HOME | DD

Description
I've been looking for a King Kong stand-in for the Apex Society universe for a while, and it was hard to come up with because Kong is really the first of his kind in fiction and I didn't have much mythology or Public Domain fiction to draw from. My original idea was that it would just be an ordinary giant ape from Brobdingnag, but that felt like it was lacking so I tried my best to come up with something else:

Gargantuas (scientific name Gargantopithecus) is an endangered species of giant ape from a remote region in Asia populated by the humanoid ape-race known as the Chromandae (described by Pliny the Elder as being hairy, with blueish-grey eyes and doglike teeth). There, the remaining specimens of Gargantopithecus are worshiped as gods. Both these creatures and the Chromandae themselves are related to the Yaren (a Chinese Cryptid described as a sort of orange Bigfoot), the Gigantopithecus (a real species of extinct apes related to the modern Orangutan, who reached up to 10 feet tall), the Sasquatch, Yeti, Mangani (the ape-men from Tarzan), and other "missing link"-type creatures.

Gargantopithecuses range in height from 25 to 50 feet standing on their hind legs (they can switch between that and a four-legged gait), although some larger examples have been reported. They are named after King Gargantua, a human giant who ruled over the country of Utopia in the Middle Ages (from the bawdy 16th century French stories Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais).

Many famous apes in real life from the 1920s and 30s were also named Gargantua, so it seemed a good fit.

Description
I've been looking for a King Kong stand-in for the Apex Society universe for a while, and it was hard to come up with because Kong is really the first of his kind in fiction and I didn't have much mythology or Public Domain fiction to draw from. My original idea was that it would just be an ordinary giant ape from Brobdingnag, but that felt like it was lacking so I tried my best to come up with something else:

Gargantuas (scientific name Gargantopithecus) is an endangered species of giant ape from a remote region in Asia populated by the humanoid ape-race known as the Chromandae (described by Pliny the Elder as being hairy, with blueish-grey eyes and doglike teeth). There, the remaining specimens of Gargantopithecus are worshiped as gods. Both these creatures and the Chromandae themselves are related to the Yaren (a Chinese Cryptid described as a sort of orange Bigfoot), the Gigantopithecus (a real species of extinct apes related to the modern Orangutan, who reached up to 10 feet tall), the Sasquatch, Yeti, Mangani (the ape-men from Tarzan), and other "missing link"-type creatures.

Gargantopithecuses range in height from 25 to 50 feet standing on their hind legs (they can switch between that and a four-legged gait), although some larger examples have been reported. They are named after King Gargantua, a human giant who ruled over the country of Utopia in the Middle Ages (from the bawdy 16th century French stories Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais).

Many famous apes in real life from the 1920s and 30s were also named Gargantua, so it seemed a good fit.