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virovac · 7 years

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ATOM Create A Kaiju Contest Entry 1: Artilleron

Aliases: Old fancy soldier (For the fact it has the coloration of an antique supergun)

Place of origin: Sanctuary Cavern

Notable Stomping Grounds: Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland

Date of Discovery: October 13, 1956

Height: 150 ft

Length: 170 ft

Powers:

Artilleron has the standard kaiju power set, along with his unique defense mechanism

Super strength

An enhanced healing factor

Immunity to radiation

High speed gastrolith regurgitation

Biology: The Cretaceous South Pole was one of the few places in the Mesozoic where retrosaurs did not reign unchallenged. Bipedal and horned goliaths could not live year round and migrated out of the area in the dark season; with true Tyrants following the herds. Flying tyrants and tiny tyrants were almost completely displaced by their primitive birds competitors who could be active year-round. In the colder epochs in which amphibians dominated the waterways rather than less cold resistant reptiles, some birds even grew to larger sizes and competed for the niches of true tyrants and duck goliaths. Still, some retrosaurs managed to make their home year round during some epochs, filling themselves in the warmer times and entering a more lethargic state in the winter; though they had to be covered head to toe in armor so they were not eaten by endotherms while brumating.

At least one yamaneon cavern preserved kaiju from polar Gondwanan ecosystems, in the part of Gondwana that would break off and become Austrailia. This mostly isolated cavern in the Australian state of Victoria would be among the several yamaneon caverns opened by yamaneon chain reactions instigated by the Maralinga nuclear testings in 1956, beginning the period of alternating military brilliance and setbacks coined early on by the press as the Kaiju War, named after the disastrous Emu War. One of the first to emerge from this remnant of the pole (christened Sanctuary Cavern) was Artilleron.

A strange goliath, it is possibly a transitional form between the long-necked goliaths and the horned goliaths; though it may also be descended from a branch off of the missing link between primitive herbivorous retrosaurs and the long necked goliaths, a possibility indicated by its front legs being adapted for digging. Its has a relatively short neck (for a long necked goliath, and is even more heavily armored than Bronton. Most of its body is covered in durable rectangular plates the color of color of darkened rusted bronze. However, its pillar-like yet oddly limber legs are steel-grey. Bizarrely, it has a dome upon its head like that of helmeted goliath; giving the impression of a soldier’s helmet. Black facial marking even give the impression of a chinstrap.

Artilleron’s relatively short, broad tail acts mainly as a counterweight for its unique ranged capability.Like many prehistoric goliaths, part of its digestive system uses gastroliths, stones swallowed to help grind against and break down plant matter. Uniquely though, this kaiju has shown the ability to weaponize the objects it has swallowed through regurgitation.

Its human-like forward facing eyes would give it precision fire if it's gastrointestinal ammunition did not often go wild. It has no control over what type of projectile it fires; it could end up a smooth polished stone, a buckshot stream of wet gravel, or at least several other possibilities. While none of these give a finishing blow in battle, they can keep a foe off balance, allowing to to charge forward at a battering ram or step on toes. Once its attacker is down it will start targeting limbs.While it does not intentionally kill, the sense of vengeance common to many prey animals, combined with the fact it cannot quickly flee, drive it to injure an enemy at its mercy until it is no longer in any state to follow it. For maximum power, it must hold its neck straight.To assist it in aiming, like several horned and armored goliaths in the fossil record it possesses the ability to switch freely between a sprawling or erect postures. More surprisingly, it is capable of sitting on its rear end, allowing it to fire in an arc.

While not as damaging as stranger kaiju range attacks, its gastroliths can used much more often than the fire breath or lasers of other kaiju. Some military types have been inspired by the beast and have proposed giant musket-like ammunition be deployed against kaiju.

While not a burrower, its front limbs are quite capable of digging holes and manipulating the ground. Its digging abilities are one area where the kaiju shows itself to be quite clever, often purposely making the terrain difficult to navigate for jeeps and even tanks.

To the dismay of the Australian and U.K. governments, unlike Bronton, it does not spend most of its time sleeping. It is incredibly active, not even sleeping in a conventional sense, but entering resting states more similar to that of delphinidae. Still, when not upturning the terrain to defend itself, its wandering nature make it less disruptive to the environment than many other herbivorous Australian kaiju (which have to be continually pestered so they don’t stay too long in one area and overgraze.)

Personality

If the Beyonder invasion had succeeded, it is likely this kaiju would have been quite a prize for how easily trained it is. While not a marauding warbeast; it is an easily commanded living artillery piece.Several more intelligent and aggressive kaiju have successfully trained it to fire upon command or stand in place until a signal is given; giving themselves an ally providing long range support Its reptilian patience, and the fact it does not sleep make it a reliable protector, standing guard without complaint or boredom. While not a malicious monster, it has no care for the damage it causes when performing its “party trick” at the command of a friend or tormentor. Among kaiju it is a follower, not a leader, leaving the thinking to others and willing to follow nearly any kaiju that is patient enough to learn how to communicate orders to in; and is willing to graze with any herbivorous kaiju that don’t bother it.

Oddly enough, Artilleron appears to have an intrinsic wariness of flightless birds, similar to the myth of elephants being afraid of mice. Unbeknownst to kaijuologist due to Mesozoic Australian paleontology still being in its infancy, this may be an instinctual holdover from to the fact that as Southernmost Gondwana cooled, primitive birds took over much of the niches occupied by tyrants in other parts of the world, though rarely growing to the size of the larger tyrants. Around kaiju sized flightless birds, it is downright wary, only relaxing if it sees them eat vegetation rather than meat. However, Artilleron will happily tolerate any non-avian carnivores that do not attack it.

Meta

It's a living cannon. I feel like it’s quite fitting as an Australian kaiju given the fact that its like something out of a Tokusatsu show, and there was an Australian produced Ultraman show.

The idea of the retrosaur inhabitants of the south pole poles being armored so they aren’t eaten in their sleep based of some nasty pictures I’ve seen in children's books concerning the extinction of the dinosaurs in the face of cooling climate. While in real life most giant monster movies in Austrailia have been giant animals (often invasive species hilariously enough), I figured there should be some prehistoric monsters in the mix.

I imagine many paleontologists are still convinced of the “backwardness” of retrosaurs, and see the polar ecosystem of the Cretaceous as foretelling the future dominance of mammals and birds with the ice age.

If anyone who wants to contribute the to idea of a “Kaiju War” in Austrailia with their own entries to do so, I myself sadly have no further ideas of my own for native australian kaiju at this point, but I do have an idea for one who sort of “vacations” there away from a polar island as a sort of “mercenary” to other kaiju. I had it begin 1956, since while there were previous atomic testings in Austrailian they either were on islands or occurred before the Age of Monster began in Tyrantisterror’s timeline. While previous testings could have made kaiju, I like to think of 1956 as the year when the excrement hit the fan.But it should be remembered that the Emu War was a disaster not due to incompetence, but because of animal unpredictability and events conspiring against soldiers, and many animals can cause massive damage without even being intentionally hostile (see : the Kea birds of New Zealand).In fact look up the Emu War anyway, it's hilarious. Nearly all animal monster movies produced or taken place in Australia involve animals not native to the continent, a possible commentary on invasive species. To play on that theme, I imagine that there are probably a few kaiju that are a threat to the Australian ecosystem. Australians are unlikely to see many kaiju as defenders of nature like they come to be viewed in other parts of the world, but instead monuments to the collective sins of humanity that they must fix, starting with the neutralization (death or relocation) of the more damaging kaiju

@tyrantisterror

#ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest

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