Monster Monday: Haietlik, The Lightning-Tongued Sea Serpent

Today's Monster Monday is the haietlik, a sea serpent from the mythology and folklore of Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) peoples of the Pacific Northwest.  According to legend, these lightning serpents had knife-sharp heads and could spit lightning from their tongues.  They were allies of the thunderbirds (the mythological creature, not the 1960s supermarionation show), who used them to hunt whales.

Before I get to the monster, here's some insight into how I research creatures like this before statting them up.  I first encountered the haietlik on Wikipedia.  Now, I'm not one of those people who thinks Wikipedia is a den of crowd-sourced lies devoid of any merit, but I do think it is important to take information found on Wikipedia with a grain of salt, especially if the article is very short and relies entirely on a single source which is just a link to a defunct webpage.  I liked the information that Wikipedia gave though: a sea serpent that hunts whales with its sharp head and lightning breath.  I just needed this depiction of the monster to be confirmed by other sources.

My first step is to check my ever-growing library of books on mythology, folklore, and legendary creatures.  Sadly, I do not yet have a book on the myths of Pacific Northwest Native Americans, and most general books on mythology tend to gloss over or largely ignore Native American myths.  Fortunately, there is an entry on the haietlik in Giants, Monsters & Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth, by Carol Rose, one of my go-to reference works for mythological creatures.  The entry (fairly good-sized for such an obscure monster) added that the haietlik hunted in coastal waters, that many pictograms of the beast could be found on rocks in the area, and that the skin of a haietlik brought good luck to whale-hunters.  Unfortunately, it said nothing of the creature's lightning breath or knife-sharp head.  None of my other books mentioned the haietlik, so I took to the internet again.  Googling around for more information of stub Wikipedia articles about mythological creatures rarely bears fruit.  Often, you will only find third-party wikis that regurgitate the same information from Wikipedia, cryptozoology wikis which have their own issues with reliability, and blogs of people talking about the esoteric monsters they've put in their own campaign settings (like this blog, I guess).  I was hoping to luck out and find a website that records Native American myths (like this awesome bilingual about inuit myth) but I had no such luck here.

Stuck, I went back to the defunct link from Wikipedia and took it through the Internet Wayback Machine.  Awesomely, the haietlik appears on the squadron badge of the RCAF's 442 Transport & Rescue Squadron.  Their website, as it appeared in 2007, describes the haietlik as the whale-hunting, knife-nosed, lightning-shooting sea serpent that I initially saw on Wikipedia.  I now have two sources to work from, which is less than I would like, but all I'm going to be able to get right now.  And at least I have the knowledge that my interpretation of this mythical beast is at least in accordance with that of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Squadron Badge of the RCAF 442 Transport & Rescue Squadron

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2016 Jonah Bomgaars.

This sea serpent has a sharp ram jutting from its long head; its mouth crackles with electricity

Haietlik          CR 8

XP 4,800

N Huge dragon (aquatic)

Init +3; Senses low-light vision, darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +15

DEFENSE

AC 22, touch 12, flat-footed 18 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +10 natural, -2 size)

hp 103 (9d12+45)

Fort +11, Ref +9, Will +11

Immune electricity, paralysis, sleep

OFFENSE

Speed 10 ft., swim 100 ft.

Melee gore +16 (2d6+15) and tail slap +11 (2d6+4)

Space 15 ft.; Reach 10 ft.

Special Attacks breath weapon (60 ft. line, 6d6 electricity damage plus stunned, Reflex DC 19 for half, useable once every 1d6 rounds), powerful charge (gore, 4d6+27)

STATISTICS

Str 28, Dex 16, Con 21, Int 11, Wis 17, Cha 15

Base Atk +9; CMB +20; CMD 23

Feats Dodge, Iron Will, Mobility, Spring Attack, Vital Strike

Skills Acrobatics +8, Diplomacy +9, Intimidate +14, Knowledge (nature) +12, Perception +15, Stealth +15, Swim +21

Languages Aquan, Draconic

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Breath Weapon (Su)

The haietlik can fire a 60 foot line of electricity out of its mouth once every 1d6 rounds as a standard action.  The beam of lightning can fire through air or water.  Any creatures caught in the beam take 6d6 points of electricity damage and are stunned for one round; a DC 19 Reflex save reduces the damage by half and negates the stun.  The save DC is Constitution-based.

ECOLOGY

Environment temperate or cold oceans

Organization solitary, pair, or pod (3-8)

Treasure normal

A haietlik is a fast sea serpent with lightning breath and a knife-sharp, prow-like ram on its head that it uses to gore its prey.  Their heads are long and vaguely equine, and their bodies are covered with smooth reddish-grey scales with flashes of yellow.  Haietlik hunt whales – especially orcas - in coastal waters.  They are aquatic allies of the thunderbirds, but are somewhat less friendly with humans.  Some whalers consider haietlik skin to be a good luck charm.  

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Now that I know more about the haietlik, I will of course update its Wikipedia page, because I believe in the power of crowd-sourced information repositories and I know that they can only become more accurate if the people with access to knowledge make the effort to share it.

-your Wikipedian d20 despot