Shinikem

The God of the Hidden Realm, Shinikem

Shinikem is a massive manta ray that carries the island of Shinikimta on its back and the reef city of Kalispa on the front. It has long roamed the equatorial seas between Inahng and Nafena, although its current location is unknown. Many treasure hunters and would-be mystics have sought it out, but none have found it since its disappearance.
Shinikem is over 35 miles wide by 25 miles long with a massive 40 miles tail, easily marking it the largest living thing on the planet. Fully autonomous ecosystems live around its body, and it feeds ambiently by having life grow and live around it. Unique fauna flourish on its back, including large monkeys, giant crabs, giant bats, and komodo dragons. Shinikem can telepathically communicate with people who spend time on its back- with increasing ease and coherency the longer you live there.
The Kalispa undersea empire once ruled from the artificial reefs grown on Shinikem's body, and collected great treasures and wealth. The last known Kalispan emperor, Vaturi the Kraken, is said to have had a palace of gold and wonderous machines that wove sand into pearls and made kelp into rustless steel. The Treasure of Vaturi sits waiting for whoever can find Shinikem, according to legend. How much of that is actually true remains a mystery, and it does seem that every time the story is retold the treasure grows grander.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Shinikem, for much of their life, was not particularly active. If they were originally keenly sentient, that sentience dulled over the centuries into something unrecognizable. The tribe of humans on their back were in constant communion with them, but it was less of a conversation and more of a psychic mutualism. Island life was serene- Shinikem avoided storms and the island had few famines or plagues. In 600 ME, dryads boated over and attempted to form an urban colony, but after numerous settlers came into contact with Shinikem the dryad leadership fled. They described "a leviathan, whose cunning is beyond all belief, who would lure the innocent onto its idyllic shores only to devour them as the fly trap consumes the fly... the weak-willed were implanted with ideas of insubordination and other mischief, and soon began worshipping that which was devouring them". The dryad leadership warned other settlements of Shinikem's dangers, and Shinikem was made something of a regional taboo to go to. Those dryad "lessers" who were abandoned were happily integrated into the island's local culture.
Aquatic races have been no less suspicious during those early centuries. From -100 DE to 750 ME, the great reef cities would send fruitless hunting parties to try and kill Shinikem whenever they approached- leading the great ray to try and avoid them entirely. Despite this, coral polyps had found their way onto its wings and begun to grow reefs over the centuries. By 700 ME, two reefs had emerged along its wings and in 750 ME, a group of Octoperson exiles led by the Octoperson warlord Askitari decided to risk the journey and gamble on hiding in Shinikem's reefs. Over time, they noticed that Shinikem was not a threat, and decided to stay. These octopeople were extremely suspicious of the mental connection with Shinikem, which they deemed "the Leviathan's Curse", and began working to actively counter it through education and training. Through regular military exercises and training, they worked to "shield their minds" in pain and struggle. Wherever Shinikem passed by a reef or settlement, the reef-goers would raid and pillage. They claimed to have conquered and broken the leviathan, and stolen its ferocity. They kept to the motto "The Strong Survive", as they claimed Leviathan blood. Their population grew, their loot grew, and their reputation grew.
In 1300, merchants from Inahng heard legends of these leviathan-blooded raiders and actively sought their swimming island out as a trade post. While the traders failed to figure out how to chart the island's path (it was actively changing it to avoid them) and were terribly misinformed about "the Leviathan's Curse", they gave it a name- Shinikem, "Mountain-Monarch of the Far Sea".
This state of affairs was incredibly distressing for Shinikem, which began to simply shut down and withdraw from the world. The octopeople began to try and control the surface tribes (unsuccessfully), but they could never quite make the empire they craved because of Shinikem's reef-avoiding route. In 1480 ME, they sent a convoy to Nafenan traders, which was taken South to Nafena. The infamous Leviathan-blooded raiders promised immense power and a grand alliance if the bardic courts there would perform an "Awakening" spell upon their island host. This was agreed upon by one curious bard, and in 1500 Shinikem was finally awakened. Did the spell return their consciousness, or simply jolt them awake? The latter seems likely, but it is a mystery. Either way, the Octopeople began giving Shinikem directions and Shinikem, wanting to make peace with them, agreed. This began the brief but terrible era of the Kalispa Empire, as the Octopeople took many captives, destroyed many reefs, and took great loot. Whenever Shinikem disagreed, they began drilling into their side as a spur- and Shinikem, with over a millennia of conflict-avoidance experience, gave in. The coral was artificially farmed all along the front of Shinikem, and great machines were made along their sides to harness the powerful sea currents and movement. The water-mills powered an increasingly complicated mess of machinery intended for automating the production of pearls, weaponry, and more. This continued until 1650, when the Octoperson Emperor Vaturi finally pushed the gentle ray too far. Vaturi planned a grand campaign of destruction, and envisioned a grand quest to find the legendary Red-Fog Sea: a land where octopeople ruled all and used poison air to keep the land-peoples in line, and had built a machine-body for the God of the Sea that ruled as the supreme arbiter of true strength. Shinikem panicked at this idea and finally took action: when Vaturi and their war council prepared their army along one of the wings, Shinikem tactically whipped their wing against a nearby continental shelf, crushing the army (and, sadly, everyone living or working on that bit of wing).
Shinikem then asked the land-peoples to smash the "spur" drills, which they did. The great ray then set off into the ocean, determined to avoid contact with the rest of the world at all costs. Many Octopeople took what they could and fled; those who remained are presumed to remain in that lost city to this day.

Alignment

Chaotic Good

Year of Birth

100 DE 2120 Years old