The Saturnine is an inter-planar cruise liner that travelled between the Nine Known Worlds of the Cradle. It was owned and ruled by the Planeswalker Lady Casilda, formerly of Dim Carcosa, where the ship was created. It operated a passenger service between the planes generally afforded only by the very rich, and was one of the few forms of inter-planar travel sanctioned by the Council of Primus.
The Saturnine was secretly powered by Lady Casilda's Planeswalking Shard which, tainted by the energies of Carcosa, required the sacrifice of the living, preferably the young, to keep itself powered. Young passengers were abducted for this purpose, though no-one seemed to mind very much, and "mysterious disappearances" were an accepted phenomenon aboard the Saturnine. According to Cardinal Bellend, originally a single sacrifice was enough to power multiple planar transits, but over time the Carcosa Shard became more and more greedy requiring multiple sacrifices for a single trip.
The Dragon Friends Bobby Pancakes, Philge and Freezo bought tickets to ride the Saturnine to escape from the Abyss and get to Primus to recover their own planar ship, the Heart of Glass. On board they met the dwarf paladin Hagdar Strenmf, was was investigating the disappearance of Jeffrey Westminster during a previous journey. They managed to gain access to Casilda and the engine room, and discover the truth behind the Carcosa Shard that powers the ship, rescuing another young passenger, Bonathan Kndd, before he was fed to the Shard. After seizing control of the Saturnine, Freezo ordered the ship to travel to Primus at top speed; this cracked the Shard, causing an explosion that nearly killed Bobby. While Bobby and Freezo were unconscious, the ship was boarded by Janos Steyer and piloted safely back to Primus, where the Dragon Friends were put on trial.
The final fate of the Saturnine is unknown; it apparently functioned well enough to make it to Primus even after the damage to its shard, but Lady Casilda abandoned it to take over the Heart of Glass, bringing the Favoured with her and enchanting the Tinker Gnome crew to server her as well. Casilda was killed by the Dragon Friends, ending her hold over the ship and leaving ownership of the Saturnine uncertain. It is rumoured, however, that the ship is fated to return to Dim Carcosa.
Staff[]
Lady Casilda owned the Saturnine but despite spending much of her time aboard, was never seen by the passengers. Instead it was staffed by humanoid servants, possibly also from Carcosa, organised into a caste system. Each caste and their descendants would live their entire lives aboard the Saturnine, in service to their mistress.
The castes are:
- The Favoured wore paper masks and waited on the first class guests. They were the only ones with access to Casilda, and often dined with her at sumptuous and debauched feasts, to which occasionally some VIP guests were invited.
- The Order of the Bellows operated the machinery of the ship, especially the engines. They always wore protective suits that included a fully-enclosed helmet. They were led by a Cardinal, who could be replaced by someone who killed them. The last Cardinal was Cardinal Bellend, who was fed to the Carcosa Shard by Freezo. He briefly became the Bellows Men's new Cardinal until the ship arrived at Primus.
- The Gillmen were treated with contempt by the other castes. They were damp, sticky fish-like humanoids who performed all the menial tasks aboard the ship, including the abduction of children to feed to the Shard.