The KrakenName: The Kraken
Homeworld: Myythar
Length: 162 meters, including arms (245 meters total, including the two tentacles)
Mass: 116,000 tons
Bioteratic Level: NA
Top Speed: 216 km/h in the water, can briefly accelerate to 1,500 km/h
Description: The Kraken is a dull brown cephalopod that resembles a massive squid, though there are distinct differences. Most notably, the Kraken has a distinctive skull separate from its long mantel (body), connected by the mantel’s powerful muscles to serve as a thick, if short neck, that allows the Kraken’s head to turn and look in different directions like a reptile. The Kraken’s skull carries a pair of large purple compound eyes, and a wicked
four-piece beak hides a
tooth-lined throat, designed to filter the food in its belly when it vomits out the sea water it swallows. The Kraken’s mantel ends in a massive tail fin, which allows the creature to swim by undulating the fin.
Six purple arms sprout from beneath the Kraken’s head. They double the Kraken’s 80 meter body length and taper to delicate thin points, allowing the Kraken to easily hold and manipulate small objects or creatures, or reach into small spaces such as cave openings or doorways.
The Kraken also possesses two larger tentacles on either side of its body, twice the length of the smaller arms and bringing the beast’s total length to 245 meters. These tentacles are thick and powerful, designed to grapple creatures the Kraken’s own size. The suction cups on these tentacles are lined with
hollow tooth-like protrusions.
While almost invisible from afar, a close inspection of the Kraken’s forehead can reveal a small emerald, small enough for a human to hold in their palm, implanted securely into its skin.
Info: The Kraken is a colossal magical beast from the world of Myythar, a primordial relic from a forgotten prehistoric age and the last of its kind. Its existence is little more than a legend among the people of Rostelda, though sailors still spread stories of the beast’s terror.
Yet in spite of its fearsome power, for countless years the Kraken was little more than a pet, enslaved and obedient to its sorcerous master with powerful magic. It has only recently escaped slavery by coming into contact with a legendary Starlight Stone: the Emerald of Freedom.
Now free of its master, the Kraken has found itself trapped in Mundus, where it has staked out a territory on the west coast of Lemuria. Fully amphibious, the Kraken often resist on the surface of the ocean, where its massive body can sometimes be mistaken for island chains, with disastrous results.
Personality: The Kraken is no mindless beast, despite its monstrous appearance, but a fully sapient creature, and quite intelligent even by human standards. It does not speak, however, nor does the Kraken understand most surface languages. It is familiar only with sea-speech: a magical language used by the underwater races of Myythar, such as aquatic elves, selkies and merfolk, that allows them to communicate and speak freely underwater – though the Kraken does not speak it either.
It has no need to, as the Kraken is not a particularly social creature. While its kind were not inherently evil, the Kraken’s years of magical enslavement have left its ancient mind damaged and its emotions in turmoil. A hateful and sadistic creature, the Kraken is known for lashing out at passing ships and devouring the crew and passengers, even though they’re usually far too small to sustain its massive body. For proper prey, the Kraken usually hunts whales and small giants.
Threat Level: The Kraken is a distrustful creature that bears a deep hatred for the “small folk” that enslaved it. It attacks ships on sight and seeks to devour the passengers, making it extremely dangerous. Its water jets also propel it at such speeds that, like the Caedosaurus, it can flatten coastal towns with terrific tsunamis.
Abilities:– Arms: The Kraken’s six arms, over 90 meters in length, are well designed for seizing ships, latching onto the hulls with powerful suction cups. The arms taper into thin tips only as wide as a man’s forearm, that allow the Kraken to manipulate small objects or creatures if needed. At the base, these arms are much thicker, and possess enough strength to grapple with giants the Kraken’s own size.
– Tentacles: The two massive tentacles on either side of the Kraken’s head are far longer than the arms, at over 170 meters each, and twice as thick. They are designed to grapple monsters the Kraken’s own size. They can slam down with enough force to split a modern day destroyer in two, and
hollow teeth attached to the suckers allow the Kraken a firm grip on enemies. The teeth act as syringes that drain the blood of enemy monsters, weakening them from blood loss while in the Kraken’s grasp. Combined with the arms, these tentacles can theoretically lift just under twice the Kraken’s own weight, more than enough to restrain most monsters in the Kraken’s weight range and drag them beneath the surface.
– Ink Cloud: If the Kraken is losing a fight at sea, it can unleash a huge cloud of murky black ink that renders the surrounding water pitch black. Though harmless, the ink can blind other creatures, either covering the Kraken’s escape or giving it an advantage in combat, as the Kraken’s eyes can see through its own ink.
– Water Jet: A funnel on the Kraken’s mantel, just below its head, is capable of sucking in huge amounts of water when the mantel expands, bathing the gills in oxygenated water for respiration. When the mantel contracts, this water is expelled out the funnel, and the Kraken can do so with enough force to propel it through the water at short bursts of incredible speed, up to 1,500 kilometers per hour. The Kraken can even propel itself with enough force to jump out of the water like a massive whale or dolphin. On dry land, this water jet can be weaponized, unleashing a spray that can send enemy monsters flying in the opposite direction.
– Control Weather: The Kraken is a magical creature, and has an inborn ability to control the weather around it. The Kraken can summon incredible hurricanes that can create massive waves capable of capsizing ships and flooding cities. This ability is limited against other monsters of the Kraken’s own size, though the lightning within the storm has the potential to cause minor damage. The Kraken cannot control this lightning, however.
– Darkvision: The Kraken is adept at hunting in the deep ocean, where the largest monsters of its home world lurk. It can see in almost pitch-black conditions, and even has the magical ability to see through its own ink cloud.
– Defenses: The Kraken has an internal shell within its mantel, known as a gladius, a ridged internal structure similar to a skull that supports its massive body and protects its internals from attack. It is made of chitin, rather than bone giving the Kraken a lightweight but sturdy protection. The “skull” that forms the Kraken’s head is actually a second gladius, rather than a bony structure.
The Kraken’s skin and flesh above the gladius is unprotected, as are its tentacles. The Kraken’s tentacles are extremely elastic, however, and can withstand incredible pulling force before breaking. The Kraken’s tentacles, as well as its main body, are also highly resistant against crushing forces and heavy blunt force, such as that dealt by punches, powerful jaws or pincers, and constriction.
– Regeneration: The Kraken has incredible regeneration, capable of regrowing severed tentacles in only a few hours, and minor wounds and cuts in a few minutes.
– The Emerald of Freedom: The Kraken has secured its freedom from enslavement through a Starlight Stone: The Emerald of Freedom. This immensely powerful magical artifact has been implanted into the skin of the Kraken’s forehead, between its eyes. The emerald grants the Kraken several unique magical abilities. The magic of the Starlight Stones cannot be dispelled, nor can it be negated through anti-magic, such as Trila’s anti-magic spell.
- - Mind Blank: The freedom stone most notably renders the Kraken entirely immune to any attempt at controlling or possessing its mind or body, including mind control, magical charms and compulsions, magically “puppeteering” the physical body, and possession.
- - Freedom of Movement: When activated, the Emerald allows the Kraken to slip out of even the strongest or most secure grasp, usually if a battle is going poorly and the Kraken must retreat. This same property allows the Kraken to slip free of any form of binding, magical or physical, and allows the Kraken to move freely even under the influence of magic that might impede movement, such as a slowing spell. The Emerald of Freedom also renders the Kraken immune to paralysis, as well as toxins and magic that might lock up or weaken muscles and hinder movement. The protections of the emerald also render the Kraken immune to petrification; for once, decapitated Gorgon heads are not the answer.
- - Dispell Curse: The Emerald of Freedom can negate curses and magical bargains, such as those created by the fair folk.
- - Unbinding: The freedom stone can expel its energies in a burst of green energy that spreads in a 180ft radius around it. This ability acts as the previous three abilities, but extends to any creature within 180ft of the stone, freeing them from mind control, charms, physical or magical restraints, fey bargains, and other physical or magical hinderances to their freedom. The effect of magical unbinding also springs open any locks or magical seals in the area, for better or worse. This drains the Emerald’s power quickly, so it cannot be used often. This is fine by the Kraken, who has no need or desire to free others of their predicaments, and thus never uses this ability.
- - Amphibiousness: The freedom stone can allow the Kraken the ability to breathe on land. Although it can crawl ashore without the Emerald, this allows the Kraken to travel long distances out of the water and remain on land indefinitely. Conversely, if carried by a terrestrial creature, the stone allows the creature to live in and breath underwater.
- - Flight: The Emerald of Freedom can grant the Kraken the ability to fly through the air for up to twenty minutes at a time. It is not particularly fast by the standards of other giants, flying only at a top speed of 50 miles per hour, though this is often enough to catch up to small creatures that might try to escape the Kraken by retreating to land. Flying also offers the Kraken greater agility and speed than crawling on land, and frees up its tentacles to do battle.
Weaknesses: – The Kraken is no terataur, but merely a gigantic magical creature. It has no immunities to conventional weapons, and its rubbery skin flesh can be pierced even by handheld firearms, or, with difficulty, even sufficiently sharp swords, axes arrows and spears, such as those made by nanosteel or dwarven metal. A normal steel or iron blade can also pierce the Kraken’s flesh, provided the wielder is strong enough, such as a varul or androtaur. Magical energies from small casters can also damage the Kraken, as can artillery such as ballista’s and cannons. Modern artillery, such as missiles and tank shells, can cause great damage to the Kraken’s arms and tentacles, though its gladius can protect its head and mantel from serious injuries. Needless to say, the Kraken is extremely vulnerable to the teeth, claws, spines and blades of terataurs, kaiju and other giants, which can easily shred through its rubbery flesh. It’s protective gladius ensures that most cuts against its body and head remain shallow, reaching only a few feet deep, but even the gladius can be pierced with the right armor piercing weapon.
– When attacking a ship, the Kraken’s eyes are usually underwater or just breaching the surface. In any event the Kraken usually cannot see the sailors and passengers it’s attacking on a ship, forcing it to use its tentacles to detect vibrations and feel for prey.
– The Kraken only benefits from the powers of the Emerald of Freedom so long as the starlight stone remains implanted into its forehead. Due to its vulnerability for such a massive creature, it’s relatively easy for another giant or advanced artillery to break open the flesh of its forehead and free the stone, forcing the Kraken to make a mad scramble to retrieve the tiny object, usually at the expense of its own safety. Even a particularly daring human can separate the stone from the Kraken’s forehead, provided they have either sufficient strength or a sufficiently sharp weapon, and provided they can make it to the Kraken’s forehead to begin with.
