Archelonians (Arch-el-o-ni-ans)
Mile-long sea turtles dwelling in the warm central ocean.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Archelonians have a wide shell with a slightly domed shape. Their paddle-like limbs are covered in tough scales, and their beaks are sharp enough to shear through huge clumps of sea grass.
Biological Traits
Archelonians are immune to spells and effects that would alter their form. They also have a general resistance to other spells. Few things can harm an archelonian, with its thick shell and tough hide, but some stories say there's a family of gnomes with an heirloom adamantine blade that can perform surgeries on the beasts.
Genetics and Reproduction
The island turtles reproduce through parthenogenesis. Only a few times in its thousand-year life, an archelonian will seek out the nesting island of Beachy. There, it will dig a hole in the sandy soil and bury three to six house-sized eggs.
Growth Rate & Stages
Archelonians grow from hatchlings to juveniles (around a thousand feet long) in about fifty years. They begin to stay on the surface longer, and acquire the first growth of plants on their shells. Over the next two centuries, the turtles continue to get larger, until reaching their full adult size of over a mile long. The largest known specimen, Fastitocalon, is three miles from beak to tail, and it has a winding territorial circuit to stay in the deepest water.
Ecology and Habitats
Only the tropical seas of the central ocean can support the herbivorous archelonians. They swim through the shallow waters and graze on enormous quantities of fast-growing kelp and sargassos, clearing trails through the aquatic forests. All kinds of fish follow in their wake, to look for new habitats and feed on the disturbed plankton, or to hunt in the newly open water.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Archelonians have a slow metabolism, but still consume a staggering amount of vegetation. The seas around the Wandering Isles are a major focus point of creation energy, which is likely the only reason such a huge creature can exist. Nowhere else on the planet has plants that grow so fast.
Behaviour
Once archelonians reach adulthood, almost nothing is able to threaten them. A whale or kraken might go for one of the young ones, but they try to keep to shallow waters when they can, and hatchlings are much better at diving or climbing onto land than adults are. Typically, the great turtles find a route that offers plenty of edible plants, and swim in a circuit through the sea, perhaps making a full circle in five or ten years. Circuits can overlap, so there are opportunities for archelonians to "chat".
Additional Information
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Archelonians are almost never found outside the region of the Wandering Isles. Sometimes a very old one will swim off toward the north or south at the end of its life, never to return.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Though their vision above water seems limited, archelonians have a keen sense of hearing. They are able to communicate among themselves over great distances, and some Islandine druids have attempted to tap into this sub-sonic conversation, with varying levels of success.
Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms
The humans and gnomes of the Wandering Isles are symbiotes of the archelonians. In their canoes and diving bells, they hunt the parasites that could make their turtles sick, and scrape off clumps of algae or debris that are caught on the shell. The archelonians provide them with a safe place to live.
Parasites include worms, sea mites, dire barnacles, and the dreaded teredo shark.
Parasites include worms, sea mites, dire barnacles, and the dreaded teredo shark.
Archelonians are Magical Beasts. Hatchlings are Huge in size and have 15 HD, and a typical adult is larger than Colossal in size and has 50 HD.
Lifespan
1200 years
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