Pohn Matdol

The seas heaved and an island burst forth from the frothing water, but it is no island, it is the shell of one of the ancient race. Spines the color of rotten bone rise from a vast plane of interlocking plates the color of dead water. The man-o-war heaved, her helmsman throwing the massive ship hard to port to avoid the beast as it rose from the depths, but to no avail. The head rose, brutal as an axehead and bleak as a black sea cliff. The jaws caught the ship near the midsections, the horny beak shearing through the wooden timbers and planks with terrifying ease. The ship shuddered and was broken in two with the great beast gorging on the corpses as they fell into the water.

The Turtle God
Pohn Matdol is one of the rare surviving members of the Ancient race, and like all the members of that primordial group, he is massive, possessing an alien intelligence, and is a unique creation of the elder gods. Pohn Matdol's shell measures some 360 feet from one edge to the opposite. It is ridged longwise in a fashion similar to ocean going turtles such as leatherback or green turtles. The points of the ridges rise to become ivory spars twelve feet long. With it's head and tail fully extended, Pohn Matdol is almost 700 feet from beak to the tip of it's tail.

The lower portion of the shell, the plastron, is a vivid orange-gold color, and this color pattern overlays onto Pohn Matdol's neck and limbs. The upper surface of the head and limbs retain a similar to the shell green color. The most striking feature is a long crest that runs halfway down the turtle-god's head and neck. When enraged, Pohn Matdol can flare this flexible structure, flashing a bright and bloody red under the crest.

Escape and the Slumber
During the dying times, Pohn Matdol fought and killed just as the rest of it's kind did. But unlike the rest of it's kind, Pohn was able to escape the death and destruction that claimed many of the rest of it's kind. Being aquatic in nature, the turtle-god found passage into the Astral Sea and found many safe havens well beyond the carnage of it's home waters. Once Pohn Matdol was free, the turtle-god found a safe place and rested for several centuries.

Powers and Weaknesses
Most of Pohn Matdol's power comes from it's massive size and basic invulnerability to mundane weapon. Given it's size and metabolism, posions are equally useless in facing this ancient. Aside fomr massive armor and huge amounts of health/hit points, Pohn Matdol can influence the oceans around it, as well as summoning shoals of carnivorous sea turtles. These turtles are physically similar to mundane sea turtles, but have flesh chopping beaks and a taste for blood. While most of these turtles are small and young, there are some older turtles that have existed long enough to become Kappan, heralds and emissaries for Pohn Matdol, and have gained the ability to speak the common tongue.

Pohn Matdol can be dealt with diplomatically, but this is the same as trying to make a deal with an ancient dragon of a most vicious nature. The God-turtle dislikes fire and magical attacks that utilize fire aspects. Spells of wind, stone, and water are ineffective against it. Killing Pohn Matdol requires almost divine assistance, or PCs that are powerful on epic levels.

Plot Hooks
Old God's Return - After a millenia of exile and exploration, Pohn Matdol has since decided to return home. The return of an ancient is always cause for concern, but now a powerful and openly hostile ancient has begun to reclaim it's territory. Ships that venture too close to the beast's domain are ripped apart and their crews devoured. Survivors tell of a fiery red sea dragon and only the greatest heroes of the age can be counted on to deal with this ancient power.

The Kappan Ambassador - Things get dicey in a part of the ocean when the formerly friendly merfolk turn hostile and start looting ships that crss their territory. A Kappan has approached the merfolk and they have sided with Pohn Matdol rather than face it's wrath. The PCs face an aquatic campaign against former allies now enthralled by an ancient and now malign power.

The Kappan Ambassador, part II - The PCs are approached by a Kappan while they are at sea, this speaker for the god-turtle offers them a deal, their lives to serve as messengers for the ancient on land. The PCs are given the details of a peace pact that would allow ships to continue their trading on the ocean, but at the cost of a sea road toll and a certain fixed offering every year to Pohn Matdol. The PCs can carry the offer, and run for the mountains as soon as they hit dry land. If they do, the god-turtle assumes it's offer was denied and the number of ships being lost drastically increases. Things get dicey when the next group of survivors mentions the PCs by name as the previous emissaries...

The Black Spear - A relic of great antiquity is found, one rumored to have the power to slay even one of the ancient race. The PCs now have a quest to find the weapon and then bring it to face Pohn Matdol in combat to defeat the leviathan and bring peace to the oceans once again.

The Greenshell Pirates - A band of corsairs have started sailing under a red talon on green, and with green tinted sails. These pirates have accepted servitude to Pohn Matdol and as such loot and plunder in it's name and likeness. They ply the waves as the god-turtles enforcers, making them foes of every nation, power and even other pirate ships.