Manta Ray

Inspiring dancer

Her dance we observe, her politeness we aspire to. And her love is inspiring.

Manta Ray is one of the seven Giants swimming through the space of Shattered. Most people consider her shy and graceful, making her an important symbols to art that requires careful and precise moves, yet her behaviour towards other Giants shows such strong love that makes her a family icon.

As with the other Giants, her existence is surrounded in mystery, bringing up many myths about her and her origin. Even in cultures where the Giants and The Creator are considered more evil than good, she is mostly loved or at least not hated.

Appearance

Her sleek smooth grey body softly glimmers with a green tint, due to the green Lidust that stucks with her after her visits to The Creator. Her skin is mostly spotless, with only one (so called) "imperfection", a cross-like scar close to her left fin, where her shoulder is.

Manta ray's silhouette by Catoblepon

Behaviour

Hers is the most beautiful swim in space, called a dance by many people. Her movement in space is slow but ever constant, her fins always flapping, her tail always swinging. The flapping of her wings leaves a very soft thin cloudy trail of green Lidust. She has a tendency of rotating while swimming, because of that, she (unlike some other Giants), does not have a civilization living in her body, but, thanks to her slow movements, many space animals have time to rest on top her body. Desesperate people have been seen trying to use her as bridge to other islands.

She prefers to not be surrounded by islands, always swimming where there's less density of islands or over or under where the islands stand, always close to The Creator. Whenever she swims close to islands, she is always very careful to not touch them. And, while being shy to islands, she likes to meet and swim with certain Giants when they go to The Creator, almost like a happy dance, and stays around them while they are close to where she roams.

Monthly, with a irregular schedule, she approaches The Creator and covers as much as she can with her body. The reason of this act is unknown to the inhabitants of Shattered although there is a major agreement in a theory that explains it as her source of food or energy.

Sun manta ray's silhouette by Catoblepon

Sea snake

When meeting, Snake tends to rest, curled, on top of Manta's back. When not resting, they can be observed swimming in a helix motion, circling each other.

Jellyfish

Since most time Jellyfish lives away from everything, neither of them seem to be interested of meeting each other when Jellyfish approaches The Creator.

Turtle

When Turtle visits, Manta likes to do barrel rolls around them and rest on their shell when they hide at night. During the day, Manta swimming under the Turtle.

Lionfish

Manta does not seem to interact a lot with Lionfish. Many believe it is because she does not want to be hurt with his spikes or because they do not meet a lot.

Whale

Whale swims close to Manta and while they are seen fairly commonly swimming together, Manta does not display any different comportment around her.

Sea slug

Manta does not interact with Sea slug at all, some even swear they see her getting away from the Slug when he approaches The Creator, like the islands do.

History

Long Manta Ray by Catoblepon

Long Manta Ray (down) by Catoblepon

Manta Ray (and the rest of the Giants) has existed since forever and thus her origin is surrounded in mystery and many myths. She originally seemed more happy to swim in between islands, happily swimming around them, playfully, but ended up staying away of them after many clashes with islands.

Once People started being settled down and were able to appreciate the beautiful of nature, they didn't take long to get charmed by her. She quickly grow a name as one of the most graceful and gorgeous thing in the world, claiming a spot as a muse.

With time, she grew to be more than just a muse. Her behaviour made her an icon of family love, especially loved between children, who saw her loved actions be similar to their actions. Many cultures also started to create fighting styles and dances based on her movement and the grace and precision that followed each one of them.

After her two disappareances out of the night sky (in the year 0 and the year 430), her returns showed her sloggish, slow, clumsy, and tired. Both people and animals were worried about her. Little was able to be done for her, but thankfully, after some close time to The Creator she slowly went back to her old self, albeit the second time she disappeared, she spent a few years in such state.

Cultural influence

She is considered a patron of arts, many art-related buildings display a representation of her. From painters, to dancers, and even some fighting styles, many look up to her for inspiration from her movements. Its not uncommon for people to take a minute or two before doing whatever work they want to and go out to admire Manta while taking deep breaths.

Her closeness to other Giants and The Creator makes her an example of strong relationships. In many places, she's an icon for familiar love; in other places, she simply represents love (from friends, lovers, families, etc).

In some cultures, her playful energy is explained as she being a child. This representation has made children of all ages feel more comfortable of being themselves and not fear showing childish behaviour as they grow up in the childhood.

Myths

Representation of the Creator (coloured) by Catoblepon

Since her origin and everything about her is involved in mystery, a lots of myths are born to try explaining her nature and origin. Most of the myths she is involved in are also related to The Creator, the other Giants, and, although rarely, even related to the Corpses.

When myths don't talk about her relationships, they try to explain her appareance (in special her scar) as well as her behaviours. There are even some less common myths talking about how she taught people about art.

The following are some of the most known and widespread myths.

The giants (gif) by Catoblepon

Family

She is considered to be a young child, closely living near her parent (The Creator). In some cultures, her tendency of avoiding the islands is related of her being young, as many children display similar shyness when interacting with strangers.

Lover

She is considered to be very close and intimate with the The Creator, as she is always close to it and is one of Giants who visit it more, together with Whale. Some cultures consider she is in a polyamorous relationship with The Creator and Whale.

Parasite

For its closeness and constants meetings, Manta Ray is considered to be overdependant parasite of The Creator and is believed that she has very little storage for the stolen energy (Lidust). Its also believed that she stoles energy from other Giants she approaches.

Islandborn

Since Manta is usually close to The Creator, it is believed that Manta was originally an island that used to be very close to it. Her long tail makes people believe she was once two islands that, thanks to the Lidust, become one singular Giant. Her scar is believed to be an old crevasse.

Survivor

Some people consider that the Giants and the Corpses are the same thing, same species, but that the Giants are the only ones to survive the massacre of them. The scar on Manta's shoulder is said to be the proof of her surviving the cause of the Corpses's death.

Artist

There's a wide variety of myths where Manta shows people about art (and in some case, also fight styles). There are many different ways of how she might have done it, from approaching to medititing people to playing with some children; some believed that people stole the knowledge from her instead.

Companions

Some believe that the animals that swim close to her (and even stand on her) are people who praised Manta in their life and were reborn into these creatures. Others believe that Manta is stealing these people's souls, denying them possibility of resurrection, rebirth, afterlive, or whatever their culture believe in.