Jacob Macy

Let Neptune strike ye dead! Hark! Hark, Triton, Hark! Bellow! Bid our father the sea king rise from the depths full foul in his fury, black waves teaming with salt foam to smother this young mouth with pungent slime, to choke ye, engorging your organs ‘til ye turn blue and bloated with bilge and brine and can scream no more! Only when he, crowned in cockle shells, with slithering tentacle tail and steaming beard take up his fell, be-finned arm, his coral tine trident screeches banshee-like in the tempest and plunges right through yer gullet, bursting ye! A bulging bladder no more, but a blasted, bloody film now and nothing for the harpies and the souls of dead sailors to peck and claw and feed upon, only to be lapped up and swallowed by the infinite waters of the dread emperor himself! Forgotten to any man, to any time, forgotten to any god or devil, forgotten even to the sea…!
―Thomas Wake, “The Lighthouse” (2019)

Jacob Macy, Agent for Sleet, Baker & Blood

Statistics
Age 46, Nationality: American, Birthplace: Kingsport 1798. Kingsport Cult: Fifth Degree Initiate.

Combat

Skills
Accounting 80%, Anthropology 25%, Appraise 75%, Archeology 15%, Art/Craft (Blacksmith) 10%, Art/Craft (Carpentry) 20%, Art/Craft (Cooperage) 15%, Charm 5%, Climb 70%, Credit Rating 75%, Cthulhu Mythos 50%, Fast Talk 65%, First Aid 45%, History 40%, Intimidate 65%, Jump 40%, Kingsport Cult 50%, Law 60%, Leadership 40%, Library Use 60%, Listen 80%, Locksmith 15%, Mechanical Repair 45%, Medicine 20%, Natural World 20%, Navigate 45%, Occult 45%, Operate Heavy Machinery 20%, Persuade 65%, Pilot (Boat) 60%, Psychology 60%, Renown 75%, Seamanship 60%, Sea Lore 20%, Spot Hidden 80%, Stealth 25%, Swim 40%, Throw 40%, Whalecraft 70%.

Spells: Bend Quarry to Thy Power (Mental Suggestion), Chant de Possession (Dominate), Doigt de Malheur (Implant Fear), Eucharistia Viridi, Flesh Ward, Obscurcir la Mémoire (Cloud Memory), The Voorish Sign.

Description

Leathery, bearded, and gaunt, Jacob Macy has deliberately cultivated the appearance of the “weathered old salt.” He speaks around a gnarled wooden pipe, and his left ear is pierced with a small golden hoop. No matter the temperature, Macy remains huddled within an oversized pea-coat, and he shivers and trembles at the slightest breeze. Lately he’s taken to wearing a new Lighthouse Keeper’s cap, stolen from the government shipment intended for the Eltons at North Point—“What of it? Old Tom’s mad as King Timmy, and they ain’t made a ‘dress’ uniform for Becky yet, har har!” A terrible burn scars the left side of his face, twisting his expression in a perpetual, squinting leer. His hands are likewise scarred, but he usually covers them with fraying gloves. Macy takes a defiant attitude about his ruined face, staring strangers directly in the eye and cheerfully addressing their discomfort—“What’s wrong? Be ye confounded by my dev’lish handsome looks?”

While sailors may overlook Macy’s gnarled appearance, his repellent personality is impossible to ignore. The agent has a transparently insincere manner that’s couched in ostentatious nautical jargon, a “fishy” overcompensation for his lack of genuine experience—“Oh, aye, ‘twas a iley v’yage, shipmate, and ye earned a pow’rful lay, but now let’s figger the standard deductions, and see ye here?—seems ye must be charged for medicine and bandages! Ye should’a been mahr careful, matey, har har har!” Even worse, though Macy never rose above second mate, he insists on being addressed as “Captain Macy.” This affectation has so vexed the actual officers of Sleet, Baker & Blood that a distinct tonal vocabulary has evolved when referring to Macy, whether icily over-articulating his correct title—“This order was signed by Mister Macy himself”—or placing his desired honorific in sardonic quotes—“Sorry, lad, you need to talk to ‘Captain’ Macy, I’m just the chief mate, what do I know?” Although common sailors are obligated to refer to the agent as “Captain” Macy, behind his back they call him “One Button Jake.” He earned this scornful nickname as third mate of the Celaeno, when he deducted one penny from a seaman’s lay for “borrowing and losing a spare button.”

History
Jacob Macy is the only child of Rachel Sleet, Gideon Sleet’s older sister. The bastard son of a Dunwich drifter, Jacob was adopted by Obediah Macy when he married Rachel in 1808. Or at least that’s the official story. The truth is more wretched: Macy’s real father is “Black Zack” Macy, Obadiah’s grandfather. The 78-year old patriarch took a liking to young Rachel when she was fifteen years old. After Rachel became pregnant, she went to “visit cousins” in Dunwich. Two years later the Tempest of 1800 thoughtfully dropped a building on the old wizard, and Black Zack Macy was dispatched to his eternal reward. Rachel was brought back to Kingsport, but she was certainly not free—the Macy-Tuttle dynasty could not tolerate one of Zachary’s bastards unpredictably diluting the bloodline. The moment Zachary’s grandson turned sixteen, the wedding was arranged, and Obediah formally adopted Jacob as his son. Promised eternal youth through the Covenant, Rachel consented to the arrangement, but died giving birth to Jacob’s stillborn sister in 1810.

To this day, Macy believes that his real father was the nameless drifter. He’s the only adult in the family who doesn’t know the truth. At first it was kept from him out of kindness; but as Macy grew older and more hateful, pity soured into malice, and “the secret” became one more aspect of his loathsome existence, a way for the clan to belittle Macy behind his back.

The Quiddity Fire
Macy received his injuries when he was the second mate of the Quiddity. In the autumn of 1839 an accident with the tryworks started a fire on the upper deck. Acting with uncharacteristic heroism, Macy charged into the blaze to rescue two imperiled sailors. Before he could reach the men, his face was splashed with burning whale oil. Macy emerged from the fire blind and howling with pain, his hands bubbling with crippling blisters. The men perished. Macy was confined to his bunk to convalesce, with third mate Nathaniel Warnock stepping into his place. Although Macy eventually regained his sight, his sailing days were over, and he went to work for his Uncle Gideon.

The Role of Jacob Macy

Jacob Macy manages the docks for Sleet, Baker & Blood. He outfits whaling ships for upcoming voyages, takes part in assigning crew members, and assesses profits and lays when ships return. But more important than this public role, Jacob Macy is the member of the Kingsport Cult charged with “public relations.” Which is to say, making sure there aren’t any! Macy maintains a network of informants that stretches from Salem to Innsmouth, and if any “civilian” starts snooping around or asking uncomfortable questions, it’s Macy who gets notified and determines the appropriate response.

Encountering Macy
The player characters are most likely to meet “Captain” Macy on the deck of the Quiddity when they sign the articles (Encounter 11), or if they visit the office of Sleet, Baker & Blood (Encounter 26). Those NPCs serving as Macy’s spies are profiled at their appropriate locations, and include Black Jackie Wallace at the Diving Bell (Encounter 5), Alan B. Rook at the Public Library (Encounter 15), and Reverend Thomas Jane Ruggles at the Congregational Church (Encounter 23). Possible “red flags” and Macy’s likely responses are detailed in “Cult Pushback.” Macy also has Donovan Wreck and the Powderhouse Ghouls at his disposal. (See the “Powderhouse Ghouls” NPC profile for details.)

Notes & Inspirations for Jacob Macy

If White Leviathan were a movie, Jacob Macy would be played by a character not afraid to dial the “old salt” routine up to 11—imagine Willem Dafoe in The Lighthouse. Of course, Macy lacks the backbone of Thomas Wake, and is more likely to make his companions cringe than cower, but you get the idea. Another suitable choice is Don Stroud, who played Sheriff Bill Sharp in Django Unchained and Santos in Perdita Durango.

White Leviathan > NPC Profiles
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Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 25 November  2023
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
White Leviathan PDF: [TBD]