The Chromatic Chord
Current-Bound, a bestiary plate

Current-Bound

The Current-Bound are the beings of the Surging Deep that are part of the flow itself, taking the form of water, mist, or living current. Through them the plane’s energy and matter are carried from place to place. Among them are the Wave-Weavers, which shape currents into paths and barriers, and the Life-Bearers, which carry the seeds of life; the Drifters, travellers who surrendered to the flow, are counted with them.

At a Glance
Kind

Plane native

Habitat

Currents of the realm of water and flow

Range

The Surging Deep

Danger

Wary: their currents can carry a traveller away

Appearance

They are seen as currents with a will: a twist of clearer water moving against the tide, a pale mist that holds its shape over the waves, a ribbon of glowing silver drifting through the depths. Some take a loose human or fish-like outline for a moment and lose it again. They are cool and smell of open sea.

Habitat and Range

They move through the oceans and upward rivers of the Surging Deep, wherever energy and matter are being carried from one place to another.

Behaviour and Temperament

They guide flow. A Current-Bound does not hunt or speak; it moves what must be moved and keeps the circulation of the plane going. They pay little heed to travellers, except to carry them along.

Uses and Dangers

They are how the Deep circulates, and a traveller who goes with them is carried far and fast. Their danger is that a traveller swept away by one can be stranded in a distant part of the plane, or become part of the current.

Lore and Belief

Sailors on Caeldon speak of currents that seem to know where they are going, and fishers of a cold, clear ribbon in the sea that they do not cross; whether any of these are Current-Bound is not known.