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Description
Time to take a little break from the serious dragon stuff and get acquainted with something else. You know, the other day, as I was feeling down and weary, I thought I need something nice and pleasant to take my mind off of things. So I drew this guy. Nice and pleasant. No, that's not irony. I love my deadly beasties. So meet the Basilisk - my version of them anyway. No, I do not like the view that the Basilisk is a giant snake. I prefer a giant lizard with a ridiculous amount of legs, obviously XD Once again, the original inspiration for the group of species as a whole is from Heroes 3, but the idea for this particular one comes from one of the D&D iterations (namely, this critter: www.dndadventure.com/wp-conten… ) .... Well, needed some anatomy fixing of course. I made mine more genuinely lizard-like and of course I wrote up the species as I see fit. Because I can.

By the way, (minor spoiler alert) this many-legged beauty appears briefly in the novel.... much to the "delight" of the characters. Here, I've drawn the beast accordingly to my description in the book.

Cave Basilisk
Petrobasilicus monstrosus

The Cave Basilisk is one of the most renowned and dreaded beasts of the deep underground, in fact one of the subterranean terrors which cast fear of the deep in the land-dwellers and make the caverns of our world notoriously dangerous. Often dubbed a synonym of certain death, this monstrous reptile is one of the largest and most deadly underground predators ever known. Despite their huge size, the Cave Basilisks are able to blend seamlessly in their natural environment and remain perfectly unnoticed until it is by far too late. Their incredible speed and petrifying gaze is what makes them a beast who, once encountered, is likely to be the last thing you'll ever see. But lets examine their remarkable features in more detail:
- Thick hide typical for the genus, hardened and difficult to penetrate by fangs and weapons. It grows spikes over the dorsal side of the body, which help the lizard blend in with the stalactites in the environment.
- The number of legs may vary - 6, 8 or rarely 10. As in all Basilisks, there are either an even number of front and hind legs, or if they are an odd number of pairs, the odd pair is always of hind legs.
- These Basilisks are extremely fast runners, but they cannot chase prey for long. They usually lie in ambush, stalking among the cave formations. With their grappling claws, they can move equally well on the ground, walls or even the ceiling.
- The Cave Basilisks have very strong olfaction, by which they find prey and identify foes. They also have a sense for warmth, which isn't as keen and accurate, yet they will follow it unconditionally - they hunt warm-blooded prey the most.
- Their vision is very poor, but the eyes of the Cave Basilisk emit a warm, amber glow. It is believed that in their tenebrous environment it reflexively attracts the gaze of the victim, exposing it to the Basilisk's most deadly weapon.
- As all of their kin, the Cave Basiliks possess a petrifying gaze. (Spoiler alert.) While they cannot really turn a victim to stone, direct eye contact sends a surge of terror that literally chills the victim to the bone, draining the warmth out of its body and paralyzing it completely. Presumably it is because of that ability that they perfer to hunt warm-blooded prey - because the impact of that ability is much stronger and more efficient on them compared to cold-blooded animals.
- Cave Basilisks are believed to grow indefinitely for as long as they live and potentially may be able to reach gigantic measures.
The excessive and variable number of legs is a feature typical for the entire Basilisk family. While it has befuddled science for centuries, nowadays we know it is a result of selective tissue multiplication which occurs early in the embryonal development (which have been well studied in Swamp Basilisks). The process is not unlike the phenomenon widely used in the cultivation of plants where increased quantity of genes may result in likewise purely quantitative changes, such as larger fruits, more seeds, etc. However, normally such genetic variations are lethal in animals and are normal for plants only, who are by far more versatile genetically. The number of legs in Basilisks is a rare evolutionary acquisition as an exception to that rule.

The Cave Basilisk is a strictly solitary creature - in fact there is no known documented incident of the encounter between two of these animals and it is unknown what would happen when such a meeting occurs. Of course, the fact that very few who have seen them in person have ever lived to tell the tale expectedly hinders the process of studying the species, therefore little is known about their way of life and habits in general, aside from their notorious hunting techniques. It is believed that they spend most of their time wandering the underground in search for prey and in stalking to catch it. Little is known about their physiology too, but presumably they can shut down most of their vital processes and survive without food for extensive periods of time. Nevertheless, with their size and relatively active manner of hunting they need energy to sustain themselves and although they can grow indefinitely, the availability of food is likely a limiting factor for their growth. Some scientists believe that starvation due to overgrowth is a common cause of death in the species, much more likely to eliminate elder individuals rather than old age.
Being sufficiently deadly and mostly lacking natural competition, the Cave Basilisk is a rather simple-minded creature. Finding prey is their major concern and they will not distinguish between different creatures other than whether they are big enough to be worth the effort of chasing them or not. Any ecological interactions of the species with others are marginally basic, determined entirely by the laws of predation and competition. An elder, grown up Cave Basilisk has little to fear, whereas the younger individuals may be hunted by various other subterranean predators. In fact, many mammalian carnivores such as the Cave Lynx and the Behemoth are known to kill young Basilisks even without the need for food, probably to eliminate a future competitor who would be far too dangerous. It is worth noting that while young, the petrifying gaze of the Basilisk is not yet developed and this makes them much more vulnerable until they reach the age of maturity. Other than that, the only known vertebrate who wouldn't hesitate to attack a grown up Cave Basilisk are the Troglodyte tribes. Due to the fact these creatures are completely blind, they are insusceptible to the Basilisk's most dreaded weapon.

The origin of the Cave Basilisk is unknown. Furthermore, their manner of distribution across their areal is also unknown. Their subterranean habitat is by far more fragmented than the open land and unlike many other large cave species the Cave Basilisk has never been seen out of the caves, migrating from one cave system to another. Regardless of that, they have been reported across many different areas on at least 4 different continents - Heraldia, Arachys, Enderia and Pangen; in fact, they are often regarded as possible to encounter in any cave that is deep enough, regardless of its geographic location.
How have they spread in such wide range is a complete mystery. A number theories have been developed on the matter, each more fantastical than the previous, varying from a hypothetical ability of the Basilisk to reach new undergrounds by digging across hundreds of miles of subterranean rock or even by "crawling" through self-made trans-dimensional tunnels; through the mythology-based notion that Basilisks don't naturally reproduce or migrate, but are rather "given birth to" by the depths of the Earth itself; to the notion that what we know as the Cave Basilisk is only the late stage of life of a hypothetical magma-dwelling reptilian creature living in the upper layers of the planet's mantle, who, by the end of their life, crawl out of their magmic home and into the deepest cavern systems. While each of these theories, however unlikely, may explain the mysterious distribution of Cave Basilisks across the globe, none of them has ever been proven.

2B, technical pencil, fineliner, polychromos color pencils.
Actually, come to think of it, I've nearly used only one color in the whole picture

Biology of Ætheris

Description
Time to take a little break from the serious dragon stuff and get acquainted with something else. You know, the other day, as I was feeling down and weary, I thought I need something nice and pleasant to take my mind off of things. So I drew this guy. Nice and pleasant. No, that's not irony. I love my deadly beasties. So meet the Basilisk - my version of them anyway. No, I do not like the view that the Basilisk is a giant snake. I prefer a giant lizard with a ridiculous amount of legs, obviously XD Once again, the original inspiration for the group of species as a whole is from Heroes 3, but the idea for this particular one comes from one of the D&D iterations (namely, this critter: www.dndadventure.com/wp-conten… ) .... Well, needed some anatomy fixing of course. I made mine more genuinely lizard-like and of course I wrote up the species as I see fit. Because I can.

By the way, (minor spoiler alert) this many-legged beauty appears briefly in the novel.... much to the "delight" of the characters. Here, I've drawn the beast accordingly to my description in the book.

Cave Basilisk
Petrobasilicus monstrosus

The Cave Basilisk is one of the most renowned and dreaded beasts of the deep underground, in fact one of the subterranean terrors which cast fear of the deep in the land-dwellers and make the caverns of our world notoriously dangerous. Often dubbed a synonym of certain death, this monstrous reptile is one of the largest and most deadly underground predators ever known. Despite their huge size, the Cave Basilisks are able to blend seamlessly in their natural environment and remain perfectly unnoticed until it is by far too late. Their incredible speed and petrifying gaze is what makes them a beast who, once encountered, is likely to be the last thing you'll ever see. But lets examine their remarkable features in more detail:
- Thick hide typical for the genus, hardened and difficult to penetrate by fangs and weapons. It grows spikes over the dorsal side of the body, which help the lizard blend in with the stalactites in the environment.
- The number of legs may vary - 6, 8 or rarely 10. As in all Basilisks, there are either an even number of front and hind legs, or if they are an odd number of pairs, the odd pair is always of hind legs.
- These Basilisks are extremely fast runners, but they cannot chase prey for long. They usually lie in ambush, stalking among the cave formations. With their grappling claws, they can move equally well on the ground, walls or even the ceiling.
- The Cave Basilisks have very strong olfaction, by which they find prey and identify foes. They also have a sense for warmth, which isn't as keen and accurate, yet they will follow it unconditionally - they hunt warm-blooded prey the most.
- Their vision is very poor, but the eyes of the Cave Basilisk emit a warm, amber glow. It is believed that in their tenebrous environment it reflexively attracts the gaze of the victim, exposing it to the Basilisk's most deadly weapon.
- As all of their kin, the Cave Basiliks possess a petrifying gaze. (Spoiler alert.) While they cannot really turn a victim to stone, direct eye contact sends a surge of terror that literally chills the victim to the bone, draining the warmth out of its body and paralyzing it completely. Presumably it is because of that ability that they perfer to hunt warm-blooded prey - because the impact of that ability is much stronger and more efficient on them compared to cold-blooded animals.
- Cave Basilisks are believed to grow indefinitely for as long as they live and potentially may be able to reach gigantic measures.
The excessive and variable number of legs is a feature typical for the entire Basilisk family. While it has befuddled science for centuries, nowadays we know it is a result of selective tissue multiplication which occurs early in the embryonal development (which have been well studied in Swamp Basilisks). The process is not unlike the phenomenon widely used in the cultivation of plants where increased quantity of genes may result in likewise purely quantitative changes, such as larger fruits, more seeds, etc. However, normally such genetic variations are lethal in animals and are normal for plants only, who are by far more versatile genetically. The number of legs in Basilisks is a rare evolutionary acquisition as an exception to that rule.

The Cave Basilisk is a strictly solitary creature - in fact there is no known documented incident of the encounter between two of these animals and it is unknown what would happen when such a meeting occurs. Of course, the fact that very few who have seen them in person have ever lived to tell the tale expectedly hinders the process of studying the species, therefore little is known about their way of life and habits in general, aside from their notorious hunting techniques. It is believed that they spend most of their time wandering the underground in search for prey and in stalking to catch it. Little is known about their physiology too, but presumably they can shut down most of their vital processes and survive without food for extensive periods of time. Nevertheless, with their size and relatively active manner of hunting they need energy to sustain themselves and although they can grow indefinitely, the availability of food is likely a limiting factor for their growth. Some scientists believe that starvation due to overgrowth is a common cause of death in the species, much more likely to eliminate elder individuals rather than old age.
Being sufficiently deadly and mostly lacking natural competition, the Cave Basilisk is a rather simple-minded creature. Finding prey is their major concern and they will not distinguish between different creatures other than whether they are big enough to be worth the effort of chasing them or not. Any ecological interactions of the species with others are marginally basic, determined entirely by the laws of predation and competition. An elder, grown up Cave Basilisk has little to fear, whereas the younger individuals may be hunted by various other subterranean predators. In fact, many mammalian carnivores such as the Cave Lynx and the Behemoth are known to kill young Basilisks even without the need for food, probably to eliminate a future competitor who would be far too dangerous. It is worth noting that while young, the petrifying gaze of the Basilisk is not yet developed and this makes them much more vulnerable until they reach the age of maturity. Other than that, the only known vertebrate who wouldn't hesitate to attack a grown up Cave Basilisk are the Troglodyte tribes. Due to the fact these creatures are completely blind, they are insusceptible to the Basilisk's most dreaded weapon.

The origin of the Cave Basilisk is unknown. Furthermore, their manner of distribution across their areal is also unknown. Their subterranean habitat is by far more fragmented than the open land and unlike many other large cave species the Cave Basilisk has never been seen out of the caves, migrating from one cave system to another. Regardless of that, they have been reported across many different areas on at least 4 different continents - Heraldia, Arachys, Enderia and Pangen; in fact, they are often regarded as possible to encounter in any cave that is deep enough, regardless of its geographic location.
How have they spread in such wide range is a complete mystery. A number theories have been developed on the matter, each more fantastical than the previous, varying from a hypothetical ability of the Basilisk to reach new undergrounds by digging across hundreds of miles of subterranean rock or even by "crawling" through self-made trans-dimensional tunnels; through the mythology-based notion that Basilisks don't naturally reproduce or migrate, but are rather "given birth to" by the depths of the Earth itself; to the notion that what we know as the Cave Basilisk is only the late stage of life of a hypothetical magma-dwelling reptilian creature living in the upper layers of the planet's mantle, who, by the end of their life, crawl out of their magmic home and into the deepest cavern systems. While each of these theories, however unlikely, may explain the mysterious distribution of Cave Basilisks across the globe, none of them has ever been proven.

2B, technical pencil, fineliner, polychromos color pencils.
Actually, come to think of it, I've nearly used only one color in the whole picture

Biology of Ætheris