Monster Insurance: The Strange Circumstance of the Sea Serpent Bakugawa; Or, A Job Whale Done; Or, Seeing to It That Timbers Are Not Shivered; Or, Taking a Dive
On the world of Lathyrus, power calls to power.
The strong live to prove their worth, to seek and overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges. The heroes’ call drives them to seek out monsters to vanquish, tyrants to overthrow, and feats of ever greater daring, all to demonstrate who among the mighty is truly
mightiest. Eventually, the challenge escalates to the point that individual strength is no longer enough. Power calls to power, and thus the powerful gather together to take on what they never could on their own. Yet even among a community of warriors, there is often one person needed to coordinate the group, guiding them towards achieving their goal...with minimal loss of life.
It’s not unheard of for a strong leader to rally an army to his side, given time. But a fleet of 30 ships
and an 80-foot sea serpent? That seems a bit excessive.
But then, it was was the dread privateer Captain Gregory Wandelstok’s excesses that drew Bakunawa to him. Rumors spread quickly across Lathyrus’s vast ocean of a captain capable of felling the sea’s most terrifying monsters on his own. The stories are not exaggerated, for Wandelstok possesses enough supernatural strength to fracture the impregnable carapace of the colossal crustacean Brachyura. Wandelstok has tangled with leviathans far and wide, and his campaign of making the oceans safe and secure seems unlikely to stop any time soon.
Captain Wandelstok remains humble, despite his vast strength. A captain, even one as powerful as he, is nothing without his crew, and there are situations where even the juggernaut of a man needs a little help. Wandelstock can go toe-to-tentacle with the terrors of the deep, but when it comes to large-scale naval engagement--gunning down
pirates, his
actual job--he’s actually kind of inept. The truth of the matter is that, while Wandelstok possesses enough physical might and charisma to attract enough people to crew 30 ships, it’s his first mate that does most of the strategic maneuvering of the fleet. Letting the captain loose to try and sink a contingent of pirate vessels, some of which rival his fleet in their numbers, would be suicidal. Contending with one sea beast is one thing, but a lone man attacking several pirate ships leads to a captain pummeled to death by cannon fire from multiple directions.
This is where Bakunawa comes in. While Wandelstok’s ships engage their enemies above the water, she runs support by sinking pirate ships one by one from
beneath the water. The serpent’s strength exceeds that of the captain’s, owing to her large body, and she is able to wrap around and shatter a ship quicker than the captain would be able to on his own, while also being able to quickly submerge before moving onto the next vessel.
It was the captain’s reputation as a monster slayer that led Bakunawa to first approach him, offering her assistance, but also to pursue her own high-seas agenda. A man of noted power, more importantly of noted
virtue, was exactly what Bakunawa needed to clear assumptions made of her people. Bakunawa’s race, the aquatic Nagmia-Lamga, were too often associated with the same sea monsters that Wandelstok did battle with. As well as being on average very large, and possessing the magical ability to generate destructive ocean storms, the sea serpent folk were said to be the offspring of Scombrine, god of all that lies below the ocean’s surface, and the progenitor of most of the ocean’s nastier giant monsters. The idea that the aquatic Nagmia-Lamga would be spawned from so vile a deity was
insulting, and thus Bakunawa set forth from her people’s home to ally with Captain Wandelstok and begin setting right the ugly misconceptions that had formed. When the people learn that an aquatic Nagmia-Lamga was acting heroically, while teaming up with the famous Captain Wandelstock, their minds will be sure to change.
Hopefully.
Always a Bigger Fish; Or; Fluke Over There; Or, A Noble Porpoise; Or, Somewhere Beyond the Sea; Or, Seas the Moment; Or, Additional Information
There are several notable distinctions that exist between Lathyrus’s
aquatic Nagmia-Lamga and their
terrestrial counterparts, namely that the two races are very radically different in almost every way save for their serpentine form.
The first of these differences is that aquatic Nagmia-Lamga grow to be loads bigger. A terrestrial Nagmia-Lamga typically grows to be about 20 feet long, with their human halves remain proportionally the same as your average human being. Aquatic Nagmia-Lamga grow upwards of 100 feet, with their human torsos matching the length of their tails’ proportions. An aquatic Nagmia-Lamga, when on land, “stands” 20-feet tall. Bakunawa herself is about 80 feet long.
Another distinction is that, contrary to the public perception of them as
monsters, aquatic Nagmia-Lamga have
souls. Their terrestrial cousins do not. Terrestrial Nagmia-Lamga, rather than having their bodies guided and controlled by a central node of metaphysical life energy, instead owe their autonomy to external stimuli and the chemistry of the brain. Initially, this soullessness (as well as some friction with the neighboring tribes of humans) led to terrestrial Nagmia-Lamga being viewed as monsters also. With time, the opinion of their soulless state has shifted. It’s not that the snakefolk are
monstrous, they’re only...different. Having souls has
not helped how aquatic Nagmia-Lamga are viewed, given that they have other traits that can be misconstrued as monstrous. Namely that they are gigantic.
Aquatic Nagmia-Lamga do not even claim the same origin as their counterparts on land. The terrestrial Nagmia-Lamga worship a goddess named
Apu, who they believe created them by breaking off pieces of her body. It is believed that their existence as fragments of the goddess contributes to their soulless condition. Aquatic Nagmia-Lamga do not recognize Apu as their goddess, because of their soulfulness, and because of the other radical differences between them and terrestrial Nagmia-Lamga listed above. Bakunawa’s people hold to the belief that, rather than being created by a god, they were born from the ocean itself, coalescing from salt and current to become what they are today.
It should be noted that, despite purportedly being born from the ocean itself, aquatic Nagmia-Lamga are
not ocean nymphs.
A nymph is an entirely different type of being, comprised of magical life energy. The last they checked, and they check often, aquatic Nagmia-Lamga are made entirely of flesh.
Aquatic Nagmia-Lamga also possess an inborn magical power that allows them to summon up destructive ocean storms. The ability is not directed by the caster--once conjured, a storm will run its course until it dissipates. It is for this reason that Bakunawa doesn’t usually use this power when traveling with Wandelstock and company, lest she end up sinking the wrong fleet of ships.
Bakunawa wields little magical power beyond her natural storm-conjuring ability, not that she needs magic when battling pirate ships, because she is very very large.
Aquatic Nagmia-Lamga are not amphibious, but can be above water for a substantial amount of time before needing to submerge again.
Captain Wandelstok and his crew patrol the seas on behalf of Lathyrus’s mighty human empire, which extends from the continent of Farfield out to several island colonies. Lathyrus is a world largely dominated by its vast oceans, which lends itself to the birth of sea monsters and the prevalence of piracy, providing ample opportunity for swashbuckling adventure.
The god Scombrine isn’t the
sole source of gigantic ocean life. He’s only to blame for the very
nastiest sea monsters, creatures designed from a combination of his twisted ingenuity and a dash of human nightmare. Many of the more benign leviathan species owe their existence to the plentiful amounts of
anima--life energy--that suffuses the planet. Anima promotes the growth of large lifeforms across Lathyrus, particularly in the world’s deep oceans.
Exactly
how Captain Wandelstok is able to pull off such remarkable feats of strength is unknown. Perhaps he’s secretly a brilliant alchemist, or an accomplished fist-wizard. Most likely is the possibility that Wandelstok is a
demigod, the son of one of Lathyrus’s myriad deities. It would explain why he is able to hold his own against Scombrine’s creations. The captain himself refuses to comment, though. His might may forever remain a mystery.
The Hither and Thither Expanded; Or, Drawing Back the Curtain!
Bakunawa is the alternate universe analogue of the draconic tyrant of Wilford’s Peak, Raikoto. She is not his past self, his blood relative, or a close acquaintance. She is Raikoto if Raikoto were a sea serpent intent on clearing her people’s name by allying with a powerful hero, whereas
the dragon is a tremendous threat to anyone entering his mountainous domain.
It should be noted that Bakunawa and Raikoto are both members of a larger group of multiversal counterparts, many of which bear the name “Daniel Obrove” or some variation thereof. Despite not being
named Obrove, Bakunawa and Raikoto are connected to each other, and to these scores of multiversal individuals, by a poorly-defined “quality of Obrove.”
Bakunawa, Raikoto, and those scores of other analogues can be found on their alt list,
here.
There are more "Danalogues" to come, eventually, so we kindly ask that you...
STAY TUNED!
