Tarhamhorians

The Tarhamhorians, or Undercreepers as they are known in the Traveler’s Tongue, were an undersea civilisation of sentient creatures that inhabited the sea between Aristios and Anglunia. Because of their appearance they would often be confused with land creepers, however of a blueish variant. Their physiognomy were similar with the more common green creeper, that once roamed aimlessly the wilderness of Eldham, origins unknown.

As the myth of creation goes, the Tarhamhorians were given birth by a sacred entity, revered by the Barbossa pirates as the One-Eyed Kraken. After said birth, the entity continued her long cosmic voyage in the grand expanse, occasionally trying to connect with the world she had left behind.

First contact
The appearance of this new species would not come at a worse time, however, as they began to wander off and be discovered in the Primal Years, the dawn of the new gods. The ones that discovered them were none other than the human followers of these new divines who occupied the once empty heavens.

They began to hunt the tarhamhorians for their precious eyes, as their pupils were of an unworldly color and hard as obsidian, using them as precious gemstones to adorn their necks and heads. The Gods caught word of this new encounter, and released a holy edict to be offered to themselves sacrifices in tarhamhorian blood and precious stone. High and low temples, from forests and hills, were trading blessings for blood. The Tarhamhorians became trophies and their precious eyes jewels to be paraded and shown. In the eyes of humans and gods, „mindless animals were fit to be exploited as a resource to fuel their way of life” - Of Tarhamhorian Origin by Panorh Panheddas Penhator.

The forever changing curse
Yet as grim as the fate of these undersea creatures was, they were not entirely abandoned by fortune. For the gods, in their pursuit of perfection, needed to escape the weaknesses they harnessed while enjoying prosperous times in their marble palaces. They devised a plan in which a curse was to fall upon many beings that, in their views, were lacking any use or destiny. Needless to say, the tarhamhorians were one of the unfortunate strays. A curse that would have an incredible side effect. The tarhamhorians achieved sentience. The moment any form of life achieves something even remotely close to complete sentience, their world would change forever. A world governed by instinct, fear and bestiality will to be replaced by a more complex and intricate way of seeing things as they are. An incredible opportunity, a great blessing… and a heavy burden. The curse took their way to reproduce and their mortality. Immortal and sentient, they began to realize exactly what place they had in this world.

This new found immortality would not protect them from harm, but would only prolong their life indefinitely. Each couple of hundred of years they would be forced to shed their old carcass and enclose themselves in a strange gray carapace, left behind by the carcass. From the carapace it is said a new body would emerge, with the memories of the previous body intact. This process would be later coined by the ice elves, as Ashkima’nati (kelpwoodization) as the gray carapace would resemble a rounded piece of shkima (kelpwood).