Battlefin

THE AQUATIC SWORD OF THE SALTBORN

Striking the coasts of the Inner Sea, the Saltborn were a constant threat for hundreds of years. The nomadic raiders made their home on patchwork cities of driftwood, whale bones and whatever flotsam could be found on the open water. They fashioned their signature weapons, the battlefins, out of the dorsal fins of the deadly spadesnout shark, joined in the center by the sturdy finbones of the yellow whale and the gelatinous red eye of the blackfisk. The height of their piracy was during the reign of Sjogren, Lord Ravager of the Glodovin. The Saltborn, under their leader, Drumaine the Dread, struck Sjogren’s shipyards at Deeping Ness, burning his fleet to a single ship and kidnapping the Lord Ravager’s daughter, Hettie. Drumaine planned to wed her and proclaim himself heir to the Glodovin, but Sjogren hired a mercenary fleet from Drowick, the Flying Daggers, to assault Drumaine’s floating city, the Sull. What few survivors remained scattered to the winds, although rumors persist of small bands of the Saltborn still prowling the waves of the Inner Sea to this day.

The dorsal fin of the spadesnout shark is covered in thousands of sharp, tiny scales that when wielded on a battlefin leaves its victim with a multitude of tiny cuts and lacerations. Some Saltborn would even embed the razorsharp teeth of the spadesnout into the fins to make them extra deadly.

Hero's Grave is © MMXXI Shane Henderson.
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