Whirlpool

Whirlpool
Genius Loci of the Abyss

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Crystal Jellyfish Seafood A tough hide may protect from jellyfish stings, but a tender palate will feel they're a bit sour. 35 4 Glowslug Seafood Some areas of the deep sea floor are so saturated with glowslugs, their movement can resemble fireflies. 53 5 Black Diamond Stingray Seafood Mind the pointy bits. 25 3

A genius loci (pl. genii locorum) is the spirit of a place; its vitality, history, and magic are made manifest through an apparition of a dragon. Some genii locorum permit outsiders to freely enter and settle within their bounds, though this is by no means guaranteed and must be carefully ascertained with the locals or with the genius itself. All genii are sapient and sentient, and often feel pain when their territory is disturbed or harmed in some way, but many will allow polite travelers to pass through unmolested if they leave no trace. While strongly associated with natural areas in the minds of many, genii locorum are not always spirits of untouched wilderness, untouched wilderness itself being futile to define. Some form in response to lengthy inhabitation, worship of a building or statue, or otherwise a focus of draconic magic tied to a specific location over the course of many years. They are common throughout the Sea of a Thousand Currents, and their presence may easily be felt by the observant. ---excerpt from "The Concise and Precise Guide to the Magics of Oceanic Dragons"

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[1 / 29 unexalted, 1 / 134 total]

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Theme: Cathedral (Subnautica: Below Zero) - Ben Prunty

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With a swirl of raw magic and seawater, Whirlpool manifested.

This was not an unusual experience for her, it having happened many times before. This time, however, it was intentional, which was unusual. More often than not she found herself coming to consciousness in a boil of rage and seething black pressure, crushing an intruder for disturbing the nesting grounds of her creatures and leaving their carcass to fall to the ocean floor to nourish the worms and the fish.

But today she was in a good mood. The silt beneath her teemed with tiny life: the larvae of larger creatures, eggs and fry of the deep sea fishes, worms innumerable, all feasting on the constant snow from above. She laid down her long neck to watch them for a while, endless microscopic wars for survival.

She could remember what had been happening while she was incorporeal. There had been several passerby, who had peaceably snared one or two fish each, for themselves only. This was permissible. A leviathan had been killed, and was even now still settling onto its new home in the silt, while the denizens of Whirlpool's domain gathered around it.

What else?

Oh. There was some kind of magical entity in her domain. Curious.

She swam towards it, navigating by its faint blue glow. It was perfectly round, and about half the length of one of her wings in diameter, and intensely magical. She curved around it, while inside faint pops of bright blue magic sent shadows dancing over her.

Like a dividing cell, a small portion of it pinched itself off, then irised open, sending a small cache of treasures floating down. Whirlpool picked through them. Fresh shallow-water fish, a package of formerly dried algae and plankton (rapidly rehydrating), a handful of white sand, and a string of pearls, large by usual standards but small for her size.

The smaller bubble dodged her slowly beating wings and reunited itself with the parent by touching its membrane to the larger bubble, then again irising open, likely to keep water out of the larger bubble. Then the whole assemblage hovered off, rapidly ascending past her domain.

Whirlpool blinked, sending trails of her magic bobbing through the water. This was an unusual activity for passerby.

...But not an unwelcome one, she decided. Whatever the dragons piloting the bubble had in mind, she was certain to succeed in her goals. Nothing would ever harm her domain, ever come between the wild and wonderful life she protected, ever snuff out the beautiful microcosm of the abyss. Not while she lived.

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