dawnofdeath entry

[dawnofdeath]

This is a mystical beast I drew awhile ago. It's kinda like a fusion of a dragon and a snake with bone spikes (head looks more like dragon and has a snake body ie no wings/legs/arms etc). It's called Myrrormr, which is old norse for swamp serpent.
They are very ficious and dangerous and can easily drag you down beneath murky waters if you are not careful or even choke you to death while piercing your body with its spikes. The bone spikes are its natural defence.

They are often seen in/around freshwater swamps (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:F...sgov_image.jpg)
because it seems to be easier for them to adapt in suchs terrain because they are quite cold blooded. They can move freely both in water and on the land. Kinda like alligators, need air to breathe but still enjoy being in the water and can move into land when looking for prey.

Their life span is not certain but people estimate them to be able to live even up to 30 years, though they seem to stop growing after they become adults. People claim to have seen a Myrrormr that was a little longer than 5 meters, though they normally appear to be around 3 meters long.
How they reproduce is unkown, no one has seen the creatures mate or laid any eggs, in fact it is believed that they are all males. The rumors or myth if you will, also say that they are offsprings of some kind of wyvern and snake creatures juding from their appearance.

They are preditors and are not very picky in their choice of food, as long as it's meat. They prey on most types of animals in the area or even fish if they are desperate. It's believed that they have to eat around half it's body weight each day.
They are also very protective about their territoriums, even against their own kind since they rarely live together.
They are more comfortable during night and that's the time they normally go out to hunt. Even if they have the appearence of a snake they are not venomous, their sharp teeth and defensive bone spikes seems to be their result of evolution and have no need for venom. Their body can easily be pierced by a sharp blade since they don't have hard scales like dragons and might be the reason for their bone spikes to protect them from harm. Though they are very fast and can strike in a instant.
Their movement is somewhat faster in water, thus one reason why they prefer to be in water but they can still catch up to human speed on land. Against faster animals they tend to sneak up/lurk until they can get them by supprise.
They can see better in the dark than during day, thus why they normally hunt during night. They see better on land than underwater, which is also one reason why they hunt on land, another is that there are more animals on land which they prefer to eat. They are deaf but if their vision fail to locate the presence of other beings they can locate them with help from vibrations on the ground. They don't have a snake's tongue and they can't sense heat.

[Lachrymose]

wow.. fantastic drawing dod.. i like the sounds of it, though we already know that MO has dragons, so maybe add something to make it different from the ones that will already be in game. the bone armor is a nice start, but maybe something else.

[dawnofdeath]

Originally Posted by Lachrymose

wow.. fantastic drawing dod.. i like the sounds of it, though we already know that MO has dragons, so maybe add something to make it different from the ones that will already be in game. the bone armor is a nice start, but maybe something else.

Yeah well it's not really a dragon. It doesn't have wings/legs/arms etc more like a snake body. Not sure if those types of monsters exist in MO yet?

[Lachrymose]

Originally Posted by dawnofdeath

Yeah well it's not really a dragon. It doesn't have wings/legs/arms etc more like a snake body. Not sure if those types of monsters exist in MO yet?

hmm... not that i'm aware of. i guess it just looks like a dragon to me, since i saw the picture as being of it's neck up, and assumed it had the body of a dragon.

anyways, maybe add some lore or history to it. i'd like to know a little more about it.

[dawnofdeath]

Originally Posted by Lachrymose

hmm... not that i'm aware of. i guess it just looks like a dragon to me, since i saw the picture as being of it's neck up, and assumed it had the body of a dragon.

anyways, maybe add some lore or history to it. i'd like to know a little more about it.

Yeah that's why I said fusion of dragon and snake ^^ but didn't have enough space to make the whole body which is more like a snake. But at least I've explained it now. Yeah will do when I come up with something

[BlackOrc]

You win.

[Archaaz]

A truly superb piece of artwork! Well done, indeed.

[catmorbid]

Very nice, you're clearly a good artist. Make up a description that makes it stand out as a unique creature, rather than just-another-fantasy-monster, and you'd really have something here... Right now, it's just a very beautiful drawing.

[Mats Persson]

That one might actually qualify for our Lindworms (no wings or legs). But although nicely rendered it's not much of a concept without a body
Also, with no name and no further description it's kind of anonymous.

[dawnofdeath]

Originally Posted by Mats Persson

That one might actually qualify for our Lindworms (no wings or legs). But although nicely rendered it's not much of a concept without a body
Also, with no name and no further description it's kind of anonymous.

So without the body you can't count it as a concept? Well have come up with a temporary name and will add description later on.

[Gisel]

Originally Posted by Mats Persson

That one might actually qualify for our Lindworms (no wings or legs). But although nicely rendered it's not much of a concept without a body
Also, with no name and no further description it's kind of anonymous.

Anonymous pwns? add a mask to it and i'll play the game foreveah

[Somarl]

Id look forward to one of them popping out of a swamp im crossing and scaring the bejesus out of me. Nice work man.

[Jimmmy]

yah that in a marsh or mudhole would make a awesome realtime boss...

[Conny]

Really like this one awesome drawing!

[dawnofdeath]

Hm I'm just thinking a little here. I hear from many that people have to add more description on their concepts and of course that is needed but is it really necesessary to have a big lore yada yada? Not only does it say on the rules "short description" but I can't really figure it out why a deep lore is really needed. It's not like we are creating a whole race or a civilazation or whatever (or are we?Oo), aren't we making mobs/monsters? Dunno about you guys but I don't really care when I'm fighting a scorpion or whatnot what it's complete origin and lore is

Of course there are exceptions but I wouldn't mind SV do most of the lore themselves as they see fit. Who knows the lore of MO better than them?

I'm not saying it's wrong to come up with a whole lore and whatnot, just don't really understand why it's SO important? In my concept for example,these swamp serpents, I can't really come up with a detailed lore that makes sence. They are mystical ancient beings/monsters that are not so common. Of course I could make something up like they are offsprings by wyverns and snakes (not normal ones) and thus being half breeds and their natural environment is in the swamps so they are quite isolated from the outside world. Not many crosses the swamps and even if they do they are mystical = rare and will most likely kill you. Without many survivors little is known about them other than the rumors being created by those who were lucky enough to survive.

Meh maybe I'm just talking rubbish? it's 6am and I haven't slept and got bored enough to write nonesence

[Mats Persson]

Originally Posted by dawnofdeath

Dunno about you guys but I don't really care when I'm fighting a scorpion or whatnot what it's complete origin and lore is

Well, I'm not sure what counts as lore or not, but I'm interested in at least the most basic data. It would be very hard to create a creature without knowing it's size, for instance

It's up to you if this data is "in-game", "official" or "unofficial" descriptions of the creature (what's known to characters in-game, players, or only the designers respectively), but at least the basic stuff has to be there. If you think the most important thing is that it can fight and be "another monster in another game" (like the scorpion), not much more, then start with combat-specific data (i.e. how it attacks, venom(?), movement, defense) but don't forget the other game-related stuff.

Personally I think it's important to know both how the creature "works" in itself, and to tie it to the world/environment (most of the time attributes <-> world/environment are connected). Before you say that's impossible as you don't know anything about the MO world, please read my questions below to see what I'm getting at, as they are very general. They are just quick example questions but use them as inspiration if you like:


What kind of swamps?
Humid tropical swamps? Frost-swamps? Saltwater swamps in connection to coastlines? Wet marshlands like the moors in northern Sweden? (They are very different.)

How do they adapt to that climate region?
If cold, do they hibernate during winter? If connected to the ocean, do they swim out there to mate? To a specific location?

How does the life-cycle of a Myrrormr look like?
How long do they live? How do they mate/reproduce? Do they lay eggs? How many? Where? Do they guard them?

Feeding?
What prey do they feed on (except unfortunate humans lost in the wild)? Do they have natural enemies?

Anatomy?
Now how big does a Myrrormr normally get? Do they grow as long as they live? Are they venomous (and if, what kind of venom)? How hard is their natural armor? If you were to make an armor out of its skin/scales, it would be naturally water-resistant, yes? How fast do they move in water and on land? (Most sea snakes are unable to even move on land due to heavy adaption, but some have retained the ability of (limited) land-movement.) Do they have the same kind of paddle-like tails and laterally compressed bodies as sea-snakes? (Good reason to draw the whole creature )

Perception?
They seem to have rather big eyes, how good is their vision? How good do they see in the dark? Do they have a nictitating membrane (a third eyelid, like crocodiles), meaning they can see perfectly under water? (Or no eyelid at all perhaps, like snakes?) No visible ears, do they hear like snakes? Can they sense heat like snakes? Vibrations? Do they smell with their tongue? Other, special senses?

Mythology?
Apparently they are not very known to civilization, but what kind of rumors exist? If they are really big, I'm sure they would figure in mythology, religion or as symbols. Or at least have a vague reference in some local lullaby used to scare children?


I'm not saying you should write an epic novel about the Myrrormr, although it's nice with an explanation on why creature X has attribute Y. However much of this could be represented in raw data together with the general description, like:
Size: About 4-5 meters
Venom: Fangs injects a neurotoxin causing paralysis
Eyesight: Poor on land, good in water.
etc.

[dawnofdeath]

Thanks for posting Mats, good info