Kaiju
The Benthic Titans, Children of Ob'Silexia
The apex predators to overshadow all apex predators, kaiju are a colossal, mysterious and poorly-defined family of what can only be described as sea monsters. Common types of kaiju include linnorms, taniwha, dragon turtles, mokele-mbembes, dire spinosaurs, krakens, dhuthorexes and mundane but "haunted" fauna, however sightings have reported even more individual and often horrific forms.
Kaiju appear to be connected to—possibly subservient to—the Material God of sea monsters, Shelas Ob'Silexia. Her worshippers—sometimes known as Kaijinn or Titanseekers—seek to borrow and even eventually obtain the power of the Benthic Titans. It is common for Titanseekers to be druids or arcane transmuters to take chimeric-aquatic forms: Ichthyocentaurs are a common choice of body. Some occult theorists believe many cultists become the unsettling nautical aberrations known as Sea Bishops, possibly after failed rituals or as punishment by elder clerics.Description
See also: Kaiju of Materia Image Gallery (External)Kaiju take on such innumerable forms that there is doubt whether the term is biologically coherent, or just means "anything large, frightening, mysterious and oceanic".
Parabiology
It's theorized kaiju are not fully Material organisms, and may have chimeric, qlippotic or other occult essences due to bleed-over from the Duskscape (indeed, the Veil is known to be weak in and around the Sunken Expanse). It may even be they are completely native to the Umbral realms, and have adapted to permanent or semipermanent lives in the Waking realm.
Based on reports of what seem to be individual kaiju, they seem to be extremely long-lived, and likely spend much of their time in dormancy (or possibly somewhere beyond the Material dimension, if the Veil's strength falls to zero).Classification
The monstrous dire skullfish is sometimes associated with these creatures, but scholarship generally accepts they're cousins of ubiquitous and often docile plate-headed fish, and thus mundane Material fauna.
While most kaiju are flesh-and-blood, some even stranger creatures have been noted of similar size and habitat, for example ones seen around the Skylands and Tiam's Cradle that the Maraians call bakekujira, which resemble the floating, glowing skeletons of baleen whales. While classification of kaiju is already difficult to impossible, monsters like these sow particular confusion amongst scholars. Can something so fundamental as corporeality vary within this group? Do entirely different kingdoms of sea monster exist in Materia's deep oceans?Sandwurms
Though they live and travel through the murky solidus of Khayyam's floodplains rather than the oceans of the Sunken Expanse, the colossal sandwurms bear strong similarities to several known kaiju.Sea Bishops
Kaiju sightings/attacks are often preceded by mass beachings of bizarre, unsettlingly humanoid sea creatures called Sea Bishops, named due to having the "cloaked" appearance of an Ajoran or Heronseyed friar. Sea Bishops have never been seen alive. As the Veil weakens and the mythical, Duskscape-based magicks return to functioning, their bodies are skyrocketing in demand due to their myriad occult & alchemical properties.
Scholars have no idea what they are: the more occult-minded often theorize they're mutated worshippers of Ob'Silexia; meanwhile a growing school of biologists believe they're unfertilized eggs of female kaiju that (much like everything else about the monsters) just happen to have frightening appearances.Hunting
Hunting these monstrosities is possible, but the required techniques are not common knowledge and far outside the ability of most Material warriors. The greatest kaiju hunters in history are the Stormlords, Ronom & Ranarim, who have since ascended to demigodhood. Their mortal swords & staves, known as cedas, do their best to carry on this legacy and train new generations of hunters, but few are brave and skilled enough to take up the call.
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