Sky Whale
"Thar she blows" - The typical cry of a human whaler sighting a sky whale.
There is no creature bigger, more magestic or more controversial as a sky whale. With the Whaling War just past they are more important than ever. These magnificent creatures mean different things to different people. For those involved in whaling, they mean a treasure trove of products to sell. They are subsistence for the Naga. To the Lutra and Keldin, they are just one more part of nature that the Humans are despoiling. Most people know very little of these gentle giants. So this article tries to inform the general public about them.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Sky whales resemble the fish one might find on a
Terra
just on a much grander scale. From its lips to the start of the caudal fin, they average the length of 35 human men and would take more than 30 men to encircle it at its widest point (200 ft long and 157 ft girth). Its tail fins fully stretched can be half again its body length.
A sky whale's dorsal side is colored a deep purple similar in shade to a plum. While ta similar color, their mandibular fins are brighter at the trailing edge. All along its back are a series of white spots about the size of an orange. Unlike most creatures, these spots line up to form a grid pattern as if drawn with a ruler. Their bellies are a pale blue purple. While translucent their other fins have a distinct purple hue to them.
The sky whale's head takes up about 1/5 of its total body gradually widening from the lips to the back of the skull. The mouth is full of huge malleable plates made of baleen, a material similar to fingernails. These plates end in hair-like bristles. Using these strange teeth, they sieve mana and the small shrimp that feed on it out of the Sky Sea. At the edge of the head where terrestrial fish have gill covers the sky whale has mandibular fins. These trapezoidal structures are 100' wide at the trailing edge. They extend above the animal about 35' and below it another 15'. The bones in the top and bottom edges have three joints allowing the mammoth fins to be shaped in many ways. While the purpose of these fins are unknown, many sages have theorized they steady the whale in the
Aether
currents allowing it to follow its food source more easily.
From the head to the caudal fin, the dorsal side of the sky whale remains quite straight. The ventral side of it however continues to slope down until it reaches its widest point about a third of the way along the animal. This is where its pectoral fins are located. Its body then slopes up to the tail fin. This is the narrowest point of the creature's body at only 50 feet around. Unlike most terrestrial fish, it doesn't have any pelvic or anal fins.
Including the mandibular fins already discussed, the sky whale has six fins. Not quite halfway along its back is the dorsal fin. It continues for about 85' along the creature's spine forming an arc measuring about 40' tall. Spines, made of cartilage, the diameter of a man's wrist keep it rigid. The rest of the fin is translucent. While they have a higher degree of translucency, the pectoral fins are similar to a sailfin flying fish. The leading edge of each fin is around 85'. It then forms a beautiful wide arch ending at the trailing edge which is a mere half the size. It is with these fins, not the mandibular ones that the sky whale swims. Unlike most terrestrial fish, the caudal fin is perpendicular to its spine. It contains no bones and the small amount of cartilage only extends twenty feet into the enormous tail. This huge piece of translucent skin stretched out completely is on average 100 feet long and nearly as wide at its farthest point. Without bones or cartilage, it simply floats in the current and has no purpose yet discovered.
The sky whale's interior anatomy is very similar to any fish's except for its breathing apparatus. While some sailors call it a lung, that wouldn't be correct. It is actually called an Aether corafa. When the whale breaths in Aether, it turns it into air for the body to absorb. Then it turns the expended air back into aether before it exhales.
Also of note, sky whales produce an excess of bile. This excess bile forms waxy stones in the digestive system. When they are allowed to dry out, they take on a sweet, inviting smell.
Genetics and Reproduction
While it is presumed that sky whales reproduce sexually, not much is known about mating. They give birth to live young, unlike terrestrial fish. Sages believe that gestation takes around a year. After that they nurse their young for up to a year. Female sky whales are very maternal and will fight to the death to protect young. One report out of Mi-Suku tells that a mother adopted and nursed an orphaned calf.
Growth Rate & Stages
A newborn sky whale is only about 25' long. It doubles that in its first year and by its second is triple that or about 75' long. From there its growth slows down. They reach sexual maturity between nine and twelve years depending on how much food they can find. Or more accurately, females give birth for the first time when they reach about 180 to 190' long. Sky whales don't stop growing at that point. They never stop growing. It is just that their growth slows to a mere two to three inches a decade. It is unknown how long these beasts live but the naga report that whales with the same markings have been sighted for hundreds of years. Perhaps more reliably, human grandchildren have seen whales matching descriptions given in their great-grandparents and even great-great-grandparents' journals.
Ecology and Habitats
Sky whales spend their whole lives in the Sky Sea. Rarely are they found any closer to the sun than the Archipelago but swim as far as the
Star Curtain. Most of the time they can be found following Aetheric flows searching for mana shrimp. But this is not always the case. On occasion, these gentle giants can be found playing in the
Confinement
of Mi-Suku. Others report them searching
Terrock
for something.
Dietary Needs and Habits
SkyWhales are filter feeders. They gulp up great mouthfuls of the Sky Sea full of mana and mana shrimp. The bristles that are part of its teeth seive out the shrimp which it then swallows. The rest of the sea it just spits out.
Behaviour
Sky whales are gentle giants. They don't intentionally attack anything larger than a mana shrimp. While it is true that when hit with a harpoon some have rammed whaling ships, this seems to be as a result of trying to escape the pain. Their most common behavior when attacked is to run in the direction they are facing. Even whales that bear the scars of having been attacked before don't attack whaling ships.
Additional Information
Uses, Products & Exploitation
Different parts of a sky whale have different uses. The teeth or baleen (sometimes called whalebone) are used where a rigid yet pliable material is needed. This might be in ladies' dresses but also might be in mechanical devices. Unlike cartilage from terrestrial species, the baleen turns black over time but doesn't decompose. The whale's aetheric carafa or lung is used to make magical breathing devices for personal or ship use. The ribs and spine are used for a ship's keel and ribs. Inside the intestines of the animal are the sweet-smelling bile stones. These are used in perfume making. The Snow Shrews will sometimes tann the huge tail fin as it makes tough but thin leather. The Naga use it as the outer skin of their vessels. The blubber of whales forms a very good oil when rendered or tried out. And finally, there is the meat. The quality varies from something fit for a Sidhe king to something barely fit for
Folk
to consume. For both the Naga and the Nova Humans, it represents one of their main protein sources.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Sky whales have a range of senses that serve them well in the Sky Sea. Because the light in the Sky Sea is so variable they have two nictating membranes one that reduces the light passing into the eye slightly and one that is almost opaque. A tapetum lucidum reflects light back onto the retina allowing them to see in the dark. However, it has been observed that their ability to see color is quite limited.
While little is known about the sky whale's sense of smell or taste, they follow some mana shrimp species far further than others. A taste preference might explain this. Hearing too is a bit of a mystery. Without air, sound doesn't travel. Therefore most sages don't believe they can hear. They do have bones similar to mammal ear bones but the sky whales are only the size of a dog's ear bones.
Where ears should be is a great cluster of fluid-filled looping tubes. These give the sky whales the ability to accurately perceive where they are in three-dimensional space. Without gravity or a horizon line, most mammals get confused. Sky whales don't suffer from that problem. In fact, they can switch from swimming horizontally to vertically without slowing.
Finally, whales like many species in the Sky Sea have an Aefa's Organ. This small, when compared to the animal's size, organ allows it to "taste"
Aether. They use it to hunt for mana and shrimp. Additionally, they can taste of mana coming from ships to avoid them. Lucus Viridi, a Humanish sage has controversially suggested they can even tell those ships that were manufactured on Visiwa from those made by the Naga.
Scientific Name
Cetus Caelumare
Conservation Status
The many products made from sky whales including perfumes, breathing gear, and skyship keels all fetch high prices making sky whales very valuable. The Naga, the Keldin, and others have noted that the number of sky whales near the Terras has declined for many years. Humans, the main race involved in whaling, insist that currently whaling in no way threatens the species. In 504, multiple races went to war over the sky whales. The treaty that ended the Whaling War made all animals in the Sky Sea within one day's sail of a Terra the property of that Terra including any sky whales found there. Many Terra now patrol their "territorial waters" to prevent whalers from killing animals there. This treaty did nothing for any animals beyond the one day's sail much to the anger of the Naga. They have continued to prevent others from whaling.
Geographic Distribution
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