Tanep
Tanep is a free floating kelp-like algae native to the warm, calm waters of the Torvalen Sea's southern interior. It is dark olive green in hue and is composed of branching stalks from which large, fleshy leaf like structures grow as well as gas-filled nodules that allow it to float on the surface. Wild tanep exists in floating mats anywhere from 1 to 10 meters in diameter. Samples that have been captured and studied under light-lensing divination devices reveal that the plant is able to move of its own accord, propelled by means of microscopic flagella lining the tissue of its outer surface.
Though tanep is clearly photosynthetic, it is also capable of scavenging nutrients from organic material it comes into contact with, adhering to it and gradually sliding over it. After it has engulfed the organic material, its tissue releases a strong acid that breaks down the material into its component nutrients.
The remarkable traits of the wild tanep are exploited and enhanced by the somatic magic of the nagathi. The tanep kelp of their floating islands grow rapidly and instead of microscopic flagella, the edges and undersides of the mats grow long, twisted tendrils that corkscrew in unison to propel the mats according to the will of the nagathi shamans. Documented sightings of the vast tanep mats known as the Wandering Isles report observing entire ships engulfed by the mats, feeding it as the bodies of its crew fed the tanep's masters.
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