Creature Seed: Patchwork Haifische (Patchwork Sharks)

patchwork-haifische-patchwork-sharks-google-docs

Patchwork Haifische (Patchwork Sharks)

(Blame this.)

The Patchwork haifisch (Patchwork Shark) is a legacy creature of World War I Germany’s Mad Science program.  The project (under the barely erratic leadership of Doktor Jacob von Kaulla) aimed to create undead sentinels for Kriegsmarine submarine pens; the goal was to prevent minelaying and other forms of underwater sabotage.  And it would have worked, too… if only the German General Staff had authorized the project two years earlier.  Dr. von Kaulla’s team produced a working prototype six months after the Armistice, and all data on said project was immediately suppressed and compartmentalized, lest the Allies hear of it and force the Germans to surrender it.

Ironically, the suppression worked too well; doubly ironically, von Kaulla ended up working for the Allies anyway.  Normally, this kind of project would have been irresistible to the Nazis when they came to power twenty years later, as submarine war would be even more important in the next war as it would have been in the past.  Fortunately, Hitler’s regime was unaware that the project even existed until about 1941… not that they would have gotten anywhere with it, given that Dr. von Kaulla was one of many Jews who fled Germany when the new regime took power.  In von Kaulla’s case, he took his notes, his staff, his personal submarine, and of course his prototype Patchwork Sharks with him to a suspiciously comfortable exile in Clacton, England. Which became doubly suspicious when von Kaulla promptly disappeared from public life shortly after Winston Churchill became First Lord of the Admiralty in 1939.

The Patchwork Shark has been a critical, but never spoken of, element of British naval policy ever since.  They are not in fact particularly personally dangerous: Patchwork Sharks are preserved stitched-together corpses that do not eat and have no violent instincts.  But the nature of their construction allows them to psychically transmit what they see to a suitable adept ashore – and Patchwork Sharks have an almost supernatural ability to see underwater. Or possibly simply supernatural (the word ‘Golem’ often comes up when referring to Dr. von Kaula’s work). Simply put, they are tireless sentries that have a long, long history of successfully guarding Her Majesty’s underwater and coastal facilities. If you encounter a Patchwork Shark, do not be afraid that it will bite you. Be afraid that the team from the Special Boat Surface that has been sent to your location will bite you.

One final note: Doktor Jacob von Kaulla is, by all accounts, about one hundred and thirty years old at this point. He looks and acts about seventy or so, and has for the last sixty years.  The few people in a position to notice this are also in a position to not have to care overmuch; Mad Scientists have their little ways, and von Kaulla has earned a certain amount of indulgence.  Whether this is justified or not – and why – is up to the GM.