HOME | DD

Description
Name: Crocotta
Scientific name: Teratocrocuta loquitur (talking monstrous hyena)
Height: 2 meters
Length: 5 meters
Diet: Carnivore
Affiliation: Minor Kaiju
The crocotta is a derived hyena known from the savannah of Ethiopia and India. These powerful predators are exceptionally strong and cunning, utilising both their brute strength and their ability to mimic the sounds of other creatures to lure in prey and chase other creatures of their kills. Their vocal mimicry is highly advanced, and they can replicate anything from a lion's roar to a zebra's neigh to even gunshots. Using this, they control their prey and rivals to go exactly where they want them to, luring in quarry with a copy of their mating call before eating them and tricking predators into abandoning their kills through mimicking a pack of rival carnivores. That said, crocotta are oddly benevolent despite this sinister ability: they only eat what they need to and generally don't seem to want to eat humans. They do, however, greatly enjoy messing with us, and take pleasure in creeping out unfortunate people through mimicking the sounds of other predators or copying our superiors' voices to make us shout at them. However, it is of the upmost importance not to harm the environments the crocotta frequent, as they can use this ability to trick poachers, illegal loggers and other environment-harming criminals into shooting each other or lure them towards waiting packs of hungry predators. Crocottas mainly prey on zebra, warthogs, yale and aeternae, but due to their nature as solitary hunters they are hunted by lions and hyenas when times get tough and Nandi bears stalk them drought or not.

Name: Mare of Diomedes
Scientific name: Harpaequus diomedesi (Diomedes' predatory horse, after Diomedes, the legendary king of Thrace who kept some mares of Diomedes to tear apart his enemies)
Height: 3 meters
Length: 6.1 meters
Diet: Carnivore
Affiliation: Minor Kaiju
Mares of Diomedes are an all-female (they reproduce asexually) species of carnivorous horses known from the grassland of what was historically the kingdom of Thrace, being most common in Greece. Ravenous and highly aggressive, mares of Diomedes travel the land in small groups, and even in these there is much infighting due to all of the females seeking dominance and food (resulting in most mares of Diomedes bearing vicious scars all over their bodies even as foals). They have been known to strip their prey of flesh within seconds, and it is speculated that they may even eat the bones. Mares of Diomedes will generally eat anything that gets in their way, and they have even been known to team up en masse to fight Major Kaiju. That said, individual mares of Diomedes are far easier to handle, and frequently fall prey to larger Minor Kaiju such as wyverns.

Name: Hippocampus
Scientific name: Euhippocampus laetus (colourful true hippocampus)
Height: 5 meters
Length: 18.8 meters
Finspan: 9 meters
Diet: Herbivore
Affiliation: Minor Kaiju
Hippocampi are derived horses that inhabit the Mediterranean Sea. They live in pods like dolphins, but feed on seaweed and plankton rather than fish. Both males and females are brightly coloured, and it is believed that this bright colouration is meant to confuse predators when the hippocampi flee them. These unusual creatures are mostly peaceful, though will not hesitate to use their long, highly derived hooves to deliver swift, powerful strikes to predators (which mostly consist of sharks, Zasunek and other nomadic Major Kaiju who venture into the Mediterranean). Hippocampi seem to have history with Godzilla, possessing a deep respect for the King of the Monsters to the point of defending him against the Gotengo when Godzilla clashed with the machine over Mu. This is believed to stem from Godzilla killing Poseidon before his campaign alongside Typhon against the Olympians, as the sea god is believed to have enslaved the hippocampi and Godzilla killing him freed their species from the tyrannical Olympian's reign.

Name: Ypotryll
Scientific name: Liparotherium giganticus (gigantic fatty beast)
Height: 6 meters
Length: 22 meters
Diet: Herbivore
Affiliation: Minor Kaiju
Whilst most desert animals have adapted a tiny stature in order to survive, Kaiju have no need for such adaptations, as they are able to subsist on radiation in the deserts and thus can grow slightly larger. The ypotryll, a close relative of the prehistoric hornless rhinoceros Chilotherium, takes this to the next level, its body being full of highly absorbent fat (most significantly around a camel-like hump and the beast's belly) that holds water as well as providing food. Though ypotryll will prefer eating plants (their primary food being salt bushes and abal) for both food and water they primarily subsist on their body fat. Ypotryll dwell in the Arabian Desert, being most common in Oman but being known from other Middle Eastern nations as well. It is believed that encounters with wild ypotryll that the knights made in the crusades made the animal known to the English, resulting in some families using it as a heraldic symbol. Why anyone would want to is unclear: though their massive size and vicious tusks make them very dangerous foes, their cantankerous nature doesn't exactly paint a good picture of anyone who uses them as their family's symbol. This same grumpiness leads them to snort and snarl at anything that comes close, and so the ypotryll is a solitary creature.

Name: Lamia
Scientific name: Eulamia caeruleum (blue true lamia)
Height: 1 meter
Length: 11 meters
Diet: Carnivore
Affiliation: Minor Kaiju
Lamiae are strange lizards known from the Greek grassland. They have convergently evolved with both humans and cobras, bearing human-like faces (for some reason that we have yet to decipher), venomous fangs, a long, muscular, constricting tail and a colourful hood used for display. Lamiae utilise this venom (which is paralysing and, if not treated, is ultimately fatal) for killing quarry, which mainly consists of deer and other similarly-sized animals. The lamia's method of attack is to sneak up on prey, leap on top of them and constrict them with their long, serpentine tails, holding them in place to deliver the venom. From there, the lamia may even eat their prey whilst they're still alive. These horrifying reptiles have a particular fixation on hunting adolescent or juvenile animals. Lamiae are an all-female species, rather like mares of Diomedes, and can reproduce asexually. They live in burrows, and are preyed on by the aforementioned mares as well as wolves, wyverns and alphyns. To deal with their predators, lamiae will utilise their venomous fangs and powerful tails in combat, but mainly rely on intimidation through their hoods and fleeing into their burrows. That said, their predators will often break into these burrows, drag them out by the scruffs of their necks and then rip out their throats and eat them.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Main Character Inspirations:
Crocotta: The crocotta and leucrocotta of Greek mythology and medieval bestiaries
Mare of Diomedes: The mares of Diomedes of Greek mythology
Hippocampus: The hippocampus of Greek mythology
Ypotryll: The ypotryll of medieval heraldry
Lamia: The mythical lamia (both the cannibal woman of Greek mythology and the snake-human hybrid of Medieval bestiaries)

Appearance inspirations:
Crocotta: Hyenas, traditional descriptions and depictions of the crocotta and my own imagination
Mare of Diomedes: Horses, horse skulls and my own imagination
Hippocampus: Horses, various tropical fish species and my own imagination
Ypotryll: Traditional descriptions of the ypotryll, Chilotherium, dromedary camels and my own imagination
Lamia: Lizards, humans, cobras, the Bestial Bestiary's depiction of the lamia and my own imagination

Bestial Bestiary belongs to
Godzilla and the Gotengo belong to Toho
I love the Bestial Bestiary's version of the lamia. It just combines the features of a woman and a snake in such a naturalistic way that it was actually the inspiration for me putting the lamia into AoK in the first place, though obviously I tried to go in a somewhat different direction here. Also, is it just me, or have I made the closed hood look like Princess Leia's hairstyle from the first Star Wars movie? Also of note, this is the second-to-last batch of Minor Kaiju cryptids.

Description
Name: Crocotta
Scientific name: Teratocrocuta loquitur (talking monstrous hyena)
Height: 2 meters
Length: 5 meters
Diet: Carnivore
Affiliation: Minor Kaiju
The crocotta is a derived hyena known from the savannah of Ethiopia and India. These powerful predators are exceptionally strong and cunning, utilising both their brute strength and their ability to mimic the sounds of other creatures to lure in prey and chase other creatures of their kills. Their vocal mimicry is highly advanced, and they can replicate anything from a lion's roar to a zebra's neigh to even gunshots. Using this, they control their prey and rivals to go exactly where they want them to, luring in quarry with a copy of their mating call before eating them and tricking predators into abandoning their kills through mimicking a pack of rival carnivores. That said, crocotta are oddly benevolent despite this sinister ability: they only eat what they need to and generally don't seem to want to eat humans. They do, however, greatly enjoy messing with us, and take pleasure in creeping out unfortunate people through mimicking the sounds of other predators or copying our superiors' voices to make us shout at them. However, it is of the upmost importance not to harm the environments the crocotta frequent, as they can use this ability to trick poachers, illegal loggers and other environment-harming criminals into shooting each other or lure them towards waiting packs of hungry predators. Crocottas mainly prey on zebra, warthogs, yale and aeternae, but due to their nature as solitary hunters they are hunted by lions and hyenas when times get tough and Nandi bears stalk them drought or not.

Name: Mare of Diomedes
Scientific name: Harpaequus diomedesi (Diomedes' predatory horse, after Diomedes, the legendary king of Thrace who kept some mares of Diomedes to tear apart his enemies)
Height: 3 meters
Length: 6.1 meters
Diet: Carnivore
Affiliation: Minor Kaiju
Mares of Diomedes are an all-female (they reproduce asexually) species of carnivorous horses known from the grassland of what was historically the kingdom of Thrace, being most common in Greece. Ravenous and highly aggressive, mares of Diomedes travel the land in small groups, and even in these there is much infighting due to all of the females seeking dominance and food (resulting in most mares of Diomedes bearing vicious scars all over their bodies even as foals). They have been known to strip their prey of flesh within seconds, and it is speculated that they may even eat the bones. Mares of Diomedes will generally eat anything that gets in their way, and they have even been known to team up en masse to fight Major Kaiju. That said, individual mares of Diomedes are far easier to handle, and frequently fall prey to larger Minor Kaiju such as wyverns.

Name: Hippocampus
Scientific name: Euhippocampus laetus (colourful true hippocampus)
Height: 5 meters
Length: 18.8 meters
Finspan: 9 meters
Diet: Herbivore
Affiliation: Minor Kaiju
Hippocampi are derived horses that inhabit the Mediterranean Sea. They live in pods like dolphins, but feed on seaweed and plankton rather than fish. Both males and females are brightly coloured, and it is believed that this bright colouration is meant to confuse predators when the hippocampi flee them. These unusual creatures are mostly peaceful, though will not hesitate to use their long, highly derived hooves to deliver swift, powerful strikes to predators (which mostly consist of sharks, Zasunek and other nomadic Major Kaiju who venture into the Mediterranean). Hippocampi seem to have history with Godzilla, possessing a deep respect for the King of the Monsters to the point of defending him against the Gotengo when Godzilla clashed with the machine over Mu. This is believed to stem from Godzilla killing Poseidon before his campaign alongside Typhon against the Olympians, as the sea god is believed to have enslaved the hippocampi and Godzilla killing him freed their species from the tyrannical Olympian's reign.

Name: Ypotryll
Scientific name: Liparotherium giganticus (gigantic fatty beast)
Height: 6 meters
Length: 22 meters
Diet: Herbivore
Affiliation: Minor Kaiju
Whilst most desert animals have adapted a tiny stature in order to survive, Kaiju have no need for such adaptations, as they are able to subsist on radiation in the deserts and thus can grow slightly larger. The ypotryll, a close relative of the prehistoric hornless rhinoceros Chilotherium, takes this to the next level, its body being full of highly absorbent fat (most significantly around a camel-like hump and the beast's belly) that holds water as well as providing food. Though ypotryll will prefer eating plants (their primary food being salt bushes and abal) for both food and water they primarily subsist on their body fat. Ypotryll dwell in the Arabian Desert, being most common in Oman but being known from other Middle Eastern nations as well. It is believed that encounters with wild ypotryll that the knights made in the crusades made the animal known to the English, resulting in some families using it as a heraldic symbol. Why anyone would want to is unclear: though their massive size and vicious tusks make them very dangerous foes, their cantankerous nature doesn't exactly paint a good picture of anyone who uses them as their family's symbol. This same grumpiness leads them to snort and snarl at anything that comes close, and so the ypotryll is a solitary creature.

Name: Lamia
Scientific name: Eulamia caeruleum (blue true lamia)
Height: 1 meter
Length: 11 meters
Diet: Carnivore
Affiliation: Minor Kaiju
Lamiae are strange lizards known from the Greek grassland. They have convergently evolved with both humans and cobras, bearing human-like faces (for some reason that we have yet to decipher), venomous fangs, a long, muscular, constricting tail and a colourful hood used for display. Lamiae utilise this venom (which is paralysing and, if not treated, is ultimately fatal) for killing quarry, which mainly consists of deer and other similarly-sized animals. The lamia's method of attack is to sneak up on prey, leap on top of them and constrict them with their long, serpentine tails, holding them in place to deliver the venom. From there, the lamia may even eat their prey whilst they're still alive. These horrifying reptiles have a particular fixation on hunting adolescent or juvenile animals. Lamiae are an all-female species, rather like mares of Diomedes, and can reproduce asexually. They live in burrows, and are preyed on by the aforementioned mares as well as wolves, wyverns and alphyns. To deal with their predators, lamiae will utilise their venomous fangs and powerful tails in combat, but mainly rely on intimidation through their hoods and fleeing into their burrows. That said, their predators will often break into these burrows, drag them out by the scruffs of their necks and then rip out their throats and eat them.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Main Character Inspirations:
Crocotta: The crocotta and leucrocotta of Greek mythology and medieval bestiaries
Mare of Diomedes: The mares of Diomedes of Greek mythology
Hippocampus: The hippocampus of Greek mythology
Ypotryll: The ypotryll of medieval heraldry
Lamia: The mythical lamia (both the cannibal woman of Greek mythology and the snake-human hybrid of Medieval bestiaries)

Appearance inspirations:
Crocotta: Hyenas, traditional descriptions and depictions of the crocotta and my own imagination
Mare of Diomedes: Horses, horse skulls and my own imagination
Hippocampus: Horses, various tropical fish species and my own imagination
Ypotryll: Traditional descriptions of the ypotryll, Chilotherium, dromedary camels and my own imagination
Lamia: Lizards, humans, cobras, the Bestial Bestiary's depiction of the lamia and my own imagination

Bestial Bestiary belongs to
Godzilla and the Gotengo belong to Toho
I love the Bestial Bestiary's version of the lamia. It just combines the features of a woman and a snake in such a naturalistic way that it was actually the inspiration for me putting the lamia into AoK in the first place, though obviously I tried to go in a somewhat different direction here. Also, is it just me, or have I made the closed hood look like Princess Leia's hairstyle from the first Star Wars movie? Also of note, this is the second-to-last batch of Minor Kaiju cryptids.