Closeup of “Mars TT–Leviathan” by Camille Bachmann. Accessed via her ArtStation page here
[The tirisuk was another monster I struggled to find any detailed sources for. A mention of it appears in The Cult of the Serpent, but only in passing. If I have misrepresented this creature, I apologize.
Weirdly enough, most of the Google hits for “tirisuk” turn up hits on a cryptozoology themed cartoon called Secret Saturdays, where it looks like a Liopleurodon with tentacles. The writing staff of that show must have owned a copy of Carol Roses’ Giants, Monsters and Dragons too.]
Tirisuk
Bursting from the water is an immense creature that
combines features of worm, centipede and serpent, scuttling forward on twelve
stout appendages halfway between flippers and legs. Its face bears squirming
tentacles ringing a gaping maw, two of which extend and contract like the arms
of a hideous squid.
The tirisuk is a much-feared
supernatural predator of arctic waters. Although they can survive indefinitely
underwater, they are often found near the surface, preying on land animals near
the water’s edge or on humanoids on the water. Boats are especially favored
targets, as the tirisuk snatches rowers from their kayaks and drags them into
the freezing ocean. A tirisuk’s hide can repel all weapons save those of
adamantine and their touch numbs even the strongest muscles. Many coastal
peoples in lands where tirisuks are present paint designs representing the
creatures on their bowheads in order to avoid the attention of these monsters
through sympathetic magic.
Tirisuks are solitary
creatures, and indeed encounters between two tirisuks typically end in
violence. They reproduce asexually, laying spherical eggs in small clusters in
the center of icebergs before abandoning them. These eggs then drift hundreds
of miles along ocean currents in their icy nests. The first tirisuk to hatch
typically makes a meal of its unborn siblings before digging its way to the
surface and out into open waters. A
tirisuk grows up to 50 feet long and weighs 10 tons.
Tirisuks are native to the waters of Senksen, though they tend to avoid the territories controlled by the umbral dragons. They come into conflict more often with hydraxes, since both species prize icebergs for territory.
Shores of Swords 