Skullmother¶
The Skullmother (also simply called "The Mother") is a colossal beast resembling a manta ray, used by the Empire of Maelihs for much of known history. She is capable of massive, biome-level destruction on the level of a large nuclear bomb, having been responsible for the desolation of the South Heartwood. This is the only known time that the Skullmother's full destructive capabilities were used.
The Skullmother was stationed at the Birthing Grounds for an unknown amount of time and used to create Skullbeasts, but was set free by Mael in late Av3. Her current whereabouts are unknown.
Abilities¶
The Skullmother is best known for her capacity to deal massive, biome-scorching amounts of damage in a singular attack, only used a single time in known history. She is capable of flight, but could also swim.
The Skullmother was used by the Empire of Maelihs to create Skullbeasts, and it is heavily implied that this was not a natural process. The Mother was heavily experimented on by Mael's alchemists, forcing her to create horrid beasts for the Burnt Lord's armies.
"Skullchildren" are also present in the map, as the resource pack's name for vanilla phantom mobs, which do look somewhat like flying manta rays. It is not clear if these are intended to be the same creatures as Skullbeasts in an earlier stage of life, true child versions of the Mother, or something else.
History¶
The Skullmother's origins are unclear. It is possible that she either began as a creature outside of the realm, or was somehow created by Maelihs and his forces. She was first deployed alongside a legion of Skullbeasts in the Dune Wars, where she appeared in the one-day sacking of Sal'Anyr. She did not actually fight in this conflict, but she was sent to drop off the Skullbeasts that leveled most of the city.
The other known sighting of the Skullmother outside Mael's central regions was toward the end of the Dune Wars, when she was sent to destroy the South Heartwood. It is not clear exactly what her power is, but it seems that the Mother did something akin to dropping a massive nuclear bomb on the Heartwood, destroying its southern half in an instant. The Last Breath of a Stargazer artifact describes the visual of the Skullmother's desolation as such:
In Espinor, there lived an old astrologist who lacked capable equipment. With only a shoddy spyglass to their name, they never discovered anything of note. Until, one day, while viewing the western skies, they spotted a shimmering light. It birthed a new star, a twinkling speck, that only lived for a few moments before it fell to the horizon. The star died not long after, the astrologist assumed, unable to see behind their now seared eyes.
It seems from this description that the Mother produced and dropped an actual bomb, possibly a specialized Skullbeast.
For many centuries after this event, the Skullmother was kept in captivity by Maelihs's forces, occasionally being used to deploy more Skullbeasts. As the war with Insohm grew more serious towards the end of the Third Avihm, the Burnt Generals urged Mael to deploy the Mother again, but his guilt prevented him from doing so. In (1) Av3 687, Maelihs, acting alone, set the Skullmother free into the southwestern ocean, watching her swim away for good.
- Disputed date, as this source (Dahroc's Notes) has had its date consistency with other late Av3 sources heavily called into question.
While the Mother's current whereabouts are unknown, the Disciple's Greaves at the Birthing Grounds suggest she is "away at the edge of the world". This could be interpreted to mean that she swam/flew away to the southern edge of the disc from the Hellcrags, or that she swam to the western edge, and is now somewhere in Western Xivrhynt.
Extras¶
A massive field of magma blocks in the shape of a manta ray is found in the blackened southern portion of Anyr'Nogur, possibly a spot where the Mother sat before the invasion of Sal'Anyr. The field holds the Absolute Ruin artifact, a clear Skullmother reference.