[ Animal Lords ] of the [ Land | Past | Skies | Tundra | Waters ]
[ Anglerfish | Crocodile | Fish | Octopus | Shark | Swan | Whale ]
Anglerfish Lord
Luminous Taniwha, Seyhrain Lophos. Planar animal lord [he/him] N
Realm: Beastlands / Karasuthra / Threefold Ocean / Hadeopelagia
When Tangaroa, the Great Father of the Waters, breathed life into the Threefold Ocean, he wove kaitiakitanga—the sacred duty to protect—into the bones of the sea. To the first guardians, he gave tools: To the whale, he granted song; to the octopus, cunning; and to the anglerfish, he gave a flickering clipping of Mahuika’s fiery fingernails. Anglerfish taught the other animals how to catch fish to satisfy their hunger, and they became good at it. But over time Anglerfish became dissatisfied with his gift. He envied the creatures who walked under the sun and hunted in the shallows, their bellies full of fish, never thinking to give thanks to him or the sea for the bounty. In fury, he sent a great flood, destroying the nest of the Hawk Lord and flooding the burrow of the Fox Lord.
Furious, Tangaroa cast Anglerfish into the depth endless trenches where light fears to swim. “Luminious taniwha, if you hunger for purpose, you shall become both hook and bait. Let your light judge, and the darkness test.”
Now the Anglerfish Lord dwells in the lightless trenches of the Beastlands’ Threefold Ocean, in a realm called Hadeopelagia. He’s a solitary cutter who watches from the darkness, ever patient, for visitors to his hadean realm are few and far between. He has a preternatural ability to detect berks out of place in the deeps, whether through his sense of hearing, attunement with the deep cold waters, or because the fish of his realm are prone to gossiping about anything unusual. And once he finds visitors, he will appear near them in his humanoid form, holding a lantern to light his way, and attract their attention. It burns with hypnotic allure, drawing wanderers toward salvation, or slaughter. To Anglerfish, mercy and malice are two tides of the same sea. If he is treated well, and feels his visitors respect the ocean, he will offer help, advice, directions or even gifts. If he feels slighted, however, his belly is always hungry.
Source: Jon Winter-Holt. Canonwatch: I’ve drawn on some Māori myths for this one—the anglerfish lord is homebrew.
