The Thousand Colours Moon

The gods are watching from the sky,
Fret not, feel thou no dread.
Follow our gentle prayer,
And protected, go to bed.

– A verse from The Sailors' Lullaby.

An ammonia-dominated moon which is home to the Sailors of the Eight Moons, or simply, the Sailors.

The Thousand Colours Moon is one of eight moons orbiting an uninhabitable gas giant called the Guardian. It is around 5000 km in diameter and supports ammonia-based life. Two other moons (the Barren One and the Greater Twin) are regularly visited by the Sailors and there is talk of establishing permanent colonies there.

The Guardian is one of eight planets orbiting a star, Brightest of Brightest. The star system is officially called O lonesome light in the sea of darkness, but this is typically shortened to the Beacon system. Each planet in the system holds religious significance to the Sailors. Some of these planets might be suitable for non-ammonia based life.

The Thousand Colours Moon contains three large oceans of liquid ammonia. Each ocean is home to a nation. Depending on the metals dissolved, these oceans appear different colours, hence the name the Thousand Colours Moon. Dissolved metals make the oceans very conductive, resulting in huge thunderstorms characterising the moon. The Sailors inhabit the ammonia oceans along with other lifeforms. The land is populated by a few rudimentary plant-like species and microbial life.

The moon is heated from the core, preventing the formation of ammonia ice at the bottom of oceans (ammonia ice sinks because it is denser than its liquid form). Cities cluster around hydrothermal vents, which are hubs for the development of life and technology.

A hydrothermal vent not dissimilar to those found on the Thousand Colours Moon.

Life on the Thousand Colours Moon evolved around hydrothermal vents at the bottom of oceans. This was confined to the Equatorial region since the poles were too cold. However, periods of high volcanic (hydrothermal vent) activity in the poles allowed organisms to travel to polar regions and make use of the vents there. These can be interpreted as Ice Ages defined by volcanic activity. The Thousand Colours Moon is currently transitioning out of an Ice Age. The warmth of Equatorial regions means that even if vent activity dies down, there is still enough energy for life to continue.

The Sailor population was split into three during the last Ice Age, resulting in several continents forming and blocking off three oceans. This happened recently enough for the three nations to not evolve into separate species, but to develop different languages and slightly different appearances. Memory of this separation persists in Sailor mythology.

Life therefore concentrates at the bottom of oceans, near hydrothermal vents. Ammonia is more translucent than water, so light reflected off the Guardian can still reach the bottom of the ocean. Hence, the Sailors are adapted to live at high pressure. Life on land evolved from life in the oceans, and still relies on being regularly flooded by the tide. Land in the middle of continents is completely barren. The fossil record suggests that small insect-like creatures lived deeper in the land during certain Ice Ages, however these were wiped out during warmer periods.

The Sailors look similar to octopodes, with dexterous arms (not to be confused with tentacles – see image below) that allow them to create intricate art and technology. They are around 60 cm long. Outside their ammonia oceans, Sailors need pressure suits to survive.

A handy guide to Sailor anatomy, written and translated by Blue of the Deepness.

Despite the translucency of ammonia oceans, there is still little light at the bottom where the Sailors live. Therefore, their skin is not very colourful. Sailors in cooler regions are typically darker to absorb more light. This is made up for by the beautiful bioluminescent dots and patterns along their bodies. The Sailors use the dots along their tentacles to communicate. Additionally, different coloured bioluminescent 'algae' are cultivated as accessories for the Sailors' bodies and homes. The Sailors don't have ears, but they do have thin membranes on the side of their heads that are more sensitive to vibrations in the liquid. When exposed to bright light, their eyes contract into a 'W' shape.

The Sailors' main protein source consists of a variety of small, shrimp-like creatures that they traditionally catch in their tentacles like a net. However, the use of electrically conductive rods has meant that hunting is more high-tech – these rods electrocute creatures during thunderstorms. The Sailors also enjoy consuming plant/algae-like organisms to gain the vital chemicals and micronutrients they need for their complex light language.

The sapient beings originating from the Thousand Colours Moon refer to themselves as the People, however upon contact with other worlds, have become known as the Sailors of the Eight Moons, or the Sailors.

Sailor homes are transportable, dome-shaped pods, protecting them from the often turbulent and electrically charged ammonia seas. These are also their main mode of travelling between depths, as Sailors are adapted to a high-pressure environment. Thus, protection and preservation of internal conditions has been perfected through Sailor technology. The Sailors place high cultural value on technological innovation and exploration, as that is what makes them strong and able to journey throughout their moon and beyond.

Light and colour are highly significant for the Sailors. Individual pods are decorated with careful colours and patterns. Light is seen as an indication of civilisation, a beacon in the untamed darkness. Non-sapient animals with bioluminescence are revered. For example, the Guardian fills the Thousand Colour Moon's skyline – this with the seven other moons, seven other planets, and the Brightest of Brightest make for an enchanting night sky pattern replicated often in Sailor art. The Sailor equivalent to music is more like an experience of different vibrations in the water – this is traditionally made by other animals or banging rocks and shells together.

The Sailors communicate using bioluminescent dots on their tentacles. In their main diplomatic language (Parlux), each dot combination on each tentacle corresponds to a word, with their set of ten tentacles allowing for the construction of short sentences and phrases. Some Sailor languages use all ten tentacles to represent one word, as the dots are 'stacked' in specific patterns.

Sailor languages tend to be very visually descriptive and are often translated directly as there is no phonetic equivalent. However, given contact with the Balra and later the Rissi and Xhuva, some Sailor words (particularly names) are translated verbally which use the syllables of their shared common languages. For example, when communicating in Carto-speak on the Cartographers' Guild space station, a Sailor named Nimble Wave may choose to go by the literal translation of their name (Nimble Wave), or they may go by the phonetic syllables of their name in Balra/Sailor Diplomatic Cant, which in this case would be Du-niib.

The three Sailor nations encompass each of the three oceans on the Thousand Colours Moon. The large area of these oceans means that there are distinct groups of people within each nation, however, an attempt to summarise the nations is shown below. Each nation has its own separate political system.

Encompassing a large polar ocean in the South, the Nation of the Eternal Sky is named after its stable atmosphere, leading to calm seas and clear skies. Sky Sailor art therefore centres on the movement of the stars and is recognisable by its distinctive dot-line patterns. This polar region is cooler than the rest of the moon – cold snaps can occur every 50 cycles or so where some regions at the bottom of the ocean freeze over. This explains why Sky Sailors were driven to develop land technology, to exploit regions that do not freeze over in winter.

This nation consists of a longbow shaped ocean curving around two of the main continents. It is named after a certain curved 'seaweed' to refer to its ocean's shape. The nation is characterised by a long ridge of hydrothermal vents, creating a line of interconnected cities running from North to South. These are the One-Path Cities the nation is famous for, as a strong ocean current and high concentration of ions allow the Leaf Sailors to harness this energy for fast travel and go from North to South in less than a day.

This nation covers the largest ocean. Its name refers to the stormy, charged seas resulting from the wind being able to flow unimpeded for a long distance West to East. Mythology suggests that the sea is grieving for its two siblings, separated from birth by the Lonely Rock continent (sometimes translated as the Selfish Rock – the Sailor word has connotations of both 'lonely' and 'selfish').

Historically, this gave the Sea Sailors impetus to cross the land around them to reach the other two oceans. There were countless failed attempts by the Sea Sailors to explore the other two nations, including constructing underground tunnels and contraptions that look like hamster wheels to travel on land. So, it was ironic that the Sky Sailors achieved amphibious technology before them. By the time of game start, travel between Sailor nations has been very well established.

Pressure suits were originally created to allow the Sailors to explore shallower depths. The Nation of the Eternal Sky was the first to develop robust amphibious technology, and this has been adopted by all three nations to explore the land and then space. The first suits focussed on placing the 'fishbowl' for the Sailor in the centre of mass and typically had eight legs. However, upon contact with the Balra, the Sailors developed bipedal suits for better communication. Hence, on the Cartographers' Guild space station, most Sailors will be wearing standard bipedal suits.

An example of a Sailor in a common model of bipedal suit.