KRAKEN V LEVIATHAN -
“Let no joyful voice be heard! Let no man look to the sky with hope in his eyes! And let this day be forever cursed by we who ready to wake . . . the Kraken!” —Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
These are the big ones. These are the sea monsters whose size not only matches ships but dwarfs them. . These beasts aren't just big, they're leviathan.
They'll live in the deepest depths and their appearances are saved for the end of days when the world is to be shattered by their movements. There will be little shyness about their inspirations, they'll be unabashedly named after the Scandinavian legend of Kraken or the biblical Leviathan.The Kraken tends to take the form of a tentacle-laced Giant Squid or octopus, while the Leviathan is more variable, ranging from a colossal whale to a massive sea serpent.
The kraken and Leviathan are often considered vaguely interchangeable sea monsters, but they’re actually very different creatures with many misconceptions built up around them both, largely because of the influence of pop culture. (Sorry, Liam Neeson, but the kraken wasn’t even actually Greek.) The kraken was a squid-like monster from Norse mythology said to be so large it would attack ships and most likely born from real sightings of giant squid. Leviathan was a whale-like monster from Hebrew folklore.Leviathan was originally a part of Hebrew folklore. He was first described in the book of Job as a whale-like creature with an armored back that was impervious to weapons. He was also the legendary creature that swallowed Jonah.
It was God that forced him to vomit Jonah back up onto the land, but according to Rabbinical literature, it was God that created him, too—and there were originally two. Leviathan was created on the fifth day, and originally, there was a male and a female. God realized that the potential for offspring as massive and as dangerous as they were could mean the end of the world, so the female was killed. (Her meat was said to have been preserved for a feast that would be held to celebrate the advent of the Messiah.)
The massive whale could breathe fire, and it was said in the original texts about him that in order to satisfy his hunger he would breathe fire to boil the seas and kill all the marine life he needed to satisfy his appetite.
In later texts, it was said that when Gabriel returned to Earth, it was this surviving Leviathan that would be killed in order to provide food for the feast. Leviathan was also the monster in the original version of the legend that sailors would be lured into landing on what they thought was an island in the middle of the ocean, but was actually the giant whale’s back; once they were on him, he would disappear beneath the waves and take them with him.
The kraken was born in Scandinavian mythology, and is one of the few mythological monsters that have been proven to be based on at least partial fact. Original stories of the kraken tell of a tentacled monstrosity more along the lines of an octopus than of a whale; in fact, it’s been surmised that the original stories were based on sighting of giant squid.
There’s a story featuring the kraken that’s very similar to the story of Leviathan tricking sailors into landing on his back. In the kraken version, however, the sailors believe that they have come across a series of small islands, which then turn out to be the kraken’s body and tentacles that surface completely when the ships get within reach, grabbing them and pulling them beneath the waves.
The kraken made the jump from mythology to zoology as early as 1752, when a Scandinavian bishop penned the Natural History of Norway and included the kraken. Later, giant squid washing up on beaches provided more concrete evidence that there indeed were giant, kraken-like monsters in the ocean.
Signs of even larger, earlier giant squid have been found, but concrete evidence is tricky. Unlike the whales of the Leviathan legends, the kraken would have been, by description, a soft-bodied cephalopod that wouldn’t have survived centuries in any form, not leaving behind fossil evidence that can be so telling. (with thanks from the Blog of KnowledgeNuts) -Whats that ye say? No, no, not DezNutz - his cousin - KnowledgeNutz.)
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More blatant promotion_ {Make sure you check out the SeaHags' informative guide to setting decent bounties. }Gonna have spring showers in the NW over by St. Martins, Kanoni and Baramas, perfect for crops to grow-This old sea hag plans to grow some herbs so stay off my lawn.
Over in the northern area of Pania, Regis and Goroum, it's gonna be nice and windy-I saw SlammerG flying a kite in his port of Pania!The southern Island ports of Tortuga, Tzogos, and Aiora are gonna be hot sunny days, might catch some lasses like Argo beach-fishing and Lola sunbathing.
Fie weather for both activities.The Central ports of New land, Seaglory and Vaasburg are gonna have a drought, seems all their rain is going elsewhere. SHM was seen dancing as his rum sales went up. Again. Jolly fellow, he.
The ports along the Great Strait of Thorakas, Gasp, Neapolis and Caspian are going to have some heavy thunderstorms in the area. We saw William One Eye get soaked by a nasty bit of heavy rain or at least we thought it was rain .. He was last seen drenched and bedraggled.
The eastern island ports of Psaral and Akrotiri are expected to see some Hurricane winds and rain. Shadowwood and Phoenix Knight both had to moor their ships to avoid losing them to the storms. Shadowood was heard repeating the word 'kraken' over and over and over, not sure what was happening there but not one kraken be seen.
Finally The North Eastern ports are having humid days with light fog and a slight chill. Perfect for ghost stories! We heard Dez and Dman swapping ghastly and scary horror stories .. Their idea of horror extends beyond the norm... and so we are not sharing any more on that other than the weather around them was, as usual, pretty wild!
TOM LOWE'S CORNER.
MIAB wishes to apologise we cannot bring you Toms joke or funny comments this issue. Seems he cracked a really funny joke but it was deleted.
Thank you to all who contributed especially to Will, who spent hours helping the reporters at MIAB get his story in order! More rum good sir. Meliva, always there, thank you, Will of course and Dez.. always the hero! LOL Thankyou.
UPDATE... A sealed parchment found on the streets in Slack read... 'Im fine, sadly'.. It was written in the notorious pirate Nelsons own hand and the seal was unmistakable ... It appears, Nelson did not melt during the hottest days his land has ever seen. That's great news indeed especially good for the fugitives and natives who are relying on him to get them out there and amongst it!
Hope you enjoyed this issue -- Til next time me hearties ...
UPDATE ... Just as we had given up on Tom Lowe's Corner and about to publish without a word from him .. he delivers - as usual, such a good laugh!
UPDATE ... There was an extraordinary amount of beauties seen flocking to the dock in Guyana to greet CDV upon his arrival. Another crown for the collection!Bravo!
