Captain Wellington Zane

It is said that The Captain of Dread, Wellington Zane, Admiral of the Deep Fleet, and Caretaker of the Drowned, was once just a man. Short brown hair, bright blue eyes, a young man with a bright future as a naval officer that was granted undeath and power in exchange for duty. Others say he is the collector of all things that fall to the bottom of the sea, a primal entity spawned from the buildup of wreckage in modern times.

Others still say he is an ancient entity, dating back to the beginning of Vir'Exalon itself. They he was once a god of the sea, but was mortally wounded in the God's War. He took his essence and severed it, if only to save a single part of himself. The essence fell beneath the waves, and sunk to the bottom of the deepest sea. For thousands, maybe millions of years it slept, until by happenstance it merged with the drowned body of a mortal man, given form and life once more.

But those are just stories. Truthfully, not a soul knows exactly what the Dread Captain is. Likely, only Zane himself knows. What those who meet the man do know and choose to share is all the knowledge modern society has to go off.

They speak of storms, ship fires, and other accidents at sea. They talk of falling beneath the waves, inhaling a final, fate sealing breath of brine. Then they say, without fault nor divergence, they wake up in a bed. A bed, they quickly learn, in the depths of The Pride's Folly, the flagship of the Deep Fleet. Accounts differ from this point forwards, but converge in the point of Wellington Zane. The say the man has the look of a hardened sailor. A grizzled salt grey beard, a worn face, a weathered captain's hat, and layers and layers of tattered sea clothes. They say in place of one arm floats a giant tentacle, as if from the mother of all krakens.

They often also speak of the ship, the Pride's Folly, with a mast towering into the darkness above, countless tattered sails floating gently in the waters, and a menagerie of creatures, people, and wreckage floating like a massive cloud all around. Very few also speak of a vision of a fleet, broken, sunken ships in columns and rows of endless number sailing gently through the deep.

All who meet the man and return alive can only be presumed to have forged a deal with the Dread Captain. They always say that he told them to tell the concerned he means no harm. That the Deep Fleet will remain below the waves, and they needn't worry. That he will continue to care for those the world loses beneath the sea.

Two other items of note should be mentioned. Firstly, the changes those who meet Zane have exhibited. They often grow more somber and more focused. Stoic, in a manner, but frantic in another. They talk always of their goal, the mission that their Captain has set for them, but never divulge its secrets, even under pain of death or magical coercion. They are often strangely open about their patron and his nature, far more so than many other warlocks, but secretive when asked specifics. The warlocks hardly ever display change in nature. If a benevolent man fell to the bottom of the sea, a benevolent man rises. If a pirate and a scoundrel went down, so too will he come back up. They say their Captain asks not for oath to vision, but to a goal pursued.

Second and last to note is The Storm Prophecy, which tells of a day when the skies grow dark, the seas and winds grow evil, and the race of men is drown under the waves. They say Captain Wellington Zane will be there, at the helm of Pride's Folly. They say it will rise above the waters, a thousand feet high, and behind it a thousand thousand ships will follow. Behind them still will be a hundred krakens, and the Deep Fleet will weather the storms, to whatever fate is in store. The prophecy is infamous for having no true ending.