The allusion to the character Caliban creates a clearer picture of the setting and the location of the excerpt. In Shakespeare's The Tempest, Caliban was the son of a witch and was a slave to Prospero. He was a frustrated rap*st which would provide us with the state of morality of the empire in described in Midsummer.
If I remember correctly, it's <span>littoral or thalassic</span>
