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Galdrhveli — Description

From my entries on the infamous "evil whales" of the northern seas, folks should know that there are ten species that make up the Illhveli. However, it has been brought up to me time and time again that I apparently missed one. Some locals have told me and even people from other parts of the world have claimed I am forgetting the eleventh member. To them, there are eleven Illhveli, and this last one is the most mysterious of them all! Obviously so mysterious that even the famous Chlora Myron, master of all things flora and fauna, didn't know it existed! How embarrassing! To take all this time to write up entries on "every" Illhveli and then miss one! Oof, what a blunder! And that is when I turn to the helpful little informant, grab them by the collar and say LISTEN HERE, YOU NOXIOUS WEED! I didn't miss nothing! I didn't forget, I didn't omit! You come in here all smug with the idea that you "got" me but I will have you know that I am perfectly aware of the Galdrhveli and I didn't include it with the other Illhveli ON PURPOSE! It is you who are making the mistake because the Galdrhveli ISN'T AN ILLHVELI! "Oh but Chlora" you stupidly say, "it has hveli right in the title!" Why yes it does, ya knothead, and Bone Dragons have "dragon" in their name too! You know what they aren't?! Dragons! Are Nectar Cows really cows?! Are spider monkeys actually spiders?! NO! It is just the name they have been given, with no basis or connection to their actual origins and classifications! So despite the Galdrhveli sounding all official like, it does not belong amongst the evil whales. Yes, I know there are plenty of folk who think I am wrong and truly believe it is a member. Believe me, they have let me know they exist. But just like individuals who believe the world is flat or think dryads are the result of an unsupervised greenhouse and a frisky wizard, they are incredibly wrong and need their head checked.

So why do I so boldly claim that the Galdrhveli doesn't belong with the Illhveli? Well, lets look at the facts. The Galdrhveli is a rare whale of the northern oceans, found only in a certain region of the sea. Despite their armored appearance, which makes some people think exoskeleton, they are indeed mammals. This species can be found in pods of six to eight, or swimming alone. What decides if they are traveling solo or not isn't fully known, but we feel it has to do with distance. This species has a preference for a certain group of islands and ice flows, with most of their kind remaining near these land masses their entire lives. When close by to these islands, they are fine swimming about in smaller groups. If they are traveling away from this specific region, they appear to group up for safety in numbers (or power in numbers, as we will discuss later). Pretty much the further you get away from this area, the more they boost their pod size. The most notable thing about these whales are their prominent tusk that juts from their head like a lance. Lots of people call this structure a "horn," while in truth it is really a tooth. It is a canine tooth that has grown to such a size and length that it pierces the flesh and acts like an entirely different thing. Obviously you can't chew or bite with such a tooth! This crazy structure is what a lot of folk know about these whales, as it is pretty much all we really know about them. The Galdrhveli is a species we know very little about, as they live in a remote area of the icy ocean and are also insanely aggressive. The Galdrhveli are blamed for most, if not all, missing ships that travel out to those frozen islands. What sails out into those unknown waters are doomed never to return, except some totally do because we wouldn't know what we know if everyone died. "Hold it there," you annoyingly cut in, "you said they are an aquatic marine mammal and are also known to sink ships and kill people. Sounds like a pretty evil whale to me!" Astute observation, rotbrain, but not all Illhveli are actually whales, and those reasons are not why I am excluding them! Galdrhveli don't belong in that group because there is one other big thing we know about them: someone made them.

The Galdrhveli are not a natural species, and thus do not properly belong in usual classification systems. Indeed, they are a whale, so we can say they are a whale, but if we are trying to figure out how they are connected to other species or came to be, they no longer fit because they were artificially created. You can't just make up terrible new species and then jam them into whatever order or classification you want! If they are so mysterious, then how do we know they were made? The easy answer to this is that a certain group literally admitted to creating them, so that clears it up quite nicely! But even before this hard confirmation, you could plainly see that something was up with this species. Records of all the Illhveli date back to a long time ago, spanning centuries. On the other hand, records of the Galdrhveli have a very clear starting point, one you can almost pinpoint to the day. So this species is known to be way younger than all the other Illhveli, which is another reason I exclude them, as how can you have a clear group of ten members but then loop in one other species that showed up centuries after? Anyways, there were no records of the Galdrhveli or any encounters that have those clear Galdrhveli signs in ancient history. There are even journals and ship logs that pass through those islands they call home way back then, and make no mention of running into one. So a species that is tied to a single region was somehow missed each time some explorer or lost trader wound up in their area? Yeah, I don't think so. Then suddenly, a ship full of witches is chased out into the northern seas, desperately escaping the eternal witch-mage conflict. They vanish near these islands and then, not long after, reports of a glowing sea and vanishing vessels start to show up. How strange! What could it mean? It means that the Helkkja made them! Like I said, they have straight up admitted it.

The whole history and ways of the Helkkja are too much to get into here, but we can assuredly say that this species was made to protect their new home. The Galdrhveli don't just lurk these waters because they are their birth place, but because they are the guardians of these frozen isles. The pods that swim further away serve as scouts and spies, checking the outer regions to see if anything foul is afoot. They will eventually return home to safe waters and bring this information back to their masters. As for the ones near the islands, they are on patrol, keeping a look out for any vessel that dares invade their waters. Any ship that gets too close or seems too suspicious is deemed a threat, and the Galdrhveli go into action. For attacking ships, they have one weapon. Obviously, it is their tusk, or should I say, their wand.

The tusk of the Galdrhveli is not just some fancy long tooth, it was designed and shaped to serve as a catalyst for magic. The nerves running into that structure are tied to mana reserves in their body, and they call upon it to power them. The glow that comes from their body is not just regular bioluminescence, but an indicator of the energy that flows through them. When sailors enter their waters, they will start to see the ocean glow and lights move about in the deep. This is a subtle warning for them to turn around and flee. Unfortunately, it is not an obvious one and the Galdrhveli are not the patient type. If the vessel does not react in a way they see fit, they open fire. Twisting and moving their head allows them to wield the tusk like a real wand, having it go through the motions one associates with spell casting. By performing a specific gesture, they can unleash crude magic upon their foes, and they appear to have a variety of spells to choose from! The most common one is a simple bolt of blue energy, like a magic missile! Except this magic missile is scaled to the size of a whale and is being fired from the dark waters below your ship. Survivors of these attacks speak of pillars of light that appear and destroy their ship, but these phenomenon are not from the heavens. It is their bolts of magic that are erupting from the ocean and blasting holes in the offending vessel. Needless to say, not many ships can survive this assault, so this is the spell they commonly use to sink intruders. Another spell they have is an icy one, capable of freezing the waters with their tusk. It sounds like they use this to create icebergs and frozen barriers that will block ships and seal off escape. Another story tells of the Galdrhveli leaping from the waters and summoning lightning with their tusks, calling down an explosive bolt to fry their foes. The only other one I have heard about is a spell that is only cast by an entire pod of Galdrhveli. In extreme emergencies, the entire pod will circle the opposing fighter or ship and point their tusks skyward. Spinning in the water as they keep themselves vertical, these whales will create a ring of devastation between them, annihilating everything caught in their circle. These stories are a bit shaky, but some folk have claimed to escape this magic and witnessed entire ships and their crew turn to dust from this infernal energy. Honestly, just hearing about the first spell was enough for me to swear off visiting these islands. Unless I get a Helkkja escort, I will never risk getting near that place! That shows you how good their guards are, if they are enough to deter me!

The specifics on how the Galdrhveli were created or how they work is known only by the Helkkja, and they obviously aren't the talkative type. They have claimed to be the creators of this species (and numerous others) and that is all they've really said. The rest we supposedly know about the Galdrhveli is from legends, rumors and good ol' guessing. For example, some stories claim that the Helkkja feed the Galdrhveli potions and ingredients to help fuel their spells. The claim is that they make up these floating bundles of special foods and materials then cast them into the ocean. The Galdrhveli gobble these gifts up and that is how they maintain such a source of energy. It would also explain why they always eventually return home, as they need a good refuel. I imagine they are capable of eating other things in the wild to keep up some of their reserves, and maybe these offerings are just for their stronger spells. Some say that the Galdrhveli are Helkkja who have transformed themselves, and that the species is just an illusion of shapeshifting. Not too sure on that one, it may just be them mixing it up with another aquatic denizen tied to these witches. Another claim is that the Galdrhveli are always watched over by their masters, even after death. Despite their incredible tusks and magic soaked bodies, very little materials of theirs have made it to our shores. A species that potent would be ripe for harvesting, and I imagine many black markets would go nuts for goods like that. However, killing one has to be incredibly difficult, and succeeding in doing so would only incur the wrath of the Helkkja. It is said that the parts of a dead Galdrhveli are beacons to the Helkkja, and those who possess these forbidden materials are targets for their vengeance. Plenty of scary stories about collectors or mages that obtained a supposed tusk and then mysteriously vanished. It is also why any specimens or displays you see in museums are fake, as no one wants to tempt fate. And also because an actual carcass would be way too expensive to obtain and it would lead to droves of people trying to steal it. Even then, there are folk out there who claim to have magical equipment crafted from these forbidden parts, usually showing them off or selling them at exorbitant prices. Those who own such items say that they constantly give off an aura of cold, no matter the weather or temperature. Some would say it shows the magic potential within these materials, while more fearful folk claim it to be the presence of the Helkkja and an omen of what is to come for owning a piece of their beloved pets.

Chlora Myron

Dryad Natural Historian

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Oh is that how it's going to be? Well fine, I'm going to make my own Illhveli! And it's gonna have magic and lasers and it can totally beat up your Illhveli! TAKE THAT! GO NAR-WAND!