Endless Blue - Week 45 - Khantusk: Cetacean Symbol of Absolute Allegiance

Archeology

Khantusk: Cetacean Symbol of Absolute Allegiance

Khantusk is the jutting tooth from the long-deceased First Khan, pulled from its root during the battle with the Leviathan of Coinchenn.  As long as a mer's arm and just as thick, it would be an excessive large example of the tusk for even the biggest narwhal.  Its time-yellowed  ivory is stained a with a brown patina of weathered age that is emphasized by the pale engraving along its slightly upward curve that show lividly from the surrounding patina.  Shod near its root and tip with a band of lustrous black pearl, which anchor loosely wrapped, finely woven ribbons of velvet embroidered with text of silk thread.  The runic Aquelan symbols carved into the tusk that cite the militaristic violence committed during the First Khan's dynasty are swaddled by the calligraphic Verse sigils stitched into the wrap that recount the adulation of His loyal citizenry.  The artifact is far from pristine, with the stain of ancient blood on the ribbons, a cracked  bark-like texture, a fractured tip and a substantial divot missing from where the Leviathan ripped it from the First Khan's mouth.  Most notable is the weight of Khantusk.  First picked up, it is light, almost uplifting itself into the hands of a bearer; however as the mantle of leadership pulls down on the bearer, Khantusk weighs ever more heavily.

History

In the early ages of the Cetacean Barbarians, the disparate currents were united under a single leader.  Taking the title of Khan, this narwhal led the orcan tribes on a campaign of invasion and bloodshed that ensured their place in early Elquan history.  A campaign was begun, targeting the wayward Cetacean tribes across the Known World, invading the fledgling societies and cutting a swath of violence and atrocity across the Cetacean Oceans.  Pod after pod either pledged their absolute, undying allegiance to the Khan of the Cetacean Hordes, or were crushed by the Hordes masses.  Those that joined the Khan's cause were incorporated into the Hordes, dispersed among the Eight Banners so no one force was comprised too much of any one subjugated pod.

Eventually the unification of the Cetacean Oceans was not enough for the glory-seeking First Khan, and the turned is avaricious gaze towards the rest of the Known World.  His frenzied Hordes relentlessly raided the no mer's sea borders of the neighboring Chelon, Lumulus, and Mer homeseas.   Fear of impending incursion by their neighbors proved true, and the First Khan began a systematic invasion of territory that redefined the borders of the Fluid Nations.  Success after of ruthless success, victory after bloody victory, the dread of the Cetacean Hordes grew as their savagery and cruelty increased.

What could have been a new era in governance of the oceans of Elqua saw a change in timber, and the unshakable faith of the Orcans in their First Khan began to waver.  As dire and focused a military race they may be, even the combat centric civilization of the Horde began to balk at the First Khan's brutality.  No longer did the Khan demand fealty from the conquered, but subservience.  Those of his inner circle that worshiped him as divinity incarnate were no longer shown the attention of his charisma, but instead were treated as the warbeasts that were enslaved in the Horde's masses.  The First Khan's drive for perfection became obsession, and finally manifest in irresistible compulsion.  No where was the fall of the Khan's fame more clearly illustrated than the drive to dominate the Mer tribe known as the Dumasque.

The resistance of this one particular tribe of Mer, dwarfed in size and strength by the massively built Orcans, would have at an earlier time filled the minds and hearts of the Cetacean poet-warriors with pride.  Never before in their prehistory had they face so spirited an opponent, so unbreakable a species, as the Dumasque.  Combat is honor, and honor is life to the Orcans, and the conflict with the Dumasque exemplified that ideal.  But frustration mounted in the brow of the First Khan.  How dare these inferiors, these smaller pisceans, the inconsequential creatures stand in the way of His unification.  The more the Dumasque resisted, the more consumed with their defeat the Khan became.  His tactics grew more desperate, his methods more cruel.  He drew needed attention and resources from the rest of His dynasty to deal with this tiny obstacle.  Those among his Inner Circle that voiced simple concern, let alone opposition to the Khan's will, were ostracized to the front lines.  So single-minded was the Khan's obsession that once He finally expelled the Dumasque from their water, He did not rest his loyal-but-spent soldiers.  Instead, he vowed their obliteration from the seas of the world, and continued to chase the retreating survivors.  This advance history dubbed the Khan's Folly, as it took the dynasty's beleaguered and exhausted forces to their ultimate failure -- the Undertow.

The Khan's forces were decimated there, sucked down into the abyssal depths of Elqua by the Undertow by uncaring order of their warlord.  As the Dumasque, caught between the gyre of the Undertow and genocide by the ravening Khan, they chose destruction by the whirlpool.  The Khan would not accept this, and sent the Horde in after them.  The resultant chaos left barely a tenth of the Horde able to escape from the unrelenting swallowing of the Undertow, including most of the Khan's inner circle and his companion, the Rani.

As the broken Cetacean Barbarians dragged their shattered bodies back to their homesea, the Khan raved.  He railed against the universe, damned the gods for their pettiness, denying Him the victory that was due to him.  It was as the remnants passed through the shoals of Coinchenn that they fell prey to the Leviathan, a massive monstrosity that saw an easy meal in the bleeding, moaning survivors of the Undertow's wrath.  Unable to take another defeat, ruing His obsession and ashamed of the sacrifice made in his folly, the Khan threw himself at the Leviathan.  Crazed with guilt and shame and loathing, it is said the battle lasted for hours before the Leviathan maimed the Khan, pulling his tusk out from his jaw by the root.  By final decree, the Khan sent his forces back to their homesea as He dragged the monstrosity down to the Shelf and darkness.  Before their retreat, one of the bearers of the Eight Banners saved the Khan's tusk from sinking to the same end as the embattled combatants, and brought it home to the Oceans as a testimony to the end of the First Dynasty.

Returned to its place of birth, those that stayed behind and thus did not witness the descent of the First Khan into ruination, embraced the tusk as a monument to what had gone before.  They carved the military victories of their mightiest leader on the curved ivory, shackled to it the songs and praise of the people in silk.  Named "Khantusk", it became the mantle of power for the Cetacean Oceans, and was wielded by the subsequent Khans as they tried to recapture the glory that once bathed the Orcan hordes.  But never did the defeated Horde reclaimed the absolute allegiance of its people as it once enjoyed, and eventually the Orcan race left their barbaric ways behind to become one of the Civilized.

Here Khantusk languished in obscurity; once a mighty weapon, now little more than a forgotten symbol of an abandoned chapter in history, as reduced in import as the power of the Khan from which it came.  As the Orcans fostered their new role as diplomat between the races, Khantusk's importance was relegated to archivists and historians only.  It disappeared during one of the many outbreaks of the Shellback Wars at the end of the Golden Epoch, when one of the diplomatic missions of the Cetaceans between the two squabbling species went horribly awry and resulted in one of the most protracted skirmishes in Chelon/Lumulus relations before the emergence of the Kraken Empire.

Campaign Use

Khantusk would serve as a mighty tool for unifying nations, for bringing disparate forces together as a cohesive whole.  It would be of great import to any nation, be they expansionist or fending off the incursions of such a nation.  The players could be entrusted with retrieving the cetacean artifact, either from an invading warlord or for a homesea against said invader.  Or perhaps the player characters seek it out for themselves, to aid in their own ascension into the political powers of the Endless Blue.  Even the fact that the artifact is not whole can be a hook for adventure, with various parties of differing ethical and moral standing contesting over a shard of ivory that seems to have magical properties.

Powers

Continuous

- Infused with the decades of loyalty and fidelity, seeped with the patriotism that comes from utter nationalism, the very idea of Khantusk serves as a symbol for unity and leadership.  Those that posses the artifact are imbued with a portion of that First Khan's infamy.  If the bearer possess Khantusk for at least one month, their leadership potential is magnified by a magnitude of one.  Their masses of servants and soldiers swells, expanding from a crowd to an army.  Treat such a character as if they possessed the Leadership feat; and if such character already possess the leadership feat, multiply the results by 10.  Those with silver tongues and a skill for for attracting followers expands in the presence of Khantusk, potentially reaching into the thousands of dedicated supplicants.

- The bearer then begins to form an inner circle of loyalists, dedicated to both the Khantusk's bearer and his cause.  If the bearer has the Leadership feat, Khantusk's charismatic abilities multiplies the number of cohorts that flock to his cause.  The carrier gains a number of cohorts -- referred to as his inner circle -- equal to his normal Leadership result for 1st level followers.  These inner circle cohorts are still limited in experience by the class level limit listed for the bearer's Leadership score.  Members of the Inner Circle may themselves take the Leadership feat and gain their own followers and cohort, benefiting from a +2 association bonus.  However, once the bearer begins to suffer from the artifact's cursed power, that benefit becomes a -5 disadvantage due to the negative association.

- Finally, the bearer gains a companion.  One individual above all others understands the vision the bearer has for the nation and history, and shares in it with non-shakable loyalty.  This special cohort is the equal to the bearer, in level and influence, and will be seen by the bearers followers as the one true source for the bearer's wisdom.  The relationship between bearer and companion can be platonic or romantic, but whate ever the form it takes the pairing forges a primal, pure bond between the two free of jealousy or distrust.

Invoked

- When held, Khantusk can influence the attitude of others towards the bearer.  It can shift a non-player character's attitude positvely one stage (from hostile to unfriendly, then to indifferent, and so on).  This can only be done once a day per individual, but can influence any number of individuals.  Repeated daily use on the same individual(s) can cause strain on the bearer and may trigger the artifact's curse that much sooner.  If the individual targeted by Khantusk's influencing power is of the same race as the bearer, the adjustment in attitude leaps immediately to friendly status.

Cursed

- History repeats itself, and Khantusk ensures that those that bear its divine powers repeat the success and ultimate failure of the First Khan.  Slowly, over the length of the bearer's campaign, he will slowly begin to suffer from the same afflictions that the Unifier of the Cetacean Barbarians did: paranoia, megalomania, and narcissism.  His lust for blood and savagery in battle will take its toll, influencing the bearer's mind, making him cruel and primitive.

Suggested Means of Destruction

It must be replaced it in the remains of the First Khan's jaw.
It must be surrendered to the hands of a foe that has never opposed you.
It must be wrested from the bearer by their jaded companion and thrown to the disillusioned masses.

Endless Blue - Week 42 - Garment Couture: The Fashion Aesthetic

Sociology

Garment Couture: The Fashion Aesthetic

Elquan fashions favor the simple over the complex.  While craftsmen are more than capable of (and do) producing the most intricate of work, the tendency of water to obscure light and detail means such astounding detail is lost.  Clothing and jewelery with fine detailing can only be appreciated in the Shore areas, where light can most easily penetrate the water's natural absorption.  As a result, many refer to those that wear detailed clothing and finery as "wanting to be deep fish in the shallows", referring to the vain desire to appear imposing in one's small area of influence.

Textiles

Fabric is a well known technology beneath the waters of Elqua, with records of woven fabrics dating back to the Bronze Epoch.  While cloth of that time originally had only the natural coloration of the plant or animal material from which it was derived, eventually dyeing became possible with mated containers.

All cloth is made on machines called looms, a moving interleave of thread that meshes together to form a continuous plain of fabric.  Thread itself is an extension of the creation of rope, refined and reduced to a more manipulative state.  Thread is comprised of the fibers of plant matter and/or the hairs of hairy aquatic mammals*, spun around each other to form a contiguous length of string.  The thread is then loaded into the loom which forms a criss-crossing lattice of interwoven threads.  The product is cloth.

A variety of cloth (and supple leathers) are used in Elquan fashion.  Indeed, cloth weaving is not limited to just organic materials.  Lamé -- a fabric made with a metallic weft --  uses a thin metallic yarn that is wrapped in a metallic wire or ribbon.  So fine and skillfully spun is this mineral thread that is becomes nearly as ductile as cloth without loosing the luster of precious metal.

Hides and skins of sea fauna are also used in the fabrication of clothing as it is in the creation of nautiluses, but where the latter uses tanning methodology that produces stiffer material, the former concentrates on softening the skins.  Fish skin comes in a wide variety of natural coloration and scale composition, and these gradations are used by seamstresses to produce incredible works.

Articles of Clothing

Clothing is the shaping of fabric into objects that can be worn on the piscean body.  Not every species in the oceans is equipped to survive in varying temperatures, and as such sometimes need extra protection to shield them from the elements.  Over successive generations clothing has evolved from just being "shelter that is worn" into an expression of art, tradition, culture, and personality.

Cap-- This is a generic catch-all term for anything worn essentially on the top of the head.  They can be kept in place by any manner of means, be it a tight headband, pinning in the hair, or strapped under the chin, jaw, or ears.

Choker -- A choker is like a necklace, but instead of hanging loosely down from the neck and shoulders, it is more snugly around the throat (but not too tight as to constrict breathing or swallowing.  It can serve the same role as a belt and can be what keeps the chemise (below) in place, but is differentiated by the need to keep the weight demands low as to prevent choking.

Chemise-- A chemise is an article of clothing that covers the torso of a piscean.  They may be as form fitting or formless as desired, and they need not include sleeves -- but may have them at various lengths, also either tight against the arms or more loosely draped as taste dictates.  The creation of chemises always needs to keep in mind the location of the picean gills along the lower ribs, and must keep that area free of obstruction lest they endanger the wearer with strangulation.

Glove -- The piscean glove is a bit more complicated than the gloves of our world.  Most pisceans have varying lengths of webbing between their digits, and natural ungues at their tips.  While this stretch of skin aids in swimming, it makes tailoring gloves more difficult.  A slit is cut in the fabric of the gloves where each finger connects to the hand and is extended outward to the second or third knuckle.  A piece of cloth is then folded over and sewn into the hem of the slit, and the seem is reinforced with stiffer materials to keep the glove form fitting.

Belt --  A loop around the major axis of the piscean body, belts are perhaps the most varied of all the articles of clothing.  They can vary in ever conceivable way -- thickness, width, tightness, color, even the method of wear is exceedingly flexible.  While traditionally worn perpendicular to the central anteroposterior axis, belts can be jauntily skewed over the hip, across the chest like a bandoleer, or even interlocked like a harness.  They are the most functional part of Elquan dress and the most universally utilized in every way of life.

Ephod -- The ephod is the article of clothing that covers the main trunk of the tail.  Like the shirt, it can be as basic as a cloth hanging from the waist to as complicated a network of interwoven fibers enshrouding the tail.

Caudalet -- Much like the choker, a caudalet is worn around the end of the tail right before the tail fins spread out from the piscean form.  Also like a choker, a caudalet can be used as the connective part of the lower end of an ephod or to anchor tail flippers (see below).

Flipper -- The lower counterpart of the glove, flippers are pieces of clothing worn over the pelvic and/or tail fins.  They are usually made of sterner stuff than gloves, as they must endure the constant wear of continual swimming.

Accessories

Accessories are differentiated from clothing in that they are usually comprised of harder materials than fabric, usually metal.  This material would be uncomfortable, even detrimental to the wearer is used like cloth.  They are instead used to accentuate and supplement the garments worn by a piscean.  Common forms of accessories take the form of jewelery such as earrings, torcs, bracelets, and rings.  Elquan tailors have taken to incorporating jewelery into their garment designs, making buttons, clasps, and buckles decorative as well as functional.  Other materials used in Elquan jewelery is abalone, crystal, gemstone, sea shell, and perhaps the most pervasive accoutrement of all, pearl.

Fashion by Historical Culture

Culture enforces as much influence on fashion as whimsy does.  Areas of high ethnic concentration will contain greater numbers of  traditionalists, whom bring the "old ways" of dress with them.  Part of being accepted into a society is the adoption of their customs, and adopting the apparel of the local populace is the primary visual means of integration.

The Yaun-Teel maintain a practice among their orthodox members of keeping their bodies fully clothed as much as possible.  This sets them apart from their slaves, whom are usually divested of all clothing early on in a method meant to humiliate and break the will of their "indentured servants".

With their culture very much entrenched in the martial tradition, it is unsurprising to find that the Orcans in a martial fashion, incorporating nautiluses into a style of dress that expects the struggle for life and death to erupt at any moment.

In many ways, the amount and intricacy of clothing worn by the Chelon is an indication of their social standing, with the more powerful and affulent affording complex outfits that fly in the face of function.

The Ceph both eschew clothing and are rebuked by it.  Their non-piscean forms make many of the articles of clothing useless to them, which is just as well as it would interfere with their natural camouflage abilities.  Ceph clothing must be specially made for them, usually consisting of a huge glove with eight fingers on it, caps, and belts.

Locanth and Sahaguin, cultures diametrically opposite oceanographically as well as philosophically, strangely share a common aesthetic when it comes to clothing.  They will dress pragmatically, opting for clothing that is functional for an intended purpose.

The strange Lumulus connect their clothing directly to their chitinous exoskeletons, anchoring them with piercings in the hardened plates.  Their quizzical clothing incorporates the unique metals that their culture is renown for into a way of dress that is both clothing and jewelery simultaneously.

The Mer are the most mercurial when it comes to clothing, as they are a species fascinated by fashion.  Fads come and go across all of the Mer currents quicker than a Kouton hides a secret, and they take their inspiration from whatever aspect of the mode of dress from other cultures strikes their fancy.  What is chic one day is dull the next, and whatever little feature of culture that captured their attention at one moment could cause social expulsion by the time you learned of it.

Speaking of the Kouton, they prefer to wear loose fitting robes and cowls that cover most of the body, obliterating any distinguishing features that may betray knowledge to others.

"Clothes make the Mer, so long as other make the clothes..."
- a snide comment on the way Mer reputation for dress.

---
* -- Despite being referred to as "mammals", these animals do not require air to breathe.  Like the cetaceans and dolphinidae of the setting, aquatic mammals have gills and never developed the blow hole, nostrils, or any other form of in taking the atmosphere into their bodies.

Endless Blue - Week 32 - Senses Despite Darkness

Spectroscopy

Senses Despite Darkeness

While life may have genesised from the water, it could not have begun there if not for the light bathing the world of Elqua from its sun.  Without that energy, the most basic link in the food chain -- namely photosynthesis -- could not metabolize, and sans a method of creating food the earliest phytoplankton colonies would have died from starvation.  Sans light, the smallest creatures of the oceans could not survive long enough to evolve into the immense and varied ecosystem of today.

In order for life to flourish, light had to be available for it.  On land light is plentiful, and even the most passive of biological constructs can soak in its bounty.  However, water is much less forgiving medium for transmission of light than air is, and some unique situations developed from the water's special qualities of reflection, refraction, and absorption.


Layers of Water

Just as there are vertical zones in the bodies of water on Elqua -- colloquially known as the Shore, the Shoals, and the Shelf -- there are also horizontal layers.  These layers are defined by the amount of light that can penetrate the depths.

The uppermost layer of the ocean is where almost 75% of all photosynthetic life on the planet exists.  Named the euphotic layer, it reaches about 300 feet from the sunbathed surface of the water.  By definition, the Shore is always in the euphotic layer.

Below this layer of life is the disphotic layer, it stretches downward to about 3,000 feet deep, and is dimly lit.  Animals can easily survive here, but it is rare for any botanical life to survive due to the inadequate amount of light to complete photosynthesis.  The Shoals reach from the disphotic layer up through the euphotic layer to the surface of the water.

Finally is the aphotic layer, where no light penetrates at all, and this layer accounts for a stunning 90% of the entire ocean area of Elqua.  The Shelf includes all three photic layers, the euphotic, disphotic, and aphotic layers.

Elqua's zones and layers intersect in a step pattern:

The Euphotic Shore	The Euphotic Shoals	The Euphotic Shelf
	The Disphotic Shoals	The Disphotic Shelf
Elqua's Sea Floor		The Aphotic Shelf

Color absorption roughly to scale; water depth is not.

That is a lot of water for light to shine through to reach the life living at the bottom of the sea.  But before the light can even start its journey through liquid, it has its first obstacle to overcome: reflection.
The water's surface has a property called albedo, which effectively reflects a varying amount of the light shining down onto it back into the atmosphere, affecting the planet's weather and climate.  The shape of the water's surface determines how much sunlight can penetrate through its surface into the depths below.  Rough waters reflect less light while calm seas reflect more.  It is the rolling tidal motion of waves that results in the wavy light effect that can be seen in shallow costal waters -- the wavering bands of light that dance along with the rise and fall of the waves.

Once the albedo barrier is pierced, light then has to penetrate through the optically more dense medium of water.  It is here that the individual portions of light -- the eight colors of visible light -- begin a process of attrition.  As light penetrates lower and lower depths of the oceans, the more difficult it becomes for white light to filter through the water.  Called refraction, it is the natural tendency of water to break up light into its component colors, which are thereby absorbed by particulate matter and the blue wavelenths are bounced off water molecules' own intrinsic though subtle shade of blue.

Colors with shorter wavelengths – greens, blues, and violets – are able to penetrate deeper into the water than those with long wavelenghts.  While eventually all color fades to darkness at the aphotic layer, the various colors can reach different depths.  Under the best of conditions (i.e., clearest water, sun directly overhead, etc.), red is the first color absorbed by the fluid surroundings; at a mere 15 feet red looks at best as a muddy sienna or burnt umber.  Orange is faded at 25', while yellow peters out at around 45 feet down.  Violet is absorbed at nearly 100 feet, followed by green at 135'.  Blue, curiously enough, is not absorbed until significantly deeper -- at about 300 feet.  This anomaly in the pattern is due to water's inherent blue tint, which scatters the blue wavelengths of light instead of absorbing them.

Note that these distances are measured from the surface of the water directly to the colored object.  The distance from that object that an observer views from is cumulative for determining what color wavelengths can be discerend.  Thus:

Object's distance from surface + object's distance from observer = total distance of color absorption.

For example, a Mer gazes at a goldfish from ten feet away from him, and they are both ten feet below the surface of the waves.  The light from the sun penetrates the water's albedo and travels 10' to bounce off the goldfish and then travels an additional 10' to reach the Mer's eyes.  That's a total of 20', which is coming close to orange's maximum absorption point.  The goldfish's color would appear muddy and bland in the surrounding blue.  Had the goldfish been green, however, its coloration would still have maintained its vividness to a point where the distances between the Mer. the "greenfish", and the surface of the ocean equaled approximately 135 feet.

This demonstrates the benefit of portable sources of light beneath the waves.  Bioluminescence is a poor but unfortunately the sole viable source of light generation under the sea.  Shedding light barely greater than a lit candle, it can barely illuminate the immediate area with its weak radiance.  Stronger light sources can be achieved through alchemy, and these light sources make discerning colors much more practical, and the distance light travels would use these alchemical lamps as the starting point to measure color absorption instead of the surface of the water, effectively exposing color to layers of the oceans that cannot normally be appreciated.

With vision such an integral sense for exploring one’s environment, other methods of “sight” evolved to fulfill the role of the primary sense.  Such established methods like infravision still exist in Elqua, though in this case infravision is severely truncated due to the light- and heat-absorption properties of water, and so is only useful on the surface and in Shore areas where light is barely refracted.

Dive deep enough, all color eventually disappears, leaving most creatures in the dark without any wavelength of light to stimulate their optic receptors, save for the ultraviolet.  Water is perplexingly transparent to ultraviolet rays, which can reach down to almost the aphotic layer.  What this signifies is that even though these depths would appear as an almost inky blackness to our eyes, there is still enough light to see with eyes that can peer into the ultraviolet range.  Perhaps the most successful adaption to deal with this depth-blindness was the evolution of ultravision.


Ultravision

The Kraken’s innate camouflage abilities, while formidable, would make it difficult to find others of their own kind if they did not possess a form of vision that enables them to spot each other despite their best disguise.  This sense -- known as “ultravision” -- works on the principle that while camouflage tends to be uncanny in the visible spectrum, the chemicals used to duplicate the natural coloring of the surroundings do not share the same make-up as the surroundings.  While skin tone can be recreated in a painting, the pigments used in both complexion and paint are not the same compounds, expressing different properties when exposed to the proper stimuli.   In this case, light.   When exposed to a special light source, these chameleonic pigments fluoresce whereas the natural coloring of the surrounds remain unlit, making detection as easy as looking in the right direction.  However, ultravision is a passive medium. meaning it is dependent on an outside source to function correctly.  Ultravision would be a useless quirk of vision without special illumination, and such sources are immediately detectable by those that have ultravision as if it was a normal light source of the same size.

It wasn't until the historically antagonistic Chelon and Lumulus both realized the Kraken Occupation was a greater risk to their survival that either one of them were to each other.  The despite that propelled the Shellback Wars to wage over and over had to be put aside for the greater continuation of piscean life.  Only the Chelon's mastery of mystic might and the Lumulus' expertise at smithing metal could come together to form the ultimate tool for freedom -- ultraviolet enchanted dearthsteel.

Unguis/Nautilus Abilities

Ultraviolet – An item with this quality gives off the kind of ultraviolet light that enables ultravision to work.  The magical bonus equivalent bestowed on the item by the enchantment varies according to the intensity of light shed: from +1 for a glow of a candle to +5 for the pure amount from full sunlight.  Further, an item’s size also limits how bright a glow the item can cast.  Tiny items such as daggers can only shed the weak +1/candlelight equivalent amount of ultraviolet light, with the capacity increasing by +1 for every size type larger an item from there.

Unguis/Nautilus Bonus	Illumination Level	Illumination Range	Unguis/Nautilus Size
+1	Candlelight	5 ft. (Shadowy)	Dagger, bracer, buckler
+2	Lamp	10 ft.	Short Sword, halmet, cestus
+3	Dancing lights	20 ft.	Longsword, half-spear, shield
+4	Lantern	30 ft.	Spear, quarterstaff, large shield
+5	Sunlight	60 ft.	Polearm, Lance, double weapon *, tower shield

* -- Except quarterstaves.

Ultraviolet Burst -- Upon a successful hit on (for an unguis) or hit by (for a nautilus) a target capable of camouflage, the striking/struck item releases a massive momentary burst of ultraviolet light that stuns the pigment producing cells and temporarily stuns them for 1d6 rounds.  In order for an item to be enchanted with ultraviolet burst it must already possess the ultraviolet ability before it can be give ultraviolet burst.  It is a +1 bonus equivalent ability.

The magics needed to permanently enchant ultraviolet abilities seem unable to anchor themselves to xanthellae, so the war ravaged Chelon needed some other source to attach their spells.  Conversely, no Lumulan has shown the ability to coral shape, so they lack the mental discipline to cast the ultraviolet spells into their own metal, dearthsteel.  Through espionage and betrayal, threats and machinations, the Kraken had for the most all of the occupation kept the two shellback races at each other's throats.  It was finally the Orcans that mediated a cease fire if not peace long enough for the two arts to merge into the last chance the Known World had for freedom.  So unprecedented was the merging of these two quarrelsome factions that the alliance had as much to fear from internal back-stabbing as it ever had from their encephalopodic enslavers.


Echolocation

The aphotic Shelf, where the water is so deep that no light reaches, requires other senses to take up the slack from the now useless sense of vision.  The foremost among these is echolocation.  Most notably expressed by the cetaceans, it is an active system of vocalized “pings” that radiate out through the water and are reflected back when they come in contact with objects.  The reflected sound will sound slightly different in each ear as the soundwaves bounce back to the caller, and it is this stereophonic effect that gives the creature the ability to envision his environment around him in full three dimensional perspective.

The primary organ used in echolocation is the melon.  This is a roughly ovoid shaped organ found in the forehead of such creatures that can located by sound.  It is the melon that gives the Orcans their broad forehead and prominent brow.  The interior of this fatty organ is coated with a waxy oil called parmaceti, which is used in biosonar as both a focusing apparatus for the initial sound and as a receptor for the reflected sound when the consistency of the fatty tissue matches the surrounding environment, aiding in the transfer of sound vibrations to the inner ear.

Since sound travels better in water than through air, this is an effective method of vision.  However, since it requires the possessor to actively create sound pulses, creatures with echolocation can be detected by any creature through a simple passive Listen check with a Difficulty Class of 15.  An interesting side effect of this is that any creature with echolocation themselves can use the pings of active echolocation to determine the distance and direction of the sounds origin.

This curious discovery was frequently used by the Orcan barbarians, whom would spread out to surround an enemy on all sides, then a single warrior (usually the pod alpha) would make a whalesong that all others in the pod used to determine the whereabouts of the pursued prey.  From this, the Orcans learned that their whalesongs need not be the source of soundwaves detected by their melons, and have adapted to using other sources of sound as their "ping".  This takes a Listen check at a DC of 20 to succeed, with a modifier of +1 for every mile distance the original sound is made.  A failed test cannot be rerolled, but new rolls can be made if the sound lasts for more than a round or is repeated.

Rumor has it that some special Orcans have learned the ability to use echolocation without the need to generate an echo, relying instead on the ambient sounds that fill the oceans constantly.  Most like such stories are tall tales told to magnify the cetacean's sense of glory, as no Orcan has ever demonstrated the ability.


Currentsense

Currentsense is similar to echolocation, but disparate in two key areas: First, currentsense works on the sense of taste instead of hearing, and Second, the sense needs only a moving trickle of water to operate.  Without some form of currentsense, it is nearly impossible to track a target effectively in a featureless, three dimensional environment.

The most primitive form of currentsense is called bloodtrace.  This is the sense that sharks possess, the ability to detect even the smallest traces of blood in the current from great distances and home in on their origin.  Creatures with bloodtrace gain a +5 circumstance bonus when tracking a bleeding target.
The second form is called tracescent, and it operates like bloodscent, but can detect a greater range of trace compounds dragged along the currents, like recently consumed food or bodily waste.  The +5 circumstance bonus from this method of currentsense extends to any substance that leaves a residue for the currents to carry away.

The final form, true currentsense, can detect its surroundings purely by the eddies it has caused in the current. The character’s sense of touch has become so acute it can feel the lightest eddy or divergent current around him.  Similar to the tremorsense ability many of the eyeless aberrations above the waves exhibit, it allows the character to comprehend its surroundings completely without the benefit of sight.  These individuals are to be treated as if they could normally see in a well-lit area of sunlight, and enjoy the +5 circumstance bonus to tracking regardless if the target is leaving substance traces behind or not.

None of the primitive nor civilized races of the Known World of Elqua possess a form of currentsense, though they may temporarily gain them through magic or employ domesticated animals that themselves have the skill.  Such animals are highly sought after, and packbreeders have been known to be able to improve the currentsense in successive generations of those species.

"Swim fast; swim silent; swim deep."
-- the best advice for swimming closer to the Source

Endless Blue - Week 11 - Orcan

Biology

Orcan -- Poet Warriors of the Endless Blue

Orcans are a contradiction in piscean form – massively built but essentially peaceful, unfathomably wise yet explosively rash.  They consider themselves the first civilized race on Elqua despite their barbaric origins, and take pride in the fact they converted their original savage ways into a strict martial lifestyle that married with their artistic and philosophical minds to become a race of contemplative poet-warriors renown across the oceans of the Endless Blue.

Personality: Usually reserved and patient, Orcans find spiritual fulfillment in investing extensive effort over long periods of time.  Forward thinkers, they have an astute ability for visualizing goals and taking the necessary steps to achieve them.  They are perfectly suited for tasks that require prolonged dedication and delayed results.
Physical Description: Orcans are a Large race, reaching 9” to 10’ long.  Their skin is thick with blubber, yet their bodies are well toned.  Their heads are somewhat bullet shaped, with their faces extending into a curved snout.  Instead of conical ears, the Orcans possess a tympanic membrane on either side of their head just above where their jaws meet their thick necks.  Ruffled bands of muscle extend from their lower jaw to just above their solar plexus, and their chests are barrel-shaped.   Their pelvic and tail fins evolved into flippers and a fluke, and their hands consist of three fingers and a thumb each.
Relations: Orcans view the other intelligent races as bickering children, and will often chide them for their behaviors, yet will resolutely not interfere.  They have allowed the Shellback War between the Chelon and Lumulus to rage for countless centuries despite their homesea laying between the two antagonistic bodies of water.
Alignment: Orcans are usually lawful, even those of the Narwahl that still cling to the old Cetacean Barbarian ways.
Homeseas: The homesea for the Orcans lies in the northern and western section of the Periphery around the Core.
Religion: As one of the “civilized” races, Orcans have abandoned the practice of Pantheon worship.  However, they still cling to the old ways of ancestor deification.
Language: Orcans speak Cetacean, a complex language perfectly suited for their vocal flexibility that at its root puts more emphasis on the pitch of speech than on the words spoken.
Names: In contradiction to their physical presence, Orcan names tend to consist of soft consonants and extended vowels, with a melodious sound well suited for singing.  Males tend to be named after their grandfathers (patriarchal, then matriarchal), while females are named after their grandmothers (matriarchal, then patriarchal).  On the off chance parents conceive of more children than the convention allow, the granduncles/grandaunts are then honored, descending in age.  Family names are the same as that of the pod.

Male Names: Anzaan, Ensho, Fuyoo, Sunyan
Female Names: Enmei, Farahl, Issoh, Lulesh
Family Names: Fushin, Hoyun, Mumol, Zenish

Adventurers: Adventuring Orcans have a little more of that hereditary wanderlust that drove the Cetacean Barbarians warring across the waves of Elqua.  They will enjoy venturing to new places, meeting new people, learning new things, and fighting new foes.  The race as a whole has an almost rapturous viewpoint in all things, be it lethal combat or uproarious camaraderie.

Racial Traits

Ability Adjustments: Orcan – Constitution +4, Charisma +2, Dexterity -2
Narwahl – Strength +2, Constitution +4, Wisdom -2
Automatic Class Skills: Listen, Perform (sing)
Skill Bonuses: +2 racial bonus on Intimidate and Innuendo checks.
Bonus Hit Dice: Orcans and Narwahl start with +1 Hit Die at 1^st level
Natural Weapons: Orcans have a Bite (1d6), while Narwahl instead use their dental tusks to Gore (1d6).
Movement: Large Creature (2 cubes tall), base speed 40 cubes.
Senses: Echolocation
Buoyancy: Shelf (adjustable)
Toughness (Ex): Orcans of both varieties posses damage reduction equal to their Constitution modifier from non-lethal damage.  This ability applies to non-lethal damage regardless of the source, be it from subdual attacks, environmental hazards, or biological stress.  However damage can never be reduced to less than 1 point.
Favored Class: Orcan – Monk (Monk Orcans can multiclass, ignore the restrictions of the Monk class).
Narwahl – Barbarian (Narwhal do not need to meet the non-lawful alignment criteria to become a barbarian).
Social Flaw: Hubristic
Base Height: Male – 9’1” (+ 2d6 in.)
Female – 8’5” (+ 2d6 in.)
Base Weight: Male – 500 lbs. (+ height mod. x 3d6 lbs.)
Female – 450 lbs. (+ height mod. x 3d6 lbs.)
Automatic Languages: Cetacean, Elquan
Bonus Languages: Chelon, Lumulus, Koutonese
Level Adjustment: +1

Orcan society is ritual based, and beginning essentially from birth the young are trained, tested, and re-trained in every facet of their society.  It is rare that an Orcan will pass these tests on the first try, and their civilization acknowledges this fact by incorporating a belief that failure is not catastrophe.  In a savage world like Elqua, failure results in damage and death, and as a result of their embracing failure as a lessoned learned, scars have become a bragging right. Scarification has become ingrained into the society, comparable to what tattoos are for ours.

One of the most important rites of passage for a young Orcan is mastering their pod’s school of martial combat.  Nothing means acceptance to an Orcan than knowing they have mastered the same fighting prowess as their father and mother, aunts and uncles, cousins and siblings have for generations before them.  It is common to find the entirety of a pod possessing the same feats, wielding the same ungues, armored in the same nautiluses as their brethren, unified in belief, in skill, in blood – a communal martial family.

This does not mean their style of fighting is rigid or antiquated, incapable of innovation or adaption.  Indeed, Orcans are very open to learning new ideas and techniques, and successfully incorporating them into their established methods.  It is of particular honor to have one’s innovation officially incorporated into the pod teachings, to be taught to subsequent young warriors on into eternity.  This most frequently happens with marriages, where one of the two bonded chooses to join to the other’s pod, and as a sort of dowry contributes a part of their original pod’s style to his or her new family.

But might is not all that defines an Orcan.  They challenge their minds as well as their bodies, and many of their martial teachings also teach philosophy and reason.  Claiming spirituality rather than religion, Orcan revere their ancestors as guiding spirits that watch over the lives of an Orcan and help guide it towards prosperity and happiness.

Leadership over a pod is usually assumed by the most hale and healty, eldest male still of functional age.  The pod’s alpha, this is not just a matter of whichever Orcan can best the previous alpha in combat.  There are traditional rituals both Orcans must test themselves with, and though there will always be physical trails due to the harsh surroundings on Elqua, wisdom and charisma are just as important to a leader as strength is.  Most alphas are aware of their progressive age and dwindling faculties, and will usually accept the challenge to their leadership thankfully, for the better of the pod.  But they will still insist on the completion of the trials to prove the new leader’s abilities.  No alpha would pass on the mantle of command to an unfit successor and still live.  And even if a new challenger deposes the established alpha, the pod can refuse the usurper’s status of their free will.  It is inconceivable for an Orcan pod to be controlled by a tyrant unless the majority of the pod shared in his cruelty.

“Life began in water; today it ends in blood…”
Warcry of the Cetacean Barbarians

Endless Blue - Week 10 - Species of the Endless Blue

Biology

Species of the Endless Blue
Scholars divide the races of Elqua into the civilized and primitive nations.  Claiming enlightened criteria, this dichotomy forced on intelligent species in actuality is an arbitrary and elitist separation based on homeogenic qualities that the societies among the Periphery and Crèche of Civilization share in common: namely a non-representative alphabet, an educational system, a lack of ethnic diversity, and an abandonment of Pantheon worship.  Some hypocrisy remains in this division of higher evolved grouping, as two of the four Civilized races still reproduce oviparously (via egg production) instead of viviparously (live birth); conversely, two of the primitive races carry their children to term.

Civilized Races of the Periphery

Chelon [kappa sapien] – The Chelon are a race in decline, having long ago reached their nation’s height of power and now suffer through the long, agonized slide into obscurity.  Chelon live to great age, but for far too long their birth rate has been outstripped by their natural death rate.  So old is the race that whatever ethnological variation they may have had homogenized into the sole race known of today.   Aristocratic in nature, they gave the Known World many of its inventions, and the Chelon Sea is believed to be the birthplace of magic.  They have chevron-shaped heads with a flat cranium, with small, inset eyes on either side of beaked mouth and a weak chin under that.  They possess a shell from their stooped shoulders that covers their back and most of their notably short tail.  Their skin, while not a bony as the shell on their back, is toughened with calluses.  Along with Lumulus, they are sometimes referred to collectively as “Shellbacks”, and the on-again/off-again war between the two distant nations has been coined after that appellation.
Pl. Chelon; adj. Chelonite

Lumulus [rakovica sapien] – Xenophobic and withdrawn, the Lumulus are the most alien of all the sentient races of Elqua’s Known World.  Masters of heat and the rare metals and glass of the ocean societies, these beings from the Lumulus Basin participate in a detached yet heavy commerce with the other bodies of water.  They possess a haunched, banded exoskeletal shell that they must shed yearly to grow.  Lumulus never stop growing, but only the rarest specimen has ever grown nearly as large as a Mer.  They have two main arms that end with three fingered hands that are heavily yet naturally armored, and a series of three “digits” interspersed between their gill slits.  Their eyes are completely black, and they possess long, fine, wiry hairs from their upper lip.  Perhaps the most notable feature of the Lumulus is their blue blood.  Their society is broken down into eight forgeclans, with their three ethnicities (rakova, jastog, and morski) freely intermixed.   Even though they are separated on either ends of the Known World, the Lumulus and Chelon nations have engaged in hostilities for most of their history.
Pl. Lumulus; adj. Lumulan

Mer [piscean sapien] – A race in ascendance despite some truly tragic self-induced calamities, the Mer are coming into their own.  Half-mammalian and half Piscean, the Mer were the most varied in appearance and were organized into thirteen tribes called “currents”.  These currents each form their own autonomous yet interdependent state under the banner of the Mer species.  At the present time, only eight of those original ethnicities still exist.  Despite this seeming turn toward extinction, the remaining currents are thriving, and now consider their expanse of the known world to be claustrophobic and have begun to look outward for more breathing room.  The Merfolk are perhaps the most diverse coloration (which determines in which current they belong), with a myriad of patterning that varies from family to family.
Pl. Mer, Merfolk (antiquated); adj. Mer

Orcan [cetacean sapien] – Considering themselves to be the first race of Elqua, the Orcans are warrior poets descended from the once marauding Cetacean barbarians.  Their skin is smooth, yet thick, with a rubbery texture that belies the practiced lethality of their martial history.  Ridged folds of skin contract from their where their lower lip would be down over their broad, barrel chests to their solar plexus. Strict vegetarians, this ruffled skin expands on their distendable jaws to swallow massive volumes of water, and the plates hanging from the back of the throat strain the great amounts tiny plankton they need each day to survive.  This does not mean the race is toothless, as they posses a series of similarly spaced out, pointed incisors that can inflict a vicious bite.  Indeed, one of their two subraces – the Narwahl – still feature the pair of dental tusks that jut from the upper lip which the Cetacean Barbarians were so well reknown.
Pl. Orcans, Cetacean (antiquated); adj. Orcan

Ceph [vulgaris sapien] – These are the degenerate descendants of the dominating Kraken.  Considered lower than the Primitive races of the Hinterseas, yet found collectively among even the most effluent societies, the Ceph have proven they are survivors, if anything.  They fill any niche they can, desperately trying to eek out a living in the face of the bigotry leveled against them.  Heightening this estrangement is the curious fact they are the sole intelligent race that does not share the torso/tail morphology common to the sapient races, and instead appear as larger, more advanced octopi capable of speech.  They also posses three subspecies, differentiated by the ridge patterns formed on their foreheads by their cuttle bones.  They all posses the eight limbed form and strange “w”-shaped pupil form of their forefathers, but at a greatly reduced stature.  Ceph do have an interesting natural camouflage ability that helps them hide even in the brightest lit waters of the Shore.
Pl. Ceph; adj. Cephic

Primitive Races of the Hinterseas

Kuoton [kaeru sapien] – The Kuoton are an old race that has harassed the other intelligent races for millennia, using many forgotten secrets of dangerous evils that dwell in the oceans beyond the Known World.  Their form is roughly amphibian, resembling a frog, with slimy skin hanging loose around inflatable jowls and a mouth filled with tiny, needle shaped teeth, giving the species an appearance of having it face smashed flat.  Their blunt snouted head is diminutive in proportion to their bulging, wide-spaced eyes that each posses a sideways nictitating eyelid.  Their arms and tail are thin, but strong, and their hands appear webbed like their tail flukes.  Over all, their oily bodies are reedy except for a paunch around their pelvic flukes.
Pl. Kouton; adj Koutonese

Locanth [peixe sapien] – The Locanth are still a nomadic race, just as their ancient forefathers were, migrating around the Gulf of Locanth in pursuit of their traditional meals.  They have dim, oval eyes on either side of the skull like herbivores, yet they maintain a mostly carnivorous diet.  Since their gaping mouths lack any teeth, and their slender fingered hands do not end with claws, the species on the whole are not aggressive and tend to distrust outsiders.  Large fins sprouting from their arms and sides of their tail work in conjuction with their pelvic fins, making Locanths perhaps the fastest intelligent race on Elqua.  There is little to tell the difference between the male and female of the species other than the dark markings around the female’s egg sacs.
Pl. Locanths; adj. Locanthic

Sahaguin [vis sapien] – Sahaguin are a primitive race, larger than any other of the Known World races save the Cetaceans.  They also have extended fins along their arms and tail like the Locanth, but the more predatory eyes and mouth like the Kouton.  There is little to no fat on the body of a Sahaguin, and the muscles underneath their heavily scaled skin are visibly rippled, like coils traveling from the head down to the tip of their tail.   Over all, they are superbly fit for their predatory lifestyle, and their aggressiveness knows little restraint.  They have maintained a constant animosity to the Mer to such an extent that the two cannot co-exist in the same living area for long before hostilities break out.  They are deathly secretive about their children, and any inquiry about their noted absence results in violence.
Pl. Sahaguin; adj. Sahaguani

Yaun-Teel [anguiliformes sapien] – Originally thought to be an offshoot of the Mer, the Yaun-Teel will usually be mistaken for Mer with a casual glance.  However, upon closer inspection, their subtle eel-like features betray their origins.  Their bodies are lithe and agile, with slender necks and tapered fingers.  Perhaps the most telling feature of their form is that their eyes never blink.  They are a guileful and manipulative race, believing without exception in the superiority of their bloodline.  As such, any adept race other than themselves is considered fair game for slavery, including their close cousins, the Mer.
Pl. Yaun-Til, adj, Yaun-Til

Keep in mind, while these are the races of the Endless Blue setting, they do not define the nationalities beyond the area of the Known World the races first began.  Outside of physical limitations (i.e., the Shelf of the Cetacean Oceans) and national dogma (the xenophobic Lumulus Basin), there are cross border bloodlines: Mer that have lived in the Chelon Seas since the original thirteen currents, or Narwhal in the Sahaguin Lagoons, and the Ceph in nearly every body of water.  Individuals of these multicultural upbringings will have mixed their biological heritage with their societal surroundings to form towns, even metropolises, of unique character and vision.