Aphotic

Current Events:
There are stirrings in the deep currents. Aphotic cannot yet divine what they mean, but she is on alert.

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A mutant, serpentine ridgeback of the lightless depths, Aphotic enjoys a simple, predatory lifestyle augmented by machines built from scavenged wrecks and fish bones. She subsists primarily off the bacterivorous fish and squid that live within the sinkhole, but enjoys making forays out on moonless nights to hunt for sharks and swordfish.

Aphotic is long and lean, with short legs and stunted wings. Fins bristle from her sides and back in unnatural configurations, and gill slits are arrayed somewhat randomly down her neck and chest. Pale dots of bioluminescent bacteria dot her flanks, and she is covered in a thick layer of bacterial slime. She is a powerful swimmer, utilizing a mix of wingbeats and undulations, but flightless and barely capable of walking on land. She stinks of bacteria and brine, and drips with slime on the rare occasions that she leaves the water.

Familiar
The driftwood baron is a reluctant denizen of the Blue Hole, but his natural antimicrobials, combined with a powerful bond to Aphotic, are allowing him to flourish.

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The Blue Hole
A deep sinkhole on on Plague's border with Arcane, the blue hole plunges straight from the shallows to the twilight zone. The water teems with bacteria, sickening any who linger here and keeping all but the most stubborn corals from its edges. Dragons hatched here can be of Plague or Water, depending on the balance of power at the time, and a nest incubated at the bottom of the hole will produce mutant Shadow dragons.