@tyrantisterror Revenge of the ATOM Create-A-Kaiju Contest Entry: GNOMORANDate Discovered: &lrm

@tyrantisterror Revenge of the ATOM Create-A-Kaiju Contest Entry: GNOMORANDate Discovered: ‎December 1, 1956Aliases: 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 Earth HollowNotable Stomping Grounds: The Emain Ablach Earth Hollow; most of the coastal regions of Ireland and northwestern Europe; possible sightings in and around Scandinavia and the European Arctic circleHeight: 50 feetLength: 75 feetDescription and Biology:“Unsightly” is a word that describes Gnomoran quite well. Descended from a deviant prehistoric species of talpid mole that found its way to Ireland prior to the last ice age surrounding the island country with seawater, the fossorial creature has changed quite significantly compared to its ancestors, though its overall build - a cylindrical body, powerful burrowing clawed forepaws, velvety fur that doesn’t flow in any major direction, sharp insect-catching teeth, and an acute sense of smell - has been retained due to being perfectly suited for its ecological role. However, its limb proportions are quite different from a typical mole, in that they are somewhat longer proportionally, though the back limbs are still shorter than the forelimbs. Likewise, its scaly, rat-like tail has become thicker and longer, more like that of a lizard, and though largely quadrupedal, it can rear up and even walk in a tripodal stance if it needs to either better sense its environment when above-ground or bring its weaponry to bear in combat, though it still looks somewhat hunched when on two legs. The forelimbs are burly and bear-like with hairless, scaly paws and five enormous, sturdy, relatively straight claws almost like those of a ground sloth on each hand, and the enlarged digit-like bone on each wrist has also developed into a curved, bladed spike for use as a weapon. Its plantigrade back feet are also scaly but with much shorter, more curved claws for traction. Most significantly, however, its head barely resembles that of its ancestors from the outside. Its medium-length snout and sharp-toothed jaws seem to have been remain largely unchanged in skeletal structure, and its light red eyes are small and insignificant, but the similarities end there. The front of the forehead bulges upwards and is heavily reinforced, because it serves as the base for a massive, straight, conical horn, spiraled like a narwhal’s tusk, that points straight ahead and helps Gnomoran bore through the earth along with its clawed paws; the snout and mouth poke out underneath it like the mouth of a goblin shark. The snout and chin themselves are covered in long hair like a mustache and beard, and on the very end of the snout, the nose itself has about a dozen flexible fleshy feelers like catfish barbels which it uses to sense its environment. It is the top of the head that is most notable: it is entirely hairless, and the base of the horn, the scalp, and the sides of the face are all covered in wart-like tumors and skin eruptions of varying sizes. Its teeth are typical of a mole’s, which resemble those of a carnivoran (including canine fangs and carnassials) rather than those of the only distantly related rodents; however, the front-most incisors are elongated to the point where they resemble rodent teeth, and some of its teeth are also missing or even broken from countless fights.The monster’s scraggly, unkempt fur is a uniform shade of pale bluish gray with silvery streaks here and there, along with cream-colored facial hair uncannily resembling the mustache and beard of a garden gnome. Its paws, tail, and the skin and tumors on its face are a pale red, and its claws, wrist spikes, and horn are reinforced by iron and are thus a vivid red-orange in color.Aside from enhanced brute strength and burrowing capabilities, Gnomoran seems to be an accomplished swimmer, and has been seen paddling through the coastal seas off of northwestern Europe in a breaststroke-like fashion, moving with surprising speed to surprise watercraft and tunneling straight into the ground from the water, though its agility in the water obviously pales in comparison to more dedicated swimmers. Like some other species of mole, it also has venomous saliva which causes temporary paralysis, once used to store prey in “larders” for lean times, but also just as effective in combat. Most critically, however, the tumors on the mole-beast’s head, which seem to emerge as often as they are ruptured, contain a grisly byproduct of its radiation-metabolizing biology, a corrosive grease of sorts formed from the juices of its runaway regenerative processes. If an opponent foolishly attacks its face, the fluid released by the punctured pustules will more often than not begin to flow down its horn, making its goring attacks even deadlier. It may even pop its own pustules using its front claws and wrist blades to coat them in these caustic juices, and doesn’t care if its skin and fur are also eaten away in the process - it can simply regenerate afterward. In fact, its regenerative ability is especially developed among kaiju of its scale, recovering from injuries in a much shorter span of time than normal and bouncing back from wounds that would kill a more typical kaiju, making it that much more difficult to kill and all the more frustrating for it.Gnomoran thus adds a few insidious abilities to the standard kaiju set:Super strengthAn extremely enhanced healing factorImmunity to radiationParalytic venomous biteCaustic PusHistory:The ancestors of Gnomoran seem to have gone extinct towards the end of the last ice age, when a gradually warming climate and increased humidity deprived them of the drier, cooler soils that they favored, as well as the cold-tolerant invertebrates that made up much of their diet. The last known population seems to have held out on the Isle of Man before fading out some 10,000 years ago, but not before some of them presumably tunneled into a Yamaneon-rich earth hollow beneath the island which wouldn’t be discovered until much more recently. The hollow was found by a team of Irish geologists in late 1956 and, accordingly, named after an otherworldly location in Irish myth associated with the Isle of Man among other isles in proximity to the region. The hollow itself was not the only discovery they made that day, however - Gnomoran’s instinctive prey drive, largely unchanged despite no longer requiring sustenance, regarded the scientists as prey and incited it to pursue them out of the hollow, killing several of them in the process. Escaping to the outside world, it made its way to the nearest body of land it could find and laid waste to the town of Newcastle, Irleand before military resistance sent it back into the sea. The creature then ventured northwards, attacking any coastal settlements and ships unlucky enough to be in its path, before finally tunneling into the Isle of Arran and disappearing from the public eye.Several months later, the city of Glasgow, already in economic decline and rapid de-industrialization at the time, was in for a nasty surprise when an enormous red horn burst out of the streets and Gnomoran plunged into the heart of the city, ransacking everything in its way and devouring dozens of homeless, destitute people as it went. It was only thanks to British military aid that the creature was driven away from the better-off parts of the city, but not before a significant portion of the infamous Glasgow slums had been reduced to rubble. Its rampage finally ended when it attempted to escape into the River Clyde only to take a torpedo to the mouth, critically wounding it, whereupon it was promptly captured for transportation to the newly established Siberian Monster Zone. Sometime during its transportation, however, the ship containing it mysteriously sank, with all on board reported dead or missing - Gnomoran itself being among the latter. Eyewitness reports of the creature doing battle with other kaiju across northwestern Europe came up several times throughout the following year, complete with documented evidence of its presence, but no accounts of the creature invading major cities have been recorded since its sacking of Glasgow. Plans upon detainment are to deposit it in the Siberian Monster Zone as originally intended, but actually finding it is another story - the randomness of the mole-beast’s meanderings means its current whereabouts are as yet unknown.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.As elusive as the elderly creature is physically, remnants of Gnomoran’s presence, typically fur, pus, blood, and even bits of flesh, have been recovered from almost every site where conflict between it and other kaiju has been noted. Recent biological analysis of these remains has revealed that its abnormality and instability seem to extend beyond the tumors on its head - its small size and sadomasochistic aggression have resulted in it sustaining many, many injuries, including numerous internal ones due to how often it has been crushed or its vitals damaged. Its extremely high healing factor fast-tracking the repair of these injuries seems to have resulted in tumors and pustules overcrowding any wound it has received, and the extent of the cycle of damage may go beyond even that.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.Notes:Whew! This guy, right here, was a true exercise in flexing my creative muscles, and took a number of attempts design-wise to get right, but I believe I pulled through in the end. :)One of the gaps I noticed in both ATOM and the real life giant monster filmography worldwide was that Europe seems to have been rather neglected in the atomic age, in spite of having a rich source of mythical creatures that could’ve been adapted to the era in some fashion (hell, IIRC only Reptilicus borrowed from that, being a medieval dragon and such). There also weren’t as many Trogcestor kaiju as there were retrosaurs, so in the wake of how successful one of my last ATOM contest entries was, I needed something both mythical and prehistoric-looking. My original plan was in fact a gigantic monstrous unicorn with a rhinoceros-esque flair and a theme like a jousting knight, but then I remembered that a Behemoth already exists as a kaiju in the ATOM canon, and what with unicorns being closely related to behemoths in the fantasy ‘verse ATOM shares its world with, I sadly had to scrap it. Luckily, another concept I had planned fit much better, and that was refined into Gnomoran here.This bad boy is, in fact, related to the ancestors of TT’s dwarves (including gnomes), which are basically weird sapient moles, so I decided to pitch to myself the idea of a freaking lawn gnome as a kaiju - which would be a gloriously ridiculous idea without the context - and see if I could make it work. I ended up with this gigantic monstrous prehistoric “unicorn mole” with a lance-like horn on its head referencing the famous hat, with a touch of The Mole People B-movie mixed in (note: the date of discovery is the same as the real-world release date of The Mole People). The overall design combines said Mole People not only with more accurate anatomy from talpid and star-nosed moles, but also flourishes from Guiron, Gabara, Baragon, and even a touch of Knifehead for the snout, though the facial tumors were entirely my invention. The history meanwhile is more akin to The Giant Behemoth (which was released just over two years after The Mole People, incidentally), the titular beast of which was said to be suffering radiation sickness but didn’t have a design indicating as such. I decided to swap out radiation for cancer for thematic reasons, and had Gnomoran live through his ordeal and escape to live and fight another day. His name, by the way, is a portmonteau of “Gnome” and “Formorian”, a race of vicious subterranean dwarves from Celtic lore, which also explains his presence in an Irish territory - the Isle of Man is one of the real locations associated with the mythical realm of Emain Ablach, for which Gnomoran’s place of birth is named.So why does he have “everywhere-cancer”, you may ask? Well, that ties into the theme I had in mind. I noticed that there were plenty of “good guy” monsters in the world of ATOM, and even a lot of the antagonists redeem themselves to some extent. But has there been anybody designed as a “hate sink” of sorts, someone despicable enough that nobody wants them around? I wanted to come up with one of those since I’d done only one antagonistic kaiju in the previous ATOM contest compared to three relatively decent ones, but I obviously didn’t want to violate the ruling that the villain has to have at least one virtuous characteristic, though, so I ended up making him a tragic villain instead, and themed him around the health complications of old age and the perennial issue in fantasy fiction of prolonging one’s lifespan through unnatural means. The inspiration for this was the loss of my family’s two dogs earlier this year, and in the case of the latter I actually had the misfortune to witness her waste away due to health complications at her age. “Old-ness” is an unavoidable thing that is only comprehensible to those who are already old, and hated by everyone else in some way or another. Who would want to see the loss of their youth and vitality while becoming elderly and senile, after all? There are a lot of things to enjoy about the autumn years of your life, sure, but the sad truth is that when you’re old, you’re more vulnerable to disease, and cancer in particular. The elder of our dogs lost his life to spleen cancer, in fact, which has weighed heavily on me since then. Thus, I gave Gnomoran a face encrusted by tumors, while also hinting at his entire body from snout to tail also being full to bursting with more of them. Then I realized that a certain merc with a mouth from the X-Men comics has the same issue, and then everything fell into place regarding his personality. Deadpool would, after all, be a completely unlikeable asshole without all that snark! So Gnomoran thus became this crazed, elderly maniac with all of Deadpool’s psychotic problems and none of the fourth-wall-breaking comedic charm, thus bringing the issues Gnomoran has to the spotlight: he’s old and outdated, constantly and gravely ill, and hurting all over, which has made him totally miserable, but unfortunately, his coping mechanism is not snide meta humor but rather attacking anything that crosses him in the hopes of alleviating the constant overgrowth of his own body. This may have even come about because his first interaction with humanity was violent by necessity, what with him trying to eat people and all. Hence, he’s a crotchety old geezer who WILL cut a bitch when given the chance - an opposite to the way more mellow albeit territorial Julkath, if anything - but he at least isn’t violent without reason. The fact that many insectivorous small mammals really are almost as aggressive IRL and have stupidly short lifespans because reasons was the icing on the cake. Poor guy outlasted his entire species, no wonder he’s mad about it. :PAll in all, I’m happy with this crusty old fart and his overall concept, and hopefully it’ll be worthy of its place alongside the other entrants into this second ATOM Create-A-Kaiju Contest. Best of luck to everyone else who’s submitted, and of course, may the best monster win! :DAtomic Time of Monsters universe © @tyrantisterror -- source link

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