The Malevolent Sea

I never saw the creature coming. A wave of death preceded only by silence. There were no gulls, and even the sea was unusually still. The next thing I remembered was flying, a sudden force that threw me back against the mast with enough power to shatter bones. Then, the world fell away and I was falling, falling back to the sea as a wave caught me and hurled me under. I was clinging to a shattered crate, the ship, the crew, the creature all gone without trace. The water bubbled around me for a few minutes, and in that time, I realized that I was now completely alone.

— Josiah Carter

The Malevolent Sea is a mythical creature that dwells in the world's oceans. Few survive the encounters, and none who do can rightly recall the creature. It is known in myths and legends as the Fleet Destroyer, Fishers' Bane, Silent Death, and The Malevolent Sea. It is a creature that can sink even the largest ship without warning and without leaving a trace. There are tales of the creature even snapping airships out of the sky leaving only one or two survivors to tell the tale of how their crew met with death from below.
The tales remain consistent in a few details, however. It is definitely a sea monster, and it always attacks from the ocean's depths. The only signal of its presence is silence, and it attacks with such ferocity that ships are literally blown out of the waters. Some sailors describe a great toothy maw capable to crunching iron like paper while others recall a wave taller than any mast. Any who venture out to sea pray for mercy from the monster that lurks in the deep.

Mythology

Accounts of the Malevolent Sea occur in nearly all cultures. The Atomari worshipped the beast as Napuka, the Sea-Demon. They sacrificed birds and fish to satisfy his hunger and refused to set sail if the sea was too calm and quiet. It is believed that a calf washed up on their island because the Atomari depicted Napuka as a toothy sea monster with a shark tail and four flippers. In Kyroniki, there was a shrine to Thalasseras, a storm goddess that turned into a vicious monster every month. While in her monstrous form, she sank ships and devoured sailors, and the people believed that her tail could create tidal waves big enough to sink a city.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Malevolent Sea is known primarily for its head. It has an elongated mouth filled with teeth ranging from the length of a person's hand to nearly as long as a man's thigh. Some of the teeth even have serrated edges. The upper mandible is slightly shorter than the lower jaw, however the teeth continue outside of the creature's mouth into what can only be described as twin rows of spears. The rest of the head melds into the creature's neck with only tough ridges outlining the eyes. Its eyes are black with a reflective sheen in the light and without visible pupils. The body is long and serpentine, and it's propelled by four muscular flippers. It has a ridged back with the central ridge being the most prominent and acting like a dorsal fin. The ridge to its left and right are less pronounced. It has an upright caudal fin which is powerful enough to create waves that can capsize boats or be used to stun large fish.

Genetics and Reproduction

Every year, sexually available creatures sing and call to one another. They gather together in pods sometimes fifty strong where young males mock fight while the older males swim alongside each other and body slam each other to establish dominance. Only in very rare instances when the males are evenly matched will they use their front teeth like spears and jab at each other. Even then, most fights are resolved after one ram delivered by the stronger male. Females signal their readiness by rolling onto their backs and singing. The most dominant male will mate with nearly all the females, but copulation can take over an hour as the two massive creatures align themselves. In this time, smaller males can mate with ready females before the dominant male intervenes.
Gestation lasts for two years, and the calves are born tail first. For the first six months, they stick close to their mothers and are almost defenseless. Mortality among calves is highest during this period when other Malevolent Seas are most likely to attack. After another two years, they are old enough to fend for themselves, though it is another year yet until the female is sexually ready again.

Growth Rate & Stages

The creature grows slowly not reaching adulthood until three years of age. It isn't sexually mature until ten years old, though most male creatures won't mate until much later in life. Calves are capable of nearly doubling their length in the first year with growth steadily slowing until they reach their adult size. When they are born, calves are a uniform light grey color. At about two years old, calves darken considerably receiving their adult speckling, more pronounced back ridges, and the teeth along the front of their heads erupt in.

Ecology and Habitats

The Malevolent Sea will swim the world's oceans in search of food and has been recorded in both cooler and warmer waters. They tend to breed in more temperate waters along the equator, but even calves are capable of circumnavigating the ocean almost as soon as they're born.

Dietary Needs and Habits

The Malevolent Sea is carnivorous and primarily eats fish, sea mammals, and even birds that land on the water. They're opportunistic feeders and will try to eat anything that seems edible. The consumption of ships and people is largely accidental because ships give off a shadow similar to a large sea animal, and the sounds of rowing or fishing are similar to an animal in distress.
It has two primary ways of hunting. It can propel itself towards schools of fish with tremendous speed and agility for its size and can use its tail to beat the water with enough force to stun many animals. It can then eat the stunned fish at its leisure. For larger solitary prey, The Malevolent Sea resorts to ambush techniques. It dives far beneath its prey before launching skywards with its powerful fins and tail. It creates so much momentum that it can rise most of the way out of the water before falling back killing whatever is in its jaws against the water if its sharp teeth didn't kill it first.

Through my spyglass, I saw fins in the water. Porpoises were leaping clear of the water, but they were neither hunting nor playing. It took me some moments to notice the long ridge of flesh behind them. They were being hunted, but by what I couldn't clearly see. One by one, the porpoises disappeared, and only when all the whales were gone did that ridge disappear.

— Captain Harvey Oldbuck

Additional Information

Social Structure

Stories of The Malevolent Sea are fairly consistent in that only one monster is ever mentioned at a time. They are believed to be solitary creatures except in the cases of mothers with calves. However, even then, the calves learn how to hunt from their mothers and the pair separate as soon as the calf is old enough to hunt for itself. During the annual breeding season, creatures do swim together to mate, and the males determine a hierarchy based on size and ferocity.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

The creature has acute senses that allow it to detect prey from hundreds of miles away. It can smell blood in the water from great distances, hear splashes and the movement of animals in the water, and it can see well even in very dim light. With only the faintest light source, it can see movement miles away.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

Parasites are a constant problem for these creatures. Blood-sucking fish are known to cling to the softer flesh at the joints, and many creatures have irregular white patches of fungi that consume dead plant and animal matter in the water. While there are fish who eat the parasites, it is often too dangerous for an adult Malevolent Sea to get close enough to the reef. Also, few fish can withstand the deep ocean pressures to follow the Malevolent Sea on its hunts.

Lifespan

80 years

Average Weight

180 metric tons

Average Length

30 meters

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

In general, the creatures range in various shades of blue-grey. The undersides turn an almost creamy white color while the ridged back can be a dark grey and is often speckled.

O Great Sea, Bestower and Destroyer of Life, have mercy on all who enter your domain. Grant us fair winds and safe passage. Be not wrathful today and let me live to see the morrow. Remember O Waters my family both in body and in spirit, and let them not suffer the pain of my death. Accept my humble offering this day and know that my spirit is true.

Prayer to the Malevolent Sea