Kingdoms and Empires of the Oceans
by Francesco Defferrari from Threshold Magazine issue 31Part I: Sunlit Sea, Izondian Deep, Alphatian and Bellissarian Seas, White Sea
Image: Sea People http://pandius.com/TheSeaPeople.png
Caption: The Sea People cover recreated with Daz 3d by Senarch
(https://www.deviantart.com/senarch/gallery).
Introduction
We all know about the Sunlit Sea, which was extensively described in PC3: "The Sea People" by Jim Bambra1. The area of the seas just south of the Known World, roughly around Ierendi and Minrothad, is inhabited by tritons, merrows, kna, nixies, sea giants, sea elves, kopru, and shark-kin, and menaced by the devilfish from the southern Abyss.
PC3 introduced all these people (except for the devilfish) as playable races and gave a lot of details on their history and society, and also described several ruins once belonging to the lost culture of Taymora, sunk beneath the waves in BC 1700.
Starting from this great supplement, fans obviously added several works to the development of Mystara under the sea. In this article I just list some of my and other fans' ideas about the Undersea of Mystara. More details and development will obviously follow in the other articles of this issue!
Image: Bathymetric map http://pandius.com/Mystara72mphBathymetry.png
Caption: Bathymetric map of Mystara in 72 miles per hex, showing also the main sea currents (warm in green, cold in blue, neutral in grey).
In the bathymetric map of the Mystaran seas above I have indicated only three colors. The light blue one means depth is within 200 meters and it's the real habitable zone of the seas. Only in this limited territory in fact photosynthesis is possible and algae can grow, sustaining a great variety of marine life. This is the only area permanently inhabited by intelligent creatures and dotted with their communities.
The middle blue one indicates a depth from 200 to 3,000 meters. Here there is little light and temperature rapidly drops to 5 or 6°C degrees even in the tropical zone. Pressure goes from 20 to 300 bar. Yet a lot of fish and other marine creatures travel in this zone day and night. Penguins can dive down to 500 meters, hold their breath for almost half an hour and see well also in the dark, but seals see even better, and they can also navigate the dark waters with the vibrations of their whiskers and some can dive down to 1,500 meters. Turtles can dive down to 1,000 meters. Below the depth of about 1,000 meters, not even the little light which can filter from above is visible, and pitch darkness begins. Yet, dolphins and whales can use echolocation to find prey and avoid obstacles in the dark, and they can go at a depth of almost 3,000 meters and hold their breath for more than three hours. Intelligent creatures therefore can easily travel the blue sea as well, using marine animals or vessels, but they can hardly build permanent residences, unless they can anchor them to floating algae or some other floating structure.
The deep blue regions are areas from 3,000 meters to 15,0002 meters deep. Here only abyssal creatures can roam and live, in total darkness, at incredible pressure and temperature of about 2–4°C, sustaining themselves mostly with 'marine snow' i.e. the organic material which falls down from above, and eating each other. Still there is a great variety of life, and even some light, as several deep jellies or deep fish have bioluminescence or use it to lure prey3.
Finally, green-blue areas in the map indicate vast regions of floating algae which normally correspond to warm ocean gyre4. Such zones are typically inhabited by a lot of marine life and often also by intelligent creatures who can use floating algae to anchor their homes even in regions of deep waters.
Image: Mapped regions on the world map http://pandius.com/Threshold31MappedRegionsMystarasOceans.gif
The Izondian Deep
Image: Izondian Deep region http://pandius.com/IzondianDeep.png
Crabmen and the Gyre of the Noble Dolphins
Horseshoe crabmen5 and 'regular' crabmen are the main inhabitants of the western coast of the Serpent Peninsula. The habitable area here is extensive however and inhabited also by kna, shark-kin, merrows, and noble dolphins, who are also the main inhabitants of the namesake gyre to the southwest. They keep in check the much more hostile shimmerfish6 and southern snappers7 who roam the southern part of the Izondian Deep.
Sea Hermits of the Izondian Deep
Around the Izondian Deep the sea hermits8 have their underwater kingdoms. These people are likely related to crabmen but very expert in magic and not particularly friendly toward sea- or land-dwellers. However the fact that their nearest neighbors are the normally hostile shimmerfish and snappers could have contributed to their average behavior.
The habitable sea of the Savage Coast
The habitable area of the coast is rather narrow, generally not more than 10 miles from land. It is mostly inhabited by some peoples who are partially connected to the land and build semi-submerged homes, the jorri and the omm-wa9, and by some purely sea-dwelling creatures, mostly kna and merrows. The Melusine merrows, in front of the coasts of Robrenn and Eusdria, are the better organized of such societies. They take their name from a mythical merrow queen who allegedly had also been queen of Eusdria10.
Image: Omm-wa http://pandius.com/Threshold_18_Ommwa.png
Caption: Omm-wa drawn by I.Calvin in Threshold issue #18
The Trident Bay and the Immortal Arm eastern coast
The Trident Bay has an extensive habitable zone, dominated mostly by omm-wa, jorri, kna, merrows, and shark-kin. All those peoples have established a solid alliance, the Bay Alliance, to keep at bay incursion from snappers and shimmerfish, with great success.
This success does not extend to the eastern coast of the Immortal Arm, where snappers near land and shimmerfish in the open sea are constant threats both to sea-dwelling tribes and to land-dwellers' shipping.
The Known World and The Sea of Dread
Image: Sunlit sea region http://pandius.com/KWandSeaOfDread.png
The Sunlit Sea
Extensively described in PC3 and expanded in several articles of this issue of THRESHOLD Magazine, the Sunlit Sea is the region of the sea south of the Known World which surrounds Ierendi and Minrothad, reaching the Atruaghin lands' coast to the west and Thyatis to the east. A full replica map by Thorf of the Sunlit Sea can be found at his Atlas of Mystara website https://mystara.thorfmaps.com/pc3-sea-of-dread-submerged-lands-8/. In the general map below I have indicated roughly the regions inhabited by each race, but nixies are not placed as they live in scattered small communities around the Sunlit Sea11. The people of the Sunlit Sea are not natives of the region, which indeed was above the waves until BC 1700. At the time, however, the sea elves, the Aquarendi, had already reached the area south of Alfeisle in Minrothad. After the lands of Taymora sank beneath the waves, the region became the Sunlit Sea and was first inhabited by merrows, and then by the tritons who came from the south in BC 200, carving their kingdom from among the merrows' lands. These two peoples eventually learned to live peacefully, but then suffered a great crisis in AC 443 when lycanthropy, in the form of weresharks, threatened both. After that, in AC 800, the devilfish arrived in the Abyss to menace their triton enemies. The devilfish were defeated in AC 900 but returned after AC 979. By AC 1000, the people of Undersea were facing the threats of devilfish, weresharks, and undead from the south.
Between the territories of the tritons and the merrows lies the the lair of Thundar the sea dragon12, located within an inactive underwater volcano crater, trying to influence local tritons and merrows to build her own empire.
The module X7: "The War Raft of Kron", published before PC3, describes a floating city inhabited by humans but allied with the apparently independent tritons of Suthus, and also involved with a velya (sea vampire) hiding in the ruins of Colhador, an ancient elven city which sunk in approximately BC 170013.
Undersea and the Sunlit Sea were not mentioned in the events of AC 1000–1013 of either the "Wrath of the Immortals" boxed set, or the "Poor Wizard's Almanacs" and "Joshuan's Almanac" so the Mystaran Almanac team later developed a timeline for the region in which the area is overrun by devilfish and undead and the survivors, mostly tritons and merrows, escape to Underocean, the region of former Alphatia now beneath the waves14. There they had to face internal strife and the menace of aquatic beholders and undead. In AC 1016 the tritons of Underocean contacted Aquas and offered to join the New Alphatian Confederate Empire (NACE). In AC 1017 they attacked not only the aquatic ghouls in sunken Arogansa, but also the sentient Alphadon undead, leading in AC 1018 to Aquas's forces siding with the Alphadon against the tritons of Underocean, forcing the tritons to stop their attacks on the Alphadon. Even if in the Sunlit Sea the former triton kingdom was overrun by devilfish and undead, the kna' and sea elves' territories still resisted.
The Azcan Terrace
This region15 is inhabited by (mostly hostile) crabmen, some merrows and kna, snappers, several intelligent sea mammals such as whales, dolphins and narwhals, and dotted with ancient ruins. There is also a certain number of wereseals. The Atruaghin tribes of the Children of the Turtle have extensive relations with all those peoples.
Makara and Matsya Lairs
The Sindhi and Sind Desert coast is dominated according to legends by two powerful sea dragons, or sea turtles, one ruling over kna and the other over merrows, sometimes cooperating and sometimes fighting among themselves, using their subjects as proxies.
Image: Velya http://pandius.com/Velya_color.png
Caption: Velya, original artwork by Jeffrey Kosh
(https://jeffreykosh.wixsite.com/jeffreykoshgraphics/home).
The Velya Abyss
The Abyss between Yavdlom and the Sindhi coast would be inhabited by an ancient and powerful velya, some say of ancient Azcan origin, with legions of underwater ghouls, devilfish, and vampires. Two small gyres of floating algae are located north and south of this abyss, inhabited by groups of merrows, kna and shark-kin, who are menaced by undead and devilfish.
Coast of the Yavdlom Peninsula
This undersea region is big and inhabited by almost all known undersea races, but especially crabmen, snappers, omm-wa, kna and shark-kin. However it is dominated by sea giants below the waves and storm giants above them.
A note about Monster's Lairs
All the locations indicated as 'Lair' in the maps are named after mythological sea creatures of the real world16, which could be used as inspiration to populate the seas with big creatures such as intelligent whales, sea dragons, sea turtles, sea serpents, or kraken. Such big creatures are likely to also have lairs full of minions.
Cetus Lair
Cetus would be a gigantic whale, or a sea dragon, who occasionally menaces the coast of Davania. It could however be just another name of the Behemoth (see below).
This coast is also inhabited by shark-kin, weresharks and wereseals.
A note about werecreatures
Weresharks and wereseals are likely tritons, merrows or humans infected with lycanthropy. However if whole communities are infected, it's likely they will form a new society with little or no contact with their former origin communities, forming a de-facto new race. This may be especially true for sea-dwelling werecreatures, as they can already breath underwater, unlike human werecreatures.
The Davanian Shallows
This region is also dotted with ancient ruins, often infested by undead, and traveled by the kna of the Katonate Confederacy, who are normally friendly toward other races and surface folk. Other races however live in the area, such as the Eeliistii: a race of merfolk with octopus tails who are not very friendly to outsiders except for the kna17. Other minor races also inhabit the region, such as shark-kin and crabmen. The Twaelar Merrow Empire (see below) would very much like to expand in this area, but so far has been repulsed by strong local resistance from sea dragons, merfolk, and other races, secretly aided by the kna, who officially maintain good relations with the Empire but do not actually want it to dominate their sea.
The Thanegioth waters and the Twaelar Merrow Empire
This empire centered around the Thanegioth archipelago and dominated by merrows appeared first in the AC 1015 Mystaran Almanac where its inhabitants began hostilities against Thyatian forces operating in the archipelago, which became a true war in AC 1016, and led to Twaelar land attacks on Thanegioth colonies and Raven Scarp, until a peace treaty was signed in AC 1017. The rulers are Emperor Diviloplop, Empress Igilbolb, and High Priest of Protius Goblopob. The empire is described as being dominated by merrows, who took over from almost forgotten previous rulers, the kopru18. The militaristic merrows of the Twaelar Empire19 are obviously quite different from the free-spirited and relatively peaceful merrows of the Sunlit Sea.
Image: Kopru http://pandius.com/Threshold31Kopru.png
Caption: Kopru, original artwork by Jeffrey Kosh
(https://jeffreykosh.wixsite.com/jeffreykoshgraphics/home).
The Kopru Empire?
This place is the mysterious and hidden Empire of the Kopru described by Matthew Tullius's articles in this and following issues of THRESHOLD Magazine.
The Sea of Dread
The proper Sea of Dread is south of the Sunlit Sea and north of the Thanegioth archipelago. The most important feature dominating it is the Abyss, now infested by devilfish and inhabited by other sea monsters and undead. But there are also many islands and the Dragon Teeth reef, whose coral reefs and seabeds are inhabited by shark-kin and kopru, noble dolphins, and some sea dragons and other big creatures.
The Gyre
The Gyre is a zone of floating algae just south of the Teki-Nura-Ria archipelago, the dangerous group of islands south of Thyatis, inhabited by kara-kara orcs and kal-muru elementals. Both the archipelago and the Gyre are avoided by all commercial shipping as they are very dangerous. The Gyre not only is often the source of many storms, which flood the Sea of Dread and the Thanegioth archipelago, but is also inhabited by wild tritons and merrows who live just under the algae and like to attack surface dwellers.
The Ochalean Sea
The sea around Ochalea is dominated by sea dragons, each ruling his or her own domain which is also inhabited by merfolk, kna, shark-kin, crabmen and many other creatures. The Strait of Furmenglaive is inhabited by Ceirean, an unknown being who could be a sea dragon, or something else20 which even dragons fear.
The Jungle Coast
This region of the sea is supposedly inhabited by a large dragon turtle called Afanc21, who rules over many snappers and other creatures. Here, according to legend, would be the hidden Palace of Protius, where the Immortal of the Sea often dwells among tritons, merrows, and other creatures. The realm is forbidden to visitors unless they have permission from the Immortal himself or a high-ranking cleric. Not too far to the southeast there is the realm of Glaucus's22 merrows, named after a titan in the service of Protius, and populated also by nixies and kna. Glaucus is famous for his prophetic abilities, and is often willing to help heroes and adventurers.
The Western Sea of Dawn
This region is inhabited mostly by wereseals, sea giants, shark-kin, and kna, but also by the dendans, intelligent whales which have long been hunted by the people of the Northern Reaches and Ylaruam and have therefore become very hostile to humans.
The Bellissarian Sea
Image: Bellissarian Sea region http://pandius.com/BellissarianSea.png
Aquas and Sunken Alphatia23 (after AC 1009)
Aquas, an undersea city first described in the "Dawn of the Emperors" boxed set, was founded in AC 949 by the Alphatian wizard Zyndryl, who later became lover of Empress Eriadna and father to her children Zandor and Eldrethila. Zyndryl died in AC 1009 during the sinking of Alphatia, protecting Aquas, and therefore his daughter Zynnia (born from the mermaid Lynnia) became queen. Aquas was also the de-facto capital of what survived of the Alphatian empire until Ionace on Monster Island took its place in AC 1014. Aquas is made of the city of Seashield, inhabited by Alphatian humans, elves, dwarves, and gnomes, under a magical dome, and by the surrounding territories which are inhabited by merrows, tritons, nixies, sea elves, storm giants, and others. In AC 1017 a cooperation developed with the tritons of Underocean, due to the new menace of aquatic ghouls from sunken Alphatia. Aquas began the construction of new domes in Notrion, Bellissaria to expand Seashield, and advanced submersibles like The Torpin to enhance its underwater fleet. Other sentient undead who call themselves Alphadon were discovered in sunken Bluenose, former Arogansa. In AC 1018 the submersible Torpin was launched and more were under construction.
The Behemoth's cave could be west of Aquas. He was canonically awakened by Aquas adventurers on Sviftmont 22nd, AC 101024, and later swam to the Ochalean Sea (Flaurmont 22nd, AC 1011) then in the Serpent Strait between Kastelios and Yavdlom (Fyrmont 10th, AC 1012). Later, wizards from Glantri and Karameikos initiated an expedition to find and study it (Felmont 25th, AC 1013).
The Eastern Sea of Dawn, Alatians and Pearl Islands
The seabed around Thonia is inhabited by the Heqet kna, a branch of the fish people which over the centuries has been influenced by the Thonian culture. The Alatian seas are instead inhabited mainly by the Atargatis merrows, a matriarchal culture, the Naiads, a branch of nixies who have been influenced by the Milenians, and lobstermen25, a specific variation of crabmen known to have a pacifist but reclusive culture. An unspecified sea monster named Dagon, or according to others, an undead triton, has carved a domain between Thonia and Bellissaria. The Pearl Islands sea is dominated by the Adaro shark-kin, a rather hostile people who don't like trespassers and have occasionally menaced shipping. But the Pearl Islanders have some sort of agreement with them, or at least some truce.
The Bellissarian Sea
The seabed around Bellissaria is mainly inhabited by tribes of merrows, some kna, and a few tritons, but there are also cephalopodians26 in the north. These latter people have octopus heads and are not much open to outsiders, even if they trade with kna. They may be related to the kopru, as it seems they have some mental powers too. To the east of Bellissaria, three famous sea monsters live. The lair of Illuyanka is in the Inner Sea of Horken. She should be a very large sea serpent or sea dragon. No one is sure what Ton and Scylla are, two sea monsters that menace the Strait of Minaea. Ton (the name means Him in Minaean) could be an enormous sea dragon or a dragon turtle, while many suspect Scylla is a sea serpent, or a sea hag which can turn into a sea serpent.
The large Bellissarian sea is the vast and islandless area of the ocean south of the sub-continent. It is crossed by a warm current going to Skothar and teeming with life, so it's not difficult to meet snappers, shark-kin, noble dolphins, dendan whales and devilfish crossing it or setting temporary communities anchored to floating algae.
The Night Abyss
This great abyss south of the Bellissarian Sea is inhabited by all manners of monsters and undead, some say partially controlled by the Night Dragons of Oceania.
The Alphatian and Esterhold Seas
Image: Alphatian Sea region http://pandius.com/TheAlphatianSea.png
The Northwestern Sea of Dawn
The sea of the Northern Reaches is inhabited by the dendan whales, sea giants, and, along Heldann, by the Nokken, who are a group of local nixies dominating the other inhabitants of the seabed. The northern coast of the Isle of Dawn and the southern coast of Norwold are inhabited by the Ceasg merrows, who often swim up the local rivers27.
The Northeastern Sea of Dawn
The northern part of the seabed around the Isle of Dawn and middle-southern Norwold is dominated by the Blue Kelpies28, a group, some say a true kingdom, of tritons infamous for attacking ships and creating storms. The Dunadale coast seabed is inhabited by the selkie29, a group of wereseals which have created a true society, and have relatively good relations with the local humans. The gulf of East Portage is inhabited by Morgawr30, a sea serpent or dragon who is feared by the local fishermen.
Gulf of Aasla
The Gulf of Aasla seabed is populated by several undersea races, mostly merrows, kna, tritons, several wereseals and weresharks, and some Alphatian wizards who are also werecreatures or have modified their bodies to breath water. All these people together have formed a society they call 'The Incantocracy' ruled by a Council of wizards. Differently from Aquas, which is well known in the Alphatian mainland, this society so far has tried to maintain its existence unknown to the land-dwellers, because the Council thinks that otherwise the Empire could try to exploit their abilities for military purposes; and they are probably right.
The Alphatian Sea
According to old Antalian legends, the sea east of Norwold would be the domain of Jörmungandr, the mythical sea serpent (or dragon?) which fought against the Immortal Thor in many old tales and legends. The seabed along the northwestern coast of Alphatia is inhabited by the Finfolk31 merrows, a society with great sorcerous abilities which also includes wereseals and from time to time would capture humans as slaves or mates. The gulf of Alpha in Norwold is inhabited by many wereseals, who as usual have the reputation of occasionally kidnapping people. Along the coast north of Littonia, Iku-Turso32 has his lair, a malevolent sea monster, or a dragon, mentioned in many local legends. Another mysterious and not clearly identified sea monster inhabits the waters north of Qeodhar: Hafgufa33, said to be much larger than a whale. This too could be just another name of the Behemoth, or another Behemoth. The northern Alphatia and Yannifey chain seabeds are inhabited mainly by wereseals and by Harbor seafolk. Maybe these creatures were just 'normal' wereseals once but now they all live permanently in sealman form, and even their children are born this way. So if once they had the ability to return to their original merrow or other form, they don't anymore.
Image: Shark-kin http://pandius.com/TheSharkKin.png
Caption: Shark-kin attack draw with Daz 3d by Senarch
The Sea of Estehold and the Bay of Thorin
The Bay of Thorin is dominated by Spotted sealfolk and Grey sealfolk34. It's hard to say if these people had once been merrows who had been infected with lycanthropy or true near-human races, but certainly now they are. Differently from true seals, they do not need to breathe air, but they can and still have often semi-submerged hideouts along the coast in the most unapproachable cliffs and reefs, or in isolated islands. Kna and merrows also inhabit these waters, generally in amicable relations with the sealfolks.
The rest of the Sea of Esterhold is inhabited by a variety of sea races, including tribes of kna and shark-kin which are not always peaceful, and many sea monsters. A vast habitable area lies between Esterhold and Bellissaria, dominated by cephalopodians35, a race of sea-dwelling creatures with octopus heads. They are organized in matriarchal, normally peaceful tribes, but they are trying to unite in a more organized society to better defend themselves from enemies, which in this area include devilfish, velya, shark-kin, and hostile sea giants.
The White Sea
Image: White Sea region http://pandius.com/NorthernSea.png
Sea Giants of the North
The sea north of Alphatia, from the northern Norwold coast and almost to Skothar, is dominated by sea giants and is known as The White Sea. These giants generally have good relations with the frost giants that inhabit these northern coasts and islands in significant numbers. Kna and some merrows also live among the sea giants in relative peace. The sea is inhabited by a relevant number of noble narwhals and by several races of sealfolk.
Northern sealfolk and kna
The most common sealfolk of the North include Walrus men, Hooded sealfolk, Bearded sealfolk, Ringed sealfolk, and Harp sealfolk36. All these peoples can live and breathe underwater and usually have only temporary bases on land or floating ice. Under the sea the other most common inhabitants are the Vodyanoy kna37, a sub-race particularly adapted to life in the cold waters.
Merrows, tritons, nixies, shark-kin and kopru usually do not reach these frozen latitudes, but all kinds of intelligent dolphins and whales do.
To be continued...
In the next issue of THRESHOLD Magazine, we will continue to explore the rest of Mystaran seas!
1This classic Mystara product is available on Drivethrurpg.com
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17144/PC3-Creature-Crucible-The-Sea-People-Basic
2Depth of The Abyss in PC3 map is given at more than 50,000 feet.
3Also see this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_sea and this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep-sea_community Wikipedia links
4See also here on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_gyre
5Inspired by these real world creatures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_horseshoe_crab
6Evil and intelligent dolphins introduced in the "Savage Coast Monstrous Compendium" (SCMC) here http://pandius.com/shimmerf.html
7Marine relatives of tortles described as primitive and bad-tempered in the "Savage Coast Monstrous Compendium" http://pandius.com/tortle.html
8Introduced in the "Savage Coast Monstrous Compendium" here http://pandius.com/seahermi.html and a bit expanded by me in People of the Savage Coast http://pandius.com/sc_ppl.html in THRESHOLD Magazine issue #18
9Described in the SCMC and in People of the Savage Coast article linked in the note above
10A reference to a famous real world legend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melusine
11In this issue of THRESHOLD Magazine check the "Aloysius Reef Gazetteer" article by by Eliyah von Llaunas for a placement of the nixies of the Sunlit Sea.
12Created by Bruce Heard in DRAGON Magazine issue #171
13See also "Kron – The Raft City" by Jesper Andersen from THRESHOLD Magazine issue #4 http://pandius.com/kronrcty.html
14See Aaron Novack's articles in the Vaults here http://pandius.com/underset.html from AC 1000 to 1015 and here http://pandius.com/1015sea.html about the situation in AC 1015.
15All the regions around the Known World were described in "Advice for traders in the Sea of Dread" By Michele "LoZompatore" C. in THRESHOLD Magazine issue #4 http://pandius.com/trdadvce.html
16See for example this Wikipedia link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Mythological_aquatic_creatures
17"The Katonate Confederacy" http://www.pandius.com/katonat2.html and the Eeliistii http://www.pandius.com/eeliisti.html have been created by Christopher Cherrington.
18Introduced in the module X1: "The Isle of Dread", and more extensively described in PC3, a kopru-dominated Thanegioth archipelago called Adhuza http://pandius.com/adhuza.html was developed by John Calvin and others for the 2300 BC subsetting, see also the Vaults http://pandius.com/kworld_h.html and The Piazza subforum https://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewforum.php?f=63
19As the empire was imagined after the Mystara setting was converted to AD&D 2ed in later products, there are also mostly unwilling sahuagin subjects (in Original D&D Mystara, they could be just a more warlike subspecies of kna) and aquatic ogres (called merrows in AD&D), used as shock troops and blindly loyal to their masters.
20Inspired by this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirein-cr%C3%B2in real world legend.
21Inspired by this real world legend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afanc
22Inspired by Glaucus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaucus
23More details here by Hausman in the Alphatian Undersea article in the Vaults http://pandius.com/alphusea.html to be updated in the next issue of THRESHOLD Magazine.
24See "Poor Wizard's Almanac I", page 225
25The crabmen AD&D or 5ED statistics can be used for them, changing only the appearance.
26These creatures are similar to illithids in aspect. The DM may choose to give them psionic powers or not. They could be the ancestors of the more famous Spelljammer illithids.
27Inspired by this legend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceasg
28Inspired by this legend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_men_of_the_Minch
29Inspired by this legend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selkie
30Inspired by this legend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgawr_(folklore)
31Inspired by this legend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finfolk
32Inspired by this legend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iku-Turso
33Inspired by this legend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafgufa
34Inspired by these real world creatures, Spotted seal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_seal and Grey seal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_seal
35Statistics of the AD&D illithids could be used for them, eliminating their humanoid-enslaving habits.
36Inspired by these real animals: walrus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walrus, hooded seal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooded_seal, bearded seal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearded_seal, ringed seal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringed_seal, and harp seal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harp_seal
37Inspired by the real world legend of the Vodyanoy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodyanoy