Storm Eel’s Rest
Over four hundred Years ago, the waters of Earthquake Fish Bay were prowled by a massive, malicious eel that held the power to summon storms and call lightening from both the sky and its own body. The eel was over one thousand feet long, able to crush and upturn fishing boats and even swallow them whole. The creature seemed invincible – but a group of Mantis Minor Clan sailors, Crab Clan samurai, water-dwelling merfolk known as ningyo, and fisherfolk came together to slay the creature. Stories say that over one hundred lives were lost that day, and it was only through the grace of the gods and the might and cunning of the warriors that the beast was outsmarted and slain, its spirit trapped within its remains. The bones of the Storm Eel wrap around a small island in the bay, which is constantly beset by storms. The island remains unnamed out of superstition that naming it would invite bad luck.
Of the survivors, those who were attuned to the elemental spirits or were talented in combat agreed to shed their affiliations and found a new monastic order: the Stormkeepers. Their number have devoted themselves to watching over the Unnamed Island and the body of the Storm Eel, whose corrupted spirit has remained imprisoned in its carcass. To destroy the eel’s body would release its spirit to the world. Soon after the warriors trapped it, it became clear that the vile beast’s spirit was intent on beckoning other monstrosities to the island as it searched for a new body for itself.
The Stormkeepers fend off the creatures that make it to the island and maintain a ritual to repress the eel’s influence and reach, taking turns in the monastery where the eel’s remains rest. Over time, the eel’s constant murmurs and whispers take a toll on the monks and the stress claims their lives. A monk who has taken the vow of the order would rather starve than leave their post, as every monk has heard the vile chattering of the eel and knows that it must be contained. The monks’ numbers are maintained by willing warriors from the Crab, the Mantis, the village of Storm Eel’s Rest, and occasionally the underwater capital of the ningyo. At any given time, there are no less than two dozen trained monks and a handful of monks in training on the island.
The people who helped slay the eel who were not warriors or elementals founded Storm Eel’s Rest, a village on the coast whose people support the monks work by patrolling the waters for beasts and delivering supplies such as food, medicine, and repaired or new weapons. The village is overseen by the Yasuki family of the Crab, a family known for its shrewd merchants and talented negotiators. The Yasuki take Storm Eel’s Rest and the island very seriously and are constantly ensuring that the village has everything it needs to maintain peace in the bay’s waters.