Hydra

"If you don't aim for the body, you idiot, I'll cut your own head off to see if you can grow two more!"
Beazel - Trovian Dwarf

Basic Information

Anatomy

Hydra are warm blooded draconids that have scaly skin that comes in a variety of colours, all suited specifically to their preferred environments. All have four legs, similar to a monitor lizard, with great claws, often used for digging, but equally effective in rending the flesh of its prey. Young hydra hatch with three heads on long, serpentine necks, their heads varying slightly between more dragon-like and serpentine to slightly draco-avian in the forest morphs, nonetheless, all are equally fanged all around the jaws. They have long, flexible, powerful tails that end in a single point and are effectively used by the beast to strike smaller creatures, often sending them hurtling through the air to their demise.

Genetics and Reproduction

Two hydra will mate every few years, and lay up to six large, scaly eggs in a complex nest of stone, bones, hides and branches, and often other debris including scavenged carts and caravans! The young are provided with an initial meal of captured and killed prey at the time of hatching, but leave the nest immediately after, to seek out their own territories.

Growth Rate & Stages

Young hydra hatchlings are about the size of a large hunting dog, but quickly grow, doubling in size every year. It is unclear whether hydra have a maximum growth size, or if they grow based on the availability of prey in their territory, but it is certain that with enough food these beasts can become absolutely enormous, able to swallow a horse completely whole. It is thought that they may grow extra heads over time without decapitation and there have been no reports of a hydra ever having more than twelve heads.

Ecology and Habitats

Hydra are exceptionally versatile in their habitats, easily able to adapt to caves and mountainous areas as they are to forests and swamps. As the young develop and stake our a territory, their scales adapt to blend in with the terrain and foliage of their chosen biome. It had been recorded that swamp hydra may lurk in the waters of the fens with only their heads above water, springing a terrible ambush upon those foolish enough to venture too close, or for the snow hydra to suddenly burst forth from a snow drift, or for a mountain hydra to stealthily climb down a slope to pounce on prey below.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Hydras are carnivores and scavengers both and will not only ambush prey, but often track it down as their appetites are as large as the beast itself. It will often carry the kill back to its lair which can certainly be identified by the large amounts of bones and old carcasses strewn far around the hydras dwelling. Many a traveler should be able to know and identify a hydra lair, and although scavenged riches may be bountiful, the hydra has no concept of treasure and anything found of worth will be incidental.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Hydra eyesight is not overly keen, but certainly dependent on the slightest movement, to which it will react with haste, however, the beast relies more upon its sense of taste and smell. Similar to serpents, hydra can taste elements in the air by flicking out its forked tongues, and coupled with its keen sense of smell, it can locate and track prey for up to several miles. Hydra are also sensitive to ground vibration which, in combination with their scales, coloured to blend in with their environment, makes them especially good ambush predators, regardless of how massive they can become.
Although, hydra do not breathe flame like dragons or drakes, nor are they venomous, they are, with each head, able to spit an acidic projectile conjured from their stomach contents, which makes them formidable adversaries. Couple this with the additional regenerative ability for the creature to regrow two heads from a single decapitation within seconds and it becomes clear why this species is dominant in the terrain in which it resides.

Scientific Name

Draconid

Conservation Status

Hyrda remain an apex predator and are very much all too common around the entire continent of Nivernae, excepting its islands.