Maren at the beach

This is my new character Maren in her human form, enjoying a nice day at the beach. Why's she waving her finger around? Who knows, maybe she wants you to do a trick for a fish...

Humans often mistakenly refer to her race as Orcoid, but her people call themselves the Arlukin (plural), meaning "Guardians of the Sea" in the ancient tongue taught to all of the intelligent races by the dragons in eons past.


When she was very young, Maren was separated from her Arlukin pod during a bad storm. Eventually, a transient pod of killer whales came across her off the coast of Washington state. Thinking her to be a common killer whale, the matriarch of the pod adopted Maren as her daughter.


In their natural form, Arlukin are nearly identical to the common killer whale. The only distinguishing feature is the Arluk's lack of the gray saddle pattern behind the dorsal fin that killer whales have. This has lead to Maren's adoptive pod's name, which roughly translates as "the little naked one."

Maren quickly became an accomplished huntress and participated in many of her pod's rites of the hunt. By the time she was 13, Maren had already killed her first sperm whale, a feat unheard of among all the transient clans. One elder even remarked that the skill with which she dispatched her prey almost made it a dishonorable kill. Maren had certainly earned her place as the matriarch's daughter...

When she reached the age of 14, Maren realized she could understand the languages of humans, as well as transform herself to look like them. Intrigued by human culture, she would often make trips onto land, much to the chagrin of her adoptive mother. It was also during this time that she chose the name "Maren", as attempting to introduce herself to humans in an incoherent series of clicks and whistles was understandably problematic. Though she failed to understand the human taboo of nudity, she quickly fell in love with their rather curious novelty: clothing. She began to take odd jobs during her trips on the land to fund her new addiction and quickly amassed a wardrobe the rival of any teenaged schoolgirl. (Though where she keeps it I have no idea! )

When she turned 16, the age of adulthood in killer whale society, the matriarch of Maren's pod told her of an ancient legend that spoke of the "strange ones", orcas who could change their shape and served the dragons long ago. Realizing herself to be one of these "strange ones", Maren set out to learn of her heritage and to find her birth parents. Unfortunately, all she could learn from the humans were bits and pieces of ancient legends from long dead tribes. But she had also heard some whispers that dragons still lived. Perhaps if she could only find one, she could learn of her past?

Some background on the Arlukin...
Many millenia ago, the Arlukin would often interact with humans, and were revered as gods by now extinct tribes of ancient Americans in the Pacific Northwest. Ancient legends often spoke of Arlukin teaching humans fishing and the ways of the seas, as well as rescuing drowned sailors and guiding lost boats back to land.

Like dragons, the Arlukin have the ability to transform themselves into human forms. However, unlike the dragons, the Arlukin transformation is neither complete nor do they have the ability to conjure clothing that dragons do.

In their human forms, Arlukin are able to wield very powerful aquatic magics which, unlike draconian magic, have survived The Barrening very much intact.

Following the great civil war between the various dragon flights, the Arlukin decided to isolate themselves from all of the intelligent races and fled into the sea. No longer seen in their human forms, their existence became lost to history. Much as they had done with the dragons, biologists dismissed the Arlukin as nothing more than a myth from a primitive people.

I think I got a little carried away with this one..

It started out as a sketch to see how the orca's color pattern would look on a girl... But I thought the result was kinda cute, and being the dork I am, I loathe creating a character that I have no use for, so I had to name her and give her a place in my little universe...

Maren and Arlukin (c) me... No stealsies Maren, but if you wanna make your own Arluk... *shrug*