Tales from Beyond the Spider Moon

 Most of the crew leapt to their feet, chains rattling. Alina seemed to pull her sword from the space between the bars, and Turok dropped into a low, unarmed fighting stance. Only Dox remained calm, barely moving from her seat against the wall. Delamagne cursed, and Covey pressed himself into a corner.     The tortle looked around at them all, then relaxed, standing from his attack posture, though his staff continued to glow. “This doesn’t seem to be my ship,” he said. “And, you folks all seem to be in chains.”     “Your powers of deduction are astounding,” Alina said. She allowed her blade to drop when the tortle relaxed, but held it at the ready.     “Well, we’re in the hold of a ship, and you are quite a motley bunch. I suppose it would be ridiculous to ask you whether your incarceration was legal, or at least, just?”     Dox laughed. Turok stepped as far as his leg irons would allow. “We’re the crew and passengers of the Reizoko no Tsuma,...

 Chapter Three: Repel Boarders Turok burst onto the deck, sword in hand and fire of the righteous in his war cry. He briefly considered the damage his magic might do to the ship, but put his trust in Kuyutha and Bahamut. Speaking the divine language of his ancestors and the great wyrms who watched over them, he charged into battle and smote a pair of praedaren with a mighty clap of thunder that issued forth from his raging yawp.     Galaine charged in behind him, armed with a spear and shield, skewering a third shark in the shoulder and taking a position behind his lord.     One of the praedaren at Turok’s feet was still breathing. A hideous goblin shark in a black leather vest that accentuated his wiry, muscled frame, he twisted with a jolt and snapped at the dragonborn’s sword arm without standing. He then rolled just out of reach and drew a dagger with his left hand. The carver with a hole in his shoulder charged at Galaine, grabbing the squire by his neck an...

  (Temporary Placeholder Image) A Quote. Black Maw of the Red Wake Black Maw is captain of the Night Howl  and one of the most feared and respected captains in the Red Wake Fleet. He is a pirate through and through, loyal to himself, his crew, and his fleet in that order. Like all praedaren captains, Maw is constantly on the look out for the best way to enrich himself and his crew - plundering treasure; capturing worthy ships; and raiding coastal cities that are large enough to provide a bounty, but not so large as to put up a real fight. Maw is more interested in winning than in the challenge. Maw never learned to wield a sword and he doesn't care to.  His favorite weapon is the massive club he carved himself, with surprisingly artistic and intricately detailed images from his life, including his massive maw with rows of sharp teeth, the death of his father, and sinking of the Battlestar , a massive Quelyan galleon captained by a rogue praedaren crew who tried to make a ...

 Chapter Two: Blood in the Water Dox was sitting in the rigging, low enough to the deck that she could continue her conversation with the dragonborn. They were discussing the difference in alertness at sea versus space, when she glanced off the port bow and the color drained from her face.      “Pirates!” she screamed. “Pirates off the port bow!” She was already untangling herself from the ropes and dropping to the deck. As she ran past the cleric to get a better look, she added, “there’s going to be a fight, priest. Best suit up.”      Before he could respond, she was up the ladder and on the forecastle. Turok stared at the approaching ship for a half a moment before bolting back to his cabin. “Galaine,” he cried, “my armor!”      Galaine came stumbling out of the head, with a wide-eyed look on his bronze-scaled face. Like his master, the squire Galaine was brass dragonborn. A low-level acolyte in the Order of Kuyutha, Galaine was taske...

  We know Cerulean Crowe  hates them. We know they're probably all pirates or - at least - she thinks they are. But they don't appear in most D&D worlds, and they're not in any official supplement (yet - man, I'd love to put one on D&D Beyond, but I don't want to jump through the hoops to get it to work right). But I'm on a tangent. Sorry about that. The Shark Men haven't shown up in the story yet, but they've been mentioned - and they play a large role in Crowe's backstory, so I know they'll be coming up again, and you might not know who they are. The Praedaren were created by Anthony Vallozzi , and I first came across them back when this Spelljammer campaign was just going to be Pirates of the Dark Water, but D&D. I was looking for interesting things to populate my Aquatic campaign with, when I came across this post: [Race] Player Race: Praedaren (The GMBinder Link) It was great. Like that top comment said, it's Street Sharks; ...