Lexicon:Modern/Nochraem
| Nochraem | |
|---|---|
| Stage | Modern CLT |
| Pronunciation | /ˈnox.ɾaɪm/ |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Etymology | from Middle Nochrēmē, from Proto noch-rem |
| Related words | Kaellwyrm, Long Reach, Kwaenith |
Nochraem — the night predator that reaches over a ship’s rail.
Notes
Bodied like an enormous eel, eight to eleven Streid, dark and matte so that it takes no light at all. The jaw unhinges to take prey wider than its own head, and the eyes are enormous and pale — a creature that has never needed daylight.
Eight to eleven Streid, twenty-five to thirty-five feet, bodied like an enormous eel with a jaw that unhinges to take prey wider than its own head. It comes up alongside a hull at night, drawn by the vibration of a vessel moving through water, and reaches over the gunwale for whoever is nearest.
Light drives it off. A Nochraem in a lantern beam withdraws, being built for the dark, which is why merchant vessels on the Long Reach burn deck lanterns all night even when running dark would be the safer choice against pirates.
A captain who douses his lights to avoid being seen has traded one predator for another, and every captain on that route has made the calculation.