Stultifera Navis (ship)
- This article is about the dreadnought. For the event, see Stultifera Navis.
The Stultifera Navis is a dreadnought of the Iberian Navy.
Background
Nicknamed the "Golden Dreadnought", the Stultifera Navis represented the might of the Iberian Navy during its Golden Age. She was designed by Aegir engineer Breogan, who combined both Iberian and Aegirian technology to create her and even utilized Originium. Though though the native Aegir saw her as a rough construct, the Stultifera Navis was a marvelous creation in the eyes of land-dwellers.
Originally, the Stultifera Navis was meant to be used as a research ship to explore the oceans in response to the Seaborn's devastating war against Aegir. However, the greed of the Iberian princes and nobles caused her to be redesigned into a warship equipped with numerous cannons.[1][2] Nevertheless, Breogan continued to stay on the Stultifera Navis to conduct research on the Seaborn. Before his death, Breogan concealed much of his research on the Seaborn inside the Stultifera Navis and left a key her secrets behind, which would later fall into the hands of The Last Knight.
After the Profound Silence, the Stultifera Navis became the only remaining vessel of the Iberian fleet, although she was lost at sea while trying to defend the last Eye of Iberia in Gran Faro. Her captain, Alfonso, and his first mate Garcia eventually became the only survivors of her crew, the rest having killed themselves, been eaten by Seaborn, or been executed by Alfonso before they could be assimilated, and survived for over six decades by consuming the Sea Terrors which had infested her. Alfonso came to see the Stultifera Navis as his own kingdom, even naming her parts after various Terran countries (e.g. "Leithanien" for the ballroom and "Iberia" for the great hall), and kept her clean together with Garcia whenever they were not hunting down the Seaborn. Despite many decades afloat, the Stultifera Navis did not sink, both because Breogan had combined Originium and Aegir technology to keep her afloat, and because the Seaborn that had invaded her assimilated the Stultifera Navis as part of their environment.[3][4]
The Stultifera Navis is first alluded to by Gladiia at the end of Under Tides, who didn't believe that she could be lost so easily and vowed to find her as soon as possible to return to Aegir. She became the setting for the second half of the eponymous Intermezzo, where the Abyssal Hunters worked together with Kal'tsit and the Iberian Inquisition to find the Stultifera Navis by reactivating Gran Faro's Eye of Iberia. After confirming its location, the Hunters, assisted by Inquisitor Irene, sailed toward the Stultifera Navis and boarded her. To their surprise, she remained in pristine condition, but was seemingly only inhabited by Sea Terrors. The Hunters and Irene soon encountered Garcia and Alfonso, the latter of which refused to help them at first; however, he eventually became their ally when the young yet formidable Seaborn known as The Endspeaker became a threat. Ulpianus, who was in the Stultifera Navis to recover Breogan's research for his own ends, aided the Hunters after some initial hostility, though he warned them not to return to Aegir.
Things took a turn for the worse when Amaia, a bishop of the Church of the Deep, boarded the Stultifera Navis as well and infested her with Nethersea Brand. After the Hunters and Alfonso severely injured The Endspeaker, it consumed Amaia and evolved into an even stronger being. Its fight with Specter, as well as the Nethersea Brand, eventually destroyed the Stultifera Navis, causing her to sink into the depths and forcing the Abyssal Hunters and Irene to abandon ship. However, Alfonso chose to remain, committing suicide right before the explosion which split the Stultifera Navis in half.
The sinking of the Stultifera Navis marked an end to her decades-long history witnessing the rise and fall of Iberia's Golden Age, and dashed away any hope of re-establishing contact with Aegir. However, the hunt for the Stultifera Navis was not a complete failure, as the Hunters and Ulpianus managed to recover Breogan's research, which could hold the key to ending the threat of the Seaborn once and for all. Her legacy also lives on in a recreation of the Stultifera Navis' reception room in Rhodes Island.
Notable crew
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- Jamie☠: A young seaman aboard the Stultifera Navis who was executed by Alfonso, likely because he is on the verge of turning into a Seaborn.
- Unnamed head chef☠: The head chef of the Stultifera Navis who suffered the same fate as Jamie.
- Unnamed engineer☠: An engineer of the Stultifera Navis responsible for maintaining her engines. He eventually went insane and was executed by Alfonso by being thrown overboard, leaving nobody left in the Stultifera to look after the engines.
- Julia?: Mentioned by Carmen.
- Touré?: Mentioned by Carmen.
Alfonso was the Stultifera Navis' captain while Garcia was her chief mate. By the time Arknights takes place, both were her only surviving crew members, but did not survive her sinking.
Gallery
The Stultifera Navis' upper deck
The Stultifera Navis' corridors
The Stultifera Navis' great hall
The Stultifera Navis' engine room
Etymology
Stultifera Navis means "Ship of Fools" in Latin, which refers to a ship with dysfunctional crew. It is also the title of a German satirical allegory by Sebastian Brant.
References
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