Maiko's Note

00:00 / 01:12

I’ve mapped its migrations. I’ve analyzed sonar echoes and tracked bioelectric pulses. But there’s still a moment — right before it strikes — when even my systems… hesitate.

The Pashunarak doesn’t just kill. It erases. No ripple, no scream. Just a silence that rolls out across the water like death’s own exhale.

Keith says there’s no point in fearing myths. But this one has teeth. And bone. And the skull of a freighter welded to a warship.

The Pashevalani call it a god. The Endulani refuse to name it aloud. The Empire? They don’t even want you to know it exists.

But I do.

And if we ever cross its waters... I’ll keep the engines cold, the lights dim, and my finger on the fusion spike—just in case.

The Lord of the Seas

Shindjal: Pashunarak

Faction:

Mama Gadun

"To die by wave or claw - that is the Pashunarak’s gift."
— Pashevalani proverb

1. Overview

The Pashunarak is the apex predator of Madun’s oceans - a massive, armored leviathan feared by all who sail. Known to pre-landing scholars as the Ulmorith, it is both a terror and a symbol of power, hunted by coastal tribes for survival, glory, and war. Its skulls are mounted on the bows of Pashevalani skull ships, turning the sea into a battlefield where myth becomes steel.

2. Origins & Background

Originally referenced in ancient Theseus logs as “Ulmorith,” the beast predates human settlement. It likely evolved in Madun’s deep ocean trenches, adapted for magnetic and electrochemical hunting in the absence of sunlight. Legends among the coastal tribes speak of the first sighting as a punishment from the sea itself — a god’s rage given flesh. While the Empire denies its existence to keep their sailors setting sails, lost fleets and closed sea lanes tell another story.

Though immensely dangerous, it is actively hunted by both the Pashevalani - the seafaring warrior clans of the western isles - and the Endulani, who see it as both threat and blessing.

3. Cultural / Environmental Context

Living in the abyssal zones and storm-wracked coasts, the Pashunarak glides like a serpent of thunder beneath the waves. It has no eyes - sensing instead through magnetic fields and vibration. Its four-parted jaws are bladed, retractable, and venomous, capable of flash-freezing prey from the inside. The Pashevalani, meanwhile, hunt it with reverence, risking everything for the honor of bearing its skull.

Size: Up to 80 meters in length
Body: Long, serpent-like, armored in basalt-black, segmented plates
Head: Massive, wedge-shaped skull; no eyes; sensory pits detect electromagnetic fields
Mouth: Four-part harpoon-jaws capable of injecting crystallizing venom
Fins: Ribbon-like fins with trailing electrofilaments that spark beneath the surface
Spines: Glow faintly with bioelectric pulses used for communication, warning, or hunting

Despite its size, it moves with explosive speed and strikes from below.

4. Role in the World

To the Pashevalani, the Pashunarak is not a monster - it is a rite of passage. Their strongest ships carry skulls of the fallen beast as ramming prows, turning bone into blade. The Endulani speak of the beast only with sacred caution, tying its fury to mist, ocean, and the old spirits. The Empire, true to form, denies its existence outright - expunging records and closing access to western sea routes. Some suspect a failed imperial hunt sealed this silence forever.

5. Language & Terminology

Pashunarak: “Sea War” - from pashun (ocean) + bvarak (war)
Ulmorith: Ancient Theseus classification
Skull Ship: Pashevalani warship crowned with a Pashunarak skull, used to ram enemy vessels
Pashevalani Saying: “To face the sea is to face the self. To face the Pashunarak is to face your death.”

6. Notable Locations / Figures

The Death Drift: A deadly sea current where Pashunarak sightings are most common
Captain Jalbosh Tenran: Legendary Pashevalani hunter who rode his ship’s prow into a Pashunarak’s mouth and lived
The Skull of Bvoran: A shrine built into the largest known Pashunarak skull, said to hum with sea-lore

7. Lore Snippets or Anecdotes

During a misty dusk on the western reef, a Pashevalani child once asked his grandfather:
“Is it true you touched the skull of the sea god?”
The old man chuckled, teeth stained with salt and blood.
“Boy, I didn’t just touch it. I carved my name in the bone before we rammed that imperial barge in half.”
The Endulani tell a different tale. They say when a Pashunarak sinks, the sea turns still, and mist rolls over the waves - not as a warning, but as a mourning veil.