War.
It was one of the few things that you remembered, an enormous conflict that had swept across the globe and plunged the world, one still recovering from the Great War, into chaos and disorder. Some anticipated it, and built up their strength in advance, taking advantage of the trust of others, and some had refused to accept the possibility of war returning, and tried in vain to call for conferences and councils: But the majority, just as in the first, had tried to keep themselves
out of what they saw as a solely European affair.
But it was not to be, and the flames of war, once thought forever quenched after the War to End All Wars, once more set the planet ablaze...and in the process, had seen you sunk: In the dark grey depths of the sea, where the light retreated in face of a black abyss, your final resting place laid undisturbed - the sound of the ocean, calm and soothing, your only companion.
But you remembered something...else, too. Before your steel body had gently settled down on the white sand at the bottom of this dark abyss, before the rain of debris from above had ceased, you had felt a...shift, the world turning almost upside down and twisting into strange shapes and forms in the encroaching darkness, before it all faded away into nothing and the sounds of the sea became your only companion. Memories faded. The war itself, the sounds of it, faded away. Artillery fire halted. Depth charges remained on their rails. A sombre quiet soon followed.
Peace, it seemed, had arrived at last.
After years of silence, you could faintly hear a soft sound of screws churning in the water, too slow to be warships and yet too loud to be a submarine - screws that closely resembled those of pre-War merchant ships, a faint buzz that grew louder and louder with time. Merchant ships, sailing through the seas, without a care in the world. For decades the sea was plied with merchants and traffic once more, trade flowing freely.
But lately, however, they had become far quieter, the reassuring hum and buzz of machinery and screws replaced by an eerie silence...
You heard
it first, but being on the ocean floor, it was...distorted, the dull roar of cannon fire, the muted sounds of secondary batteries unleashing shells, mixed together with the sound of steel hulls tearing apart - it created a cacophony of sound that was audible even on the ocean floor.
And then you
felt It, amongst the gunfire and the sounds of battle on the surface. Tar-like darkness, as black as the unending Abyss, covering all in
Its path. Reaching out, a ghostly hand unseen by anyone almost touching, you withdrew with a hiss of pain before even touching the Tar: It was a gigantic blob of raw hate, sorrow, regrets and everything negative, mixed with a cocktail of despair and fear.
Thousands of images of burning ships and shattered cities flashed through your mind for a short second, and while you tried to shake that image away
It beckoned, promising revenge against all that wronged you, no matter who they once were, no matter how powerful they were, but something felt...wrong, about the images - a disconnect between what you saw and what you remembered. Too much of a disconnect, too many things generic, too many things laced with fake imprints, and the rotting stench of burning flesh and ash.
...It was a trap, a poisoned chalice. This...offer, by the Abyss, it would not end well, wouldn't it? This would be the deal with the devil, and everyone knew that there were...
strings, attached when dealing with him. But you were not the only spirit, weren't you? Others may have taken the deal, corrupted by the rot you felt - and from what you heard and felt, that could only end in disaster...!
So you nodded resolutely, gathered up everything that once made you,
you...
...And
pulled.
What had you been, once?
[ ] You had been the eyes and ears of the fleet, the Light Cruiser keeping an eye out for threats both on and below the waves while guiding the fleet's various destroyers and escorting the battleships. Captured while under construction, languishing in the slipways, yet completed by the enemy, it is...strange, to sail again, this time fighting against the regrets and pains of the past. After all...you have so many, that it is hard to count them all. But fate had been upset once already - a second time is not impossible.
"What would have been the Seven Provinces, the spectre of the past returned to the present. Wie ben jij?"
[ ] Long ago, you had served the fatherland as a noble Heavy Cruiser, protecting her interests over the entirety of the globe, with armament and speed unrivalled at the time. You fought brilliantly against great odds, extracting victory from the jaws of defeat, but eventually, sank at the hands of a ship that overpowered you in every aspect - a true warrior's death, and one you accepted with grace. But the days have changed, and your efforts are needed once more, even as a nagging feeling says something is very, very wrong...
"Für Gott, Kaiser, und Vaterland: the pride of the Imperial Navy, and her ever-loyal servant."
[ ] A masterful raider, capable of hunting down even the most elusive prey: Able to outfight everything fast enough to overtake you, while at the same time having the speed to escape any battleship with guns large enough to hurt you, the term Battlecruiser would be the best description that applies to you - and now, having returned at long last, the hunt on the Abîme, the Abyss, begins. Though, just about everything about the world feels...off, like staring in a mirror in a fun-house...
"L'épée de la nation, le bouclier de la république! Vous n'échouerez pas!"
[ ] The pride of the Navy, a battleship without compare, you were spent on the distant blockade before being assigned to escort convoys. In the end, you fought against an enemy that proved even more formidable than yourself and paid the price of the pyrrhic victory: Against this rot the Abyss seems to be however, history will change - your efforts and skills will ensure total victory, irrespective of everything thrown your way, burning away the shame of that defeat.
"A representation of what never was in this cursed world, you are a true aberration."
[ ] The depths of the Atlantic were your home, the silence of the seas your best friend, the humming of screws in the distance your ever-hapless targets. As a submarine that stalked the entirety of the oceans from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, your prey was everything that floated on the waves - which now includes the black hole of negative emotions you have termed the Abisso...
"Lo spettro della morte, il cacciatore di navi. Ma, dov'è casa tua?"
