Heretic Captains
The Heretic Captain is the absolute master of their ship and every soul aboard it. Most of the Naval Raider Captains are followers of sea demons such as Marquis Forneus, Duchess Vepar, Grand Duke Focalor, or even King Vine, known as the strongest spirit of the sea since God chained Leviathan. Other powers of Hell also take interest in sea lanes due to the vast wealth to be stolen there: Mammon maintains strong piratical raiding fleets on the Atlantic, Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean. On the Mediterranean, the mighty fleet of Wrath under the command of the High Captain Marduk wages ceaseless war against the Papal Fleet and other Faithful navies.
During major operations, High Captains will gather their fleets together and cooperate with the Lords of the Sixty-Six and their land armies, but for the majority of the time Heretic Captains are free to roam as the fancy takes them. Some band together to form raiding fleets, while others operate alone. Each Heretic Captain typically has a patrol area or sea lane assigned to them, along with standing commands to attack Faithful merchantmen and warships as they see fit to disrupt enemy trade and supply lines, and to terrorise coastal settlements.
Heretic Captains act as both the naval commanders and high priests of their ships. They distribute the loot, decide on promotions and punishments within their ranks, and select targets for raids. They pick and recruit their own crew, and are free to induct or coerce captives into joining them. Their power is spiritual as well as physical. Each Heretic Captain maintains a shrine to their patron demon on their vessel. In the cramped spaces of the dreaded Heretic submarines, this might be a simple portable altar with candles made of human fat, but a large Behemoth-class warship may well hold an entire temple along with a sacrificial altar in its bowels.
Goetic navigation devices and their usage are carefully guarded secrets which each Captain guards jealously from prying eyes. They alone know the rituals and sacrifices required to raise sea fog to hide their approach when raiding coastal settlements. Most importantly of all, the Heretic Captains hold the radio wavelengths to receive their secret orders – and know the rituals to quell the cacodemons that infest the radio waves, causing insanity and demonic possession upon those foolish enough to spy on the transmissions of the Heretic high command. Without this, communication and coordination with the rest of the Heretic fleet would become impossible, and reports on the location of Faithful warships which hunt the Heretic sea wolves would go unheeded.
On the infamous Heretic submarines they hold the codes and sigils for launching Revenant Torpedoes. These underwater missiles hold both explosives and space for a captive, be it a prisoner, a Wretched slave, or a crewmate who has displeased their Captain. The bones of such a poor soul are broken, before their remains are crammed into the compartment on the torpedo, where they will perish as the deadly Goetic sigils carved into it create unearthly heat to power the missile.
Timing the death of such a sacrifice is crucial: when the victim dies, the torpedo will momentarily shift between Earth and Hell, allowing it to bypass the armour of an enemy ship. This makes these torpedoes among the most feared naval weapons in the arsenal of the Heretic fleets.
Heretic Captains lead their crews in the veneration of and sacrifices to their patron demon, constantly on the alert lest any of their flock stray from the path to make offerings to rival infernal nobles in hopes of mounting a successful mutiny. In this priestly role, a Heretic Captain manipulates weaker-minded crew members into intense self-hatred, and encourages them should they decide to plunge to a watery death dragged down by their chains and weights. With such proper spiritual guidance, the chances of the would-be Choristers returning from the depths as one of the undead are far greater.
Each Infernal noble demands different requirements, vows and duties from the Captains under their thrall: Great Duchess of Hell, Vepar commands that each ship dedicated to her is captained by a woman, while King Vine requires a Captain in his service to maintain a nest of vipers in their cabin, and to carry one about their person at all times.
During times of crisis, difficult operations and desperate battles, Heretic Captains often call upon their Patron, seeking additional supernatural assistance. This may be granted, but always at a price. They will take on new vows and submit themselves to new taboos which they cannot break. Each such action robs them of a little bit of their remaining humanity, and sets them further apart from the rest of their crew. As the years pass, their vows multiply, tying them ever-tighter to their patron and further apart from their crew, who will come to regard them with both dread and envy.
This lonely position makes them strange and paranoid creatures: they are wild, driven men and women, hearing the commands of their Infernal patron ever more loudly, striving to fulfil the whims of a master that grow increasingly complex as the years pass.
The immense number of lives a Heretic Captain sacrifices to their patron can grant wondrous boons. For some, an eternal spring of blood wells within their armour, bleeding through every gap as they stride the command deck. Bathing in such a font grants them strength and unending life… providing the flow of loot and sacrifices never diminishes. Should their patron grow dissatisfied with their offerings, such boons can just as quickly become mortal punishment: live-giving blood transforming into the scalding waters that leak from the bowels of the earth, or once blessed armour suddenly crushed by the unimaginable pressure of the oceanic abyss.