Captain Naphi

  Abacat Naphi "'You know how careful are philosophies. How meanings are evasive. They hate to be parsed. Here again came the cunning of unreason. I was creaking, lost, knowing that the ivory-coloured beast had evaded my harpoon & continued his opaque diggery, resisting close reading & a solution to his mystery. I bellowed, & swore that one day I would submit him to a sharp & bladey interpretation.'                                                      -Excerpt from a speech given by Naphi"Captain Abacat Naphi, known mononymously as Naphi, is the tritagonist of Railsea.

Personality
Naphi is notoriously intense, energetic, & charismatic. She usually speaks very tersely (using as little words as possible), though is sometimes seen making speeches & waxing poetic about various things; usually her philosophy. In accordance with her love of poetry, Naphi is known to insist that Mocker-Jack's fur is not yellow, it's ivory, which often makes her seem pretentious, especially when she goes on to describe the color in great flowery detail.

Though she quickly aknowledges her own brilliance & amazing strength, she is equally ready to admit her flaws--that said, she does not take bait meant to force her to overstate them, such as when Vurinam accused her of knowingly steering her crew into the lair of a deadly alien creature; Naphi is not quite so arrogant or self-righteous as some would claim, but she is indeed proud & is talented in the area of refusing to be put down by others, which does help her commanding & powerful image.

After the mutiny against her near the end, Naphi becomes more emotional & even less talkative than usual, & after Sham & Sirocco kill Mocker-Jack without her help, she becomes downright suicidal & temporarily loses her ability to speak coherently, instead reduced to making noises like somebody stuttering.

Philosophy
Like her inspiration from Moby-Dick, Naphi is known to frantically chase after a particular animal: a massive ivory-colored moldywarpe which she calls Mocker-Jack (& indeed, he is frequently described as appearing to mock her; though whether this is actually true or whether this perceived mockery is all in her head due to delusions is left ambiguous). Such a chase after one creature is not uncommon for captains on The Railsea, however Naphi's chase in particular (& thus Naphi & Mocker-Jack themselves) is famous across the whole railsea for vague reasons--likely, it is the sheer fact that Mocker-Jack is far bigger & seemingly more intelligent than any other moldywarpe.

For most of the book, it would seem that Naphi hunts Mocker-Jack because she had lost her left arm to him an unknown amount of years ago, however once her prosthetic is revealed to be fake, & simply covering her still-present left arm, her true motives become a mystery. She openly denounces the idea that someone should have to lose a limb to have such a chase as hers, however does insist that she has suffered at Mocker-Jack's hands--she simply doesn't go into any more detail than that.

In accordance with the tradition of philosophy, Naphi makes it clear that Mocker-Jack is to her a symbol of something. However, traditionally, philosophies are supposed to signify only one thing, such as prejudice, speed, intensity, unrequitedness, or some other abstract thing--whereas Mocker-Jack signifies everything. It is mentioned that perhaps such an extreme concept would be mocked & considered pretentious even by other captains, had Naphi not been, well, Naphi.

Naphi very nearly kills Mocker-Jack, however loses the opportunity to do so when she is mutinied against & it is instead killed by Sham & Sirocco.

Appearance
Naphi is described as "not tall," but nevertheless very physically imposing. She has long grey hair that is usually tied back, & dark blue eyes. Though her age is vague (considering the seeming presence of naturally unnatural skin & hair colors, grey hair is likely not an indicator of her age), if one is to assume she is around the same age as Captain Ahab from Moby-Dick, than she also likely has wrinkles from age. In accordance with the great physical aspect of her job, she is also very muscular & has impeccable posture.

The captain tends to be elegant & majestic in nearly everything she does, evidenced by descriptors like "lovely" & "splendid" being consistently used to describe her, & she also seems to have a love of long brown jackets.

Character Arc
At the start of the story, Naphi is introduced as the terse & monomaniacal captain of the Medes who can't bear to spend time on anything not relevant to the hunt for Mocker-Jack. When the wreck of the original Shroake train is spotted, she is described as sounding irritated when the crew are obligated to investigate. While investigating the wreck, Unkus Stone is severely injured by a naked mole rat, & Sham reveals that he had found a mysterious memory card in the wreck. Naphi promptly takes the card, & the Medes lands in Bollons, the closest island, in order to get Unkus to a hospital. While in Bollons, Naphi & Sham investigate the pictures on the memory card, & though she is as shocked as Sham is, Naphi decides to pretend she never saw the picture of the single rail & concentrate on her philosophy.

The Medes stops in Streggeye for a while, & in one scene, Naphi gives a speech about Mocker-Jack that impresses even Sham, however Sham still wishes to go to Manihiki; in Streggeye, he finds a tracker that can be bought in Manihiki, where he wants to go. He shows the tracker to Naphi & tells her where to get them, & Naphi agrees to go to Manihiki, deciding to get a tracker to use on Mocker-Jack the next time they meet. Meanwhile, Sham becomes involved with the Shroake siblings.

Sure enough, the Medes encounters Mocker-Jack again; however, the mole seems to be sleeping, & is mistaken for some sort of hill. Naphi, however, recognizes him, but does not tell the crew, so that she can approach him & shoot one of the tracking devices into him, which she does successfully (much to the irritation of Mbenday). The train spends the next several days chasing after him, & during this time, receives a letter apparently from Sham stating that he has quit his job on board to become a salvor.

During the chase, Mocker-Jack lures the Medes towards an alien beast called a siller & an ancient trap called the Kribbis Hole. Naphi's chase is delayed while she & her crew are attacked by the siller, & two crewmembers (Yorkaj Teodoso & Cecilie Klimy) are killed, causing Vurinam to accuse Naphi of knowingly steering the train into the trap without alerting the crew. Naphi is outraged at this accusation, & explains to Vurinam that if anything is going to provide for Kilmy's & Teodoso's families at this point, it's catching Mocker-Jack & killing him. Nobody else makes any accusations, however, Vurinam then notices that there is blood coming out of Naphi's left arm--the one that supposedly doesn't exist, & it is soon revealed that Naphi's prosthetic was fake & her motives for chasing Mocker-Jack are left a mystery. Once again under scrutiny, Naphi manages to convince the crew to continue the chase by monologuing.

Later on, a salvor called Sirocco boards the Medes with a message from Sham revealing that the letter the Medes received earlier was fake & that he is being held captive by the pirate train Tarralesh. Sirocco, along with Vurinam & Dr. Fremlo, suggests the Medes go & rescue him, however Naphi insists on continuing the chase after Mocker-Jack. Angry with her for obsessing over the mole, the crew refuse to do anything until she formally orders them to go look for Sham instead of chasing Mocker-Jack. Realizing that she has losts all power over her crew & likely will not get to kill Mocker-Jack, Naphi melts down, however agrees to look for Sham & abandon her life's work, mainly out of fear of losing her captaincy. After this, she becomes increasingly less & less sane & more & more emotional.

Once the Medes rescues Sham & the crew caught up on what exactly is going on, it is decided that the Medes & its crew will help the Shroakes. However, on their way to the "end of the line," they are attacked by an angel--the Guardian Angel, intent on destroying any train that tries to get into Heaven. The Medes attempts to outrun the angel, however it quickly becomes apparent that they can't, & at this point, Sham & Sirocco decide to use the tracker to lure in Mocker-Jack to get rid of the angel. It works, & Mocker-Jack fights the angel until they both end up falling down a chasm, & presumably, the mole dies. Naphi, upon realizing she has nothing left--having lost her crew & her philosophy--becomes temporarily unable to speak, & attempts to kill herself, but is stopped by Sham, & subsequently shackled to the train for her own safety.

Later on, the Medes arrives at the bridge to Heaven. Sham & the Shroakes intend to cross, however nobody volunteers to go with them--until Naphi, still desperate to be part of some kind of quest or narrative, does. At the other side of the bridge, Naphi, Sham, & the Shroakes find Heaven: a long-abandoned town on what seems to be the only remaining beach in the world, & only one rail going through it, however they soon find that the town isn't quite as abandoned as it looks; the group are attacked by what look like various gods worshipped across the railsea, but degenerated, disheveled, & primitive. Sham is nearly drowned by That Apt Ohm after being pushed off the town's dock into the sea, but Naphi saves him, & Sirocco & the crew of the Medes show up aboard a "dead" angel that Sirocco had rigged to work properly again in order to "have a quick look-see."

After the fight with the degenerative gods is over, Sham & the Shroakes decide to set out & explore the sea in a makeshift sailboat (from an overturned sailtrain), & the book ends.

Trivia

 * Her full name, "Abacat Naphi," is an anagram of "Captain Ahab."
 * She is the only one of the four main characters (Sham, Caldera, Dero, & herself) who has no backstory whatsoever given.