"Ha! No man, mortal or not, can hold me prisoner for long, corpse-thing. Let me show you what happens to those who try..."
- —Captain Aranessa Saltspite[2b]
Aranessa Saltspite, captain of the pirate galleon Swordfysh[5a]
Aranessa Saltspite, full name Aranessa Anja Saltspite, known as the "Queen of the Tides" and the "Pirate Queen," is one of the most respected and feared pirate captains of Sartosa.[1a][5a]
Her origins are shrouded in mystery. Some say Aranessa is the daughter of the sea god Manann himself, with brine for blood. To others, she is a mutant who cut off her own fishtail after being cast out of her Norscan tribe as a child. What cannot be denied, whatever her origins may be, is that her skill at the helm or with a cutlass is such that none can dispute her lethality in battle.[1a][5a]
Among her crew can be found Ogg Halfheart, an imposing Ogre.[4]
History
The Swordfysh, Aranessa Saltspite's pirate galleon; note the Saw-fish's Blade, the great saw-toothed ram that projects from the vessel's bow.
One of the rising stars among the reavers who currently plague the Tilean Sea is the Queen of the Tides, Aranessa Anja Saltspite. Rumour has it she is the daughter of the sea god Manann himself; that she rose fully grown out of the waves in a froth of gore, and that saltwater flows through her veins instead of blood. What is known beyond doubt is that Aranessa is as merciless as the ocean she sails.[2a][5a]
Aranessa has always had a peculiar connection with the ancient god of the sea. She has sailed to the ends of the Known World and back again through the most violent of tempests and emerged unharmed. There is no warmth in her soul, and she has no love for Mankind. Only the open ocean and the glitter of gems can make her scowl melt, but as her scurvy crew maintains, on the occasions she deigns to smile, it is like the coming of a new dawn.[2a][5a]
The true story of how Aranessa Saltspite became such a gifted seafarer begins in the chill waters of the far north on the Bjornling Coast.[2a][5a] Aranessa was born into the ruling family of Skjold, a coastal settlement of the Norscans. The chieftain, Ulfric Grondal, a proud warrior king in need of a strong successor; was not pleased at all to find that his pregnant wife had delivered him a daughter instead of a son. Worse still the infant had been borne a mutant -- her conjoined legs were scaled and twisted into a grotesque fan of spined flesh below the knee.[2a]
Physical mutation had always been a death sentence amongst Aranessa's pitiless tribe. Before the sun had set, the mewling babe was hurled from the tallest cliffs to be drowned by the pitiless sea.[2a]
Aranessa Saltspite as rendered in Total War: Warhammer II.
Miraculously, Aranessa survived. Borne by a shimmering school of daggerfish that swam in the shape of a crowned sea-sire, the infant was delivered into a cove of golden sands, where she was tended by a trio of sea-nymphs. Suckled and cared for by these lythe ocean spirits, Aranessa grew strong upon a diet of gymmcrab, algae and cold black kelp. Before her tenth year Aranessa was spear-fishing for sharks, fanged rays and mermanticores. Her shell-decorated cave became cluttered with gifts from the sea that washed up with each new dawn.[2a]
It seemed like every full moon a new vessel would founder near her cove, or a galleon would find itself inexplicably shipwrecked within easy reach. Bright-eyed, the child Aranessa absorbed every scrap of knowledge to be gleaned from the well-appointed ships that had mysteriously come to her.[2a]
Aranessa eventually tired of her island paradise and decided to rejoin the ranks of Humanity, though she knew that a mutation such as hers would lead to persecution and death. Numbed by rum and with teeth gritted, she amputated her strange lower legs with a sharpened cutlass, and cauterized the wounds herself without so much as a whimper. Aranessa had already fashioned replacement legs from the jagged blades of sawfish who tried to kill her, and bound them tight to her ragged leg-stumps with leather belts that she found in the captain's quarters of a rich merchant galleon.[3a][2a]
Constantly cleansing her wounds with saltwater, it was less than a week before Aranessa was able to walk. A scowl etched on her beautiful features, she ventured out into the open seas upon an intact rowing boat that had washed up on her beach. Before three nights had passed she was picked up by a roving pirate galleon, the Swordfysh.[2a]
Mute, peg-legged and strange, Aranessa was the subject of much curiosity from the sailors aboard, though she quickly proved to them that to so much as touch her would earn them a slit throat. Daily she climbed into the rigging, and thereupon into the crow's nest, where over the coming weeks she more than proved her worth as a sharp-eyed lookout.[2a]
Over the next decade Aranessa learned to swear like a sailor, to fight like a pirate, and to navigate like a scholar. She absorbed all there was to know about the art of sailing like a sea-sponge, rising through the ranks of the Swordfysh's crew with ease. Every cannon she fired was on target, every duel she fought was a victorious, and every course she plotted led unerringly to treasure. She became the ship's lucky charm, then its first mate, and eventually, when her captain was devoured by sea-gargoyles, its commanding officer.[2a]
She earned the nickname "Saltspite" in the years that followed, hunting down the wolf-ships of the Norscan fleets with a cold vengeance that made even her own crew invoke the sign of Manann for protection. When the Imperial fleet approached the Swordfysh with letters of marque, intending to enlist her in the war against Chaos, she opened fire upon them too. Aranessa would be beholden to no man, living or dead.[2a]
Aranessa was present when an Undead attack on Sartosa left its port in flames. Battling alongside a former lover -- Captain Jaego Roth, she and her crew were eventually forced to flee in the face of overwhelming numbers. Not long after, and being chased by the Skaven ship known as the Skabrus, she met Roth again, who offered her a share of his vast, stolen wealth if only she would help him defeat the Vampire pirate Count Noctilus, commander of the Dreadfleet and the one responsible for the attack on Sartosa. Plagued by dreams every night suggesting that Noctilus needed to be destroyed, and tempted by the offer of treasure, Aranessa agreed over a barrel of the finest Tilean rum.[2a]
Aranessa Saltspite as rendered in Total War: Warhammer II.
The Swordfysh and the other ships helping Roth attacked the Dreadfleet off the coast of Tilea near Luccini. The attack failed, the Dreadfleet got away and the Swordfysh had lost almost a hundred crewmembers to ghosts and had to be repaired after a hole had been blasted in its hull.[2a]
Resolved to strike at the Galleon's Graveyard itself, Aranessa attacked first in a raid on the Forbidden Citadel, a fortress built atop an island on the outskirts of the Graveyard. Aranessa was briefly captured by the citadel's Undead garrison, but freed herself and cut a bloody swathe through its forces to return to the Swordfysh and her crew just as Roth joined the attack. Pushing through to the maelstrom at the heart of the Graveyard, Aranessa rammed the Curse of Zandri, and sank the Black Kraken before she was sucked into the maelstrom, where she is presumed to have died.[2a][4a]
Vampire Coast
"Very nasty -- tends to rip 'em apart and send 'em down to Stromfels' Chest with all hands lost...to my true father's delight!"
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Icon of Aranessa Saltspire and her Zombie Pirates army of Sartosa in Total War: Warhammer II[3a]
In Total War: Warhammer II, Aranessa Saltspite remained one of the most respected and feared pirate captains of Sartosa. Some said she was the daughter of the sea god Manann himself and that he whispered to her to take control of all the Known World's oceans. Many a sea-bloated corpse washed up against the Swordfysh's hull, and so her Vampire first mates breathed unlife into them, creating a vast rabble of loyal crew, ready to serve at Captain Saltspite's command.[3a]
However, as part of the living realm rather than one of the Undead, Saltspite commanded a Human pirate crew known as the Sartosa Free Company, and reluctantly shared control of the pirate port with the denizens of the Vampire Coast.[3a]
Appearance
Aranessa Saltspite concept art as rendered for Total War: Warhammer II.
Aranessa Saltspite is ruthlessness and charismatic. She may not be Undead but she is far from truly Human, the inherent resilience of her warped form increasing her resistance to wounds and fatigue.[3a]
Aranessa has sapphire eyes.[4]
Aranessa Saltspite's false legs take the form of wickedly serrated sawfish bills.[4]
Before the battle at the Galleon's Graveyard between the Grand Alliance of Sartosan pirates and the Dreadfleet, the Golden Magus gifted Saltspire with a mechanical fishtail prosthesis he had personally crafted. She lost this device during her duel with the Undead Chaos Dwarf Tordrek Hackhart and his sentient submersible the Black Kraken. Yet it saved her life when Hackheart was unable to catch her and sank with his vessel into the depths of the sea.[4]
Wargear
"Look at 'em all, trapped like the stranded sea-turtles they are!"
- —Captain Aranessa Saltspite[3a]
Aranessa Saltspite's weapon Kraken's Bane as rendered for Total War: Warhammer II.
- Kraken's Bane - As its name suggests, the halberd Kraken's Bane bestows upon Aranessa Saltspite an aura that increases the vigour in the battle of her crew when facing particularly large foes.[3a]
- Rotting Prometheans - Aranessa Saltspite's keen knowledge of Rotting Prometheans and Rotting Leviathans allows her to ride Prometheans in battle. There are few sights as terrifying as her figure riding into battle on a giant, Undead crustacean.[3a]
Game History
Aranessa Saltspite depicted with blood-red eyes, standing behind the Vampire Lord Luthor Harkon, pirate king of the Vampire Coast, an image that led to speculation that Total War: Warhammer II had at first intended to portray Saltspite as a Vampire for the Curse of the Vampire Coast DLC.
The addition of Aranessa Saltspite as a Legendary Lord to Total War: Warhammer II generated some confusion and speculation among fans, particularly regarding her portrayal in the Curse of the Vampire Coast DLC.
Aranessa's first appearance in the promotional material for the DLC depicted her with unnatural, glowing red eyes, which are common traits associated with Vampires in the Warhammer universe. This led many fans to believe that Aranessa was initially intended to be a Vampire, aligning with the theme of the DLC, which featured the Undead Zombie Pirates.
The original description for the DLC on the Steam page referred to "Four undead legendary lords," which included Aranessa. However, this description was changed to "Four legendary lords." This change further fuelled speculation that Aranessa was originally intended to be Undead but that the developers at Creative Assembly made a last-minute decision to portray her differently, possibly to align her more closely with her original depiction in the Warhammer specialist tabletop game Dreadfleet, where she is not a Vampire.
Initially, there were issues with the Sartosa Free Company unit unique to Aranessa in the game. The unit appeared rushed, using animations meant for Empire Greatswords and not utilising the pirate-themed head mesh that would fit their lore and aesthetic. This added to the theory that changes were made to Aranessa's character late in development, possibly leading to some elements of her design feeling incomplete and out of place.
Sources
- 1: White Dwarf 382
- 1a: pg. 20
- 2: Dreadfleet Rulebook (Specialty Game)
- 3: Total War: Warhammer II (PC Game)
- 3a: Skills Tree
- 3b: Aranessa Saltspite
- 3c: The Saw-Shark's Blade, Special landmark building
- 4: Dreadfleet (Novel) by Phil Kelly
- 4a: Ch. 17
- 5: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Sea of Claws (RPG)
- 5a: pg. 50
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