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The clayman had a successful run at being a captain, much longer than many of his predecessors. This was mostly owing to its agelessness and cautiousness. With most of the crew being immune to things such as religion, illness, and curiosity, it was an ideal situation for the ocean. They were also cautious, as most civilised places would not take too kindly to a ship of sentient claymen, so they covered themselves in shadow and spent little time roaming the cities.
Due to the difficulty mingling with city-folk, the claymen dealt mostly in some of the forbidden trading - finding themselves doing runs for underground organisations in London, dealing with the Khantae, and even finding themselves spending great lengths of time working with those on the Isle of Cats. Before they did all this, however, they did need to recruit more people to help run such a large cruiser. The people who joined were... odd. It takes a certain kind of individual to join a crew of claymen, thus a certain kind of individual they were.
To carry on to more specifics, the clayment sought improvements to their life at zee. As they had no intention of retiring to London - improving their state at zee was significantly beneficial to them. So they sought out legends and tales of special ship parts, and engines. They needed to keep their money, up of course, so they traded in coffee beans and wine as well as gaining the trust of some of the more disreputable trade markets. They gained trade with the Khan himself, and sought out some of the harder to find markets in the Iron Republic. The admiral of London also cared not for who brought information and shipments of red honey to him, so this was useful for income.
It seemed all set and useful, with these trade routes, but then pieces started to fit together. The plan was to recruit a co-captain who was human, set up a trustworthy set of officers and hunt down the Fulgent Impeller - an engine that can efficiently power the most grand of vessels. The clayman also heard of some powerful weapons he might seek out in due time, as if he had any aspiration, it was either to find peace or to hunt the most dangerous of zee-creatures. Whichever came first.
With these careful goals, trade routes were planned and success came in great swathes. His crewmates were helpful, also - bringing in all kind of outsider information as well as some of the stories and information gathered from those who had come before.
The shadow clayman, whilst hunting information of the Fulgent Impeller, happened upon an island named 'Aestival', which had the rarest of resources blasting down upon it. Sunlight. The clayman was said to have stood on that island in awe, overstaying his welcome at the peril of his human crewmates.
Though he never spoke of it, there are some who claim that finding the little island changed the clayman. As if he was reinvigorated. Perhaps, he had just found a new goal in life. Whilst visiting the Grand Geode, there was one who claimed to have overheard the clayman talking about a way of making the island habitable. There also happens to be a book upon the shelves of his quarters that is entitled 'Aestival' - though none have ever seen inside of it.
All this being said, the one thing that is known for sure is that it gave the captain an idea. An idea to go to the surface. Which he did. Many of his human crewmates never made it back alive, whether dying from the harsh sunlight (as direct sun is fatal to us Neath Dwellers), or those who could withstand it were said to have stayed. Nevertheless, it did not affect those clay-crew on board. So with plenty of fuel and supplies, they sought out the surface and traded in Naples to make some money. Few stories have ever reached back to us about Naples. Would that I could say more about the place.
The captain, upon his return was particularly sneaky, however, as it is said, that secretly even to some of his crew, he had filled up a few suntrap boxes of sunlight for some underground dealings in London. This was the financial boost that was necessary to set the Clayman on his path. After some long discussions with engineers, he finally found a man who thought he may be capable of creating the Fulgent Impeller - and thus outlines the resources he would need.
Next on the agenda, then, was to ransom a particular prisoner out of the prison on the lilypads of Wisdom - and it would not be easy...
To Be Continued...
---Howard Sterling, Chronicler of the Fallen London University
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