Ghost Ships

The Ghost Ships of the Shattered Oceans are ships that rise from the water graves of shipwrecks, with their crew of sailors and officers on board as ghosts and wraiths. They are only able to sail in the depths and trenches of the ocean, and at Night when the Moon is high in the sky. They can be summoned, but will only selectively respond to the efforts of cultists.

The citizens of the Shattered Oceans have a love/hate relationship with the ships. On the one hand, it seems to be the one thing that can get a handle on the piracy in the world, but then they simply become the biggest threat over the pirates, and terrorize the seas themselves. Either way, the people do not typically want to go out into the open oceans during the night time. Many voyagers will try to plan their voyages accordingly so that they are docked for the week that the Moon is high and the Ghost Ships take over the oceans. Their only true rival are Bone Ships, and generally these only rise up from the underwater graveyards in the North.

There have been periods of history where the Ghost Ships were more active than others, and some periods where they seemed to go into some sort of undead slumber. Because of this, some generations only believe them to be myths or legends. The gaps in history where there are no sightings recorded fuels the skepticism toward the recordings that do exist. Ghost ships do not simply make an appearance because it is nighttime. The crews and captains all have their own agendas as they did while they were living and need to be hunting treasure, seeking revenge, or some other personal quest they are trying to complete in their afterlife.

If a sailor or an adventurer finds themselves on board one of these Ghost Ships, they too will take spectral form for the duration of their voyage. It is important for the living to disembark from the boat every week or so to rejoin the living and preserve their own living spirit, which can become swallowed by the Ghost Ship if abandoned.

There are a few well known Undead Captains throughout the world but the most famous is Orton Godfrey, The Immortal Captain, who is half dead and carries a zombie like semblance of his living self, whereas most of the other crews are purely spectral or skeletal. If an undead sailor or crew member choses to abandon their spot on the Ghost Ship, they must make a pact with Abaddon and if their sacrifice is accepted, they are cursed to live out their afterlife as an aimless and wandering Duppy, forever confined to land and banned from ever joining another crew.