The tin

As a faction Proposed

Creed

The tin stays a sea, and nobody here is lunch.

Wants

To stay a sea, and not to be opened, eaten or tidied.

Because

They have only just stopped being in a tin, as far as they are concerned.

How

Advice, mostly: Captain Brine tells you to Defend, Lumen keeps a light, Gill sells tackle.

Has

A lighthouse made from an anchovy tin, a shop, oil, and a nutcracker.

Blind spot

Grateful to whoever opened the lid, and in no position to stop the next one.

Never

Go back in the tin.

Alignment

lamplit (minds it), ajar the axes

Leader

Captain Brine

Members

Captain Brine, Gill, Lumen, Sardine

Not members

Tin eel: The tin eel eats sardines. The Opener: It wanted to open the tin; the tin folk wanted it to stay a sea.

Symbol

A tin key

Found in

Always On: the sardine-tin sea; Snake: the tin, from the eel’s side; Helicopter: the sea the manta ray swims in; GeoCities: SardineTinSea and the Lighthouse Keepers ring

What they think of the others

• ally The household: The apprentice beat the Opener, and the tin stayed a sea, which suits the captain.
• ally The company: Lumen kept a nutcracker for the walnut, and asks for it to be cracked gently. There are people in there.
• wary The escaped batch: Some sardine tins have got up and walked off with the batch. Nobody in the tin will say whose. (the escaped batch: unaware)
• wary The draughts: Lumen’s Lighthouse Keepers ring on GeoCities lets draughts in, barely. (the draughts: ally)
• unaware Staff only: Nobody in the tin has a staff badge, or a door.
• unaware The stock: The showroom is a long way from the bench, by sea.
• unaware The office supplies: Nothing in the tin needs filing.
• unaware The four coworkers: Nobody in the tin works late; the tide does.

Every faction, and who thinks what of whom