The Mimicking Serpents
An undiscovered and rare monstrosity that lurks deep beneath the earth's crust. Within a maze of caverns it makes its lair in deepest pit of the caverns and rests until its next meal arrives.
Basic Information
Anatomy
A long serpentine body weaves through the caverns with ease, its head adorned with a mask-like structure used for both protection and hypnotizing their prey. They cover their body in moss, filth, and dirt in order to blend into the area that surrounds them, often even carefully picking plants to entangle into their hairy manes.
Biological Traits
A mimicking serpent has a highly advanced memory that is nearly photographic with every one of its kind. It will not forgive and it will not forget.
The antlers/horns on their skull are used both for enticing females and hypnotizing prey. Each serpent has a different pattern of etchings into their horn that is a reliable way of telling two of them apart should their preference of camouflage not give them away. These etchings can glow with vibrant colors and even appear to change shape in a beautiful dance to those caught in the trance.
Genetics and Reproduction
It is rare for these monsters to leave their lairs, but the few times a male will do so in their lives is to seek out the home of a female. They take extra precautionary measures to keep themselves hidden, most going as far as to shed their horns and burrow instead of traveling above it-although those that brave the surface world have the advantage of their hypnotic abilities during the mating process if they survive.
The serpents are too few and far in between to be picky about who they mate with. Sometimes it can take years for a male to find a female. Typically by the time they find each other there is no patience for courting.
After the female has been impregnated, the male will leave. Over the course of the next few years, the female will produce and care for eggs in staggered intervals. After one breeding, a female can produce over a hundred children-using every single bit of her energy. Once she has completed her cycle of egg laying, she will be ready to wait for the male to return.
If by some odds another male shows up during the above process, it will attempt to destroy the eggs laid by the female and wait until she has finished her cycle to copulate. Typically in response to this, the female will hide her eggs in her cavern closer to the surface so that they may have a better chance of making it out of the cave alive.
If the previous male were to return, a violent fight would ensure the female a plentiful meal for her troubles.
Growth Rate & Stages
Once a baby has hatched, it will appear as if it is nothing more than an average garden snake. It will leave the cave immediately. Fathers will never see their sons and daughters, not that they care to, while most will typically see their mothers at least once before they set off to begin their life.
The "Garden Snake" will search for an unoccupied cave to call its home. It will remain in this "Garden Snake" appearance until it has found an unoccupied cave. Many of the little ones will die, whether from predators or being incapable of thriving in such a harsh environment. However, if the conditions in a cave are just right enough to call it home, it will hibernate at the very bottom of the cave and begin its growth spurt. Within a few years it will reach full maturity-whether it was born a month ago or three years ago.
It is then that they will begin their life as a Mimicking Serpent and hone their mimic and hypnotic abilities on anything that lives within the cave. When the urge to reproduce comes around, males may shed their horns in order to guarantee safer travel. It will take years for their horns to regrow to their full glory.
Ecology and Habitats
Dark and uninhabited caves with a water source in them is all a Mimicking Serpent needs to thrive comfortably. If a sapient species already infests the cave, it will likely not take up residence unless it was particularly desperate.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Mimicking serpents need meat in order to survive, however, they do not like to leave the comforts of their home. Instead, they wait in their den for others to pass by the mouth. Once it feels someone close, it will mimic a call it thinks will lure the prey into their cave. This leads to sapient creatures hearing cries for help and sobbing from members of the appropriate species coming from deep within caverns. Those that rush in wishing to help often meet their end.
A Mimicking Serpent, despite its great size, does not need to eat much to be kept energized and survive. Despite this, it will actively hunt whenever it can due to the rarity of food coming its way. It makes use of every bit of food it gets, often not even leaving behind droppings.
If the serpent is young or comes across a species it has not yet interacted with, it will climb to the mouth of the cavern and catch the prey's attention with its horns. The horns will quickly become vibrant and almost hypnotic in nature, giving the species a compulsory urge to come closer. Once they have drawn close enough, the serpent will snatch them and retreat into the depths of the cavern with their prey. They will not kill them, however, as they will wish to instead torture the prey and hear what their cries for help sound like so that they may mimic it in the future.
Then they eat them.
Additional Information
Geographic Origin and Distribution
More common in the southern hemisphere, but have been traveling up the western area lately.
Average Intelligence
While not to the point of sapience, they are very intelligent creatures. Older snakes may hold the capacity to carry out basic conversation based on keywords and sounds. They do not understand what they are saying, but they know it will give them food if they're careful about it.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Using a truly exceptional sense of tremors, the beast can sense when someone approaches their cave system above ground. Their ability to see in the dark allows them to flow through the cave as if they were water. Although their hearing isn't really something to be desired as well as their inability to stand against light.
Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms
The lair of a mimicking snake tends to attract the attention of Dusklight Decoys due to their ability to lure prey into their environment. They take the snake's prey for their own and are usually hunted as well by the snake, however, their ability to remain hidden usually saves them.
Scientific Name
Ophidius Exemplus
Lifespan
100 years
Conservation Status
Dangerous and Rare
Average Height
8-9 ft
Average Weight
Varies
Average Length
max of 79ft
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