Kraken's Rampage
During the early Imperial Era, a dark ritual was performed deep under the sea. A cabal of merfolk performed a powerful ritual to open a rift to The Fractured Worlds. Namely, to the realm of Kraken: a powerful sea monster from another world. At the bottom of a deep trench, later known as Kraken's Breach, they tore a hole in reality and Kraken came through. Appearing like modern kraken of enormous size, the eldritch god began his conquest. He sought to rule these new oceans, and began to take over by force. For the first year, no one could stand against this mile long horror from another world, as city after city of merfolk either submitted to his rule or were slaughtered in his thrashing tentacles and snapping jaws. But the dominos of Kraken's demise were slowly but surely aligned. Two of the biggest dominos were the Kingdom of Telothys and Giant's Reef. Telothys was a merfolk kingdom who used Kraken to their advantage. By going "oh no, what a horrible monster! We must all band together to defend against this beast!", they accumulated lots of influence over the surrounding kingdoms, growing in strength. Giant's Reef was a large coral reef that grew on the sleeping form on several sea giants. When the giants caught wind of the rampaging eldritch monster, they woke up and began making a plan. They gathered allies, they summoned water elementals, and they set a trap. United, Telothys and the sea giants ambushed Kraken and his followers, and a battle of epic proportions ensued. The merfolk army swarmed and slaughtered the cultists, with the dark zealots scattering under the overwhelming force. They then joined the giants and elementals in assaulting the kraken. The eldritch god fought with unending rage, killing many elementals and merfolk. Kraken even slew a couple of the giants in its frenzy. Yet the mighty beast could not endure the onslaught, and was destroyed by the sea giants ripping its tentacles off.
The Conflict
Outcome
The short term effects of the battle involved the water around the battleground being polluted by the eldritch blood and the many corpses. Merfolk priests spent years purifying the water, and dealing with the undead that spawned from an army of corpses in a magically unstable environment. Most of these undead were killed as they rose to attack the priests, but some managed to escape. Some say there's still wandering hordes of zombies from that day, but it's hard to confirm the origin of any given zombie.
Aftermath
The repercussions of this battle echoed across the oceans. The most obvious and wide spread result of the battle are the krakens. The shredded flesh of Kraken fell to the bottom of the ocean and mutated, spawning off dozens of children, each one the spitting image of their forebear. While smaller and weaker than the original Kraken, they were still immensely powerful. They all also shared their forebear's goal of conquest. They have been plagues on the sea ever since.
Sea monsters were not the only legacy of this battle. The kingdom of Telothys grew large and powerful, being hailed as heroes for slaying the dreaded monster. Between manipulating those around them under their banner before the battle and then being seen as great and powerful afterwards, Telothys set itself up for a golden age. Telothys became a great and mighty empire, speading their influence across the seas. Even after they fell, their language became the trade tongue of the seas. Merfolk for generations afterwards would speak a version of Telothyn as a common language between nations and species.
The battlefield where kraken died also turned into a powerful magical nexus. All the dead giants and elementals released their magic upon the area, infusing it with elemental power. This concentrated magic attracted those versed in the arcane, as well as those who served the elements. As a strange side effect to this magic, any who were within the magic's influence could breathe underwater. The merfolk have no use for this as they are innately amphibious, but surface dwellers were surprised to find it. Mages and Aegis of various species have moved to this bubble of beathing under the sea to study and harness this elemental nexus.
One of Kraken's children assaulting a ship.
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