Sea Beasts

Monsters of the Deep

The world is a large place, and there are many dangerous beasts that live in it, but none as frightening or as massive as the beasts of the open ocean.
They come in many shapes and sizes, but they all are predatory creatures that owe their great size to their superior predatory skills.

Kraken

The most infamous of the sea beasts is the Kraken, despite the fact that it isn't the largest. This is because it is one of the beasts with the highest corporeal kill counts.
It primarily lives in the dark depths of the ocean, where it lives most of its life, however, occasionally, it may come up to the surface. It is unknown why they do this, maybe because the food down in the depths is running scarce, forcing them to look elsewhere for food, or maybe they sense an opportunity for food they simply can't pass up. Whatever the reason, when they do surface, they wreak havoc, killing whales, and attacking merchant vessels

A single mortal isn't nearly enough to sustain them, which is why lone swimmers run no risk of being attacked, it simply wouldn't be worth the effort to them, however, a ship full of people is like a bowl of rice, a welcome meal.

For some reason, when they have eaten their fill, they eventually retreat back into the deep.

Krakens have beaks, and they behave much like regular octopi, they lay many eggs, and die guarding them, and giving birth to the next generation.

Northern Ridgeback

This long beast is a massive predator, they have long elegant bodies, with broad fins, and wide horizontal tails. Their back is decorated with short ridges, and a single back fin, which helps them turn in the water.
Still, they are not very fast, and not very mobile, their prey comes to them.

They primarily feed on fish, and they lure them into their large mouths with green frills, that look like sea weed, as well as pink spots, which are meant to appear as little bits of meat. They are also known to be able to secrete blood from these little flesh bulbs, which helps to sell the illusion. When the fish is in its mouth, they simply suck in a big guld of water, and filter the water out, before swallowing.

While they don't actively hunt mortals, they will swallow a person whole of one ends up in their mouth, but at that point, you should be wondering how you got in that position, and how much this is their fault, rather than your own.

They are often solitary, and they lay eggs, baby ridgbacks have to make do with filtering krill and other small creatures, before becoming big enough to hunted bigger prey.

Blue Beast

The blue beast is a type of fish, but it is so large that it dwarfs any other type of fish, shark, or even whale. They have long sharp teeth, and they have broad vertical bodies, with a powerful tail fin, and short but powerful side fins.
Despite their size, they are quite fast, which they need to be, because they are hunters, and they often have to chase their larger prey for longer distances.
their favorite food are seals, but they will also eat whales or sharks, they often mistake ships for floating prey, and will attack it.

They are most common in coastal waters, where their prey lives, but they can be found in any major sea. They prefer staying closer to large bodies of water, rather than entering smaller shallow seas.

The bue beast is solitary, and they ley eggs which they guard zealously, however, none of those eggs are ever seen, because they are put in nests deep in the depths of the sea, where there are much less predators.

Kreel

The kreel is a silver sea serpent, one of colossal size. It is an ambush predator that will hunt anything that moves, big or small, they will also attack passing ships, if they get too close.
The trouble is that they are very good at mimicking their surroundings, even if their scales are naturally silvery and reflective, the serpent uses them to reflect only the color of the rocks, making them very hard to see.
They are also able to flex their scales, breaking up the outline of their bodies even further.

Kreel are very territorial, and will keep and guard a large hunting ground, within which they will frequently change spots, so other creatures don't start to expect them.
They will also fight other kreels to protect their territory, and a male will only allow females within his range, in exchange for being his exclusive mate.
Males are also much larger than females, and will have a territory that is much larger than theirs, a successful male may share his territory with more than one female.

The kreel is one of the more common of the sea beasts, but they are also the easiest to kill, and kreel teeth are a common accessory of a monster hunter outfit.

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Adventurers Guild

Hunting the Hunters

Any of these powerful beasts are a good way for an adventurer to make a name for themselves, if they can say they killed one of these creatures, they are sure to move up in the world, especially if one is named in an adventurer's guild contract.
Having a tooth of a monster is seen as a symbol of status and power, and having a tooth to big to wear, is even more so.

Rarity

None of these beasts are common sights, in fact, some of these are so rare they are often confused as myths or legends. Years might pass between sightings, just for three to show up around the same time.