Legends of the Skypelago: The Air Turtle

This week's post is, in a couple ways, a follow-up of one I made a few weeks ago.

First of all, a bit of backstory: the idea for this post first sprang during my honeymoon cruise, a little more than a week ago. We were in Barcellona, doing a guided tour to the Sagrada Familia, and the guide's English was...let's say less than perfect, but because it was a mixed Italian/English group I could still follow.

At one point we get to one of the entrances and, in front of it, there are two turtles supporting columns:


The guide says that the turtle in the direction of the coast is a water turtle, while the one in the direction of the mountains is a tortoise, or as the guide put it, an earth turtle; her accent, though, made it sound like she was saying "Air Turtle". Instant ispiration.

My mind, as it often does, started thinking about what an Air Turtle would look like, where it would live, and other possible details, and as I was voicing some of these ideas to my wife she said "Wouldn't it be perfect for your Skypelago idea?" Of course it would be. How did it not immediately come to my mind?

Over the last week, multiple ideas have formed into my mind, and I have not settled on one yet: this is still a work in progress, and the purpose of this post is not to give you a ready for the table monster or adventure, but to show you the process I go through when coming up with ideas.

So, what is the Air Turtle? Some say it's nothing more than a legend whispered among the various towns of the Skypelago, while others fully believe in its existence, although those that claim to having witnessed it first-hand are very few and often considered weird or eccentric.
According to some, the Air Turtle is as big as a Roc or an adult dragon, while others believe it to be even more massive, as big as a small town. It flies through the skies as if it was swimming, moving slowly but never stopping.
A particular tale that is bound to make it to the ears of parties of adventurers says that there is actually a giant tomb built on its back, that of a powerful ruler of centuries ago, which, according to the legends, was the only mortal being able to tame the Turtle, and inside it lays a treasure richer than anything found on the surface, including a magical artifact lost to time. Will it be true? That's for the Referee to decide, but I like to think so.

That's all I have for now, but as I continue to work on my Skypelago (together with many other ideas that always populate my mind, and as much as my free time allows me to) I will incorporate this legend into it.

Will you add the legend of the Air Turtle to your world? If you do, please let me know!

This is all for this week, see you next Sunday for my next post!

May your dice never betray you,
Kirhon

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