The Ecology of Monster Hunter - First Generation | Full Documentary

the world around us is full of Wonders to those with eyes willing to see the beauty of nature is everywhere an endless well of Fascination some of Nature's most glorious most entrancing creat ations are the monsters meapa that come in all shapes and sizes creatures of awe and power that rule the wild lands their bodies their abilities their behaviors all unique all mesmerizing it is the hunter Guild's sworn mission to record study and preserve these amazing creatures both for their sake and to protect Humanity in its encounters with the wild in this special film commissioned by The scrivener's Lodge of Dorma we will explore the Ecology of a wide variety of these monsters focusing on creatures that were discovered during the Guild's first generation of [Music] research [Music] n of all the creatures that roam the land few are as feared as the flying wyvern as these single most diverse class of monsters these winged bipedal wyvern come in many shapes and sizes most of them quite fearsome but even among this highly successful class one genus stands above all a group of flying wyvern so Dom minent and ecologically thriving that they have become synonymous with the entire class of flying wyvern indeed no matter where one walks it is likely to be the territory of a wrath like all flying wyvern wraths are easily distinguished by their grounded hind Limbs and winged front limbs their legs are thick and strong with wide four toed feet their wings extend outwards and have thick membranes adorned with distinct swirly patterns their bodies their triangular heads and their long clubbed tails are all covered in an assortment of shells and scales for which they are classified under the infraorder Testa dracone shell wyvern this coat of armor is unique among flying wyverns due to its density the smallest scales on a wrath are essentially flush with the creature's skin meaning that they overlap and bend seamlessly and without friction this allows the wraths to have outstanding protection against physical damage while not sacrificing virtually any Mobility with such protection and the ability to take to the air one might think that the wraths are in need of protection opportunists ready to flee at any moment nothing could be further from the truth the wraths sit at the top of almost any ecosystem they inhabit due to three key factors one is their High mobility and durable shell armor another one is their arsenal of offensive options all wrath species grow both a flame sac and a Venom gland in their bodies the flame sack produces a fiery blend of particles and viscous fluid fluid that can be spit from the mouth as streams or projectiles of scorching Flames the Venom gland meanwhile produces a dangerous venomous compound that weakens and kills anything it is injected into making for a formidable tool in subduing prey the wraths themselves are immune to this poison the third and most influential factor to the wrath's success is their extreme sexual dimorphism and resulting co-parenting strategies sexual dimorphism refers to the phenomenon in which individuals of the same species show anatomical differences between sexes in the rath's case the male Rathalos and the female rathan look so dissimilar that a novice Hunter would be excused for thinking that they are entirely different creatures the female rathon is a common site in forests and tempered Hill regions although some are known to live in desert zones as well in the most common species of wraths Wrath regalis also known as the Regal wrath the rathan has a distinct green shell armor allowing it to blend in seamlessly among the trees despite the species overall reputation a female wrath is actually much more adapted to life on land its wings are strong but not remarkable beyond that its hind legs meanwhile are extremely muscular allowing it a secure bipedal stance when grounded its Talons are shorter than those of the males presumably to maximize land Mobility these two features allow Theon to downright Gallop across the ground running and charging at foes in a brutal manner the reason for these adaptations is the Ran's parental role once a mother the rathen is tasked with procuring prey and offering protection from the ground this is likely a result of the phenomenon in which encountering small prey in dense forests is easier on land than from the air the other main feature of daran's body is perhaps the most apparent one all across her body but especially on the back shoulders and the tail tip the female wrath grows a assortments of rigid dark green barbs these structures are directly connected to the raph's Venom gland which in the females is located in the tail these barbs are used to inject the deadly wrath poison into prey and enemy alike mostly through the Wrath swinging its tail at adversaries the location of These Bars and the Venom gland are also a result of the rian's grounded lifestyle swinging a tail an enemy is easier when on the ground especially if one can backflip with as much ease as the rathen can and the barbs on the back and shoulders protect the female from attacks from above ensuring that any rivaling flying wyvern would immediately get poisoned should it push its luck notably the long Spike on the chin of thean is not a Venom bar per se it is instead a hollow feeding tube through which Daran can push pre- chewed food out a small squishy pellets for a young to enjoy a little bit of poison is still mixed in with that food however in order to immunize the young to wrath poison such that they can in the future poison their prey without worry the male Rathalos meanwhile has a few notable differences in its Anatomy the coloration of arathos is always in all known wrath species distinctly unlike that of the rathan a Regal Rathalos is generally red with dark accents across its shell armor while darian's parental role confines it mostly to the ground the male Rathalos is tasked with protecting the territory from above a true king of the sky with an anatomy that fully Embraces and facilitates an Airborne lifestyle for one it in entirely lacks the Venom barbs that so starkly Define thean tissue analysis has revealed that the males do actually have the capacity to grow these barbs but that they have degenerated severely over time most Scholars interpret this to be a result of the Rathalos Airborne nature as losing the barbs makes the body more aerodynamic reducing friction and allowing for more agile Maneuvers in the air and true truly a flighted Rathalos has few equals its lack of barbs slim down shell and extremely powerful Wings make it a magnificent flyer its preferred method of attack is to descend onto prey with its powerful Talons its feet are modified to accommodate this as its toes are much longer and more articulate than those of the females allowing for Rapid solid slashes and a strong grip on prey these elongated toes can however be awkward to walk on when the Rathalos lands to mitigate this the males have specialized toe joints that allow them to curl their talons and shorten them making for a more comfortable grounded gate it is a crude workaround but while it does not afford the Wrath loss to ground mobility of its female counterpart it does its job sufficiently well it's Venom gland is also altered to suit the male's needs in Rathalos it is located in the feet supplying Venom exclusively to the sharp claws at the toes all of these adaptations make the Rathalos a devastating force of nature when in the air and yet it is not a creature designed merely for violence just like thean Theos has a parental structure on its chin a small osteoderm visually comparable to a short horn or Spike its purpose however is not to pierce enemies but to dig up soil and arrange loose organic matter it is a tool for building nests with these adaptations as well as a fiery breath that both sexes share both wraths would be powerhouses in their own right but they exist as pairs and as such are nearly Unstoppable no matter the ecosystem for the first years of their life wraths live apart the male Rathalos wander harsh environments such as mountain regions and Volcanic PLS where they prey on strong competitors to hone their skills meanwhile rathians tend to congregate in milder climates Green Havens where they grow up in relative peace one well-known spot that usually attracts unpaired rathians are the forests in the center of the continent near Dorma during the breeding season rathians migrate towards the Ros in search of a suitable mate hormonal flushes subtly change both Monsters the barbs of the rathen grow thicker while the chin Spike of the Rathalos grows longer both of these features are believed to be relevant for selection once a suitable pair has found each other and the deed has been done a peculiar thing happens some pairs immediately split up with the Ros returning to harsher regions while the Now gravid rathen does not return to the Green Hills of her Homeland but instead migrates to hotter climates often deserts these lone rathen then rais their young on their own becoming aggressive and fierce single mothers but just as often the pairs don't split up after mating it is unknown what determines this outcome instead many wrath pairs remain bonded for the rest of their lives as the Wrath Los accompanies its gravid mate back to her Forest at home where a sophisticated co-parenting strategy begins as the female prepares for the arduous task of egg laying the male scouts out a suitable Nest location usually either in caves with an open roof for aerial access or on the side of cliffs and mountains the Rathalos then begins preparing the nest arranging dead plant and other organic matter into a dense bed this matter will over time decompose into an oily flammable liquid that can be ignited to scare off smaller creatures once the nest is ready the rathen will lay a clutch of around 10 eggs which will hatch soon after once the children arrive the true labor Begins the parents divide their duties based on their innate abilities the rathan prows the land looking for small prey to present to the young while also marking the territory with claw marks the Rathalos meanwhile oversees that territory from the air fighting off any other flying wyvern that attempt to fly through their airspace as well as scouting for land threats from above these Duties are performed in shifts to ensure that one parent is always within earshot of the nest juvenile wraths are completely defenseless after all both parents excel at their roles a fully grown Rathalos isn't just an excellent flyer but also possesses a lot of stamina While most flying wyvern can only Fly for a few hours at a time due to their size a Rathalos can easily stay in the air for 3 days in a row using this ability the father becomes a continuous watchful eye in the sky but it is the rathen that truly shines during this time as she displays significant intelligence and cunning notably araon will not merely attack every creature that enters her territory instead she will cultivate a mini ecosystem to maximize the protection of her nest for example rathen are known to allow smaller carnivores to nest in their territories because set carnivores usually prey on smaller oor the detestable egg eaters that are the Ran's main concern thus by selectively allowing the presence of certain species while rejecting others the Queen curates the local food chain with herself and her mate on top the rathan is also primarily in charge of nurturing and educating her clutch the oily puddles near the nest are an excellent way for the juvenile wraths to learn how to use their flame breath for example example numerous hunters and Scholars have also reported seeing rathan kidnap smaller wyvern such as young velociprey alive in order to present them to their young presumably to train them in combat against the weak opponent these strategies which make excellent use of the unique strengths of each parent have caused the child mortality of Ras to be shockingly low for wild wyvern standards this leads to steady population growth and proliferation which has resulted in the Regal wraths specifically being perhaps the single most successful species of wyvern ever observed Rath regalis is found all across the old continent and even on the new world a true Testament to the species extraordinarily effective lifestyle with such a wide geographic distribution also comes Regional variation as different habitats promotee and encourage subtle differences even within the same species in the case of rath regales two distinct trends of regional variation other than the regular shran dandoran kind are known the further east one goes on the main continent the bulkier and thicker the Regal wraths get these are known as Eastern Regal rafts and they display a significant ific anly enhanced musculature this Regional variation seems to have originated in the island District likely due to increased competition and harsh Island terrain necessitating additional muscle mass notably Eastern rathians are a lot more prone to flight than their shran sisters even attacking from the air like their mates on rare occasions the more drastic Regional variation however is seen in the opposite direction the new world being an entirely separate continent the new world has caused many of the local species many of which also exist in the old world to evolve differently to their old world counterparts the wraths are no exception as the new world variation seems to have branched off from the old world lineage fairly early as they display some significant anatomical differences this is especially visible in the males New World Rathalos have an additional finger bone fused into the wing and their legs are almost twice as thick as those of the shran or Eastern variations this is believed to be a result of the wrath's main habitat on the new world the Ancient Forest whose trees and Greenery are much thicker and harder to navigate than the mild woodlet of the old world the additional bone in the wing allows for more sophisticated folding of the Wings making precise navigation in the dense forest easier likewise the thicker legs and increased muscle mass allowed the new world Rathalos to take off without much preparation or momentum an invaluable ability in an area with little open space New World rathians meanwhile don't have many visible differences but instead one Mass massive invisible one the Venom gland's location in Old World rathians the gland is believed to be located at the base of the tail this is due to the observation that cutting off the tail of an oldw world rathon does not fully disable her ability to produce Venom meaning that the gland has to be located rather close to the body in New World rathians however losing her tail does in fact Rob thean of her Venom entirely thus leading researchers to conclude that their venom gland sits at the tip this might be an adaptation designed to concentrate the venom more directly into the tail barbs the main weapon at the cost of increased risk of losing it a massive difference between old world and new world wraths is also found in their Cooperative behaviors while while wraths in the old world would either pair up for life or split instantly after procreation New World wraths perform a kind of competitive polygamy during the breeding season countless rathians seek out one wrath loss in the Ancient Forest the male then mates with as many females as he can muster once this is done only one rathen the most dominant assertive suitable female is allowed to remain in the forest while the others are cast out the dominant female then lives out her days much like the old world species would caring for her young in cooperation with their father in the Ancient Forest the rejected Rens however are forced to move into the adjacent desert region the wild Spire waste where they have to raise their children all by themselves no rathl Los will will ever come to help them and these females are notably more aggressive and violent than the ones who are chosen as Queen while the Regal wraths are by far the most widespread wrath species out there it is certainly not the only one disregarding Regional variation there are so far three distinct species within the genus wrath wrath regalis is just often considered the common species due to its abundance the second most proliferate species is known as rra ornatus the ornate wrath this wrath species is distinguished by their coloration wherein the males are blue called Azure Rathalos and the females are pink called pink rathon this species is believed to have developed out of a mutation to the Shell of Regal wraths at some point a mutation began appearing in the gene pool that caused the composition of the shell armor on wraths to change drastically becoming much thicker denser and heavier while also distorting pigmentation this mutation was at least initially very likely a death sentence these mutated rafts were too heavy to move effectively and too colorful to hide when necessary the blue males likely suffered under the weight of the shell making them unable to fly while the pink females were easy to spot in the forests but over time as nature tends to do these mutated wraths adapted to their bodies the Azure Rathalos eventually began developing additional muscle mass to enable life with the reinforced shell in the process their muscles grew so strong that they became even more Adept Flyers than the red Brothers with unmatched aerial precision and prowess the pink rathen also adapted to her new armor likewise developing increased muscle mass but to a lesser degree while a pink graan can fly fairly well due to her enhanced strength she actually doesn't need to the additional weight of the mutated shell makes her charging Rampages and trample stampedes even more deadly her venomous tail is also a lot heavier than in green rathians making it an even more powerful bludgeoning weapon additionally pink rathians have increased aggression in order to counter the conflicts that they're likely to encounter due to their coloration once adapted to it these mutated wraths were significantly more dangerous than their regular cousins as they now boasted both a more resistant protective shell as well as enhanced strength as these mutations stay stabilized and became consistent across generations and as the affected rafts grew to overcome them they eventually speciated becoming a genetically distinct and consistent subspecies of the Wrath genus wrath ornatus they are considered the most aggressive species of Wrath likely a psychological consequence of the hardships these wraths usually face in their youth the rarest species of Wrath is by comparison so rare that every few years some researcher or another proposes that it actually doesn't even exist that it was just a handful of discolored individuals reported by questionable sources that is however untrue as the existence of the third wrath species wrath metalis has been confirmed by numerous accredited Scholars and Hunters over the years the so-called metal r wraths are so elusive that they have been designated with the rare species classification by the hunter Guild reserved for the rarest and most powerful non- Elder Dragon monsters metal rafts are so rarely seen because they only inhabit the least hospitable environments on the planet smoldering volcanic mountain ranges and desolate ruined Plains they are slightly more abundant on the continent of funon compared to the central continent and the new world continent metal wraths are named as such because they just like the ornate rafts sport a discolored shell in this case a silver shell in the males and a golden one in the females this discoloration is likely also an adaptation that resulted from a mutation but one that is far less understood than what happened to the ornate wraths what is known is that through some kind of genetic change the shell of metal rafts is able to absorb and bind metal dust from the surrounding air fusing it into the armor and reinforcing and discoloring the shell in the process this process is very similar to how the plate armor of a la Shan lung forms and just like with that Dragon the shell of the metal th is unfathomably hard and resistant due to this whether or not this happened because a population of wraths moved into Volcan regions with aerosol metal dust or if it was this mutation that caused the RAS to migrate to said regions in the first place is unknown what is observable is that these enhanced metal shells offer the silver Rathalos and gold rathon unparalleled protection against physical damage it however introduces a new problem a shell laced with conductive Metals allows electricity to travel through easily which measures poorly with the wrath's natural weakness to thunder another key difference between wrath metalis and the other wrath species is the functionality of the flame sack in metal wraths this organ has additional membrane openings that can at the wyvern's command start venting heat into the metal shell spiking the rft's body temperature and igniting the Shell with a white hot glow in this Mode called the incandescent state by The Guild the Flames produced by the metal wraths are unthinkably hot able to melt just about anything it is believed that venting the excess heat from the flame Sac into their shell allows wrath metalis to push the power of its flame sack to its limit without it exploding under its own pressure this of course partially melts the metal shell making it softer to damage how exactly this feature evolved is currently unknown it might be the result of a mutation separate from the one that Metalized the shell or it might be a consequence of the same mutation research is still ongoing due to the relative abyss of knowledge regarding them as well as their brilliant coloration metal wraths are woried as Heavenly Messengers by some Fringe cultures these are the three generally defined species of Wrath with very little discourse surrounding their legitimacy except of course the occasional controversy about Metal wraths curiously no crossbreeding between them has ever been observed although considering their philogenetic relatedness it should absolutely be possible in theory besides these three core species there is one other kind of Wrath that can extraordinarily rarely be found roaming the lands for the Wrath regalis species can be subject to deviant devian is a catchall term for extreme variations in individual monster physiology and behavior that are so absurdly pronounced that regular genetic and environmental factors cannot explain them away easily it is in many ways an extreme form of variance these individuals are then called deviants R regalas can produce deviants in both the males and females although it is even rarer than encountering a metal wrath male deviants are called dread King Rathalos and are defined by a dark red carapace enlarged Talons and a generally humongous body shape just about every aspect of this wyvern is enhanced its poison is more potent its wings are stronger and allow for longer flight and its shell is resistant to most attacks most most devastating however is the upgrade to its flame sack in addition to the usual fire particle blend this organ produces a secondary substance that allows the Flames to burn hotter and even expand and contract multiple times this allows for the breathing of flames that explode violently detonating multiple times even after hitting their target this secondary substance also seems to leak into the wyvern's hide as it scal and shells burn at scorching temperatures even after being removed from the Rathalos it's this leaking that is likely the cause of the wyvern's discoloration the female deviant is designated with the name dread Queen rathan recognizable by the enlarged poison barbs and dark purple coloration while the male deviant has all of its physical characteristics enhanced The Dread Queen is defined by a singular but remarkable transformation her Venom gland the production of Venom in a dread Queen rathen is enhanced and pushed into overdrive to the point where her enlarged barbs are constantly leaking liquid Venom and even emitting Venom gas it is this saturation that likely causes the discoloration of the shell the barbs on the dread Queen's tail can even break off in chunks laying on the ground and emitting clouds of noxious gas even in death The Dread Queen rathen is deadly as every body part is absolutely doused in venom only the most experienced weaponsmiths would even dare handle dread Queen scales as a result like with most deviants it is unknown what creates The Dread wraths a fringe faction within the scholarly Halls of dundorma has suggested that it might be a dorment gene that is passed down in certain lineages of Regal wrath this red Gene would activate in only very few wrath embryos but once it did it is theorized to hypercharge hormonal activity in the body causing the Wrath to display overdevelopment of all relevant organs and body structures from size to Flame sack to Venom glands the discolorations being a consequence of overly active Elemental organs somewhat supports that hypothesis but as of right now the guild isn't even close to accepting it as a core Theory for the Moment The Mystery of the Deviant wraths remains [Music] unsolved no matter where one goes one is likely to trespass on royal territory for if there is one genus of monster that has truly indubitably succeeded in nature it is the Wrath coming in Many Colors Rarities and tempers these flying wyvern truly earned their titles as the rulers of sky and land for their cunning effective rule lives on Supremacy built on a magnificent interplay between sexual dimorphism evolutionary creativity and sheer unbridled power [Music] people often assume that the natural world has a pecking order that no matter the circumstances some creatures will always sit at the the bottom of the ecological chain destined to be bullied and humiliated by their superiors it is a twisted view of the food chain but a common one for example many civilians and even Hunters assume bird wyverns a clade of monsters entirely contained in the suborder of aoda are always at the bottom of any ecosystem they are skittish they are fragile and they generally lack the advanced defensive abilities of true wyvern but such an Outlook is truly foolish for many of the most inconspicuous bird wyvern live a life of objective ecological success one must only look upon the old world continent to see this in action all across the land the only true consist Y is that every ecosystem has its own bespoke bird wyvern more specifically the old world is Thoroughly saturated by a CLA of monsters called the oldw world Raptors this CLA also called vetum mundur is a super family of the infraorder runner wyvern Runner wyvern are bird wyvern defined by being wingless and bipedal with their front limbs having articulate hands and Claws to differing degrees across the families most of them also form packs which is somewhat unusual for large monsters and wyverns this group can we further split into three categories the new world Raptors the old world Raptors and the dog wyvern the old world Raptors comprise of Three Families all of which are entirely exclusive Ive to the main old world continent more specifically old world Raptors are defined by having a more slender build compared to the other families in the ca they also form much larger packs on average and they all grow crests and other socially relevant body structures directly on top of their heads as opposed to somewhere else on their bodies the most prolific and well-known family of oldw World Raptors is the velosi in many ways they are the poster child of vetum mundur being both abundant and fairly present even near civilized regions their thin bodies are covered in bright blue overlapping scales that can protect them from harm and their long beak-like mouths are filled with sharp teeth at the top of their heads the velocci grow in Orange crests that distinguish ises the rank within the pack the larger the crest the more Authority the velocity holds most veloy are somewhat small with a pretty diminutive Crest these are called velocci prey and are the natural form of the species this is true for most old world Raptor species in general where the smaller ones are often called prey velocci pre form large packs that the green and Mild regions of the old continent being particularly active in the southern shra region when the pack spots something that demands their intervention like prey or an intruder the veloe engage in one of the most bizarre hunting strategies seen in the area all velosi no matter how small grow one en llarge Claw on their feet its Edge being significantly more deadly than any other weapon the spe species possesses in combat veloe begins surrounding their target vocalizing aggressively while hopping around it in an attempt to cause confusion then one after another the veloe will attempt to leap over their target aiming to lacerate it from above with their extended foot Claws by doing this repeatedly a pack of velociprey can easily shred an opponent to Ribbons but such a hunting strategy requires a leader one key aspect of oldw world Raptors is that their social hierarchies are organized around Alpha leaders so-called drones these drones are large individuals who have their bodies altered through hormonal flushes when they prove themselves capable of leading the pack in the velocci every pack of velocci prey is led by a large veloca Drome its large orange Crest describes its dominance and the velocidrome is a shrewd leader while it may hunt directly alongside the velocci pre veloc dromes are also known to send out small groups of their Brethren to scout out an area when a velocidrome does join in battle it uses its increased size and additional slashing claws on its hands to deal the killing blow its modified vocal organ called a screamer sack allows it to issue complex commands to its pack further increasing their deadliness the veloc are perhaps more so than any other monster extremely closely tied to humans their abundance near human settlements makes them a serious threat to livestock and farms and thus culling their numbers is considered a regular task for hunters but they are not merely pests veloy scales are highly versatile in blacksmithing and to skin under the scales is quite valuable as well their bodies provide numerous materials that have become cornerstones of the Shan trade economy in fact historically it is not an understatement to say that the history of the shra region would have played out drastically differently if the veloc hadn't existed and hadn't provided much of the initial economic value that eventually LED Traders merchants and Hunters to the area as the velocci were being studied initially their lives presented one mystery that no Guild scholar could solve at the time every so often a white veloe would be cited identical to its brethren in everything but coloration it scales a paler blue that Teeters on Pure White it was not sexual dorph ISM as it was known the veloe look the same whether they're male or female and it was not albanism since the eyes remained unchanged for a long time these white veloe were a mystery one that would see its solution arrive from the other side of the world in the northeast of the old continent lie the furaha mountains a harsh and frigid landscape ruled by towering Peaks and Ice Laden Plains few settlements exist here it wasn't until fairly recently this area was fully charted and subsequently saturated with research Expeditions many new species were recorded for the first time and among them a new type of oldw world Raptor a white species of velopress this discovery finally explained the white velociprey in shade this discoloration was likely a common mutation that continues to appear in regular velocity and that many generations ago caused some populations affected by that mutation to migrate and then speciate into their own new species this mutation likely increased the affected velocity's cold resistance hence why the emerging population found their new home here in furaha following this Revelation the newly discovered bird wyvern was classified as another species of the velosi family but given its own common name the G the G wear their close relation to the velocci on their sleeves as they resemble their cousins very strongly their discolored skin and different colored craft are the main visual differences behaviorally however the G displays some more distinct characteristics their basic social structure and hunting methods are generally the same packs of geia pre That Kill by lacerating prey with their foot claws coordinated and ruled by an alpha male the geod Drome there are however two key differences for one the Gia underwent an adaptation that allows them to use their screamer sack to store and cool down liquid this icy mix can then be spit at prey where it immediately freezes due to the ambient temperatures using this projectile attack Gia first freeze their prey in place before commencing their signature leap assault the geod Drome is even more proficient at this attack able to spit out Blobs of freezing liquid with ease this ability has by contrast never been observed in White velociprey in shrade which is generally seen as evidence that the Gia population split off from the velocci some time ago and develop this freezing projectile ability separately from the mutation to their skin the other main difference lies in their social structure the lossi live in decently sized packs led by a single veloc Drome and are hostile to other velocci packs but the J have been observed to actually cooperate across packs even fusing two packs together to form a mega pack LED by two geod dromes simultaneously this tendency for cooperation might be a consequence of the icy environment of furaha when energy is precious and hard to replenish due to a lack of food it would be foolish to waste it on territorial disputes with the equally hungry of your own species which is already predisposed to social behavior instead by banding together the J maximize their effectiveness and are able to take down larger prey feeding the entire pack reliably while the velosi live close to humans and the ja were actively sought out to be researched the other two prominent species of Old World Raptors are much more reclusive and we all ought to be thankful for that for they are both Fierce predators and one of them is considered a walking nightmare to most fledgling Hunters south of the shra region on the southwestern Peninsula lies seua a massive desert region where only the strongest survive in this hot Wasteland one species of the supposedly weak oldw World Raptor manages to thrive the Gen similar in their General build to the velocci the genen are covered in a much tighter coat of scales colored in dull yellows oranges and greens their crests are not one single massive structure but rather two angled sails most strikingly the genen possess two massive fangs on their upper jaws which are always proudly on display these fangs are the source of the terror they Inspire lacking the distinct toe cloth the vosi the Gen hunt using a different strategy utter Mayhem when the pack spots a Target every member descends upon it one after another with one goal only pierce the victim's skin with their fangs because in their fangs and in lesser concentration in the Gen saliva itself lies a powerful paralytic Venom able to fully immobilize creatures 10 times more massive than the Gen the Pack's main objective is to get that Venom into their target which instantly ends the fight to that end the mighty leader of the pack the gendrome with its enlarged crests and longer fangs commands its Brethren into fierce battle a braing and screeching mass of fang and Venom these hunts are so chaotic that the tightly overlapping scale coats of the genen are believed to be as seamless as they are to protect them from accidentally paralyzing each other once the target is fully envenomated and unable to move the nightmare begins Jen are not particularly patient and will immediately begin to rip and tear into their Bounty which is usually still alive at that point gen pre Venom is a muscular toxin which paralyzes the body and only the body the mind remains active able to hear see and feel pain the victim is thus forced to watch and feel themselves be eaten alive as the Gen pack begins digging into them usually starting around the abdominal area it could be hours before death finally sets in a truly horrifying way to go and a core reason as to why Research into this particular species remain so scarce one Oddity that has been observed despite this difficulty is that gen pre seem to be able to act without the leadership of a gendrome as they are much more widespread than their leader the small gen pre can be found all over seua and have even been cited in the swamps near dundorma much further north while gendrome are generally only found in the dunes near the deser town of rusara it isn't quite clear why this is the case but some Scholars have suggested that the immense ethicacy of the paralytic gen Venom is just so strong that the small gen prey can make do on their own if need be while the genen prowled the dry lands of the old continent the fourth species of Old World Raptors sticks to the most humid zones on the land mass it is the rarest member of the family and perhaps the most bizarre one the io are in many ways an odd site for one they do not have scales in the traditional sense instead their bodies are covered in moist leathery red skin that is not quite as resistant to claw and sword as a code of scales would be with scales only being present in a scan few places on their bodies however this hide allows for extremely sophisticated temperature and moisture regulation allowing the io to live in hot humid climates effortlessly and even filter out waterbor bacteria and other harmful substances what is equally as unusual is the io's head an odd curved mass of porous tissue the crest directly fused into the head and a small mount with very few needle-shaped teeth under the lower Jaws on their throats these wyverns grow a solid lump their Infamous Venom sack IO are highly toxic in every sense of the word as they develop and concentrate an extremely powerful Venom in their throats ready to be spat at any unlucky Target like all oldw World Raptors the io also group up into packs of IO prey led by one massive IO Drome and its enlarged huge Crest unlike the Gen however ioe packs are completely reliant on their drum and are known to disperse if their leader is slain the IOD Drome commands the io pre during their hunts which are focused on dousing their target with Venom this is achieved through a two here assault the io pre leap around the target disorienting it while spraying it with small amounts of Venom weakening it continuously once the target is so tired that it will not be able to evade an oncoming attack the IOD will play its riskiest card and vomit a massive amount of its stored Venom onto the target producing the Venom is timec consuming so this move is reserved for when it is sure to hit but once it does the fight is over IO Venom is so powerful that it can even affect true wyverns it is in fact considered a case of over Evolution as this degree of toxicity is complete overkill for the io's usual targets giant insects the reason the species lacks Claws and combat teeth and focuses on Venom in the first place is believed to be to success F kill neopteron without destroying their delicate insectoid bodies in the process of specializing into this Niche the io have developed into extremely dangerous toxin factories their venom even has a few additional quirks to it for example it completely negates the scent of anything it kills meaning that no other creature can sniff out the kill and come to steal it from the io not that anyone one would really try in the first place since they pretty much exclusively eat prey that is saturated in toxins the io are entirely immune to most poisons and are extremely sturdy in general and iodrome can easily shake off multiple Hits From Another Monster without flinching more crucially especially for hunters and researchers because they so often ingest their own toxic compound every single body part of the io is positively DED in toxicity these wyverns are deadly to the touch a defense mechanism in the wild and an All or Nothing trial for eager blacksmiths bent on using the valuable bones and HIDs of the io for armor and weapons only experts are trusted with the poison removal process the cunning Craftsman will not throw the Venom away but instead use it to enhance their next client's weapons at a hefty price increase of course it is tempting to categorize the world to rank its creatures to think of them as unilaterally Superior or inferior to each other it is all too easy to look at the gawking awkward bird wyverns and assume them to be at the bottom of all things but reality is rarely so easy while they may lack Wings spikes and sophisticated Elemental abilities the old world Raptors are ravenous Specialists that thrive in the niches they have carved for themselves and those that find themselves staring down a velosi being bit by a Jen or being suffocated by the Venom of the io would certainly not call these wyvern [Music] weak the most successful killers in nature are not fanged monsters and venomous insects it is not even human and vivaran Hunters instead the single most common Terminators of Life are assumption and Prejudice it is only natural to rely on one's experience and knowledge but when engaging with the Wild Frontier assuming to already know what's ahead and judging every book by its cover is a wonderful way to meet an early end nature is not nothing if not varied powerful Predators coming in every form imaginable a common tale of assumption within the Hunter's Guild concerns the qualities of wyverns in the early days of Monster hunting what constituted a wyvern was a somewhat narrow definition a true wyvern has wings scales Claws and can breathe fire or poison between the earb birds the wraths the armor wyvern and more this crude category seemed to hold up initially but one day long before any Guild truly existed a group of hunters scurried out of the swampy forests near today's dundorma exhausted and terrified they blabbed to anyone who would listen they spoke of a moss covered Beast that had erupted out of a large burrow an unsightly M with no discernable face over time reports of a faceless scaleless wyvern began accumulating what exactly this creature had inste of scales was hotly debated some Hunters confirmed it to be covered in Moss While others described it as caked in mud while One account even swore that the beast's body was adorned with blood and visera as hunting became a more serious and established profession it was decided to finally squash this mystery once and for all a party was sent out into the areas where the Beast had been cited recently with the aim of categorizing and confirming its existence many later regretted joining that expedition not because it failed but precisely because it succeeded and in its success it uncovered the existence of the kzu unsurprisingly classified under the infra order alenu draon strange wyvern the kzu is a highly unusual flying wyvern instead of patrolling the skies and terrorizing the lands kzu generally live in cave networks and seem to prefer the Dank and moist areas of the lands they are also found in frigid regions such as the furaha mountains but not because they like the temperature rather the mountain range is simply a place with lots of caves and while the kzu can stomach the temperatures during the warm Seasons when even furaha is almost bearable they are known to migrate into swamps and marshes during the winter to escape the extreme cold of the mountains but first and foremost kesu seek out caves for their bodies have entirely developed to thrive in those desolate conditions for one they have no eyes and if they ever did they degenerated into nothingness throughout Millennia of evolution in the pitch black darkness of the caves in fact the kzu has no visible facial features its head is a smooth tip on its tube likee neck its only feature being a red lipped mouth filled with sharp pointed teeth its tail is short and stubby at first glance but if necessary the kzu can open the tip to reveal another gaping hole also covered in teeth-like bone spikes on the inside but beyond anything else the kzu stands out for its complete lack of scales instead it is covered in a pale white skin which is moist and slimy at all times the Skin's stickiness is likely why reports of the Beast spoke of moss and mud the cited kzo were likely just covered in muuk sticking to their bodies it also has no claws on its feet and only grows two vestigial claw bumps on its wing arms these are however completely useless confirming the existence of the kzu was certainly a major breakthrough in understanding monsters and their diversity Unity but much work remained first and foremost how does a creature with no visible sensory organs no defensive body structures and an extremely limited habitat even survive over time these unusual questions received even more unusual answers the key lies in what quality the kzu embodies and seeks out moisture its body and its preferred environments are both wet and humid which plays a crucial part in how the kzu survives instead of tracking prey in its surroundings by sight the kzu utilizes two senses both invisible but acutely tuned around its face and especially on his lips the kzu grows olda Factory receptors allowing it to pick up and track scent the immense moisture around the mouth enhances this ability as scent particles are easier trapped on wet surfaces this sense is entirely localized in the head as evidenced by the kzu sniffing the air around it by bobbing its head this allows the kzu to track its prey directly just by smelling it its second sense is even more impressive the kzu is one of a a shockingly small number of animals to possess Electro reception the ability to sense weak electric signals in Amun humidity whenever a creature moves a muscle a small electric pulse is emitted as a side effect of the brain sending the move signal to that muscle elector reception exploits this side effect by using those pulses to track and sense moving animals this ability usually only works underwater but the kazzu makes it work through a few Choice modifications to the concept both the kzu and his preferred caves are always covered in a layer of moisture which provides the humidity needed for the elector reception to function additionally kzu run a weak current throughout their skin originating from a thunder organ in their bodies this current reacts to Environmental electric pulses as well further enhancing and synergizing with its Electro reception the result of this sensory setup is that in a humid environment the blind kzu can see just fine much to the detriment of its prey of course the downside to this specialization is that kzu are pretty vulnerable whenever they leave their caves be it to migrate or to pursue a stubborn victim that is why they generally do not actively hunt and instead wait until prey wanders into their domain by itself this happens quite often as caves often seem to provide security especially in a kinds of environments the kzu is found in so when a Kelby or a popo wanders into a cavern hoping for shelter from the elements the Kazu begins its assault Inc complete silence the wyvern approaches its Quarry sometimes on land and sometimes even by crawling on walls or the cave ceiling it has the suction cups on its feet and in its tail to thank for that since the praise eyesight is reduced to near zero in the pitch black of the cave and the kzu footsteps make no sounds that would seem out of place in a water logged cave it is nearly impossible to see the kzu coming once in position the kzu will unleash a most ghoulish weapon its neck is surrounded by flabby skin and folded muscles which when needed allow the wyvern to extend its neck to over twice the length of its body this is made possible by a complex interplay between highly cartilagenous neck vertebrae immensely powerful muscles and flexible blood vessels the result is that a kzu ma can latch onto prey at almost any distance and from any angle as the extended neck is also highly mobile once the mouth latches on it begins devouring the prey without bothering to kill it directly instead it will experience a slow agonizing death as the kzu gradually swallows and shreds the victim with its teeth should Against All Odds a Target Manage to escape that initial attack the kzu has one more trick up its sleeve the Thunder organ in its body is able to temporarily strengthen and even redirect the current running through the kazu's skin for example electrifying the wyvern's mouth allowing it to spit orbs of crackling Thunder usually these orbs would not be powerful enough to do anything and dissipate immediately but because of the moisture in the environment on the walls and floors of the cave these pulses can latch onto these layers of moisture and travel quite far and quickly when they collide with a living being they paralyze it allowing the kzu to immobilize fleeing prey this ability can also be used defensively by momentarily spiking the current in its skin the kzu can create an aura of Thunder around itself for a brief moment pushing away Troublesome enemies a stretching neck an eyeless M and immobilizing thunder the Kazu is a creature of nightmares and somehow none of that compares to the true reason every Hunter fears the Kazu for those that find themselves immobilized by it may suffer a fate far worse than death Kazu are her aphrodites which means that every individual possesses both male and female organs and tezu is able to fertilize itself whenever it feels inclined to do so the results of this are Kazo welps tiny larve that resemble a wingless adult these juveniles develop inside the kzu tail and are extremely vulnerable as they lack the cold resistance and thunder organ of their parent in order to grow kzps need to stay in a warm humid environment with plenty of fresh food preferably animal protein that they don't have to hunt which are all qualities of a living body so with no discernable pattern adult kzu will sometimes abstain from eating paralyzed prey and instead inject the living victim with its young the hapless host will then in mistaken relief be able to escape now carrying the next generation of its Tormentor over the coming weeks the victim will experience ceaseless Agony and Searing pain as the growing welps devour it from within wriggling their way across the body while instinctually avoiding as many vital organs as possible their warm fleshy cradle must survive until they can fully emerge after all finally the welps burst out into the world killing their tortured host in the process these welps will soon grow wings and go on to terrorize caves all around the region this will go on until they are either killed in Revenge by a prey that was a tat too much for them hunted by a professional or suffer their predetermined natural death kzu grow weak as they become older both due to Natural degradation and lack of food due to more failed predation attempts this leads to muscle atrophy starting and ending with the neck the muscles that allow the kzu to stretch and lift its head are incredibly dense and large and need a high amount of energy to maintain old kzu eventually failed to meet that maintenance and become so weak that they are unable to lift their neck and head because of this they are unable to feed and this quickly causes them to starve to death luckily for everyone kzu are somewhat rare as the conditions they need to thrive are quite specific they are only found in the old world and only near caves which limits their habitats significantly only having been seen in the arus erud and furaha regions as well as the Swamp lands near Dorma however it is not only the white Kazo that roams the land rarely hunters will return with a ports of a red kzo the only known variation in the kzu family while the hunter guilds hunters and Quest maidens tend to call these subspecies for simplicity's sake the exact relation between the white and red kzu is still hotly debated as far as observable differences go there aren't many red kzu are sturdier with a red pigmented hide that offers more protection their saliva is also quite corrosive much more so than with the white kzu but most crucially the Thunder organ of the red kzu is many times more powerful than that of the white one it is in fact so so powerful that it can enhance the wyvern's electro reception to work even outside of caves while also allowing the use of its electricity balls and pulses outside as well meaning that red kzu can put up a fight even in the broad open daylight this in theory makes the red kzu a more effective Hunter however one idiosyncratic observation was that the red kzu despite seeming more of offensive and robust are actually quite a lot rarer than the white kzu this puzzled researchers for some time since a more successful strategy should in theory create a more successful species before one more Discovery opened the way for new theories the white Kazu were observed to vehemently avoid direct sunlight implying that their skin is sensitive to it even through their layer of moisture this Behavior was not observed in red kzu Scholars recognized this as a possible sign of albinism and quickly began to build a new hypothesis the white and red Kazu are the same species but currently on the cusp of speciation the red Kazu are the species original appearance initially adapted to live solely in caves but recently evolved to live a hybrid lifestyle of both caves and outdoor hunting the white individuals are then albinos whose white photosensitive skin pushed them back into the caves exclusively over time the hypothesis argues white kzu embraced their species original lifestyle and began hypers specializing into cave life reducing in size and shrinking its th sack thus requiring less nutrition to survive as they shed everything that isn't necessary to thriving in caves this may be causing the albino kazu's predatory success to Skyrocket as an exclusive Cay life seems to suit the creature much better than the hybrid approach of the red kzu after all even with its enhanced Thunder and sturdier body the red kzu is still demonstrably not particularly adapt at drawn out out doors combat and other wyvern can kill it somewhat easily as a result the white kzu originating from a genetic mutation that caused them to display albanism might be in the process of establishing their own new species as they out compete the red Kazo which gradually becomes rarer over time as a result while this hypothesis explains some of the observations it is still far from being accepted by the entire guild as far as Hunters are concerned red and white are simply subspecies of each other caves Inspire an odd cocktail of emotions they are frightening yes dark and unsettling but in a Land of storms blizzards and wyverns its walls and depths may seem like a worthwhile compromise in the name of safety the kzu exploits that compromise descends upon those seeking refuge and rewards a curiosity with suffering and death a true Terror from the cave and the squelching Spectre of many Hunters nightmares to venture into the land is to seek surprises even veterans can and will find Wonders on their Journeys for the world is infuriatingly dense seven lifetimes one could spend studying being a single species of bird and would still not reveal all of its Secrets still not unravel its Mysteries every corner of existence is a miracle worth witnessing and it is our duty to keep our hearts open to be that witness this is a lesson hard learned by Young upstart Hunters looking to join the hunter Guild propelled by fiery eyed ambition they must first learn the road of not just hunting but of how to respect the world in which they hunt it is an exercise in humility and as such The Guild often has young Hunters focus on tracking down Monsters of the least prestigious clay the bird wyvern entirely contained within the suborder aoda which contains three infer orders itself bird wyvern are often the first hurdles on a hunter's Journey generally the raptorial runner wyvern usher in the Hunter's career as almost every region has a few packs that need regular culling once the greenhorn has proven they can at least hold a sword to the right way up it isn't long before they task with a different kind of bird wyvern the infraorder verer houses the true bird wyverns which are defined as bird wyverns that can actually fly as a opposed to the wingless Runner wyvern this is by far the most diverse clay of bird wyvern and one that many Rising hunters will eventually have to encounter specifically many greenhorns will be tasked with hunting earb birds and their most common representative the Yan CKU being found in many forests and jungles of the old world continent the Yan cutu is a medium-sized bird wyvern with a varied coat of scales and shells its wings are leathery and lean and its face ends in a truly humongous Peak but as its infraorder aravis suggests the most striking feature of the Yan kutu are its massive ears it's all in all a somewhat awkward looking creature and young Hunters generally underestimate it and that is precisely the point the yutu has for years now served as a wake-up call for cocky green horns who think a mere handful of successful hunts make them experts foran kku is a surprisingly fascinating monster despite having wings and being part of verer it is actually not that Keen on flying most of its food lives underground after all so instead the kkot generally waltzes around its territory on foot stomping across the land in search of tasty morsels its massive ears allow it to pick up subtle sounds coming from the ground beneath it and once it pins down the right spot it puts its beak to use the massive shovel-like underjaw allows aoku to dig up the soil and reach its favorite snack massive earthworms and larae hiding in the ground on a good day a kku can dig up dozens of such grubs and the resulting holes in the ground serve as territory markings as well Eastern kku living near valh habar and in the Everwood are also known to prey on konu which live above ground as a result Eastern cutu are actually harder to track as they leave behind fewer holes the life of a kku revolves around this prey in a very literal sense in years with long stretches of hot temperatures the grubs and earthworms Thrive and multiply rapidly causing a bountiful Feast for the kku the kku in turn take his prosperity and turn it into an extremely active breeding season the males will compete with each other by comparing the volume of their Roars and before long the loudest most attractive males will get to mate years with extended hot Seasons thus generally cause an explosion in kku populations shortly after the now plentiful kku embolden each other and before long they descend onto the land as mischievous troublemakers often going as far as to Venture near human settlements it is customary then to send out Hunters to C these populations which benefits everyone the settlements are freed from the danger of these wyverns while the kku are restrained from entirely wiping out their food sources before they can recover and the greenhorns sent out to deal with it get to find out why the kku is considered a test of their skills the Yan kku appears quite timid upon first encounter its massive ears allow it to hear any enemy approaching and once it has spotted them the kku will initiate its threat display by extending its wings and stomping its feet the wyvern attempts to appear as large as possible its ears extended to their maximum size then it begins shrieking at an almost impossible volume the secret lies in the ears their massive discs do not just catch sound but also reverberate it amplifying the kku chirps into deafening roars this display is usually quite effective but should it fail the kku will be forced to fight its massive beak can do tremendous damage with its pecs and the armored thin tail of the wyvern can function as a dangerous whip when cornered the Yan kutu May Stampede towards the enemy aiming to trample them to death with its massive feet but its most deadly weapon lies in its mouth the Yan cuku may seem like an odd bird but it is nonetheless a wyvern and as such it holds within itself a flame sack this organ allows the Yan kku to produce and store a liquid that ignites upon coming into contact with air by spitting this liquid out of its peak the kku is able to fling small Fireballs at its Target allowing it to be dangerous even at a distance however all of these weapons aren't why thean cutu is such a wall to Green horn Hunters it's that the wyvern that wields them is deceptively smart as Hunters of for many generations kkus understand human Weaponry to a rudimentary degree and they know what they can get away with for example the shell of a kku is surprisingly dense and resistant offering protection from both claw and blade it is also extremely resistant to fire the wyvern thus know that it can pressure a hunter if their sword isn't sharp enough a kku will also actively make use of its territory fleeing and repositioning regularly in order to disorient and exhaust its attacker this can be especially taxing on unprepared Hunters as both time and hunting tools are valuable resources that this strategy uses up add to this the fire breath the intimidating size and the shell of the kku that blunts any but thear sharpest blades and a kku hunt becomes an exercise of strategy preparation and environmental knowledge and even more specifically hunting a kku trains hunters in how to fight wyverns of any kind as it features many of the abilities seen in other wyverns such as armor and Elemental breath attacks because of this successfully hunting a Yan kku is considered a turning point in a hunter's career and some greenh horns have even come to affectionately call the creature cuckoo Sensei as a result this role as a challenging adversary for new Hunters is facilitated by the Cuckoo's choice of habitat they generally live anywhere with temperate mild climates while occasionally venturing into warmer jungle zones this means that they are abundant in areas with often well-established settlements and relatively stable supply lines allowing for the perfect training ground for hunters with such a wide habitat and stable lifestyle it isn't unusual for a family of monsters to speciate into various subspecies in the case of the Yan kutu there are two distinct species the pink Yan cutu is by far the more abundant of the two and the more timid their shells are strong and their flame breath fierce but they prefer to tend to themselves and their grubs meanwhile the blue Yan cutu is the rarer of the two species besides a differently colored shell the blue kku is almost identical to its pink brother the shell itself is likely discolored due to a mutation to the Shell's composition which changes its pigmentation while also strengthening it this is in essence very similar to what happened to the Shell of the Azure Rathalos due to this enforced shell blue Yan kkus are often more assertive and confrontive than the pink species it knows it can get away with more thanks to it superior protection so it will be more willing to engage in Risky Behavior blue kkus are thus generally assigned to more experienced Hunters rather than the greenhorns who are much better served going after the pink species primarily kku hunts are as a common and well structured tradition generally quite uneventful these days while some young upstarts may get hurt or spooked cases of kku causing severe injury or even death have declined steadily over the Guild's lifetime while these wyvern can absolutely kill the increasing amount of knowledge and nurturing precautions for greenhorns have made it an exceptionally rare outcome however in the old days Hunters sent out to hunt Yan cutu in the shra region would sometimes not return and sometimes they would return only in pieces for a period kku hunts seemed cursed to lead to death and misery as what was usually a beginner's task became one of the single deadliest quests in the region the few survivors who came back had their Spirits utterly broken babbling about a dark kooku that had ripped their squad to pieces one Survivor whose eyes had been plucked out VI ently said that the last thing he saw was a black wolf covered in wyvern scales this problem continued until a squad of elite Hunters scoured the affected region and found the culprit not a Yan kutu but a close relative a fellow earb bird the Yan garuga superficially the Yang garuga somewhat resembles the Yan kku and it has been proposed that it evolved out of a kku like ancestor not too long ago the guga's general shape is easily mistaken for a kku a mistake most of the anguished Hunters likely made but upon closer inspection their physiology is quite different the shell is indeed a much darker color a deep purple that dips into blackened gray in places its spiked beak is a muted gray as well and white puffs of fur grow in unseemly patches near the head and neck the purple ears are much smaller than those of the kku and the tail ends in a trident of rigid barbs instead of a simple tip if appearances weren't enough to distinguish the garuga from the kku Its Behavior certainly is while the kku is timid until provoked the garuga is actively aggressive and needlessly violent it will attack immediately upon spotting any intr ERS to its territory and it won't relent until its target has been reduced to fleshy paste it has all the combat abilities of the kku and denum its beak is sharper still Adept at digging up grubs but more specialized in crushing skulls and tearing flesh its flame breath is significantly more powerful Not Mere clumps of hot liquid but destructive blasts of a white hot Inferno its shell is many times tough offer than even that of the blue kku and only the sharpest tools can as much as scratch the guga's hide its small ears do not amplify its voice as much as that of the kku but they don't need to as the Screech of the garuga produced by its powerful chest muscles is already powerful enough to Rattle and disorient any who stand near it the wings of the garuga may look somewhat similar to the weak Flappers of the kku but they are much stronger the garuga is in fact quite capable of delicate aerial maneuvers and prolonged flight additionally its tail is no mere whip the barbs and spines on its end are filled with a highly potent Venom that weakens the constitution of any who are injected turning any wouldbe enemy into an easy victim using these adaptations the young garuga reeks Havoc across any ecosystem it appears in dominating the food chain merely by existing it is in fact such an oppressive force that Hunters have even witnessed it pushing back the likes of zogre and devil Joe this Stark increase in power is partially due to biological differences but also due to the guga's disposition it is a Relentless as salant overwhelming foes with ceaseless violence gugas are in fact known to activ ly provoke fights that seem to be of no obvious purpose to them they simply seem to really enjoy violence and yet the garuga is not merely propelled by Brute Force for it is a scheming highly intelligent creature even more so than the kku for instance the yaruga are often seen escaping from or entirely avoiding man-made traps and they are exceptionally skilled at tracking down their NE adversary some hunters even swear that yaruga have a grudge against humans specifically but its most fearsome ability is that of mimicry as a monster that constantly fights other wyverns the young garuga will over the course of its life learn to imitate many of the moves it sees from the back flips of a rathen to the tail whips of a PUK PUK a garuga fights using all the techniques it has witnessed in the past this naturally makes the older individuals that much more dangerous as they have a larger arsenal of trained moves over their long lives Yang guga accumulate not just skills however but also scars it is in fact rather uncommon to see a fully grown scarless Yang garuga the most scarred individuals whose ears and eyes have been brutalized in fights long past are even classified by The Guild as a variant scarred Yang garuga these older veterans distinguished themselves mostly through the aformentioned Arsenal of mimicked skills and are known to be even more aggressive than their younger brothers many of their biological abilities such as their flame sack are also often improved likely a result of years of honing them against enemies curiously no one suffers at the hands of the young garuga as much as the Yan kku guga are known to relentlessly hunt down any kku they spot and they seem to take special pleasure in killing their close relatives one key observation that the guild made is that garuga seem to follow thekku migration patterns indicating that they actively seek them out one possible reason for this besides mere blood lust was postulated when one researcher observed a young garuga laying eggs into the at the time abandoned nest of a y kku that same researcher has since insisted that this must mean that the garuga are brw parasites creatures that trick other species into raising their young and that this is the reason they pursue kku so consistently recently The Guild has to this day stalled on confirming this Theory interestingly the Yang garuga has been spotted in The Guiding lands of the new world a continent on which the kutu is entirely absent while some have suggested that the garuga outcompeted the kku in this new environment and drove the new world population to Extinction this particular Wrinkle in the garuga story remains a mystery for now another feature that allows the young garuga to be so oppressive is its size which is larger than that of the kku and allows for heavy physical attacks as well as enhanced durability yaruga are however known to exhaust more quickly than Yan kutu which might be a result of their increased weight this adaptation however seems to be quite unstable as many miniature yaruga chicks are found dead born with severe cases of hormonal instability and dwarfism it might even be the primary cause of infant death in the species garuga that are born too small simply can't keep up with the immense degree of violence in their life and perish usually that is rarely exceedingly rarely a dwarf yaruga Will Survive its early years and grow into adulthood keeping keeping its small stature and compensating for it in other ways these are guga deviants variations of the species that appear extremely rarely and pose a significant threat to Men and Monsters alike a deviant Yang garuga is called Dead eyee Yang garuga as many of these Fierce dwarf wyvern develop a single glowing eye over the course of their battles why that happens is unknown what is known is that Dead Eye gugas are extremely dangerous their small size makes them much faster and more Nimble than their regular siiz brothers and the hormonal Oddities of their bodies often result in overly developed Venom glands in fact the skin of many dead ey gugas becomes discolored due to just how much poison is being pumped through their bodies and into their tissues making them extremely deadly to encounter what's worse is that Dei gugas have been seen actively chasing down and tracking Hunters specifically venturing near Hunting settlements seemingly to provoke human intervention what is probable is that these garuga live a life of even more violence than the regular species and as such they are even more hateful towards anything that they see due to this the appearance of a dead eyee is treated extremely seriously and only Hunters with special permits are allowed to attempt to slay them the variety of our world is nearly Limitless no matter where one looks Wonder awaits even creatures that may seem simple and dull at first often hide a universe of Secrets waiting to be uncovered those that look upon the earb birds and think them lesser wyverns would do well to reconsider for both the kku and garuga are fiendishly clever imaginatively complex and surprisingly wondrous [Music] creatures the natural world is no stranger to the bizarre and the exceptional life after all comes in all shapes sizes and dispositions even a regular civilian is quite used to hearing Tales of unusual creatures and a monster hunter is unlikely to go far without encountering at least a few odd adversaries but even the grandest tales and tallest lies are often confined to forests cliffsides and perhaps the skies few ever tell of that which lurks beneath us the burrowers and swimmers of the monster Frontier a shame for they represent some of the most outlandish beings known to The Guild the first of these creatures was discovered after numerous reports of manting Dunes began flooding out of the seua region this area located on the southwestern peninsula of the old world continent is a harsh desert that has been known to swallow careless Travelers spitting out their Sun bleached bones but these reports were highly unusual according to some witnesses the dunes themselves had begun moving clouds of sand purposefully torpedoing towards man and animal alike dragging them into a deep desert grave within mere moments The Guild quickly determined this to be the work of a monster they had no idea of what kind but it at least seemed more likely than sensient flesh eating sand Mounds the dispatched team of hunters and researchers then quickly discovered that this phenomenon was in fact caused by A Flock of sand dwelling piscine wyvern the piscine wyvern classification has since its initial proposal by the scholarly library of Mard been a cause for much debate and controversy within the Guild on paper their defining traits are somewhat simple wyvern that generally live submerged in water often sporting fins and other fish like features the problem with this simple definition is that it doesn't hold up to even the most casual observation of piscine wyvern some have wings some don't swim in water and many of them have lungs and just when a working hypothesis of their origin had been established a theory that proposed that they had actually branched off from flying wyvern hence the wings and lungs a new species was discovered on the new continent that entirely rebuked all of that the guild thus classifies Pine wyverns as its own order pish laertis itself containing three suborders into which all known pyen wyverns are sorted the majority of them are contained in just one suborder pipa fish feet defined by having semi-terrestrial hind legs and feet it was into this suborder that the man eating Dune fish of sea was sorted properly described and classified under the name sephos these hammer-headed wyvern exemplify the extreme difficulty of describing Pine wyvern as a homogeneous group while they do swim they do so not in water but through fine sand patrolling the deserts of the peninsula in flocks that travel through the ground at extraordinary spe speeds they are quite common in the deserts and the only reason the guild hadn't discovered them earlier was that they are mostly nocturnal generally only surfacing at night once they were discovered however their unusual bodies immediately garnered the attention of many researchers sephos have surprisingly well-developed wings and while they cannot be used to fly they do seem to help in maneuvering through the sand and jumping out while surfacing it was this feature that initially LED researchers to believe that they were dealing with some sort of abnormal flying wyvern but as the life of the sephos was gradually uncovered its wings became its least interesting feature sephos are almost entirely blind after all eyesight would not be of any use when swimming through sand instead they used their hearing and skin to feel out vibrations and sounds in the sand allowing them to maneuver quite accurately across the Dune Plains it also helps that deserts are generally quite empty and so most of the time the only source of vibrations will be other living beings their hammer-shaped head is specialized in pushing sand to the side allowing the creature to reach extremely high speeds considering that they're pushing through a solid medium using these abilities the sephos home in on any unfortunate Target before preying upon it in a most gruesome fashion as they approach their victim the sephos flock will stick out their fins to protrude out from the sand in these fins the sephos store a paralyzing Venom that is injected by brushing the fin tips on the skin of another creature by swimming past and around their target repeatedly the flock quickly inven mates it making it unable to move instead of Simply killing it right there on the surface the flock of sephos will then latch onto their prey and drag it with them deep into the sand knowing that its silent paralyzed screams will soon be suffocated by the dense sand flooding its orifices once deceased the victim will be devoured by the sandfish sephos are however not merely carnivores as they swim they swallow large amounts of sand which a special organ in their abdomen then filters to extract valuable minerals and organic matter from this way sephos are constantly nourishing themselves as long as they swim through the microparticles that they find in the sand adapted to life in the sand they may be sephos cannot solely live underground as bizarre as they can seem they still have lungs and so they must surface regularly in order to replenish their oxygen this is when the sephos are at their most vulnerable they are much less graceful on land as their heavy wyvern feet allow them only to slowly stomp across the dunes but even then the sephos are not entirely defenseless the sand that is filtered out from their digestive system after they swallow it is not simply discarded but instead stored in a specialized sand sack this sack can regurgitate the sand into the wyvern's mouth at will the roof of the sephos mouth secretes a thick type of secondary saliva an adhesive mucus whose main purpose is to mix with the regurgitated sand and form hard clumps of Sandy mud these clumps can then be spat by the sephos as a projectile allowing it to war board off adversaries the most powerful defense and offense of a flock of sephos is their pack leader the massive seadrome transformed by a hormonal flush these immense wyvern are generally at the heart of any sephos flock while they borrow the name drum from the alpha leaders of Old World Raptors seph dromes do not actually lead the flock there doesn't seem to be any kind of hierarchy or social Dynamic at Play Rather a flock of sephos Simply naturally follows a seadrome for its strength and durability their congregation is merely a sound survival strategy and indeed a seadrome is a fierce protector twice the size of a normal sephos all of its physical abilities are enhanced its paralyzing Venom is is more potent its sand sack is larger and its darkened hide is more durable it is even more longevous a seadrome can live up to twice as long as a sephos throughout the year the sephos flocks travel the night deserts protected by their seadrome always looking for food but beyond mere survival they are also waiting waiting for the wet season as the storms rage in the skies above seua various low areas in the desert become temporarily water logged and this is crucial to the very existence of the sephos despite being so adapted to life in the sand sephos can only lay their eggs in water perhaps a leftover from a previous ancestor after the eggs have been laid in the temporary pools the flock leaves again leaving the egg eggs to hatch by themselves by the time the next Generation actually hatches their Nursery pool will have shrunk into a small muddy puddle the juvenile sephos are then on a time limit they instinctively know how to swim through water but they must adapt to swimming in sand as well before their little Pond dries up ideally as the moisture around them vanishes their swimming ability increases allowing them to eventually attain the agility of their parents once the nursing pool has entirely dried up the sephos that manage to adapt venture out on their own to either grow into a seadrome or assimilate into an existing flock only in these early years can the true skin of the sephos be seen adults have their body covered in hardened brown sand but in juveniles and adolescents the brilliant blue scales are still visible for a short time before their beauty too is swallowed by the desert the sephos were a wakeup call to many scholars a reminder that the world is still brimming with the unknown and it especially ignited an interest in the study of piscine wyvern a fire that led to the scouring of all nooks and crannies previously ignored this fervor was not in entirely scientific both the eggs and the liver of the sephos were quickly discovered to be quite tasty and they soon became the luxury food item we know them as today as these new Goods stimulated the economy and increased demand for hunters The Guild was eager to discover more piscine wyvern like de sephos in hopes of furthering its Prosperity with new exotic Goods to circulate unfortunately for the hunter Guild what the researchers were about to discover was far from an easy source of valuable materials following up on old reports and oral histories regarding fish like wyvern Scholars soon stumbled upon their next great discovery and huge it was in a very literal sense deep in the old jungle lurking in the dark Waters of the Aris region they found the pleo the ploth is in one word enormous at the time of its Discovery it was considered the largest wyver known to the guild and even now many years and discoveries later it still holds its position as one of the most massive extant monsters this size is only possible due to its aquatic Lifestyle the buoyancy of the water it lives in allows it to reach Dimensions that would be crushing under the gravity of a land dwelling Lifestyle the plot's enormity has inspired numerous Legends in the regions it inhabits and the guild found it while investigating reports of villagers watching a giant fish tear apart a jungle gariel a species of Mega crocodilian that itself reaches well over 10 m in length soon after its Discovery the pleo was the declared the Pinnacle of Aquatic Life despite its enormous size its numerous fins allow it to swim at extraordinary speeds its wing-like main fins are especially powerful and a pleo at full speed can outswim just about anything its Razorsharp teeth and venomous fin spikes can make short work of any pre at Hunts and due to its muscular body the pleo can maneuver around the Deep effortlessly just like the sephos it too is blind and relies on its hearing to navigate the environment in service of this its hearing has become nearly Supernatural able to pick up on even the slightest intrusions into its territory these adaptations make the pleo one of the most successful predators of the old world Waters they even compete with crocodilians in the highly coveted Water Edge Predator Niche where they Ambush and forcefully drown animals that get too close to the edge of the water but also just like the seyos the pleo is not able to entirely abandon the surface pleo also have lungs which are tasked with the unenviable Dilemma of delivering oxygen continuously to a positively massive body the the solution is that the pleo doesn't just breathe through its protruding nose but through its entire skin allowing it to circulate oxygen rapidly and efficiently there is a catch however the pleio skin can only breathe when it is wet and it is extremely prone to drying out when not in direct contact with water paradoxically then the moment the pleo surfaces in order to replenish its oxygen its breathing begins to immediately degrade prolonged exposure to air will in fact suffocate the pleo to mitigate this pleo only surface partially sticking close to the water surface and poking out various body parts for short periods at a time for a quick and safe replenishment while it is exceptionally rare there are cases where pleo Venture on land despite their ecological success they are believed to be rather unintelligent and are known to throw temper tantrums that cause them to be quite Reckless should a prey have enraged and frustrated them by continuously evading the pleo will furiously Chase it even onto dry land similarly they can be lured onto terrafirma by its favorite snack frogs for reasons unimportant to science the pleo love to eat frogs and will walk into obvious traps and dangers just for the chance of tasting one including venturing on land a ground ofo is a much slower clumsier fighter compared to the graceful swimmer its large hind legs allow it to walk but its massive size and weight make it quite unwieldy while the pleo can run it can only do so for very short bursts at a time and only in a straight line most damningly however fighting on land is extremely risky as the wyvern skin dries out rapidly that is however not to say that a pleo is easy prey on land its massive weight and size make even the clumsiest movements deadly to any that stand Too Close its tail swipes are lethal but its most terrifying maneuver is its hip check where it swings its entire weight hip first into an opponent unarmored humans have been observed to basically disintegrate into formless fleshy pulp from the sheer force of that impact engaging a pleo is always risky in the worst case scenario a frustrated pleo may turn to using its most powerful weapon just how the sephos repurposes all the sand it swallows while burrowing the pleo also has an aqua saac that stores up the water it ingests while feeding this water can be regurgitated through a nozzle in the plot's mouth allowing it to shoot out a highly pressurized water beam this attack is extremely lethal and can cut apart most targets and the more intelligent will not wait to use it until they are cornered they have been observed simply sticking their head out of the water to shoot their deadly Beam at a dry Target from the safety of their own domain luckily pleo are not particularly common with a body that size large populations are hard to maintain in just one spot so they generally live alone and far apart from each other interestingly pleo can live in both freshwater and saltwater as a regional variation has been found living in the open sea around the island District the place where pleo are most common however is actually just one specific body of water the grand Aris river which originates in the old jungle and flows southwards throughout much of the southwestern Peninsula flowing underground and resurfacing multiple times this River also forms various underground Lakes which are known to be a preferred habitat for the pleo due to the sheer depth width and length of this River the pleo can travel all across the western edge of the old world continent with ease in an ironic twist this allows the pleo to even live in the oases and Cave Lakes of seua near where the sephos dwell with ecological success comes proliferation and specialization and the pleo is no exception beyond the freshwater and saltwater Regional variations the genus pleo also contains two distinct species pleo squalus is the more common species visually distinguishable by its dark blue coloration on its back and head they are very fond of their watery habitats and only rarely venture to the surface at all that cannot be said for the other species within the genus ploth viridis commonly known as the green pleo if its brilliant coat of emerald green back scales was not enough to distinguish it from the other pleo species the green peso's Behavior certainly will while it inhabits the same general ecosystems as the blue pleum the green pleo is much more comfortable on land its colored scales are a lot better at retaining moisture allowing it to stay on land for much longer additionally its leg muscles are much more developed and adapted to carrying the wyvern's weight on land this makes the green pleo much more agile and secure on dry land much to the terror of any prey that leaves the water in hopes for Sanctuary The Depths below often terrify us and for good reason it is a domain exclusive to otherworldly creatures predators and Specialists with bodies and Powers entirely alien to us monsters such as a sephos and the pleo remind us of how little power we hold in the abyss and and how easily we are dragged down swallowed by the deep that they so easily conquer the world is still a mysterious place it's an odd thought in a time when books researchers and documentarians exist one might fall prey to the assumption that most of the world's knowledge has been gathered that we have made serious progress in unraveling the secrets that surround us that is unfortunately quite far from the truth even as the Guild's dedication to research grows there is still so much left to learn and discover the gaps in our knowledge are equal parts painful and inspire spiring an Ever cited example of this is the lack of full life cycle records for most known monster species while the guild Endeavors to maintain a full and detailed catalog of all discovered and confirmed monsters as well as their spot on the philogyny many of them are missing any and all information on the creatures Youth and Adolescence it is a natural consequence of what the guild is while its research branch has steadily grown over time the Hunter Guild's primary purpose is still to hunt and call monsters that endanger human settlements and to Natural Balance unless a monster is being problematic The Guild will likely not investigate it or at the very least not make it a priority these priority cases of problematic monsters generally involve adult monsters and so it's only natural that the data collected during these incidents would be heavily skewed towards older mature monster individuals and their physiology and behavior still despite this reality many researchers do lament the fact that for many Monster species there exists not even a single confirmed sighting of a juvenile in turn this makes the species whose life cycle and growth has been mostly mapped all the more valuable and fascinating there aren't many but those monsters whose life has been studied across all of its phases do exist one such case are the monsters classified under the armor wyvern super family the gravos discovered very early on in the Guild's history the gravos is an enormous flying wyvern generally found in volcanic regions while some aspects of its life such as mating behavior are still largely unstudied the gravios is one of the few creatures The Guild has a fairly complete ecological image of shortly after being born gravios are immediately abandoned by their mothers left to fend for themselves these juveniles look very different compared to adult gravos so different in fact that they were initially believed to be an entirely separate species and given their own name that has stuck around until today basarios despite their youth basarios are already some of the largest wyvern in the world these humongous babies spend much of their time hiding and burrowing underground using their degenerated wing arms as powerful digging tools while their shovel-like head helps in carving out tunnels the basarios have but one Mission stay safe and grow larger in order to transition into an adult gravos they must reach a certain size and lay the groundwork for The Unique abilities that they will have as an adult luckily basarios are perfectly adapted to achieve these goals born with a thick gray shell right out the gate they generally don't have to worry about predators and can focus on preparing for adulthood specifically the basarios must do three things grow its muscles enlarge its shell and cultivate a bacterial col in its gut the first goal is the easiest one by hiding in the soil and only letting its Rock likee shell stick out the basarios camouflages itself as a boulder waiting patiently for its prey that comes in the form of large insectoids bnahabra and altaroth generally by lunging at them from their hiding spot the basarios can eat absurd amounts of these highly protein Rich insects in a single day allowing its muscles and body to grow rapidly the second and third goals are a little more tricky and depend on one another the only way to grow the rocky shell is to ingest and process minerals and rocks the basarios can however not digest these materials by itself it has to cultivate Rock eating bacteria in its gut to solve this the basarios will start small eating tiny rocks in hopes of also ingesting some of the bacteria it needs as it works its way up to larger and larger amounts of rock and stone it naturally swallows more and more rock bacteria which begins gradually forming a consistent colony in the creature's body once properly established the bacteria will live in symbiosis with the basarios processing and digesting the rocks it eats and allowing the wyvern to enhance and enlarge its massive Rock shell from the materials gathered out of that process throughout this endeavor the basarios begins running into the issues that will plague it for its entire life the process of digesting rocks leaves behind waste material junk rock that needs to be stored in a specialized organ to be molten down later this molten rock can be expelled for defensive purposes but the basarios is generally not quite proficient at that yet more importantly the process by which the bacteria dissolve and digest the minerals produces extreme amounts of both heat and gases of varying kinds both of which cannot stay in the body for long without causing damage the basarios must then learn to use specialized vents across its Underside to expel the heated gases regularly another burden that when used intelligently can function as a weapon luckily the basarios doesn't have much need for such weapons as its size and thick shell protect it from most threats after all its mother didn't just abandon the basarios in any random spot before laying their young female gravos scout out suitable areas with weaker predators and easy access to rocks and minerals even venturing into areas they normally don't inhabit such as deserts so this despite being left behind by its mother the basarios is given a strong start in life by its body and the nursery its parent chose for it before long the basarios will have reached its desired size and begin its transformation its face will reshape into a Slimmer shape with a front-facing nose horn its Rocky shell will fuse into a thick suit of homogeneous armor and its tail will gain a spiked club at the tip it will have become a gravos shortly after the newly matured gravios will migrate away from its nursery and into the nearest volcano where it will finally live out the unique life style of its ancestors once matured gravos live essentially without any competition or real danger due to two fascinating adaptations for one they can for a limited time completely submerge themselves in lava allowing them free movement in their home volcanoes this is an extraordinarily rare ability that usually requires eons of specialized Evolution the gravos developed a particularly odd strategy to achieve this their tough shell is extremely fire resistant so unless it stays submerged for multiple hours the gravos does not have to worry about its skin Mel melting but that is only half the problem even if the outer layer doesn't melt out right heat still transfers across the wyvern's body and into its organs where no protection can prevent the damage the lava's heat would do to the squishy insides the gravio solves this by bizarrely having all of its vital organs concentrated in the center of its body heart lungs stomach liver they all sit in a small area in the middle of the gravios this means that the time it takes the outside heat to reach any or all of these vital structures is maximized allowing the gravos more time in the lava and this is where the work it put in as a juvenile benefits the gravos the larger its body and its shell The more mass the heat has to pass through before reaching the wyvern Center as as the shell of a gravos is so resistant to fire it doesn't conduct heat very well either so the mass and size it acquired as a basarios now allow the gravios to stay submerged in lava for longer as its bulk essentially serves as a time limit to how long it takes the surrounding heat to reach and damage the wyvern's organs it is in fact theorized that the main reason this species of wyvern grew so large was to maximize their effic Y at staying submerged in lava the second key adaptation of the gravos is its bacterial Colony through years of cooperation the bond between the wyver and its Colony has grown so intimate and so efficient that the bacteria can even extract nutrition from the rocks to be swallows this means that a gravos can transition from being a partial insectivore to entirely subsisting on rocks and minerals eliminating the need for hunting entirely this turns the usually desolate Wasteland of volcanic rock Plains into a veritable buffet for the gravos who can eat just about anything it sees here it's hard to overstate the immense Ingenuity of this strategy through rigorous preparation and unique adaptation the gravos puts itself into a niche where it can Traverse magmatic depths unreachable by basically any competitor can with stand any attack with a thick shell and can nourish itself from the Abundant volcanic rock in its habitat with no need for tire some predation the single downside of this is that since its body is built to not allow heat to travel through it that also counts for the heat produced by its bacterial colony during digestion in fact the digestion of volcanic rock is so heat intensive that their stomach is regularly beset by explo explosions heat like this has to be vented immediately another possible danger for the gravio long term is simple heat exhaustion continuously teetering on the verge of being burned alive while also expelling and circulating heat is sure to take a toll the gravos prevents this by taking regular trips to colder areas such as nearby swamps in order to cool off and recover before returning to its magmatic home one thing the gravios doesn't have to worry about however are predators its size alone makes hunting a gravios an ill-advised Endeavor for most but if that wasn't enough the wyvern's defensive mechanisms are sure to deter the rest as it must vent its heated gases more frequently the gravos is an expert at using them defensively covering an area under and near it in fumes that can poison knock out or simply Scorch any come too close the gravos shrewdly chooses the right kind of gas for the right kind of opponent but even this pales in comparison to the wyvern's most dangerous weapon the junk rock that is left over from the digestion process stored in a special magma sack can be heated and molten by the gravos at will and while the basarios insecurely flung the resulting flame rocks at scary opponents the gravos knows how to use them to their maximum effect by melting them down into pure liquid lava and pushing them through a thin nozzle in its throat the gravos can spew these molten rocks out as a beam of lava this attack Burns at temperatures magnitudes more intense than even the strongest wyvern fire and will incinerate targets nearly instantly some gravos will use this opportunity to also vent its gases while firing the beam ensuring that their target will be burned alive at any distance it is important to understand just how devastating this attack is due to these weapons and its shell the gravos is basically indestructible and the guild has so far only found a single creature even capable of praying on them luckily for hunters gravos stick to volcanoes most of the year and rarely become a problem that needs dealing with in some cases gravios that are on their way to a swamp to cool down might come dangerously close to a settlement and become the target for a preventative hunting Quest these quests are however reserved for only the most experienced Hunters as facing a gravios is an un enviably dangerous task the gravos family of wyvern's life is objectively a success story where a flying wyvern adopts unorthodox strategies to eliminate the common pressures of survival one by one the species quickly became a Cornerstone of wyvern research and fascinating observations immediately began popping up in one most famous incident numerous Scholars began reporting observations of a gravios with a completely black shell as well as red highlights across its carpas this newly found black gravios played well into the enthusiasm of the guild at the time and was hastily classified as a new subspecies of gravos further research however refuted this classification the black gravos was soon discovered to actually be the already known gravos species gravos petrum with a discolored shell this was found to be the result of an increased body temperature and heat circulation brought on by what one could call a twoo successful youth basarios are generally quite hesitant to use the magma saac and Flame vents outside of absolute necessity but some individuals seem to become abnormally proficient in its use basarios that come to master the flame abilities then seem to mature into these black gravos whose body is black blackened by the excess heat black gravos retain their flame Affinity from their youth having been observed to use their lava beam much more liberally than gray individuals the force of the beam also seems to be increased as The Recoil can push back the heavy wyvern beyond that and an overall sturdier black armor the black gravos is mostly identical to the gray gravos interestingly The Guild has so far are not backtracked under classification of the black gravos as a subspecies despite numerous Scholars pointing out that it doesn't quite classify it wouldn't be until much later that a second species of gravos would finally be discovered in the center of the main continent lies a mysterious Place known as the Everwood this Forest remains one of the great mysteries of our world a dense wood that has has so far proven impossible to map due to its convoluted layout some Hunters have even come back panicked saying that the layout of the forest has changed every time they've gone into it this is however generally unverifiable it is however home to many Secrets many ruins and as many unique monsters it was here that a new species of gravos was observed or rather its juvenile form the Ruby basarios is an elusive creature and has only been seen a handful of Times preemptively classified under a species Nam gravos Gemma its main differentiating feature are the numerous gemstones and mineral crystals that seem fused into its shell with the gray gravios and its juveniles crystals and minerals are digested and broken down into the shell invisibly forming one homogeneous shape but the Ruby basarios seems to stick the crystals and minerals directly onto its body through an as of yet unknown process in fact it remains unclear what the benefit of these crystals even is the Ruby basarios can fling them at threats as a defensive maneuver but besides that their purpose is not immediately obvious one key observ ation is that these crystals look very similar to the ones that grow naturally in the Everwood but that connection doesn't exactly tell us much what is also still unknown is what this species actually looks like when it matures while Ruby basarios have been spotted a handful of times they have never been observed transitioning into a gravios Scholars theorize that its adult form probably just looks exactly like other gravio species but without direct evidence one can't be sure understanding nature is both our duty and our pleasure it is a mission with no end a task of such magnitude that our children and our children's children will likely carry on the torch still but sometimes we get to glimpse into the mechanisms of our world a company creature such as the gravos across their fascinating lives and reaffirm that which we already know in our hearts that the world is inexplicably complex and ineffably [Music] beautiful not all environments are created equal while we have a tendency to Simply separate the world into a binary civilized settlements versus the Wild Frontier it is a false one that other space the Wilderness is far from homogeneous the tender grass lands and their inhabitants may as well live on a different planet than the Ruffians the prowl Volcan IC mountains so different are their lives every biome is unique and every ecosystem produces its own unique conditions and resulting survival strategies one biome known to stand out is the desert infamously harsh these arid wastelands produce some of the toughest Warriors known to the guild only natural when resources are scarce and competition is fierce on the world as it has been mapped so far there are two major deserts that have been discovered the Peninsular desert of seua and the wild Spire waste of the new world a smaller desert area can also be found near valh habar while they may seem superficially similar they all maintain their own unique ecosystems with many species and behaviors being only found in each desert but even even in this variation there is one constant while the minuche of the food chain may vary the throne at the top is always filled by a certain family of flying wyverns powerful monsters who stand at the Zenith of desert life the Bloss classified under the super family coruc crania Bloss are horn wyvern that live exclusively in deserts they are reclusive and quite rare a blessing for everyone as the Bloss are both incredibly powerful and relentlessly aggressive despite this temperament they are actually herbivorous and do not hunt for prey rather they attack out of territorial instincts tolerating no Intruders in their domains which can span huge areas in fact this need for large territories is probably the reason why Bloss are fairly rare they generally cannot coexist near each other there are two known genuses in the Bloss family the first one is the monoss a very elusive wyvern with some significant historical relevance to the guild this brown shelled Beast is easily identifiable by its large aifi frill its sharp beak and its singular nasal horn the monoblos tail as well as its frill are covered in various SP and horns that further add to its Fierce appearance they are considered quite rare and thus very little is known about their lives some observations have however been made through the efforts of the scholars of the guild mono Bloss spend much of their time patrolling their territory by burrowing underground like all species of Bloss mono Bloss are flying wyvern in name only their bodies are much too heavy toly fly for extended periods and they have only rarely been cited hovering for brief periods of time so the wing claws are modified into sharp digging tools which allow for Swift movement under and through the sand the mass of horn also helps in pushing that sand to the side a monoblos schedule is equally divided between safeguarding its territory and feeding on the Bloss favorite food source desert cactus monoblos territories will often be selected purely based on the number and quality of cactus patches in the area and the wyvern defends those patches ferociously should a monoss encounter an intruder be a wyvern or human it will not hesitate to attack immediately the Bloss family does not produce any kind of breath attack or Elemental substance like many other wyverns do instead they fight using their size strength and command of the terrain a monoss will enter the fry with one goal skew its opponent with its massive horn a monoblos horn is among the toughest materials found in nature its Crimson Hues often hidden by a strata of hardened sand the monoss will swing and stab with its horn knowing that a single hit from it will neutralize most targets of course A Taste swipe or two for good measure are also included but the monoblos most dangerous ability is its speed despite its massive body it can both run and burrow at high speeds able to charge and dive at Target's horn first increasing the deadliness of its already ferocious body they are especially Adept at attacking From Below using their excellent hearing to navigate through the Sandy ground before lunging out from below their target another weapon that the monoss shares with other genuses in the Bloss family is its voice the screams of a monoss are ear piercingly loud and have on occasion caused actual physical damage and ruptures to creatures standing too close to it as the battle intensifies the heart of the monoblos one of the most valuable monster materials in existence accelerates causing blood to flow more violently once this happens the monoblos frill light up with a red pattern serving as a final warning to any Intruders leave now or perish this pattern seems to also influence mating behavior interestingly while much of the Ecology of the monob Bloss is still uncertain its history with the guild is well known throughout the lands in the fog woven days of the past when Monster hunting didn't exist yet as a true profession a band of five Heroes arose traveling the old continent and slaying monsters that terrorize settlements this party led by a vivaran wielding a sword and shield is believed to have been the first adopters of Monster hunting as a lifestyle they brought hope and salvation wherever they went to the terrorized population that lived under the fear of monsters and their travels eventually took them to the shra region here on Mount kokoto they encountered a monoblos that had been striking fear into the hearts of nearby towns thus they faced it and while they were brave and strong the mighty monoblos killed one of the five the fiance of the squad leader defeated the party ran away to lick their wounds but the aarian leader a grieve from loss ascended back up the mountain to face the wyvern alone after a battle that some say took 40 days and nights the monoblos was slain and The wyvaran Returned with the Crimson horn triumphantly in hand this wyvaran from then on known as the hero of kokoto laid the ground workk for many of the foundations of Monster hunting at the sight of his battle a village called kokoto was formed which has long since served as a hotbed for new and upcoming Hunters the loss of his love is honored in Guild law by only allowing parties of Maximum four Hunters to Embark together the fifth member is surely faded to die just like the heroes love but most importantly in honor of the hero's bravery monoblos hunts are exclusively posted as solo missions as Hunters must slay the Beast alone to prove themselves a tradition known as the proof of a hero however this ritual is not as easy to fulfill considering just how rare mono Bloss are they are solitary and only live in remote regions so it is highly unlikely to ever encounter one even rarer than the commonly thought of brown monoss is the white monoss which can be identified by its white shell next to nothing is known about this subspecies due to how rarely it's been cited Beyond its white coloration no obvious differences between it and the brown species have been observed some researchers have suggested that the pale shell allows the blood patterns on the frill to be more visible which could have implications for Territorial and mating behavior but until more sightings occur little can be confirmed or said about the white monoss the other major genus of Bloss is by comparison much more common this horn wyvern has a wide habitat even appearing in the new world and sightings of it happen somewhat regularly this is the Diablos the closest extent relative of the monoblos it can be easily distinguished by a few prominent features the Diablo shell is more sand colored its frill is smaller and more rounded its tail ends in a club rather than spikes it has two protruding tusks and most importantly instead of one long thin nasal horn the Diablos grows two massive thick curved horns above its eyes it's important to note that when the two Bloss genuses were first discovered they were wrongly called subspecies of each other due to their similarities while many older Guild techs still retain this wording research has progressed since then and it is no longer considered accurate the monoblos and Diablos are indeed closely related but they are both part of their own bespoke genus and not subspecies of each other one can easily see how that mistake would happen though in terms of lifestyle and behavior the Diablos is nearly identical to the monoss it too prowls territory center around cactus patn es it also Burrows underground using its Superior hearing and it also primarily uses its horns for defense and offense however because Diablos are not nearly as rare and are seen much more often their behaviors are much better understood for example the reclusive nature of Bloss species was generally considered a consequence of their High strong territorial aggression but Research into the Diablos revealed a different explanation because of their excellent hearing Diablos are actually quite vulnerable to loud sounds even moderate volumes such as shrieking birds and Desert Winds might be somewhat painful to the sensitive ears of this giant wyvern thus Diablos spend much of her time in Burrows and underground caves away from loud sounds only surfacing to eat and defend their domain eating is a surprisingly passionate Affair for the Diablos it has been noted to be highly selective of the cactus patches It Centers its territory around once a suitable patch has been identified the Diablos will hyper fixate on that one Cactus protecting and nurturing it with intense jealousy the Diablo tusks serve to both puncture the skin of the cactus as well as dig up and move the soil under it allowing the wyvern to monitor the health of its patch its favorite Cactus patch withering and dying is a highly traumatic event for the Diablos and it has been observed that frustrated individuals will up and abandon its entire territory altogether if that happens while it may sound odd it makes sense for the wyvern to have such an emotional bond to its plants they are its Lifeline as a Diablos gets both all of its nutrition and hydration exclusively from cacti a Diablos will go and visit its patch up to six separate times a day both to feed and to work on it just like the monoblos the Diablos does not take kindly to Intruders should it sense an unwanted guest with its hearing it will immediately go to investigate and potentially attack its horns may be shorter than those of its cousin but a rampaging Diablos is still more than capable of destroying its enemies with them between the thick horns into a heavy tail Club a Diablos can easily kill most creatures merely by swinging around either parts of its body and of course it too can burrow into the ground and then lunge out for additional deadly impact one interesting observation is that Diablos found in the new world seem to be more aggressive than those on the old world continent not even the Diablos own kind is spared from their territorial aggression while Diablo territories May sometimes overlap slightly it is extremely rare to see two individuals near each other should two Diablos meet they will almost certainly engage in a territorial dispute locking horns to see who will be able to topple the other the winner gets to expand its territory this Behavior happens equally between males and females and only changes slightly during The Mating Season when ready for a mate female Diablos will begin to darken their shell gradually changing color as her heat intensifies this is the only time Diablos will actively seek each other out this truce however only lasts until the mating is complete once the female Diablos is sufficiently fertilized she will violently Chase off her mate returning to Solitude to carry out her pregnancy soon after mating the female Diablo shell will darken even further turning her into a black Diablos these pregnant wyvern were originally believed to be a subspecies of Diablos but they are just female Diablos whose shell is temporarily discolored due to reproductive hormones at the time of its Discovery variance as a concept had not been suggested but most Scholars now agree that the black Diablos should probably be reclassified as a variant as she fits that definition much better this amendment is still under review however black Diablos are even more aggressive than regular individuals as they now have to defend themselves as well as they're unborn young to do that its hormonal flush tightens its muscles and temporarily increases the Diablo strength manyfold black Diablos are much more agile and accurate with their charges allowing them to dispatch enemies quickly more deviously the heightened muscular control the female gains during this period allows for unusually precise fluctuations in movement speed allowing the black Di to alternate its timing and speed to confuse opponents a black Diablos is thus a truly formidable opponent and it's even been observed fighting off the likes of devil Joe its eponymous dark hid's purpose in this was long considered mysterious many researchers simply assumed it served as a threat display to minimize the risks to the fetus and while that is probably still true another function of the black shell has been discovered being dark it absorbs more light thus increasing the body temperature of the Diablos this seems to facilitate the chemical and hormonal processes that go into its pregnancy so the black shell seems to serve as an additional heat intake for the female this state is only temporary once the female gives birth and ensures her Young basic needs are met she will return to her yellow sand-like color and abandon her young which will then have to fend for itself due to their intense lifestyle Diablos are seen as a sort of symbol of the violence inherent to the Natural World they are the Desert Storm that Rampages Without End this symbolic status was further bolstered by a particular incident involving a particular type of Diablos it is said that long ago an unnamed desert kingdom was Suddenly besieged by an unknown enemy Villages within the Kingdom's borders began to Simply vanish its people massacred and its walls shattered to dust Battalion after Battalion Army after Army was sent after this enemy and all were torn apart squashed like bugs a single account of their battle remains describing a fight with a demon a wyvern with many horns whose every pore shot out billowing hot Steam while the kingdom fell shortly after and the story became part of Guild mythology the unnamed enemy has since been theorized to have been a deviant Diablos now named blood bath Diablos all deviants are immensely dangerous defined as extremely rare abnormal individuals of otherwise well-known monster species deviant stand out due to their sheer destructive power the rare sightings of one generally lead to evacuation and widespread Guild mobilization and only extremely high ranking Master Hunters are ever granted permission to face one in combat but even among this most dangerous of classification the bloodbath Diablos stands on the Apex considered the most powerful and cataclysmic deviant of them all as much as a rumor of a bloodbath Diablos being seen is enough to send the entire guild into high alert a single bloodbath Diablos could spell disaster that is because of the specific way a bloodbath Diablos is created every known deviant forms under unique conditions to that species and the chances of one appearing are considered to be around one in a million in the bloodbath Diablos case it develops when a young Diablos suffers the worst trauma its kind knows losing a horn the Diablos horns are its most important body part and losing one of them would be devastating for an adult but for a a juvenile it is an even more stressful event moreover young Diablos are often too small to lock horns with adults so the only way for a juvenile to lose a horn is to have it broken off by a hunter should a hunter do this and then fail to slay the juvenile they will regret it dearly the juvenile will usually die soon after as it can't compete with others with only one horn but sometimes these broken Diablos survive push themselves past their limits propelled by one emotion vengeful rage towards the humans that humiliated it these survivors grow up to be many times more violent than their peers a mix of their rage and their need to compensate for their missing horn Decades of violence and battle cause its body to morph the horn regrows incorrectly as a mangle of spikes and curls its tail Club becomes asymmetrical and many of its armor shells enlarge more notably the constant fighting and killing douses parts of its body in a constant coat of blood and viscera which dry and mix with the Beast shell into a deep blue coloration in Neverending violence motivated by an intense hatred for humans the bloodbath Diablos is born because of this trauma the bloodbath Diablos is one of very few monsters that actively seeks out humans in order to kill them that is why the guild takes supposed sightings of it so seriously a bloodbath Diablos is a nearly Unstoppable Force its Twisted horn and club tail many times more destructive Ive than those of a regular individual the many battles it has won have given it ample combat experience manifesting in cruel and cunning Maneuvers such as using a quick Roar to stun a Target before immediately charging at them full force as the blood maath Diablos rage grows its body changes its mutated heart empowered by many wrathful beats accelerates faster and faster pumping blood with such Vigor that the beast's veins become visible through its shell the Diablos go stronger and angrier in this state using unusual attacks to decimate its foes if there are any enemies left past this point the bloodbath Diablos will enrage even further as its heartbeat races ever faster the wyn's body heats up until both its sweat and the fluids mixed into its shell begin evaporating into clouds of undulating steam this is a Diablos at its Zenith as now its deadly moves are accompanied by scorching steam explosions in this state the bloodbath damlo is a true disaster Walker and only two Hunters are known to have survived this Onslaught and even they did not actually win the fight merely repelling the monster few can rival the ferocity of the horned desert Warriors their bodies are monuments totems to the power and violence found in the natural world but in their wild Hearts they also hold the mundane the amicable the emotional violent they may be within them still dwells the multiplicity of any life and the reminder that even in danger there is Beauty and Fascination in the Natural World Balance Reigns Supreme while catastrophes and crises occur regularly nature is generally quite good at keeping the balance of things the E and flow of life goes on and humanity is a part of it namely the hunter Guild's explicit mission statement is to maintain Harmony between the civilized and the natural world in most cases this means protecting everyday citizens from the dangers of the frontier the wild lands that covered the known world but the guild also conducts behavioral research tracks monst populations protects fossil sites and harshly prosecutes poaching protecting the natural world in the process in times of disaster and death The Guild is Humanity's main defense against creatures most foul a mantle that Monster Hunters carry with pride all in all it is a harmonious effective Arrangement but then there are creatures that strain that Arrangement not by overwhel elming the Guild's strength but by exhausting its patience this is generally the case with highly intelligent monsters and one such problem species ironically lives in the marsh lands near dundorma one of the Guild's command centers here in the humid swamps Waltz is a creature renowned not for its destructive power but its sheer uncontrollable obnoxiousness this is the the gypos a large bird wyvern that generally inhabits wet habitats such as swamps and jungles it is easily identifiable by its large beak with protruding teeth its cone-shaped head Crest its gray body and its elastic pink tail it is at first glance somewhat unimpressive so how come a creature so inconspicuous is considered a nightmare for the guild to understand that one must observe the gypos life and behavior like most bird wivern gypos are generally timid but curious willing to investigate Oddities and equally ready to flee if those Oddities turn out to be dangerous what sets the gypser apart are two key behaviors for one gypos are highly attracted to shiny objects as they are crucial to selecting sexual partners It is believed that gypser select a mate based on the shiniest display this combined with the beast's extremely dextrous Peak leads to the gypos often descending upon Wanderers and trading Caravans to steal any and Everything That Glitters this has led to numerous trade routes becoming nearly unusable due to the risk of encountering an incense gypos the second behavior that makes the gypos such a thorn in the Guild's eye is its main defense mechanism as they aren't very physically imposing gypos defend themselves using a poison sack which produces a venomous substance that can be mixed into the WN saliva and spat at opponents as mucus now gypos Venom is quite weak causing only mild discomfort in humans at low levels of exposure to compensate for that the gypos poison sack produces absurd amounts of this Venom allowing the wyvern to spew out such large quantities of it that even its mild effects are multiplied into genuinely threatening levels what's arguably more problematic is that because it produces so much venom the gypceros uses it extremely liberally spitting out a few globules of it whenever it feels even slightly agitated this can for example lead to ceros poisoning entire fields and farmlands by accident after getting spooked by some small Critters while gyp's Venom is weak against humans it absolutely devastates any Flora it comes into contact with so a gypceros appearing near any agricultural sites is considered disastrous for these reasons gypos sightings generally result in hunting quests being issued by the guild but despite being a bird wyvern a a gypos is no easy prey not even for experienced Monster Hunters unlike most wver the gypos is not covered in Scales but rather a unique skin called rubbery hide defined by its eponymous rubber-like qualities this hide is assumed to have originally developed as a mechanism to resist electric shocks as one of the gypos main ecological Rivals is the kzu a cave dwelling wyvern that uses thunder attacks to paralyze prey but beyond merely repelling electricity this rubbery hide is also quite resistant to slashing and piercing attacks giving the gypos ample defense it is also water resistant ensuring that the gypos can live in these humid areas without having to worry about moisture related diseases and discomforts additionally being rubbery this hide is quite a elastic which empowers the gyp's most bizarre weapon specialized muscles and rows of rubber skin around the tail allowed a wyvern to extend the tail like a rubbery whip lashing opponents with it before retracting again these adaptations alone would make the gypos somewhat difficult to best but what elevates all of its strengths is the creature's most surprising attribute its speed and stamina despite its size and shape the gypos can unleash random bursts of speed that catch most opponents off guard moreover it is capable of maintaining this speed for quite some time gypos take an extremely long time to exhaust and in a battle of attrition gypos will almost always win for a long time this odd ability was considered quite mysterious and its mechanisms were only discovered after intensive an analysis of the gypceros physiology various glands within the wyvern's body particularly in its abdomen produce and circulate a fluid called Dash extract this is a type of natural performance enhancer when mixed into the cardiovascular system this extract improves all physical abilities most notably movement speed and stamina gypos strategically activate their Dash glands to empower themselves thus becoming as fast and durable as they are known to be while this ability makes the gypos extremely difficult to deal with the discovery of Dash extract was a massive breakthrough for the hunter Guild soon after more and more monsters were discovered to produce this natural steroid and before long it was being actively harvested by hunters Guild Alchemists quickly realized that by diluting and processing it they could make Dash extract safe for human consumption this new Elixir called Dash juice now allows humans mostly Monster Hunters to enjoy the benefits of improved stamina and physical endurance for a limited time thus while the gypos quick movements are quite annoying to engage with It ultimately gave Humanity another tool in their Endeavor to stand their ground against Monsters AG gypceros is an enduring resilient creat creature but even it will eventually reach its limits they are after all still bird wyvern and lack the brute force and brutality of most true wyvern but even when cornered the ceros still has a few tricks up its sleeve its distinctive headrest is no mere decoration over the wyvern's life minerals and ores that it regularly swallows as part of its diet make their way up into that crest mixing into it as small rocky fragments most crucial are the light Stones rare gems that gypser seek out specifically this Crest is thus transformed into the gypos secret weapon it is attached to a specialized muscle that can wiggle the entire Crest slightly forward enough to make it collide with the upper end of the wyvern's large beak when the gypos hits its Crest like that it acts much like a flint creating Sparks as the minerals in the crest are hit and shatter this produces a powerful blinding flash of light burning the retinas of any creature looking at the gypos and allowing the wyvern to either Escape or attack the dazed opponent being so used to having a photonic eruption occur right above its head the gpo's eyes have naturally adapted to be unaffected by light flashes but what truly makes the gypos so Troublesome is its considerable intelligence despite its awkward appearance and somewhat silly demeanor the ceros is a cunning and calculating creature that will use any advantage it can grasp one frightful example is that it can lunge at human enemies and steal their belongings strategically prioritizing valuables and consumables this can be highly problematic if for example the gypceros Robs a hunter of their Elixir the photonic eruption is also a weapon the wyvern uses cunningly flashing enemies at just the right time to create an opening as it fights the gypceros makes sure to douse the entire area in as much venom as possible hoping to slowly envenomate its opponent even if it deems the situation hopeless the gypos has a way out these wyvern are known to play dead when a fight doesn't go their way hoping to catch their as salent off guard should anything approach a pretending gypos it will bite its time before using its Crest to Blind the target gypceros are known to be exceptionally patient during this maneuver sometimes even allowing Hunters to begin carving materials from its body before lifting the curtain some gypos however never revealed themselves and simply continue to play dead until the threat has left this has led to a small logistical nightmare for the Guild on more than one occasion Hunters have returned from seemingly successful gypos quests only to be told that the individual they thought they had slayed had actually just fooled them and that they needed to be hunted properly this time the subsequent paperwork and complaints are remembered painfully to this day all things considered the gypos is an oddly powerful creature despite being a chunky unusual looking bird wyvern it has developed numerous unique and elaborate defense mechanisms that combine into a true force to be reckoned with this seems to have been the result of extreme evolutionary pressures that affected the gypos lineage fossil analysis has described an extremely short-lived cousin ancestor species of the gypos the baji risu it likely resembled the gypos but was covered in hard scales instead of a rubbery hide its Crest also likely could not Flash and no evidence of any poison organs has ever been found in short the bajiru lacked all of the adaptations that make the gypos so successful today its only unique feature was a clubbed tail that may have been fairly flexible it is therefore not very surprising that the baji ru seems to have gone extinct rather quickly while a related Branch remained and eventually became the modern gypos considering that the baji risu was outcompeted by other bird wyvern it is likely that this genus was exposed to extremely competitive environments thus driving the gypos unique and inventive defense mechanisms today gypos are nearly uncontested in their marshy habitats while they still have to fear true wyverns such as the wraths their numerous abilities allow them to stand their ground and walk the swamps confidently they do have some dedicated Predators but all in all the gypso life is a success story as far as diversity goes there are two described extent species of gypos the gray gypceros is the more common one and considered the archetype of the genus meanwhile the purple gypos is quite rare only being cited once every few years it is easily distinguishable by its purple hide adorned with green markings this discoloration is believed to be a side effect of the purple gypser Ro's main difference from its gray cousin its enlarged poison sack purple gypos produce both more and stronger Venom able to flood the area around them in potent toxins that work much faster than the diluted mixture of the gray species this allows it to be even more dangerous and it likely would pose a serious problem for the guild if purple gypos weren't so rare many of us fall pray to thinking of nature too rigidly what is and isn't powerful is often decided in the mind purely based on looks and Impressions it is a view that often underestimates creatures such as the gypos success and strength can come from any number of sources es and it is unwise to disrespect The NeverEnding Ingenuity of those that walk the natural world science in a way is a blanket as much as it is presented as a noble effort to measure the world and characterize the Stars to understand our existence it is also undeniably an Endeavor of comfort like a blanket we wrap ourselves in the findings of Science and tell ourselves that come what may our knowledge and ingenuity Will Keep Us Safe that is of course a platitude no matter how much we learn what lies Beyond the Horizon of our understanding is always greater always more elusive always more magical this is a lesson the hunter Guild has had to learn again and again and one creature in particular has stood as a continuous reminder of just how mysterious the world still is despite our best efforts this case is in fact so mysterious that it is not trivial to determine when it even started over the many years of the Guild's existence Hunters would occasionally return with an odd report Quest completed Target slain everything went smoothly but amidst it all they reported to have felt as if they were being watched a tingle in the air surrounding them at all times some of these reports even mentioned seeing a lean Shadow leap away in the distance always just Out Of Reach all of these encounters were also accompanied by a sudden thunderstorm appearing and then quickly disappearing again the hunters never reported to have been in any danger during these initial sightings it was always just a quiet brush with the unknown as the hunter Guild grew in size and the number of hunters out in the field at any given time increased so too did these odd encounters grow in frequency before long The shadowy Watcher had not only been sensed and glimpsed but even seen from a reasonable distance while the descriptions of The Entity varied wildly there were a few consistent features it was indeed described as a monster an animal rather than some Supernatural entity most reports agreed that it was not a massive creature and that it walked on four legs Beyond this however the alleged appearance of the Phantom Beast varies significantly being described to be of basically any color with numerous contradict iory features such as tentacles whiskers and Frills at the time the guild considered this mystery to be of somewhat low priority while it was certainly puzzling and tantalizing it wasn't actually posing any threat to Hunters or civilians whatever this creature was it merely observed from afar and then vanished the Hunter's Guild is primarily concerned with safety so no immediate action towards uncovering this Phantom Beast was taken at that time however as rumors and myths regarding this case became common knowledge among Hunters many younger upstarts began engaging in Reckless Behavior hoping to be the ones to finally confront and discover this mystery monster many boasted about trying to chase down the creature and it soon became a sort of challenge for newcom s despite repeated scoldings from their Guild Masters until one day of course a hunter returned to Dorma in a panicked frenzy behind him on a cart he was hauling a collection of blackened armor pieces loosely held together by a charred human corpse the hunter himself was also injured missing numerous fingers which looked as if they had been scorched clean off through the Babbling of the Survivor a severe tragedy was Illustrated this Duo of greenhorns had dedicated themselves to discovering the mystery monster and independently of Guild researchers concluded that most of its sightings seem to occur in or near the marshes around dundorma they had indeed found it and against all Guild recommendations approached it head on as they faced it the creature had suddenly left past them followed by a roaring Thunderclap the surviving Hunter recalled little else after that from one moment to the next his fingers and his friend were gone replaced with the stench of burning flesh from this description it appeared that this creature was a thunder ele monster of hither to unheard of potency while all Thunder monsters are dangerous no living creature was ever seen outright vaporizing a human so easily as a result the discovery classification and containment of this Phantom Beast was made an urgent investigation luckily the Survivor had been able to get a good look at the creature and after a bit of calming down his his testimony proved invaluable in tracking it down the entire Hunter Guild focusing on one goal is a tremendous force and indeed the mystery creature would soon be discovered and observed by a sanctioned Hunting Party it matched a survivor's description perfectly it was a quadruped creature roughly the size and shape of a moose its blue hide was striped and grew white luminous patches of fur in various places and on its head sat a single deep blue horn perfectly straight and horribly pointed as its existence became confirmed it was named Kirin even after its official Discovery the Kirin was and continues to be a deeply elusive creature it matches no known monster group group and seems to have no immediate relatives thus placing it into the Elder Dragon category by necessity but even this decision is much debated as mystical and bizarre elder dragons may be the majority of them do display some degree of similarity which is completely absent in the small eoin Kirin a small group of researchers are currently petitioning to investigate its Rel ation to the Kelby another small equine creature but that angle has gone nowhere as of now equally disputed is the kirin's actual lifestyle and territory Kirin are cited in almost every environment with no clear regularity and as such The Guild doesn't have a habitat map as much as it just has a list of locations in which Kirin have been cited before they do seem to appear more more commonly in the ancient Tower a derel mega structure deep in the ruined land of fonon they also seem to be slightly more common in the marshes near dundorma as The greenhorns Tragically surmised some researchers have suggested that Kirin do have a bespoke territory somewhere in the wild but that it is so remote so Elusive and inaccessible that all the guild ever sees are individuals that venture out and away from their secret home whatever the case may be the little confirmed information about the Kirin paints a fascinating picture all by itself Kirin are Swift and graceful Galloping across any and all climate zones with seeming ease while they are not actively aggressive invoking their anger will see them attack relentlessly using perhaps the single most most inexplicable ability ever discovered by The Guild true fulmino Kinesis the ability to command lightning monsters that utilize electricity or the Thunder element to attack or defend themselves are actually nothing new even in the early days of the guild various natural mechanisms to harness the Thunder element were known and understood specifically in the kzu but in most of those cases the monster in question possesses some internal organ or feature that produces stores or guides electricity that is not the case with the Kirin it does not appear to have any internal structures associated with this nor does the Thunder it controls even originate from its own body instead the Kirin is able to generate storm clouds in the atmosphere above it and call down natural lightning strikes at any time on any Target it desires the Kiran doesn't merely use Thunder attacks it forces the very heavens above it to obey its commands and sent down scorching Thunderbolts natural lightning strikes are magnitudes more powerful than anything a living creature could ever hope to produce in its own body and so this ability makes the both unique and devastatingly powerful lightning dances around this Beast striking at any that approach it the speed and intricate patterns with which these strikes occur are nearly impossible to outmaneuver and few beings Man or Monster are able to survive getting hit more than once the Kine found in the new world can even cause lightning to curve and fly horizontally an entirely unique and absurd occurrence true fulmino Kinesis is as mysterious as it is powerful lightning strikes are a largely random phenomenon and there aren't many known mechanisms to feasibly manipulate them let alone control them to the degree seen in the Kirin careful observation has however yielded some Clues this ability seems to depend on both the k white fur and its horn whenever it calls down Thunder its man glows and pulsates brightly and the larger lightning strikes are C down by a swing of the Azure horn which can often be seen crackling with small arcs of lightning around it two key observations further solidify the importance of these two body parts first in the new world a researcher made a breakthrough discover y when they finally managed to observe akirin during feeding long thought to be herbivores Kine were finally confirmed to seek out plants but not for the usual reasons while the researcher called it feeding what they actually observed was that the Kine was licking the plants rather than eating them it seemed to be lapping off the moisture that accumulated on the surface of certain flora and curiously whenever it did so the Kine would shed small puffs of its white Mane which would briefly glow like it does while calling down lightning this suggested that there was some mechanism by which absorbing moisture could replenish or otherwise influence the kin's man the sparkling energy that surrounds the hair at most times might suggest that the Beast does store or some degree of thunder in its own body as well how exactly this interacts with its ability is still unknown the second key observation centered around an entirely different species the rajang a rare and dangerous Fang Beast is well known for its Thunder abilities which color its coat and Empower its fists but these abilities are not innate at Birth in instead rajang must perform a sort of coming of age ritual in which they hunt down a Kirin break off its horn and consume it upon ingesting the horn AR Jang unlocks its full electric potential this implies that the horn is indeed where the major Thunder abilities of the Kirin are localized as it would otherwise not have this effect on the rajang both parts of the Main and the horn were later retrieved for study which was unfortunately less insightful than expected while both materials held significant electric charge making them difficult to handle they showed no signs of special structures or adaptations that enabled that property it was as if the Kirin simply had a natural mystical relationship to the storms and that they granted it power beond beyond the constraints of mere biology using this power a rampaging Kirin is a force to be reckoned with as if the lightning strikes weren't enough the Beast is also quite formidable without them its strong legs allow it to shoot itself off the ground at tremendous speeds even being able to LEAP up Cliffs and mountains effortlessly in conjunction with this agility its horn is not just just a vessel for its Thunder ability but a deadly skewer ready to penetrate those that irritate its wielder defensively the Kirin has another bizarre ability by calling down a lightning strike onto itself it envelops its body in a plasmatic aura the crackling electricity surrounding it tempers the kirin's muscles making its body so hard that almost nothing can harm it it is a truly otherworldly creature Kirin research did not just happen in a vacuum with each new inexplicable detail about the creature that made it into Guild records the imagination and ambition of Scholars all across the organizations was emboldened the Kirin may be elusive but through that quality it inspired an entire generation of researchers to dream and imagine all all the other unusual magical beasts that might roam the great unknown and of course numerous theories around the Kirin specifically emerged one favorite in scholarly dining Halls was the question of if the kirin's relationship to the storms was innate and unalterable was the Kine inextricably bound to lightning through some specific unknown ancient packed or could there be a kind of Kirin that controls a different element the answer to this question revealed itself sometime later during the magala incident in this historic event a rogue gor magala caused chaos and panic in and around the valh habar region leading to increased Guild activity in the area this jurisdiction included a nearby Zone called the Everwood a massive Forest full of ancient ruins it is in fact so massive that it has to this day never been fully mapped many rare and even unique creatures live in these woods and one day a patrol came back with a truly astonishing report the party described spotting a Kirin this was by itself of nothing new Kirin had been seen in the Everwood before but this individual was different its hide was much darker than usual nearly black and its man was of a deep purple color the horn was a dull pink rather than the characteristic Azure but most bafflingly this Kirin did not call down lightning instead said its horn seemed to control the ambient temperature able to flash freeze anything within its sight in an instant it could produce icicles and Ice spires to both defend and attack this was quickly classified as a subspecies of Kirin named Orosi Kirin and it would only be cited a handful of times after this initial Discovery nearly nothing is known about it and how it lives and all descriptions of it merely repeat that first sighting but the fact that the oroshi Kirin controls ice was nonetheless significant researchers have suggested that since both ice and storms are abilities that interact with moisture and humidity the kirin's true ability may actually be to control atmospheric humidity around it alas until more sightings occur nothing can be truly confirmed the world is so vast and so infuriatingly beautiful even with all our science and research nature continues to find ways to Humble us no academic paper could describe the magnificence of beings such as the Kiri a magnificence that exists within the unknown and in that unknown we must Venture because who knows what wonders still lie beyond our Horizons our history with nature is a fascinating one it's easy to think that Humanity's spot in the ecosystem is relatively stable but it like everything else changes rapidly this is why it is valuable to consider the present in context of the past the relationship between Mankind and monsters is currently at its most favorable while the world still holds many Mysteries Many Wonders and many dangers the hunter Guild has become so organized and Powerful that it can handle most situations to crop up the Wilderness is far from tamed but the guild has developed strategies and weapons capable of holding it at Bay h hunting Tools dragonator Mobile cannons our Arsenal is vast simultaneously science has progressed to a degree at which we can predict the movements behaviors and even population growths of a wide variety of extant monsters our knowledge has made us strong which is why it can be so difficult to imagine a world before all this a world in which there was no weapon capable of destroying a wyvern shell where the migrations of monsters were as mysterious as the ocean storms and where an encounter with any wild creature could and often did mean death it was a dark time when Humanity huddled together in their settlements and when the frontier was entirely ruled by monsters it is a Time easily forgotten and yet there is one creature whose very existence stands as an eternal reminder not just of that time but of how easily we might be catapulted back into it the list of Terrors that haunted Us in the past is long and dubiously accurate Tales of black dragons of plague wyverns of Eternal serpents filled the pages of historic folklore but we do not have to look to Legends to find terrible and great Monsters of the past in those fog woven days even a rathon was a serious problem and Ordinary People had basically no way of Defending themselves against it if a monster wandered into a village all anyone could do was hide it was this pressure that eventually led to Warriors taking up Swords and becoming Hunters after being inspired by a certain incident but before all that monsters reigned Supreme and there was one kind of monster that was considered truly Unstoppable a creature whose appearance heralded inalterable doom and all without even a shred of malice Tales tell that sometimes seemingly at ran Villages all over would be shook by rumbling footsteps the lucky ones would hear them as a distant droning The Unlucky ones would hear them getting louder closer before long one unfortunate settlement or another would see it the old mountain dragon an enormous monster who is said to simply walk over Villages trampling its citizens to death an uncaring Unstoppable mass of indifferent destruction these days the existence of this ancient Titan is not only confirmed but also classified within the Guild's ecological records it is called Lao Shan L and was due to no obvious evolutionary connections known at the time put into its own at the time new classification Elder Dragon while one more direct relative of it would be discovered much later back in those days the LA Shan L stood out enough to justify the creation of an entirely new classification one that has since gone on to house many of Nature's most mysterious creations and among them the Lao Shan L Stands Tall literally and an enormous dragon that can reach lengths of up to 70 M this creature is one of the largest ever discovered while it usually wanders around on all fours it can assume a bipedal stance for a limited time truly showing off its enormity this massive body is covered in a large immensely thick spiked shell usually orange in color its head is adorned with numerous horns the longest of which sits on the dragon's nose with onlookers often taken back by the creatures sheer size it is easy to miss all the other unusual features of the Lao for one it entirely lacks Wings this puts its shape at odds with most known wyvern at the time and even today it is one of the few elder dragons to not have wings or additional Wing like limbs it also seems to have no Elemental abilities whatsoever it has never been observed producing any kind of breath attack and examinations of its body have yielded no discovery of Elemental organs it in fact seems to have no special adaptations save for one it's shell at first glance it looks like most wyvern shells thick and spiky offering up protection to the beast but closer inspection of the shell reveals that it is actually made up of numerous layers and thin strata all sitting on top of each other similar to a geological formation that is because the LA shell isn't actually present when the creature is born and instead grows over time the shell is the result of Airborne particles metal dust volcanic ash Etc sticking to the LA Shan Long's body being molten down by the dragon's high body temperature and then cooling off into a mixed tempered layer of hard coating over time the LA develops countless such strata forming a thick shell that is many times stronger than most wyvern shells in theory we one to cut open such a shell vertically one might be able to tell exactly where the LA Shan L has been in the past as each type of fused material has a slightly different color when tempered it is theorized that this shell is why the dragon doesn't have wings or breath attacks it wouldn't need to evolve them if it already has an impenetrable and infinitely regenerating defensive mechanism growing a shell this way takes a long time time that the laan L has based on analysis is of shell fragments as well as eyewitness reports and old records The Guild estimates that the laan L's average lifespan is well over 1,000 years over this absurd period of time the shell manages to grow into an impenetrable defense what the Lao Shan long does in those thousand years besides growing its shell is largely unknown that is because Lao are only ever seen during one particular part of their lives when they migrate for reasons that are still unknown every La Shan L sighting occurs exclusively when the dragon is on the Move migrating along ancient routes again and again where it goes and why is still a mystery as is its life outside of migration a common theory suggests that allows spend much of their time hibernating underground for decades at a time and emerge periodically to go on mysterious Journeys this was seemingly confirmed when in one incident a mining operation was decimated by a Lao shanong emerging from one of the Min shafts however more research is still necessary to confirm it its migratory behavior is of more immediate concern anyway a la Shan Lang on the Move presents a massive threat due to its extreme tenacity forests mountains Villages no matter what stands in its way the mountain dragon can and will trample it all to dust nothing can reliably stop its advance and if left unopposed a la Shan lung will carve a flat patent trail of Destruction across the land merely by walking it does so through sheer power breaking through all manner of landscape in order to advance for more stubborn obstacles the dragon may use its massive nose horn to bore into it breaking it apart with ease it does not hurry it does not exert itself the LA Shan lung simply moves forward and buries entire civilizations in its wake all of recorded history is full of Lamentations regarding this cruel fate in the past seeing the silhouette of a Lao on the horizon was as if a death sentence had been cast on one's entire Village there was no hope no resistance only evacuation or destruction it it wasn't until quite recently that fighting AA shanlong was considered an impossibility but then one day A Brave hunter in the East not only faced such a dragon alone but also killed it its plummeting corpse collapsing the Earth beneath it into a valley it is impossible to imagine what seeing that must have felt like to live out Generations upon Generations in fear of the inevitability of the mountain dragon to know it as a certainty akin to death itself and to then watch it sink to the ground lifelessly slain by a mere mortal it must have been nothing short of electrifying this is one of two incidents that is largely credited with creating Monster hunting as a concept and in this case the sight of the battle was so revered that a village was founded there not long after however repeating this legendary feat is not easy by any means even today in order to even attempt any kind of combat a laan l has to be stopped or at least slowed to do this various kingdoms and Nations have built fortresses in the known Paths of these dragons over the last few years these fortresses are the only places where the dragon's Advance can be halted through the use of cannons dragonator and impeccable teamwork these fortifications have also enabled the slaying of a handful of La in recorded Guild history more often than not however they have merely slowed or repelled the creature the more impactful ways in which the guild has reduced the severity of La shanlong emergencies is through research by reviewing records witness reports and ecological data Guild Scholars have been able to triangulate likely laan long routs across much of the old world using this knowledge various preventive measures were enacted such as relocating smaller settlements building additional fortifications and informing the public about safe and unsafe settlement areas this is as far as current knowledge about the dragon takes us unfortunately because they are only ever seen on the Move much of their ecology remains a mystery on a few scant occasions a la Shan L with a discolored shell has been cited instead of the classic orange these individuals sport a dark gray armor immediately classified as a subspecies and named Ashen laan lung the discoloration of these dragons seems to stem from their shell being mostly composed of volcanic dust rather than a variety of molten aerosols whether this is the result of a genetically distinct speciation or if there are just regular lows that happen to mostly travel through volcanic regions is still unknown and at the pace that La research progresses it is unlikely that we will know more about this in the foreseeable [Music] future our relationship to Nature is ever shifting one moment we may feel Meek and cornered unable to face the creatures that roam the lands the next moment we may Stand Tall empowered by knowledge and Community it is a constant push and pull from our Research into bird wyvern to our impotence against elder dragons but this is not misery it is our part to play in The Grand Theater of life and one we must play with grace through Discovery and ignorance light and darkness life and death through the shades of our existence we must never lose sight of the magnificence of the natural world and our duty to observe and preserve it it is the only way to truly live in this This World Of Monsters And Monster [Music] Hunters thank you all so much for watching I can't believe I actually managed to finish this series it looked a little little dicey at places um but I'm very grateful that everyone seemed to have enjoyed it and watched it and supported it thank you so so much and I hope to see you in an upcoming season to perhaps um a very special thank you to all of my patrons remember you can sign up to this and you see get get to see videos a few days earlier a very special thank you to kurono Zion HV ainson robs D Hyrule AJ Rivera Alistair Jacob Bennett soruka gang greatest sir nutnut orbital tador Emperor Eevee rambling Robin LZ Hashi black Ace 202 disy Hubble mirror 123 magenta magenta Danilo venio aruan 711 Russell person 212 CLA meon Oakwood tree Mr pyramid P fuo makot O2 project Iceman peros skoko Gio Jamie Tate new schlutter fiction ape iron camel and nah I'm going to bed take care everyone and have a nice end of the year I'll see you next time bye-bye

Channel: Oceaniz

Views: 534,759

Keywords: Oceaniz, Monster Hunter

Id: 8uIe45s4cxk

Length: 219min 55sec (13195 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 28 2023