Tidekeepers are typically named after feelings or concepts such as Thought, Bliss, Peaceful, etc. While the latter is popular in nod to their heritage, nautical names, while common, are a new naming system that came from the recent profession of being hired guides for ships to provide safe travel through the Gaping Sea.
Some examples are:
Abyssal tidekeepers are named after sounds, often the screeching noises of their communications with eachother. Examples of abyssal tidekeeper names are:
Some examples are:
- Helm, Gunwale, Moonraker, Sprit
- Ecstasy, Notion, Pondering, Harried
Abyssal tidekeepers are named after sounds, often the screeching noises of their communications with eachother. Examples of abyssal tidekeeper names are:
- Tktktktk Tktktk Tktktktk
- MMMMMMMMMM
- WeeeWooOOooWeeEEeeWooOOo
- Quack
- AAAA
- Ooohaaah
When a Tidekeeper dies a pearl is placed in the deceased mouth and is left to sit for 90 days. The pearl is then retrieved and what is left of the body is filled with stones and sunk within the deepest trench of either the northern or southern lands. The pearls are collected and stored on long strands that are passed down within families. These strands can be anywhere from 6ft to 3 miles long depending on how far back a lineage goes.
Stargazer (the leaders of the Tidekeepers) pearls are placed on a string separated from that of their home pod so future queens or kings may commune with past rulers. Pearls will take a resemblance to those in life often taking on faint colors, shapes, or light patterns.
Stargazer (the leaders of the Tidekeepers) pearls are placed on a string separated from that of their home pod so future queens or kings may commune with past rulers. Pearls will take a resemblance to those in life often taking on faint colors, shapes, or light patterns.
Tidekeepers are a nomadic race and as such do not have much in the way of architecture. Preferred dwellings can be anything from hollowed out icebergs in the north to sunken lava tubes in the south, or simply drifting on the open ocean. Inhabited dwellings can be decorated in all a manner of ways from carvings on the walls to decoratively woven nets, pearl strings, and carved bones and teeth from hunts.
Carved serpent tusks are very common forms of jewelry and decoration on hunting weapons. Weaving of nets, dance, poetry, and what can be described by them as “singing” but to others is more of a weird moaning shriek similar to a “whale choking on a flute” quoted one human sailor who happened to witness one of the tidekeeper guides they had hired participating in the activity. Tidekeepers have a lot of oral traditions and many stories outside of Mother’s Eye are passed down in this manner. Tidekeeper artwork is made up of a lot of frescoes and mosaics, bright colours are favored.
Cultural split divides categories into Old World and New Gen (A.E.D.), this includes location names, occupations, and even clothing. The Old World is still very present, but new connections made in recent decades have allowed more cultural trade to sweep through the oceans.
Cultural split divides categories into Old World and New Gen (A.E.D.), this includes location names, occupations, and even clothing. The Old World is still very present, but new connections made in recent decades have allowed more cultural trade to sweep through the oceans.
Tidekeepers are omnivores and will eat fish and most other sea life. Young tidekeepers from newborn to sub adult will filter feed on krill and plankton until their teeth grow in. Adults retain this ability but must supplement with more substantial food like fish or kelp, or fattier meats like serpent or seal. Shellfish like crabs and clams are also common staples within the pods of the northern and south seas. Northern tidekeepers eat and farm sea cucumbers as a staple, while all tidekeepers have learned to farm things like crab, types of seaweed, and molluscs.
Tidekeepers eat most food raw and sometimes still live in the case of smaller morsels like fish. In the north food preservation is more common and the practice of dried meats and fermented delicacies is quite common due to the scarce nature of prey in the cold waters.
Abyssal Tides have a diet quite unlike their brethren. Entirely carnivorous these tides devour the dead and just about anything that moves. While normally looked upon with disdain they do play a vital part in ecosystem clean up, consuming the flesh of dead tidekeepers and any other large beasts that sink into the depths of the sea.
Tidekeepers eat most food raw and sometimes still live in the case of smaller morsels like fish. In the north food preservation is more common and the practice of dried meats and fermented delicacies is quite common due to the scarce nature of prey in the cold waters.
Abyssal Tides have a diet quite unlike their brethren. Entirely carnivorous these tides devour the dead and just about anything that moves. While normally looked upon with disdain they do play a vital part in ecosystem clean up, consuming the flesh of dead tidekeepers and any other large beasts that sink into the depths of the sea.
Tidekeepers don’t wear much as clothing can create unnecessary drag. However this isn’t to say they all swim about in the nude either. Some common pieces of saltwater fashion are:
- Scarves & Shawls
- Pearl strings
- Coral beads and charms
- Small seal life like shrimp or cleaner fish living on you are seen as attractive.
- New world items like satchels, leather or metal bracelets, and human-like clothing, such as hats or braces, are popular amongst the Compass class due to their exposure to other races and cultures.
Abyssal Tidekeepers
Abyssals typically wear very little if anything at all but do have a degree of practical wear.
A common sight is Abyssals adorned with the bones and jaws of their prey and brethren as a form of decoration. Abyssals are also known to salvage wood from wrecks and tie planks to their bodies as a form of armor. These things are immensely helpful in a dog eat dog world where a well placed fang or plank could very well save your life.
A common sight is Abyssals adorned with the bones and jaws of their prey and brethren as a form of decoration. Abyssals are also known to salvage wood from wrecks and tie planks to their bodies as a form of armor. These things are immensely helpful in a dog eat dog world where a well placed fang or plank could very well save your life.
Tidekeepers believe to have been born from the tears of the moon that turned into pearls when they landed in the sea. These pearls held the souls of the first tidekeepers and gave thought and feeling to the primal beasts of the water. They were the children of a world beyond and brought light to the darkness of the sea. When the first of them died their children found a pearl, white and pure and placed it within their maw and knew it to be the soul. They took it with them once the body rotted away and when they died their children placed a pearl between their jaws to preserve their soul, returning them to their purest state.
Tidekeepers are very spiritual dragons and despite their life in the sea hold a strong connection with the moon, which controls the sea, and the stars, which help to guide across the sea. The planets, the stars, the moon, all of these hold significance for the Tides and how their placement affects the waters of the ocean and how they themselves are guided through it.
Within Tidekeeper lore Abyssal Tides are said to be cursed souls who died without pearls to keep their spirits safe. Instead they roam the seas ever hungry for the flesh of the living. Others see them as the monstrous forms of the exiled coup leaders from a time long passed, cursed by the gods themselves for their greed.
Moon Mother: The Creator of all Tidekeepers. Her eyes are the moons and she watches and guides us through times of hardship. All are blessed below her night.
Pearls & Souls: Like an oyster encasing a pearl, so too does the body house a soul. From whence one is born does one return, lest they are lost to the dark sea.
Tidekeepers believe that their souls can be captured and imprinted on pearls. This is not quite what occurs but is rather close. Tidekeepers can leave an imprint on a pearl but it's more of recording not their actual soul. Tidekeepers can then use their telepathy to commune with these pearls and seek guidance from those passed on.
When a Tidekeeper dies a pearl is placed under the tongue and the body left to sit for 3 days and nights. The pearl is then removed and what remains of the body is filled with rocks and sunken into the trench that stretches from north to south across the gaping sea.
Tidekeepers are very spiritual dragons and despite their life in the sea hold a strong connection with the moon, which controls the sea, and the stars, which help to guide across the sea. The planets, the stars, the moon, all of these hold significance for the Tides and how their placement affects the waters of the ocean and how they themselves are guided through it.
Within Tidekeeper lore Abyssal Tides are said to be cursed souls who died without pearls to keep their spirits safe. Instead they roam the seas ever hungry for the flesh of the living. Others see them as the monstrous forms of the exiled coup leaders from a time long passed, cursed by the gods themselves for their greed.
Moon Mother: The Creator of all Tidekeepers. Her eyes are the moons and she watches and guides us through times of hardship. All are blessed below her night.
Pearls & Souls: Like an oyster encasing a pearl, so too does the body house a soul. From whence one is born does one return, lest they are lost to the dark sea.
Tidekeepers believe that their souls can be captured and imprinted on pearls. This is not quite what occurs but is rather close. Tidekeepers can leave an imprint on a pearl but it's more of recording not their actual soul. Tidekeepers can then use their telepathy to commune with these pearls and seek guidance from those passed on.
When a Tidekeeper dies a pearl is placed under the tongue and the body left to sit for 3 days and nights. The pearl is then removed and what remains of the body is filled with rocks and sunken into the trench that stretches from north to south across the gaping sea.
Abyssal Tidekeepers
The Hunger: The Hunger isn’t a god, at least in the mystical sense. It's an all consuming feeling that governs the lives of Abyssals in their day to day. Some become entranced by its lure and are consumed by it, some give themselves over willingly, and others fear the dark call that gnaws at their minds and try to flee to the far corners of the sea. The Hunger has its own priesthood called The Children of Gluttony who worship it from their camps that dot around the Sunken Grave. They believe by giving oneself to The Hunger willingly, they can keep their minds and become one with it’s dark symphony. Those who have attempted it have seen strange visions and so-called “prophecies” which lead further into the cult’s claims.
The practice itself is simple if not twisted. Members of the order are expected to follow a few basic practices to prove their devotion and to bring themselves closer to the embrace of The Hunger. Giving your mind to hunger for brief periods in a day is encouraged as is impulse indulgence. Any members unfortunate to be eaten during these periods are lauded for their sacrifice to the cause. Other activities include building bone pyres as totems of worship and the hunting of non believers. Those who will not accept The Hunger are weak and must be culled for the sake of the glorious future foreseen by the order’s greatest prophet, a young abyssal female whose name has been lost to the tides of time.
The current head of The Children of Gluttony is an abyssal named Pspspspsp.
The practice itself is simple if not twisted. Members of the order are expected to follow a few basic practices to prove their devotion and to bring themselves closer to the embrace of The Hunger. Giving your mind to hunger for brief periods in a day is encouraged as is impulse indulgence. Any members unfortunate to be eaten during these periods are lauded for their sacrifice to the cause. Other activities include building bone pyres as totems of worship and the hunting of non believers. Those who will not accept The Hunger are weak and must be culled for the sake of the glorious future foreseen by the order’s greatest prophet, a young abyssal female whose name has been lost to the tides of time.
The current head of The Children of Gluttony is an abyssal named Pspspspsp.
Myths & Legends
Legends and folk-tales of the tidekeepers.
Saltwater Tidekeepers
The Scarlet Wisp: A pale specter that appears on full moons, legends say she died in a duel without a pearl on her tongue and now her soul is cursed to wander the deep forever more, searching for something...or someone? According to word of mouth you can tell when she is near when the sea turns red and the stench of iron chokes your gills. This tale is particularly unsettling to Tidekeeper’s because they do not have red blood.
Fervorous the Farseer, First to be Named: She who brings the light to banish the dark, first of her people born from the tears of the creator, she who swam the sea of stars. Blessed is she, the sacred child of the moon.
Fervorous the Farseer, First to be Named: She who brings the light to banish the dark, first of her people born from the tears of the creator, she who swam the sea of stars. Blessed is she, the sacred child of the moon.
Abyssal Tidekeepers
Due to dangerous conditions, general choice to bite first talk later, and trouble with translation, the gathering of data on Abyssal culture has been a rather fruitless endeavor. What little has been collected is contained below:
Below Below the Undertow: A strange short story with even stranger origins. The only indication this tale is abyssal in nature were the deep sea organisms growing on the stone totem it was carved into. The original transcript is housed within the archives in Mother’s Eye.
|
Below below the undertow |
Tidekeeper young are taught by the adults of their pods. Education is rather basic, mostly how to hunt and carve depending on what job that hatchling will take on later. There is no centralized schooling, and tidekeepers instead rely on apprenticeships for more advanced/specialized education.
Children are often taught lessons and morals through stories and songs.
Children are often taught lessons and morals through stories and songs.
- A child bites another, their parents might tell them a tale about how a Tidekeeper child bit too many people and turned into a serpent.
Common occupations practised by tidekeepers.
New Gen Occupations
As tide society evolves and expands new work opportunities have arisen.
Compass: A pair of ship guides consisting of a master and apprentice. While boats have always been a shipwrecker’s territory, the knowledge of currents that a Tidekeeper holds from a life beneath if the waves, alongside their telepathy, makes them handy guides for more tumultuous waters. To become a compass the dragon in question must be chosen by a master and is forbidden from operating on their own until they are considered a master themself.
Compasses are divided into crews and report to Wayfinders who take a small portion of overall profits to fund the central treasury (implemented by Wayfinder Wytai) at Mother’s Eye. A crew manager is in charge of groups of six to ten tidekeepers and individuals can be sent out for duo or solo work. To become a compass you must be apprenticed for three years, to take on a student you need to have been a fully fledged compass for five. To become a crew leader or form a crew, you need to submit a request to your Wayfinder and have taken on and graduated two apprentices.
Archivist: A secretive line of work that is a lifetime commitment, these dragons guard and maintain the vast archives of Mother’s Eye and care for the sacred secrets and ancient historical records of tidekeeper society. These historians answer to the Grand Steward (Current: Silence) who manages the entire archive and assigns tasks and directs restoration projects. As an occupation the scope is quite broad consisting of historians, archaeologists, restorationists, and linguists/translators. Archivists are trained under an apprenticeship and many have started from childhood.
Compass: A pair of ship guides consisting of a master and apprentice. While boats have always been a shipwrecker’s territory, the knowledge of currents that a Tidekeeper holds from a life beneath if the waves, alongside their telepathy, makes them handy guides for more tumultuous waters. To become a compass the dragon in question must be chosen by a master and is forbidden from operating on their own until they are considered a master themself.
Compasses are divided into crews and report to Wayfinders who take a small portion of overall profits to fund the central treasury (implemented by Wayfinder Wytai) at Mother’s Eye. A crew manager is in charge of groups of six to ten tidekeepers and individuals can be sent out for duo or solo work. To become a compass you must be apprenticed for three years, to take on a student you need to have been a fully fledged compass for five. To become a crew leader or form a crew, you need to submit a request to your Wayfinder and have taken on and graduated two apprentices.
Archivist: A secretive line of work that is a lifetime commitment, these dragons guard and maintain the vast archives of Mother’s Eye and care for the sacred secrets and ancient historical records of tidekeeper society. These historians answer to the Grand Steward (Current: Silence) who manages the entire archive and assigns tasks and directs restoration projects. As an occupation the scope is quite broad consisting of historians, archaeologists, restorationists, and linguists/translators. Archivists are trained under an apprenticeship and many have started from childhood.
Traditional Occupations
Through the centuries as society evolves some occupations have fallen out of favor.
Watcher: A dedicated dragon who would watch for the monsters in the dark
Hunter: A noble profession that provided for the pod (most family groups gather or farm their own food these days)
Storyteller: A whimsical profession that passed down the stories of the past (replaced by archivists)
Crafter: A handy profession that would make day to day essentials (still a thriving profession although the scope has shifted)
*Most traditional jobs do still exist en masse, but some have become largely obsolete as tide society advances into a more modern age.
Watcher: A dedicated dragon who would watch for the monsters in the dark
Hunter: A noble profession that provided for the pod (most family groups gather or farm their own food these days)
Storyteller: A whimsical profession that passed down the stories of the past (replaced by archivists)
Crafter: A handy profession that would make day to day essentials (still a thriving profession although the scope has shifted)
*Most traditional jobs do still exist en masse, but some have become largely obsolete as tide society advances into a more modern age.
Tidekeeper pods are made up of family groups and they work together to care for hatchlings. The head of the family being the head of the pod. Groups typically grow no larger than 15 and are often split into numerous sub groups within the family.
Ex: Main branch has 10 or so dragons but a cousin might lead a smaller group of 7 or so under the main branches banner.
In abyssal families, things are different. A typical abyssal tidekeeper clutch is between 4-8 eggs, reminiscent of shark egg cases but more squishy. Abyssal parents aren't exactly known for their nuturing nature. Most abyssal babies are pretty ready to survive off the bat once they hatch. But they will typically follow the parent for protection from other abyssals and predators since while fierce they are pretty small. In the Fracture, hatchlings face a much higher risk of getting eaten by their parents due to the lack of food and proximity to the Sunken Grave, and parents may simply leave them and the nest to protect the eggs from their own hunger to hopefully ensure some of them survive. In the south, abyssals are somewhat more docile, and pose a smaller risk to their own young.
Ex: Main branch has 10 or so dragons but a cousin might lead a smaller group of 7 or so under the main branches banner.
In abyssal families, things are different. A typical abyssal tidekeeper clutch is between 4-8 eggs, reminiscent of shark egg cases but more squishy. Abyssal parents aren't exactly known for their nuturing nature. Most abyssal babies are pretty ready to survive off the bat once they hatch. But they will typically follow the parent for protection from other abyssals and predators since while fierce they are pretty small. In the Fracture, hatchlings face a much higher risk of getting eaten by their parents due to the lack of food and proximity to the Sunken Grave, and parents may simply leave them and the nest to protect the eggs from their own hunger to hopefully ensure some of them survive. In the south, abyssals are somewhat more docile, and pose a smaller risk to their own young.
Tidekeepers cannot actually speak verbally and instead communicate telepathically. They speak no specific language as what they say is usually auto translated to the recipient. Verbal noises are often screechy howls and dolphin like noises which have no direct translation for non-Tidekeepers as they usually mean incredibly specific things. Verbal sounds are used often for singing and storytelling but rarely for actual communication. Even amongst Tides the telepathic method is much more convenient and does not attract as many predators.
Tidekeepers have their own written language that resembles cursive mixed with the handwriting of your average doctor. There has been a recent push to make common more widespread amongst the pods but it failed to catch on as much outside of the Compass profession who require it for their bookkeeping and to properly interact with clients.
Tidekeepers have their own written language that resembles cursive mixed with the handwriting of your average doctor. There has been a recent push to make common more widespread amongst the pods but it failed to catch on as much outside of the Compass profession who require it for their bookkeeping and to properly interact with clients.
Tides are a rather go with the flow group of fellows and don't show genuine animosity towards any of their neighbors. Their life in the sea has led them to not involve themselves with the politics and strife of the land and are usually kind to all humans, especially those who provide coin, who cross their waters so long as they show respect.
However relationships with Shipwreckers are strained due to territory disputes with the Northerners and pirating from the Southerners.
However relationships with Shipwreckers are strained due to territory disputes with the Northerners and pirating from the Southerners.