Cragsmen

The Cragsmen are a massive conglomerate of smaller factions and even those without factions, just taking up the name of being a Crag. They are sailors, pirates, privateers, merchants, cultists, fugitives and ex-slaves.

The name "Cragsmen" comes from the theory that Zamanthras, the Sea Mother, birthed all sea life from the crags formed in Starsong's crust under the ocean. Cragsmen literally means to be a man of these crags.

## Membership

To be a cragsmen takes no effort other than to believe your home is the open ocean and to return to it as often as you can. Anyone can declare themselves a cragsman if they have a ship, but the most powerful of all cragsmen belong to the Drowned Oath.

## Regions

While all crags call the ocean home, there are several ports they can call a second home.

Paradiso is common ground for all cragsmen as it doubles as a stop in a major trading route and a place to drink the night away.

## Ideals

### Zamanthras

Zamanthras, the Sea Mother, is the one ocean to which all other oceans are mere facets of her personality, as every known sea are mere reflections of who she truly is. Zamanthras is believed to be the First God, existing before the Flayed God and that she is the most deserving of the adoration that other gods have stolen.

Zamanthras is an ancient, primordial god who is regarded as malevolent, tempestuous and wild. She cares nothing for humanity, but the Triton are believed to be her children. She is the embodiment of mercurial winds and uncertain fate. She is greedy and possessive of her creatures and what wealth comes to her domain, whether from deliberate offerings or from sunken ships.

Her shrine can be found in all seaside towns.

### Traditions & Superstitions

* Cragsmen, due to trusting their lives on it, have many superstitions about the sea and Zamanthras.
* It is good luck to drink from the same glass, wineskin, flagon or horn when departing for the unknown.
* It is good luck to have a Triton on board their ship. It is extremely bad luck if they’re a prisoner.
* It is bad luck to refuse safety to a Triton.
* Whistling encourages wind, but beckons a storm
* Every magic caster needs someone watching them in a fight.
* It is good luck to get tattoos of Azarus, the Earth God, so that he will wash you ashore should you fall overboard. The Sea Mother Zamanthras finds this disrespectful, so cragsmen must hide these tattoos.
* Every port-town and coastal city has a shrine to Zamanthras. This is the last place a cragsman visits when leaving and the first place when they arrive.
* The only time it’s okay to sing sea shanties on land is if the singer has a vial of seawater with them.
* Cragsmen do not talk about the families or loved ones while at sea; this makes the Sea Mother jealous.
* Cragsmen Seasworn keep track of great deeds by corresponding tattoos.
* Every ship has a small animal that is special to the Sea Mother. This animal has first priority over all else. Should the animal die, the crew will follow.
* You can always recognise a ship’s crew by their shanties. Dwarf and Orcs are slow and rhythmic, Elves and Tieflings are haunting, Dragonman and Triton are overlapping and maddening, Halfling and Gnome are bright and cheery, and humans are as wide and as varied as the sea.