Horror Flora

This ATOM Bonus Kaiju File was created by EvolutionsVoid for the Revenge of the ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest!  The illustration and profile here is based on their work, and I highly recommend you check out their other work!

Aliases: (Terrestrial Form) The Creeping Silence, The Silent Maiden – (Winged Form) The Vibrant Banshee, Song of Destruction

Date Discovered: May 10th, 1956

Place of Origin: Naka Mine, Laos

Notable Stomping Grounds: Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam

Height: 70 feet

Length: 110 feet

Wingspan: 130 feet

Biology: Before mutation, Megaria was a larval cicada that was suffering parasitism by a form of fungus. Due to the location of her first emergence, it is believed that she was buried near Yamaneon deposits and was exposed to its radiation. The massive amounts of vibrations that came from nearby mining efforts may have triggered the mutation for both her and the fungus. It is believed that this mutation has changed her fungal growths to a more symbiotic strain. The fungal growths are capable of absorbing sound and other vibrations, converting this into energy. Though absorption of radiation should provide enough energy for her, it seems that she seeks out this extra source build up her internal stores. This may be used to fuel her sound-based attacks or for her more energy-consuming winged form. The absorbing fungus creates an odd muffling effect in the area around her which has led to her aliases.

So far no other specimen of her kind exists.

Her kaiju powers include:

• Super strength
• An enhanced healing factor
• Immunity to radiation
• Sound Absorption
• Vibrating Claws
• Sonic Blasts
• Rapid Metamorphosis

Personality: Despite her wicked claws and ebon growths, Megaria is a rather peaceful creature. When in her terrestrial form, she is rather slow moving and calm. She does not show any malice or contempt towards the world around her, she just simply crawls her way towards the nearest source of noise. Any occurrences of her trampling buildings or “attacking” towns are often the result of the settlement being in the way of her direct path. This destruction is not done on purpose nor does she relish it, she is just simply going about her business. These “attacks” are surprisingly rare for her terrestrial form, as she often shows up to cities and heavily populated to feed on the sound pollution. This habit of hers gives her the appearance of curiosity, as she is drawn to loud events and scenes of chaos. When she arrives, she often parks herself on the edge of the cacophonous area and stays there. Her fungal growths will absorb the sound while she sits there and watches. While some kaiju can referred to as things like “fighters” or “protectors,” many see her more as a “spectator.” She finds interest in particularly loud subjects and large enough sources of movement will catch her eye. In certain cases, she may be seen slowly scooching herself closer to areas of interest, moving in for more sound and for a closer look. When the noise sources die down, she will listen for another louder source and move on, hopefully in a direction that takes her away from the city and not through it.

While her curious nature and passive habits makes her one of the more peaceful kaiju, she does get herself into trouble from time to time. Military bases and other areas of important operation are quite noisy, and they are capable of drawing her attention. This results in her setting camp right near or in a militarized zone, which is not appreciated. Though she does not intentionally cause destruction, that doesn’t make up for the fact that she can trample structures and vehicles as she settles on the perfect spot to feed. Since aircraft produce an obscene amount of sound, she will often wind up near the airfield so that she can watch the planes. Her presence near these areas cause a lot of problems, from runways getting damaged by her claws and bulk, to her curiously swiping at the local aircraft like an amused toddler watching a fly. It has also been found that her sound-absorbing fungus can interfere with other wavelengths, causing issues with communications whenever she is nearby. These same problems can happen if she winds up deep in a city, so some groups have turned to creating a deterrent. In areas where she is known to frequent, the locals have constructed “Boom Towers.” These structures look like radio towers, but are outfitted with a massive sound system to create huge amounts of noise. If Megaria is becoming a pest to a city or base, a specific Boom Tower will be turned on so that it draws her attention away from the populated area.

When it comes to other kaiju, Megaria has no interest in fighting or territory. She just wants sound to feed on and will simply head to wherever there is plenty of it nearby, even if it means approaching another noisier kaiju. If the other monster does not disagree with her presence, she may wind up following them around for a bit so that she can feed her fungus and curiosity. This does have the unfortunate effect of drawing her towards more aggressive kaiju, especially when two or more are fighting. The sound of roars and chaos will catch her notice, and she will crawl her way towards the battle. Even when approaching a fight, she will just sit on the sidelines and watch, having no drive to jump into the brawl. The combatants, though, may not share this sentiment. Some may choose to lash out at her and drag her into the fight, which she isn’t thrilled about. Attacks can also happen if her wanderings take her through an aggressive kaiju’s territory. In these cases, Megaria will only look to defend herself. She does not care about winning or conquering her opponent, she just wants them to stop hurting her. When faced with battle, she will use the tymbals in her forearms to vibrate her claws and turn them into shredding weapons. Her powerful exoskeleton will help deflect tooth and claw, and the fungus growing on her back has an incredibly bitter taste to ward off biters. When locked in close combat, she can use her fungal growths and tymbals to build up sonic energy and release them in a powerful explosion, blowing back attackers and deflecting projectiles. This arsenal is usually enough to either scare off an attacker or give herself time to escape. During some fights, though, this may not be enough. If faced with a highly aggressive opponent or if she is caught in a losing battle, she will initiate her last option: metamorphosis.

In these desperate moments, Megaria will undergo metamorphosis into a different form. Her fungal growths will retract into her body and her exoskeleton will harden into impenetrable husk. In the matter of minutes, her body will quickly change and she will violently burst from her old shell. What emerges is her winged form, and when she is in this state she is not so calm and quiet. When in this form, she is much more aggressive and way more destructive. Her fungal growths and body have changed from absorbing sound to expelling it in powerful quantities. She will produce ear splitting shrieks and massive blasts of sound to bombard her opponents. Her vibrating claws will have grown to better help her tear and shred. With her wings, she is much more mobile and is an agile fighter. She will fling herself at attackers and do everything she can to incapacitate them or scare them off. Even though she comes off as an aggressive and destructive fighter, she does this more out of desperation than malice. This winged form of hers is the act of a wounded and cornered animal, lashing out for her own survival. When she succeeds in getting an opening, she will quickly retreat from the battlefield. Her wings and sonic bursts will carry her far away, far from attackers and other threats. When she finds a good far place to nest, she will release a bombardment of sonic energy to blast open the ground. She will then burrow into the exposed earth, using her claws and sonic energy to bury herself deep below. Down here she will form another shell and revert back to her terrestrial form, but this time she will not be so quick to emerge. Her winged form consumes a huge amount of energy, so much so that she can only remain in this state for a span of hours. After she has buried herself, she will have to hibernate for months to slowly regain her strength, after which she will emerge from the ground in her usual terrestrial form. She will not change into her winged form again until another time of desperation occurs.

While many find her peaceful in her terrestrial form, her winged form is something that is feared. Though she does not target cities while in this state, the blasts of sonic energy she creates causes a massive amount of collateral damage. Even when flying in retreat, the sheer amount of sound and wind she exudes causes destruction around her. For this reason, there are efforts to keep her away from fights or to defend her when she is attacked. All of this is to prevent her from changing into this destructive form, as it will cause way more harm to human populations than good. These efforts, interestingly enough, may not be going unnoticed. Recent encounters with Megaria have shown her to be more interested in the humans and kaiju who helped her, being both more curious and more careful to not cause harm. She has even been seen following around kaiju who have fended off attackers, even if they had not intended to protect Megaria. Perhaps in time she may become more of an ally to humanity, or at least maybe she will stop trampling over towns whenever she hears a concert.

This ATOM Bonus Kaiju File was created by SkarmorySilver for the Revenge of the ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest!  The illustration and profile here is based on his work, and I highly recommend you check out his other work!

Date Discovered: ‎December 1, 1956

Aliases: The Beast of Emain Ablach, The Mutant Mole Monster, The Elder Gnome, Sciúirse Talún(”Scourge of Earth” in Irish)

Place of Origin: The Emain Ablach Cave system

Notable Stomping Grounds: The Emain Ablach Cave System,most of the coastal regions of Ireland and northwestern Europe, possible sightings in and around Scandinavia and the European Arctic circle, Echidna Island

Height: 50 feet

Length: 75 feet

Biology: Mutated from a strange prehistoric mole-like rodent, Gnomoran’s red cranial horn and long, shaggy “beard” of white hair make it loosely resemble a garden gnome, which in turn gave the creature its name.  Smaller than most kaiju, Gnomoran’s biology is strangely out of sync, as a genetic disorder has resulted in it producing far less white blood cells than normal, and those it does produce are woefully bad at identifying harmful bacteria and other pathogens.  As a result of this, the mammal’s immune system is woefully less effective than most kaiju’s, as unlike its fellow giants it cannot replenish its body’s defense system instantaneously to deal with micro-organism threats.  As if to course correct this, Gnomoran’s other cells reproduce at an even quicker rate than other kaiju, but lack the stability of reproduction that other kaiju enjoy.  This is why Gnomoran’s body (his head in particular) is filled with cancerous cysts and pus, and probably why the ancient kaiju is still so stunted compared to its (often younger) peers.  Diseased and pushed to the limit, Gnomoran’s twist biology shows that even a kaiju’s power isn’t impregnable.

Gnomoran’s power set includes:

• Super strength
• An enhanced but somewhat broken healing factor
• Immunity to radiation
• Paralytic venomous bite
• Caustic Pus

Personality: As a result of Yamaneon exposure and atomic fossilization, Gnomoran’s regenerative factor seems to be quite enhanced even by kaiju standards. Combined with its toxic secretions, this makes it an unexpected threat and a daunting foe to face despite its size and seeming fraility, and as has been gleaned from personal accounts by many survivors of its attacks, the mutant talpid seems to be aware of this. It is chaotic and unpredictable, retreating one moment and barreling at opponents horn-first the next, and its ability to strike from unexpected angles and disappear without much fanfare has made for infuriating and often traumatizing experiences for both the various European militaries and enemy kaiju it’s encountered. The Pleistocene relic also has a sadistic, vindictive streak, exacting disproportionate retaliation and brutally mauling other life forms on its scale even if they only harmed it by accident, to say nothing of toying with smaller things like humans and vehicles like a child prone to breaking playthings on a whim. It also cares little for self-preservation due to its healing factor and is highly aggressive to beings that upset it as a result, having the audacity to fend off kaiju several times its size. The mole-beast is infamous for picking fights with others without rhyme or reason, attacking even when its remaining instincts aren’t informing it that it is hungry.

Reportedly, kaiju who weren’t as violent as Gnomoran itself have learned to simply leave rather than engage the creature whenever it drew near since its emergence, presumably having witnessed the bloody aftermath of its fights during their own travels. Many in fact preferred not to draw its attention if possible, lest it decide to chase them down and exercise its self-perceived entitlement to chronic and sustained cruelty. Strangely enough, however, more than half of the sightings of the creature since the Glasgow incident involved the provocation of an even bigger, more powerful beast, with Gnomoran sustaining severe or even mortal injury upon disengaging. Some have speculated that it may even have enjoyed being mangled each time, explaining why it incited such fights so often. The kaiju has even been known to quite happily hurl itself right into dangerous territory such as hazardous environments and obstacles, fights where it is severely outmatched, or even disasters it has bought upon itself, further validating these claims.

Humanity fares even worse against the monster, for obvious reasons, and military efforts have thus far only raised its ire ever more greatly. Vehicles and groups of people attract its predatory instincts, as its brain is hard-wired to view smaller creatures as prey, especially in groups. Whenever it has made landfall, it seems to have made a beeline for coastal villages and suburbs. Its experience in Glasgow seems to have taught it not to venture into major cities, however, which is just as well, since the collateral caused by both it and military actions against it would be too great if it decided to attempt another municipal raid. Although it doesn’t even need organic sustenance anymore, it is still compelled to consume large amounts of small prey due to its mentality remaining the same as that of a much smaller creature. This compels it to seek populated regions, forcing military retaliation and fueling its contempt for humanity in a vicious cycle. This is why many north-European coastal nations have since made evacuating rural areas their first priority in the event of its appearance, only employing martial resistance if left with no other choice.

Many scientific reports related to Gnomoran have turned up one distressing commonality: living cell matter associated with the mole-beast has been known to spontaneously develop into tumors even in containment or otherwise in isolation of the source, and some have speculated that the monster’s own inner anatomy constantly experiences the same issue, with every muscle, organ, and neuron growing, eroding, and re-growing at an explosive rate. Combining this with accounts of its cries constantly sounding as though it were severely hurt, along with its habit of intentionally blundering into hazardous situations, a few analysts have even speculated that this aspect of its biology causes the kaiju immense pain on a constant basis, which may explain why the creature is so pugnacious and prone to violence and self-harm: its own runaway growth may be railroading it into waging war with others so that its own constantly growing flesh can be broken, battered, and ripped away from itself before it overtakes its critical anatomy, condemning it to an agonizing fate far worse than death.

In summation, it seems that Gnomoran is a beast that has vastly overstayed its welcome, both on Earth and compared to the expected lifespan of its kind, and the inadvertent prolonging of its mortal coil has thrown some catastrophic side-effects into the mix. While its behavior may be an indicator that it is vaguely aware of this notion, its instincts have sadly locked it into the violent, self-destructive path it has followed for far too long. The mole-beast is indeed a monster – but not an entirely unsympathetic one.

This ATOM Bonus Kaiju File was created by Scatha5 for the Revenge of the ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest!  The illustration and profile here is based on her work, and I highly recommend you check out her other work!

Aliases: Dracula’s Weird Dog

Date Discovered: May 13, 1960

Place of Origin: Arizona Desert

Notable Stomping Grounds: Arizona Desert, Typhon Island

Height: 90 feet

Length: 120 feet

Biology: Initially mistaken for a Retrosaur of the Armored Goliath clade, Rerradon was only correctly identified as a prehistoric armadillo when more seasoned zoologists and paleontologists got to examine him.  The heavily armored mammalian monster is a somewhat close relative of the Russian kaiju Glypton, though significantly larger and bulkier.

Like all kaiju, Rerradon is gifted with several powers. These include:

• Super strength
• An enhanced healing factor
• Immunity to radiation
• Defensive ball

Personality: Like his smaller kin, Rerradon is mostly a shy creature, preferring to stay out of conflict as much as possible.  When it is not possible, however, Rerradon is more than able to defend himself. With his thick armor plating, huge-if blunt-claws, and bulky arms, he is an able fighter.  With his ability to roll into a ball, protected all over by his plates, he is tough to injure. Add his ability to propel himself like a cannonball, and he is a formidable opponent.  He does not enjoy fighting over much, but he can and will if pushed.

Rerradon is plodding and slow, taking his time to get anywhere he is going.  He’s laid back and calm most of the time, and seems to be intelligent enough to avoid human settlements.  Indeed, it took a while to even notice his existence because he was so good at hiding in what was basically plain sight.

Rerradon is willing to work with other kaiju if their goals align, and can even be stirred to fight if the need is dire.  He enjoys the company of other kaiju, but is also just as happy to be alone.

When stirred to fight, Rerradon will be brutally efficient.  He hits weak spots with accuracy, is oddly agile for such a heavy armored beast, and is not afraid to keep hitting something until it simply stops moving.  He gives little room to back off if he can press advantage, and if needed, will simply roll into a ball to wait out an assault. 

After rolling into this armored ball, Rerradon is able to flick his heavily muscled tail and send himself cannoning into a foe, hitting them with the full force of both his weight and his momentum.  The spikes lining his body tear flesh and the blunt force breaks even thick kaiju bone.

Luckily, even with his size and strength, Rerradon prefers a life of ease and peaceful wondering.  He’s not particularly threatening if left alone, and does his best to stay away from conflict.