Dauntless Ardor

I learned something new and horrifying today which is… that… no submarine is ever considered “lost” … there is apparently a tradition in the U.S. Navy that no submarine is ever lost. Those that go to sea and do not return are considered to be “still on patrol.”

?????

There is a monument about this along a canal near here its… the worst thing I have ever seen. it says “STILL ON PATROL” in huge letters and then goes on to specify exactly how many WWII submarine ghosts are STILL OUT THERE, ON PATROL (it is almost 2000 WWII submarine ghosts, ftr). Here is the text from it:

“U.S. Navy Submarines paid heavily for their success in WWII. A total of 374 officers and 3131 men are still on board these 52 U.S. submarines still on patrol.”

THANKS A LOT, U.S. NAVY, FOR HAVING THIS TOTALLY NORMAL AND NOT AT ALL HORRIFYING TRADITION, AND TELLING ALL OF US ABOUT IT. THANKS. THANK YOU

Personal story time: whenever I go to Field Museum’s Egypt exhibit, I stop by the plaque at the entrance to the underground rooms. It has an English translation of a prayer to feed the dead, and a list of all the names they know of the mummies on display there. I always recite the prayer and read aloud the list of names. They wanted to live forever, to always have their souls fed and their names spoken. How would they feel about being behind glass, among strangers? Every little thing you can do to give respect for the dead is warranted.

But something deeper.  Something Other.  Something not natural.

Sailors have always been superstitious.

Not one of them described it right.

You don’t hear about it so much now that we don’t lose ships anymore, really, not like we did at the height of the sea trade when barely an inch of ocean floor didn’t bear some wreck or other.  And better ships and GPS and weather satellites have all played their part in that.

But we have protection now that we didn’t before.  They don’t interfere with war and battle, even on behalf of what used to be their country, or with rocks and weather and human stupidity.  Those are concerns for the living.

But the Other Things, the Things that shouldn’t be there - They can’t get to us now without a fight.  It’s a fight They haven’t won in a very long time.

As long as we remember them, as long as we call out to them - not very often, just once a year will do - they will keep protecting us from the Things that go bump in the deep.

Aries - Thinks they are the kingpin. Everyone lets them think they are the kingpin. Insists on driving in the flashy kingpin car. Wears an actual name tag. Constant assassination attempts on their life so sag/libra are always right behind them but it makes sense to let the aries have a good time since it deflects suspicion. Makes all the media appearances, also has the bar fights with Leo

Taurus - Permanently done with everyone’s shit. Handles everything that isn’t being handled and does it efficiently. Insists on combing over any contracts anyone drafts or signs with a magnifying glass. Creates organized hitlists and shitlists so everyone knows what’s up. Also caters the mob meetings since they take up stress cooking to deal with it

Gemini - The one that does a lot of the planning. You’re not actually sure where the loyalty is or if they do this because it’s fun for now. This makes them an asset. They spend a lot of time tinkering with poisons & they speak too many languages to be who they say they are.

Cancer - Probably mob matriarch. Rules through the family lineage and thus commands a lot of inherent respect from the entire clan. Involved in making big decisions for the future due to being a sort of historian. Nobody tolerates anyone disrespecting the cancer

Leo - The actual kingpin. The one you send out for making all the deals/negotiations happen because leo will handle it other ways if it’s not happening the diplomatic way. Hates that politics get in the way of how much shit COULD be getting done if everyone could stop being babies for 5 minutes yet reminds everyone constantly they are the actual power of this organization and says “come at me bro” an awful lot

Virgo - Cleaning crew. Knows one-hundred-and-ten ways to make a body disappear. Everyone lives in fear because you know if something happened to you nobody would ever know because virgo is an expert at their craft. Knows the names of a lot of acids just by heart

Libra - The one you send into fancy events to infiltrate, spy and bring back information. Disturbingly good at robbery & pickpocketing. Plays a suspicious number of strange instruments for someone from a “small town out west”. Probably has an actual version of the mona lisa even though they tell you it’s a copy

Scorpio - Tangentially so close to the kingpin they’re pulling a lot of strings so might as well be dual running the place. The advisor with ulterior motives.The one you don’t actually want to send out because it’ll get too messy.

Sagittarius - The one you send in with the Libra so someone can remind the Libra it’s a mission for a job, not for pleasure. Probably the explosives expert. Brilliant, but you have suspicions there’s an important screw loose. Internationally wanted diamond thief, banned from several countries.

Capricorn - Rules the entire thing from the bottom because of an iron fist on the accounting. Nobody realizes this unless the capricorn decides to pull it out from under them. Could honestly end the cash-flow to several mobs in the area with one phone call

Aquarius - The inventor of the weird gadgets for the mob. Has literally no horses in this race loyalty wise but these people gave them a nice lab & test subjects & that was very nice of them because it aligns with their aims to revolutionize the world.