Kraken

The kraken (a term including such beasts as the Man-o-War and the giant squid) is a type of tentacle-bearing monstrous sea creature known to attack ships at sea and adventures wandering too close to perilous shores.

Description


It is not known if the creatures referred to as kraken are all the same breed of monster, as no records exist of the full body of a specimen having been uncovered. A threat to mariners since the earliest days of Sosaria, these monsters generally take their prey with their tentacles, crushing their victims in a beak-like maw after dragging them below the water's surface.

In addition to the advantage the kraken gain via size and strength, these creatures have further displayed a number of unique mechanisms of attack, including the vomiting of toxic ink and discharges of magical lightning. During the age of Exodus it was further observed that the tentacles of some kraken bore venom in their tentacles as well as in their ink, making encounters of any kind with these beasts especially perilous.

In later ages, kraken became far less visible, with only their tentacles protruding above the waters, grasping for travelers on land coming too close to their domains. It is unclear if this behavior was the result of a slow adaptation on the part of these sea-beasts, or due to different species coming into prominence along the Britannian shorelines.

Observable Traits of Various Kraken
As alluded to above, "kraken" have exhibited a variety of different abilities and gone by a variety of different names throughout the ages. Whether these are due to different genus of these sea monsters existing or due to quirks of evolution is unknown. The chart below lists what various incarnations of these beasts have been capable of doing.

Swamp Tentacles
On the Serpent Isle, a species of yellow-hued tentacular beasts can be found in the swamps of the realm, exhibiting behavior similar to the kraken of Britannian origin. While writings on the "Swamp Tentacles" suggest that these creatures may be relatives of the corpsers, an uncanny similarity between them and the giant squid exists. Like the kraken, however, no full body specimen of these beasts has ever been uncovered.

Lore




Trivia

 * The Man o' War of real world Earth, while similar to the Ultima III analogue in its capacity for envenoming victims with its tentacles, has little relation to squid of any variety. Such animals are not even independent organisms, but rather sipphonophores - colonies of independently structured organ-like zooids working in concert.
 * The bioelectrogenesis which appears to be exhibited by the giant squid of Ultima IV has no counterpart in the known squid of Terran ecosystems, although numerous rays and knife-fish on Earth do possess the capacity to generate electricity for purposes of hunting and defense. Whether or not this implies that such a mechanism in Britannian cephalopods is magical in nature, or that the biology of squid in the realm has moved in vastly different directions cannot be said for certain.
 * Kraken were to be included in the canceled Ultima X. See Planned Monsters for Ultima X for further details.