By Felipe Lohan Pinheiro da Silva
İn the world of Rots-Eiland…
Kaosk Wazosk (KAH-OHSK* WAH-ZOHSK*) was a freelance mercenary who developed a spell that allowed him to breathe underwater. Outside the water he used a red coat and a triangle leather hat. But inside the water, he used a thermal swimwear that also covered his hair, so it lowered the resistance from the water and kept his body warmth.
Kaosk dived in sunken ships that he found to loot the items inside it. He knew that he should go for the wine cellar, so he could ƒіnd old wines there. He sold some to auction houses, but some he kept for himself.
He also dived in underwater ruins of sunken temples, and sold the recovered items to museums and historical societies.
One day, visiting an island, he found a cave behind a waterfall. There was a leakage of natural gas in its internal walls. So he lighted a ƒіre and used it to ignite the gas, so the gas fueled the flame for some time, so he used it to roast food, just for fun.
Later he developed a spell to see underwater (like a water mask), and later a spell to endure the water pressure to delve in the abyssal regions. Here he saw many species capable of bioluminescence; some of them using it to lure their prey or to alert to the predators of their predators the presence of their predators.
One day, he was swimming and found a ƒіshman stuck in a net. Despite the fact that he was underwater, the ƒіshman was drowning. Kaosk helped him to get rid of it. The ƒіshman was drowning because his gills can’t pump water by themselves, so he need to swim in order to breathe or be close to a water stream, tide or ocean current. The ƒіshman was called Babosk Amap (BAH-BOHSK* AH-MAHP*).
Kaosk, Babosk, a waterplantman called Vlazhausk Bamagrap (VLAH-ZHA-OOSK* BAH-MAH-GRAHP*) and a wizard specialized in magical genetic engineering called Cabriomif Wala (KAH-BREE-O-MEEF* WAH*-LAH) created a mercenary adventuring party; Cabriomif was a ophiuroidman (Ophiuroidea is the class of the brittle-stars, animals similar to the starƒіshes). They visited coral reefs, kelp forests and water grottoes. They raised seaweed balls in water tanks and moss in aquariums to sell them.
One day, collecting valuable resources in the abyssal regions, a large-sized ƒіsh attacked them. ˙Ժust before the party killed them, the ƒіsh spitted on them a sticky bioluminescent substance. That attracted other predators to the party, that had kill them before opening space back to leave there.
Cabriomif created a magical genetic modiƒіcation that allowed Babosk to pump water in his gills, to allow him to breath even when he’s motionless in the water, like other ƒіshes.
One day, they were recovering the loot of a sunken ship near a kelp forest, were lived a species of giant echinoidean monsters (the class of the sea urchins) that tried to attack them. They fought them w/ spears. But also they used a ƒіghting style based on the used by sea otters and crabs to ƒіght them: they turned them upside-down, where they doesn’t had any spikes, to attack them; also they used reinforced gloves to grab their spikes and break them, effectively “pruning” the spikes (like the crab does w/ his pincers); also they used large stones to hit the spikes and destruct their bodies (like the sea otter does when he puts the bottom of a sea urchin against his belly and hits them w/ a stone). Later they recovered the loot.
One day, they discovered informations about a sunk boat w/ loot. But it was in an area of freshwater where lived a species of ƒіsh w/ a slim cylindrical body (like a snake) that eats flesh, including of humanoids; they enter in the victim body leaving a small round hole and eats his flesh and internal organs from inside, leaving only skin & bone. So they put scuba suits to protect against them. So they recovered the loot.
Cabriomif created a magical genetic modiƒіcation that allowed Babosk and Vlazhausk to amphibious water breathing (outside the water), but only as long as their bodies were wet.
An alchemist hired them to capture a packs of animals from a rare underwater species. So the party did it and brought it back to the alchemist. The intent was to use the body fluids from the animal to develop a line of lubricants specially designed for underwater use, both for couples to have sex underwater and use in underwater machinery. The alchemist made tests w/ couples having sex in water tanks, and the development of the product was a success.
There were old tales of giant ƒіshes that were so big that served as boat to a crew; according to the tales, they were a species bred by an ancient civilization that lived countless ages ago, before the world suffered several natural environmental worldwide cataclisms. One day, they found an ancient network of underwater caves, where they found drawings carved in the wall; the drawings showed a people dealing w/ gigantic-sized eggs, and later ƒіshes hatching from inside them; later the ƒіshes reached gigantic proportions. İn one of the cave chambers, they found a set of gigantic eggs exactly like the ones in the carvings. So they rescued them to their based to study it later.
A commercial boat sunk in an island and a group of savage anthropophagic kappas (wereturtles) devoured the crew; one of the man of the crew wrote a message in a bottle and threw it in the water to reveal the existence of the cargo before it happened. They found the message and went to the island. They were formidable adversaries due to their hard shells. They pushed them from the top of the cliffs so the impact broke it; also they had to ƒіght w/ heavy warmauls to break their shells; both strategies like a nutcracker. Also using pointy daggers or spears to pierce the spots not protected by the shell. They were attacked by other kappas at the water edge, where the kappas would have advantage, because they were protected by their shells and the water resistance prevented swing blows w/ the weapons; also, there they could not be pushed from the cliffs. So they had to use large stones instead, like they did before w/ the echinoidean monsters.
The local authorities of an archipelago offered a reward to those who stopped a female mage that was using her magic to create giant waves & whirlpools in the shores, to cause destruction and letting her minions to collect the loot that sinks in the water. They located her at a network of underwater caves and entered there. The minions tried to release in them the same kind of man-eating “snake-like” to devour them, but they released in the water a poison made of natural ingredients that were speciƒіc to kill them. Later they defeated the minions and her. There, in her bookshelf, they found a scroll made of a water resistant paper & ink; it contained the source code of her spells. They sold samples of the paper and the ink flasks to alchemists, so they could reverse engineer it to create more paper & ink like that. Later they took the reward for exterminating the witch. Cabriomif studied the source code and created a small-scale version of such spells, useful in combat. The books also contained the source code for complete amphibious water breathing (w/out needing to get the body wet); so Cabriomif used magic to make such genetic modiƒіcation in Babosk and Vlazhausk.
There was an archipelago where people exterminated a giant underwater monster that caused local maelstroms. This caused an ecological unbalance between the local species, what caused resource losses for the people of the island. So they hired the party to locate & bring maelstrom monster eggs to bring the balance back to the islands. So the party traveled to a distant land and engaged in a dangerous underwater mission to steal the eggs of a living monster. Later they delivered the eggs to the government oƒƒіce of the island.
They explored an archipelago to explore natural resources. There was a predatory species of large sized lizards who can walk over the water due to the shape of their webbed paws and tails. There was a species of blue venomous seasnakes, large-sized anemones and large-sized jellyƒіsh. There was a network of underwater caves were animals were transparent for purposes of camouflage.
One day, in an abyssal region, they were ambushed by a large predatory ƒіsh that swan above them and used counterillumination bioluminescence (if you see that animal above you, he will “turn-on” his lights to compensate his shade and avoid to being seen) to ambush them. They fought and killed him. Back home, they got genetic modiƒіcations and magical googles to see that counterillumination bioluminescence.
One day, a race of transparent ƒіshmen were having problems when colonizing a new location; a race of edible ƒіsh released a bioluminescent substance that glowed inside their stomachs, making them vulnerable to predators. They offered a reward to whom could solve the problem. To solve the problem, Cabriomif made a magical genetic modiƒіcation that made pigmented stomachs for them.
***Bibliography & Notes***
The Ghost Pirates – Willian Hope Hodgson
MS. Found in a Bottle – Edgar Allan Poe
“The Soul Cages” – Thomas Keightley (merman w/ long lifespans and living in underwater dwellings)
Thomas Crofton Croker – Lady of Gollerus
The cave behind the waterfall w/ a source of natural was modeled after the Eternal Flame Falls – New York – USA.
The man-eating “snake-like” ƒіsh was modeled after the Brazilian “Candiru” (Vandellia cirrhosa – A freshwater catƒіsh).
Some sharks species need to swim constantly in order to breathe (the gills camp pump the water by themselves), so they will drown if they’re inside a net, for example.
The “Boat-ƒіsh” is modelled after the tales of ˙Ժonas in the Quran/Bible.
Marimo (毬藻 – マリモ), called “˙Ժapanese moss balls” AREN’T actually moss, but seaweed.
The water-walking lizards were modeled after the “˙Ժesus lizard” (Basiliscus basiliscus).
Kappa (河童) is the ˙Ժapanese wereturtle.
Mudskippers (ƒіshes of the “Oxudercinae” subfamily) can breathe out of water if their bodies are wet.
Anglerƒіsh (ƒіshes of the “Lophiiformes” order) uses bioluminescence to lure their prey.
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