Status: Unsure if I should continue to post chapters of this story, feel free to message me if you're interested and I will continue it, it is still very much a WIP.
Chanson de l'Océan
The Lore
Along the East Coast there was a small village called Salacia and within the village were very superstitious people.
Salacians had always been superstitious with their silly customs and different ways of going about things but there was always one tale the elders insisted children must hear.
Before a group of Salacians settled in their ocean village they were travelers. Often they would sail in two to three large ships looking for a place to settle and call their permanent home but there was always something wrong with the spot chosen. Whether it be that the ground was too tough, or the rain never reached them, the Salacians had never found a place to simply settle.
Askuwheteau, being the chief at the time grew restless after time and time again of moving and as he heard a song, clear though the crash of the waves, he believed it was a blessing. The song was higher than the waves but seemed to come from deep within the waters. Each note strung together as though the being singing did not breathe and the song called to him. He pointed in the direction he felt the song came and the Salacians went.
As the Salacians grew nearer to the origin of the sweet sound, Cha’kwaina, the chief’s wife cried out.
“No!” she exclaimed, “my husband, you lead us towards the rocks!”
She and the other Salacian women tried in vain to persuade their entranced lovers, but the ship crashed against the rocks and sunk, taking with it all the Salacians on board.
Of course the tale never really happened but the Salacian elders went on to tell the children that the wives were enraged as they sunk to the bottom of the ocean, enraged that their husbands had fallen so quickly and so relentlessly for other women that they became Lampeqinuwok, or mermaids. The mermaids were then cursed to lure weak-minded men to their deaths by lust and temptation, their numbers growing with every ship they sank.
Parts of the story were lost in time and revisions and different versions were thought up but Salacian elders made sure to tell the children the story of Askuwheteau, for they believed that such lust could only hurt them, and not everything was as it seemed.
Salacians had always been superstitious with their silly customs and different ways of going about things but there was always one tale the elders insisted children must hear.
Before a group of Salacians settled in their ocean village they were travelers. Often they would sail in two to three large ships looking for a place to settle and call their permanent home but there was always something wrong with the spot chosen. Whether it be that the ground was too tough, or the rain never reached them, the Salacians had never found a place to simply settle.
Askuwheteau, being the chief at the time grew restless after time and time again of moving and as he heard a song, clear though the crash of the waves, he believed it was a blessing. The song was higher than the waves but seemed to come from deep within the waters. Each note strung together as though the being singing did not breathe and the song called to him. He pointed in the direction he felt the song came and the Salacians went.
As the Salacians grew nearer to the origin of the sweet sound, Cha’kwaina, the chief’s wife cried out.
“No!” she exclaimed, “my husband, you lead us towards the rocks!”
She and the other Salacian women tried in vain to persuade their entranced lovers, but the ship crashed against the rocks and sunk, taking with it all the Salacians on board.
Of course the tale never really happened but the Salacian elders went on to tell the children that the wives were enraged as they sunk to the bottom of the ocean, enraged that their husbands had fallen so quickly and so relentlessly for other women that they became Lampeqinuwok, or mermaids. The mermaids were then cursed to lure weak-minded men to their deaths by lust and temptation, their numbers growing with every ship they sank.
Parts of the story were lost in time and revisions and different versions were thought up but Salacian elders made sure to tell the children the story of Askuwheteau, for they believed that such lust could only hurt them, and not everything was as it seemed.