Cor (Khoor)

Cor is a nodosaurid kaiju that was freed from Mount Roraima and is now staking its claim to the Amazon Rainforest section of Venezuela .

Artifacts

Cor and the other dominant kaiju of the underground cavern fought often, and the spectacle was engraved onto the bronze-colored metal with lasers. Its exact purpose is unknown, but it is believed to be some sort of artistic mural or display piece. The orb that washed to the surface through the underground waterways and tunnels became a valuable artifact in the black market, with second and third-hand descriptions of it inspiring the creation of the Ica stones. The stones were touted by Young Earth creationists and ancient astronaut groups as proof of Biblical authenticity and alien existence. While the latter is technically true, the Ica stones are not at all accurate and are anachronistic hoaxes meant to profit off. Any relevance has been denied, but a few Ica stones were procured for the Majestic personal museum for educational purposes alongside the orb.

Physical Description

Body Features

The claws on its hands are typically used for digging shallow pits in the dirt for sleeping in or for excavating mushrooms and tubers, but they can leave nasty cuts on its opponent. The razor-like spur scales on its wrists offer an extra offensive and defensive option. The bony plates on its back have openings that the spikes grow through, even armoring its eyelids. Though the underside is not armored, it is by no means a weak spot as a sheet of thick, overlapping scales protects it. Despite being a herbivore, it can deliver a vicious bite with its sharp battery of teeth.

Physical quirks

Cor is both alike and unlike any dinosaur in the fossil record, as its style of combat and form are rather unorthodox. It is one of two dinosaurs that can pronate its wrists and is the only known nodosaur capable of bipedalism.

Special abilities

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

Specialized Equipment

Its most prominent feature is the immense, muscular tail sporting a three-tipped club.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

• Species description: Thyreopherium pangolimimus
• Biological basis: Denversaurus
• Diet: Herbivorous

In 1925, an expedition to the Amazon Rainforest was booked at the behest of the eccentric billionaire Morrison Westernraugh . He was interested in pilfering rare antiquities, obtaining exotic species and fossils for the zoos and museums he funded, and finding resources to expand his industry. Though the expedition had found and recovered much, the professor's main stopping point was Mount Roraima at the border of Brazil, Venezuela , and Guyana. Professor Westernaugh was a conspiracy theorist who believed the mountain was actually a giant tree stump and would prove it by digging a hole through it and harvesting the samples, using a tunneling tank he created called the Mole Machine. As the professor and his crew dug through the tepui, the machine ventured deeper underground after not finding satisfactory samples. The machine ended up digging too deep and fell into an immense underground chamber.
Though the crew survived, the Mole Machine was severely damaged and in need of repairs as well as more oil in order to escape. The crew was stunned to find an enormous underground chamber that stretched for hundreds of miles, following and spanning beyond the Pacaraima Mountains. It was a lush tropical environment fueled by an artificial structure mounted to the roof of the cavern that simulated a day and night cycle, as well as created weather patterns like fog and thunderstorms. Strange dinosaurs, birds, reptiles, fish, and mammals populated the land but did not resemble their fossil counterparts. They had specifically evolved to survive in the underground environment. The professor believed this discovery was proof that the planet was actually hollow, and he planned on introducing the lost world to the outside world when he returned to the surface for research and profit. He named the cavern "Pellucidar" in tribute to his favorite author, Edgar Rice Burroughs. The crew was tasked with collecting samples from the soil and water and mapping the place out while a few stayed behind to repair the machine and set up a base camp while the professor went on his makeshift safari to hunt down some specimens to showcase. The Mole Machine was operational enough to assist in construction, with the crew using it to cut down trees, uproot soil, and drill for oil deposits. All the noise and pollution from the Mole Machine provoked a few of the local animals, but they were swiftly dispatched and driven away. Progress would come to a swift and sudden halt when an enormous saurian kaiju emerged from the jungle and attacked the machine. The survivors escaped deeper into the jungle to hide from its fury, with the kaiju eventually calming down and leaving. The group had been separated into two during the calamity. The camp had been abandoned, and the Mole Machine had been taken by the group into the hills above. Those left behind opted to stay in the lowlands to search for any other survivors before joining with the others.
Professor Westernraugh was driven forth by a mix of both fear and wonder at the presence of a giant kaiju. Despite protests, he opted to keep in the mountains and out of the kaiju's range, as he felt gravity would be on their side. Traversing the Mole Machine upwards was incredibly burdensome and difficult, but they had managed to find a flat space to look over the valley. He ordered a camp built on the flat, and the crew reluctantly began starting over. As a few men ventured into the forest above, they stumbled upon a tranquil grove in the midst of a babbling brook. Resting in the center was another large kaiju - shorter in stature than the first - that observed them curiously. It kept them at bay with some stern glances, but they were able to observe in peace. The felling of trees forced the kaiju to retreat deeper into the forest, and news of its existence drove Professor Westernraugh after it. They had eventually gotten too deep into its territory and destroyed too much, which provoked the kaiju into attacking. The professor's group was forced to retreat back down into the lower reaches of the basin, with the kaiju in hot pursuit after them. The professor's group was reunited with the survivors from the kaiju attack, who were now fleeing the very same creature after they accidentally started a forest fire. A turf war ensued between the two kaiju with the survivors caught in the middle. They had to abandon the Mole Machine and escape into the forest, with the theropod kaiju taking it back to its lair after the fight subsided. Taking refuge inside an old ruin, the group learned the other kaiju had been provoked by harming its environment. 
As they explored the ruins, they found them to be made of metal with engineering no human could ever do. Deeper still were the fossilized remains of Elder Things , who had all died from years of isolation. Studying the inner chambers and the strange devices revealed secrets none of them could fully transcribe. The entire cavern had actually been carved beneath Mount Roraima millions of years ago during the Late Cretaceous as a sort of science experiment. All the downed structures or pillars were actually immense fences that divided up the cavern like a sort of biological preserve, with the Elder Things cloning specimens from samples drones had obtained from the outside with the intent of designing a synthetic ecosystem to study organic evolution on the ground floor. They recovered a sample of great amniotic fluid that had crashed onto the tepui surface above and experimented with select organisms in the hopes of learning its secrets. After many failures, they eventually had luck with two dinosaur specimens. The amniotic-addled beasts evolved in containment before being released to grow in the large cavern, becoming what the humans found today. Animal life from the Pleistocene was also harvested from outside and added. While prehistoric life evolved and thrived, the Elder Things grew weaker and unhealthier the more times they cloned themselves. The extraterrestrials were also suffering from a plague that slowly whittled them away. With no Elder Things to perform routine maintenance, the structures fell to decay, and the animals were able to fully interact with one another without interference or control. The professor had found an orb of pure smooth metal shaped like an egg in the ruins, with the visages of the two kaiju engraved into the bronze-looking material with a laser. He speculated it to be some sort of art piece like hieroglyphics and resolved to take it back to the surface as proof. He ordered the men to wrap one of the Elder Thing corpses to take with them. The group argued with the professor about survival, but the Mole Machine had to be obtained first.
After managing to recover the Mole Machine, they set to work hunting for more resources to repair it. In their search, the survivors found caves carved into the cliff walls that contained skeletons of giant ape-like humanoids, indicating other intelligent life besides them and the Elder Things had been there. Now, they were all extinct. The professor ordered some skeletons to be wrapped in gauze and put into the Mole Machine. Worry among the group was that it would not be able to hold them all. Strange accidents began to occur around the camp and through the jungle, where members of the group began to drop off one by one. The strange nonchalantness of the professor concerned them more, as they were deemed non-essential. Eventually, it was discovered that he had been sabotaging parts of the camp or putting members into perilous situations to thin the herd and make room for everyone on the Mole Machine. A mutiny occurred, and the professor was tied up while the survivors dedicated themselves to fixing the machine and going home. In the dead of night, the professor managed to escape and set fire to the forest, triggering a stampede that divided the group. He managed to escape with the Mole Machine in the ensuing chaos with the explosives and nerve gas, intending to force the kaiju together and take two birds with one stone. As the survivors tracked him down and lived off the land, they foraging led them into the path of the herbivorous kaiju that had done battle with the other. It dug great burrows and channels to reroute water and rest within, even burying old plant material to act as a sort of fertilizer. It even acted as a sort of guardian for the animals living within its radius. The kaiju proved to be quite territorial from their previous encounter, and it was only until they tended to an injured dinosaur and brought a cart loaded with fruits and mushrooms as an offering did the kaiju become more tolerant of their presence. Through it, they discovered the land was not the savage hellscape they believed it to be and that a sort of equilibrium existed. 
Explosions throughout the jungle led them to where the professor was, who had been setting parts of the forest on fire in order to bring the two kaiju together and instigate another turf war. The resulting chaos would allow the professor to wound and gas the kaiju, allowing them to be captured. The survivors feared he would destroy the entire ecosystem and risk leaving them without water, food, or air. As the kaiju fought, they set to work sabotaging his traps while the professor shot at them from his Mole Machine. The vehicle was much better equipped than he had let on, carrying weapons that could hurt the kaiju. Gas, flamethrowers, and gunfire were quite a match for the kaiju, but a few survivors managed to sabotage the Mole Machine and do critical damage. As the professor attempted to evacuate, he was crushed underfoot by the kaiju, and the machine exploded. Rain fell over the land and extinguished the fires, and the two kaiju reluctantly went their separate ways. Victory had been achieved, but the survivors were now trapped inside Pellucidar with nowhere to go. They made peace with their predicament and lived the rest of their lives inside the lost world, having children and dying of old age with their lineage dying out in peace.
In 2020, Pellucidar was rediscovered by Majestic, who managed to pinpoint its location after discovering the orb that had fallen into the river and washed into the outside world. The two kaiju attacked one another and the invading humans in the midst of their turf war, but both were felled by gas and maser tanks. As the creatures were airlifted out of the big holes dug into the side of the tepui, they were delivered to a cargo ship to be transported to Institute of Cryptozoological Research and Scientific Advancements . Majestic was headed off by the Brazilian, Guyanese, and Venezuelan army and navy with the intent to arrest and prosecute for defacing Mount Roraima and unauthorized activity on foreign soil. As the forces stood off, the gas began to wear off, and the kaiju regained their strength. Both monsters engaged in a turf war and crushed the surrounding forces underfoot, doing battle with both them and each other before splitting off. The nodosaurid kaiju ventured into Venezuela and laid claim to the Amazon Rainforest.

Intellectual Characteristics

The kaiju shows some form of intelligence, as the human survivors were able to temper it with a peace offering. It does not mind the presence of humans but insists on a wide berth and respect for its territory.

Personality Characteristics

Likes & Dislikes

Overforestation or incursion on its land results in swift and fierce retaliation. Otherwise, it is content to either lounge in a small pit it dug or wander about. Other animals gather in its presence for safety, and their presence is tolerated. It greatly prefers isolation.

Personality Quirks

Bipedally, its gait resembles mirrors that of pangolins while its quadrupedal gait knucklewalks similar to the giant anteater.

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. Hoatzin flock in abundance where it resides, and many species have fallen off the endangered species list such as the giant anteater, Amazon river dolphin, South American tapir, hyacinth macaw, harpy eagle, white-lipped peccary, Amazonian manatee, and more. Much of the Venezuelan side of the Amazon has greatly recovered, with trees growing larger and in greater abundance. Farms experienced a major boon in food production after many began smuggling its feces to use as fertilizer, something the government has been attempting to crack down upon. The kaiju's presence has also greatly discouraged logging, as it destroys most equipment.
Cor has become a subject of great fascination to the local Yanomami people, who both revere and fear the monster as a sort of guardian. Turf wars between Cor and the other kaiju often occur on the border between Venezuela and Brazil , with tons of land being leveled and fatalities from military forces trying to intervene. Yonanami tribes on the Venezuelan side of the Amazon rallied behind Cor as a sort of guardian monster, fighting in skirmishes with the tribe allied with the other kaiju.

Miscellaneous Information

The name "Cor" comes from a translation from some Elder Thing ruins within Pellucidar, but the meaning behind such a designation is uncertain. Its physiology is consistent with that of nodosaurid ankylosaurs but on a much grander scale. Genetic material seems to point at the species of origin being a Denversaurus, with the club tail returning via atavism.

Gallery

cor.png

Commission of Cor from rochasaurus.

Nodosaurid kaiju of the Amazon Rainforest

View Character Profile

Current Status

Alive

Current Location

Amazon Rainforest

Age

Prehistoric

Date of Birth

Cretaceous Period

Circumstances of Birth

Elder Things experiment

Birthplace

Pellucidar, South America, Earth

Sex

Male

Eyes

Yellow with horizontal pupils

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Red scales with paler countershading, rustic orange plates and scales

Height

65 feet

Related Historical Events

• 1925 CE
  The Discovery of Pellucidar
• 130,000 BCE
  Megafauna Extinction
• 66 Million BCE
  The KT Extinction Event