Christmas Seasons During the Voyage Canon (as of draft 0.4)
I thought I did a proper post on Christmas during the time of Devil's Eye but apparently I have not. I'll get to work on that later. I also may revise my other historical context posts with some actual citations so they aren't just aimless ramblings without any evidence. But that's for later.
In the canon story of Devil's Eye, the adventure lasts about 7 years. That's 7 Christmases to celebrate in different parts of the world each time! So where do they align? As of our current draft they're thus:
December 1721 takes place in France, specifically in Paris. The focus is exclusively on the Barracuda's crew, who just weeks earlier lost their titular ship to an attack by La Demonia in the port of Le Havre, and forced them to escape inland by the Seine River. Losing the trail of the Sins, they realize they're without shelter or money in the city of Paris, and the story arc focuses on their collaborative efforts to stay alive during the particularly harsh winter of northern France during the Little Ice Age. This is the point where the story sheds its pretenses of being just a seafaring adventure, as the survival of the characters depends greatly on their ability to adapt to circumstances going beyond their control.
December 1722 takes place across Northern Italy, most likely between Turin and Milan. Having spent the previous spring traveling across southern France, the summer across Spain, and the autumn across central Italy, the Barracuda crew have located and been pursuing the Spanish branch of the Montego family, distant descendants of Saint Emilio, for one of the Keys to the Eye is in their possession. Finally they confront the family in the winter, but they are seen only as stalking thieves and are not given the key. In response, Ravyn commands her crew to take it by force, which is done begrudgingly. It's a sour note that welcomes the new year, and shows our heroes aren't necessarily just.
December 1723 takes place in the Ottoman Levant, between the cities of Antioch and Damascus. Unlike the previous two winters, this time Christmas happens to land upon incidental stops along the way to a more important destination: Jerusalem. There is little time for merriment or mirth among any of the practicing members of the Barracuda crew, as the journey between Antioch and Damascus takes almost the whole month, and then the journey from Damascus to Jerusalem takes nearly another, and the time spent in between is dedicated entirely to resting and resupplying. All the while, their continued persistence at this venture has finally caught the attention of the Master, who now plans to play his hand directly against them.
December 1724 takes place in the Barbary Coast in the cities of Tripoli and Alexandria. Having been driven into the Sahara and hidden among the trade caravans over the past year, the Barracuda crew slowly rebuild their assets to try and resume the voyage again. Meanwhile, the oldest Heyder child, Helen, was taken captive by the Sins and made their hostage. In the city of Tripoli, the crew hijacks a new ship, the Arabian Xebec known as the Zumurruda. They then turn towards Alexandria to rescue Helen, and encounter La Demonia there. A battle breaks out, and the two forces welcome the new year with renewed conflict.
December 1725 brings the adventure to Ottoman Arabia and the city of Jeddah, the home of Amir. By this point a lot has changed in the past year: two more ships have joined the cause, the navy frigate HMS Cavalier and the Dutch smuggling fluyt Diantha. As well, the Sins of La Demonia have entered an uneasy alliance with the heroes, deciding to seek the Keys to the Eye together so that the Master can be stopped from obtaining his prize, even at the cost of their own souls. As for Jeddah itself, Amir is forced to reconcile with the choices he made decades ago to abandon his family in search for adventure, something that some crewmates are supportive of and others find a distraction from the greater objective.
December 1726 brings the voyage to the place that holds painful memories for almost everyone involved: the port of Guangzhou in China. Having raided it 15 years prior, the Sins are still wracked with guilt over what they had done, and among the heroes, Ravyn's foster father, Mortimer Hurley, died protecting his crew from the Master. The uneasy alliance nearly breaks apart as the tensions between past and present begin to boil over before plans can even be made to search for the final key of Saint Emilio, especially when the local Black Dog Bandits learn of the arrival of the Black Ship with Red Sails, and seek to avenge those who died as well.
December 1727 is the last winter of the voyage, and is when the crews year-long efforts in China finally result in them finding the final key of Saint Emilio, which has been guarded on Mount Song in the central China plain. With all seven keys in tow, the collective crews share a brief respite of relaxation before they make preparations to claim the Eye and defeat the Master forever.
