Off the coast of a massive city is the poor side of it. A harbor area would normally be a luxury, but Saltside is not such a place. It's a modern place, named after the industry that brings the city the most riches. This salt is not your regular salt, it has cooling to a greater extend than normal salt would. The ocean surrounding Saltside has its temperature drastically colder than other places around the ring of bodies of water known as Warm Reef. Bad weather is common and with the cold sea, makes the entire city have an uncomfortable temperature and can lead to sickness and falling debris. People were able to ease this problem by building a sort of shield to keep the worst of the winds away, improving citizens' mood and making the population healthier. That is, if you can afford to move to a shielded neighbourhood. Saltside is plauged with poverty, and the coastal areas that cannot be sheilded had already been the hub of the poor, and now, even more so. Salt mining operation had released the cold stuff into the tides, attracting sea creatures who would normally not be here, and who pose a threat to the people.
Havpragt was not by any means a known ship, it was not notable and it was not old, just another poor Saltside vessel. The previous captain had been charged for the murder of the man, a nurse, who had refused to treat his wife who had suffered injuries while at sea, and knowing the death penalty would await him anyway, he embarged on a journey to kill a sea beast like the one who hurt his beloved. He came back, gravely wounded, but victorious. Before he passed away, he told his young daughter, Soefarer, to carry on his legacy and that his sailor friend would take care of her. He gave his captain's hat to her and promply bled to death.
Soefarer grew up with a hatred of the sea, salt and the ruling power. She was helpless again the latter two, so she took on the battle with the only option she could do something about. She did not care who or what the ocean creatures were or had been, all she knew is that she hated them. She mourned the parents she barely knew, ignorant to the fully concious parents and children she murdered. News of a large and furious beast spread, it was relatively far away, but it would approach and it would be dangerous, people said. That was all Soefarer needed to hear, she got her crew and she set sail. The weather was bad, but it always was, so she shook it off. Evil did not stop for wind, why should she? After days of sailing, Havpragt reached its target. Truly a massive creature, it needed to die. A tough battle ensued, lasting hours if not days, but eventually the crew emerged victorious. In a final act, the beast writhed as much as it could in the water, driving the ship into an ocean of spiked rock in the middle of nowhere. Havpragt could withstand most of the impact, but the situation was not made any better by that. It was still too damaged to sail, and after weeks, the canned and dried food on board ran out. The crew tried to fast and conserve to the best of their abilities, but with no rescue in sight, their minds were degraded. Hunger furthered madness, and by the one month mark, paranoia rose as a crewmember had been found dead, split open and eaten from. With distrust, the bad attempts of making an emergency raft evaporated. People tried drinking the salty water, they knew it would make them sick, but they were so very desperate to fill their bellies with something. Soefarer had preserved her sanity best for the most part. After two months of people killing people to eat, and pretending to be oblivious, Soefarer had to awkknowlegde that she had completely and utterly failed. This led to a breakdown worse than anyone else on Havpragt had faced. She was feral and could not be reasoned with to any dregree.
Two years later, a vessel decided to look into what had really happened to that girl who always spoke of sea creatures. When they arrived, nobody on board was alive, as excepted. The stink of death still loomed, the salt had not allowed the bodies to decompose naturally. In the hallway by the captain's cabin, they found Soefarer. She was dead, her side had been cut open and her own guts were stuffed down her throat. By the blade lying in her hand, it was a clear suicide. In the cabin itself, bodies were tucked into bed. Each of them had been mutilated and had chunks of flesh ripped out from them. A small funeral was held for the deceased, the city folk kept bustling by the handcrafted memorial.