DOD: Pensularah

Name: Pensularah
Aliases: Penny, The Widowmaker (Enke gjøre)
Pronounced: (Pen-sue-larr-uh)
Faction: Rogue
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Classification: Carcharodectes kronos (Ragged-biter-of-Kronos)
Length: 1,220 feet
Height: 340 feet (ground level)
Weight: 1,340 tons

Weaponry / Abilities:

Death-Lock Jaws / Sledgehammer Skull:
Pensularah has one of the largest heads of any living creature. Measuring close to 350 feet overall when closed, her monstrous mouth nearly doubles in size when at full gape, and her jaws can exert enough force to obliterate almost anything placed between them. Her rostrum is nearly solid bone and heavily armored on the outside by a thick layer of bony scales, making it an effective club.

Interlocking Fang Rosette:
Pensularah has one of the most nightmarish grins in the natural world. The tip of her snout is brimming with numerous interlocking fangs, many of them approaching forty feet in length; her teeth are oriented to point outwards from her mouth at multiple angles in a cruel ripping thicket.

Powerhouse Flippers:
Providing all of the propulsion needed to move Pensularah’s immense bulk through the water, her four flippers can be used in synchronous movement, allowing her agility unknown to other kaiju her size. To conserve energy, Pensularah normally cruises along with only her foreflippers providing propulsion, only switching to four when in need of a burst of speed.

Islandback:
Pensularah often sleeps while floating at the ocean’s surface, her body accumulating debris as she slumbers for days – if not weeks – at a time. The monolithic bony growths on her back protrude from the water’s surface, almost resembling a small chain of salt-encrusted islands. In addition to passive camouflage, Pensularah’s bony growths also serve as defensive armor, protecting her from harm.

Invulnerability:
Thanks to her size, muscle, and physical defenses, Pensularah is virtually indestructible.

Champion Diver:
Naturally moving between the extremes in water depths to feed, Pensularah’s various internal structures are built to handle the intense pressure changes. Vessels constrict and expand, scales and the ribcage condense and spread, and various fluid-based internal systems will shift their weight to adapt to changes in outside pressure. Additionally, small fleshy nodes along Pensularah’s vessels can dispose of excess nitrogen bubbles at a miraculous rate, allowing the monster to ascend and descend in the water column with relatively little issue compared to other animals. Pensularah’s lungs are enormous and allow her to remain underwater for over two hours at a time.

Job 41:31:
The first six of Pensularah’s dorsal growths have fleshy cores, each bearing a slit-like vent in their center. These vents are in fact blowholes, and they allow Pensularah to breathe as her back breaks the water’s surface. She can also store a small reservoir of seawater in each, heating the store at will until it turns to a steam scalding-hot enough to sear through flesh, corrode and melt steel, and even cause ship fuels to combust. When used at the surface, this steam expulsion creates a six-part blow.

Hydrodynamic Epidermis:
Pensularah’s dorsal growths are almost sandpaper-like to the touch, somewhat like the denticles present in shark skin. Similarly, her hydrodynamic properties are greatly increased, allowing her to move smoothly through the depths. The very same rough texture also makes a physical strike against her hide painful, deterring what few kaiju dare attack her from making the same mistake again.

Scenthound:
Like all pliosaurs, Pensularah has an impeccable sense of smell. Swimming with her jaws slightly ajar to allow a constant flow of seawater, the kaiju’s internal nostrils on the roof of her mouth take in the flow, process whatever olfactory information it may have, and expel the water out from her external nostrils just ahead of her eyes. Guided either left or right based on which nostril a scent passes through, her scent-based tracking ability exceeds even that of sharks.

Seeing-Eye Monster:
While her vision is quite terrible these days, Pensularah has one method of “seeing” the world around her: a seeing-eye kaiju. An undersized seabird SGO of sorts, referred to by humans as “Herrond”, has become accustomed to following Pensularah around and scavenging off the wreckage left in her wake. In return for Pensularah providing him with food and protection (and for not eating him instead), the small and keen-eyed monster acts as her eyes to the world, guiding her towards adequate sources of food and, if necessary, out of harm’s way. Herrond directs Pensularah by pecking at her nostrils. Though indifferent to her scout’s wellbeing, she has grown accustomed to his presence and will behave a bit more cautiously when he is absent.

Weaknesses:

Senior Citizen:
Pensularah is so old that she’s practically blind. Unable to make out her surroundings, she is forced to rely on her sharp-eyed tagalong Herrond to guide her, as well as her keen sense of smell.

Rogue Wave:
Even with the influence from her massive size, Pensularah cannot literally control the movements of water, and therefore the wakes she can create aren’t always that reliable. Sometimes, they even work against her favor, pushing targets away from her or out of more favorable attack ranges.

Personality:
Her scales faded and overgrown, her skin irritated and flaking, and her joints stiffening from the early stages of arthritis – Pensularah is one of the oldest monsters on the planet. Guided almost entirely by her keen sense of smell these days, Pensularah is a nomadic kaiju, gliding through the deep in pursuit of food. She has no defined territory, but no sane sea monster would protest if she suddenly turned up poaching on their hunting grounds.

With the possible exception of her tagalong Herrond, Pensularah has no allies, but she has clearly demonstrated that doesn’t need them. Her foul temper and enormous appetite make her an unwelcome guest in the Atlantic, though fortunately she tends to stick around the ocean’s northern reaches.

Combat Strategy:
Pensularah is one of the most dangerous kaiju alive. Advancing on her target slowly, almost casually, she will pick up speed once close enough, her immense jaws opening shortly before making crushing, ripping impact. Even if this initial charge fails to hit its mark, her projecting fangs have in all likelihood torn open grievous wounds in the target’s flesh when she passed close by.

Pivoting with her four flippers to keep her foe within range, Pensularah uses her massive jaws to grab, shake, and literally tear her enemies limb from limb. Despite their frantic efforts, few monsters’ defenses can truly stand up to Pensularah’s full strength once she begins thrashing them from side-to-side, violently ripping them to pieces while impaled on her massive fangs.

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Name: Herrond
Aliases: Seeing-Eye Monster, The Eyes, The Lookout, the Scout
Pronounced: (Hair-ond)
Faction: Rogue (Pensularah)
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Classification: Aviserpens nanus (Small Serpent-fowl)
Length: 310 feet
Height: 30 feet (ground level [140 feet upright])
Weight: 155 tons

Weaponry / Abilities:

Lancing Bill / Harpoon Teeth:
Herrond’s narrow beak is lined with small, sharp teeth. Perfect for snagging fish and cephalopods, the monster’s teeth can also rip flesh and distract larger attackers.

Aquatic Speed / Agility:
Herrond is incredibly fast and agile in the water. Able to outpace and/or outmaneuver all but the most determined of pursuers, the plucky bird usually has enough of a lead to reach safety out on the shore, hide amid debris on the seafloor, or take cover behind his colossal associate.

Champion Diver:
Naturally moving between the extremes in water depths to feed, Herrond’s various internal structures are built to handle the intense pressure changes. Vessels constrict and expand, skin and the ribcage condense and spread, and various fluid-based internal systems will shift their weight to adapt to changes in outside pressure. Additionally, small fleshy nodes along Herrond’s vessels can dispose of excess nitrogen bubbles at a miraculous rate, allowing the monster to ascend and descend in the water column with relatively little issue compared to other animals. Herrond’s lungs are large and he can remain underwater for over two hours on a single breath.

Like A Bar Of Soap:
Herrond’s body is covered in an above-average amount of feathers compared to an inland bird, which serve to insulate his body from the cold. Additionally, his feathers are shaped as to capture minute air pockets, allowing Herrond to dive without having to fight neutral buoyancy. Unique to him are several small glands in his skin which secrete a translucent, oily substance; this substance is believed to be a form of natural sealant, keeping warm air pockets against his body and locking freezing seawater out. This substance smoothes Herrond’s feathers down, streamlining him for an even greater capacity for speed; it also makes his body slick and slippery, impossible to capture.

Heavy Reinforcements:
If he is unable to escape or deter a threat, Herrond knows of only one remaining option: Pensularah. He will head straight for her as soon as he can, with his attacker often trailing close behind. Once Herrond notifies her that food is soon to arrive on her doorstep, the monstrous pliosaur usually takes action and turns the unsuspecting hunter into the hunted. Knowing that Herrond can lead her to substantial prey, Pensularah often responds eagerly whenever he returns to greet her with fervent pecks on the snout.

Weaknesses:

Featherweight:
Herrond is tiny. Far too small and weak to put up a fight against any true threat, Herrond must retreat to Pensularah in hopes of her doing the killing for him.

Cowardly:
Herrond is well known for his cowardice. Flighty and easily startled, he can be forced to flee quite easily.

Apathetic:
Pensularah regards her cooperation with Herrond as entirely optional; she sees little reason to protect him if the little prick was asking for trouble in the first place.

Personality:
Herrond is a runt created by minimal exposure to an atom bog: too much to stay a normal animal, too little to turn into a kaiju. He was forced to live his early years in the shadow of larger, stronger monsters, scavenging off of their scraps and staying out of their way. But the day he met Pensularah…all of that changed.

Initially earning his keep by ridding the leviathan’s hide of parasites (and dodging her predatory lunges), Herrond’s presence gradually became tolerated once Pensularah felt the relief that he brought to her aching skin. As his scope broadened with his ancient host’s consent, Herrond periodically came up to her jaws and picked them clean of scraps. He is now responsible for all of Pensularah’s grooming needs, freeing her scaled hide of food scraps, parasites, and unnecessary tagalongs.

Combat Strategy:
Herrond is flight, fast, and evasive. He will attempt to outflank his enemies, nipping and scratching at their most sensitive extremities – eyes, ears, and nostrils typically – and keeping himself out of their reach by using hit-and-run tactics. As soon as he has the opportunity, however, he will abruptly bolt for safety, heading straight for Pensularah’s last known location. Most opponents decide then to just let him be; those that do chase after him often catch up to him, only to be ambushed and dismembered by his gargantuan associate….

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History:
Pensularah’s origins, like those of most kaiju, are a mystery. If you were to ask native Norwegians they’d say she was always there in the ocean deep, watching and waiting for her time to rise up and feed.

With the exception of the SGO species – and his potential relative – Pythornis gigas, Herrond is unlike any other known seabird, and his origins are a mystery to the scientific community.

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Throughout the course of World War II, countless Allied and Axis naval vessels were, in one way or another, sent down to a watery grave. An environmental bottleneck and unobstructed shipping route all in one, the Norwegian Sea presented a valuable tactical asset to both sides of the war, and so its frigid waters saw numerous battles over its occupation.

As the number of vessels present in the Norwegian Sea grew, so did the casualties. Some were shot to pieces in combat, others succumbed to lethal accidents onboard, and others still crashed into rocks or one another.

The fates of a handful of vessels went unknown, and they were at first presumed to have been the work of the usual suspects, but more and more ships and submarines turned up missing, often with little to no trace of meteorological or enemy activity nearby.

Unease slowly crept throughout the ranks of every naval fleet in the Norwegian Sea, spurring the consideration of threats once thought imaginary: supernatural activity, extraterrestrial visitations, and sea monsters. The occasional slate-hard scale found amid the wrecked ships indicated that a sea monster really was out there, watching, waiting deep in the dark sea for its next chance to strike.

By 1985 “The Widowmaker” was a widely known naval legend, regardless of nationality. Gliding through the sea without a sound, the immense creature was said to take subs and ships by surprise, snaring her victims from below and dragging it into the depths, never to be seen again. No living human had ever seen the beast in great detail, but it went without saying that she was absolutely huge.

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In August 1988, residents of the remote coastal village of Longyearbyen, Svalbard awoke to a truly gruesome sight. The hill of mutilated feathers and flesh lay sprawled out across the beach, giving off an overpowering stench of putrefying meat; the monster, a full-grown pythornis, may’ve measured more than four hundred feet…if it hadn’t already been bitten in half. Dark congealed blood oozing out of the disembodied torso, what flesh remained intact bore several horrendous puncture marks, presumably left by the assailant’s enormous teeth.

It was later determined that the puncture wounds matched the tooth dimensions of no known kaiju.

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On April 7th, 1989, just off the southwestern coast of Bear Island, the nuclear submarine K-278 Komsomolets was reported to have caught fire and sank, killing all but 25 of the Soviet Northern Fleet crewmen onboard.

Upon debriefing of these survivors, USSR officials were finally told of the true events of that day: a massive oceangoing monster matching the descriptions of “The Widowmaker” had ambushed the K-278 and, before the sub could initiate a counterattack, punctured its nuclear reactor and crippled the submarine, eventually abandoning it once the monster found the nautical vessel to its distaste. Intent on keeping the public’s morale – and faith in the Soviet Union’s naval power – high, the USSR officials swore the survivors to secrecy, or they would all face life sentences under charges of dissidence.

Some historians believe that Pensularah’s attack on the K-278 helped bring the USSR to its knees, crippling its propaganda campaign within its borders and removing a vital part of its naval force.

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Artist's Commentary:
This is DOD’s resident pliosaur kaiju, Pensularah. Back when DOD was in its early stages, I had asked a local friend/kaiju fan of mine if he would like to contribute to the Days Of Dikorus roster; he later provided me with a sketch of one monster (which I added to DOD but later dropped), but he had seemingly forgotten to mention another monster – a vaguely pliosaur-like beast with rocky growths on its back – he had drawn on the back of the same paper. Thus, Pensularah was born.

Pensularah was originally a male character, but to add a bit more variety into DOD’s roster, I made her female during her final revamp. Design-wise, Pensularah has always had her dorsal growth/blowholes, along with the various abilities associated with them. Her puny sidekick Herrond was an entirely novel addition that I added in during Pen’s final redesign.

Character-wise, Pensularah was originally a generic brute, but once I switched her gender, I decided to make her more like Dil, the aging, eternally grumpy she-Deinosuchus from the children’s film “The Land Before Time IV”. For those of you who’ve seen that movie, this makes Herrond my personal tribute to Icky, the loudmouth Ichthyornis and partner-in-crime with Dil.

Artistic Notes:
— In terms of proportions, posture, and forms of movement, Pensularah most closely resembles Pliosaurus/Predator X from the BBC documentary “Planet Dinosaur”.
— Pensularah’s first six dorsal growths each have a fleshy core with a vent in the middle: normally, these vents are closed. If you look very closely, you can see the first growth’s vent. The last four dorsal growths on Pensularah’s lower back and tail have no fleshy core or vents.
— Pensularah’s flippers are roughly equal in size, but her foreflippers are just barely wider.
— Pensularah’s teeth are interlocking, and protrude outwards from her jaws at all times.
— Pensularah has ten growths on each of side of her ribcage, which totals up to 20. They are just growths, and they don’t have fleshy cores or vents.
— In terms of proportions, posture, and forms of movement, Herrond most closely resembles Hesperornis, though his teeth are much longer, his tail is long and reptile-like, and his legs aren’t locked facing out sideways like those of a real Hesperornis.