Gift of the Sea

22 pages, staple bound zine, color cover, black & white interior. Used.

Beyond the forest lies a jagged rocky coast, where a small seaside village has observed the rites of Greentide for generations. Each spring as the first green shoots emerge, the village elders weave an effigy from sapling branches and seaweed, crafting the likeness of a young woman. The sculpture filled with gifts before it is cast into the waves as an offering to the Queen of Tides, along with prayers for a bountiful catch for their nets and protection from storms. This ancient tradition harks back to an age when the ancestors would crown a young woman as the Tide Queen and offer her to the sea in sacrifice. Chieftains and princes would travel far to attend the ceremony, pledging gold, jewels and the finest crafts of their settlements. To this day, local fisherman never leave shore without paying her their respects - for the tide, they say, must have its due.

Strange as the customs of an isolated village may be, it has not escaped the notice of keen treasure hunters that centuries of offerings and shipwrecks have left a great hoard of untouched riches beneath the waves. You know of the island offshore, where the offerings are tipped overboard. You have heard rumors of a deep cove there, just visible at low tide. Superstitious villagers avoid it, but you know better than to believe their tales.

Will you emerge with treasures long kept hidden by the sea? Or will you become another offering and join the court of the Queen Below the Waves?

Gift of the Sea, a tidal folk-horror incursion for Trophy Dark, was a runner up in the Trophy Dark Incursion Contest last year. Now you can seek the treasures of the sea yourself, and discover what truth there is to the fisherman's tales.

Rules for Trophy Dark are included.

Art and layout for this incursion by Ember and Ash.