Suvan Sea Development - Ideas and Requests

[Vaspira]

Great, I will asked him if he can find the time, and if he can not I will ask the artist (if I can find the artist) permission to use the image. I did not get the images off of Deviant Art, so finding the artist may be hard. As for the write up, I will attempt it but I will not promise it will be a great job, there for I will do a basic write out and if anyone is interested they can possibly add/delete to it, to make it perfecto.

[Cascade]

That's great. Again, thank you, all!

As a note, Trident posted this format for creatures a while back. So that we have consistency, please do use it!

Code: Select all

Image:
Name:
Frequency: (high to low)
Threat level: (high to low)
Major features:
Abilities:
Most common in:
Physical characteristics:
Social Structure:
Miscellaneous:

[Tsukiko]

Would it be alright if I come up with something for this little one?
http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/09/13/blue-dragon-sea-slug-reminds-us-that-the-ocean-is-filled-with-strange-creatures-that-look-like-pokemon/

Would it be alright to put it down as being bigger than it really is?

[Cascade]

That looks really cool! Yep, go right ahead, we'd love for you to do so. You can put it down as bigger than it really is (hehe, you could use a pic without a hand holding it make it believable).

Thanks, Tsu. Looking forward to what you come up with

[Tsukiko]

Name: Erihpas (In the South), Hara (In the Middle) Frequency: Approx. 60-130 Threat level: Low Temperament: These creatures are generally quite complacent and tame, rarely attacking boats or people. The only times that have been recorded of any attacks has been either in defense, desperation out of starvation, or the rare occasion one becomes mad. Abilities: They are able to move at high speeds, with a great amount of agility. They also have the ability to survive on land for a short time. Most common in: Southern and Middle sea Physical characteristics: Their bodies are generally a mixed pattern of silver or white, and black and blues. Though this species is generally grows to about 3-4 feet, there have been accounts of Hara growing to about six feet in length, and Erihpas to about seven or eight feet. Long feather-like fins stretch out to, on average, two feet in length, displaying varied hues of blue. No two ever have the exact same coloring or pattern. Social Structure: The Erihpas, or Hara, do are not usually seen in groups, though they will gather at times when food is scarce. Miscellaneous: Their diet mainly consists of small fish and plants, though they are able to digest creatures much larger than they are. History: Not much is known about them, though there have been whispers of magic.

Also, this one might be interesting...

Name: The Lonely Island Frequency: 1-2 Threat level: Low Abilities: Is able to sustain life on it's body, and possess a large life span. Most common in: Middle Suvan Physical characteristics: It is a large, grey whale, the size of a small island. Social Structure: In fact, there are actually more of these whales then described, however, they appear as an average whale. The select few that are classified as "The Lonely Island" are the few that survive for centuries, carrying what seems to be an Island on their backs. These creatures will often travel on their own, however, they have been seen with small pods of younger members of their species. History: These creatures are rare, and often mistaken for "mysterious islands", or "islands that disappear". Not much is known about them, and because of their rarity, they will most likely remain a mystery for generations to come.

Or, well, something along those lines

[Cascade]

Looks great, Tsu! Curiously though, why are there 2 names for the Erihpas/Hara? I saw from the physical description that they're different when it comes to size, so does that mean that these are actually two types of the same species? Everything else seems clear to read, there's just that one thing I want to clarify.

Lonely Island - Love this. To clarify though, you said the frequency is 1-2, but then you also mentioned that there are younger members of the species. As an extra bonus, maybe you could expand upon when exactly do they appear and how they react to humans? Like, if a sailor gets on their back, what would he see and what would happen? EDIT: Btw, creatures which are monstrous in size actually need to go through World Development. I reaally like this idea and I hope you're willing to WD it O:

Btw, we got a new subforum for development, so go ahead and post any replies/edits here.

Again, thank you, Tsu. Really appreciate all of this!

[Zuriel]

Image:



Name:
Turmoil

Frequency:
Medium

Threat level:
Their pack behaviour causes them to be a High risk for anyone in the water. Though they will not attack boats of any reasonable size, a small wooden canoe, rowboat or ships boat can easily be in danger of being targeted and sunk by a pack of squid (via biting holes in the hull).

Abilities:
Discharges large volumes of mucous filled, Djed charged ink.
Usually releases ink in globs about the size of the squid itsself, these act as doppelgangers which confuse prey (and predator).

Most common in:
Middle Suvan Sea, they follow their prey with the climate, heading far enough north to be spotted north of Kenash in the summer and far enough south to be spotted on the north coast of Eyktol during winter. Svefra intervention is the main reason for them not spreading further north as they are becoming more and more invasive.

Physical characteristics:

• Coloured a dark, almost black blue.
• Four metres in length (Including head and tentacles).
• Large fins on the head used for extremely swift maneuvering.
• The outer surface of the tentacle is covered with a plated shell, short, round plates overlay each other up the tentacles and around the mouth. This maintains flexibility while allowing the squid to lock its tentacles in front of its body when swimming, for an extremely aquadynamic shape
• As a result of the shell, these squid have no suckers on their tentacles
• They do however, have hooks all along the inside of their tentacle shells
• The ends of their tentacles hold a sharp spike with a backward facing barb for spearing and holding prey. These are often used to lethal effect on any perceived weak-points of the prey once it has been caught, stabbing at eyes, gills and necks.

Social Structure:
Packs consist of around 5 - 20 members with no discernible leaders or alphas and will fight and eat other packs if they come in contact though will not actively hunt them. When a pack war is going on, all members of each pack will release as many doppelgangers as they can. The difference in numbers at this point seems to multiply considerably and the lesser pack is usually driven away.

Miscellaneous:
The squid moves using four large sacs around its body which it fills from four separate inlets on the tentacled side of its body but squeezes through one hole at the tip of the head. This outlet is also attached to the two large ink sacks and mucous glands of the creature. They move at about 30kph and can speed up for extremely intense bursts when attacking

The Turmoil hunt in relatively sophisticated packs, confusing prey by squirting sticky mucous filled and Djed charged "living" ink into the water. These ink doppelgangers confuse the prey into thinking there are more squid in one direction than there actually is, allowing a single squid to “herd” a school of fish into the maws of his real pack.

Although the squid are good at herding schools of small fish into the shallows where they can be pressed and as many taken as possible, they are opportunistic hunters and will happily attack a lone dolphin or a smaller pod, sharks hunting alone may also find themselves prey to these ruthless squid.

They kill by propelling themselves into their prey at high speeds, spreading their tentacles at the last fraction of a second before collision and wrapping them around, piercing the prey with the barbed tentacles and then tearing into them with their sharp beaks. The beak of the creature carries enough biting force to crack human bone.

Turmoil flesh is chewy but both it and the ink of the creature are delicious. The ink is a very dark sheen of blue and is useful in drawing, if taken directly from the ink sack it can be applied thinly to paper, or if squeezed from the creature it will mix with mucous making it thicker and stickier, allowing it to be applied like a paint to surfaces such as stone, ink can be mixed to produce lighter hues of blue.

When spooked by a large predator, the packs have been known to squirt out their entire ink reserves at once, resulting in a truly massive black squid doppelganger charging at the predator. This is a fear tactic and doesn't have much physical effect on the predator, but can obscure its vision and be extremely intimidating (this sometimes happens as a response to large ships).

The squid cannot be fished with lines as they will bite and break them or jet away and pull the line with them, an extremely durable net would be needed to net them or they will simply bite through. Because of this, accidentally trapping squid with fishing nets can be devastating to a fisherman. Spears or harpoons are necessary.

Notes :

The name is a placeholder but can be solidified if people like it. Also, the frequency & pack size are something I'm really not sure about as it depends on the rest of the ecosystem which I am not entirely familiar with at this point.

Given the size of the creature more than 20 would seem hard to sustain (food wise) in a single pack and less than 5 would probably hinder their ability to defend themselves against the efforts of larger predators. I think the rarity of encounters should move more toward the rare side if the packs are larger and more toward the common side if they are smaller.