The Thing in the Deeps

Deep in the Easternmost waters of the Zetian Sea lies a creature. Its size and power boggle the imagination, though its true potential has been long forgotten. Long, long ago when the world was young, there lived a creature so powerful that it outmatched even the spirits in magical might. It tore through continents and ravaged the ocean floor, digging trenches impossibly deep within otherwise shallow seas. The spirits could no longer stand to watch as this great beast tore apart the world they had been tasked to watch over, so they convened to try and determine how best to lay down the creature. The spirit that grew the trees suggested that the spirits come together as one to defeat the monster. They could forge an axe from their largest and mightiest ironwood to lop off the beast's head. The spirit that guided the dead said no, that even in death the creature's soul would be too powerful to be led into the afterlife. The spirits of the land, once one and now divided into three, thought to bring the pieces of the continent back together and lock the creature within the thickest bedrock so that it would be trapped and unable to harm anyone further. The spirits of the winds said surely the beast would just break the lands apart as it had done so once already in order to free itself. The spirit of the ocean thought long and hard. Finally, she spoke with her own plan. "I shall fight this monster," she said, "with all the power of the waters behind me. When I have surely distracted its attentions, I shall call my daughters to sing the creature to sleep. Once that is done, I shall cast a spell that will force the beast to remain in slumber and lay it within the deepest trench it has carved that it shall disturb our world no longer." The other spirits agreed this to be the best course of action, and so the spirit of the ocean set out to battle the great creature. They fought for many days, neither able to gain the upper hand until, in a last desperate attempt, the spirit of the ocean divided herself into seven pieces to hold the beast down while all their children gathered and began to sing the siren's lullaby. The monster's eyes grew heavy and its breaths deep and slow, until it became totally limp in the spirits' arms. The seven new spirits, now the spirits of the seas, cast their spell and lay the creature down to rest in the deepest trench they could find. And so the creature was placated. Yet the waters below which the great beast lays have now grown still, with neither wind nor current to move them. Could the beast have finally died, or is its slumber merely coming to an end?

Historical Basis

The doldrums seemed to suddenly appear some 100 years ago with no explanation as to why or how. Being that the ocean is full of strange and enormous creatures that not even the sailors all know of, it was only logical that a legend surrounding the doldrums would spring up, naming some new mysterious creature as the cause. There is little actual historical basis for the creature's existence itself, however it is known that the seven sea spirits were once the one spirit of the ocean before dividing herself for unknown reasons. It is also heavily theorized, and supported by some geographical evidence, that the three continents were once one large landmass eons ago.

Spread

The main body of the myth is actually fairly widespread, being a popular explanation for why the land was divided and why the ocean now belongs to the seven sea spirits instead of the one ocean spirit. The sections that include the doldrums, however, are a fairly recent addition from within the last century. The full version of the tale as depicted here is really only known by sailors and in the countries of Crecia and Finnaden.

In Art

Certain temples dedicated to worshiping the sea spirits feature large frescos of the ocean spirit's battle with the creature. Each temple's painting is different, some even dedicating entire rooms to depicting the battle in its entirety.

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