Sociology
Faces of Elqua: Who’s Who of the Endless Blue
The Fluid Nations have a population that reaches into the millions. Most live lives of obscurity, but a few have earned levels of renown that their names are spoken across the seas.
Cardinal Epoch
Atropos – One of the earliest sea hag transformations, this chelon is believed to have grown so large she could no longer bear the weight of her own shell, and sank to the bottom of the Chelon Sea. Since then the massive coral reefs of the Chelon Empire have grown from her beached body.
Bronze Epoch
Barnard – A famous packbreeder only remembered today due his or her breeding of a large fauna called Barnard’s Swallower.
Curin – Mer leader responsible for the Exodus of the Mer through the Maw. Ultimate met his fate at the hands of the First Khan at the Undertow in the Sea of Chelon.
Grendel – Grendel was the sea hag that refused to swear fealty to the First Khan. The Khan retaliated with force, sending a noyan and his forces to subdue the hag. Grendel slaughtered her attackers, and upon ripping the noyan apart, used his entrails to auger the fall of the First Khan by the Leviathan of Coinchenn.
The First Khan – Narwahl warlord that united the Cetacean Hordes under the Eight Banners and led them into a campaign of invasion across what would become known as the Known World. Was killed battle by the Leviathan of Coinchenn.
I’tlan’zu of X’hamel’af – The historical I’tlan’zu was a femal lumulus that belonged to the X’hamel’af forgeclan. Stories of her quest for knowledge were so widespread she became of folk hero, her tales eventually collected into the Anemoi.
Golden Epoch
Cailleach – Sea hag from the Locanth Gulf revered as somewhere between sea-mother to a master of the hunt. She is said to have taught the cycle of life to Misu Atswadi and the Locanth currents.
Ekaidu – Orcan monk that cemented his race’s identity as “poet-warriors”, by teaching patience and self-improvement. His lectures earned him a place as an Anemoi.
Kenilicus Octavius – A Chelon Tribune whose military skill is said to rival even the First Khan’s. Also known for taming the reef-back Arhkelone.
Misu Atswadi – Cycle of Life philospher that brought the teachings of Cailleacch to the Locanthic currents.
Certus Vitruvius – Vitruvius’ name has gone down in history due to his Vitruvian Codex, a prototype anatomical textbook. As a chelon, he had the political influence to avoid the negative ramification of being a Resurrectionist. With his research protected, Vitruvius practically created modern medicine, pushing it forward to eventually became the foremost noted Founder of the College of Doctors
Veridian/Virdigris Epoch
Black Annis – M’horst’ki Lumulus sea hag recognizeable for the jagged black chitin that has grown over her already dark carapace, giving her the look of a gargantuan coconut crab to rival any of the aberrations in the Vastness.
Crone Gorgon – Kouton sea hag that is responsible for the creation of the Wasting when she was quartered by the Kraken Occupation.
Endira Mundi – One of the founding members of the Godless, this mer female chanced death by breaking the surface of the oceans in order to chart the Vastness.
Heigira of the Tangle – This ceph earned her place among the folklore of the Fluid Nations with her unwaving devotion to peace in the face of racial discrimination.
Seamus Lorwynn – Devolper of the theory of evolution and grandfather of the Godless Movement, this male mer became a symbol of rational thought.
Cerulean Epoch
Araki Imari – She is the current vexillifer for Kobalt Company in the Orcan Naval Force.
Araki Kisho – As a Repentant in the Church of Suminarea, she was a travelling Kouton healer that did not believe in the traditional use of veils.
Benigna Nereida – Benigna is Locanth painter with color-taste synesthesia. Her Cruor abilities take the form in controlling all forms of algae — not just red tide algae — to “paint” the visions her eyeless head sees. Each strain algae has a different taste, and by floating in the colorful blooms Benigna manipulates their growth into three dimensional works of art.
Blood Wrack – Blood Wrack are a variant kelpygmy tribe notable for their dark reddish-brown coloration reminiscent of blood wrack sea weed and the ability to use cruor. No piscean settlement has lasted long near Blood Wrack waters.
The Carnivore – Nightmare given form, the Carnivore is a brutish Orcan outcast known to be a Cruor druid. His name derives from his practice of being a cannibal.
Emigdio Estar – Leader of the Estar Tribe, he decided to turn his back on traditional Locanth beliefs and adopt the apparently lucrative practices of the rest of the Fluid Nations, such as strip mining and over hunting.
Edot Artois — Mer restauranteer and husband of Renet Artois, he has been accused of being an Elqua Calidus member. He has steadfastly denied any such allegation and fighting the rumor has made him bitter.
Fossa Gull – Also know as the Fool Drowner, she is the eponymous “hag” in the Valley of the Hag in the Gulf of Locanth, she is known for her cruelty to those that foolishly enter her valley as well as an affinity with the kelpygmy creatures that dwell there.
Harridan – The Harridan is a sea hag in the Sahaguin Lagoons best known for her animosity towards the Fry of the Black Mangroves.
Herald – A civil rights activist for his species, Herald touts pacifistic practices to urge other ceph to spurn integration into Known World cultures. Instead he talks of forming an independent ceph nation.
Iku-Tsuro – Mentor of Tameryh Kinslayer, she is a sea hag cruor druid that seeks to control the Rending of the Gorgon.
Jared Rydelek – Kouton culinist whose cultivars are renown across the Endless Blue, he is also a contortionist of some repute for the Greatest Order of Performance.
Nikolaos Palamarelis – Disgraced Chelon Legate of dubious military record that has been outspoken over the fall of Chelon glory.
Renet Artois – Wife of Edot Artois, she uses her husband’s restaurant The Taste Unique as a front for Elqua Calidus activitiy in the Mer Currents.
Shras the Aimless – Sahaguani nomad that has taken the identity of the Anemoi, Shras. He has lived up to the folklore of his namesake, perhaps even surpassed it.
Sorl Vement – A cardinal in the Olyhydran Church stationed in the city of Fort Vement, so named generations ago for Sorl’s family line. He has slowly been constructing a naval force in secrecy, to be unveiled pending the looming Olyhydran Secession.
Shriveled Crone – Once a beautiful versesinger, the Orcan withdrew from the public after humiliating rejection by the Prime Chorus. She eventually ended up in the Sahaguin Lagoons and the splinter Narwahl sect of the Elqua Calidus that marred her looks as part of her initiation. Though she fosters the image of being a sea hag, she has not actually experienced the transformation.
Tameryh Kinslayer, the Unintended. Most famous of all cruor druids, charged with the devastation of the Yaun-Teel city of Edonmul.
Teepoc Kopra – Considered more of a harmful quack than public threat, this mer homeopath practitioner is a secret cruor druid who believes he can heal all that ails with judicious application of the red tide.
Telstis Naso – Telstis Naso is a chelon curor druid and member of the Order of Anthozoa, that blames the Chelon Empire for most of the world’s pain.
Terras Addas – Once a Chelon in the aristocracy, she was stripped of her title as the result of a scandal with an Ahotan clergy. Now she has become a radical voice in among Godless, ambushing those she sees as hypocritically pious and scalds their faces.
Tl’eoge’le – Instantly recognizable by his bright orange chitin, Tl’eoge’le is a notable Calidus agent residing in the Lumulus Basin. He claims no forgeclan affiliation, though some have mistakenly linked him to the G’dlu’mauex due to his denatured carapace coloration.
X’aukai’le – He is a renegade lumulus that spurned the Forgeclan caste system and uses the corrosive algae at his command to destroy any lumulated metals he comes across.
Talent is Pantheon given: so be humble.
Fame is piscean given: so be grateful.
Conceit is self-given: so be careful.
Three warnings freely given: so be mindful.
— Excerpt from “Threat to Bias”
Endless Blue 