Tuk (tewk)

Tuk is an unknown species of marine reptile that inhabits the Arctic Circle. The creature is fiercely protective of the glaciers it lives among.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Tuk is an absolute oddity among oddities, as its biology is unlike anything documented before. Its physical anatomy gives the notion it is strictly quadrupedal, as it crawls along the ground. Its posture while crawling strangely resembles early reconstructions of therizinosaurs. However, the creature takes a bipedal stance in combat. Its flippers angle back like a walrus' when walking or swimming but then turn in line with the arms like a dinosaur's. The wrist possesses immaculate articulation and flexibility for a reptile, rivaling that of humans. Its powerful jaws, sharp tusks, and therizinosaur-esque claws combined with its solid strength make the creature incredibly challenging to handle.

Body Features

Clawed flippers reside on the forelimbs, and more conventional reptilian feet sit on the hindlimbs.

Facial Features

The color of its eyes is completely unknown, and no one has been able to get close enough to investigate even with manned drones. Its tusks are believed to help it dig through the ice, dirt, and rock.

Special abilities

Most perplexing of all is Tuk's elemental prowess. Inside its body is a dual-chambered organ that stores water in one and absorbs carbon dioxide from the environment in the other like a swim bladder. It will open its mouth and eject the concoction as it meets, shooting out immensely cold ice capable of freezing anything before it. This ability is - oddly enough - neither an offensive nor defensive tactic but rather an environmental one, as the creature is freezing its territory. In combat, the kaiju makes use of a separate organ that stores nitrogen absorbed from the environment and food. It mixes with the other organ's contents on the way out and is jettisoned as liquid nitrogen. Though the effects burn and sting the flesh of other kaiju, it can be immensely deadly to human combatants. Despite being built for the cold, it is perfectly capable of surviving in much hotter climates. Like all other kaiju, Tuk also possesses an advanced healing factor, able to heal broken bones and damaged body parts that would be unsalvagable for normal animals. The massive scaly hide, thick coat of fur, and layer of blubber beneath the skin allow it to 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 Tuk immortal, only killable via starvation or another kaiju.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

• Species designation: Sauropinnipos kikituk
• Biological basis: Unknown marine reptile
• Diet: Carnivorous
• Size: 75 feet tall | 100 feet long

During the Last Glacial Period of the Late Pleistocene Age, humans migrated into the Americas across the Beringian land bridge. An ancient tribe of prehistoric humans established themselves within what would be known as Canada and studied the wildlife. They practiced prehistoric forms of paleontology and zoology. As such, they would regularly trade and harvest the bones and fossils from their fellow Paleo-American tribesman. This ancient tribe was the first to take notice of dwindling megafauna numbers - today recognized as the Quaternary extinction event - and feared such beasts would be lost forever before they could effectively study and catalog them. As mammoth numbers dwindled, they began migrating en masse deeper into the frozen north to escape, as if being called by something. The Precursor Paleo-Americans began following them into the Canadian Outback. They were shocked to discover a tundra oasis within the frozen heart of the land where mammoths and other endangered species had congregated, seeming to be recovering from human hunting. The tribe lived among the wildlife and studied it from afar out of fear of upsetting the balance of nature, taking minimal resources to survive. Eventually did they muster up the courage to start sending small expeditions into the wilderness to document. During one fateful encounter, they stumbled across a fight between two great kaiju. The victor was an immense hairy beast shaped like a reptile, capable of freezing the land around it. The tribe believed it to be some sort of god and worshipped it, while the region where it nested was considered a sacred place. More expeditions were launched to uncover the mysteries of this land and culminated in the discovery of a downed extraterrestrial spacecraft trapped within a glacier. The ship was badly damaged but had enough material that could be harvested at large by the tribe. It took many long months to dig it out and ferry its parts back to camp via dog sled, but they eventually stripped it clean. The tribe studied its contents and cataloged many things, including unknown metal and elements both natural and foreign to Earth. Thinkers and artisans began experimenting with the resources at hand, building farm equipment, steam and electric-powered weapons, fish hatcheries, and even greenhouses thousands of years before anyone else. Soon, these feats of engineering ventured into an elaborate idea unlike anything done before. Utilizing their advanced tools to the fullest, they would build a giant mobile city inside of a greenhouse to explore the world and follow the great kaiju on its journey through the Arctic Ocean.

It took hundreds of years to build and cost them every last resource from the UFO, but they finally completed their magnum opus. The city was dubbed Hyperborea and floated along the water like a giant ship. The Hyperboreans were dedicated to not only exploring the world but documenting it, interweaving their interests in paleontology, botany, zoology, agriculture, architecture, engineering, and exploration to push their perceived purpose forward. They herded the last of the mammoths onto their vessel along with other megafauna - such as cave lions, bison, dire wolves, camelops, ground sloths, teratorns, sabreteeth, great auks, and more - and even cryptid species like sasquatch, horned serpents, rocs, mishibijiw, and more to keep them in a wildlife preserve so that they may be forever immortalized. Fossils were displayed inside a mighty museum, and oral history was written down on parchment in a great library. Whatever could be documented and preserved was with the utmost haste. The kaiju they followed was adopted as a guardian monster - named Tuk by their cryptozoologists - and regarded with immense reverence, with effigies of it known as kikituks within every household. So loyal they were to the kaiju that the Hyperboreans would arm themselves to join it in battle against other kaiju. This would eventually bring them into conflict with the ancient Pre-Nordic precursors to Vikings, also armed with their own steampunk weaponry. They hunted kaiju and were attempting to kill their guardian monster for glory, and an all-out war was launched between the two. The ancient Pre-Nordic tribe was defeated, but the cost of victory was immense. Tuk was gravely injured, and the entire city of Hyperborea sank into the ocean. Priceless amounts of knowledge, flora, fauna, and artifacts were lost to the sea forever, with the ruins having never been found.

The kaiju burrowed its way into a glacier and rested for thousands of years until the 21st Century, awakened from its slumber by the melting ice.

Accomplishments & Achievements

Legend of the Hyperboreans was spread via word of mouth, an oral tradition that morphed and changed over time until it made its way to the Greeks. Philosophers and poets such as Herodotus, Homer, Hesiod, and Aristeas all attempted to try and prove its existence, but the legend had morphed so drastically over time that it was impossible to do so. The only physical remaining aspect of its cultural footprint was its effigies. Survivors from the Hyperborea tragedy migrated and were adopted into other tribes, with the truth of the effigy changing and shifting over time to take on a more spiritual aspect once it became adopted into Inuit culture.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

The only thing that seems to motivate the creature is protecting its environment, as the kaiju zealously protects its glaciers and forests from destruction. Animals are also closely guarded by the kaiju for reasons unknown. It seems to hold humans in low regard, often forcing them out of its territory. The reasoning is not properly understood, but it is believed to be a combination of environmental protection and annoyance. It sets to work repairing the melting glaciers and/or dousing forest fires with gusto. Once satisfied, it will return to its lethargic state and either sleep or lounge within the waters. It favors the far north more than anything and will not stray far from its territory unless for drastic reasons. Anything beyond the arctic circle is left untouched as it possesses no interest to the kaiju.

Likes & Dislikes

The kaiju itself often ignores others unless engaged first. Tuk displays simplistic intelligence, behaving similarly to walruses and alligators. On land, it is rather slow but moves through water incredibly quickly. Even when provoked, it fights with a sort of lethargic attitude. Combat is seen as a chore against both human and kaiju opponents, though by no means should it be underestimated. It is capable of immense damage and devastation even with its disposition but it is thankfully quick to calm down and move onto something else.

Virtues & Personality perks

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. Arctic whale and polar bear populations jumped off the endangered species list after its reintroduction, and the commercial fishing markets experienced an influx in stock. Animal populations are kept in check by its appetite. Interestingly, walruses flock en masse to where it nests for reasons unknown. Pine and other conifer trees grow in abundance even within the harshest parts of the tundra, though harvesting them for profit has proven difficult with Tuk's presence. Most notable is Tuk's effect on climate change, as the creature is capable of repairing and even creating new glaciers with its ice breath. Rising water levels have been receding, and world temperatures seem to be evening out as the kaiju's powers butt heads with the human element. It is possible that Tuk could single-handedly reverse environmental damage done by human climate change if fossil fuel industries fell in line. However, activity from the kaiju has resulted in a huge increase in snowstorms that have proven troublesome for the Canadian and Icelandic governments. The storms are not intentionally caused but rather they are an unintended side effect of it altering the environment.

Marine reptile kaiju of the Arctic Circle.

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Divine Classification

Guardian Monster

Alignment

Hyperborea (formerly)

Current Status

Alive

Age

Prehistoric

Date of Birth

Unknown

Circumstances of Birth

Unknown

Birthplace

Arctic Circle, Earth

Current Residence

Arctic Circle, Earth

Sex

Male

Hair

Brown and grey

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Pale

Height

75ft

Related Historical Events

• 793 CE
  The Viking Age
• 17,000 BCE
  The Settling of the Americas