Sharkhaan: Honorbound of The Deep

Sharkhaan “Aye, I was aboard the Baluga when they attacked. I was there when ten sailors suddenly vanished from deck. I heard their screams ring out and suddenly silence and you be damned sure when I tell you, I saw the look in the razor-toothed monster’s eye that took ‘em. It looked at us like we was the fish at the market, sizing us up for its dinner.”

Thomas Blund (Former Sailor)

Tales are told among mariners, of sharks who leap from the surf and attack sailors, plucking the unsuspecting victims from aboard their decks. These tales are often of the sharkhaan, a race of powerful and aggressive humanoid sharks who travel the oceans in groups called shivers, seeking food and defending their territory from those unwise enough to venture there. Despite the sharkhaan being a single species, their appearance varies in as many ways as there are sharks, with the Tiger, Hammerhead, Mako and Great White making up the majority. The sharkhaan have a strong sense of spiritualism, believing that their god’s blood flows through them and all shark kind. In the sharkhaan mythos, an evil ocean goddess corrupted the sahuagin, cousins to the sharkhaan, and drove them to their violent madness. Since then, the sahuagin and sharkhaan have been mortal enemies with a deep instinctual hatred of one another, this hatred strikes deep to the culture of the sharkhaan, the sahuagin use telepathy to force sharks to be servants, sharkhaan view these creatures as sacred and should be free.
Sharkhaan make their intricate wooden homes among the rocks and coral of the reefs in coastal areas where fish are plentiful. Rumors also exist of giant deep-sea sharkhaan living in the dark depths. Though not xenophobic, the sharkhaan are naturally distrusting of many non-aquatic races. Land-folk such as elves, humans and dwarves have been known to hunt sharkhaan, mistaking them for monsters or sharks, capturing them for slavery or sometimes “culling” them to remove them from good fishing grounds. Because of this history, few but the sharkhaan know the location of the tribal breeding grounds, and fewer still have ever been there and lived through the experience.
Adventuring While most sharkhaan prefer to remain among their own kind, there are those who answer the call to adventure. Some journey to explore the undiscovered stretches of the oceans, others seek out meaning or purpose in life. Some sharkhaan have even been known to fall in love with Land-folk never returning to the sea. In the rarest of cases, sharkhaan have been exiled from a shiver, receiving a brand, burned into their dorsal fin to let all other sharkhaan know that their crimes are unforgivable. Despite their frightening demeanor and instinctual aggression, sharkhaan are very open to working with other non-sahuagin races for a common goal. Many see their strength and vast experience with the ocean a boon to any dockyard or aquatic vessel, even though they may seem a tad superstitious. Making friends with a sharkhaan is notoriously difficult, but doing so earns a lifelong friend and companion. This being said, it’s always a good idea to take care when traveling with a sharkhaan, as they have few scruples regarding what or who counts as food. Few things give pause to the brave sharkhaan, with one exception: Orcas. The black and white killer whales feed intentionally upon the sharkhaan and can hunt down and devour entire shivers. As a result, the sharkhaan change their hunting ground frequently to try and stay well and truly away from Orca hunting pods, as they are able to decimate even a veteran sharkhaan warband without suffering so much as a single casualty. Some sharkhaan, given to madness, worship the Orca as an inevitable hunger that will one day consume all sharkhaan. The Orca god is known only as “Skaar”.
Sharkhaan Naming Sharkhaan are not born with a name, a school of youngsters is cared for until they come of age and go on their first solo-hunt. Once a child, called a pup by the sharkhaan, has reached adolescence, they must hunt prey large enough to feed themselves for a day, alone. If they succeed, they are granted a simple name by the shiver, based on outstanding achievements or quirks of the pup expressed during the hunt. A pup that hunted a large fish and has a strong appetite might receive a name like Trenchgutt, a fast pup might go by Wavebreaker, a pup that hunted at night could earn the name Mooneye and so on. Some examples of sharkhaan names are: Bite face, Bloody Legend, Chase, Chopper, Chum, Cutter, Deep Blue, Dent, Flapper, Frenzy, Hookjaw, Jaggerjaw, Little Fin, Lucky Tail, Ripplefin, Scarboard, Shredder, Stripeless, Thickhead. Sharkhaan carry no last name, those who share a name with another often find their counterpart to be quite similar in personality and share their name with these kindred spirits proudly

Basic Information

Anatomy

Size. Sharkhaan tend to be strong, powerfully built individuals who stand between 6 and 7 feet.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Electroperception. Whilst under water, you have the ability to perceive electrical impulses from living beings up to 120 feet away.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Sharkhaan Naming Sharkhaan are not born with a name, a school of youngsters is cared for until they come of age and go on their first solo-hunt. Once a child, called a pup by the sharkhaan, has reached adolescence, they must hunt prey large enough to feed themselves for a day, alone. If they succeed, they are granted a simple name by the shiver, based on outstanding achievements or quirks of the pup expressed during the hunt. A pup that hunted a large fish and has a strong appetite might receive a name like Trenchgutt, a fast pup might go by Wavebreaker, a pup that hunted at night could earn the name Mooneye and so on. Some examples of sharkhaan names are: Bite face, Bloody Legend, Chase, Chopper, Chum, Cutter, Deep Blue, Dent, Flapper, Frenzy, Hookjaw, Jaggerjaw, Little Fin, Lucky Tail, Ripplefin, Scarboard, Shredder, Stripeless, Thickhead. Sharkhaan carry no last name, those who share a name with another often find their counterpart to be quite similar in personality and share their name with these kindred spirits proudly

Beauty Ideals

The straighter the teeth the more beautiful and attractive the creature

Common Taboos

Eating and harming sharks

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Despise the Sahuagin to their very core. While they rarely deal with outsiders especially land based civilization.

Scientific Name

Selachimorpha

Origin/Ancestry

Sharks