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Description
Back when I drew the Cave Basilisk I knew I wanted to draw their distant relatives from the swamps too - partially because I wanted to compare the species, and partially because I actually enjoyed very much drawing a lizard with way too many legs for some mystical reason XD So here is another proud member of the Basilisk family: the Swamp Basilisk. Also know as King Lizard.... which I'll elaborate later hehe, because there are layers to this name, and I honestly find this green fellow definitely lives up to it. But well, anyone who has been into Heroes of Might & Magic 3 as much as I have been in my childhood must be able to recognize this guy with their eyes closed - the Basilisk from the Fortress fraction. (In fact, both versions of the Basilisk, lesser: heroes.thelazy.net/wiki/images… and greater: heroes.thelazy.net/wiki/images… ) The coolest part however is that I came up with a way to have both of their "versions" as part of the same species while it still makes sense biologically, and not by just assigning one for male and another for female - which would have been obvious, but also rather boring and lame.
So buckle up, there's some neat fantasy bionerding ahead

Swamp Basilisk
(Basilicus viridis syn. B. regalis)

The Swamp Basilisks, as every other member of the family, are known as one of the most deadly reptiles in the lands they inhabit, thanks to their size, their speed and their deadly weapons alike. A paragon of F. Basilicidae, this species of Basilisk is the most famous and best known of them and the reason for their name. In Latin, Basilicus means "kingly", and they were often in the past called King Lizard. That name refers to both their appearance and their behavior.
In appearance the Swamp Basilisk is an enormous lizard with sleek, lustrous green skin, many legs and often times regal crests and frills, especially over the head. While the most characterizing frills on the head grow only in dominant males, they have a line of relatively small spike-like ornaments along the spine, sometimes also along the sides of the body, and a crest-like fin in the first section of the tail. Another, larger fin develops on the end of the tail and facilitates swimming as Swamp Basilisks, as their name also suggests, are tightly connected to water.

- The Swamp Basilisk is the species with the relatively longest body in the family, it being relatively slimmer and very agile. More than half of the body length is comprised by the tail.
- Swamp Basilisks also feature the highest average number of legs. While 6-legged Basilisks occur, individuals usually have between 8 and 12 legs, yet even 14-legged specimens have been seldom reported.
- As in all Basilisks, the number of legs defines how many front and hind pairs they have - either an even number of both, or if they have an odd number of pairs, the odd pair is always another pair of hind legs.
- Typically for the family, Swamp Basilisks are extremely fast, even if they cannot run for long. However, they are also excellent climbers, thanks to their many legs, and can often be seen lying in trees.
- The element of the Swamp Basilisk is doubtlessly water. Excellent swimmers, they move in a serpent-like manner in water and swim surprisingly fast when they are chasing prey.
- Aside from active hunting, they also often lay in ambush in the water, blended in the aquatic vegetation. Remarkably, they can lay on the bottom and wait in ambush for hours or even days without air because they have retained the ability to breathe through their skin underwater. While this form of breathing is not efficient enough during active movement, while waiting in ambush they suppress most of their vital functions thereby lowering their body's oxygen demand enough to make it possible for skin breathing to sustain their life.
- As all of their kin, the Swamp 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 the muscles. It's worth noting that the petrifying gaze of the Swamp Basilisk is comparatively much weaker than in their Cave cousins - and it mostly has the function to slow down the victim rather than completely immobilize it.
- Swamp Basilisks are famous for their venom - one of the fastest and most potent among all reptiles, rivalring the most deadly of snakes. They inject the venom with long fangs located on both jaws, which fold inside when the mouth is closed.
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 Swamp Basilisk is a large, dominant predator in the areas they inhabit. As mentioned, they are active hunters, capable of high-speed chase, although they certainly prefer to lay in ambush for the kill whenever possible. They hunt any animal large enough to justify the effort and as a rule they don't resort to carrion. While in their relations to other species they are a typical reptilian hunter, the Swamp Basilisk stands out with a sophisticated intraspecies organization and social structure, quite untypical for other reptiles. Male and female Basilisks live a substantially different life. The females are solitary, they wander independently or may settle in a given area if it's plentiful enough, yet even if they will attempt to chase other Basilisks from their vicinity, they are never strictly territorial. To the contrary, males are strongly territorial and their life is governed by sophisticated rules of dominance. Authority is everything, and it is defined by displayed masculinity (in the form of frill ornaments) and physical strength. Every male of sexual maturty strives to establish a territory by defeating any rivals and successfully defending the area against potential contestors. Success in battles rises testosterone levels which stimulates the development of the distinctive frill ornaments and increasingly vibrant coloration in them, therefore the ornaments in males are a physical manifestation of their social status. In males of substantial power, the frills on their head and tail grow intensely blue, then they develop darker markings, radiant under ultraviolet light, which is visible for these reptiles. However, the strong coloration - and especially the UV markings - are an effective challenge to other males in dominance and provoke them to fight. Therefore, prominent, strongly developed ornaments in a male are indicative of his rule. Inversely, males without a territory to dominate have little ornaments and are often indistinguishable from females. In them, low testosterone means they are also unable to reproduce.
When the male establishes his domination, he can mate with females passing through or resident in his territory. The female will choose a location to lay her eggs, but after that the male chases her away and takes care of his own brood himself instead. While he is taking care of the young, the male Basilisk will not mate with other females for as long as his progeny is around, sometimes for up to several years. He doesn't provide for the young, who hunt small animals and insects for a living since their hatching; however he defends them fiercely from predators and other Basilisks alike. Other males attempt to attack them whenever possible, but sometimes females may also try to sneak into the nesting ground and kill the young to force the male to mate again sooner thus creating progeny of their own with him. The male watches over the young for up to a few years, until they are big enough to take care of themselves. The females usually leave the brood during adolescence, shortly before their maturity, and start their own wandering life. Males tend to linger longer and often enter maturity under the supervision of their father. He tolerates and protects them for as long as they don't exhibit any signs of being sexually mature males, yet when their ornaments begin to develop, he will attack them unless they leave. Some males remain longer with their father for strategic reasons, using the protection of his power to their advantage to grow stronger, which suggests that they may have the ability to deliberately suppress their own sexual development until such a time comes they are physically ready to parttake in territorial battles. It is even speculated males may deliberately "conceal" their identity and live a female's life under the rule of a stronger male using the benefits of his protection, but avoiding his aggression by mimicking the appearance of the other gender. However that strategy has the drawback that in that state they would not be physically capable of reproduction due to their underdeveloped sexuality, yet potentially it can be a way for males to survive for a while when they are not able to obtain a territory of their own.
These peculiarities of the Basilisk social organization are one of the reasons why the mythical name of the creature - King Lizard - has stuck even nowadays. Many authors liken the life and customs of the male Swamp Basilisks to the rule of a king who brings up his own heirs by zealously defending them, yet doesn't let them usurp his throne for as long as he is capable of defending it. Interestingly, the ornaments of male Swamp Basilisks develop continuously and reach spectacular sizes in older individuals only. That indicates that their power, much like in actual monarchs, often tends to grow with their age, as well as the fact males remain active and physically strong until quite late in their life. Often times the male Basilisks die in battle to defend their territory when their strength only begins to fade due to old age.

Although their relations with other species are generally limited to the predator-prey kind of interaction, there is a curious other detail regarding the species' ecology. It is well known the Swamp Basilisk originates from the marshland forests of Lantania, yet they also can be found in the jungles of Heraldia and are in fact one of the monstrous creatures that Armandia is famous for. The reason for their presence is that they were introduced by the dzerz as part of their warfare with the lizardfolk for dominance over the Armandian territories. The dzerz are known for taming many fearsome jungle creatures, yet according to legend the Swamp Basilisk was the very first species they tamed as a battle beast against lizardfolk.

2B, technical pencil, fineliners, color pencils.
30 x 20 cm paper, time not quite known.

Biology of Ætheris

Description
Back when I drew the Cave Basilisk I knew I wanted to draw their distant relatives from the swamps too - partially because I wanted to compare the species, and partially because I actually enjoyed very much drawing a lizard with way too many legs for some mystical reason XD So here is another proud member of the Basilisk family: the Swamp Basilisk. Also know as King Lizard.... which I'll elaborate later hehe, because there are layers to this name, and I honestly find this green fellow definitely lives up to it. But well, anyone who has been into Heroes of Might & Magic 3 as much as I have been in my childhood must be able to recognize this guy with their eyes closed - the Basilisk from the Fortress fraction. (In fact, both versions of the Basilisk, lesser: heroes.thelazy.net/wiki/images… and greater: heroes.thelazy.net/wiki/images… ) The coolest part however is that I came up with a way to have both of their "versions" as part of the same species while it still makes sense biologically, and not by just assigning one for male and another for female - which would have been obvious, but also rather boring and lame.
So buckle up, there's some neat fantasy bionerding ahead

Swamp Basilisk
(Basilicus viridis syn. B. regalis)

The Swamp Basilisks, as every other member of the family, are known as one of the most deadly reptiles in the lands they inhabit, thanks to their size, their speed and their deadly weapons alike. A paragon of F. Basilicidae, this species of Basilisk is the most famous and best known of them and the reason for their name. In Latin, Basilicus means "kingly", and they were often in the past called King Lizard. That name refers to both their appearance and their behavior.
In appearance the Swamp Basilisk is an enormous lizard with sleek, lustrous green skin, many legs and often times regal crests and frills, especially over the head. While the most characterizing frills on the head grow only in dominant males, they have a line of relatively small spike-like ornaments along the spine, sometimes also along the sides of the body, and a crest-like fin in the first section of the tail. Another, larger fin develops on the end of the tail and facilitates swimming as Swamp Basilisks, as their name also suggests, are tightly connected to water.

- The Swamp Basilisk is the species with the relatively longest body in the family, it being relatively slimmer and very agile. More than half of the body length is comprised by the tail.
- Swamp Basilisks also feature the highest average number of legs. While 6-legged Basilisks occur, individuals usually have between 8 and 12 legs, yet even 14-legged specimens have been seldom reported.
- As in all Basilisks, the number of legs defines how many front and hind pairs they have - either an even number of both, or if they have an odd number of pairs, the odd pair is always another pair of hind legs.
- Typically for the family, Swamp Basilisks are extremely fast, even if they cannot run for long. However, they are also excellent climbers, thanks to their many legs, and can often be seen lying in trees.
- The element of the Swamp Basilisk is doubtlessly water. Excellent swimmers, they move in a serpent-like manner in water and swim surprisingly fast when they are chasing prey.
- Aside from active hunting, they also often lay in ambush in the water, blended in the aquatic vegetation. Remarkably, they can lay on the bottom and wait in ambush for hours or even days without air because they have retained the ability to breathe through their skin underwater. While this form of breathing is not efficient enough during active movement, while waiting in ambush they suppress most of their vital functions thereby lowering their body's oxygen demand enough to make it possible for skin breathing to sustain their life.
- As all of their kin, the Swamp 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 the muscles. It's worth noting that the petrifying gaze of the Swamp Basilisk is comparatively much weaker than in their Cave cousins - and it mostly has the function to slow down the victim rather than completely immobilize it.
- Swamp Basilisks are famous for their venom - one of the fastest and most potent among all reptiles, rivalring the most deadly of snakes. They inject the venom with long fangs located on both jaws, which fold inside when the mouth is closed.
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 Swamp Basilisk is a large, dominant predator in the areas they inhabit. As mentioned, they are active hunters, capable of high-speed chase, although they certainly prefer to lay in ambush for the kill whenever possible. They hunt any animal large enough to justify the effort and as a rule they don't resort to carrion. While in their relations to other species they are a typical reptilian hunter, the Swamp Basilisk stands out with a sophisticated intraspecies organization and social structure, quite untypical for other reptiles. Male and female Basilisks live a substantially different life. The females are solitary, they wander independently or may settle in a given area if it's plentiful enough, yet even if they will attempt to chase other Basilisks from their vicinity, they are never strictly territorial. To the contrary, males are strongly territorial and their life is governed by sophisticated rules of dominance. Authority is everything, and it is defined by displayed masculinity (in the form of frill ornaments) and physical strength. Every male of sexual maturty strives to establish a territory by defeating any rivals and successfully defending the area against potential contestors. Success in battles rises testosterone levels which stimulates the development of the distinctive frill ornaments and increasingly vibrant coloration in them, therefore the ornaments in males are a physical manifestation of their social status. In males of substantial power, the frills on their head and tail grow intensely blue, then they develop darker markings, radiant under ultraviolet light, which is visible for these reptiles. However, the strong coloration - and especially the UV markings - are an effective challenge to other males in dominance and provoke them to fight. Therefore, prominent, strongly developed ornaments in a male are indicative of his rule. Inversely, males without a territory to dominate have little ornaments and are often indistinguishable from females. In them, low testosterone means they are also unable to reproduce.
When the male establishes his domination, he can mate with females passing through or resident in his territory. The female will choose a location to lay her eggs, but after that the male chases her away and takes care of his own brood himself instead. While he is taking care of the young, the male Basilisk will not mate with other females for as long as his progeny is around, sometimes for up to several years. He doesn't provide for the young, who hunt small animals and insects for a living since their hatching; however he defends them fiercely from predators and other Basilisks alike. Other males attempt to attack them whenever possible, but sometimes females may also try to sneak into the nesting ground and kill the young to force the male to mate again sooner thus creating progeny of their own with him. The male watches over the young for up to a few years, until they are big enough to take care of themselves. The females usually leave the brood during adolescence, shortly before their maturity, and start their own wandering life. Males tend to linger longer and often enter maturity under the supervision of their father. He tolerates and protects them for as long as they don't exhibit any signs of being sexually mature males, yet when their ornaments begin to develop, he will attack them unless they leave. Some males remain longer with their father for strategic reasons, using the protection of his power to their advantage to grow stronger, which suggests that they may have the ability to deliberately suppress their own sexual development until such a time comes they are physically ready to parttake in territorial battles. It is even speculated males may deliberately "conceal" their identity and live a female's life under the rule of a stronger male using the benefits of his protection, but avoiding his aggression by mimicking the appearance of the other gender. However that strategy has the drawback that in that state they would not be physically capable of reproduction due to their underdeveloped sexuality, yet potentially it can be a way for males to survive for a while when they are not able to obtain a territory of their own.
These peculiarities of the Basilisk social organization are one of the reasons why the mythical name of the creature - King Lizard - has stuck even nowadays. Many authors liken the life and customs of the male Swamp Basilisks to the rule of a king who brings up his own heirs by zealously defending them, yet doesn't let them usurp his throne for as long as he is capable of defending it. Interestingly, the ornaments of male Swamp Basilisks develop continuously and reach spectacular sizes in older individuals only. That indicates that their power, much like in actual monarchs, often tends to grow with their age, as well as the fact males remain active and physically strong until quite late in their life. Often times the male Basilisks die in battle to defend their territory when their strength only begins to fade due to old age.

Although their relations with other species are generally limited to the predator-prey kind of interaction, there is a curious other detail regarding the species' ecology. It is well known the Swamp Basilisk originates from the marshland forests of Lantania, yet they also can be found in the jungles of Heraldia and are in fact one of the monstrous creatures that Armandia is famous for. The reason for their presence is that they were introduced by the dzerz as part of their warfare with the lizardfolk for dominance over the Armandian territories. The dzerz are known for taming many fearsome jungle creatures, yet according to legend the Swamp Basilisk was the very first species they tamed as a battle beast against lizardfolk.

2B, technical pencil, fineliners, color pencils.
30 x 20 cm paper, time not quite known.

Biology of Ætheris