Anya Venari
Star Queen Tirathana VII
Image Source: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-H2_MWXIScNg/TXU5pyzHoGI/AAAAAAAAAL8/oonvFdypjMM/s1600/sea+monster.jpg Artist unknown.
Name: Abyssal Behemoth
Designation: Non-Sentient
Homeworld: Kaeshana
Language: Ultra-sonic communications.
Average height of adults: 30-50 metres.
Skin color: Grey-green
Hair color: N/A. Tendrils are a reddish colour
Breathes: Lives in water on a Type I world.
Strengths:
- Sudden Strike: The Behemoth lives in the dark and unexplored depths of Kaeshana’s seas. As it is used to darkness it can strike where there is barely any light with terrible speed.
- Teeth Like Blades: The Behemoth has a mouth full of needle sharp fangs which are constantly being replaced if they are lost or broken. These fangs can rend and tear any natural material. Any Eldorai unfortunate enough to be in its path is torn apart.
- Resilient: The Behemoth has tough, oily skin to shield itself from the cold and pressure in the depths. This also makes it extremely hard to kill, as does its fast clotting blood.
- You Cannot Hide: Ultraviolet sight and the sensitive tendrils means it can attack in darkness just as well as light.
- In The Sea: If one doesn’t go into the Benthic zone of the oceans of Kaeshana one will never meet this horror.
- Slow Breeding: The Behemoth has a low birth rate and few survive to their adult years.
- Lone Hunters: Behemoths, except for brief mating periods, never work together, and attack each other on sight.
- Frenzy: Behemoths have no subtlety and no experience with smart prey. They will attack and keep attacking until their prey is consumed…but have no sense of traps or other sentient technology.
- Hungry, Hungry Behemoths: Like all Kaeshana’s creatures, Behemoths need to eat a lot to survive. However, they are able to put themselves into a trance like state to conserve energy.
Average Lifespan: Unknown, but thought to be anywhere between 30-50 years.
Races: N/A
Estimated Population: Unknown, likely less than 50,000 adults across the whole planet.
Diet: Though Behemoths will eat anything organic (and some things which aren’t), they favour the meat of the large whale-like creatures which swim the seas in great herds. This is combined with fish and other creatures. Behemoths must eat a lot, so they are perpetually on the move.
Communication: Behemoths use ultrasonic pulses to communicate. If captured and translated, these pulses sound disturbingly like screams, further adding to traditional Eldorai fears of these creatures. Though certain calls and patterns can be discerned, the Behemoths have no language, per se. Attempts to replicate the communication have had little effect, leading researchers to believe that there are other methods of communication not yet discovered.
Culture: N/A, this is covered in behaviour.
Technology level: N/A
General Behaviour: Behemoths are extremely aggressive creatures, both to each other and to anything else they encounter.
Interestingly, there is very little to distinguish males and females, usually only that females have smaller crests and are lighter in colour.
Mating and breeding is an antagonistic encounter, like everything else with this creature. Females and males both pursue each other during the mating season and battle for supremacy. Sometimes these battles become can be fatal, but usually one is subdued and either male or female forcefully mates with the other. Two months later the female lays two dozen eggs stuck to rocks or coral and then leaves the young to their own devices. These eggs are sometimes eaten by other creatures or by other hatchlings which emerge first. The young then swim off, keeping to the lowest levels to eat fish, crustaceans or carrion. Eventually they grow larger and head further up to get larger prey. Usually only 1-2 of the eggs hatch and survive to adulthood.
Behemoths are largely uncaring of territory, and are essentially nomadic, though they often return to known hunting grounds.
History: The Behemoths are native to the primal seas of Kaeshana, unlike the Eldorai or Kar’zun who were genetically created by the Rakata. Therefore the origins of the Behemoths comes down to biology and evolution. What has been gleaned recently is that they are a relatively old species, with a preserved fossil dating back several tens of millions of years.
The origin of the fearsome Behemoth is not quite known by the Eldorai, and especially during their pre-contact days the Behemoths were the subject of considerable fear and many myths. Eldorai, as a rule, do not venture far into the endless oceans as there is no land and the weather can be extremely dangerous. Thus, appearances by the Behemoths were rare and terrifying, mainly being the occasional washed up carcass or survivor from an attack. The Behemoths were thought to be primeval demons from the seas which the Goddess Tyth fought continually. In Eldorai myth there is a massive Behemoth named Zakayur who when doomsday comes the Goddess Tyth of the seas will battle. If she fails the Behemoth will crush the land and drown all of Kaeshana.
Of course, this is just myth, but lately certain unhinged Eldorai and outsiders have tried to find and hunt Behemoths in the deeps seas. Few return.
Notable Player-Characters: Probably not going to happen.
Intent: To create a fearsome beastie to live in Kaeshana’s vast oceans, and add a mythological monster to the Eldorai legends.
