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Description
DISCLAIMER: This design is no longer canon to any of my current projects. For archival purposes, the original description for this illustration can be found below.

ORIGINAL POSTING DATE: Jan 5, 2012

----------

Ravager
Ganeotherium sobekii ("Sobek's gluttonous beast", from Latin ganeo[gluttonous]+Greek therio[beast]+Sobek[Egyptian crocodile god])
Clan: Water/Darkness
Height: 5 ft at hip (1.524 m)
Length: 35 ft (10.668 m)
Weight: 5.5 tons (4.9895 metric tons)
Lifespan: 100-110 years
Diet: Carnivorous
Range: Editorial Savanna (Yonder)
Offense/Defense: Sharp teeth, lashing tail, armor plates and spikes
Status: Endangered
Danger Level: Medium to High- Proceed With Caution

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Division: Archosauria
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Theropoda
Superfamily: Abelisauroidea
Family: Noasauridae
Subfamily: Kamikisaurinae
Tribe: Ganeotheriumini
Genus: Ganeotherium
Species: G. sobekii

It has become almost a philosophy among animals: where there is water, there is life. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Editorial Savannah, where animals migrate long distances in search of water, along with the food that comes with it. Some rely on it for plants - others, as grounds for battle. For the hadrosaurs that migrate across these plains every year, every river is a valley of death, full to the brim with scaly horrors ready to greet them with open jaws.
There is a name for the biggest of these predators: the Ravager, short for Sobek's Ravager. With its scaly armor and bipedal gait, it is easy to infer that this river monster is an abelisaur, uncomfortably reminiscent of the carnotaurs. However, it is a noasaur, but one with a rather complicated history and a unique style of living most unlike its relatives.

Ravagers evolved from ancestral Torpoons, a type of amphibious noasaur. While some specialized as small fish-hunters, others became ambush predators, lying in wait for prey at the water's edge. Because they did not need to swim fast, they retained their protective scutes, which developed into armored plates. Ravagers and their relatives evolved separately from their kamikisaurid relatives some 8 million years ago, and are only native to the Editorial Savanna - suggesting that this land may have been an island at one point. However, once the island connected to the mainland, mainstream predators decimated the local fauna. The lion-sized ancestral ganeotheres were reasonably good hunters, but they could not compete with crocodilians, and the family eventually started to go into a steady decline. The Ravager's saving grace was probably its sheer size - at 35 feet long and 5.5 tons in weight, it is not only the largest noasaurid and Yonder's largest freshwater predator, but also the last of the ganeotherid branch of the Kamikisaurinae family.
One other advantage that the Ravager has over other predators is its defensive armor. Once it moved onto land, it found, to its dismay, that there were other meat-eaters that could easily overpower it if it didn't evolve a top-notch security system. If it weren't for its armor, carnotaurs such as the Kasai could easily destroy it with little effort. The bony plates on its back therefore evolved into the ultimate suit of armor: The neck, back, and tail are protected by overlapping plates sheathed in horn, forming the basis for flattened spikes, while the legs are covered in rings of a similar material. It has no armor on its belly or under its chin; when resting or threatened, it flops down onto its belly, presenting an impenetrable and utterly inedible shield of horn to any potential enemies.
As a primarly aquatic hunter, the Ravager is designed to subdue and hold prey rather than kill it outright. Its body is low-slung but very muscular, and its jaws are relatively weak for a killer dinosaur. However, it does not rely on the force of its bite to hold on, because it doesn't need to. Its skull is built rather like that of a python, since its lower jaw can dislocate and is used to grip and swallow prey larger than its head. Its upper jaw is its prize weapon; its teeth are built for grabbing and tearing instead of direct slicing as in other abelisaurs. The upper teeth are reinforced, hooked, and serrated, and once they plunge into the flesh of a victim, there is no escape.
With jaws that can drag down heavy animals and swallow victims whole, the Ravager would be as dangerous a land predator as any other abelisaur, but for one critical disadvantage: it is excruciatingly slow. Its short legs are adapted exclusively to hold its body weight just over the ground, and its body armor is so heavy that it can only top at about 4 to 5 miles per hour at the very maximum. Thus, on solid land, it is laughably incompetent as a hunter, for herbivores simply gallop away when it approaches. Therefore, it has developed not as a fast-moving predator, but as a slow-moving scavenger. Its forelimbs have vanished completely - shoulder girdle, bones, claws, muscles, and all - while its legs are jointed to lift the body straight upwards off the ground and lumber forward at its own pace. It bothers little with smaller hunters, even though they often arrive at carcasses before it does. But they can only tear off strips of flesh, and don't process all parts of a carcass. The Ravager does things differently, using its unhingeable jaws to swallow its meals whole. Its stomach acids, with a pH of 1.0, are the most acidic of any creature, allowing it to digest every last bite, even bones and hair. Once it has eaten its fill, it rests for several days to digest its meal. Gregarious by nature, Ravagers often gather in groups to take apart larger carcasses, and often squat in the sun together, communicating through constant belching. As they bask in the sun, other animals show no fear of them during this period, and many even rest in proximity to them, often sitting right next to or even on top of them.

During the dry season, the Ravager is at its most docile, devouring the carcasses of animals that have perished from heat or thirst. In the wet season, however, it is an entirely different story - at least three feet of water is all it takes to turn this slow-moving evolutionary embarassment into the ultimate freshwater killing machine. Thirsty herbivores flock to the refreshing water in huge numbers, and migrate over the rivers to reach the literally greener grass on the other side. This is what the Ravagers have been waiting for. As an herbivore splashes into the water, it neither sees nor hears the giant noasaur gliding towards it, tucking its legs back against its body for greater speed and sculling along with its powerful tail. When its target least expects it, the Ravager explodes out of the water, rolling its lips and gums back to expose its horrid teeth. If it can get a grip on the prey's muzzle or neck, the rest will be easy. Once it grabs hold of its victim, the Ravager reverses at maximum speed, preventing the prey from surfacing and turning the surrounding water red with its blood. A drowned meal will either be ripped apart in this way or be stowed on the river bottom until the meat begins to pickle. Often, one large herbivore will be more than enough to sustain a single Ravager, so they frequently attack a single meal in groups, tearing it apart with numerous deadly bites.
Ravagers do not compete indiscriminately during the wet season. On and off, they form teams - they don't recognize family relationships, but they do have a sense of community, and band together on occasions that would result in violent conflict in other abelisaurs. Larger animals have the first priority both in terms of feeding and breeding, and smaller ones usually back down. Equally sized individuals do exchange blows frequently, but their armor is so impervious to even their own teeth that they merely leave dents or scratches, and the conflicts are usually resolved through reconciliation rather than fights to the death. Breeding, likewise, is not very ritualized, with each male breeding with as many females as possible. Only females take care of the young. A riverbank may soon have around a dozen unkempt mounds of rotting vegetation, each housing fifteen to twenty eggs at a time. These hatch in two to three weeks, and the females carry the seven-inch chicks in their mouths to the safety of riverside pools. The chicks are faster than their parents and hunt riverside wildlife such as birds and insects, and it takes them twenty years to grow to full size, during which they gradually move on to larger animals and after five or six years, the dry season's first fetid carcasses.
The Ravager is a fearsome hunter in one season, a docile scavenger the next. It has almost no enemies in its freshwater environment, except for one. In recent years, Ravagers have become increasingly and illegally poached for their hides and dermal plates, which are used to create quality armor and textile goods. The long time it takes for them to grow to maturity does not help, and many juveniles are also enslaved as exotic pets for several years, rather than as combat beasts, before being abandoned and killed. With all these factors hounding the Ravager from all sides, it is not surprising that there are only around 5,000 of them surviving today. So it seems that the last of the ganeotheres, the greatest freshwater predator of the continent, is facing increasing pressure and extreme danger from Occasus's one true top predator: man.

Violet says: "Here's a bright idea that's been taking the market by storm in the past couple of years: Ravager farms! Yes, you heard me right, it is now possible to head over to your local ranch and buy a ganeothere of your very own, though at a very hefty price last I've checked. These giants were initially bred for the battlefield, because their armor and insane physical strength more than make up for their slowness, but they've found their way into other industries as well - the livestock business in particular. The leather and bone plates are the most obvious boons, but some rangers also sell them for their meat as well. Personally, I find Ravager flesh quite savory, rather like frog but without the annoying little bones, but I've only seen hatchlings and juveniles on the silver platter. I'm not surprised, since the adults are not only way too big to cook, but their armor plates also make them nigh impossible to skin!"

Description
DISCLAIMER: This design is no longer canon to any of my current projects. For archival purposes, the original description for this illustration can be found below.

ORIGINAL POSTING DATE: Jan 5, 2012

----------

Ravager
Ganeotherium sobekii ("Sobek's gluttonous beast", from Latin ganeo[gluttonous]+Greek therio[beast]+Sobek[Egyptian crocodile god])
Clan: Water/Darkness
Height: 5 ft at hip (1.524 m)
Length: 35 ft (10.668 m)
Weight: 5.5 tons (4.9895 metric tons)
Lifespan: 100-110 years
Diet: Carnivorous
Range: Editorial Savanna (Yonder)
Offense/Defense: Sharp teeth, lashing tail, armor plates and spikes
Status: Endangered
Danger Level: Medium to High- Proceed With Caution

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Division: Archosauria
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Theropoda
Superfamily: Abelisauroidea
Family: Noasauridae
Subfamily: Kamikisaurinae
Tribe: Ganeotheriumini
Genus: Ganeotherium
Species: G. sobekii

It has become almost a philosophy among animals: where there is water, there is life. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Editorial Savannah, where animals migrate long distances in search of water, along with the food that comes with it. Some rely on it for plants - others, as grounds for battle. For the hadrosaurs that migrate across these plains every year, every river is a valley of death, full to the brim with scaly horrors ready to greet them with open jaws.
There is a name for the biggest of these predators: the Ravager, short for Sobek's Ravager. With its scaly armor and bipedal gait, it is easy to infer that this river monster is an abelisaur, uncomfortably reminiscent of the carnotaurs. However, it is a noasaur, but one with a rather complicated history and a unique style of living most unlike its relatives.

Ravagers evolved from ancestral Torpoons, a type of amphibious noasaur. While some specialized as small fish-hunters, others became ambush predators, lying in wait for prey at the water's edge. Because they did not need to swim fast, they retained their protective scutes, which developed into armored plates. Ravagers and their relatives evolved separately from their kamikisaurid relatives some 8 million years ago, and are only native to the Editorial Savanna - suggesting that this land may have been an island at one point. However, once the island connected to the mainland, mainstream predators decimated the local fauna. The lion-sized ancestral ganeotheres were reasonably good hunters, but they could not compete with crocodilians, and the family eventually started to go into a steady decline. The Ravager's saving grace was probably its sheer size - at 35 feet long and 5.5 tons in weight, it is not only the largest noasaurid and Yonder's largest freshwater predator, but also the last of the ganeotherid branch of the Kamikisaurinae family.
One other advantage that the Ravager has over other predators is its defensive armor. Once it moved onto land, it found, to its dismay, that there were other meat-eaters that could easily overpower it if it didn't evolve a top-notch security system. If it weren't for its armor, carnotaurs such as the Kasai could easily destroy it with little effort. The bony plates on its back therefore evolved into the ultimate suit of armor: The neck, back, and tail are protected by overlapping plates sheathed in horn, forming the basis for flattened spikes, while the legs are covered in rings of a similar material. It has no armor on its belly or under its chin; when resting or threatened, it flops down onto its belly, presenting an impenetrable and utterly inedible shield of horn to any potential enemies.
As a primarly aquatic hunter, the Ravager is designed to subdue and hold prey rather than kill it outright. Its body is low-slung but very muscular, and its jaws are relatively weak for a killer dinosaur. However, it does not rely on the force of its bite to hold on, because it doesn't need to. Its skull is built rather like that of a python, since its lower jaw can dislocate and is used to grip and swallow prey larger than its head. Its upper jaw is its prize weapon; its teeth are built for grabbing and tearing instead of direct slicing as in other abelisaurs. The upper teeth are reinforced, hooked, and serrated, and once they plunge into the flesh of a victim, there is no escape.
With jaws that can drag down heavy animals and swallow victims whole, the Ravager would be as dangerous a land predator as any other abelisaur, but for one critical disadvantage: it is excruciatingly slow. Its short legs are adapted exclusively to hold its body weight just over the ground, and its body armor is so heavy that it can only top at about 4 to 5 miles per hour at the very maximum. Thus, on solid land, it is laughably incompetent as a hunter, for herbivores simply gallop away when it approaches. Therefore, it has developed not as a fast-moving predator, but as a slow-moving scavenger. Its forelimbs have vanished completely - shoulder girdle, bones, claws, muscles, and all - while its legs are jointed to lift the body straight upwards off the ground and lumber forward at its own pace. It bothers little with smaller hunters, even though they often arrive at carcasses before it does. But they can only tear off strips of flesh, and don't process all parts of a carcass. The Ravager does things differently, using its unhingeable jaws to swallow its meals whole. Its stomach acids, with a pH of 1.0, are the most acidic of any creature, allowing it to digest every last bite, even bones and hair. Once it has eaten its fill, it rests for several days to digest its meal. Gregarious by nature, Ravagers often gather in groups to take apart larger carcasses, and often squat in the sun together, communicating through constant belching. As they bask in the sun, other animals show no fear of them during this period, and many even rest in proximity to them, often sitting right next to or even on top of them.

During the dry season, the Ravager is at its most docile, devouring the carcasses of animals that have perished from heat or thirst. In the wet season, however, it is an entirely different story - at least three feet of water is all it takes to turn this slow-moving evolutionary embarassment into the ultimate freshwater killing machine. Thirsty herbivores flock to the refreshing water in huge numbers, and migrate over the rivers to reach the literally greener grass on the other side. This is what the Ravagers have been waiting for. As an herbivore splashes into the water, it neither sees nor hears the giant noasaur gliding towards it, tucking its legs back against its body for greater speed and sculling along with its powerful tail. When its target least expects it, the Ravager explodes out of the water, rolling its lips and gums back to expose its horrid teeth. If it can get a grip on the prey's muzzle or neck, the rest will be easy. Once it grabs hold of its victim, the Ravager reverses at maximum speed, preventing the prey from surfacing and turning the surrounding water red with its blood. A drowned meal will either be ripped apart in this way or be stowed on the river bottom until the meat begins to pickle. Often, one large herbivore will be more than enough to sustain a single Ravager, so they frequently attack a single meal in groups, tearing it apart with numerous deadly bites.
Ravagers do not compete indiscriminately during the wet season. On and off, they form teams - they don't recognize family relationships, but they do have a sense of community, and band together on occasions that would result in violent conflict in other abelisaurs. Larger animals have the first priority both in terms of feeding and breeding, and smaller ones usually back down. Equally sized individuals do exchange blows frequently, but their armor is so impervious to even their own teeth that they merely leave dents or scratches, and the conflicts are usually resolved through reconciliation rather than fights to the death. Breeding, likewise, is not very ritualized, with each male breeding with as many females as possible. Only females take care of the young. A riverbank may soon have around a dozen unkempt mounds of rotting vegetation, each housing fifteen to twenty eggs at a time. These hatch in two to three weeks, and the females carry the seven-inch chicks in their mouths to the safety of riverside pools. The chicks are faster than their parents and hunt riverside wildlife such as birds and insects, and it takes them twenty years to grow to full size, during which they gradually move on to larger animals and after five or six years, the dry season's first fetid carcasses.
The Ravager is a fearsome hunter in one season, a docile scavenger the next. It has almost no enemies in its freshwater environment, except for one. In recent years, Ravagers have become increasingly and illegally poached for their hides and dermal plates, which are used to create quality armor and textile goods. The long time it takes for them to grow to maturity does not help, and many juveniles are also enslaved as exotic pets for several years, rather than as combat beasts, before being abandoned and killed. With all these factors hounding the Ravager from all sides, it is not surprising that there are only around 5,000 of them surviving today. So it seems that the last of the ganeotheres, the greatest freshwater predator of the continent, is facing increasing pressure and extreme danger from Occasus's one true top predator: man.

Violet says: "Here's a bright idea that's been taking the market by storm in the past couple of years: Ravager farms! Yes, you heard me right, it is now possible to head over to your local ranch and buy a ganeothere of your very own, though at a very hefty price last I've checked. These giants were initially bred for the battlefield, because their armor and insane physical strength more than make up for their slowness, but they've found their way into other industries as well - the livestock business in particular. The leather and bone plates are the most obvious boons, but some rangers also sell them for their meat as well. Personally, I find Ravager flesh quite savory, rather like frog but without the annoying little bones, but I've only seen hatchlings and juveniles on the silver platter. I'm not surprised, since the adults are not only way too big to cook, but their armor plates also make them nigh impossible to skin!"