Clabaters are race of water-[1] and ship-dwelling humanoids. While intelligent and liked by sailors,[2] they are sometimes hunted down by fishermen as their organs are usable to mages.[1]
Personality
Perceived by sailors as genius loci of respectable boats and vessels, clabaters are said to protect the ships from malicious forces which would otherwise make them sink or wreck. They spend most of the time sitting with captains and skippers at night, chatting and drinking rum. They almost never show themselves to common shipmates, preferring instead to prank them – like punching them in face or kicking in the arse.[2]
Notes
- In Danusia Stok's translation, the list of strange fish is one monster short. The original quote in Polish does not say "fishermen bring him the oddest fish — octopedes, clabaters or herrongs", but rather "fishermen bring him dziworyby, octopedes, clabaters or herrongs". The name for "dziworyba" is not translated into English.
- To be fair, "dziworyba" does roughly translate to "odd" or "weird" fish, but in the original Polish text, it is listed as an instance of a creature, not a catch-all expression.
Trivia
- Tales about the water kobold known as Klabautermann come from the Baltic and North Sea regions. For more info, visit the Wikipedia article.
- "Klabater" is a brand of CDP (former core part of CD PROJEKT RED capital group, currently independent) responsible for Indie game publishing. On their page, the following definition of Klabautermann can be found:
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In the nautical folklore the klabater is a benevolent spirit guarding the ship and its crew. Manifesting as a kobold with a wooden hammer and his faithful lantern, he patches holes in the hull or guides the crew safely through the toughest storm. |  | |