Shoal
Beneath its cobalt facet, Tough Bay melds substance and life together. Shoal are its wondrous and metallic progeny discovered only in the last century. Their sizes and breeds span a vast and thorough range, but their value stems from their thaumaturgy with the Ocean and what they are composed of, since the elements a shoal is blessed with matters: Gold is more valuable than silver, which in turn is more valuable than copper, though of course the purity of these items is paramount.
Fishing for shoal is a dangerous, strenuous, yet fruitful operation. Their Ocean tethers allow them to swim in a traditional fashion despite their immense mass for their size, that momentum makes everything tricky. Depending on the alloy, bones can be broken from getting swam into, and small skiffs may sink from the weight of a single catch - assuming that catch hasn't already collapsed the hull.
Basic Information
Anatomy
It is very rare for a shoal of any size to ever hint at being distressed when hoisted out of the brine and 'killed', so nobody knows whether shoal are any more 'living' than the waves that carry them. They are a weird parody of life: In fish-like fashion, they each gills - that seem to do nothing - and tails that are clearly superfluous when the magical drifts driving a shoal's movements are considered. Their eyes barely move. Moreover, their sharp, reinforced teeth only ever bite when their jaws are manually shut by something other than themselves.
Biological Traits
Shoal cut, glide, or cavalcade through the murky sapphire depending on their size. Some can be held in a fist, drinking the warmth out of the skin, others resemble exorbitant, sparking monoliths; troves of riches.
Additional Information
Uses, Products & Exploitation
Mines in Aplos bring some ores back to the towns, but fishing shoal is easier, cheaper, and goes alongside fishing for food. Therefore, all armaments in Aplos are made from shoal, and the mines instead work to find coal to send to The Astrian Kingdom. Subsequently, Aplos has a lot of Ocean tethered citizens for a human nation.
Conservation Status
Since shoal are unique to Tough Bay there are not multitudes of them. This is because their monetary worth leads to sundry crowds seeking a fortune from them, which is countered by the complications of gathering them. After decades of this angling, an equilibrium has been reached between the rate of 'production' and the rate at which they are caught. However, their exact population is yet to be verified or even predicted.
Average Weight
Anything between the mass of a few coins, and the mass of a few hillsides.
Average Length
0.1 - 10m
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
For the most part, shoal are not pure configurations of a single metal element or compound. Instead they will have chunks of other, often completely different, metals within themselves. Then looking upon a shoal's epidermis, these will appear as patches of different hues, normally contending for space, but at times harmonious and majestic.
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