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Description

Entity STAR BEAST (AKA GOLIATH)
First Sighting: Gibraltar, 1978
Size: 84 metres in height (reared up), 230 metres in length
Weight: 70 800 tonnes

History: Similar to previously known Palaeolithic civilizations, the Kilaaks had an extensive record of great beast gods, indicating knowledge and coexistence with ancient kaiju. Daigoro-mater was the moon goddess; they prayed to her and her kind, offered sacrifices for her protection from the terrors that could come at night. But few other deities could be interpreted to be quite as benevolent in their legends. The serpent behemoth of the hungering jungle and the great scorpion of the subterranean depths. The fire dragon that razed their lands in times past. The ancient rivals of the moon gods, the children of thunder. And at the top of their pantheon, the three disaster gods. But even if the Kilaak Empire has been dead for over thirteen millennia, it did not mean the gods of old died with them… a fact which Monarch had steadily been more aware of with every new breakthrough in prehistoric cultures across the planet. Kaiju had lifespans which could easily stretch for millions upon millions of years; they could easily live through the rise and fall of countless civilizations. What knowledge of kaiju of such ancient peoples might be forever lost to dust?

In 1978, one of these supposedly “dead gods” of the Kilaaks had risen again, laying a path of terror across the Mediterranean as she devastated the city of Barcelona to rescue her infant and escape across the sea, a growing military retaliation effort in steady pursuit over a period of three days, now gathered together with nearly a hundred ships. A chokepoint was established at the Strait of Gibraltar as a multinational naval fleet was prepared from in front and behind to corner and exterminate the two Daigoro. But they were not the only entity seeking to hunt down and kill the two creatures; as the targets neared the ambush point, ships in the rear of the fleet were gradually picked off by an unseen submerged entity, in attacks so sudden and savage that it was difficult to communicate what exactly was happening (not helped by linguistic barriers between members of the cobbled international armada).

As this was occurring, Monarch workers had just arrived at the ancient superstructure in Libya where Daigoro-filius was originally recovered. They discovered the site in a state of disarray; the photographs they had confiscated from Cohen allowing them to compare the prior state of the location. They determined he and his team had misidentified the location as a nesting site. In actuality, it was merely the spot in which the infant had hidden, likely after being separated from its mother following the earthquake which had uncovered the site. Soon after the the infant Daigoro had been lured away from the site by the expedition, Daigoro-mater had come looking for it and followed the trail of the party… but she too had been followed. Gouge marks present on the site indicated another kaiju had been on site perhaps less than a day ago. One much larger than even the adult Daigoro.

It was when the trap was finally sprung at Gibraltar that this third kaiju revealed itself, tearing its way through the flanks of the battalion of ships from the rear, dozens of battleships merely obstacles between it and its real targets: the Daigoro. The creature's bladed head and fanged jaws tore through the armoured destroyers like so many toys, their weapons rendered useless by powerful ripples of its bioelectric field. Recognizing an age-old nemesis, Daigoro-mater attacked swiftly as her enemy came into view, unleashing a blast of fire on this foe, but it dove deep beneath the surface to avoid the brunt of this strike. In the massive cloud of steam churning from the boiling seawater, the two Daigoro managed to escape out of sight from the ships out into the Atlantic, but their enemy was not so easily fooled by their smokescreen and resumed chase.

Although the pair had escaped into the Atlantic, at this point an American fleet had arrived from across the ocean to back up their NATO allies, and the Daigoro were pinned along the coast of North Africa. Eventually, the two came ashore along the northwest shore of Tenerife, followed not shortly after by their kaiju pursuer, who finally emerged from the water completely, revealing itself as an immense reptilian beast, its hide as blue as the water. Finally cornered, Daigoro-mater attacked with great fury at a foe much larger than her in defence of her young, briefly blindsiding the predator, who had clearly not expected his prey to retaliate so ferociously. But his confusion didn't last, and soon the tide of battle turned, as Daigoro was blown back by a well-aimed bolt of electricity from her opponent's horn.

Seemingly spurred by the sight of his mother being relentlessly savaged, some vestigial instinct towards an ancient foe, fearing for the safety of the human populace to which had grown fond, or perhaps all of the above, Daigoro-filius suddenly ejected forth a torrent of flame from his mouth at her attacker, engulfing the larger kaiju's face in a huge burst of fire, who certainly had not anticipated the infant being a possible threat. The juvenile leap upon the predator's exposed neck, who writhed about in his bewilderment, his face wreathed in smouldering burns. Seizing the opportunity, his mother joined him, and the two chipped and tore chunks of the reptilian's stony armour to expose the more vulnerable skin beneath, before scalding the kaiju's flesh with repeated blasts of flame. Sufficiently enraged, he unleashed a massive full-body electrical shockwave that sent the two Daigoro leaping to safety. The two of them fled up the slopes of Mount Teide, releasing clouds of smoke like ink clouds as they ran, the reptilian kaiju following not far behind.

Meanwhile, human forces had mostly focused on evacuation of the island's populace as the two kaiju fought, while waiting to face off against the victor, but prepared to firebomb the entire island if necessary. News crews watched from helicopters as the larger kaiju pursued the two up the slopes of the volcano, a situation quickly dubbed as a 'David versus Goliath' battle (a name which would soon catch on for the new creature). Although his vision was clouded by the fire blasts of his prey and the huge clouds of smog that billowed in front of him, Goliath dragged himself up the slopes after the scent of prey, now more incensed than ever before. He blasted the mountain wildly with bolts of electricity from the tip of his horn, attempting to strike either of the two Daigoro just from chance, but with little success. A dense shroud of blinding gases billowed from the rim of the caldera, but Goliath rushed into the cloud, clawing wildly at nothing, falling straight into the trap of his intended quarry. A torrent of regurgitated magma hit him straight in the face, coating most of his head as the larger Daigoro leapt upon him when Goliath made the mistake of rearing up in anger. All three kaiju toppled into the crater of the dormant volcano in a raging cluster of violence, and military forces immediately called in a mass bombardment into the peak of Mt. Teide now that they were enclosed within the walls of the caldera and most of the surrounding villas had already been evacuated.

As the bombs began dropping into the crater, the combined stresses upon the volcano finally became too great as the crust of the caldera caved into the dormant lava chamber below, triggering a localized eruption. Goliath, still blinded by the solidified lava coating him, was caught in the landslide as rock and earth collapsed into the molten depths, burying Goliath under thousands of tonnes of magmatic sediments. The two Daigoro just barely clambered free as a massive pyroclastic plume blew free, and resealing the volcano caldera once more (although not before showering the island in a rain of ash). At the foot of the volcano, Daigoro-mater proclaimed her victory over her foe to all with a great roar, daring anyone else to test their luck. This was followed by a smaller and less impressive roar by her eager son, after his first taste of battle.

From negotiations between Monarch workers in Libya that their findings that Daigoro were a normally peaceful species that would almost certainly not attack without provocation first, it was tentatively decided against further immediate action which could result in greater and unnecessary loss of life, the two were allowed to slip back into the sea (under the surveillance of an escort fleet of course), where they eventually retreated into one of the lava fissures of Mount Pico in the Azores, but away from the island's settlements, finally bringing to an end this crisis. Faint bioacoustic signals could continue to be detected from within Mt. Teide, and soon Monarch began establishment of a containment facility on the peak of the volcano as an additional precaution, while also forming a small research station in a secluded corner of Mt. Pico to continue monitoring the two Daigoro and continuing research at the Kilaak temple site in Libya. While this event had certainly brought in much greater funding for the organization it had also had much more dire ramifications.

Based on the cobbled records of pre-cradle civilizations, the bonebeds of megafossils from all seven continents, and the oral literature of the surviving Cosmos people, kaiju activity followed cycles of activity and dormancy spanning millennia, often ending in great cataclysm. If the words of the surviving Cosmos ring true, this is a cycle which approaches as kaiju slowly continue to awaken across the world, a primordial ecosystem that once more begins to reform. It was likely that such events would only increase in frequency and severity as time went on, as the gods of old awakened from sleep to a world that had long forgotten them. Who would know of the consequences that the gods walking the Earth again could bring upon all mankind?

Description: An armoured pseudo-saurian predator, Goliath is a rare predatory kaiju descended from true primordial hyperfauna, a survivor from the Precambrian "Nuclear Age". While the known Goliath species individual may not be quite that old, it is clear he has survived since ancient times, and is at minimum many millions of years old; surviving Kilaak artwork of the species likely depict this very specimen among them. Like many kaiju species, Goliath is bio-terrestrial, consuming deep-earth matter and collecting large deposits of mineral obtained from this within outer body tissues to create a bio-metallic armour coating. Goliath has survived long enough for this armour to be of considerable depth, forming a spiky shell upon its back that stretches from his head down to the end of its tail. This is more than ten metres in depth at its thickest, and is more than strong enough to withstand the most powerful manmade bunker busters. His limbs and underside are less protected, but only comparatively, with a chainmail-like coat of smaller bony scales that provide a degree of protection without sacrificing significant mobility. The large flattened horn growing out of Goliath's head is enriched with numerous earth metals to reinforce it against mechanical stresses and is kept honed to a sharpened edge by grinding and carving it across bedrock underground.

Like many kaiju, Goliath's dietary requirements are low, only needing to feed on organics once every few centuries, but once awakened to hunt, there is little that will stand in his way. Generally moving on all fours, he can stand upright on the back pair alone for faster bursts of speed over short distances. Not particularly quick either way, Goliath hunts by persistence, since it has little to fear from most prey due to his armoured hide, and may hunt prey for weeks on end. Similar to a shark, Goliath is finely attuned to the subtle bioelectric signals that all living things give off, and can detect these faint signals over thousands of kilometres, particularly the stronger electromagnetic fields of fellow kaiju, his usual prey. Smaller kaiju are preferred, since these do not actually present a credible threat, as well as the fact Goliath seems to actually enjoy the thrill of a chase nearly as much as the kill itself, but is generally smart enough to avoid biting off more than he can chew. Like a cat toying with a mouse, Goliath may tear into his victim for a bit and then let them escape to restart the pursuit once more, repeating this process until he has had his his fun before he makes the final kill.

Goliath relies on his brute strength and basic physical attributes during the hunt, ore-infused claws, bladed horn, and serrated, shearing beak are more than sufficient weaponry to slaughter most prey. However, Goliath's attunement to bioelectricity is more than simply passive detection; using its metal-infused armour-plating as a conductor, he can eject powerful shockwaves that are released along his entire body, or more focused lightning-like arced bolts from the tip of his horn. Such abilities are rarely used against prey and more often are utilized as a defence against formidable enemies since his stores of bioelectric energy are not unlimited and are slow to charge; Goliath would have faced stiff competition from other kaiju species, if Kilaak pictographs are to be believed. Sometimes rather than as an outward attack, Goliath generates a relatively low-energy static coating over his exoskeletal plates as an energy buffer that both blocks incoming attacks and transfers a powerful shock on contact to any kaiju stupid enough to try biting or clawing. While active, production of this energy buffer causes severe electronic interferences over a radius of several hundred metres, although this is likely an unintentional secondary effect, seeing as it has little effect on biotic life.

His bright blue scales arise from a combination of oxidized copper compounds and bio-mineralized lapis dust concentrated within the epidermis, the purpose of which is not clear because it serves no obvious beneficial purpose in foraging, camouflage, or defence (and in fact makes him rather easy to spot from quite a distance in most circumstances). One of the surviving Kilaak pictographs may suggest that this is a sexually dimorphic trait and females of the species lack this colouration, although it is not clear due to poor preservation of this evidence. Further verifications cannot be known about behaviour or appearance with only one known individual known to exist at present.

———

NEXT: Project Prometheus

Description

Entity STAR BEAST (AKA GOLIATH)
First Sighting: Gibraltar, 1978
Size: 84 metres in height (reared up), 230 metres in length
Weight: 70 800 tonnes

History: Similar to previously known Palaeolithic civilizations, the Kilaaks had an extensive record of great beast gods, indicating knowledge and coexistence with ancient kaiju. Daigoro-mater was the moon goddess; they prayed to her and her kind, offered sacrifices for her protection from the terrors that could come at night. But few other deities could be interpreted to be quite as benevolent in their legends. The serpent behemoth of the hungering jungle and the great scorpion of the subterranean depths. The fire dragon that razed their lands in times past. The ancient rivals of the moon gods, the children of thunder. And at the top of their pantheon, the three disaster gods. But even if the Kilaak Empire has been dead for over thirteen millennia, it did not mean the gods of old died with them… a fact which Monarch had steadily been more aware of with every new breakthrough in prehistoric cultures across the planet. Kaiju had lifespans which could easily stretch for millions upon millions of years; they could easily live through the rise and fall of countless civilizations. What knowledge of kaiju of such ancient peoples might be forever lost to dust?

In 1978, one of these supposedly “dead gods” of the Kilaaks had risen again, laying a path of terror across the Mediterranean as she devastated the city of Barcelona to rescue her infant and escape across the sea, a growing military retaliation effort in steady pursuit over a period of three days, now gathered together with nearly a hundred ships. A chokepoint was established at the Strait of Gibraltar as a multinational naval fleet was prepared from in front and behind to corner and exterminate the two Daigoro. But they were not the only entity seeking to hunt down and kill the two creatures; as the targets neared the ambush point, ships in the rear of the fleet were gradually picked off by an unseen submerged entity, in attacks so sudden and savage that it was difficult to communicate what exactly was happening (not helped by linguistic barriers between members of the cobbled international armada).

As this was occurring, Monarch workers had just arrived at the ancient superstructure in Libya where Daigoro-filius was originally recovered. They discovered the site in a state of disarray; the photographs they had confiscated from Cohen allowing them to compare the prior state of the location. They determined he and his team had misidentified the location as a nesting site. In actuality, it was merely the spot in which the infant had hidden, likely after being separated from its mother following the earthquake which had uncovered the site. Soon after the the infant Daigoro had been lured away from the site by the expedition, Daigoro-mater had come looking for it and followed the trail of the party… but she too had been followed. Gouge marks present on the site indicated another kaiju had been on site perhaps less than a day ago. One much larger than even the adult Daigoro.

It was when the trap was finally sprung at Gibraltar that this third kaiju revealed itself, tearing its way through the flanks of the battalion of ships from the rear, dozens of battleships merely obstacles between it and its real targets: the Daigoro. The creature's bladed head and fanged jaws tore through the armoured destroyers like so many toys, their weapons rendered useless by powerful ripples of its bioelectric field. Recognizing an age-old nemesis, Daigoro-mater attacked swiftly as her enemy came into view, unleashing a blast of fire on this foe, but it dove deep beneath the surface to avoid the brunt of this strike. In the massive cloud of steam churning from the boiling seawater, the two Daigoro managed to escape out of sight from the ships out into the Atlantic, but their enemy was not so easily fooled by their smokescreen and resumed chase.

Although the pair had escaped into the Atlantic, at this point an American fleet had arrived from across the ocean to back up their NATO allies, and the Daigoro were pinned along the coast of North Africa. Eventually, the two came ashore along the northwest shore of Tenerife, followed not shortly after by their kaiju pursuer, who finally emerged from the water completely, revealing itself as an immense reptilian beast, its hide as blue as the water. Finally cornered, Daigoro-mater attacked with great fury at a foe much larger than her in defence of her young, briefly blindsiding the predator, who had clearly not expected his prey to retaliate so ferociously. But his confusion didn't last, and soon the tide of battle turned, as Daigoro was blown back by a well-aimed bolt of electricity from her opponent's horn.

Seemingly spurred by the sight of his mother being relentlessly savaged, some vestigial instinct towards an ancient foe, fearing for the safety of the human populace to which had grown fond, or perhaps all of the above, Daigoro-filius suddenly ejected forth a torrent of flame from his mouth at her attacker, engulfing the larger kaiju's face in a huge burst of fire, who certainly had not anticipated the infant being a possible threat. The juvenile leap upon the predator's exposed neck, who writhed about in his bewilderment, his face wreathed in smouldering burns. Seizing the opportunity, his mother joined him, and the two chipped and tore chunks of the reptilian's stony armour to expose the more vulnerable skin beneath, before scalding the kaiju's flesh with repeated blasts of flame. Sufficiently enraged, he unleashed a massive full-body electrical shockwave that sent the two Daigoro leaping to safety. The two of them fled up the slopes of Mount Teide, releasing clouds of smoke like ink clouds as they ran, the reptilian kaiju following not far behind.

Meanwhile, human forces had mostly focused on evacuation of the island's populace as the two kaiju fought, while waiting to face off against the victor, but prepared to firebomb the entire island if necessary. News crews watched from helicopters as the larger kaiju pursued the two up the slopes of the volcano, a situation quickly dubbed as a 'David versus Goliath' battle (a name which would soon catch on for the new creature). Although his vision was clouded by the fire blasts of his prey and the huge clouds of smog that billowed in front of him, Goliath dragged himself up the slopes after the scent of prey, now more incensed than ever before. He blasted the mountain wildly with bolts of electricity from the tip of his horn, attempting to strike either of the two Daigoro just from chance, but with little success. A dense shroud of blinding gases billowed from the rim of the caldera, but Goliath rushed into the cloud, clawing wildly at nothing, falling straight into the trap of his intended quarry. A torrent of regurgitated magma hit him straight in the face, coating most of his head as the larger Daigoro leapt upon him when Goliath made the mistake of rearing up in anger. All three kaiju toppled into the crater of the dormant volcano in a raging cluster of violence, and military forces immediately called in a mass bombardment into the peak of Mt. Teide now that they were enclosed within the walls of the caldera and most of the surrounding villas had already been evacuated.

As the bombs began dropping into the crater, the combined stresses upon the volcano finally became too great as the crust of the caldera caved into the dormant lava chamber below, triggering a localized eruption. Goliath, still blinded by the solidified lava coating him, was caught in the landslide as rock and earth collapsed into the molten depths, burying Goliath under thousands of tonnes of magmatic sediments. The two Daigoro just barely clambered free as a massive pyroclastic plume blew free, and resealing the volcano caldera once more (although not before showering the island in a rain of ash). At the foot of the volcano, Daigoro-mater proclaimed her victory over her foe to all with a great roar, daring anyone else to test their luck. This was followed by a smaller and less impressive roar by her eager son, after his first taste of battle.

From negotiations between Monarch workers in Libya that their findings that Daigoro were a normally peaceful species that would almost certainly not attack without provocation first, it was tentatively decided against further immediate action which could result in greater and unnecessary loss of life, the two were allowed to slip back into the sea (under the surveillance of an escort fleet of course), where they eventually retreated into one of the lava fissures of Mount Pico in the Azores, but away from the island's settlements, finally bringing to an end this crisis. Faint bioacoustic signals could continue to be detected from within Mt. Teide, and soon Monarch began establishment of a containment facility on the peak of the volcano as an additional precaution, while also forming a small research station in a secluded corner of Mt. Pico to continue monitoring the two Daigoro and continuing research at the Kilaak temple site in Libya. While this event had certainly brought in much greater funding for the organization it had also had much more dire ramifications.

Based on the cobbled records of pre-cradle civilizations, the bonebeds of megafossils from all seven continents, and the oral literature of the surviving Cosmos people, kaiju activity followed cycles of activity and dormancy spanning millennia, often ending in great cataclysm. If the words of the surviving Cosmos ring true, this is a cycle which approaches as kaiju slowly continue to awaken across the world, a primordial ecosystem that once more begins to reform. It was likely that such events would only increase in frequency and severity as time went on, as the gods of old awakened from sleep to a world that had long forgotten them. Who would know of the consequences that the gods walking the Earth again could bring upon all mankind?

Description: An armoured pseudo-saurian predator, Goliath is a rare predatory kaiju descended from true primordial hyperfauna, a survivor from the Precambrian "Nuclear Age". While the known Goliath species individual may not be quite that old, it is clear he has survived since ancient times, and is at minimum many millions of years old; surviving Kilaak artwork of the species likely depict this very specimen among them. Like many kaiju species, Goliath is bio-terrestrial, consuming deep-earth matter and collecting large deposits of mineral obtained from this within outer body tissues to create a bio-metallic armour coating. Goliath has survived long enough for this armour to be of considerable depth, forming a spiky shell upon its back that stretches from his head down to the end of its tail. This is more than ten metres in depth at its thickest, and is more than strong enough to withstand the most powerful manmade bunker busters. His limbs and underside are less protected, but only comparatively, with a chainmail-like coat of smaller bony scales that provide a degree of protection without sacrificing significant mobility. The large flattened horn growing out of Goliath's head is enriched with numerous earth metals to reinforce it against mechanical stresses and is kept honed to a sharpened edge by grinding and carving it across bedrock underground.

Like many kaiju, Goliath's dietary requirements are low, only needing to feed on organics once every few centuries, but once awakened to hunt, there is little that will stand in his way. Generally moving on all fours, he can stand upright on the back pair alone for faster bursts of speed over short distances. Not particularly quick either way, Goliath hunts by persistence, since it has little to fear from most prey due to his armoured hide, and may hunt prey for weeks on end. Similar to a shark, Goliath is finely attuned to the subtle bioelectric signals that all living things give off, and can detect these faint signals over thousands of kilometres, particularly the stronger electromagnetic fields of fellow kaiju, his usual prey. Smaller kaiju are preferred, since these do not actually present a credible threat, as well as the fact Goliath seems to actually enjoy the thrill of a chase nearly as much as the kill itself, but is generally smart enough to avoid biting off more than he can chew. Like a cat toying with a mouse, Goliath may tear into his victim for a bit and then let them escape to restart the pursuit once more, repeating this process until he has had his his fun before he makes the final kill.

Goliath relies on his brute strength and basic physical attributes during the hunt, ore-infused claws, bladed horn, and serrated, shearing beak are more than sufficient weaponry to slaughter most prey. However, Goliath's attunement to bioelectricity is more than simply passive detection; using its metal-infused armour-plating as a conductor, he can eject powerful shockwaves that are released along his entire body, or more focused lightning-like arced bolts from the tip of his horn. Such abilities are rarely used against prey and more often are utilized as a defence against formidable enemies since his stores of bioelectric energy are not unlimited and are slow to charge; Goliath would have faced stiff competition from other kaiju species, if Kilaak pictographs are to be believed. Sometimes rather than as an outward attack, Goliath generates a relatively low-energy static coating over his exoskeletal plates as an energy buffer that both blocks incoming attacks and transfers a powerful shock on contact to any kaiju stupid enough to try biting or clawing. While active, production of this energy buffer causes severe electronic interferences over a radius of several hundred metres, although this is likely an unintentional secondary effect, seeing as it has little effect on biotic life.

His bright blue scales arise from a combination of oxidized copper compounds and bio-mineralized lapis dust concentrated within the epidermis, the purpose of which is not clear because it serves no obvious beneficial purpose in foraging, camouflage, or defence (and in fact makes him rather easy to spot from quite a distance in most circumstances). One of the surviving Kilaak pictographs may suggest that this is a sexually dimorphic trait and females of the species lack this colouration, although it is not clear due to poor preservation of this evidence. Further verifications cannot be known about behaviour or appearance with only one known individual known to exist at present.

———

NEXT: Project Prometheus