Superstition - The stowaway's cursed cards Tradition / Ritual in Manarchy | World Anvil

Superstition - The stowaway's cursed cards

"Here be playing with luck of many faces like dices, boy. Cards be two-faced like those devils" *spits* "Bad luck to who brings em".

History

The origin came from bardic songs made after the Grim ending of a pirate ship called "La Sirena Negra". In [Date], nearby the coast of Sagaleua, the marine fleet noticed an explosion north. Upon investigation, they found the pirate ship, blown to pieces, without any sign of fighting. After fishing out some survivors, some pirates in their panic, mentionned it was the fault of El Diablo.

According to testimonies, the captain found a unexpected guest in the storage room. A young man, which only had clothing, a dagger, some trinkets and a pack of cards he held dearly. The captain desired to keelhaul the freeloader, but the man begged for his life on a game of cards. Feeling adventurous, and being a good player himself, the captain accepted the challenge. The game hold for some time, and feeling he would start to lose, the captain cheated and won the match. The freeloader knew the subterfuge, and accused the captain of cheating, but was met only with arms leading him to the side of the boat. "In rage, the young man cursed the captain that his pride would "burn him in the sea of fire".

Shortly after, the boat was continuing his cruising amongst the sea near a hot water current, after a night of carousal and putting the deck with his "winning card", a 10 of diamonds on a display in his room, the captain fell unconscious and slept. However, he didnt noticed the heat was building up in his cabin. After a while, the room blown up, burning up the rest of the boat in chaos thanks to the poorly maintained cabin, full of alcohol spread around.

Components and tools

Due to this superstition, it is ill-adviced to bring a deck of cards on deck of a ship. Most pirates and seafarer keep this superstition and prefer to play dices.

Observance

There is only one observance, which was the case of La Sirena Negra.

However, the true reason of the blown up was because the cards were made, with this deck, of a volatile ink for red ones. Because of the rising pressure in the cabin, it acted as a catalyst for an explosion, which worsened with the nearby badly maintenanced source of light made with crude lanterns and spills of alcohol spread out. However, the conditions implies that maybe the curse made the room worsen the conditions for such a disaster.

It is totally possible to make a volatile reaction with those cards if the conditions are met, magically or not, but most people never dare. Also, playing cards on a ship with movement and winds is not the best experience.

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