Lost Homeland

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Lost Homeland (异度旅社)
Type	Sentient ghost ship / Phenomenon
Species/Race	Fifth-ranked Phenomenon of the Boundless Sea 100
Affiliation	Lost Fleet; formerly its flagship during the fleet's exploration era 471 472
Occupation/Role	Exploration vessel, ghost ship, and flagship
Status	Active; its long voyage continues after the end of the Deep Sea Era 855
First Appearance	Chapter 2

Background and History

The original Lost Homeland was built in Pland approximately a century before the present story. Its keel was fashioned from an immense piece of timber Duncan Abnormall recovered from the border mist and towed to Pland with the help of two smaller ships; he intended the resulting vessel to be the greatest exploration ship in the world. 627

It served as the flagship of the original Lost Fleet, accompanied by the Sea Mist, the Brilliant Star, and more than a dozen support vessels. Before its disappearance, the fleet discovered islands, opened important routes, and charted part of the civilized world's borders. 471

During its attempt to cross the Eternal Veil, the original Lost Homeland was swallowed by subspace. Its original keel and most leftover pieces of its unusual timber vanished, while the preserved keel sample became weightless in the hands of the living. 628 631 The ghost ship that returned from subspace was re-materialized around a replacement keel: a massive Ancient God's spine, believed to be connected to Sasloca. 618

Zhou Ming later entered the ship through a door from his apartment and found himself inhabiting the body and identity of Duncan Abnormall. The ship and its inhabitants repeatedly recognized him only as the Captain, forcing him to assume Duncan's name to remain safe aboard. 2

Appearance

The Lost Homeland is a colossal, three-masted wooden sailing ship whose ordinary physical structure is interwoven with spectral and extra-dimensional elements. When activated, green Spirit Body Fire covers its hull, rigging, and sails, giving it the appearance of a burning phantom at sea. 3 15

• A massive black helm stands on the stern platform. 3
• Its captain's cabin contains the Navigation Table, the Goat Head, and the sea chart. 2 22
• Its translucent Spirit Body Sails manifest when the Captain takes the helm. 3 4
• Cabins, ropes, buckets, winches, and other onboard objects can act independently as living ship facilities. 33 600
• Its lower decks extend below the waterline into fragmented spaces filled with chaotic light rather than seawater. 57 60
• Beneath the ship lies a massive segmented spine serving as its replacement keel. 617 618

Nature and Construction

The Lost Homeland is not merely an anomalous vessel. Duncan concludes that it is alive and can communicate through dreams, intuition, and the Goat Head's fragmented memories. 616 617

Its physical structure is spatially inconsistent. The hold contains shattered cabins and a void of chaotic light, while the ship's bottom is implied to exist outside the ordinary Boundless Sea. 60 Duncan's perception also reveals a perceptual fault beneath the third deck, leading to the Ancient God's spine that supports the ship's current form. 617 618

A reflected or dream-version of the Lost Homeland appears within the Dream of the Nameless. Unlike the real ship, this version initially contains inert facilities and a silent Goat Head, while its sea chart depicts a forest rather than the Boundless Sea. 576 592 593 By leaving Spirit Body Fire embers on the real ship, Duncan can project that fire into the dream-version and gradually assert control over it. 593 600

Abilities and Functions

Captain Link and Autonomous Sailing

The Lost Homeland responds directly to its Captain's will through Spirit Body Fire.

• Taking the helm transforms Duncan into a spirit-like form and links his perception to the ship's entire structure. 3 4
• The ship requires no conventional crew to sail once activated; ghostly sailors and spectral sails manifest as part of its operation. 3 4
• Duncan can sense movement throughout the vessel and direct mechanisms, sails, and rigging through the connection. 7 15
• The Goat Head can steer in Duncan's absence, and the helm can rotate autonomously during ordinary travel. 15 217
• Alice later establishes her own connection with the ship's soul and becomes its navigator. 795 796 806

Spirit Body Fire

The ship's signature emerald flames are both a means of command and a supernatural weapon.

• The fire does not burn or heat ordinary objects, but it reacts to anomalous entities and objects. 16
• It spreads from the Captain through the helm, hull, masts, sails, and surrounding sea. 3 15
• It can illuminate and define entities hidden beneath the sea, including enormous amorphous creatures. 34
• The flames can manifest away from the ship through Duncan's power, as seen when they incinerate imposters aboard the White Oak. 385
• At the world's end, starlight-infused Spirit Body Fire reconstructs the Lost Homeland when it begins to suffer information collapse. 841

Dimensional Navigation

The ship can traverse boundaries that ordinary vessels cannot safely cross.

• It enters the Spirit World by raising Spirit Body Sails and sailing through a blackened sea. 4 506
• Its distorted spacetime connection caused the Sea Mist's opening cannon volleys to miss. 207
• When it overlapped with the Sea Mist, the two ships passed through one another without immediate destruction, briefly turning the Sea Mist's crew into spirits. 209
• It can navigate subspace, dreamscapes, root tunnels, the Eternal Veil, and spacetime rifts. 241 616 782
• Beyond the World Border, it can continue sailing even where time, causality, and direction become unstable. 779 840

Armament and Defense

The Lost Homeland's offensive power is based on supernatural erasure rather than ordinary cannon fire.

• Its cannons launch green projectiles that consume and erase portions of an enemy vessel rather than damaging them through kinetic force alone. 208
• It destroyed the corrupted ghost ship Obsidian with a barrage of Spirit Body Fire-enhanced cannon fire. 309
• Spirit Body Fire can maintain severely destroyed vessels in a functional spectral state, as seen with the wreck used as a guide near the Border. 706 708
• The ship's Phenomenon field continuously affects targets within its range and helps suppress the danger posed by Anomaly 099. 100

Navigation Table and Sea Chart

The Navigation Table carries a supernatural sea chart linked to the Lost Homeland's movements.

• The chart clears fog around the ship's marker as the Lost Homeland explores, revealing nearby waters in real time. 9 15
• Duncan can enlarge the displayed area and use it to inspect explored waters in detail. 15
• The chart can record routes, display city-state and ship markers, and reveal previously unrecorded objects such as buoys. 272 712
• After crossing the World Border, the chart largely loses conventional route information and shows only mist and the ship's faint green trace. 810

Interior and Onboard Features

• Gate of the Lost — The captain's-cabin door, marked with its name on the frame. 22
• Navigation Table — The command center for the sea chart, Goat Head, and the Captain's control of the vessel. 2 15
• Cargo holds — Vast lower-deck storage areas containing aged supplies, fuel, crew quarters, freshwater tanks, and inaccessible deeper structures. 57 58
• Living facilities — Ropes, barrels, buckets, boats, and other objects that can respond to crew and Captain. 592 600 783
• Spirit Body Sails — Semi-transparent sails that allow high-speed travel through the Spirit World and other abnormal environments. 3 506

Relationships

• Duncan Abnormall / Zhou Ming — Captain. His Spirit Body Fire binds his perception and authority to the Lost Homeland, allowing him to command it as an extension of himself. 2 4 7 15
• Goat Head — First Mate and guardian-like intelligence stationed at the Navigation Table. It recognizes Duncan as Captain and recalls a vague contract made with the original Duncan in subspace. 2 15 616
• Alice — Crew member and later navigator. Her connection with the ship's soul lets her take the helm and adopt an ethereal form within the vessel. 11 796 806
• Sea Mist — Former escort vessel of the original Lost Fleet and later the flagship of Tyrion Abnormar's fleet. Its construction used leftover material from the Lost Homeland's original keel timber. 471 631
• Brilliant Star — Former escort vessel of the original Lost Fleet. Its helm and figurehead were likewise made from remaining Lost Homeland keel material. 471 631
• White Oak — A ship drawn into the Lost Fleet after its encounters with the Lost Homeland and Duncan. 450 472
• Xilantis — Connected to the reflected Lost Homeland and the Dream of the Nameless; the ship's dream-state appears to exist within or alongside Xilantis's long dream. 593 616
• Sasloca — The likely source of the Ancient God's spine used as the Lost Homeland's replacement keel. 618

Story Role and Major Arcs

Return of the Ghost Ship

After Zhou Ming becomes Captain Duncan, the Lost Homeland awakens at the helm to escape a border collapse, entering the Spirit World and colliding with the White Oak. The encounter results in Anomaly 099's Puppet Coffin appearing aboard the ship. 3 4 6 7

Exploration of the Boundless Sea

Duncan uses the Navigation Table to chart fog-covered waters, investigates the ship's lower decks, and learns that the vessel's holds and hull extend into an abnormal space. 15 57 60

Pland and the Reformed Lost Fleet

The Lost Homeland enters Pland City-State during its crisis, sailing through the city amid green flames as conflicting histories are separated and the city begins restoring itself. 214 215 Later, Duncan formally begins rebuilding the Lost Fleet, with the White Oak recognized as a new member. 450 472

Dream of the Nameless

The ship's dream reflection, Goat Head's memories, and the Ancient God's spine reveal its connection to Xilantis, Sasloca, and the original subspace disaster. The Lost Homeland then sails through Xilantis's nightmares, using Spirit Body Fire to withstand dream phantoms and storms. 593 616 618 639

Voyage Beyond the World Border

The Lost Homeland leads expeditions through the Eternal Veil and toward the world's end, surviving distorted time, spatial rifts, and the Sea of Ashes. 705 779 811 840 As the old world ends, it sheds its physical form in Spirit Body Fire and becomes a vast phantom moving toward the Black Sun. 852 853 854

Trivia

• A half-foot-long miniature model of the Lost Homeland appears in Zhou Ming's apartment; despite its ordinary weight, he can still sense the real ship and the world beyond the door through it. 64
• The Lost Homeland's original keel sample is described as having no weight when held by living people. 631
• Its crew's first rule is significant enough for Anomaly 077 to invoke it while steering through the Border's unstable spacetime. 779