Kraken

What's the one area of our planet that we have not managed to fully map, and survey? The ocean. What is commonly one of the greatest fears that humans harbor? The unknown. Bearing that in mind, it is of no surprise that the good old Kraken has managed to remain in our collective imagination for as long as it has.

Commonly depicted as a giant—no, enormous—cephalopod (it is an interesting sidenote that early portrayals of the beast likened it to a crab or a whale, rather than an octopus or squid). It is said to lurk beneath dark waters, and prey upon ships of all sizes, being the undisputed apex predator of the oceans. And yes, we now know that most likely the legend of the Kraken stems from sightings of normal animals, but isn't it exciting frightening to think that there might be a monster of this caliber somewhere out there, deep down, under the waves?

Of course, we're in the business of fantasy, so we naturally assume the Kraken is real. And this is one scary thought. Were I to live in such a world, there would be no force in the world that could convince me to set foot aboard a maritime vessel. Alas, the sea is a good way of transporting people and goods, even more so than land. But every ship is an investment, so it would make sense for them to be well-armed against any such beast. A ship armed and defended in such a way is far harder to sack by non-Kraken threats. Just one example of this monster affecting the culture of your world.

Traditionally, there were only two specimens of the creature, said to be unable to reproduce. That does make them unique, doesn't it? However, think of the alternative. A whole species of enormous monsters capable of demolishing entire fleets. How come they don't devastate the ecosystem? Maybe they hibernate for most of the time? Breed only at a very specific place during a certain phase of the moon? Possibilities, much like the horrors of the Kraken, are endless.

- Max

Hook 1 (Max) - Save Our Squid

The royal family is looking for seasoned mercenaries—a lot of them. "A delicate matter," the secret emissaries say. Alas, the issue at hand is far from delicate.

Turns out that deep beneath the capital, in vast and spacious caverns filled with brine, an ancient horror laid in slumber, put there by the kings of old "as a last line of defense." Or so they said.

It would all be fine if not for the fact that the aforementioned hollows were connected to the ocean and, once the beast awoke from its centuries-long sleep, it made its way into open waters. So far no one yet knows, but it is only a matter of time.

Disposing of the beast would be no easy matter, but the king is adamant that it is not to be slain. He offers a handsome reward in gold, titles, magical artifacts, land, and favors to those who manage to bring it back alive and well, and vengeance upon those that would harm the ancestral beast of his house.

Hook 2 (Nemanja) - Forbidden Frontier

The year is 2121.

After several attempts at colonizing Mars and the Moon fail, mankind has turned its eye back to Earth's last frontier—the deep sea.

The greatest minds of the species, funded by the endless riches of the megacorps, worked to find a way to solve the "overpopulation issues", as humans would not survive a fourth world war. A massive deep-sea station was conceived as the prototype for entire cities that would follow.

Alas, just when the first expedition was about to dock their submarine and officially become the first residents of Neo-Atlantis, massive tentacles appeared from the Marianna Trench and crushed the sub in a matter of seconds. The massive, squidlike creature proceeded to swim up to the surface where dozens of vessels carrying journalists were located, where it proceeded to speak in clear mandarin (the lingua franca of the 22nd century).

It explained that the sea isn't for the humans to claim, and threatened an even more violent response next time.

That wasn't the end of the oddities, though—several hours later, another similar creature, albeit significantly smaller and radiating an eerie pink glow, appeared. This one offered to "take care of the Monarch, and leave you sapiens the sea to rule as you see fit" if arrangements could be made for it to be shipped to Venus.

Hook 3 (TJ) - Tentacled Tariffs

The kraken that patrols the Incidental Sea sinks any and every Zethi ship during Ambersun. Aldunnian and Utheni ships have had no issue. Consistently, year after year, Zethi ships meet the bottom of the ocean as the kraken tears them apart. No one knows what the kraken does or where it goes during the other months of the year. Zethi sailors have grown accustomed to taking trips and vacations in Ambersun, given no one is eager to die at the tentacles of this squid-like beast.

The researchers at the University of An'Zar have their theories about why the kraken only attacks their ships, but all of them are far from the truth. If they knew that the kraken was systematically sinking the ships of the most magically apt nation on the continent looking for a scroll of air breathing, they might be a little more afraid.