Bakekujira
A bakekujira is an enormous undead whale, brought to unlife by its tragic death at the hands of a whaling vessel.12
Ecology
Bakekujiras are created when a whale is grievously injured by a whaling vessel, manages to escape, and succumbs to its injuries over a span of several days. The whale's agonizing demise causes it rise in undeath, and instills in it a deep hatred of any vessel it encounters.2
Bakekujiras do not associate with or even notice one another, and spend their undeath patrolling the seas on their own. When they encounter a sailing vessel, even if it is not associated with whaling, they furiously attempt to destroy it.2
A bakekujira's flesh rots away over its unlife until only its skeleton remains. The creature's rotting flesh attracts scavenging fish and birds which then consume it, but, as a bakekujira's flesh is toxic and infused with negative energy, these scavengers sicken, die, and themselves rise as the bakekujira's undead thralls. While this transformation mostly affects smaller creatures, which rest within the undead whale's corpse and swarm out to attack its targets, larger creatures, such as sharks and giant vultures, are sometimes also affected. Larger creatures typically fly or swim alongside the bakekujira rather than nesting within its corpse.2
On Golarion
The Ivory Sea is home to a bakekujira formed when a group of whalers slaughtered a pod of cetaceans trapped in the sea ice, except for a humpback whale calf that escaped with fatal wounds, died, and rose as a bakekujira.3
References
- ↑ . Bestiary 4, 15. Paizo Inc., 2013
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 . “Pathfinder's Journal: The Treasure of Far Thallai 5 of 6” in The Price of Infamy, 84–85. Paizo Inc., 2012
- ↑ . “Golarion's Seas” in Aquatic Adventures, 28. Paizo Inc., 2017
External links
- Bake-kujira (real-world mythical creature) on Wikipedia