Sea Lion

A sea lion has a lion's maned head and forepaws joined to a scaly fish body and tail. The mane makes the head AC 5; the scales elsewhere give AC 3.

Fiercely territorial, sea lions attack intruders of any size and outfight most sharks. All attacks in a round go against one foe. Hitting with both paws means the target is mauled: it forfeits any attack not yet made that round and must make an open doors roll to break loose, while the sea lion bites it at +4 for double damage.

Hard to raise in captivity, a successfully reared sea lion becomes a fiercely loyal mount, perhaps the strongest rideable creature undersea. Its roar carries 10 miles underwater, making it a fine guard or hunting beast. It swims less nimbly than a sea horse, at Maneuverability Class B.

Sea lions keep to coastal shallows and sea horses to the deeps, so the two seldom meet. Sea lions eat any meat, from fish to dinosaurs to herd beasts drinking at the shoreline, and sometimes drag themselves several dozen yards up a beach to feed. Such raids are rare but frighten people more than shark attacks.

Packs follow the strongest member, typically one with maximum hit points. Both sexes hunt and rear young, though males hunt better, unlike lions on land. Packs answer each other's bellowing to share a hunt, but after the kill the two leaders often fight. A losing newcomer leaves hungry; a winning one feeds his pack first and departs, and the beaten resident rarely lives long.

Sea lions hunt sharks relentlessly yet find their meat disgusting and never eat the carcasses. Some sages blame a quarrel between minor nature gods; more likely it is simple rivalry between top predators.

Waterproof scales let one survive a full day out of water before its gills dry and fail. With water constantly fed into its mouth it lasts a week before disease in its cracking scales and starvation kill it. Captivity is possible in principle, but confinement usually breaks the animal's spirit until it dies.