Considering the nature of…well…everything in the Neath, shouldn’t average seasickness be Worse in some way? I don’t believe it’s ever mentioned, but I’d like to hear some people’s thoughts. I would stick this in the Sunless Sea wiki but it’s as quiet as the Tomb Colonies over there, unfortunately. I know that zee-terror is extremely common just because it’s dark and scary out there, but what about those with weak stomachs? Do they just die because they are weak? I wouldn’t be surprised, honestly. The zee doesn’t particularly care one way or another. It kills no matter what, from what I’ve seen.
No, the Zee is, ironically, calmer than the Surface. Might be the lack of sunlight and thus comparative drafts that cause wind, among other things.
The Zee’s like a lawyer: polite on the surface, but a vicious shark underneath. Or other types of Zee monster.
Rough seas seem to be one of the less common hazards of the Unterzee. Only a couple of the hazard cards encountered when zailing mention wind or waves. Seems that most of the time the Unterzee is as still as a mill pond, and therefore unlikely to induce seasickness.
Ah shoot I completely overlooked the LACK of TIDES in the zee, you are completely right. My apologies!
WAIT I found a sidebar snippet!
"What can you expect when zailing the Unterzee?
Perhaps you will encounter the colossal Black Mountain! Perhaps you will meet mermen and sirens and lotus-eaters! Perhaps you will spend the whole voyage confined to your cabin with zee-sickness!"
Of course, there are no mermen, sirens, or lotus-eaters but the POINT is that zeesickness was mentioned in the first place. And those three are more ore less Drownies, Drownies again, and pretty much Drownies.
There are waves but they are quite infrequent. Usually you’ll see them near islands and shores (hell, the entire gimmick of Nuncio revolves around the tides bringing dead letters to the island) or if you managed to be in the neath when the island of Godfall was created (which is actually just a giant stalactite the fell from the ceiling).
Also, while it might just be an aesthetic choice your ship will pitch in Sunless Sea. Regardless of if there are visible waves or not if the ship is pitching and you’re in a part of the ship where it doesn’t looking like the ship is pitching… you’re going to get zee-sickness.
edited by lukeskylicker on 10/4/2018
What makes these waves anyway if there’s no sun?
I wouldn’t be surprised if the existence of waves on the sunless sea was solely due to Nuncio’s slow but irresistible pull. ;)
edited by phryne on 12/20/2018
Wind and currents. These are going to exist anywhere where you have a significant differential between temperatures. The Elder Continent is warm (having its own source of heat, not to mention the Wax-Wind), the North is cold, and so are the waters of each; you’ve already got what you need for convection.
Add to this other factors (chiefly Storm, but Salt and megafauna also, on a local scale) and you’ve got all you need to occasionally disturb the night-dark sea.
P.S. I don’t think Nuncio would really affect the waves much. It’s made explicit that the Pull chiefly affects the post–and postmen, while not affecting things like ships and navigation. This implies rather strongly that the Zee itself is not particularly influenced. (One does wonder about its effect on a certain messenger currently in London, but we’re moving too deep here to breathe without spoiler tags.)