Whorls

What a whorl is#

A WHORL is the spiral that makes a shell itself, and on the Shore it is the one power a legendary or primordial piece or charm carries beyond its numbers and its knacks. A knack is a knob the whole kit sums and caps; a whorl is a RULE the fight runs by for the cockle that carries it: a second bite may bite a third time, the first blow of every fight finds the seam, the shell shuts early, a knack runs past its cap. It sits on the card under the knacks, lined off, in italics and the legendary red with its own mark (), and on your sheet under the knacks line the same way. A fight’s intro names every whorl in play, and the log says so when one turns.

Every legendary and primordial piece and charm is made with exactly one whorl. A mythic may draw one at the press, one cast in 10, from a smaller pool (the table marks which); such a whorl wears the dice, because the cast itself drew it. The three relics of ascendancy carry none: they are four power groups already. Two whorls of one kind never stack; the kit keeps the stronger. An unsealer’s added knob is the one exception: a knob is a knob, and they add.

The value, the cast, the forge and the brine#

A whorl has a VALUE with a band of its own, and it rolls with the cast on a die of its own like every other figure on the piece: the die counts toward the copy’s Lustre, the Potential eye brackets it, and a primordial carrier’s band runs 15% wider. The forge grows it by 10% of the printed value a level and corrosion takes the same share back, so a rusted piece’s whorl reads red with the full value quoted, like its knacks; a charm’s wakens on the knacks’ gentle curve (5% a level). At the Shellsmith or the Grotto the die can be turned again (see the Forge). A whorl never changes a copy’s name: the name carries the barbs and the grain, and the red line is where the whorl speaks.

Unsealing#

Every knack is held to a kit cap however much your pieces add up to (see Gear). An UNSEALER lifts one knack’s cap to its unsealed ceiling for as long as you wear it, and adds a knob of its own on top: with the right whorl and a kit rolled high, every blow can find the seam, every blow can bite twice, no affliction need ever land. The sheet’s cap chip reads “unsealed” on that line.

The unsealers
Whorl	Unseals	Sealed cap	Unsealed	Adds	Carried by
The Unsealed Seam	Seam	+50%	+90%	4% to 10%	weapons, fins, pearls, charms
The Unsealed Split	Split	+150%	+320%	20% to 50%	weapons, fins, charms
The Unsealed Second Bite	Second bite	+50%	+100%	5% to 12%	weapons, fins, charms
The Unsealed Turn	Turn	+50%	+100%	5% to 12%	armour, fins, charms
The Unsealed Drink	Drink	+30%	+100%	3% to 8%	armour, pearls, charms
The Unsealed Sting	Sting	+100%	+200%	15% to 40%	pearls, weapons, charms
The Unsealed Spines	Urchin	+30%	+100%	5% to 12%	armour, pearls, charms
The Red Water Unsealed	Chum	+25%	+60%	5% to 12%	weapons, fins, charms

The whorls#

Each whorl at the bottom and the top of its band, said the way its card says it. The printed win odds price every whorl, yours and your rival’s, exactly as the engine fights it.

Every whorl, what it does and its range
Whorl	What it does	Range	Carried by	Mythic pool
Third Bite	A second bite bites a third time, 30% of the time.	20% to 40%	weapons, fins, charms	yes
First Blood	The first blow of every fight finds the seam, and lands 20% harder besides.	10% to 30%	weapons, fins
Spines Against the Crit	The urchin’s spines give back x2 against a blow that found the seam.	x1.5 to x2.5	armour, pearls
The Sure Sting	Every affliction’s cap becomes 75% for this cockle: a heavy bite stings as often as it lands.	50% to 100%	pearls, weapons, charms	yes
Rust-Proof	This piece never rusts, and takes 45% of the kit’s daily corrosion onto itself besides.	30% to 60%	weapons, armour, fins, pearls
Backwash	35% of the bite your wards soak washes back onto the striker, unwarded.	20% to 50%	armour, pearls, charms
Second Wind	Once a fight, falling under a fifth of your Health heals 23% of it back.	15% to 30%	armour, pearls, charms	yes
Off the Mark	Your first 3 blows of a fight come at double speed.	2 to 4	fins, weapons	yes
The Shut Shell	The shell shuts at 68% of your Health instead of 50%.	60% to 75%	armour, pearls, charms	yes
The Full Tide	Your afflictions run deeper: corrosion and wounds tick once more, and a chill numbs and a shock lingers 20% further.	15% to 25%	pearls, weapons, charms
Held Line	Your turn is x1.75 as likely against a blow that found the seam.	x1.5 to x2	armour, fins
The Even Keel	Blows against you swing 45% less: a steadier fight, a smaller upset.	30% to 60%	armour, pearls, charms	yes
Glass Edge	Your split is +60% deeper, and a blow that finds your own seam splits a quarter deeper too.	40% to 80%	weapons
The Long Memory	Every blow that misses the seam raises the next blow’s seam by 5%, until one finds it.	3% to 6%	weapons, fins, charms	yes
Kindred Tempers	Your lead bite is carried onto the other two elements at 45% of its strength.	30% to 60%	weapons, pearls, charms	yes
The Deep Drink	Your drink also drinks from what your spines and snapbacks deal, at 75% of its share.	50% to 100%	armour, pearls
Undertow Grip	Your bite finds 18% more of the gap in a ward, and a blow the rival turns aside still leaves its chum in full.	10% to 25%	weapons, charms
The Patient Shell	A blow you turn aside gives 45% of the share it lost back to the striker.	30% to 60%	armour

Rust-Proof is the one whorl with no rule in the fight: its piece never rusts, and it takes a share of the kit’s daily brine onto itself (see Corrosion). Glass Edge is the one whorl that cuts both ways: a deeper split for you, and a deeper split against you.