Valoryn's fears

[Ungod]

Water

Crowds

Old age

[Valoryn]

Water: Ivy – Shark – Python – Eagle – Sea Lion – Rock

Crowds: Pitcher Plant – Piranha – Viper – Vinegar Fly – Chimpanzee – Lightning

Old age: Oak – Anglerfish – Giant Tortoise – Vulture – Elephant – Fire

[Valoryn]

Water:

Ivy – Elongated tendrils

Shark – Large fins

Python – Very long and tightly coiled body, impossible to find where it begins and where it ends

Eagle – Sharp talons

Sea Lion – Jaws with big sharp teeth

 

Crowds:

Pitcher Plant – A giant colourful and slippery pitcher that's very difficult to resist entering and impossible to come out of once inside

Piranha – Sharp teeth

Viper – Poison gland

Vinegar Fly – Annoyingly large numbers of them (If it's not acceptable, then I will go with "Three pairs of huge wings, instead of a single pair".)

Chimpanzee – Long hairy limbs

 

Old Age:

Oak – Tree bark that seems nearly impossible to break, but it's ancient and almost rotten

Anglerfish – Luminous lure

Giant Tortoise – Giant shell

Vulture – Beak

Elephant – Thick fat limbs

[Valoryn]

Water: Dragon

Crowds: Macaque

Old Age: Apatosaurus

[Ungod]

Ok, let's see...fear of water and dragons. Although the dragon is a symbol in itself, I'll take it as a flying lizard?

The tendrils of the ivy are, to me, the hands used to grab other plants (and not only) in the expansion towards light...These 'hands' could be part of the dragon's body, but where? maybe a spine with tendrils that can expand at will

The fins of a shark are mainly for locomotion, I suppose. Can a dragon swim? I think rectractable fins would serve in this case.

The body of a python in an impossible expansion...that would work well for the dragon. An expansion that seems infinite to the eyes of the bystanders, even though it's not, like a never-ending stream.

The sharp talons of the eagle are the greatest weapon it has, so our dragon can get huge talons to rip the victims into shreds. And, lastly, the jaws of the sea lion...quite a good addition to the dragon.

The fear of crowds...the macaque. Interesting association.

The pitcher plant's trap is a weapon and a 'stomach' at the same time. How about making the macaque's belly resemble the pitcher and make it capable of eating all organic matters it comes into contact with?

And, to make it more believable, the sharp teeth of a piranha can be hidden under the skin of the macaque's belly.

The viper has its glands right behind the eyes, and why not place such potent glands somewhere around the macaque's face? 'Around' is not the best word here However, fear can give birth to killer responses of defense, and our monster can use having such.

The vinegar flies' wings, growing into a weird shape which looks like three pairs in one, are means of locomotion. The macaque can use having skinny (made of skin) wings of great potence, which lifts it in the air (and possibly give it a short time of flying).

As for the limbs, we can make the macaque get those huge disproportionate limbs, capable of tearing anyone (a chimp, for example, can rip you into pieces in a few seconds. and eat you afterwards, if you're tasty enough).

 

The brontosaurus as a blueprint of old age...you could have chosen a turtle, they look the same (waiting to be told 'no, not really').

The bark is the oak's protection, the brontosaurus can create the same protection by growing layers of skin, without shedding them, to the point where there is nothing that can penetrate it...and so closes up the heart of old people, to avoid injuries...

The lure of the angler fish (I think somebody else chose it as well)...how about poking out the eyes and placing two luminous lures in their place instead? It makes sense...to me...

The shell of the tortoise can cover the whole body or the neck and head of the dinosaur. It's a reminder of the stuff we carry one with us to the end.

The beak of the vulture....looks good on the apatosaurus

As for the thick fat limbs of the elephant, it has those (well, supposedly). Let's just make them disproportionate and grotesque.

 

Alright, those were my suggestions for the monsters' creation. Try to apply your own ideas of impossible growth/demise onto the blueprints and we'll see what the monsters look like afterwards. Looking forward to your submission.

 

 

Edited November 19, 2016 by Ungod

[Valoryn]

Water:

This creature looks mostly like a dragon. I say "mostly" because it's simpler to say "dragon" than "a gigantic flying lizard that spits fire to unwary travellers, in particular those who are bold enough to mess with the treasures it guards". However, this dragon isn't exactly like the beasts of legend you may have read about in many tales; it's neither the flying nor the fire-spitting kind.

This one is a very skilled swimmer and has fins that make it a very fast one as well; it can also retract its fins and use its four slender, when compared to its size, but strong limbs for movement on land. But what makes this specific dragon so special and scary?

The drowner, and it does live up to its name, has some sort of a collar around its neck where long tendrils come out of. These tendrils, apart from long, are also fairly thin but very strong, can move more easily in water and can be used as the first means the creature will use to catch its victim and prevent it from escaping. When the beast notices its potential victim, it will move its tendrils rapidly towards its target and wrap them around its limbs and neck. This way, it has plenty of time to move the rest of its long body closer without giving a chance to the victim to react and flee.

Its tail is particularly long and coiled, to the point that you can't be certain exactly how long it is and where it ends. Once the drowner has immobilised its victim, it wraps its tail tightly around the victim's body. Unable to react and move, feeling like a rock drifting deeper and deeper, the victim finds itself literally at the creature's mercy. The next and last thing one feels is a strong pressure on one's chest and stomach, before the beast's talons and jaws tear them apart and feast on them.

 

Crowds:

This creature could be mistaken for an ordinary macaque, very energetic and noisy, if it didn't have some special traits that aren't encountered on the known macaque species.

This one has three pairs of large skinny wings that let it scout its surroundings from above for potential targets, but for relatively short amounts of time. Once it finds a target, our airborne macaque lunges at it at free fall speed, grabs it with its long and very hairy arms and either tears it apart before swallowing it or stuffs it whole into its mouth. Once there, the victim is bathed in poison coming from the beast's own venom glands and then, whether whole or in pieces, it's pushed through the creature's throat, which is covered with many, relatively small but very sharp teeth that help cut the victim's flesh into small(er) pieces before said victim reaches the beast's stomach.

Considering that our special macaque is a very noisy creature while on the ground and even noisier when flying, it prefers to be a passive predator than an active one. So, instead of flying around to scan the area for targets to attack, it spends most of its time lying on the ground with its mouth wide open. The white, orange and rose colouration of the inside of the creature's mouth gives the impression that it's something one must have a closer look at, instead of a scary creature. And if one goes inside to have an even closer look all the better, one may think. But when the victim notices it's a trap, it's too late to escape. With the macaque being ever noisy and with the poison weakening the victim and distorting its senses, the latter may feel like being in the middle of a strong thunderstorm with nowhere to hide.

 

Old Age:

"This one is an apatosaurus!", you will say upon your first glance at it. Not quite. It does look like an apatosaurus in terms of size and speed. It's a really big beast, several times taller than a human, a very old and very ve-ry  s-l-o-w  o--n--e. But it's also very different than an apatosaurus. It's a reinforced apato-oak!

"A what?!", you will ask. Give me a moment to explain. I did say it looks like an apatosaurus; it's tall, very fat, very old and normally very very slow. What makes it different than an apatosaurus though is a series of special traits that make this creature unique.

First of all, its limbs will remind you those of an elephant: very thick and very fat. I know that you are going to tell me that the limbs of an elephant are much smaller than those of an apatosaurus, however thick and fat they may be. That's true, but the elephant's limbs are also faster, which means that this beast can speed up when it needs to, although not as much as an elephant can. Second, it carries a huge thick shell on its back making it look more like a gigantic tortoise. The shell, however, feels more like an extra burden, perhaps the burden of regret for all the things we wanted to do while we were young but didn't, rather than a means of protection. Third, its skin looks nothing like that of the known prehistoric reptiles, or any reptiles if that matters, because it's made of oak bark. Thick and strong oak bark that has helped this beast endure all these long years of its existence and which is also partially rotten and small pieces of it fall from the beast once in a while when it moves. Fourth, it has a huge and sharp beak, instead of a mouth, that can be very dangerous if the creature manages to approach you. And it will.

Why am I so confident about the fact that the apato-oak will approach you, once it finds you, no matter how faster you are than it is? Because it has one weird structure protruding from its forehead. The structure resembles the top of an elegant street light and, if you think about it, it's as big as a street light; its base is solid and wavy and on its tip a more flexible stem begins, which leads straight down to a big luminous sphere. The creature uses this structure like a pendulum swaying from left to right and vice versa while it walks, making you feel like there is a voice inviting you when you look at it: "Come closer and you will become more skilled, more experienced and wiser". And you heed its words and approach the creature, swaying your head along with the luminous pendulum, dreaming of more skill, experience and wisdom. But the apato-oak manages this way not only to distract you by making you watch its lure as if it were the most important thing in the world but, more importantly, to make you go closer to it so that it can unleash its true power on you.

If the creature doesn't step on you because it didn't see you -- old age can be like that; it doesn't care who you are or what you have done in your life and just steps on you --, then it growls at you with its beak wide open. And while you wait for it to grab you and feast on you (if you notice this at all, since you will most likely still be busy watching the beast's luminous lure swaying left and right and daydreaming of becoming more powerful), it will instead unleash its fiery breath on you. However, it's not the kind of fire that destroys everything it touches within moments. Its effects are slow, much like the beast's moving speed but, once you realise the harm it has done, how slower and less fit you are and how fewer things you can do now compared to what you used to be and what you used to do before encountering the creature, it's too late and there is no way back. It feels more like it's extinguishing your inner fire, by using its own, and your desire to live with no way for you to save either.

Therefore, you won't be troubled at all -- you won't have the energy to -- if the apato-oak leaves you for a few days to rot before it shreds your flesh to pieces with its beak.