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The Jagged Hand That Feeds is a Palleseen warship seized by the Cotto pirates during the Ogre War operations in the Donjon region and renamed upon capture, its former identity as the Mordant acknowledged only in the Cotto's casual gesture of firing its Pal engines as a departure salute - a treatment of the vessel's prior military function as mere pyrotechnic spectacle. Its significance to the series lies in what it becomes after seizure: not a prize of war or a vessel of continued military use, but a mobile altar for a necromantic sea-ceremony, carrying the last physical remains of the dead god Kakrops to be fed to the ocean.

Across its single book of appearance, the ship's arc is one of total appropriation. Its Palleseen origins are progressively subsumed as the Cotto repurpose its structure - its rails, its deck, its hold - into the apparatus of ritual, until by the time it reaches open ocean it is described simply as a Cotto pirate vessel, its former identity dissolved into the ritual geography of a voyage bound for the Necropolis. The fate of the captured Palleseen soldiers aboard, and of the jars of godflesh still held in its hold, is left unstated as the book closes, leaving the vessel sailing beyond the reach of the narrative.

== The Object ==
=== Description ===
The Jagged Hand That Feeds is a Palleseen vessel of sufficient size to carry multiple jars of godflesh in its hold, a deck and rails broad enough for sigils to be marked across them, and Pal engines powerful enough to be fired as a departure salute. It was originally named the Mordant. No further physical details - dimensions, rigging, armament beyond the engines - are specified in the text.

=== What It Does ===
The ship functions as a mobile altar for a sea-ceremony in which all remaining flesh of the dead god Kakrops is fed to the ocean. [[The Tyrant Philosophers/Orhuhst|Orhuhst]], the Hullseer of the Cotto, marks sigils on the rails and deck at twilight while the Cotto crew haul jars of godflesh up from the hold for the ritual. The vessel is on a voyage bound for the Necropolis. During the ceremony Orhuhst stands on the deck and presides, feeling the presence of the [[The Tyrant Philosophers/Shark Queen|Shark Queen]], the [[The Tyrant Philosophers/Fisher King|Fisher King]], and all sea-gods "louring down like storm clouds" above the water - ch 50.

=== Provenance ===
The vessel was built and operated by Pal military forces under the name Mordant. It was seized by the Cotto pirates during the Ogre War operations in the Donjon region and renamed upon capture - ch 48. [[The Tyrant Philosophers/Orhuhst|Orhuhst]] supervises the loading of jars of godflesh aboard the ship. Its Palleseen military identity is acknowledged only in the act of renaming, when the Cotto intend to fire the captured Pal engines as a departure salute - ch 48. By the book's close the ship is on the open ocean, its Palleseen origins fully subsumed into the Cotto ritual voyage - ch 50.

== History ==
=== Days of Shattered Faith ===
The [[The Tyrant Philosophers/Jagged Hand That Feeds|Jagged Hand That Feeds]] is a Palleseen vessel, originally named the [[The Tyrant Philosophers/Mordant|Mordant]], seized by the [[The Tyrant Philosophers/Cotto|Cotto]] pirates and renamed upon capture during the Ogre War operations in the [[The Tyrant Philosophers/Donjon|Donjon]] region - ch 48. Its former Palleseen identity is acknowledged even in the act of renaming: the Cotto intend to fire the captured Pal engines as a departure salute when the ship puts to sea, a gesture that treats the vessel's prior military function as mere pyrotechnic spectacle - ch 48. [[The Tyrant Philosophers/Orhuhst|Orhuhst]], the Hullseer of the Cotto, supervises the loading of jars of godflesh aboard the ship and exchanges a wary farewell with [[The Tyrant Philosophers/Dekamran|Dekamran]], who arrives atop his ogrodon; Orhuhst predicts that the two of them will be enemies one day - ch 48.

By the time the vessel reaches open ocean, it functions as the mobile altar for a sea-ceremony to which all remaining flesh of the dead god [[The Tyrant Philosophers/Kakrops|Kakrops]] is fed to the ocean. On the deck at twilight, Orhuhst marks sigils on the rails and deck, and the Cotto crew haul jars of godflesh up from the hold for the ritual - ch 50. Orhuhst stands on the deck and presides over the ceremony, feeling the presence of the [[The Tyrant Philosophers/Shark Queen|Shark Queen]], the [[The Tyrant Philosophers/Fisher King|Fisher King]], and all sea-gods "louring down like storm clouds" above the water - ch 50. The ship at this point is described simply as a Cotto pirate vessel on the open ocean, its Palleseen origins fully subsumed into the ritual geography of the [[The Tyrant Philosophers/Necropolis|Necropolis]]-bound voyage - ch 50. What ultimately becomes of the captured Palleseen soldiers and the jars aboard the ship remains unstated at the close of the book - implied, ch 50.

== Relationships ==
* '''[[The Tyrant Philosophers/Orhuhst|Orhuhst]]''' - As Hullseer of the Cotto, Orhuhst is the vessel's ritual master aboard: he supervises the loading of godflesh jars, exchanges a wary farewell with [[The Tyrant Philosophers/Dekamran|Dekamran]] on the dock, and later presides over the sea-ceremony on the open deck, marking sigils and feeling the presence of the sea-gods. The ship is the stage for his authority - ch 48, ch 50.
* '''[[The Tyrant Philosophers/Dekamran|Dekamran]]''' - Dekamran arrives atop his ogrodon to exchange a wary farewell with Orhuhst as the ship is being loaded. Orhuhst predicts that the two of them will be enemies one day. The interaction is brief and takes place on the dockside before the vessel puts to sea - ch 48.
* '''[[The Tyrant Philosophers/Kakrops|Kakrops]]''' - The dead god whose remaining flesh, stored in jars in the ship's hold, constitutes the cargo and the ritual substance of the sea-ceremony. The vessel exists in this chapter of the narrative principally as the means of transporting and disposing of this flesh - ch 48, ch 50.
* '''[[The Tyrant Philosophers/Shark Queen|Shark Queen]]''' and '''[[The Tyrant Philosophers/Fisher King|Fisher King]]''' - Sea-gods whose presence Orhuhst perceives overhead during the ceremony the ship hosts, their attention directed downward "like storm clouds" upon the deck and the ocean below - ch 50.

== Tags ==
#ship · #cotto · #pirate-vessel

[[Category:The Tyrant Philosophers/Objects]]

The Tyrant Philosophers/Jagged Hand That Feeds - Revision history

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