Smaugust 2022: Mythological Kaiju AKA Chaoskampf-Level monsters.
Hey there everyone! So, for this Smaugust, my theme is basically making science fantasy version of mythology’s draconic (and draconic adjacent) monsters for my science-fantasy setting, Pantheons. Think of a universe where gods, angels and what have you walk alongside mortals in day-to-day life.
In-Universe, these guys are called Grand Beasts, aka titanic world/solar-system ending monsters that can be bigger than planets. They represent different aspects of extinctions, both mass extinctions and localized ones.
From top to bottom:
- Gonggong/Kanghui: A mighty oceanic dragon based off the Devonian extinction event. He’s an enyv-driven dragon who’s trying to learn magic, and uses a (fake) wish pearl granted to him by the Jade Emperor to specifically do just that, in exchange for not, you know, destroying stuff.
- Behemoth: A mighty guardian of a planet of unfathomable size and scale, he’s one of the most physically powerful beings in the setting, and is essentially a T.rex that has fists the size of Jupiter, and rocky armor harder and tougher than anything a smith god can make. He’s a representation of the K-pg extinction event of course.
- Nidhogg: A cosmic Spinosaurus that can tear in-and-out of the subspace of Yggdrasil and into the real world at random, thanks to some wicked set of claws and jaws that can eat entire planets in one go. He’s less a representation of one extinction, and more a representation that extinction can be unpredictable.
- Orochi: Was once a mighty dragon that could demand anything he wants, especially all the booze. After being beaten by Susanoo however, he’s trapped within a sword made from one of his own scales, Kusanagi. Ironically, he’s basically one of Amaterasu’s few actual friends.