Kashigami

Kashigami resembled its descendant Nola almost exactly, a staggering pale blue serpent stretching hundreds of meters and broad enough to dwarf buildings. Dark blue stripes marked its skin, light blue hair-like strands lined its flanks, and whiskers framed its face. Its yellow eyes held narrow pupils, and a long forked tongue completed the look.

Very little is recorded of the snake's temperament. As a meat-eating predator, it had been trained to consume the human sacrifices the Shandia presented to it, yet beyond those offerings it showed no inclination to hunt or attack the tribe.

Kashigami dwelt on Jaya for ages and at some point produced offspring. Whenever the Shandia sought to please it, they surrendered one of their own to be eaten. About four centuries ago, hoping to lift a Tree Fever plague, the tribe gave up a young woman named Mousse. The snake came to claim her, but the foreign explorer Mont Blanc Noland arrived and beheaded it, killing it at once. Its death horrified the Shandia, who feared its vengeful spirit unless Noland and Mousse were executed. Noland bargained for their lives by promising a cure, only to be buried in the ground after an earthquake. When the snake's child appeared to threaten him, the warrior Kalgara struck it down to protect the explorer, who then delivered the cure as promised. As trust grew between the two peoples, they adopted Kashigami's very young grandchild as a pet and named it Nola. Its size was strong enough to swallow a person whole, it could move through water, and like Nola it almost certainly carried potent venom, but it died instantly once decapitated, no different from any mortal creature.