The Dark Emissary

One night before the sun set below the sea line and it was finally time for bed, a young triton girl asked her father "Daddy, why can't we swim deeper out in the bay? All the big neat fish are out there, and I want to see them all Daddy!" With a slight shushing sound and his finger placed to his lips, the father quieted her. He sat for a moment, and brought his hand down to run his fingers across an old scar curling up his neck. "Honey, the deep waters are not 'neat'. They are a scary place filled with scary things. Like the Dark Emissary, young one." The father replies. Seeing he now fully had his little ones attention, he continued, "The Dark Emissary used to look like us, or so it is told. But he sends his fellow dark ones out to skirt the edges of our lands, to scoop up curious little girls and boys that come to his domain. It takes them back, and uses them for his dark magics! Or maybe just his dinner, one never knows for sure. What I do know... I mean, what I hear at least... Is that when it is near, the whispers you can hear. Beckoning you out to the dark water and into its land." Seeing the shimmer in his daughters eyes, nearing tears, he leans close to calm her. He hugs her, and tucks her into her blankets, wishing her good night and that the morning would come soon. In a near inaudible whisper he says, "And once you have heard its call, it never goes away. You cannot resist It's call", as he slipped out of the home into the night with a short, twisted dagger in it's fist. Ready to bring yet another sacrifice to it's master.

Summary

The Dark Emissary is the primary cause, if to be believed, of the Triton race and it's great exodus from the Depths to shallower waters. It is a tale told to all children of the triton peoples, to encourage the future generations to stay away from the dark depths of the world ocean. It has been told for so long, it is hard to tell where the story is fantasy and where it could stem from reality. Many terrifying things now lurk in the depths of the oceans, especially without any civilized peoples within it to help police the area or keep it safe.

Historical Basis

In the early ages, numerous members of any of the intelligent races saw a huge decline, with many cities or villages disappearing overnight. They could not explain the loss, with family members even missing without any word or trace. In the following years, villages on the fringes of societies were attacked and those left were drug off into the dark depths. With word spreading quick, the aquatic races all made great exodus to shallower areas such as lagoons and reefs. This left any of the ocean depths to do as it pleased, unabated. No one knows for certain being that any traces of material that could prove the details were left behind during the swift upheaval and movements of the races to safety.

Spread

The entirety of the Triton race knows this myth and believe it to be true as well as those in the sea-elf race. Even those that deny it's truth tremble when confronted by the shadowy depths. In surface society, those that travel the oceans by ship find the myth from time to time, and some believe it to be true and the cause of many a sailing disaster. Beyond that, it is highly unlikely one would even hear of it.

Variations & Mutation

The story has numerous variations depending on the local, with the root details varying between both the Triton and Sea-Elf races, who call it by a differing name, The Dark One. Most understand and accept either title, with the Dark Emissary being most common.

In Art

The tales have been heard both in song and seen in paintings done by those of the sea. Not many work on arts relating to it, being that it is very taboo. But there are the estranged few that find pleasure in the strange forms.

Related Species

• Triton