Legendary Ships
Legendary Ships
As we shift through more of the Archive and piece together what we can, we have discovered information and records pertaining to the legendary pirate ships of old written in the very hand of their infamous captains. Blue prints, descriptions, and vivd chronicles of their prowess in battle are all but some of the rich history we have rediscovered.
Which will you Captain in the service of the Order?
It is against this backdrop that the Order of the Kraken intends to pay homage to these ancient ships. Using this information the Order will seek to recreate the ships with a nod to the old while embracing the new technologies available to us to ensure that these formidable battle fortresses of the oceans take up their rightful place in the Order destined to dominate again not only seas but the heavens above.
The OTK Crest
The OTK Crest
In certain fragmented manuscripts recovered from the Archive, and specifically the ancient navigational maps of the old world used by the Order, it has been confirmed that The Order of the Kraken had adopted hic sunt dracones (here be dragons) as their identifying symbol.
This was either depicted as two dragons on the outer edges of the maps or the actual wording hic sunt dracones. Always two dragons facing each other. Some of the recovered weaponry and arms have these dragons engraved upon them.
hic sunt dracones (here be dragons)
Whereas the ancient seafaring community had adopted this phrasing to mean dangerous or unexplored territories, in imitation of a medieval practice of putting illustrations of dragons, sea monsters and other mythological creatures on uncharted areas of maps where potential dangers were thought to exist, The Order of the Kraken had adopted the phrasing in reference to themselves, warning others here be dragons!
There are references to the phrase hic sunt leones (here be lions) but that appears to have been an attempted mutiny within the Order by a splinter group of outside forces looking to infiltrate the Order, but that was very quickly and ruthlessly snuffed out.
The Kraken
The Kraken
What is The Kraken and does it even exist?
This question has led to many a night of heated debate in the Tavern and at least the loss of an eye as one of the recent “debates” broke down into open out brawl.
The rumour of treasure and the Order of the Kraken recruiting, seems to have brought in would-be sailors and adventures from far and wide…some even with tales of survivors who with their rum soaked tongues have sworn on the lives of their unborn children, for whatever that is worth, to have seen The Kraken.
Some say octopus, some say squid, others say dragon!
We have gleaned from the countless recounting of these stories, combined with the fragments of some of the recovered texts in the Archive, that the Kraken was an octopus-like sea dwelling creature of enormous size which had a reputation for pulling down ships and devouring all who sailed upon them and, at the very least, plagued the dreams of all who sailed the oceans.
It also seems that those, who are the descendants of the first members of the Order of the Kraken, and who once bore the Talisman of the ancient order, are also among those who have encountered The Kraken and lived to tell about it.
While this may all be the myth and the source of gossip in the Tavern at Port Royal, the OTK depictions of The Kraken in the Archives were that of a creature with a skull like head, tentacles of an octopus and indeed the body of a dragon!