Dreadmaw

The leviathans that swim in the turbulent waters of the Arcansea are colossal creatures that dwarf the largest ships built by man or S'aue, but there is one among their number that in turn dwarfs these aquatic titans themselves.

This mythical beast is known to the seadogs of Nascindor as Dreadmaw.

Legend of Dreadmaw

Fishwives' tales and the stories told by drunken sailors claim that Dreadmaw was the first creature that the Adversary, when it was still the Companion of the Progenitor, placed onto the face of Nascindor. In this small worm, the Companion instilled an insatiable hunger before it began to create other creatures for this firstborn to prey upon.

And so Dreadmaw ate. It consumed and consumed, swelling in size as it did. What had begun as a tiny worm had, in the wake of millenia of gluttony, become a colossal serpent of truly titanic proportions. So enormous was it that the very outer crust of the planet became unable to bear its weight, so Dreadmaw slid into the fathomless seas on the backs of landslides, where it resides to this day and continues its eternal feast.

Some versions of the story claim that Dreadmaw consumes and grows so that it may one day be a fitting vessel for the sleeping Adversary and upon that day, Nascindor is doomed.

Physical Attributes

The specific dimensions of Dreadmaw vary wildly depending on who is being asked but the scientific consensus is that the colossal beast must be at the very least six-hundred feet (or approximately one hundred and eighty meters) long, with some estimates even going so far to claim that it exceeds over a thousand feet (over three hundred meters) in length. The circumference of its body is approximated to be somewhere between fifty and seventy feet.

Dreadmaw's scales, as the legends go, are nigh indestructible slabs of keratin that interlock into an armored plate capable of deflecting even cannon fire from the unfortunate ships that cross paths with the colossus. Its teeth are jagged pillars that can reach twenty feet in length and can effortlessly puncture the armored outer hulls of Seeker ships.

Encounters

To date, there is only one recounting of an encounter with Dreadmaw that could be considered to be reliable, as it is told by the crew of the Unbroken, the flagship of the fleet of the Stoic Vigil.

The vessel came upon an unusually large Leviathan when sailing in the waters north of the mainland continent, close to the fishing village of Claywick. The crew prepared for a battle but thankfully the gigantic creature glid past the ship, vanishing into deeper waters.

The location of the encounter is rather interesting in and of itself, as the people of Claywick engage in secret worship of a being they have dubbed the "Shadow Below" that appears in a similar fashion as this sea beast did to the crew of the Unbroken.

Could it be that this Shadow Below and Dreadmaw are one and the same?

There is always a bigger fish.

–An age old adage of fishermen and sailors all around Nascindor

by Midjourney

_{A ship, decommissioned after a Leviathan took a bite out of it.}