Post by allie on Jun 28, 2023 3:06:56 GMT
"His name is Big/harmless, he only eats you if you're small, and he's our friend."
–Voyager, of the volcano/water/reef/outside/hunt/togetherness pod
Orcas and lesser whites, especially the larger species, are usually mortal enemies, apex predators competing endlessly for hunting grounds across Poseidon. Big/harmless (called Ōmugai by the NIS) is nothing if not unusual.
Surviving records from the Abandonment document a large and exceptionally ferocious lesser white active in the waters of New Hawaii. Many details are unclear, but it is known that this single white is responsible for at least twelve confirmed human and six dolphin deaths around Kauai and Maui, and possibly others as far away as Leeward. Orca oral histories confirm that an unusually large lesser white was active in the region as well, but paint a very different story.
The orcas claim the anomalously well-traveled lesser white (named Big/harmless by a transient pod who crossed paths with him many times) "liked their size" and only ever injured two orcas, both times in self-defense. Even calves were safe around Big/harmless, who was known for bringing pods food, exhibiting playful behavior, and once defending an orca from an attack by another lesser white. This unusual behavior, reported by almost every orca pod in the region over a period of decades, eventually evolved into an odd interspecies camaraderie. The orcas struggled to explain their relation to the lesser white; the natives gave them words.
The orcas saw Big/harmless as a beloved pet, and it set off a storm of controversy across Kauai and beyond. The orcas were absolutely unwilling to kill their man-eating friend, and neither the natives nor the fins were willing to risk trying themselves, so the peoples of New Hawaii eventually learned to simply stop talking about Big/harmless and hope he went away.
Recontact changed much, for better and for worse. Pilot whales discovered, to their surprise, that Big/harmless also "liked their size" and tolerated them as happily as orcas. (This does nothing good for relations between pilots and native fins; Big/harmless happily eats both common and bottlenose newcomers, and has never met a beluga to anyone's knowledge.) But the most significant change was, for Big/harmless just like everyone else, tens of thousands of newcomers escending upon New Hawaii with no awareness of its most controversial resident.
Big/harmless's days are numbered. The upper life expectancy of a large lesser white remains unclear, but Big/harmless is thought to be at least sixty. Biogene and the NIS are aware of Big/harmless, and both have access to weaponry the natives never did. Everybody knows New Hawaii would be safer for humans without Big/harmless. Nobody wants to find out what the orcas, perhaps even the pilots, would do if anything happened to him.
–Voyager, of the volcano/water/reef/outside/hunt/togetherness pod
Orcas and lesser whites, especially the larger species, are usually mortal enemies, apex predators competing endlessly for hunting grounds across Poseidon. Big/harmless (called Ōmugai by the NIS) is nothing if not unusual.
Surviving records from the Abandonment document a large and exceptionally ferocious lesser white active in the waters of New Hawaii. Many details are unclear, but it is known that this single white is responsible for at least twelve confirmed human and six dolphin deaths around Kauai and Maui, and possibly others as far away as Leeward. Orca oral histories confirm that an unusually large lesser white was active in the region as well, but paint a very different story.
The orcas claim the anomalously well-traveled lesser white (named Big/harmless by a transient pod who crossed paths with him many times) "liked their size" and only ever injured two orcas, both times in self-defense. Even calves were safe around Big/harmless, who was known for bringing pods food, exhibiting playful behavior, and once defending an orca from an attack by another lesser white. This unusual behavior, reported by almost every orca pod in the region over a period of decades, eventually evolved into an odd interspecies camaraderie. The orcas struggled to explain their relation to the lesser white; the natives gave them words.
The orcas saw Big/harmless as a beloved pet, and it set off a storm of controversy across Kauai and beyond. The orcas were absolutely unwilling to kill their man-eating friend, and neither the natives nor the fins were willing to risk trying themselves, so the peoples of New Hawaii eventually learned to simply stop talking about Big/harmless and hope he went away.
Recontact changed much, for better and for worse. Pilot whales discovered, to their surprise, that Big/harmless also "liked their size" and tolerated them as happily as orcas. (This does nothing good for relations between pilots and native fins; Big/harmless happily eats both common and bottlenose newcomers, and has never met a beluga to anyone's knowledge.) But the most significant change was, for Big/harmless just like everyone else, tens of thousands of newcomers escending upon New Hawaii with no awareness of its most controversial resident.
Big/harmless's days are numbered. The upper life expectancy of a large lesser white remains unclear, but Big/harmless is thought to be at least sixty. Biogene and the NIS are aware of Big/harmless, and both have access to weaponry the natives never did. Everybody knows New Hawaii would be safer for humans without Big/harmless. Nobody wants to find out what the orcas, perhaps even the pilots, would do if anything happened to him.