Appearance

Physical Description

Plainstrider exhibits immense strength, grace, and agility for something so large. In terms of combat, it tackles and charges its opponents in the vein of normal cervids. Though the creature's fighting style is predictable, its brute strength more than compensates for it.

Facial Features

The tusk-like appendages jutting from its upper jaw and pierce even the thickest rock, and the keratin-covered bony growth atop his head can shatter bones. It is unknown exactly what purpose the antlers show, as their framing of the face and broadness make them unsuitable in battle like in regular cervids.

Special abilities

Like all other kaiju, Plainstrider also possesses an advanced healing factor, able to heal broken bones and damaged body parts that would be unsalvagable for normal animals. It can shrug off conventional human artillery and stand up to more unconventional mecha weaponry. Its regenerative healing abilities plus the advanced amniotic-addled DNA has made Plainstrider immortal, only killable via starvation or another kaiju.

Mentality

Personal history

• Species description: Megaloceros titanicanthus


• Biological basis: Megaloceros


• Diet: Herbivorous

The lineage of the legendary deer began to wane around eight thousand years ago. An ever-shifting climate plus the arrival of humans had decimated the population of the Megaloceros. They began to flee deeper into the Eurasian landscape to escape predation. As they ventured far beyond for food and residence, one unfortunate specimen was dragged beneath the surface by an enormous sinkhole. An underground lake of the great amniotic fluid - caused by a Seed of Creation crashlanding - caught its fall and captured it. Over many millennia did the creature transform and evolve, hardly resembling its original base form as the terrain transformed and grew over the hole.



Thousands of years later, the mound was discovered by ancient Proto-Indo-Europeans wandering the landscape. Their attempts to dig it up ended up awakening the creature and unleashing it upon the world. They believed it to be a sort of deity and began to worship it, following it around the Eurasian landscape. The Scotoli - or Scythians - revered the kaiju, even going as far as to domesticate horses in order to ride with it. Even after their division under the Goths and the Huns into smaller Slavic tribes, they still carried the legends and reverence of the kaiju with them. Eventually did Varangian Vikings arrive, sailing along the rivers to penetrate the Russian wilds. They had heard legends of the great kaiju and pursued it for glory, wishing to follow in the footsteps of their gods Thor and Odin. The kaiju eventually escaped into the Caucasus Mountains while the Varangians became more focused on expanding the Land of the Rus.



Within the dormant volcano Mount Elbrus did it hibernate, eventually discovered by Soviet agents deep underground. Such a discovery made rounds throughout the Kremlin in hushed whispers. Under General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev did the Committee for State Security | Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti (KGB) built a facility to study the giant kaiju as well as find others within amnd beyond Russia during the Cold War. Even after the dissolving of the Soviet Union and the KGB on December 26, 1991, it was still kept secret from the rest of the world for years until a freak accident at the Elbrus Facility freed and awoke it. The kaiju then fled through the countryside and killed any military personnel trying to get in its way before it escaped into Ukraine.

Personality

Likes & Dislikes

It is a very stoic and solitary creature, preferring the quiet of the woods and cold of the north to anything else. It typically avoids or outright ignores humans unless provoked. The kaiju avoids combat when it can and is quick to calm down afterwards. Plainstrider has been known to wander far and wide across the landscape, migrating as far as Ukraine before it - oddly enough - settled into the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The isolation combined with the lingering radioactive background has made the kaiju rather partial to it. The giant deer holds slightly higher intelligence than a normal cervid but is ultimately a simple creature. Plainstrider has typically been one of the easier kaiju to deal with, at least until the Russian government involves itself. Preferring to fight off the creature rather than chase or lead it away, skirmishes between them and Plainstrider are often one-sided, resulting in reckless death and destruction.

Environmental Impact

While it leaves massive destruction in its wake when provoked, its influence on the environment is profound. Its feces is high in protein - both natural and amniotic-addled - and benign nuclear isotopes that - after being absorbed by the soil and filtered into the water - cause immense population booms in the flora and fauna inhabiting its region. Flowering plants and trees will grow wildly, and animals experience high birth rates. Being one of the few herbivorous kaiju, Plainstrider's influence on the environment has led to a major surplus of meat, particularly venison as they flock to its location. As a result, venison has become much more common in middle Europe than even cattle and poultry. Forests grow to immense length and density because of its presence, with trees growing twice or even three times the size of normal. The lumber industry is regularly at odds with Plainstrider as the creature is quite protective of its cover and food. Residing in the Zone is becoming more tolerable as the kaiju absorbs and compartmentalizes the nuclear radiation emanating from the old factory.

Miscellaneous Information

Worship and reverence for Plainstrider carried far across ancient Eurasia, as far in as Mongolia and China . The kaiju was of particular interest to the biological weapons division of the Soviet Union, who hoped to potentially use the creature as a weapon against the United States. However, it was ultimately deemed more of a danger to them rather than their opponents so the prospect of theoretical kaiju-based weaponry was ultimately tabled. The accident at the Elbrus Facility has been the subject of conspiracy and controversy since its occurrence, as the full details of how the facility failed have never been revealed. The Russian government suspects foul play or internal sabotage rather than an outside insurgency from the United States or other rival countries. Often, the finger is pointed at former KGB or Soviet loyalists, but such accusations are nothing more than speculation with no evidence ever surfacing.
 
Plainstrider became a folk hero to the Ukrainian people and an anti-Russian symbol. Ukrainian soldiers would get tattoos of the giant mammal, and many tanks and helicopters sported paintings of it. The kaiju's image was used in anti-Russian propaganda online and became an internet meme used to troll Russian users. Street art and graffiti of it were painted on many buildings and highways in Ukraine and Russia , with the latter being frequently erased by the Russian government to protect its image.

Gallery

Social

Birthplace

Eurasia, Earth

Current Residence

Ukraine, Earth