Omfaleth and Bromith's Clutch - October 14, 2003

The theme for this cluch was "From the Sea".

Raging Deep Sea Vent Egg

Burning swirls of orange and red smolder wrathfully along one edge of this elongated egg, spilling over with sizzling hot streaks of incandescent white where lava meets the cold power of water. Waves of cloudy turquoise churn around the sides, deepening to shadowy sapphire as the turmoil fades into peaceful eddies that bring up murky brown from the depths and spin over sharp edge black glass sourced from the fury above. A closer look reveals tiny bubbles scattered all over, foaming from the raging scarlet and sinking through the blue like an army of tempestuous sparks zinging with life and the promise of power. Layer upon layer, intense color glows through hot and cold, shades embodying fire, water and earth colliding to birth something greater than any of them.

Belanca

Lost Island Egg

The muddle of crystal blue water over dull black coral and pristine white sand mixed with masses of seaweed green is what this egg resembles. Looking at the mixture of colours and patterns, you seem to see the remnants of an island that has been gently swallowed by the sea; all it could now be is a playground for shipfish, yellowtail and packtail. The slashes of green under the crystal blue seem to be waving seaweed, swaying under the ocean waves. The texture of this ovoid is somewhat rippled, like the ocean during fair weather. Partially buried in the sands, this egg lies lengthwise in full profile of the galleries.

Rilsa

Decay on the Frozen Wastes Egg

Hoary swirls of wind and ice blow across the surface of this bleak white egg, leaving nothing but uninterrupted white across the smooth texture. However upon a close look at this egg, one might be able to trace the muted colors that contrast to the swirls of ice and wind. Spiked, bleached and scoured planks of brown - the broken form of a ship, its mast broken, the frozen red sails tattered from the incessant blowing of the wind. Spider-like lines, decaying ropes, radiate from remnants of a sail like ghostly tentacles. The figurehead lies broken on the ice, worn smooth by the elements; only a few vague lines may be used to identify its former purpose.

Mirrari

Swirling Whirling Whirlpool Egg

Deep and Dark the black of this egg seems to be pulling in the rest of the colour as it constantly looks like its spinning from whatever direction it is looked at. Out from the black there is a splash of blue from every part of the spectrum, darkest to lightest. It is like a mono coloured rainbow that is twirled and leaking into itself only interrupted but a splotch of light brown that interrupts the blue and seems far more stable then the rest of the egg with its clearer shape and splash of white. If you squint your eyes just the right way it almost looks like the ship with white sails pointing out from the black.

Nadia

Sunlit Shallows Egg

The surface of this egg exudes peacefulness. Pale lines streak down a deep green surface at a shallow angle, going from top to bottom in unbroken lines. Near the top of the egg, the color is dappled a little with some blue. Near the bottom, the green deepens to a near-black. You are put in mind of seeing the sun streaming through water as you'd swim near the surface. As you slowly walk around the egg, from time to time darker patches appear and disappear as the angle you observe the egg from changes, as if somewhere, lurking in those emerald depths, creatures of the sea went about their lives.

S'din

Lilac and Lime Lost Toy Egg

Jaunty spots cover a plump round shell, sharp lime green stuck onto a gently pretty lilac background with irregular touches of dark seaweed green clinging here and there. Smoothness defines the majority of the shell, the colors dead flat with little deviation aside from a lighter patch on top with a sun-bleached appearance. In contrast, the very bottom is discolored with a area of dull speckles in the sickly olive and rust red of algae blooms. Identical in shape, size alone differentiates lime spots with the variation forming a shifting pattern that tugs at the mind, seeking a name, a shape, an existence. Perhaps that swirl is a wing, perhaps that clump is a head; the answer is best left to the observer.

Belanca

Cascading Forest of Kelp Egg

The background colour of this egg is a vivid blue, the sort of deep Mediterranean blue that absorbs all colour and sets the mind to drifting within its depths. The blue of deepest oceans, of dusky night skies and of magic and mystery hugs the smooth curves of the egg as though wrapped in the snuggest of blankets. But that blue only peeks through in tantalising hints and snatched glimpses, for from the base of the egg a forest of rich sea-greens stretch upward, arcing high toward that paler sunlit tip as though stretching eagerly toward the surface. Stories long-obscured by fading memory have told of such forests, those deep beneath ocean waves; but none have actually -seen- it. None have actually swum through that drifting kelp or done more than tell their tales. Surely there are forests as big as those in Lemos, fathoms below? But no... maybe not; perhaps they grace only children's tales, and the surface of this one lonely, mystical egg.

Reye

Amorphous Corroding Metal Egg

If this egg had been found in a fisher's net, it would have been tossed aside as a glob of corroding material dredged from the watery abyss. Rough and harsh in texture, it may seem like parts are ready to flake off or leave a residue on the skin after touching it. The colors range from the oxidizing blue that oozes in patches from the conglomerate of dull browns, stained whites, and rusting oranges and reds. Although dull compared to other eggs, there are a few spots, especially near the slightly bell shaped flare towards the bottom where a brassy, metallic color shows through.

Mirrari

Deepest Depths Sea-Dweller Egg

This egg appears at first glance to be a typical egg, move oval than rounded, more nubby on the surface than smooth, and though it is a bit smaller than its fellows nevertheless it exudes the strange appeal of the unusual and different. Upon taking a closer look, however, the stunning simplicity of its coloring draws the eye like no other. A creamy base is the foundation of a five pronged abstract star design in graduated shades of red. Pale shell-like pink blends imperceptibly with the creamy color to deepen through rose, past bright red, and into a firely red-orange in its heart. As the cross spreads its arms as if to embrace the entire shell's surface it throws out dark wine tendrils, much like the stiff spines of a needlethorn, to converge on the pointy ends of the egg. The shafts are striped, oddly enough, in tiny blobs of white, brown, maroon and tan.

Y'il

Gleaming Black Pearl Egg

This egg seems to have risen out of the black Istan Hatching Sands instead of clutched by a Queen. The similarity of colours make the viewer's eye almost unable to determine where the sands actually end and this black pearl begins. Translucent hues of blacks and midnight greens wrap around the shell of the perfectly round egg in varying shades of deeper and matted shadows. Buffed to a rich sheen, the surface of this black pearl is unusually smooth, giving the impression that it would be cool to the touch. The allure of this gem is that it seems to capture both the sun and moon lights before delivering them back in a mysterious incandescent glow.

Rilsa

Sea-froth Scampering Shipfish Egg

The cool blues and greys of this egg draw your eyes to it. While the upper portions of the shell gleam a pale blue like the sky over the sea, the lower parts are a deeper, greener blue. Whorls and streaks through the lower, darker color put you in mind of the eddies and waves of the open ocean. But in the middle of the shell a swirl of greyish-blues and even some puffy-looking white patches waft and dance. You could almost imagine the greys as the long, dancing forms of shipfish as they sweep and dive through the white froth churned up by the prow of a ship plying the cool blue waters of the sea.

S'din

Stripy Coral Reef Fish Egg

Bright stripes flow around a slim shape, glowing orange set against soft and watery azure with edges that ripple and meld together. Varying in width along the sides in a symmetrical fashion, the stripes go from barely a finger across at the ends to broader than a human hand in the center where the widest band is marbled with pale apricot and rich garnet. Tiny scale-like patterns are visible close up, intricate curls of translucent ivory overlaying the luminous major colors with a wispy veil to highlight the placidity of the blue. Most distinctive of all are the two large round spots at one end, inky blackness reminiscent of silently watching eyes.

Belanca

Boring Brownish Beige Egg

Almost uniform in color, this middling sized egg appears almost white against the black sands of the hatching cavern. In truth, and revealed by closer inspection, it's a rather drab, pale shade of beige, with just enough variation in color to give it a textured appearance. Tiny threads of tan combine to give it haphazard loops which form a star shape, held together in the middle by a series of five dark brown dots.

Damon

Underneath It All Egg

Deep and murky blue and green mix in and out of each other and seem to be in ever-content motion across this egg. Larger then most egg it has a longer shape to it compared to its height allowing must of the egg not being struck by the sun to be cast into shadows. However where the sun does happen to reach pinks, oranges, reds and every other shade imaginable blend into the blue and green of the egg. A little misty around the edges the shapes almost look like trees or bushes in some cases, branching out and seemingly reaching out of the egg. With almost no extra room left over other shapes also branch along the egg from stars to squares to circles.

Nadia

Washed-up Waterlogged Driftwood Egg

Mottled shades of browns and greys encompass the surface of this egg, giving the illusion of a bumpy surface. Patches of darker brown here and there give the impression of knotholes, the greys making it look as though turns of weather have had their way with it. The egg is certainly longer than it is wide, with darker patches helping the tall and skinny look. Did this egg come from Omfaleth, or did the flame-kissed queen take some driftwood from the beach on her way to the Hatching Sands?

Jarin

Brilliant Calypso Bay Egg

A blue so brilliant one feels the need to shield their eyes from the reflection dominates this egg, giving one the idea of what the view from the Istan plateau looks like on a clear day. The only change in color comes just above the sands that protect this egg, an indistinct line of foamy white like waves lightly caressing the hatching sands.

K'tdan

Frantic Feeding Frenzy Egg

The surface of this egg is pitted slightly; the depths are varying but none too deep. Around these pits are concentric ripples that join dissolve into a confusion of ridges where the ripples join. Mostly a dull dark blue, the color of ocean on a cloudy day, this egg has, at the center of each pit, an odd speck of grayish silver, almost as if something had dropped from the sky into a still ocean. Along the profusion of ripples are flurries of color, bits of yellow, near nearly fin like webbings of red, green, blue, in odd patterns. Perhaps a few black circles like eyes may be seen amongst the colors.

Mirrari

Dreams of Ocean Diamonds Egg

Ista's sunsets are always a sight to behold; but who knew they'd come to life so dramatically here in the dim light of the Hatching Cavern. There are some evenings, those rare and magical moments that stay forever in memory, where the fading sun sets golden fire to the ripples of the turbulent ocean's surface. Here too those ripples coat this large egg, variegated hues of pale amber to bright flame-gold crossing and criss-crossing as those waves overlap from round base to narrowed tip. Darker shadows of muted greys and blues between those crests hint at the deep, watery depths below and betray the untold riches of the undiscovered aquatic world beneath. And then... flashes of light, atop; was it imagination? No; here, brightening shadow... there, atop a crest, where the light hits and is reflected. For this egg does change appearances, -does- glitter with the light of diamonds when Omfaleth shifts its position in those dark Istan sands, reflecting the ambient caverns light as though it were brilliant tropical sun off ocean's twilight waves.

Reye

Captive Clinging Spiderclaw Egg

The patterns on this egg are all spiky and made of sharp lines zig-zagging across it. However, as you come to one side of it, the lines all converge around a central splotch which looks a bit like the shape of the shell of a spiderclaw. The lines radiate out much like a 'claw's legs might from its body. The lines and patch are darker than the pale, sparkling background color, which puts you in mind of sparkling white beaches. The lines themselves vary in color from brownish to bluish and wrap around the egg itself as if a massive spiderclaw were clinging madly to it.

S'din

Ancient Northern Ocean Egg

Rough textured and large, the white capped waves seem to stretch over this egg, giving the impression that the waters continue on as far as the eye can see in all directions. The dark grey of the egg and the pure white of the curved caps seem to release the scent of frost in the air that would happily menace the choppy waters of the northern seas. In various areas on the egg, what look to be faults, change into the images of dirty-white edges of wayward ice chunks that drift along threateningly along the icy ocean.

Rilsa

Storm-befouled Shipwreck Egg

The upper third of this egg is awash with menacingly dark colors like a storm brewing, dotted occasionally with splotches of black. The bottom two-thirds has a criss-cross pattern reminiscent of a rocky beach, the dagger-like stones trusting towards the sky. Near the left side on the nearest face of the egg, splinters of light brown look like the remains of a ship smashed against the rocks by the storm. The image as a whole is muted as though seen through the mist of the unforgiving ocean.

K'tdan

Sinuous Sienna Seahorse Egg

Browns of all hues and shades enfold this rounded egg, each one different and all apart, unmixed. Spiny stars can be seen in pale tan and dark coffee, waving fronds of weed appear in walnut and mahogany tones. Rust shows up in eel like shapes wiggling past the round and thorny shapes of sea urchins delineated in sepia. Cinnamon too can be seen in the shy shapes of new-hatched fish hiding amongst the chocolate shadows of larger squid and octopi. Palest ecru belongs to the silent shapes of jellyfish, the long stinging tentacles fingering whatever they touch. Above all is the biggest shape, one standing out boldly in the swirl of the earth colored sea. Raw sienna, distinctive and unique on this shell for it's translucent yellow tones, forms the proud shape of a seahorse poised and ready.

Belanca

Capricious Colourful Clownfish Egg

From the right vista, this egg gives the impression of being a fish lazily floating through the ocean, though its shape is no different that any other on the sands. Thick bands of vibrant orange alternate with thin bands of black and white, each seeming to give motion to the egg as one looks at it. Surely this is an optical illusion? A black dot the side of a child's fist forms an unblinking eye that seems to stare back at the viewer, no matter where in the galleries they happen to be sitting. Eerie, that.

K'tdan

Shimering Silvery Schools Egg

This egg is dark, as dark as the Istan sands it lays upon. Black and multi-hued blues compete with each other for those shadows, each oppressive and unyielding as those brackish tones meld their way around this small egg. But in that darkness, flashes of silver; small streaks, each one so small to be unnoticeable, irrelevant. Thing is, there are so many of these silver flashes that they dominate the egg, force out that darkness to overwhelm the mottled surface in brilliant, iridescent colour. Those silver flashes reflect back hints of green, of red, of yellow and orange; look directly at the egg and it'd be bright silver on dark backdrop. Simple, no? But look away and it teases, dances, taunts you with that myriad of colours, just from the corner of your vision: like a million small fish playing in the ocean depths, acting with a single purpose.

Reye

Sullen Silver Squid Egg

A soft meld of turquoise and olive washes over a petite ovoid, tiny foam-flecked wavelets poised to surge against one another like a forever restless sea. Yet gleaming softly beneath the surf is something merciless, something that shows itself reluctantly unless the observer draws near. Snippets of silvery gray poke up, edged with round suckers and glistening wetly in the light, loops and points suggest many but objectively reveal only a scant six long tentacles snugged over the round sides. Darker tarnished silver shows beneath a spray of foam, the sullen face of a disturbed water-dweller is discernible in the bulbous shape with flat, ebony dark eyes and a mouth like a hungry gash.

Belanca

Forgotten Fisher's Net Egg

Deep blues and sage-greens flow liquid-like over this egg, each shade running into the next like the brush-strokes of a watercolour painting. The colours mix and meld with the light, appearing darker in some places, lighting from midnight to cerulean to a rich Caribbean turquoise not unlike Ista's own beaches. Those greens meander too; sage to kelp to grass green, flecks of gold dancing across that where it seems sunlight has graced ocean's bottom. That's not the unusual part though; many eggs have an artistic melding of colour. No, atop that a rough hatching of brown has been strewn; abstract to be sure, but one might be able to make out the faint lines as they cross atop this forlorn egg. One might suspect it to be caught in a net; one long lost by some old fisher as he passed overhead. Isn't it lucky for the dragon inside it's nothing but an obscure pattern on that hardening shell?

Reye