One of the many dangers of the Ocean of Bitter Regrets is the great wereshark that swims in it, attacking all shipping that it comes across. In days past one of the greatest of the Pirate Kings (00.02) was a storm giant whose pride was only exceeded by his greed. He raided far and wide, adorning his cloud palace with treasure from a dozen nations. On one of his raids he managed to capture a queen of fairy and demanded, as the price of her release, that she grant him a boon. He asked that he be given the strength to smash any ship, even those that sail from the moon and that he become king of all the ocean.
The queen of fairy complied and the Pirate King felt his flesh twist and warp itself into that of a great shark with jaws strong enough to crush any ship. He is now a king indeed, the King of Salt and Brine, but it brings him no pleasure for he can now never return to his lost palace in the clouds and he can keep none of the wealth of any of the ships that he destroys. The King of Salt and Brine can return to his true form but one night a year, the night when he struck his bargain with the queen of fairy, but this but serves to remind him of all that he has lost.
Now he lives only to share his wrath with all he meets, tearing out the hulls of countless ships and tainting the blood of those few who survive his bite with his curse and they become lesser (and non-infectious) weresharks as well. One such unfortunate is Zuc the ogre (01.07) who now picks through many of the King’s wrecks on the coast of the Ocean of Bitter Regrets.
Connections:
- The grave of the lost wife of the King lies far to the east (31.07) and each year he tries to reach it and each year he fails.
- The King has acquired a taste for selkies (01.05) and is a great annoyance to nearby pirates (02.11).
- A were-shark (presumably infected by the King) is now stranded in the Freeholds (11.05).
Hooks:
- Any other interesting victims (either new weresharks or sunken ships) of the King of Salt and Brine?
- Would killing the King cure his victims of lycanthropy? Is there any way to cure the King himself?
- After the King became a wereshark what happened to his floating cloud palace (the one with all the treasure in it)?