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.

Flora and Fauna of Note of the Fumigated Sea

Thermadors: These creatures look like a cross between a lobster, a spider and a horseshoe crab. Thermadors have eight legs, the front pair of which are large pincers which they use to scrape the bacteria from rocks from which they feed, and the back pair are a set of large flat flippers they use to propel themselves through the mud pots and boiling lakes of the Fumigated Sea. They are a long as a man is tall and can weight up to 300 pounds. They are covered in a hard armored shell dotted with spikes that is incredibly resistant to heat and have a large tail that ends in a sharp spine. Their flesh is very sweet and delicious, if cleaned properly.

Ash Yams: These tubers grow in abundance near the smog line. Earthy and slightly sweet baked or boiled Ash Yams, along with Thermador flesh, serves as the cornerstone of most settlers and the Painted Gnolls diet.

Spitter Crabs: This creatures name is actually a misnomer, being related more to spiders than crabs. Unlike spiders Spitter Crabs have hard chisel like front legs and rather than excreting webs they excrete a concrete like substance that they build their nests out of. They use their front legs to dig into the ground then cover their nests with a thin layer of their secretions allowing their prey to fall into their nests where they coat them in their spit.

Yeti Crabs: These crabs are the most numerous of the many types of crab in the Fumigated Sea. They have extremely long pincer arms and legs that are covered in downy fur that they use to cultivate the bacteria on which they feed. To cultivate the bacteria Yeti Crabs spend most of their time in and around the various hot pots and chemical pools common in this sea.

The Awoken: Not all of the mummies entombed in the spherical coffins of the Iron Hail slumber. Some, after untold eons of slumber have awoken and they are pissed. As twenty foot tall hulking undead monstrosities the Awoken wander the Fumigated Sea crushing anything in their nigh unstoppable warpath. As undead the Awoken do not need to breath, an asset in the Fumigated Sea.

Rock Worms: These long tube worms that live in the geothermic cracks and vents and can grow up to ten feet in length. The have red beaks on their tips that open when the noxious gas clouds appear to absorb nutrients. As these beaks open before the clouds appear they can give some advanced notice to those that are paying attention.

Flora and Fauna of the Sea of Statues

Stonelouses: Large territorial wingless bugs that infest many of the statues and bore large holes throughout the colossi.

Iouns: A creature or a group of creatures that look like a flying school of fish but are made of shards of crystals that dart rapidly from statue to statue and preform strange mesmerizing dances before embedding themselves into the rocks to rest.

Steinjagers: Large gray cat like creatures with a head like a leech that stalk the ruins for prey. Their coats at a distance look like shiny fur, however; close inspection shows that they are made of very thin and hard crystals. Incredibly hard and very beautiful, their pelts go for high prices in the Known Seas.

Chamelion Bats: Small winged creatures similar to bats in the Known Seas but with horns and can change the color of their fur to best match their roosting stones. They hunt Stonelouses, large fish, and the occasional person in large swarms.

Flintbergs: Large iceberg like creatures that appear to be made of interlocking boulders that extremely territorial. They are thankful slow. They communicate with one another with loud cracks and rumbles that sound like avalanches.

Visage Eels: Muddy green docile eels with baby like human faces. While edible, consuming or even touching the creatures is considered taboo by most.

Glowshrooms: While are found in many other seas, grow here in great number. It is not clear why the Glowshrooms grow so well here but speculation is that the abundance of god metals in the statues plays a part.

Sauhagin: The shark like fish-folk, have mutations that set them apart from their cousins in other seas and that make them particularly dangerous. Their scales are a dark gray which allow them to remain nearly unseen is the crevices and are covered in poisonous spines. They are mostly concentrated in the Forest of Fingers.

Flora and Fauna of the Floral Sea

Wax Golem: At almost five meters tall each wax golem is an intimidating rune carved sentinel against any threats to The Hives and the Bee-Folk. A single cyclopean black compound eye stands out from the butter-yellow wax flesh of the golem, unblinking and ever vigilant, never breaking from their perpetual scan of the horizon. Each golem caries a quiver of nightshade tipped hooked stinger-spears on their back. Bee-Folk pollen harvests revere these guardians, and as a ward against danger and for auspicious pollen harvests, often adorn them with woven flower crowns and multiple leis.

The process to make a wax golem is not an easy one. Wax must be first melted and then shaped into the rough shape of the construct. The melted wax severely burns the bee-folk constructors and most require amputation of their forearms. Gallons of sacred royal jelly and a specialized larva, who’s body will wither and die so that it grows into the Wax Golem's eye, are implanted in the constructs chest. Finally the runes that give the creation life must be carved into the construct. The same bee-folk that melted the wax for the bee golem are chosen for this task, their stingers used to carve the runes into the wax flesh. This process kills the workers. From the corpses the stingers are gathered and treated with nightshade and other poisons and psychoactive pollens to make the stinger spears that each golem keeps on its back.

Honey Bears: Neither honey, nor bear, Honey Bears are golden predatory oozes. Often covered in petals Honey Bears are one of the most dangerous predators in the Floral Sea.

Root Fogs: Root Frogs are massive and their skin has a knotted green designed to blend into the roots. On the back of each grows a large lotus flower. They strike from camouflage with their massive tongues that can shoot out lightning fast to a distance of ten meters or more. Their preferred prey are the pollen harvesters of the Bee-Folk, so the Wax Golems must stand ever vigilant scanning the horizon for root frogs while out harvesting.

Petal Elemental: Elemental is a poor descriptor of what these creatures are. Their most natural form is that of a gust of wind heavy with various flower petals. They however can take other forms including that of birds, fish, and men, all shaped out of petals. They leave a pleasant scent wherever they go and serve as guardians to the flowers in the Floral Sea

Flutter Swarms: Great flocks of shimmering butterflies that shimmer and change color based on the moods of nearby creatures. Their life cycle is unclear, as no caterpillars exist in the Floral Sea.

Formless Sea Bestiary

Mycondids: Roughly looking like a cross between a squid and a mushroom, Mycondids are by far the most peaceful of the intelligent creatures in the Formless Sea. They have a single large black eye as well as a beak in the center of their stalk. They have six large tentacles lined with suction cups that hang down from their gills that allow the Mycondids to grasp objects. Two of these tentacles are longer than the others and have paralytic poison in their tips. They have large wide caps that can expand greatly in volume along with a very elaborate external gill system more common to amphibians than fungus. The caps and gills are the source of the Mycondids two most amazing abilities; its levitation and its musicality.

By capturing and filtering various gases Mycondids are able to float a few inches above the ground, an ability that allows them to glide above the muck of the Formless Sea. While not fast creatures Mycondids are can expel their captures gasses to give them a rapid burst of speed. They can also expel their gasses to make music and sing. The sounds that Mycondeid produces sounds like crystals ringing and they most commonly have a range of about sixteen octaves, the top four of which are above the level which human ears and perceive. It is in these octaves that the Mycondids communicate with one another. Even more amazing is that because of their unique vocal systems they can speak in multiple voices at the same time. Their voice when speaking to humanoids has been described as being choir like, as if multiple people are talking at once.

is fungaloid insensitive?

Fungaloids: These creatures look roughly like a cross between a man and a mushroom. They have a set of arms and legs which are made of wrapped and knotted mycelia. Their stalks are thick and their caps are stubby in comparison to other mushrooms. They have a savage intelligence, somewhere between pack animals and man. They have no verbal communication, rather they communicated by small clouds of psychoactive spores. They are broken up into colonies, each lead by an immobile mold like queen. They eat anything dead, standing immobile over the corpse, their tendrils wrapped all over it. On a clear day if one looks out from the tops of the Ubershrooms they often see whole Fungaloid colonies on the move, their queens held high above their caps marching to the next corpse fall.

if it aint broke

Oozes: Oozes are a catch all term that encompasses a number of different creatures as the difference between oozes, jellies, puddings, or slime is mostly semantic. They are blind, quiet, slimy, semi opaque, and dissolve stuff. Most are just globular nuances but a few breeds are of particular note. Splitter Slimes, that divide when hit. Helmet Jelly, who eat hair and have a metal shell. Walking Lawns, vast green mats that start to digest anything that stops moving on top it. Arcane Slimes, who are attracted to magic and occasionally fart spells out. Yolks, a parasitic ooze that feeds on other oozes from the inside. Androgynous Blobs, who are attracted to large amounts of estrogen and testosterone. Flesh Clouds, who can be best described as flying cysts. Violet Molds, who perch from the bottoms of large mushrooms, emit powerful strobes to color to stun prey. Blue Slimes, which are harmless, safe to drink and serve as one of the best sources of fresh water in the Formless Sea (some settlements even herd them). Sparky Puddings, electrically charged blue spheres attracted to metal.

this is a bad movie if it is anything like the trailer

Hogs: Pigs, imported by the first settlers to the Formless Sea as a foodstuff, have now become an invasive species. The Formless Sea is a literal hog heaven, an unending mud wallow filled with truffles, chewy oozes, and sweet green goblin flesh. Gone feral, the hogs of The Formless Sea are massive tusked creatures, with thick hides and bad temperament. The Goblins have adapted well to the new creatures, using them for food, mounts, beasts of burden, and population control.

there were always a ton of these things in the creeks where i grew up

Sludge Strider: This large water bug like creature can be seen skimming across the sludge of the Formless Sea. They are mostly docile, unless you approach one of the nests, and eat the caps of the mushes that grow in abundance. Some have been tamed by the settlers of this sea to be used as transportation and as beasts of burden.

Skum Dogs: A friendly teardrop shaped ooze, they come in a variety of colors, most commonly blue or green. These slimes have a rough dog like intelligence and demeanor. A single antenna with a ball like sensing organ on top protrudes from the bodies and they emit a faint glow that changes with their emotions. To many of the settlers here they serve as watchdog, companion, and garbage disposal. 

this is p close

Sluggernaughts: Goblins, like monkeys, if given enough time and resources produce masterworks. Sluggernaughts are those masterworks. With a scavenged iron shell, bristling with firearms, and a function still-engine Sluggernaughts are up gunned and up armored oozes that might be best thought of as Ships-of-the-Slime. Goblins might be a nuance, but Sluggernaughts are a threat to all but the most power of fortifications and ships. They are thankfully slow and hard to control, like a bucking bronco going at quarter speed.

Gummy Snakes: Not actually snakes but oozes, gummy snakes look like large bright colored worms. Their ‘skin’ is much thicker than an oozes and they can only consume things that go into their ‘mouth’, a large gap in their thick skin. Most Gummy Snakes are about a foot long, but can grow up to thirty.

Bestiary for the Sea of Wrecks

The Sea of Wrecks is a rocky and broken seascape, a vast ship graveyard, dominated by ravaged ships, jagged rocks, and marine detritus.  Below are some of the animals that live there.

Long-Necked Seal

 

Pinniped is a very fun word to say.

Long-Necked Seals are pinnipeds with a long streamlined body with four powerful flippers. They have an elongated and flexible neck and a long powerful tail. They have a thick layer of blubber and a fine water wicking fur that together keep them both warm and dry. They eat mostly shellfish and small fish but it is not unheard of them to eat sea birds or other creatures if they get close. They use their long flexible necks to probe crags and holes in the sea floor (of which the Sea of Wrecks has many) where food might hide. They are mostly aquatic, but will bask on the rocks and beaches when it is warm out, or when it is mating season. They have strange and complex barking songs (the Inked Mages think that it might be code). They are hunted for their fur, blubber, and their meat. All of the major wrecking crews eat seal meat. They also all do not hunt the pups. Most lamps and torches in the Sea of Wrecks burn thanks to Long-Necked Seal blubber.

Sea Centipede
 

Everything about this guy is real except the last two sentences.  Nature is the best DM.

Sea Centipedes are horrific looking aquatic centipede. They grow anywhere from one to two feet in length, have segmented bodies that are a dark, greenish-black color, and long pale legs. Underwater they swim powerfully like an eel with horizontal undulations. Water will roll off of their body and they will dry in seconds. They have a large set of mandibles and a venomous bite. While a single bite is not deadly, the venom is excreted along with a pheromone that attracts other Sea Centipedes, causing them to swarm over the wound. When not in the ocean they like to hide under rocks and pieces of driftwood. If the internal organs of a Sea Centipede are all mashed together and fermented they make a powerful psychoactive known as ‘bug meat.’ Inked Mages take bug meat to ‘better understand the universe’ and Dragur mix it in their berserker brew.

Arachnopus

Arachnopusi sounds like a knock-off Bond villain

Arachnopusi are large amphibious cousins to octopuses. They are larger than their sea based cousins, often growing to an arm span of 30 feet. They have a thick toad-like skin that must stay damp with sea water that is a deep reddish purple with bright blue rings. Eight large eyes ring around the base of their bulbous heads. Eight powerful tentacles with suction cups allow Arachnopusi to walk on land, even upside down, albeit slowly. In the water they are extremely fast using jets of water to propel themselves. They have a black beak that hides no only their mouth but two different glands, one that shoots black ink, the other that shoots webbing. Arachnopusi are known for coating their webs in their ink making them all but invisible in darkness, then dropping on their entangled prey. They are prolific breeders laying dozens of egg sacs at a time, each one with thousands of eggs. Thankfully they have relative short lifespans, the upper limits of which are about five years.

Hippocamp:

Aqua horse, not the part of your brain.

Hippocampi are aquatic horse like creatures that are not originally from the Sea of Wrecks. They have the head of a horse, with two front legs that come to great translucent fins, and a long and powerful tail. They general have green-blue scales except for their bellies that are a pale blue. They sometimes have dark blue stripes or patches of gray scales. They live in herds of about twenty members, including foals and are spooked easily. They munch on the abundant see weeds and kelp that grow on the wrecks. The Sahuagin despise them, a mixture of fear and loathing, as the Fin-Folk use Hippocamp riders to hunt down Sahuagin that get to close to their domain. The Hippocampi in the Sea of Wrecks are all feral; either escapes from deep sea Fin-Folk domains not far from the Sea of Wrecks or the descendants of wrecked sea carriages.


Other animals and plants that you may find in the Sea of Wrecks:

Tidal Pools are cool as heck.

Brilliant green and yellow anemone that are squabbling for dominance in the tidal pools, squat ugly fish the color of the rocks, colonies of algae that look like a diminutive copse of palm trees, hairy crabs with tufts of white fur, starfish all the colors of the neon rainbow, slicks of green algae that when dry bloom with small white flowers and smell like a corpse, huge clusters of blue mussels with thin white stripes, pale shells with fractal shapes, sea snails leaving a slimy trail on a wreck, parasitic clusters of barnacles hanging from smashed ships hulls like tumors, jumping limpets that can hop from host to host, fat red blood worms that wriggle now exposed by the waves, cephalopods that scurry into the gaps between submerged rocks, razor clams that pop out of the sands like a switchblade, schools of striped prawns growing fat on plankton, sea roaches that scurry from the rocks when you pick them up, nearly unseen jellyfish with poisonous tentacles, bulbous spiny urchin the colors of a fresh bruise, slow sandcoins that bury into black sands, gray birds that looks like the bastards between a pelican and a pigeon, flocks of flying fish that skip on the crests of waves.