JCC [Image heavy]A thread for art: See note on page 776

Wickellia: Lisa - Genshin Impact

https://www.deviantart.com/wickellia/art/Lisa-Genshin-Impact-859705205

 

wood elf by pictishscout on DeviantArt


Brave Warrior by pictishscout on DeviantArt


Evil Dwarf by pictishscout on DeviantArt


Raiding party and frost giant by pictishscout on DeviantArt

 

EDIT: Ops, sorry for the DP


Lothern Infiltrator by KarakNornClansman on DeviantArt

Spoiler

Lothern Infiltrator 00L

Flaming light flickered between colonnaded shadows. The ruddy light was cast not only by torches and braziers, for it emanated also from molten metal, ensorcelled lava and far worse substances harvested from an otherworldly realm beyond the ken of mortals to comprehend. It was a glowering light, an angry light, a hungry light. If the snorting of a bull could ever come off as light, this would be it. And indeed, it was.

Through the dark halls of the Temple strode a majestic figure, bedecked in garb so ostentatious as to make any lesser acolyte prostrate themselves against the floor at the mere sight of it. Dawi Zharr thrust their countenances into the dirt on the obsidian floors, while Hobgoblin servants slunk back into the shadows of nooks and crannies, too wise of capricious overlord violence to ever wish to be seen by such a towering Dwarf of Fire. The striding figure was clearly a Dawi Zharr of His anointed priesthood, no doubt about it. A single glance at the regal paraphernalia of the venerable Sorcerer-Prophet struck fear into slaves and slavedrivers alike. Luxurious banner poles held aloft two lazily flapping pennants. Only the highest castes were allowed such items of office! Even other Sorcerer-Prophets instinctively bowed in respect to the strange gestalt, for how could they do otherwise when the mighty one sported a slave dedicated to supporting his giant crowning headgear? Not even they had a hat thrall!

All around, Bull Centaurs, the guardians of the Temple of Hashut, gave way, and even they seemed to be on the verge of trembling at the sight of the lordly Sorcerer-Prophet. Such an overmighty display of power and wealth walked there! Such a cruel overlord, ancient beyond the ken of lesser inductees into the Cult of Hashut! And amid all the loud brass clangs and hoof stomps and roaring fires of the inner sanctum of the holy Temple, no one realized that the great one moved without making so much as a whisper of a sound. Such a heavyset Sorcerer-Prophet ought to have made the ground shake at his tread, yet his nimble feet moved with the grace of swans. Had anyone been wise enough to notice the walk of the feet, they would have wondered at the undwarfish movements, yet they did not notice, for all they could see was the almighty grand hat on the head of the glaring Sorcerer-Prophet, for that hat was graced by a flame-snorting bull's head, and that bull's head had Daemonic eyes inside it that moved...

Inside the hot disguise, Lothern infiltrator 00L adjusted the shoulder rests for the giant onion hat inside which he walked. He had eschewed of gloves in order to not risk slipping on the sweaty handles of the fake arms that stuck out from beneath the hat. The disguise was a ludicrous creation, so audacious and so outlandish that it had actually worked. The Lothern artisans who had fashioned it had drawn the designs from hundreds of witness drawings and looted trophies found in the great Asur capital. The chief designer among them had concluded that these despicable fallen Dwarfs did not dabble in elegance, unlike the refined High Elves of Ulthuan. Instead, the haughty chief designer Nesrauti had concluded, they could get away with anything as long as they loaded the disguise with a garish amount of ostentation in layer upon layer. "Like an onion, indeed! Haha, onion, get it? For the headgear itself is shaped in such a way," the chief designer had smirked.

And so it was. The smug urbanite who had headed the design of the disguise had been astonishingly correct in his insight. All they had needed was to find a plucky Halfling to dress up as a Hobgoblin of the Dark Lands to assist Agent 00L, and off they went. The intelligence steward of the eyes-and-ears Annex had insisted upon the Halfling companion: Apparently the thieving sneaks were experts at infiltrating such dark hearts of ashen empires of fire and slavery. He had been correct as well. Who could have believed that such a rotund little jolly creature could have endured the baleful hardships of such harsh realms steeped in mysticism and crushing hierarchy?

A full score of Bull Centaurs up ahead heaved and snorted as they slowly opened the enormous bronze gates to the Priestly Sanctum. Inside waited an entire conclave of the most powerful and ruthless warlords and semi-petrified magicians this misbegotten breed of beardos had ever produced. Matters of greatest importance would be discussed, and all the most valuable information would flow right into the ears of a High Elf infiltrator. Who could ever have thought that a towering Elf could ever had disguised himself as a Dwarf?! These foul midget worshippers of Chaos would come to rue the day that they had initiated their phallic arms race in headgear size.

Agent 00L indulged himself with a smirk inside the grand crown hat that he wore, and entered the sanctum with unbreakable confidence in the disguise.

The Bull Centaurs howled an unholy mantra, and the doors closed behind him with the clang of slain titans.

- - -

After 6 years of hobby hiatus, my brother has at last returned to Warhammer and gained some extra lifespark of vigour and initiative in the bargain. We have resumed work on all manner of High Elf projects of his. It's great to have him back!

We also cooked up a new project, namely that of a model to poke fun at the hordes of Elf haters over on Chaos Dwarfs Online. It is a reference to the Byzantine spy network of the Asur in Warhammer Fantasy. The plan was to enter this miniature into Golden Hat XXXVIII, yet this the 29th entry was not finished in time since I am not a fast painter. It took something like 4 full days to paint it! I had half a mind to extend the contest again with a couple of days, but we were scheduled to go on a ski vacation very soon, and CDO members were eager to see the contest entries, so I had to drop out and make the voting thread since we would be away for a full week. Then, yesterday, it turned out that the ski holiday had to be pushed forward several days, leaving me with time to finish Agent 00L of Lothern anyway. Clearly, Hashut spotted the trickery and did not approve!

The plan was to trick the good folk of Chaos Dwarfs Online by first making them think it was tjub's entry because of the face, and then see how many spotted the deception.

Did you see the ruse in the pictures?

Cheers!

 

Wickellia: Claire Redfield

https://www.deviantart.com/wickellia/art/Claire-Redfield-883386940

 

Untangled by KarakNornClansman on DeviantArt

It was in that moment when Yehunnas Moltkesson realized that he had forgotten which tree he had climbed before cutting loose the tangled branches.

Spoiler

Based on a real logging event which occurred decades ago for my maternal grandfather (93 years old at the moment of writing, and still going strong with cycling, forestry, welding and jolly humour). He wanted to only cut down one of two trees growing close to each other, but their branches had got entangled, so he had to climb up with an axe. He came down with great speed on the wrong tree, but was fortunately not hurt.

 

Jennyeight: Lady Callista

https://www.deviantart.com/jennyeight/art/Lady-Callista-578349749

 

SHErlock by cluedog on DeviantArt

"Sherlock devises a means to cheat death and old age with his towering intellect using queen bee jelly. Even he, however, cannot predict certain...side effects."

 

He's gonna lose a bunch of teeth if somebody hits that shield. And shields are made to be hit.

 

Angels by Noldofinve on DeviantArt

""- Are you an angel?
- What?
- An angel. I heard the deep space pilots talk about them. They’re the most beautiful creatures in the universe. They live on the moons of Iego, I think" (c) Star Wars Episode 1

Fly, our angels. Protect our skies. Protect people under these skies. And return home to your families safely."

 

Mar-ka: Illusions

https://www.deviantart.com/mar-ka/art/Illusions-579103955

 

Consuelo-Parra: Vigilia

https://www.deviantart.com/consuelo-parra/art/Vigilia-190476443

 

Mitsuko by Gustavo Garcia

 

DavidGaillet: Queen Alexandra of Lumina

https://www.deviantart.com/davidgaillet/art/Queen-Alexandra-of-Lumina-376624782

 

Folly of Man: Super-X by TrollMans on DeviantArt

Spoiler

PROJECT S-R-X (SUPER-X)
First Sighting: N/A
Size: 118 metres in length
Weight: 49 000 tonnes

History: Repeated kaiju attacks around the world throughout the mid 20th century had proven again and again that the mechanisms of mankind were scarcely equipped to counter such natural calamities. Only the most powerful weapons of the modern age were even able to harm them at all, and not without serious collateral damage. As more and more emerged from the depths of the Earth, the abyss of the sea, or humanity’s own tampering, in secret facilities and compounds across the world, nations were creating devices which could allow men to bring down gods. A new breed of weaponry had emerged, as for the first time mankind had an enemy to fight that was not their own. On the forefront of developing anti-kaiju technology was G-Force, born from a nation which had been the first to be devastated by kaiju attack. During the later Mogela attack, G-Force technology proved vital in piercing the creature’s armour plating and killing it. This would be a great boon to them, as the government poured additional funding into further research and development, culminating in the Maser Cannons, which again were seen to be effective against kaiju when field tested during a multi-kaiju event in South America.

But the Masers were simply a warmup towards their greatest project yet, an aquatic super-weapon able to patrol Japan’s coast and capable of killing even the toughest kaiju, at least, in theory. When Godzilla re-emerged after some thirty-plus years, G-Force finally unveiled this mega-project of theirs, an amphibious battleship armed with the most advanced anti-kaiju weaponry on Earth, equal to an entire armada on its own and more than a decade in the making: the Super-X. Declaring Godzilla to be a international threat, the Super-X was launched to track down and destroy this organism while it was still vulnerable, as the American Pacific fleet was also regrouping to do the same. Following the trail left by the wounded kaiju, they were prepared to scour the Earth for this nemesis. A few of Monarch’s personnel were allowed to be onboard to document the potential findings of the G-Force fleet (in exchange for any possible information on this new form of Godzilla). And eventually, after several days at sea, the ship did encounter an incredible discovery. As the ship entered a volcanic fog bank, emerging from the steam and thousands of miles from any continents were the unmistakable spires of manmade origin, towering hundreds of feet high jutting right out of the sea.

One of the consequences of scouring the farthest and most illogical corners of human history in Monarch’s global expeditions in the search for monsters was the inevitable discoveries of things Man had left buried from its darkest past. The recognition that a second layer of human prosperity had developed before the recognized cradle of civilization; while most humans were still just beginning crawl out from their sheltered caves as hunter-gatherers, other races of humanity had ruled the Earth. The ruins scattered throughout the lost Skull Islands, the nestled kingdom within the Fairy Mountains, the frozen city beneath the Transantarctic Mountains, the buried Kilaak acropolises of the Sahara, but more than these savage corners of the Earth, there was an empire that lay dead beneath the modern sprawl of the 20th Century. Monarch had discovered many ruins of similar architectural styling in areas across the world over the decades; Rhodon Mountain, under which Baragon was dormant, the caverns covered in the painted frescos of ‘fire demons’ across Southeast Asia, subterranean catacombs beneath the Australian outback, eroded monoliths and faded carvings scattered across Polynesia long predating colonizations by seafaring Southeast Asians. An advanced kingdom that risen and spread across the Pacific, and possibly beyond, more than twenty-thousand years ago and suddenly disappeared shortly before the end of the last ice age, its knowledge lost to all but the most ancient legends of certain native communities of their former range.

As the Super-X drifted through the submerged halls of this islet, its personnel could see many magnificent carvings upon vast basalt walls. A few showed figures of human-like figures, others that must have depicted this land during prosperity, but most were unmistakably those of beasts, of monsters, of kaiju. The island itself scurried with strange aquatic life, ichthyic beasts clambering in and out of underwater vents, amphibious trilobites, humanoid fish-creatures, and massive striders equal parts cephalopod and crustacean, but it was clear this tiny crag could not support any sort of ecosystem. However, the greatest shock came again as the Super-X docked at the base of a ruined temple; to their astonishment, a person walked out to meet them. They spoke clearly, they had learned of mankind’s new tongues and cultures pieced together from radios and artifacts that would periodically wash up along shore, and listening to the hum of distant minds growing in number thousands of miles away over countless decades. They had waited long until they could be discovered, as the final keeper of knowledge for a culture that had been wiped from the Earth millennia ago, the last messenger for millions of lost souls. They were the last survivor of the Infant People, and this eroded fragment was all that remained of their once grand capital city, the Kingdom of Mu. Some twenty-thousand years ago, the original settlers arrived on Mu from the east, and over centuries created a prospering sea utopia, eventually spread their influence to the coasts of the neighbouring continents.

How had this prehistoric kingdom achieved such prosperity? They had discovered and harnessed an energy source that only now mankind was beginning to rediscover. Something only possible due to the extraordinary geological makeup of the ancient landmass: nuclear power. In the caverns beneath Mu were large deposits of uranium ore and carbon deposits, which had been exposed to volcanic energy and a system of aquifers, turning it into a naturally occurring fission reactor, the Heart of Mu. Learning to harness this energy, the ancient Infant People prospered, and inevitably as they delved deeper in search of greater subterranean riches, they discovered too the original rulers of Earth, long before the gods of men were the Titans, the first gods. The Heart of Mu was a beacon to these beings, but all were kept away by their king, the god of the seas, Godzilla. For millennia, the Infant Civilization thrived, but gradually hubris and vanity crept into their hearts, the moral decay inherent to all humanity. They wanted to know more about the Titans, to learn the secrets of the Earth Gods, to harness their might. In their collective dreams came strange visions, of stories long before the ancestors of Man had even crawled from the mud.

Billions of years ago, when the lands were molten and the planet was young, there were born the first Titans. For time eternal, they ruled over primordium as the oceans formed and the continents arose. It was a time of savagery, of chaos, where might made right. That was, until he came, the equalizer, a golden light who cleansed the Earth, bringing order to pandemonium and seeding the lands with the blood of the gods to bring about new life. Gradually, most of the surviving Titans slipped beneath the surface and their time came to an end, and new forms of life would evolve and colonize the planet. And now the people of Mu, the children of the Titans, could rule the world as they once did. As the dreams continued, the Infant People came to know how to drive away the Titans, how to gather all manner of strange materials from the realm of the first gods, building cities that stretched into the sky, constructing unspeakable mechanisms and devices capable of bringing to slumber even Godzilla himself, learning the secret of immortality, and flourishing into a second golden age.

Until the day came when an empire arose in the west, a rival to their power, the great Kilaaks, who had learned to harness the strength of the kaiju, and grown bold enough to expand their domain. Eventually great conflict arose between the two civilizations, the great monsters of the Kilaaks against the machinations of the Infant People along the western front. Desperation grew among the Infant People, the thought that another power could stand against them, and in this moment of weakness, they were given one final judgement. In the final dreams of Mu, they were guided to the darkest depths beneath Mu, to a treasure that would outshine all those before it, would grant them ultimate power. In their blinded vanity, they clawed towards this goal, but they had been played as fools. Baited by promises of grandeur and wealths, they had been guided into freeing their own destroyer, the golden light himself, the King of Terror. Bursting free from a fault-line beneath their city-continent, Mu was torn asunder as he rose upon the Earth, an empire thousands of years in the making annihilated in a single day as Titans around the world were stirred from slumber by his war cry. It was the end of days, the Golden Demise.

As the King of Terror took glee in completely scouring the remnants of Mu clean in his apocalyptic ecstasy, the great sea god was finally roused from slumber and quickly rose to face his eternal nemesis. Gods clashed in thunder and fire as Mu sank beneath the waves, a ferocious battle lasting for hours, every strike plunging the kingdom further into the sea, until the King of Terror toppled Godzilla amidst the chaos. But in the moments as he proclaimed his victory, the stars themselves fell upon him. In a blinding flash all were gone, and the meagre handfuls of survivors were left to recollect the shattered fragments of their civilization. They were still perhaps the lucky ones, for their colonies along the Pacific Rim pulverized by unfathomable superstorms and tsunamis, while the Kilaaks were nevermore seen again. Most of them would migrate to the surrounding continents, assimilating into the primitive surrounding cultures, the knowledge of Mu and of the Titans’ existence were gradually lost or reduced to myth over generations. A scant few attempted to restart their civilization, but over the centuries, their numbers slowly dwindled and all physical evidence of their once grand empire was slowly lost beneath the earth. When the very last survivors realized this futility, they worked to preserve what little remained, in the slim hope that future kingdoms may hear of their tale, so that it would not all be for naught. Now they alone were the only one that remained of the Infant People and this islet was all that remained of the continent of Mu.

It was their hubris that had led to the Golden Demise, believing that they were above nature, could shape the world without consequence, and control the gods. Godzilla was the ultimate balancer of this planet for all time, the Immortal Titan; when the King of Terror first awoke upon the planet, he was there to confront him, and so it was time and time again. When the Infant People sentenced Godzilla to dormancy, they had inadvertently locked away the Earth’s greatest defence. The last survivor of the Infant People had seen modern man was committing the same mistakes as their own people had millennia ago. Now all manner of monster had emerged and lain waste to the civilization of man once more as Godzilla was sent away; even as they spoke, beasts of the inner world were clawing out, sensing Godzilla's dominance wavering. But now they could correct this mistake, restore the king to his throne. Not far from this isle was Godzilla' home, his place of healing: Adonoa Island. Godzilla could not be killed, but it could take decades or centuries for his strength to be restored naturally. Mankind would have to bring in their own hand to accelerate this process.

Description: An unparalleled engineering and military marvel, the Super-X represents the finest achievement in anti-kaiju defences of the 20th century. A hybrid of amphibious warship and aircraft carrier, the ship was designed to wage war against the mightiest life-forms to have ever lived. A multilayer titanium-alloy shell surrounding the outside more than a metre thick was tested to withstand the most powerful anti-ship artillery of its time, thirty times over, and further backed up by an artificial electro-diamond coating powered by a series of internal nuclear reactors which mimics the natural electromagnetic fields of kaiju (in particular the asymmetrically permeable shield that Godzilla may produce) to produce an energy "film" dubbed the Fire Mirror, allowing it to not only reflect incoming energy-based attacks and resist EMPs, but also to draw in and retain part of this energy for its own power. Theoretically, the Super-X could withstand even a direct nuclear strike within the megaton range, although it was specialized for battle against beast, not man.

The Super-X is mounted with eight enhanced Maser Cannons as its main battery, allowing for multi-directional defence from all sides at once from a distance of up to two kilometres, and are capable of focusing the heat energy as a precision energy beam, or a more widely targeted ray. The ship's largest weapon is a twin-mounted energy cannon known as the N1-00 derived but distinct from the masers, a massive twenty-metre long pivotable turret capable of firing a focused blast of thermo-atomic energy (colloquially dubbed the "hyper laser") able to plow through a mountain from sixty kilometres away at full charge. An array of retractable missile launchers which can fire rocket-propelled capsules of condensed cadmium dust, a chemical concoction designed to weaken organisms with a radiotrophic metabolism or to assist in post-combat decontamination of irradiated areas via absorbing neutron fission energy. Laser-guided spiralling torpedoes tipped with a diamond-edged rotating tip to drill into the tough hides of kaiju before exploding to shred the softer inner flesh. And along with this more specialized armoury, the ship is equipped with a huge array of more conventional ballistic missiles, machine gun turrets, armour-piercing torpedoes, and mounted artillery that are located in moveable compartments capable of firing upon targets from up to sixty kilometres away (although these weapons are of questionable efficiency against more powerful kaiju, they would still be useful for drawing their attention).

The ship is capable of a top speed of just under fifty knots for up to five hours, powered by a series of internal nuclear reactors feeding four pairs of maneuverable steam turbines. A cutting-edge (and in fact, largely experimental) pneumatic propulsion system gives the warship unparalleled aquatic speed for its size. These are capable of being shifted to turn the ship relatively quickly without having to come to a complete stop, granting the Super-X a great deal of speed and agility despite its size, even allowing backwards movement. At maximum speed when completely surfaced, the Super-X can almost glide along the water's surface by its powerful propulsion system (G-Force engineers hope to further this technology to achieve functional land-based hovercrafts by the end of the decade). At close range, the Super-X possesses an array diamond-tipped titanium harpoons which can be electrified with over 6 megawatts to stun or even momentarily cripple any kaiju that get within two-hundred metres. Should this fail, the Super-X can emit a powerful electro-nuclear burst across its diamond-alloy coating which can overwhelm the senses of most kaiju at close range, but this requires momentary shutdown of all nonessential power (including weapons systems) and takes several minutes to power back up, so it is a last resort defensive tactic. All of the Super-X's surface turrets are capable of retracting for full submersion, allowing for underwater movement at an operational depth of up to a kilometre.

The ship is not built merely to fight alone, but can also release a numerous of support crafts to assist it in battle. Eight ASTOL-MB93, single-man attack aircraft which each support a smaller, condensed version of the Maser Cannon (which sacrifices firepower in order for it to be mounted on an aerial vehicle) and twin rotary cannons, can be launched from the deck doors of the ship. These can reach near-supersonic speeds, and act as distractions to draw targets away from the mothership and provide support fire. The Super-X can launch two miniature submersibles capable of being manned by five men each, the Black Shark I and Black Shark II, each also mounted with spiral torpedoes and a condensed Maser Cannon, and also work in tandem to draw fire from the target kaiju, relying on their speed and cooperation to avoid being damaged. When launching a land-based assault, the Super-X holds a capacity of ten Maser Cannon armoured vehicles (of the Mark 70, a smaller and refined version of the Mark 66, but roughly equal in firepower). In effect, the Super-X is not merely a warship in its own respect but functions as a mobile base of operations for G-Force's seagoing and international ventures from which it can launch numerous land-bound operations.

———

NEXT: The Swarm of Death

Folly of Man: Shinomura by TrollMans on DeviantArt

Spoiler

Entity NEOPLASM (AKA SHINOMURA)
First Sighting: American Samoa, 1985
Size: Individual organism roughly 1 inch in diameter, colony may exceed 270 metres in length
Weight: Individual organism roughly 5 grams, colony can exceed 58 000 tonnes

History: One of the earliest legends of the Odo people say that the first known awakening of Gojira in surviving memory was when a locust-like monster known as the “swarm of death” was released from under the ocean after an earthquake, and Gojira followed it to the surface. The swarm of death, or Shinomura, was a monster made out of smaller monsters, and able to change in size and shape. One could become two and two could become one. The very air that the creature spewed forth was a lethal poison, and wherever it went, the land, sea, and sky were completely cleansed. The monster king would not allow such a dangerous foe to go unscathed and after a series of ferocious battles, obliterated this entity, driving its scattered essence into the earth. There were countless legends of such encounters during prehistory, and this was simply one of many G-Force and Monarch filed away, since there was no evidence to suggest this entity still existed and neither had the resources to go after every wild goose chase. They could only hope that they were prepared with what they had.

Thirty-one years after Godzilla's existence was made reality, he had returned from the grave, ravaged another city in battle, and now G-Force was on his trail across the South Pacific. At the same time, an American naval fleet was responding to a distress call from American Samoa involving a kaiju incursion. They too had been scourging the region for signs of Godzilla, and believed they would encounter him once more having made landfall on the territory. However, as they got within view of the island, what attacked was like nothing they had encountered before. Hordes of dark, arthropod-like creatures of all different sizes and shapes swarmed the ships from out of the water, blade-like claws sheering through metal plating like cardboard, unfortunate personnel caught in their path literally disintegrating beneath the onslaught. Blasting at them provided ineffective, for each creature’s body was only momentarily flayed, before quickly reshaping itself like an elastic band settling back. Ship after ship were sunken before a retreat was ordered, and the creatures simultaneously crawled, slithered, leapt, and dove into the water. Some literally seemed to dissolve as they fell back beneath the waves.

As the survivors watched, numerous inky masses erupted from the sea, fusing in midair into one immense form that congealed into a single beast before their eyes, its hide rippling and shifting like waves, eyespots blinking in and out of existence over its body, an unearthly howl that seemed to come not from its mouth but echoing from its entire body as numerous pairs of dark wings literally stretching outward, hurtling itself away. When the ships circled back and returned to American Samoa, it was discovered a swathe of death had been cut through the island, plants, animals, people, buildings, all reduced to half-melted husks, a desolate scar of lifeless grey crisscrossing the entire island. Nearly half the population had been consumed and most of the main island’s settlements had been levelled; the capital of Pago Pago effectively ceased to exist. And now these creatures were moving onto their next feast, moving toward the next island.

While it had been clearly demonstrated their weaponry was ineffective against this scourge, the remaining fleet began pursuing this superorganism knowing that they were the only thing for thousands of miles that even stood a chance of slowing its march of death. As they headed towards a second confrontation along the northern shore of the island of Niue, they sent out a distress call; someone, anyone, if they could hear this message, support was required. More than five-thousand kilometres away, the Super-X received this call as they were on their way to Adonoa Island. A ghost island, they navigated alone by the directions given by the last Muan. The events foretold in stone by the Infant Peoples were coming to pass much more quickly than anyone expected. A new super-predator aiming to supplant Godzilla, the balance of the ecosphere violently disrupted. Only days after the city of Jayapura had been wiped from the face of the Earth, a situation at the tipping point. Now those onboard the Super-X had a vital decision to make; destroy Godzilla while he was at his most vulnerable and be rid of him once and for all and hope they could find some way to destroy this new kaiju on their own, or unleash Godzilla, draw the two into battle, and face the victor. For every moment they waited, more and more lives would be lost. Navies across the East Pacific were setting to sea to attempt to whittle down Shinomura as evacuations were underway, but they would only buy time. By the time the misty shore of Adonoa Island came into view, news had come in that Niue was completely lost. The swarm of death, Shinomura, had consumed the entire island’s biomass and continued south towards Tonga, growing ever larger...

Description: A kaiju only a few centimetres in width, but capable of assembling with other members of its species into a gestalt superorganism billions of times in size. While such a type of life-form is not unprecedented, it is the perfect unison in which the superorganism functions that makes it remarkable. From an outward glance it may be difficult to distinguish it as being a composite amalgamation, as the individual zooids link together so tightly it is nearly impossible to separate them forcibly. To start examining the biology of this form of kaiju, it must start with the very origin of Shinomura. While they certainly appear unique, in truth fossils of similar organisms have been known long since its initial first appearance. Its three-lobbed radially symmetrical body is unmistakable to skeletal remains which nearly six-hundred million years old; it is theorized that Shinomura is a living descendant of Precambrian organisms such as Tribrachidium and Albumares. They are the earliest known eukaryotic kaiju, probably the first kaiju period to evolve after the end of the Nuclear Age; the enigmatic trilobozoans.

The Shinomura’s spiralling, three-sided body links to three multi-jointed appendages with hooks on each segment used to link together with other Shinomura zooids. Each segment of the appendages are able to swivel and three hard body segments are connected by more flexible, semi-elastic membranes, allowing them to connect to nearby zooids above, below, and around them. A pore opening beneath each hook on the end of each segment reveals a nerve ending which will extend to connect to opposing nerve endings when the zooids are linked, allowing them to function perfectly in sync by instant transmission of synaptic charges, creating a literal hive mind. While the majority of the superorganism’s “body” is comprised of undifferentiated, multi-purpose zooids, some may metamorphose into different castes that take on more specialized functions more efficiently, similar to cells. Some zooids on the outer surface grow a thicker exoskeleton to form an armoured hide, others inside becoming softer and having larger nerve bundles, grouping together with similar zooids to form ganglia-like pseudo-organs, while others still enlarge their optic sensors to create makeshift compound eyes by clustering together at the surface, and each caste is capable of digesting these components and reverting to the base form at any time. Because each tiny unit performs this independently, large portions of the colony are capable of transforming in a matter of minutes or even seconds.

Each zooid is capable of asexual reproduction, and once having consumed and processed sufficient matter, will eject a fully independent offspring (already half the mass of the parent zooid) from a reproductive orifice. Any form of organic matter functions as potential fuel for Shinomura, although a highly simplistic digestive tract within each zooid means food must be pre-digested before it is consumed. This is done by way of a biochemical secretion dubbed as “micro-oxygen”, which allows rapid exothermic breakdown of aerobic cells into inert proteins. Shinomura are anaerobic organisms which do not require oxygen and are unaffected by its own secretions, but as a result, its touch rapidly rends apart aerobic living tissue in seconds as if dipped in acid. From what is known from fossil remains and study of Shinomura zooids, the first trilobozoans must have originated before the Great Oxidation Event, but rather than becoming extinct as the atmospheric composition became toxic, they adapted by way of this micro-oxygen secretion which provided a chemical buffer against the oxygenated environment.

The largest documented colony of Shinomura likely exceeded several billion individuals and weighed tens of thousands of tonnes. At this size, the overall cohesion of the overall superstructure plateaus and it has trouble keeping itself together. During motion, small chunks of zooids would periodically be dislodged (before reforming into independent colonies) from the extremities furthest from the central body mass. It is believed that once a supercolony reaches this maximum limit it will split into two colonies. Even without continuous physical contact, colonies of Shinomura retain a sense of unity, congregating in numbers that resemble differing orders in a eusocial insect colony. This is likely due to the genetic homology of the species, with each individual being more or less genetically identical due to spawning through asexual reproduction (a strategy which makes neural linkage between any two zooids possible). A colony can split itself into multiple components at will and reform into individual colonies, or rejoin into a single unit once again just as quickly. Smaller colonies may sacrifice themselves in nearly suicidal attacks on threats to protect the larger colonies, or larger colonies may eject small clumps as sacrificial defensive units. The gestalt nature of Shinomura makes them powerful in a way different from kaiju with highly regenerative tissues or extreme physical durability, as the zooids can adapt to a situation at a moment's notice and, in a large colony, millions of units can be destroyed simultaneously but it will still not affect the functionality of the entire colony, as the surrounding zooids simply and quickly rearrange themselves.

It is believed that colonies of Shinomura are normally kept down by predatory kaiju and lack of sufficient environments for their anaerobic physiology, preventing them from normally reaching the size of the superorganism sighted in 1985. It is believed that Godzilla, or creatures similar to him, were the primary limiting factor, like ladybugs which prevent aphids and mealybugs from overrunning a garden, but as the hyperfauna dwindled over the ages, such creatures were able to produce enormous colonies without being interrupted more regularly, reaching sizes that can even threaten non-colonial daikaiju (although it's likely the modern atmosphere of the surface is unfavourable for the survival of smaller colonies from the sub-crustal ecosystems where they originate). However, it is whispered in one tale in Odo folklore that it is not Shinomura that is a great threat to the world alone, for, just as shoals of herring draw out sharks, something much greater preys upon them. Shinomura may be the swarm of death, but somewhere hidden beneath the earth are their master, an all-consuming living hatred, a blight festering aeons old, waiting to bring about the end of days: the swarm of apocalypse.

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NEXT: Alpha Predator

Folly of Man: The Return by TrollMans on DeviantArt

Spoiler

When the Super-X arrived at the shore of Adonoa Island, they were greeted by the sight of a plateau-like landmass maybe a half a kilometres across, the entirety of which was covered in a strange creeper-like growth of uniform appearance. A strange energy emanated from this flora, causing the ship’s navigation equipment to give out inconsistent readings, and more than one crew member to experience headaches. But there was no doubt that this was where Godzilla had secluded himself, for the Super-X could still detect a massive life source within the island and strong radioactive emissions leading into a cavernous opening. But bioacoustic signals were very weak; Godzilla was in no state for another battle so soon. Monarch researchers deliberated with G-Force workers, over the decades they had studied the natural role kaiju played in the ecosphere, and that Godzilla must occupy an immeasurably vital keystone position as the planet’s apex predator. It was a huge gamble, but not without precedence, that he would naturally be drawn to Shinomura and could put down this ancient enemy.

Most G-Force workers were very reluctant to let this opportunity pass by, but as news came that Tonga had been annihilated beneath the onslaught of the swarm, finally reached majority agreement to this drastic course of action. The Super-X transmitted the coordinates of Adonoa Island to the nearest member of the Pacific Fleet that could respond. The order was direct; nuke their location. A massive airburst of nuclear energy should, in theory, be sufficient to rouse Godzilla by exponentially accelerating his regenerator factor. Then, the rest was up to fate, the hope that Godzilla would recognize an ancient enemy had awakened and let his instincts take over. A massive mobilization force was congregating along the shores of New Caledonia and Fiji in anticipation of Shinomura’s movement as the mass evacuation of the island communities was underway to try and save as many as possible before it arrived. Time was of the essence, every moment Shinomura grew stronger.

As planned, a nuclear cruise missile was launched from the closest ship to the Super-X’s and within the hour, Adonoa Island was lit up as the bomb instantaneously erupted into a ball of pure energy a mile above. Even from a safe viewing distance, the sky and sea became one light, the entire rock swallowed within a miniature sun. Huge waves buffeted the super battleship as the mushroom cloud rose into the sky. Half an hour passed as the light diminished, and the smouldering crag came back into view, considerably smaller and more concave than before. The intense fallout made it impossible to tell if Godzilla was still present. Had it worked?

Soon enough, the answer was clear. The water churned, splintering bone-white plates piercing through the waves, a dark mountainous hide rising from the steaming surface. The vine-like growths of the island strangely pulsing and coiled tight across his body, highlighting the blackened reptilian form. Old skin plates and ragged adolescent flesh peeled away as the darker armour hardened from beneath it, the radiation visibly rejuvenating the flesh. The spines split from the skin, lengthened, and ossified in moments. Teeth popped from his jaws only to be immediately replaced by larger, sharper fangs that pierced through his gums. The rapid growth of muscle mass and formation of bone beneath the skin was audible. Blue atomic light momentarily flashed from his dorsal plates as they reached their full length and the last scraps of disintegrating vegetation fell away. Even half-submerged, his head rose more than fifteen stories above the water. Godzilla reared his head up and roared, for the king of the monsters had been reborn.

Briefly, he regarded the nearby Super-X, perhaps trying to determine whether this was a potential foe. But, as if guided by some unknown signal, he arched back, eyeing some unseen point beyond the horizon. With steely determination in his posture, Godzilla let out a snarl of discontent and turned west, plunging back into the depths; he had sensed his target. Without a moment to spare, another call came in; Shinomura had altered its predicted course, and was now headed for the largest populated area within two-thousand kilometres: New Zealand. Within the day, Shinomura would reach the metropolitan city of Auckland and the surrounding region, where it would be able to devour nearly a million people before moving further inland. Godzilla had disappeared from radar, likely having taken a route beneath the seafloor, so the crew of the Super-X could only hope he would continue heading westward. Regardless, the ship cruised at maximum speed towards the North Island to assist in the counterattack, Godzilla or no, but even at top speed they wouldn’t make it in time.

The defensive wall of battleships off the coast of Auckland did as best they could when Shinomura finally arrived, but their batteries were only so effective at blasting apart such a huge fluid mass, now at least five times the total volume that it was at American Samoa. With every hit that punched a hole into the superorganism, more zooids moved to instantly fill in the holes, a seemingly endless sea of replacements. But another type of blast was much more effective; a massive beam of focused radiation erupted from the sea and cleanly sliced the main gestalt superorganism in two. Before it could even begin to reform itself, Godzilla lunged from the surf and plowed into the shuddering insectoid. He wasted no time tearing into a familiar foe, ripping into his opponent with tooth and claw, shots of atomic breath shearing away huge chunks of Shinomura’s mass. Dozens of planes and warships continued blasting into the fray, slowly whittling down Shinomura’s number, which spread its number too thin to effectively counterattack and struggled to even maintain concrete form. Split into multiple bodies, numerous colonies of Shinomura swarmed over Godzilla's hide, slashing and spearing with continuously forming raptorial appendages, but if they had any effect it wasn’t enough.

The largest colony suddenly let out a deafening screech that momentarily staggered Godzilla, and Shinomura gathered what remained of its mass together and rose into the air, swooping back from the coast, turning towards the nearby uninhabited Rangitoto Island. Godzilla in turn pursued his foe, which dove into the hardened caldera of the island’s volcano, tearing into the rock which covered the dormant lava chamber, attempting to tunnel back beneath the Earth’s crust, as Godzilla made landfall and began scaling the flank. The Super-X, which had now managed to arrive on the scene, being informed of the situation, quickly devised another drastic change of operations. As its crew were making their way to New Zealand, they had been in radio contact with members of the AMF and American Pacific Fleet. With their assistance, they could enact “Manoeuvre Goliath” as the kaiju were now a relatively safe distance from the civilian population. At once, the perimeter of battleships and cruisers and the Super-X simultaneously bombarded the peak of Rangitoto, keeping the battling creatures pinned within the pit. Shinomura wailed, a billion mouths screaming at once, while Godzilla did not even seem to notice as the arena was enveloped in flame.

Just as Godzilla was blasting the last bits of Shinomura into cinder, the AMF made their anticipated move. Their attack satellite was now perfectly in place above Rangitoto, and at once it unleashed a full barrage from the upper atmosphere, emptying its entire payload. One after another, the earth around Godzilla and Shinomura was struck by unfathomable kinetic energy, which finally weakened the bedrock of the island sufficiently. From beneath his feet, the ground instantaneously became molten once more in a powerful eruption. A huge cloud of burning ash and pulverized rock billowed miles into the sky, geysers of lava and bursts of lightning momentarily illuminating Godzilla's silhouette somewhere within the exploding peak. Even above the thunderous din of an erupting volcano being bombarded from orbit, Godzilla could be heard, his roars echoing for miles.

As the volcano finally and completely blew its top, the cloud was lifted by the fountain of burning rock just for a moment, allowing Godzilla to be visible for a few seconds. As he sank into the earth, waves of liquid rock washing over him, he let out one final cry, not one of fury or terror, but mournful. The despair that his time of freedom on the Earth once more should be so brief. Another billowing black cloud rose up, and he was gone from sight for good. Thousands off the shore of Rangitoto and tens of millions more on live broadcasts across the globe watched as the king of the monsters was lain to rest. The volcano continued erupting into the night, with an ever increasing armada circling the island as a precaution, but Godzilla never surfaced again. It had taken a multinational effort utilizing the most advanced technologies of the age, but they had done it. Humanity had brought down gods.

The next morning, hundreds of newspapers and news channels on six continents displayed the headline “GODZILLA IS DEAD”. It was an easy enough conclusion for the public to swallow, the idea that no living thing could have survived a mass orbital bombardment into the molten caldera of an erupting volcano. The Super-X had been unable to detect any life signs from within the island, but more than two miles of solid rock prevented any conclusive findings. Few Monarch, G-Force, or AMF workers believed that Godzilla had been put down forever however. Rangitoto Island was declared a no-man’s land indefinitely and a small fleet was established to coast guard the island as an additional precaution as ground-defences and a fortified containment grid were established on the island in the worst-case scenario. Perhaps it was better to believe that Godzilla was dead, because it was not clear whether they would ever truly be prepared should he decide to return once more, and ignorance of this truth allowed the world to sleep soundly. For now, he rests unknowingly within the belly of the planet, his foes vanquished, his rule reestablished, terror put back into the hearts of men.

At least, until another rival arises to draw him from the earth again.

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NEXT: Super Demon

Folly of Man: Ogra [NON-CANON] by TrollMans on DeviantArt

Spoiler

Entity ECHIDNA (AKA OGRA)
First Sighting: Nara, 1982
Size: 80 meters (reared)
Weight: 45,000 tonnes

History: Following the 1981 triple incursion known as the “War of the Gargantuas”, Monarch was inundated with a veritable flood of alleged sightings from across the globe. Most of these were mere products of mass hysteria; dead whales, miscellaneous flotsam, and at least once a prankster with far too much time on his hands were all found to be the various culprits behind such sightings. These wild goose chases, in addition to their ongoing hunts for not only Baragon and the Gargantuas, but also the rogue entity nicknamed “Orochi”, had left Monarch’s morale at an all time low and their resources exhausted. Needless to say, they wanted a win. Such an opportunity would present itself in the middle of 1982. While the world watched with bated breath as the United Kingdom and Argentina squabbled over the Falkland Islands, Monarch turned their attention towards the little island of Nara just off the coast of Ireland from which they had received several reports considered of “high interest”.

In May of 1982, the minuscule island, and the fishing village upon it, was rocked by a seemingly spontaneous bout of volcanism that drove many vast shoals of fish to the surface. Among the usual baitfish and standard catch were a number of peculiar lifeforms unlike anything seen on the surface in hundreds of millions of years. Heavily armored creatures equal parts crustacean and fish, tube-eyed shark-monsters colored in every hue of the rainbow, gelatinous entities coated in layers of stinging nematocysts were all found tangled in their nets. The elders of the island spoke that these were ill omens, harbingers of the “Mother of Monsters” that slumbered beneath the isle. Sure enough, within days there came in reports of ship nets becoming entangled on a colossal organism hidden in the churning volcanic sediment. Several sailors who had seen the creature breach described a “fin-eared leviathan”, which piqued the interest of Monarch researchers. Given the creature’s brief description and explosive introduction, they quickly began theorizing that they had perhaps stumbled upon none other than the infamous Volcano Lord of Mount Rhodon.

However, in subsequent interviews, numerous details began to conflict with what was known of Baragon. In spite of the beast’s fin-like ears, no description noted Entity PELE’s distinctive arrangement of luminescent horns. The beast was described as blue in color, a far cry from Baragon’s crimson hide. Quickly a hypothesis began gaining traction that perhaps this entity was a close evolutionary cousin; a “Sea Baragon”. Interviewing the elders of the island about the local legend of the “Mother of Monsters” yielded some new information; the beast did indeed match the description offered by the sailors of a blue hued, fin-eared sea monster who emerged from beneath the island in pursuit of food or occasionally to defend her territory from interlopers of all shapes and sizes. The people of Nara were tolerated in her realm only so long as they were unnoticed, and for thousands of years they had survived by doing just that. They understood that the rumblings of the isle were not natural processes, but rather a leviathan shifting in her slumber just beneath their feet. And now, in this unprecedented age of reawakened titans, “Ogra, the Mother of Monsters” has risen once more.

Deciding to investigate this potential threat before it could threaten any further civilian lives, Monarch launched an expedition into the seas surrounding Nara in pursuit of this so-called “Ogra”. Using a spare deep-sea camera vehicle, they dove into the water and discovered an undersea opening to what appeared to be a subterranean cave system just beneath the island. Inside was an air pocket, and resting within the geothermally heated cavern, surrounded by the bones of previously defeated rivals and prey, was the fin-eared, blue skinned, large handed leviathan of Nara myth: Ogra. The colossus paid the exploratory team no heed; she was far more preoccupied with the maintenance of her lair, it seemed, single-mindedly creating a massive ring of dirt in what appeared to be the absolute dead center of the cavern. Occasionally collecting scattered bones and bits of superheated rock, she gingerly placed them around this massive ring, randomly tossing aside ones she seemed to find unsatisfactory and adding newer, better ones to her collection. It became obvious to the crew that the creature was creating a nest, and over the next several days they observed her behavior as she left and returned, sometimes with hyperfauna in her jaws and sometimes carrying nothing at all.

Finally, after months of observation it seemed the time had come. The gravid mother sat in her nest, chuffing in pain for hours as she gave birth to a massive, rock-like egg. This was a revolutionary discovery, for while it was known that kaiju were capable of reproduction (as seen with Mothra and the Daigoro), the actual birthing process had never been documented before. As Ogra lay there, exhausted and in pain, coddling her precious offspring close to her underbelly, radar detected something else coming up deep from underwater. A great many somethings. Slithering up from the depths of the sea came a serpentine horde of Reptisaurs, attracted to the birthing site by Ogra’s pained groans. In spite of her weakened state, the Mother of Monsters would not so easily fall to the predatory tide. The pack of amphibians ripped and tore at the scaled skin of the sea goddess, spewing emerald acid onto the thrashing pseudosaurian who valiantly smashed and smeared the smaller monsters into red paste beneath her trampling paws.

But no matter how fiercely she fought, the regenerating serpents refused to yield, using their cartilaginous bodies to bind the larger kaiju’s legs, sending the leviathan toppling to the cavern floor. As Ogra continued to disentangle herself from her attackers, one of the viridian vermin made a move towards the freshly laid egg. A single lancing flare to the face fired by a particularly brave Monarch researcher distracted the Reptisaur long enough for Ogra to violently crush the serpent’s head between her jaws, finally gaining enough of an upper hand over the scavengers to send the scattered survivors packing back into the ocean. Ogra offered no triumphant bellow of victory, simply huffed in further pain and lumbered over to her egg, almost immediately falling asleep.

From that day on, Nara was considered to be “unsafe for human habitation” due to the rapidly increasing presence of hyperfauna in the area in addition to the much larger daikaiju slumbering just beneath the island’s surface. The inhabitants of the fishing village were thus safely evacuated, and given new lives on the Irish mainland, while Nara became a “location of significant interest” for Monarch, who established a new top-of-the-line research facility on its volcanic shores in hopes of continuing to research not only the Mother of Monsters, but her unborn offspring, the hyperfaunal ecosystem surrounding them, and perhaps to launch a further expedition into the cavern system through which Ogra had first found her way to the surface...

Description: It isn’t precisely known where on the pseudosaurian family tree (such as it is) Ogra falls, her many numerous traits adapted towards a simultaneously fossorial and aquatic existence making determining a precise relationship nearly impossible; all that can be known for sure is that the beast is in some manner related to Baragon and other such “eared” pseudosaurians discovered in the fossil record, but anything beyond that is pure speculation. Some hyper-biologists hypothesize that her kind may be a relatively basal offshoot of the branch, adapting towards a primarily aquatic existence from a fossorial ancestor not too dissimilar to Entity PELE. Others suggest that the Mother of Monsters may in fact represent the basal ancestor to all such members of the branch, originating as aquatic creatures before transitioning to fossoriality at some point in the distant past, with Ogra herself representing a particularly long-lived ghost lineage.

Whatever the case may be, Ogra stands out among pseudosaurians for her notable lack of abilities; unlike many other pseudosaurians, Ogra completely lacks any kind of projectile attack, instead being wholly reliant on her incredible durability to win fights. The Mother of Monsters is, fittingly enough, no pushover, having evolved into a physical powerhouse rivalled only by the likes of Kong. Externally, Ogra possesses an array of bony protuberances and osteoderms which make her harder to grapple with in close quarters. Underlying this already formidable defense is a layer of subcutaneous bio-terrestrial armor that functions as a body wide bullet-proof vest, easily absorbing physical blows thrown at her from all manner of foes and allowing her to shrug off all but the most powerful of projectile energy attacks thrown her way. It is for this reason that Ogra is a fully focused melee combatant, quickly closing the distance between her and a given opponent, before easily thrashing them around in her immense paws. A facultatively bipedal method of locomotion allows the leviathan to more easily grapple with others than she would on all fours, while her quadrupedal method of movement enables her to keep pace with quicker prey or perhaps even outrun predators should the need ever arise.

In combat, Ogra utilizes her full weight to throw opponents off-guard, carving into them with her massive claws and using her heavy, stone-crushing jaws to doggedly tear into prey and predator alike. Of course, even such a juggernaut as Ogra has a weakness, manifested in the form of the Reptisaurs. Observations of Ogra reveal that the two creatures have a ferocious rivalry, Ogra hunting them when they’re small and larger specimens ganging up to attack the leviathan whenever the opportunity presents itself. The acid the Reptisaurs spew easily eats through Entity ECHIDNA’s flesh and can even penetrate into the subcutaneous layer of armor beneath given a great enough volume, requiring a few days rest and consumption of ore to adequately regenerate any tissue and armor lost in such a scuffle. It has even been speculated by some that perhaps the Reptisaurs evolved this acid initially as a means of defense against Ogra’s kin, but given the current state of both species, it can’t be verified for certain.

The other element of note in regards to the Mother of Monsters is her as-yet unhatched offspring. Nicknamed “Gorgo” by Monarch researchers, the rock-like egg offers a tantalizing glimpse into the lifecycle of pseudosaurians. It is believed that most “eared” pseudosaurians consume vast quantities of ore during their reproductive cycle, funneling this into a massive eggshell that serves to simultaneously camouflage and help incubate the developing offspring while the parents are off collecting food or marking territory. Ogra is often not terribly far from her egg at any given time, indicating that at least some species do in fact practice parental protection. Of course, the primary question surrounding Gorgo is where it came from. Some Monarch scientists believe it to be a case of asexual reproduction, not too dissimilar to the manner employed by single-sex lizards. But others suggest that the egg might in fact be fertilized, but if that were the case, it begs the question as to where the father might be, or indeed, what it might look like…

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(NOT) NEXT: The Biggest Thing Since Creation!

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Another non-canonical fan entry written by ; the fact it came out exactly one year after the last one and actually did followup on the teaser in it are purely coincidental. Just in case you're curious, the basis for Ogra and Reptilicus/Reptisaur antagonism comes from a comic book where they crossed over (they didn't actually interact in the story though).

The Five Rapacious Vassals by TrollMans on DeviantArt

Spoiler

When the first explorers set foot beyond the wall of blackened rock along the coast, one of the most horrific sights which confronted them were the insectoid beasts of immense scale, far more massive than any terrestrial invertebrates on any continent, easily large and ferocious enough to prey on the unknowing humans which had dared venture past the comforting veil of industrial civilization, and into a world far older and more visceral. A number of men met fates agonizing beyond description as they attempted to catalogue the hidden world of R'lyeh over the decades, to know that which had almost purposefully been hidden from the eyes of mankind. Their sacrifices were not in vain however, as collective specimens and research into the biological secrets of the pararthropods have diluted their nightmarish mysticism since their initial encounters.

Pararthropods comprise both one of the primary faunal and floral groups endemic to the corpse-isle; through their dual exoskeletal and endoskeletal support and an analogously vertebrate-like cardiorespiratory system, they have been able to reach immense sizes. Many species have evolved to derive most of their energy from photosynthesis as mixotrophic or autotrophic producers, while others have radiated into an incredibly diverse variety of morphological and ecological forms as heterotrophs, from flesh-squirming vermiform parasites, soil-scuttling detritivores, secondarily aquatic serpents of the dark murk, to the forms most well documented, the terrestrial hunters, with spindly clawed arms and sheering mandibles. While only a relatively small number of species are known to actively hunt humans, their outward appearances alone denote them as one of the most feared of R'lyeh's inhabitants.

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STINGBEAST: A clambering all-terrain predator of the interior jungle, these innovative and disturbingly ape-like beasts are as curious as they are bloodthirsty. Sexes are nearly physically identical, both reaching around twenty-kilograms in mass, but with a lanky appearance making them seem larger than this would imply. Males are largely solitary or live in small sibling groups, while females tend to associate in larger congregations; this is because the act of mating is quite violent. Males will attempt to capture a female alone and using a blade-like intromittent organ to forcibly penetrate her; if the other females catch sight of this, they will tear the male limb from limb, so there is incentive for males to be fast enough, sneaky enough, and strong enough to catch a lone female, mate with her, and escape before her sorority becomes aware. Like many pararthropod species, stingbeasts are parasitic organisms, and females have a similarly pointed ovipositor to inject their larvae into a host animal (usually a xenotherian). Larger hosts may survive when the mature larvae emerges, although the complications of the growing parasite inside them ultimately kills most. If a larvae is forced to emerge early, they undergo metamorphosis into a unique life-stage known as a myling. Mylings are hermaphrodites which have a very short lifespan, and attempt to capture and forcibly impregnate host animals much more aggressively than the primary morph.

CITY MEGASPIDER: The largest of the hunting megaspiders, at up to twenty-eight kilograms in weight, with a leg-span of nearly six feet across, this also has one of the most complex social structures of the several species. The species is, by all accounts, a living nightmare, enormous spider-like pack hunters with intelligence unexpected in a creature of such appearance. As their name suggests, the city megaspider creates large hive-like nests by binding together the hollowed out shells of large planimals with hardened mucous secretions, structures which may be well over twelve metres in diameter and hold one to two dozen adult individuals. This is taken to extreme by the "Leng Supercolony", residing within the Leng Plateau complex, which spans multiple nests containing over two hundred individuals and constructed several millennia by numerous generations. Despite appearances, they are nonvenomous and usually take much smaller prey and planimal eggs as generalist foragers, but they are certainly very territorial and more than willing to attack larger animals, particularly in defence of their nests. Like other megaspiders, they feed their young on a special protein-rich "milk" which is secreted from the underside of their abdomen.

SLITHERY-DEE: The most immense of R'lyeh's numerous endemic predators, this is the undisputed ruler of the island's extensive waterways, and capable of reaching up to eight metres in length and nearly two tonnes in extreme cases, although ironically it, along with all other vermidragons, are descended from a lineage of animal-derived flora which returned to a motile existence. This primordial-looking aquatic predator cruises through the murky depths by undulations upon the rows of flesh along its flanks, the dorsal rows of flora-encrusted ragged, chitinous plates acting as camouflage when it surfaces, its bulky armoured head pushing aside any vegetative obstacles in its path, small caravans of commensals and symbionts trailing by their side (such as the ever-present cometfish). The slithery-dee is an efficient hunter, simply engulfing smaller prey with an elastic maw that literally sucks prey in, multiple rows of backwards facing teeth ensuring a secure capture, which may be entire shoals of fish-like swimmers or an unfortunate urchin-hog (or just as unfortunate human explorer) coming down to drink. Although almost exclusively aquatic, they are still capable of air-breathing and retain hooked appendages that can drag them across land for short distances (useful for navigating the heavily clogged rivers and lakes of R'lyeh).

PORONEK: A much smaller close relative of the stingbeast, at only five or six kilograms in weight. Despite this, it is certainly among the most gruesome predators of the jungle; the subtle chirping and whimpering calls of the fast-moving naghouls communicating amongst one another in the distance will stir primal fear in any forest dweller. Utilizing stolen nematocysts from cnidarian planimals, larger prey animals can be incapacitated by their neurotoxic bite and fed upon alive, but an unlucky few face an even worse fate: becoming the first warm meal for the poroneks' developing larvae. The unfortunate host is enveloped with silk-like secretions alongside the developing egg sacs after the adults clean the quarry of hair, scales, claws, or clothing in preparation; although the cleaning process is quite painful, the poroneks take great lengths to ensure the host remains alive until the larvae hatch. Luckier victims will be dead a few hours after the larvae begin feeding, but in some cases it may take more than a day for the animal to die as the larvae burrow into its flesh and consume it from the inside out, avoiding the major organs to keep the meat from rotting for as long as possible. Normally nomadic, they settle down for a few weeks to breed, creating temporary nests that they vacate after the young eat through their incapacitated victim, and then carrying the plumped up nymphs on their bodies as they clamber through the trees in search of further prey to satiate them. And so it is the paradox a creature of clear and deep parental devotion is capable of inflicting such unspeakable torment upon its prey.

TREESNATCHER: While there are dozens of species of truly photosynthetic pararthropods, this is a rarer species which mimics its (usually) more harmless relatives as a specialized ambush hunter vaguely resembling a gigantic stick-insect. Up to nine feet tall when standing erect, its extremely slender body and spindly, spiny appendages (often supplemented with collected debris and symbiotic creeping flora) allow it to blend in perfectly in the R'lyehian flesh jungle, standing still for days or even weeks, lulling in unwary prey within reach of its highly extendable feeding arms where they can be quickly restrained and brought to the killing mandibles. Hunting prey the size of humans is uncharacteristic, but it's not uncommon for particularly hungry or overenthusiastic treesnatchers to react instinctively to movement, even of animals that would would be difficult to kill. Despite their size and menacing appearance, these are fairly skittish predators, giving up quickly if unable to incapacitate their prey within a couple seconds and giving up their kills without much resistance if confronted by another predator. The treesnatcher is a paper tiger, as most of its body is riddled with an extensive system of air sacs, allowing them to stand erect without strain, but making them very ill-equipped for physical combat.

Turbo Eel by TrollMans on DeviantArt

Spoiler

For hundreds of millions of years, the seas of the canary world have been dominated by ray-finned fish ever since the first ones adapted to the saline waters only a few millennia after life was first seeded upon it and have since proliferated into tens of thousands of species over this vast time scale. Even as numerous avian lineages that descended from the land to make claim of the ocean depths again and again, fish remain as omnipresent here as ever. Many of them are superficially familiar, with the guppies, platies, and mollies having almost inevitably diverged down similar lines to many fish on Earth to fill similar niches.

Of course, there are also some which have developed wholly new and remarkable forms far removed from anything that exists or has existed, offshoots, that are often short-lived, but nonetheless prove extremely fascinating experiments of natural selection. And there are the even rarer few which rise above their peculiar origins to become success stories which last many millions of years. It is often a mere chance of luck which separates the two, to turn a single adaptation into a long-lasting triumph of evolution and not merely a glint in the vast ecological timescale.

The Turbo Eel from a glance does that appear too unusual as a moray-like hunter slinking its way through the tropical snail reefs and sea bamboo meadows of the Pangeacene, a mid-level predator of smaller fish and crustaceans. But it is far removed from its original guppy ancestor in many respects; although evolved from a livebearer ancestor, it is one of many fish lineages which has returned to an oviparous reproductive strategy and subsequently lost the characteristic gonopodium of its ancestor, with little remaining benefit to internal fertilization. The development of an adipose fin is also evident, which has even began to supplant the original dorsal fin’s function, and accompanies the complete loss of the pectoral fins (although it rarely occurs as an atavistic mutation). This is because a new form of locomotion has developed in this species uniquely and independent of fin-powered swimming: jet propulsion.

As an elongated, bottom-dwelling fish, it is not equipped for fast-paced movement and has high-reduced the size of its scales to an extent that it appears scaleless. Its body is therefore soft and its skin loose to facilitate flexible movement through the winding seabed, between curling and winding colonies of snails and into the rocky crags beneath in search of prey. However, at only about forty to fifty centimetres in length (females are slightly larger, but there’s otherwise little dimorphism), it is far from the largest predator of its environment and must contend with its own share of threats. To escape from hunters it pulls out a secret defence mechanism just as they close in, sucking water into large, elastic gill chambers and rapidly ejecting it through the contraction of rows of ringed muscles to produce sudden thrust. Such explosive and abrupt acceleration is often enough to literally leave any predators in the dust as its escape billows a cloud of sediment to mask its retreat.

It is probable this adaptation originally appeared as the ancestor of the turbo eel dug through low oxygenated tunnels of burrowing fish and crustaceans, its enlarged gill chambers allowing the fish to breathe even as its head and upper body was underground. In a clear example of exaptation (or preadaptation), it would prove suitable in a secondary function providing a slight speed boost in swimming as quantities of water were ejected. This is not unheard of among fish, as some species of anglerfish on Earth have been known to use jet propulsion from modified gills, but the turbo eel has honed it further. Over thousands of generations it became more specialized for this purpose, becoming slightly more effective over millennia at evading predators and chasing prey. As it gulps in water through its mouth, this same water powers its speedy movement as it’s squeezed out of the gill sphincter, oxygenating itself at the same time, making it a streamlined locomotory system. In effect, fin-based locomotion was, and still is, being reduced, with the total loss of its pectoral fins, and the dorsal fin reduced to a vestigial feature in the modern turbo eel. Its pelvic fins retain functional as both sensory organs and display structures, detecting minute vibrations in the water to help the fish identify camouflaged prey, and to signal fellow eels with their bright yellow tips.

On occasion, turbo eels have been known to form congregations which hunt collaboratively, working to systematically flush out prey in a contracting circle to ensure that little can escape. This style of hunting seems to occur mostly during periods of diminished prey availability in order to increase hunting efficiency. Eels take turns flushing small animals from the seabed or hovering close above to catch any that manage to escape from the eels below. There are few capable of outpacing a jetting turbo eel in a short burst and fewer still which can outpace several eels together. The eels have also been known to create numerous burrows, using the natural protective slime coating their bodies to stabilize the walls, and then vacating the burrows to trick small animals into thinking they’re abandoned and allowing them to settle in, then returning several days later to catch and eat them. This trap-making strategy is particularly common in sandier environments where there are fewer naturally occurring holes to hide in, making the burrows it produces desirable (it will also create and use these burrows itself when nesting).

This ability to strategically hunt and adapt its strategies to maximize capturing efficiency is just as important to the success of the turbo eel as its gill-derived propulsion organs, which, so far, are only useful in brief spurts, as it requires more energy than fin-powered swimming and is difficult to control once in motion. The turbo eel occurs widely throughout the shallow, coastal depths and in some environments almost monopolizes its trophic level; with few other predatory fish of its size able to compete in areas where turbo eels have settled (in some cases, the eels will intentionally mob and harass competitors in small shoals to drive them out and reduce interspecific competition). Although a unique oddity in this era of Serinan history, its long future success as an oceanic hunter nonetheless seems assured.

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LEFT: Two turbo eels aligning themselves in preparation to mate
RIGHT: A turbo eel utilizing its jet propulsion to dart away from a hunting dolfinch

 

cloudintrousers: Valkyrie

https://www.deviantart.com/cloudintrousers/art/Valkyrie-582946260

 

Evacuation train by Noldofinve on DeviantArt

Spoiler

This artwork is dedicated to the staff of the Ukrainian Railway.
Here is one of many reports about work of them: www.facebook.com/permalink.php…

This war is a war of everybody. Military, medics, volunteers, emergency responce workers, firefighters, ordinary people of various professions, etc.
A staff of Ukrainian RR (railway) is among them. They work hard to provide functioning of the whole RR. They drive trains to war-zones to take away civil people. Sometimes they are under Russian fire. But they steadfastly continue their work.
I put here a quote from one of the Ukrainian lullaby. Ukraine is here like a child who gets off to sleep in God's hands under evening skies.
We fight and stay strong despite losses of friends, relatives. We work under Russian shelling because we have no other option except to destroy that enemy.

 

ZliDe: Kirschbluete

https://www.deviantart.com/zlide/art/Commission-Kirschbluete-528103686

 

Don't be afraid. You can pet her. by Gray-Skull on DeviantArt

 

HalChroma: Selini

https://www.deviantart.com/halchroma/art/Commission-Selini-826068858

 

Giant Man Redesign by Oni18064 on DeviantArt


Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver Redesign by Oni18064 on DeviantArt


Ghost Spider Redesign by Oni18064 on DeviantArt


Venom Redesign by Oni18064 on DeviantArt


Patriot Redesign by Oni18064 on DeviantArt


Miss America Redesign by Oni18064 on DeviantArt

 

Cher-Ro: Triss

https://www.deviantart.com/cher-ro/art/Triss-819366572

 

Pyros Sarcophagos by TrollMans on DeviantArt

"ALPHA TITAN,
GREAT GOD OF THE SEAS,
KING OF THE MONSTERS,
FIRST RULER UPON THIS EARTH,
MAY HE REIGN FOR TIME IMMEMORIAL"

 

TamplierPainter: Jaina Proudmoore

https://www.deviantart.com/tamplierpainter/art/Jaina-Proudmoore-252604094