A Leviathan Hunter

This is Ri'ka, an ancient Olushian (mermaid alien) Leviathan Hunter, or as they are called in Olushian language "Mas'Aka". They are a special breed of hunter/warrior that, as their name implies, hunt the massive leviathan beasts that dwell in Olush's deep oceans. Mas'Aka are both feared and respected amongst their people, they embody the most extreme aspects of Olushian's unique views on death and life.

About Rika: Ri'ka is a well known leviathan hunter, there are many tales of her zeal, bravery, and bravado in the face of the ocean's mightiest creatures. She lives and breathes for the hunt, communing with the spirits of nature in their truest, most pure form, where the line blurs between hunter and prey. When she isn't hunting leviathans she enjoys crafting tools and weapons, she knows that ingenuity is the mark of Olushians, and it is what keeps them alive in vast oceans filled with beasts that can swallow them whole. She is a bit off putting due to her gruff, boisterous nature, but she bears no ill will towards any person, so long as they do not disrespect the spirits of nature or the harmony the clan.


Like many Mas'Aka she has fattened herself up to provide a limited form of protection from leviathan's most common natural weapons. The soft, malleable nature of fat protects against blunt force from a slapping, fin, tail, or tentacle, and also helps them to squeeze out of constricting tentacles. Their tough shark-like skin and a healthy layer of fat also occasionally prevents hooked suckers, stray fin spines, and teeth from penetrating to vital organs as well. Traditional Mas'Akan hunting garb consists of copious netting, that helps prevent the suckers of cephalopods from successfully making a seal, but also tears easily enough that it is not in danger of getting caught. Ri'Ka is a wild and passionate soul, she loves nothing more than feeling the thrill of the hunt as the two greatest predators on the planet meet, the feral leviathans, and the clever Olushians. She firmly believes that every Leviathan she slays will be reborn as a Olushian champion, and that when she dies she will be reborn as a leviathan, forever rejoining the cycles of predator and prey in the tapestry of nature. She has participated in seven leviathan hunts, and been credited with the killing blow of two of them, something quite impressive given her relatively young age (although Mas'Aka do not have long life expectancies, as one might guess)


About Mas'Aka hunters: Olushian philosophy doesn't believe in "death" in the same way human cultures do, the words that most closely translates to "life" is the same word for a current in the water, as they see their own lives as simply small currents and movements in the great life of the universe itself. Similarly the word that can most closely be translated as "death" or "dying" is the same word that refers to the shifting of a current. This conceptualization of life on a cosmic level, leads Olushians to have a significantly stunted fear of death, and the Mas'Aka leviathan hunters exhibit the most extreme versions of this belief in their zeal for the hunt.

Mas'Aka leviathan hunters swim alongside the greatest predators of the depths, massive beasts that can be hundreds of meters in length and weigh in the thousands of tons. Their weapons of choice are countless long bladed harpoons that they drive into the weak points of the leviathan's anatomy. Entire packs of hunters will surround a leviathan and attack from every side, using their numbers to confuse the beasts, all the while slowly picking away at it with their harpoons. Mas'Aka are well known for their blood-trance, in the heat of a hunt the water for many meters around a leviathan becomes inky with the creature's blood, and the hunters draw upon instincts long buried in their shark ancestry, the fabled "feeding frenzy". It is a state of increased physical exertion and mental processing, an adrenaline fueled high that can most closely be likened to ancient earth tales of berserker warriors.

Most Olushian clans do not host a permanent Mas'Aka lodges/schools, because hunting smaller creatures or even farming tends to be a more reasonable source of food. Those who feel the call to hunt the leviathan join nomadic hunting schools, that serve many local clans. They are sometimes petitioned by local clans to hunt down troublesome leviathans that are endangering clans, when a clan cannot afford to uproot to leave a leviathan's hunting ground, or when a leviathan cannot be coaxed to leave local waters, the Mas'Aka hunters will hunt down the troublesome creature.

When a leviathan is slain, it produces literal tons of meat, so all of the clans in an area join in a thanksgiving feast when a leviathan is slain, where they all share in its bounty, and record the tale of the beast's slaying. (due to this extensive record keeping, a surprisingly large number of leviathan hunts are recorded in modern day Olushian databanks). No piece of a leviathan is wasted, every piece of meat and every bone are used, out of respect for nature and the cycle of rebirth that permeates all of the natural world.