#coneshell

"In the great wide stretches of this world’s atmosphere there gently paddles giants unlike any other. The Shell Haven is a filter feeding descendant of terrestrial Coneshells whose broad sky-plankton diet has allowed it to reach unrivalled sizes. Within their namesake shells are buoyancy air-bladders that keep them stable while massive “wings” and twin siphons push them ever forward through the clouds, their expanding mouths agape for food.

Although gentle animals, they are extremely deadly combatants towards territorial rivals and predators. What mass and a dense shell cannot solve, the Shell Haven has a harpoon launching proboscis within it’s throat, only revealed when aggravated. The proboscis grows hundreds of modified radula harpoons which generate throughout the year, readying to be blasted out by the combustion of gas rapidly towards targets. The burst can be so powerful that a flash is produced, with Shell Haven combat lighting up clouds in the night sky during nocturnal fire fights.

The death of a fully grown Shell Haven is rare to see, with the closest thing to active predators fleeing with chunks of living meat rather than a full kill, but a true death is an event for the local ecosystem. The colossal body will float for potentially years until scavengers finally bore through enough air-bladders to sink the beast. These Shell-Falls produce clouds of organic matter that rain decay and swarm with hungry life, becoming quite a foul smelling festival until the shell crashes upon the earth below.