Rumors traveled beneath the sea, through the deep and sunless places of the Sunken Isles.
The mer people whispered of the Nephropidae, a monstrous, armored creature, taller than ten men, roaming the ocean floor on spider-like legs and mindlessly devouring all in its path.
In some of the tales, this terror of the deep did battle with Leviathan, the Tidehunter, once the sworn protector of the Sunken Isles.
When they fought, the stories say, the seas churned and the thunderous tremors of their combat were mistaken for earthquakes by mer people many miles away.
When the battle was done, and the lazy currents of the deep began to carry away the clouds of mud, blood and sand, it is said that the hulking shape of the Tidehunter could be seen striding slowly away, newly clad in armor torn from his foe, and wielding a massive claw as a weapon.