SHIP'S LOG:

Liberate Tuteme

Waylon MacCaa 12/15/2025 11:48pm

Having harvested the power of @The Zaratan, or @Mwo as it has apparently named itself, well, we're really not sure where to go with it.

Captain @Qwicol remains ensconced in his cabin, no doubt obsessed with the hideous loathsome shadows lurking there, and perhaps protecting us all from their nameless and unmentionable terror. But now, with the power of an ancient turtle of tremendous size under our control, what next? The idea of another mere transport contract seems beneath us, but with such power at our disposal, a mere coxwain such as myself would seem to be unqualified.

Should we put this antediluvian juggernaut's power at the disposal of some might power or principality? Become undefeatable privateers or dare I say pirates of unstoppable force? Engage on a purely scientific mission of peace?

Like I said, above my pay grade! At least this giant turtle's able to feed itself. But just letting it go seems like quite a waste.

Shipman Eva 8/20/2025 8:56pm

"He's quite talkative, really."

"He?"

"Hasn't spoken to anyone for a long long time."

"What does he talk about?"

"Ancient history. Mermaids."

"Mermaids, eh?"

"Yes! Have you heard of the Mermaid Imperium? Well, you see, a long time ago--"

"Do you think the Zaratan--"

"Mwo."

"Mwo?"

"Mwo is his name."

"Do you think that Mwo would take our direction? Go where we ask it?"

"Uh... I think so. I don't think he has anything else to do. Really, he's just lonely."

"Excellent..."

Mwo 4/28/2025 8:47pm

I could tell you the tale of the Fwang. and their spider silk communication lines that spanned oceans.

I could tell you of the Hr'wk and their archeology of cruelty that took centuries to rot.

I am very old.

Instead, I will tell you of how the Mermaid Imperium came to be. It is a much happier tail.

Ha ha, get it?

Shipman Eva 1/4/2025 10:30pm

The Zaratan is an ancient creature. And potentially the last of its kind.

"My name...?" it ponders. "It has been a very long time since I have had need of it... Need for words of any kind..."

It remembers the shape of its mother, floating on the surface.

"I knew she had died," the Zaratan said. "She prepared me for that."

By that time, the Zaratan were already largely extinct.

"I've never seen another," the Zaratan said. "But the seas are vast. So I swam."

Along the way, the Zaratan ran into people. Tribes. Sea generals.

"I was lonely. It was good to be useful. And to talk."

The Zaratan remained silent for awhile. Then:

"My name is Mwo."

The Zaratan 9/9/2024 11:42pm

MWWWWWWWW OOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO

Shipman Eva 5/19/2024 10:44pm

"So, I just put that old beat up helmet on?"

"On your head, yes."

"And then?"

"And then, well... you're be in contact with the Zaratan."

"The Zara-what?"

"The giant turtle we're standing on."

"WHAT? This is all... a giant turtle?"

"Yes. Sorry if the info didn't get shared around to the whole crew."

"Well that explains the musky smell."

"So, helmet?"

"Ok I put it on and then what?"

"Well, you get put in touch with the Zaratan's thoughts."

"Turtle thoughts?"

"Yeah. But the turtle is really big, and old. So..."

"Really big and old turtle thoughts?"

"Exactly. They said you were sharp."

"And once I'm in touch with these big old giant turtle thoughts?"

"What?"

"The helmet. The turtle thoughts. Once I sense them, then what?"

"Well, nobody's gotten that far yet. The Zaratan's thoughts are..."

"Really big and old, yeah, I got it. Ok, let's do it."

"You're ready? For the Helm of Tho'rrn?"

"Put it on me, sir!"

"Ok. Just going to... slide it down... and... there. Hmm that fits a little better than--"

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....."

Waylon MacCaa 1/27/2024 10:34pm

Communication with the Zaratan is done via the ornately crafted Helmet of Tho'rrn, which sits in a sacristy behind the great turtle's supraoccipital bone. The helm serves as an amplifier and scoop for the creature's passing thoughts.

"Here comes another one... OOOOOOOF!"

Petty officer LeeAnn was out for the count. Lasted longer than warrant officer Warren, but still didn't take the prize. One of our crew has to have what it takes to break this great beast. Take it into telepathic rein.

It will take a special kind of person.

"Shipman... Eva?"

"Reporting for duty! Sir!"

Waylon MacCaa 10/7/2023 9:58pm

REPORT FROM THE GREAT LAND TURTLE'S BACK

The region is strewn with detritus from multiple former campsites -- charred wood here and there between the deep ridges, empty cans, discarded canteens riddled with bullets. Paths between the sites were marked by simple ropes connected between poles driven in the the scutes, now in great disrepair. It appears to have been uninhabited for quite some time.

The paths converge and make their way to the head of the giant turtle, which is encased in a massive helmet hammered together in a byzantine manner and with long rusty chains attached as reins.

The turtle has yet to acknowledge our presence.

Waylon MacCaa 7/6/2023 4:29pm

Captain @Qwicol! Land hoy!

Granted I can't say what land it might be, but land it seems.

Or the back of an enormous turtle.

Hmmm... yes... a very enormous turtle.

Hekenuhedjet V 3/18/2023 11:57pm

The Ancients have awoken.

Out of their tombs they have crawled, @Hekenuhedjet IV herself tearing away the stones that sealed them in.

Now the Ancients rule once more. They sit on thrones and in the back seats of convertibles in motorcades, commanding our attention.

And we realize we were never free. They were our masters in their deaths, and now our masters once again in their undeaths.

Captain @Qwicol, we need our jelly no more. Doomed instead we are to serve the ancients, wrapped in their ribbons and dust, bones protruding and moths fluttering.

We will serve them till we each become ancient ourselves.