Fish King

[ Animal Lords ] of the [ Land | Past | Skies | Tundra | Waters ]
[ Anglerfish | Crocodile | Fish | Octopus | Shark | Swan | Whale ]

Fish King

Seyhrain Pisces. Planar animal lord [they/them] N

Realm: Beastlands / The Threefold Ocean / Wandering

In the lakes and rivers of the Beastlands swim many fishes of both exotic and mundane descent. However, they all pay homage to the Fish King (not the Fisher King, who is the Animal Lord of the kingfishers)—a being that all fish know of, though few have ever met. Not found in one single lake or another, the Fish King is an omnipresent being on the Beastlands, existing more as an concept than a physical being. Chant goes the Fish King takes the form of any fish they wish, and has rarely been known to take humanoid form at all. While the Fish King may exist in any layer of the Beastlands at once, they chooses to spend most of their time in the twilight streams of Brux, or swimming in the dimensionally deep Threefold Ocean.

Like the Lizard Lord and Dinosaur Lord, the Fish King is aloof from the politics of the Beastlands, seeing the mammal lords of the lands as inferior to the fish of the lakes, rivers and seas. However, despite their superiority, the Fish King still realises and accepts the role of his people as one of the bottom rungs on the food chain, much like the Mouse Lord. He doesn’t try to change that role: it is What Was Meant to Be. Mortals are not very likely to ever meet the Fish King in their existence, because the Fish King does not allow themself to be found unless he wishes himself to be found. More likely are mortals to meet the Warden Fish; they say one of each lives in each stream and lake on the Beastlands.

The Warden Fish are too cunning to let themselves get caught on a hook. They are known to severely reprimand any mortal fishing solely for sport; such a thing is not the Way of the Beastlands. However, they will allow their fish wards to be caught if the fisher truly needs them for survival, for that is the Way of the Beastlands.

The most prominent of the Warden Fish is a fish who is known to the outsiders as Carp, who dwells in the tributary streams of the River Oceanus on Krigala. He’s known to get along well with the ardeidal of Oceanus, although he discourages them from fishing solely for pleasure. ‘Course, fishing is sort of a way of life for the ardeidal, so such requests are usually politely ignored. Carp is also the most vocal and friendly of the Warden Fish to travellers in the Beastlands, swimming up to the side of boats and rafts on the Oceanus and asking them how they fare. He’ll volunteer useful information that may help mortals to avoid running aground. It’s whispered that should the current Fish Lord need to be replaced that Carp’ll probably be the Warden Beast to ascend, thus changing the whole nature of the Fish King and their reactions towards Outsiders entirely.

Source: Dave King aka Heregul, Jon Winter-Holt. Canonwatch: The Fish King is homebrew.