The Siren of the Pier: a monster from the comedic poetry of Thomas Hood

Some members of House Merintia report the existence of a creature they call “the siren of the pier”. It takes its name from its habit of killing sailors however, metaphysically, it is more similar to possessing spirits like the Mormo (in Realms of Power: Faerie). The siren selects the beloved of a sailor returning to port, then steals her affection away. It then puppets the possessed woman so that she breaks the heart of her sailor-swain. This causes him to commit suicide. To do this the Siren of the Pier forces a series of personality trait rolls. n

Note that the creature can attack anyone who has returned from a long distance over water. Sailors are apparently its preferred victims but merchants or soldiers from foreign wars are also common targets. The faerie cannot force these rolls on true lovers, so it avoids selecting them as victims.

Thomas Hood, a 19th century poet, wrote two works called his “Faithless poems” about women left behind by sailors and soldiers. Hood was a comedian: some of his puns don’t quite land in the early 21st century.

The recordings used in the podcast were read into the public domain by Leonard Wilson through LibriVoxt. Thanks to Leonard. Statistics for the creature will added to this post during the November Monster Challenge, as will statistics for the creature ritually prevented by the stake in the second poem.

Faithless Sally Brown

YOUNG BEN he was a nice young man,
A carpenter by trade;
And he fell in love with Sally Brown,
That was a lady’s maid.

But as they fetched a walk one day,
They met a press-gang crew;
And Sally she did faint away,
Whilst Ben he was brought to.

The boatswain swore with wicked words
Enough to shock a saint,
That, though she did seem in a fit,
’T was nothing but a feint.

“Come, girl,” said he, “hold up your head,
He ’ll be as good as me;
For when your swain is in our boat
A boatswain he will be.”

So when they ’d made their game of her,
And taken off her elf,
She roused, and found she only was
A coming to herself.

“And is he gone, and is he gone?”
She cried and wept outright;
“Then I will to the water-side,
And see him out of sight.”

A waterman came up to her;
“Now, young woman,” said he,
“If you weep on so, you will make
Eye-water in the sea.”

“Alas! they ’ve taken my beau, Ben,
To sail with old Benbow;”
And her woe began to run afresh,
As if she ’d said, Gee woe!

Says he, “They ’ve only taken him
To the tender-ship, you see.”
“The tender-ship,” cried Sally Brown,
“What a hard-ship that must be!”

“O, would I were a mermaid now,
For then I ’d follow him!
But O, I ’m not a fish-woman,
And so I cannot swim.

“Alas! I was not born beneath
The Virgin and the Scales,
So I must curse my cruel stars,
And walk about in Wales.”

Now Ben had sailed to many a place
That ’s underneath the world;
But in two years the ship came home,
And all her sails were furled.

But when he called on Sally Brown,
To see how she got on,
He found she ’d got another Ben,
Whose Christian-name was John.

“O Sally Brown! O Sally Brown!
How could you serve me so?
I ’ve met with many a breeze before,
But never such a blow!”

Then, reading on his ’bacco box,
He heaved a heavy sigh,
And then began to eye his pipe,
And then to pipe his eye.

And then he tried to sing, “All ’s Well!”
But could not, though he tried;
His head was turned,—and so he chewed
His pigtail till he died.

His death, which happened in his berth,
At forty-odd befell;
They went and told the sexton, and
The sexton tolled the bell.

A Pathetic Ballad (“Faithless Nelly Gray”)

BEN BATTLE was a soldier bold,
And used to war’s alarms;
But a cannon-ball took off his legs,
So he laid down his arms.

Now as they bore him off the field,
Said he, “Let others shoot;
For here I leave my second leg,
And the Forty-second Foot.”

The army-surgeons made him limbs:
Said he, “They ’re only pegs;
But there ’s as wooden members quite
As represent my legs.”

Now Ben he loved a pretty maid,—
Her name was Nelly Gray;
So he went to pay her his devours,
When he devoured his pay.

But when he called on Nelly Gray,
She made him quite a scoff;
And when she saw his wooden legs,
Began to take them off.

“O Nelly Gray! O Nelly Gray!
Is this your love so warm?
The love that loves a scarlet coat
Should be more uniform.”

Said she, “I loved a soldier once,
For he was blithe and brave;
But I will never have a man
With both legs in the grave.

“Before you had those timber toes
Your love I did allow;
But then, you know, you stand upon
Another footing now.”

“O Nelly Gray! O Nelly Gray!
For all your jeering speeches,
At duty’s call I left my legs
In Badajos’s breaches.”

“Why, then,” said she, “you ’ve lost the feet
Of legs in war’s alarms,
And now you cannot wear your shoes
Upon your feats of arms!”

“O false and fickle Nelly Gray!
I know why you refuse:
Though I ’ve no feet, some other man
Is standing in my shoes.

“I wish I ne’er had seen your face;
But, now a long farewell!
For you will be my death;—alas!
You will not be my Nell!”

Now when he went from Nelly Gray
His heart so heavy got,
And life was such a burden grown,
It made him take a knot.

So round his melancholy neck
A rope he did intwine,
And, for his second time in life,
Enlisted in the Line.

One end he tied around a beam,
And then removed his pegs;
And as his legs were off,—of course
He soon was off his legs.

And there he hung till he was dead
As any nail in town;
For, though distress had cut him up,
It could not cut him down.

A dozen men sat on his corpse,
To find out why he died,—
And they buried Ben in four cross-roads,
With a stake in his inside.

Creature Statistics

The Siren of the Pier

Faerie Might: 15

Characteristics:
(human form) Int +1, Per +1, Pre +0, Com +1, Str 0*, Sta 0* , Dex 0*, Qik 0*.
*These scores are provided by the host body.

Size: 0* (*as host)

Virtues and Flaws:. Focus Faerie Powers (possession, as below), 2 x Increased Might, Loosely material*, Incognizant.
* modified to a Minor Virtue: may only have form via possession power.

Personality Traits: Cruel +5.

Combat: Knife*: Initiative 0*, Attack +8*, Defense +6*, Damage +1**
* Modified by host statistics.

Soak: 0 (as host)

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16-20), Dead (21+) (*as host)

Pretenses:  May use the abilities of the host. Guile (victim) +5.

Powers:

Pine Away: 3 points, Init -3*, Corpus. *adjusted by host’s characteristics.
Causes the victim to lose the will to live, so that they eventually commit suicide. Treated as a Major disease with ease Factor 9 that causes a light wound, but Faerie Lore or Medicine can be used to treat the effect. The Siren’s melancholy seems to be stronger than other forms of this power, but it may be that she just chooses particularly vulnerable victims (who already have negative Personality traits or long term Fatigue levels due to their journeys.)
(as RoP:F p59.)

Possession : 1 or more points, Init. +2, Mentem: If this power penetrates, the victim is under the direct control of the Siren, becoming her host. If the Siren forces the host to act against her true nature, she must spend 1 might point and win a contested roll (Cruel vs whatever trait the host has which opposes the action). The Siren does not have the Mormo to trigger supernatural powers. Like the Mormo it can, however, pass through magical wards while possessing a human, so long as this is not forced by the possession power.

Equipment: As host.

Vis: 3 pawns, fingernails of host.

Appearance: As host: to second sight the creature looks like a scaly or barnacled growth on the host’s skin.

Ben Battle’s Revener

Ben Battle was staked as a suicide, so presumably they thought he’d come back as a revenant if not treated this way. That’s a bit odd: in some places cutting off a leg was considered sufficent to stop the dead walking.

Order: Vessel of Iniquity

Infernal Might: 5

Characteristics:
(human form) Int 0, Per +1, Pre +1, Com 0, Str -1*, Sta -3 , Dex 0, Qik -3**.
*Ben regenerates when he feeds. This raises his Strength score by +1 for every minor wound inflicted, up to a maximum +2. The score returns to -1 at daybreak.
** This score rises to +2 if Ben is using stolen legs, via the Mile in His Shoes power.

Size: -1, 0 if using stolen legs.

Virtues and Flaws:. Many

Confidence Score: 1 (3)

Personality Traits: Pride +3

Reputations: Jilted +1 (Infernal)

Combat:

Bite: Initiative 0*, Attack 5#, Defense 5#*, Damage +4**
Knife: Initiative 0*, Attack +2#, Defense 5#*, Damage +3**
Javelin: Initiative 0*, Attack +7#, Defense 5*#, Damage +4**
* If Ben is using stolen legs his Qik score is 5 points higher. This is not included in these scores.
** Ben regenerates when she feeds. This raises his Strength score, and his Damage bonus.
# Does not include ambush specialisation

Soak: -2 (bloated corpse)
Ben regenerates when he feeds. This raises his Strength score, and thus his Soak bonus.

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–4), –3 (5–8), –5 (9–12), Incapacitated (13-16), Dead (17+)

Abilities:  All suitable for story. Often creates a makeshift javelin to attack while legless (Thrown 5 (ambush)), Brawl 5 (ambush)

Powers:

Envisioning, 1 point, Init  0, Mentem: For 1 point, allows the demon to enter and twist dreams. If used to terrify, the victim can ignore it with a Brave Personality trait roll against an Ease factor of 9 or more. Failure to resist leads to a profound physical reaction, like a seizure. This allows Ben, when legless, to attack a thrashing victim.

Mile in His Shoes : 0 points, Init. -1 (but requires severed legs, which slows him down)., Corpus: Allows Ben to steal and reanimate legs, which he attaches to his stumps. The legs rot at the usual human rate, so he needs to replace them regularly.

Weakness: Cannot find his way at a crossroads -generally lacks any sense of direction and can be trapped in loops of travel.

Vis: 1 pawn, heart.

Appearance: A corpse of a double amputee in military uniform.