Demi-Kraken In-Depth

Demi-Kraken, also known as Cephalopoets, or Marlow’s Decopods, are large squid like creatures that feed on stories. They look much like a giant squid, but their bodies are more stout and rounded with larger mantle fins and shorter tentacles. They have large expressive eyes and powerful bony beaks. They can ‘hear’ with their tentacles. Their skin is unblemished and changes color depending on the mood of the story that they last fed on. Their hungry color is a pail gray-blue, not dissimilar to the color of the mists on the Gray Sea.

In the wild you can find Demi-Kraken in a number of places; following sailing ships listening for sea stories and tales of distant shores, chasing whale pods, drinking deep of their alien melancholy story-songs, or even sifting through shipwrecks combing for mementos and keepsakes, imagining the stories behind them like vultures scavenging a corpse.

For sailors it is very bad luck not to give a story to a Demi-Kraken if you see one. Wild Demi-Kraken will become increasing aggressive when they have not fed over a period of time and will attempt to climb aboard ships or come ashore if truly desperate. While not outright harmful the sight of a thousand pound squid creature attempting to board your ship to ease drop is enough to cause even the saltiest of sailors to panic. Whole squads of starving Demi-Kraken have been known to attempt to board a ship at once causing the vessel to capsize.

Demi-Kraken are the best listeners, and if enthralled by a story, will chase the storyteller to hear the end of the tail. It is not unheard of for a squad of Demi-Kraken to chase ships hundreds of miles to hear the end of a story. This attribute can be capitalized on and Demi-Kraken can be used as a pack animal; provided one has a large and diverse library. By attaching lines to their bodies and by moving the storyteller away from them the Demi-Kraken are able to pull vast loads, even whole ships.

A Demi-Kraken sea chariot consists of a lead ship, and a follow. The lead ship is independent and where the storyteller resides. Often large megaphones are affixed to the back of the lead boat to amplify the voice of the storyteller. The lead ship is always independently powered, either by sail, oar, magic or another type of sea chariot. The follow is all ways attached to the Demi-Kraken.

The Demi-Kraken produces a number of products useful to people beyond use as a means of transportation. Their ink is highly coveted as it is a deep black and is absolutely water proof. Their mucus can be used as a book binding. But strangest of all is their scat. Demi-Kraken scat looks just like a message in a bottle, small undigested pieces of story that are inscribed on a papyrus like material is encased in a thick translucent glass like substance. The glass of which will shatter when dry. Writers covet this paper as viewing a piece always seems to bring on bouts of extreme productivity. Unfortunately they do not last long before crumbling to dust, unfortunately sapping the user of their productivity. Many writers have become addictive to these scraps and many will travel to Inkhorn as the city-fleet has a near limitless supply of fresh Demi-Kraken scat.