on that list. All their ships have an unusual double hull. This grants each vessel a unique stability not found in ships made by other lands. But besides the stability, the double hull serves other purposes as well. It reduces the risk of flooding in lower compartments and provides the support for devices supporting hanging gardens that line the inside hull of most Kelstani ships.
At first glance, it would seem an impractical design that would hinder efficient use of the ship itself. Instead, nothing could be farther from the truth. Each section of hanging garden is kept within a compartment with a door. Slits above allow sunlight, air, and rain to filter down. Rainwater, once it passes through the garden, is caught and channeled into the ship’s water stores. There it’s filtered before use by the clan. If the water stores are full, the Kelstani system automatically funnels the excess out to the ocean.
Kelstani ships use similar sails, rudder, and propeller system as most ships of the day. But the latter, like most any vessel, is used only in an emergency to propel the ship when the wind isn’t sufficient, or a Wavebinder isn’t able to conjure enough wind.
Likewise, Kelstani ships have clockwork engines that charge the powerful Hauksbee Batteries. These clockwork mechanisms are critical, as they provide the excess power used by their Navigators to open, close, or manipulate the mysterious Arcane Gates scattered across the world’s oceans. In a dire emergency, it’s also used to power the ship’s Archimedes Screw inspired propellers or defenses like a ship’s clockwork cannon, if any. This and more are why Kelstani shipwrights and engineers, if not their ships, are highly prized in many places around the world.
Ship design and building Copperplate engraving From the Encyclopaedia Londinensis by Public Domain
All But One
Even though the Kelstani often keep a respectful distance from people, they are always interested in ships, alchemy, and other inventions. That is, save one exception. They are cautious to a fault regarding a ghost ship.
Most Kelstani are wary of ghost ships. Among their people, ghost ships are a haunting plague. A living embodiment of cursed creatures from the lost Otherworld that lie in the dark spaces between the world and the Etherwave Arcana. Evil echoes, hungry to consume a ship’s crew. Not that the Kelstani won’t have anything to do with ghost ships. They will work on one for a close ally or, if paid enough. Though, it isn’t easy to convince a Kelstani to help since they believe any ghost ship is cursed by the Dark Mark.
Kelstani that agree to help, are easy to identify since they follow ancient tradition and wear tar-colored facepaint made of driftwood soot on their face and hands. The Kelstani believe the mixture shields the wearer from being infected by the dark curse for a short time. Only the Kelstani know if this is true, and they won’t admit details.
Communication
Some say it’s whale song, others claim its sirens. More often than not, it could just be Kelstani having a talk. They can be a bit chatty...
- Elias Johann St. Claire, Shipwright
Ships traveling any long distance have many challenges to overcome. Weather, supplies and even Arcane Gates are three of many. Communication between ships and their crews is one of the most important. Most ships-of-the-line use signal lanterns, signal flags, or even trained animals like parrots to deliver messages. These work in most situations but may not be the most effective in fog or other inclement weather.
But this was not enough for the Kelstani. They are a people who spend much of their lives at sea on their wide, almost floating-island like ships. Being able to communicate between ships in a single clan-flotilla is essential to survival. To overcome the problem of bad weather and other hazards, they developed a unique clockwork-magical device used on all Kelstani vessels. One that has become a popular device outside the Kelstani and a rich source of trade for them. This device is called an Ansible.
Invented by Gilbert Rakotobe, this clockwork-magical device is a type of glass harp controlled by clockwork driven harpsichord keys. The sounds produced aren’t just random notes or even music, but a full language. Similar to whale song, Ansibles allow one ship to transmit complex thoughts and sentences to other ships that also have an Ansible system. In return, the device listens for tones it’s been tuned to receive. These tones and music are soft, low notes to any human, grimling, thayan, and morasu ears. Background sounds to an already busy ocean. But these devices hear them loud and clear.
All Ansibles have two frequencies that it can ‘hear’. One is a ‘general’ frequency that all Ansibles can play across. This one is used for distress songs, all call songs, and other messages that are for any ship nearby. The second frequency or tone is personal, one set just for that ship. A private chord that is only handed out to allies for private communications, and more valuable than any coin.
Art of the Traveling Sea
Spoon carved from driftwood by CB Ash*
The Kelstani are known for their ingenious clockwork, and even enchanted, devices. Many of which defy the current body of knowledge on both subjects. But like any culture, the Kelstani have many sides, such as the art they create. All Kelstani art uses the materials they have on hand, such as the sea and what lives there. Driftwood, kelp, shells, and bones from large fish are key ingredients, since the Kelstani clan traditions are to ‘waste not, want not’ as often as possible. So much of their art takes on a practical value as well or supports their traditions as a people.
Driftwood is used and carved into tools for kitchens or parts for ships. These carvings are similar to the work done with scrimshaw in design, depicting myths or stories from Kelstani history. Master carvers, called driftshanders, are also Kelstani scholars. Historian who record Kelstani stories, myths and important events in wood and the very ships the Kelstani call home.
Kelp is often used as food but also is used for specific ceremonies such as weddings, funerals, or even dispelling haunting thoughts or ill-will. In all cases, kelp is kept lightly damp, then woven into a sculpture related to the tradition. After the kelp is woven, it’s treated with a resin and gently heated. This hardens it into the durability of thin wood.
With weddings, two sculptures are made, where each is intended to connect to the other like a puzzle. This represents the formation of a partnership and family. But with a funeral, the extended family makes only one sculpture that represents the story of the person who has passed on. In the case of nightmares or even a dispute, the kelp sculpture represents what has upset the person, which could be an event or even someone that the dispute is with.
In the end, the sculptures are released. With funerals, the sculpture is set loose on the ocean on a small raft, representing the loved one moving onto their next life. Wedding sculptures are also released to the sea, which represents the partners moving ahead with their life together. But with nightmares, hauntings, or disputes, releasing a sculpture takes a different path. There, they are burned to let fire consume the ill thoughts or even ill spirits. Most Wavebinders who have studied this Kelstani tradition agree there is some sort of ancient ritual at work. One that interacts with the Etherwave Arcana, and the Arcana with the Kelstani in return.
Shells and bone are also used, but more often as decoration or support for kelp sculptures. At times, large shells are scrimshawed with events from Kelstani life.
The last, and most prevalent of Kelstani artwork, are their clan tattoos. Made from squid ink, they are unique to a person but also a clan, telling both stories intertwined. Rumors say that, once set, tattoos will change over time on their own as the person’s story grows.
Children of the Sea, Keepers of Secrets
The Kelstani remain unique among the tapestry of cultures across the world. More than any other, they’re a blend of both old and new. A bridge between ancient traditions, stories, and at times myths, of Otherworld and the people of the present-day Earth, post-Crossing’s Fall.
Shunned but also sought after, they are nomads with a unique language, traditions, food and more. But while they are considered Children of the Sea, it’s said they keep secrets of their own. Among those is the legend of the Sargasso Traveling Islands. Floating islands with hidden safe harbors and ruins found nowhere else in the world. Rumors suggest that the Kelstani are the only people who know the truth of these mythical islands and the routes they take. There is some hint the myths are real, since it’s a rite of passage for young Kelstani is to update and correct the charts once a season.
When the Sea Goddess calls, you go, and the ocean welcomes you home.
- Volana Marofo, Kelstani Navigator for the Tamir, in Clan Zozimar
I think this might be my favorite article of ALL that I've read! What creativity! What originality! I love it! I'm not sure if I was more impressed by their ansible or their art. Brilliantly done!
Thank you very much! I was aiming for a unique culture. There was SO much more I could write but... I was approaching 3000 words so I stopped. I'll add more about them later I think.