Linnorm, Sea

This unfathomably large serpent sports a distinctly draconic face. Its body is deep, blackened gray with swatches of crimson. An entrancing set of lures dangles off its face, each glowing with a pulsating orange light accented by regular electrical discharges.

ECOLOGY

Environment cold oceans
Organization solitary
Treasure triple

Few, if any, linnorm breeds are more reclusive than the sea linnorm. These immense specimens of primeval draconic lineage dwell in the deepest underwater trenches of the world, blending into their surroundings thanks to their darkened scales. A sea linnorm’s distinctive facial lures attract all manner of sea life, which the linnorm promptly feasts upon before returning to its lair. Luckily for all nonaquatic civilizations, sea linnorms rarely leave the ocean depths they call home.

A typical sea linnorm grows up to 55 feet long and weighs around 14,000 pounds. It is believed that sea linnorms are effectively immortal, with the oldest recorded sea linnorms surviving well over 5,000 years.

Electricity courses through a sea linnorm’s body. The linnorm uses this internally generated power to fuel both its facial lures and, when necessary, its devastating breath weapon. This natural attack manifests as a powerful line of orange bioelectricity that overwhelms the nervous system of any living creature in its path.

The innate bioelectrical energy of creatures struck by the breath weapon further empower the attack, creating additional discharges that arc off the breath weapon’s naturally straight trajectory toward the nearest living creature. When the linnorm uses this attack to hunt larger underwater creatures, the subsequent discharges quickly overwhelm entire schools of fish for the sea linnorm to devour.

Luckily for the surface world, sea linnorms rarely have any reason to depart their deep underwater homes.

Teeming schools of aquatic megafauna roam in the depths that sea linnorms inhabit. This primordial wildlife is of such size that a waking sea linnorm rarely concerns itself with having to roam far for a fulfilling meal. After eating, a sea linnorm hibernates for years, or even centuries, at a time. In some instances, entire aquatic settlements spring to life near the hidden lair of a sea linnorm, only to incur the beast’s excessive wrath when it awakens from its slumber. Some of these unfortunately placed settlements even adjust their entire societies to provide for “their” linnorms, shepherding schools of fish toward the beasts’ lairs and, in harder times, encouraging visitors to visit the linnorms’ dens.

Habitat and Society

Sea linnorms inhabit the deepest trenches of the world’s oceans. Only the abundance of large underwater life sustains the voracious appetites of the bioelectrically charged beasts. As a result, a sea linnorm’s perceived territory encompasses a space of several thousand square miles. Any sentient creature that the sea linnorm perceives as a threat is sought out and slain. Those few settlements permitted to exist within a sea linnorm’s domain are used as early warning systems; each settlement is seeded with traditions of alerting the great linnorm to the presence of potentially threatening outsiders or of certain types of aquatic alpha-predator life-forms, such as krakens, luscas, or sea serpents. A sea linnorm immediately seeks out intruders, recognizing that it will either triumph or die—better to be slain fighting in the open water than cornered in its lair.

Few mortals know of the existence of sea linnorms, let alone hunt these ancient creatures.