Foreword, Courtesy of Maumiid the Ambitious
Professor Macmillan Laddade was a bookish researcher with an obsession for all things regarding immense marine life forms. The first mentions of him came from this dusty, half-ripped Navy archive scroll I found buried in the sand, detailing “a prodigious scientist” who “desired to know as much as a megalomaniac desired to control.”
After a bit more digging (pun intended), I’ve discovered that he had been commissioned by the Navy to detail the endless types of Sea Monsters of the War Seas. He spent quite a long time on such a task. And when the Navy felt he’d done enough, he moved on to the Dark Sea by tagging along with a large expedition of warships chartered by a kingdom whose name on the paper is charred and burned away.
Now, us later generations would be much better off right now if we had access to all of Mr. Laddade’s scribbles and sketches, but unfortunately, he packed all of his notes into one, massive almanac that…“weighs heavier than a lance,” and took it with him to the Dark Sea, from which he never returned, of course.
There’s this sailor’s folklore myth that says he’s still somewhere out in the Dark Sea to this day, learning everything that can be learned about the Monsters. They talk of his expeditionary fleet, composed of ships that were bigger than most islands, with tattered sails, skeleton crews, and rusted cannons, still crashing against the waves of the unknown.
Regardless, I’ve taken it upon myself to search for pieces of his almanac, even copies of it, and yes, even if it means venturing into the Dark Sea myself. Why? Out of both my curiosity, and my firm belief that us humans will do well with such info (and maybe a chance for a good profit). I’ll be putting as much of Laddade’s work back together as I can.
The first 26 entries are missing. Who knows how many there are in total? Maybe I’ll get to finish this before I roll over and die, maybe I won’t.
Entry 27
Poseidon’s Tragedy
Abaddon-Tier Sea Monster
Identification:
In my previous notes I’ve discussed the major disadvantages of a habitat near the bottom of the ocean floor. With food sources as scarce as they can be, it’d be hard to survive when belonging to a very high trophic level. This example has evolved to circumvent such restrictions.
Poseidon’s Tragedies are colored almost completely black. Heads are covered fully with eyes with the exception of the mouth, the number ranging from less than fifty to over three hundred (I hypothesize that this depends on a specimen’s development stage). All Tragedies’ scleras are blood-red and each eyeball is roughly as large as a fist. The mouth hangs open similar to that of a common basking shark.
Its overall shape resembles that of a giant eel, except I observe no gill covers nor elongated anal fin. Tumor-like growths cover its scales, running up and down the body resembling, dare I say, corn on the cob.
Overall length is roughly 370 meters and some examples reach widths of 80 meters.
Behavior:
Due to its lack of teeth, inability to bite, and general lack of exposure to the surface, Tragedies will not attack ships of greater size than a caravel. It is absolutely paramount that sailors not endangered by this type of Sea Monster refrain from provoking it in any way. In a more sailor-like way of speech: shut up, mind your own business, and let it ignore you.
The tumors described above serve as the creature’s method of feeding alongside as a defense mechanism. Acidic fluids build up within these individual growths and cause the tumors to rupture at random intervals. The resulting expulsion of hazardous waste into the water kills any surrounding marine life, upon which Tragedies swallow the remaining carcasses whole.
Aggravation by any stimulus, including possible predation (let me be honest, what the shit else can even eat this thing?) results in great numbers of tumors to rupture at once in response.
The fluid released is slimy, and takes on a green hue. It corrodes both metal and wood, so don’t any of you idiots dare shoot it on purpose unless you want your ship to disintegrate.
(Note: We lost five guys the first time we ran into one because we had no idea what the fluid was. Our dumbasses tried to touch it and now look at us.)
Mature adults retreat to the ocean floor to brood. The absolute wasteland it is down there allows eggs to develop without any dangers posed by predators. Tragedies are able to remain on the ocean floor for much of their lifespan, except routine trips to the surface are made seemingly for the sake of food.
Closing Thoughts:
A rare sight indeed. It can be dangerous if it wants to, but to be completely honest, this one’s one of the calmer creatures we’ve ran into. They may swim up to your ship to get a good look at it, but it won’t tear it apart because a) it can’t and b) you don’t really look like food until you jump in the water with it. It doesn’t pose much of a threat unless you treat it as one.
“how beautiful do they become when it burns through their flesh”