FOM: Red Moon & Erabus

Entity AMHULUK (AKA RED MOON & ERABUS) 

First Sighting: N/A 

Size: Variable 

Weight: Variable  

History: In the early 1970s, during one of many Monarch expeditions around the world investigating the origins of kaiju and evidence of their global existence, they ended up uncovering a kaiju graveyard close to home after a local paper from a town near Salem, Oregon reported on an eyewitness account of a diver who photographed what seemed to be the remains of a gargantuan lake monster underneath the water, which had been shallower than normal due to a recent record-breaking drought, allowing the previously hidden shapes to be more easily discernible. With convincing photographic evidence, Monarch descended on the site before the news could gain traction outside the small community. Draining the lake revealed the largely complete remains of at least two florafaunal mega-organisms, initially believed to be two different species due to their widely differing forms, but due to near-identical tissue samples, it was later confirmed they represented two individuals of the same species, one that was previously unknown. As kaiju remains are often too large to relocate, a permanent Monarch facility was constructed around the site for longterm research purposes, masquerading as a weather station, and the lake closed off from public access indefinitely with the falsified explanation of pollution runoff contamination. The two carcasses were designated after a lake beast of local Aboriginal legend, but it would take decades before a more conclusive image of their physiology and origins could be pieced together, primarily stemming from later research into the pre-glacial civilizations that once revered and worshipped kaiju. 

Due to the relative completeness and well-preserved nature of the bodies, barring some disarticulated elements, a fairly good image could be made of the creatures' appearances in life. This made their connection to imagery later discovered in Kilaak ruins and surviving Muan archives unmistakable, proving their origins to be nowhere near where their remains ended up. Gradually a story of how they came to be was pieced together from documents found around the world of a battle that spanned the globe and stretched back more than ten-thousand years. This species seems to have originated from the Old World, with the bulk of their population existing in the Saharan and Arabian region, back when it was far wetter and more forested. Kilaak pictographs and the few surviving texts recovered and translated indicate they were common in the vast jungles that once carpeted much of the continent during the African humid period. They knew females of this species as Erabus, while males were known as Red Moon, for they descended from far off southern lands only in the crimson light of the hunter's moon. Members of the species formed colonies in the denser jungle, feeding on, and even actively cultivating a type of hyperflora known as Habu Vine, the sap of which was said to have had life-extenuating properties.

Much of this region was devastated in rapid desertification which occurred near the end of the last ice age, taking with it the entire Kilaak civilization and most of the regional kaiju activity. This process occurred extremely quickly, possibly over a period of just months or weeks rather than centuries, most likely in the apocalyptic event known as the Golden Demise, wrecking havoc on the ecology. Those which did not manage to scrape out a living in this new, less fertile world, or descend into the earth to slumber until greener times returned, had to find new pastures elsewhere. The AMHULUK species was decimated in this event, but at least one breeding pair survived the immediate extinction event. Migrating over thousands of miles, the voyage of the AMHULUK pair was recorded by various cultures across Asia, for where they wandered their movements seeded the lands (a phenomenon recorded in numerous florafaunal kaiju species, owing to their plant-like physiology). It is unclear why they passed through fertile lands in their migration, but it is hypothesized to be the same reason why they eventually crossed the Pacific and made landfall on the western coast of North America. Competition with existing kaiju and possible ecological turmoil following the Golden Demise drove them to a continent with sparse kaiju activity.

Historically, there has been hardly any records of kaiju presence in North America for millions of years, for reasons that have been heavily debated amongst kaiju researchers. The prevailing idea is that the repeated advancements of glaciers across most of the lands during the ice ages made it an unstable environment for creatures that can live for millennia and often spend centuries in hibernation, as well as potentially unsuitable geological conditions, and the largely polar climate of the time. This ecologically vacuum made it an alluring nesting sight, at least in short term, as there were few competitors to worry about for the time. It was ripe for exploitation, for the establishment of a new hive.

However, Erabus and Red Moon were not the only kaiju uprooted by the Golden Demise. And in their journey to settle from far off lands, they had crossed through the territory of that who dominates the Pacific Rim: Godzilla himself. Only months, perhaps only weeks after the cataclysmic sinking of the island continent of Mu, he had still not healed from being grievously wounded in the battle, and had come into conflict with a number of opportunistic straggler kaiju in the immediate aftermath. This was to be his greatest challenge during this period of turmoil, having to face off against two new trespassers attempting to establish dominion in his territory. An invasive species from across the world that could potentially usurp him should they successfully colonize the region and establish a breeding population.

At this point, the AMHULUK pair had begun construction of a nest in the coastal forest region somewhere around the region of California or Oregon. The vast redwood rainforests seemed to have been a perfect substitute shelter for the African jungles which they had once called home, or perhaps it was the other way around, and the redwoods themselves were grown to such mammoth sizes from their presence in the area, their excretions and sheddings accelerating their growth as part of the cultivation process for encouraging hyperflora spawning, the basis of the food chain for productive kaiju ecosystems such as the Skull Islands or the Fairy Mountains. The cascade that this could have caused was the possible instigation for Godzilla's intervention, as this could have eventually resulted in a massive and rapid biospheric upheaval, or it may have simply been a matter of survival, of one kaiju species versus another, or of predator hunting prey. Godzilla normally feeds passively on radioactive elements and exotic matter deep beneath the ocean, but it is speculated he may actively feed on other kaiju in extraordinary circumstances.

While the reason for their conflict may still be unclear, what is known is that Godzilla eventually converged upon Red Moon and Erabus while they were establishing a new hive. The details of the battle are poorly known, based entirely on what could be recovered from the state of their bodies, and the oldest oral traditions of the few native populations of the region. The forest guardians emerged from the darkest groves and descended upon a ravager that arose from the sea, the light of a star emanating from within it. The three titans clashed in a battle that scarred the groves and shifted the mountains. The two beasts of the forest changed over the course of the fight, their wooden bodies warping to better counter the seemingly indomitable foe, calling forth lightning from their eyes that blasted the challenger again and again.

However, they were still at a severe disadvantage. For once they could have fought as a colony, as a unified mass in familiar territory, now there only two and in unfamiliar lands. Their larger opponent's atomic breath scalded their bodies of bark and scales, it was not built to withstand extended direct combat with with an opponent like Godzilla. The carcasses uncovered indicated extensive carbonization as the intense heat turned their carapaces into brittle charcoal, preventing regeneration and stripping away regrowth until it could no longer grow back. Parental instincts would have likely prevented Red Moon and Erabus from simply fleeing once defeat was inevitable.

However, the "heads" of both carcasses were not recovered alongside the wooden exoskeletons, making their deaths uncertain due to the species' ability to eject themselves from their root-like shells. Whether the true bodies decomposed, were destroyed, or managed to escape Godzilla's wrath is therefore dubious. The survival of Red Moon and Erabus in this battle seems unlikely, but the natural lifespan of many kaiju can easily last many millennia. The fate of the pair's nest is also unknown, as its location has never been discovered, nor do any surviving stories provide a definitive answer. While the most accepted explanation is that the nest was destroyed, Monarch has nonetheless lain down a course of action should the worst-case scenario of a kaiju hive dormant beneath the American Northwest be confirmed. For all too often, the forgotten dredges of ancient titan history make themselves known to dramatic results.

Description: Current hyper-biology research and studies in pre-cradle human history has strongly advocated for a period of heightened kaiju activity on the Earth's surface which ended approximately 13 000 years ago. In these findings have been uncovered numerous kaiju species which have never been seen alive. During this period, one of Africa's most common kaiju species was a form of shapeshifting florafauna which formed a significant basis for the region's flourishing hyper-ecosystem, but no direct physical evidence of its existence has yet been found on the continent, the primary knowledge of their presence being the writings and illustrations of the ancient civilization that once coexisted with them, and the charred carcasses of two individuals discovered a world away.

Somewhat ironically, despite their home range now being one of the hottest and most arid regions on Earth, their origins lie most likely from a marine habitat. Based on descriptions, they are clearly arthropodal in ancestry, with spiny, jointed appendages and a facial carapace, which represent the true body, and obviously crustacean-like nauplius larva. The species notably has only one eye even as an adult, although whether this is a form of neoteny or that they derive from a species of naturally cycloptic crustacean is unclear. The width of the eye and presence of a pupil at each end gives them a broad field of vision and excellent sight clarity despite a lack of overlapping vision. This aspect of the species' anatomy is the only part which remains the same in all individuals, with their shape otherwise varying into almost every possible shape.

AMHULUK are unusual kaiju in that they are comparatively small, but are capable of "growing" discardable living shells from their florafaunal physiology, and can be shed or damaged without overall harm to the organism itself. They begin their life as a crustaceous, nauplius-like nymph, and this develops into its adult form depending on its specific environmental conditions and the challenges faced as it matures, which grow out from filaments that sprout from the underside of the cephalothorax and the flanks of the abdomen like roots or branches, gradually forming an animal-like shape that often changes radically as it entwines and increases in mass. As an adult, this "shell", is far larger than the kaiju's true body, of which only the head plate and manipulatory appendages emerge. False limbs emerge from the secondary body, formed from entwined branches, and these vary widely in form, number, position, and shape from individual to individual.

Red Moon had a front pair of long, thin, scythe-like forelimbs, and one pair of long back legs. The underside of the forelimbs are covered in numerous rows of gland sacs along the entire length that produce a sap-like silk which quickly hardens into expanding, steel-tough filaments that latches onto any nearby surface in the first few seconds before it dries. All of these flattened filament strands latch onto each other and the flanks of the false body to produce a strong and expansive lifting surface which Red Moon used for powered flight. The flight is relatively crude and energy-intensive compared to other winged kaiju such as Rodan or Mothra, but it works more than well enough in short bursts or for parachuting glides. The broadness and large area of the wings helps to compensate for the inefficiency of the wing strokes. Red Moon can also use this expanding silk offensively, wrapping his arms around an opponent to envelop them in the fast-drying net.

A complex web of auxiliary nerves runs through the inner pulp flesh of the roots and branches that sprout from their bodies, allowing them to control their floral shell as seamlessly and instantaneously as muscle and bone. To accomplish this, their electrical neural pulses are transmitted directly by brain wave patterns to numerous ganglia scattered throughout this exoskeleton, controlling partial movements and regrowth autonomously, rather than travelling through physical nervous pathways, accelerating the response times of the appendages beyond normal limits. Indeed, the combined neural emissions from the scattered ganglia and brain are strong enough, in the largest individuals of the species, to disorient cognitive abilities in nearby organisms and communicate with others of its kind psionically, allowing it to be used offensively.

Concentrating and rerouting these neural pulses into the cephalic plate, which is enriched with ferrous metals, and the single crystal eye lens can also allow them to fire off a powerful bolt of electrical energy, which can be precisely aimed by pivoting the lens eye within its socket and launched at a distance of over a kilometre. However, this defence is a last-resort, as usage of more than a few blasts in short succession deals a heavy toll to its neurological activity, tiring it out and making its movements sluggish for an extended period. This was less of an issue in a healthy colony, where more than a dozen individuals could be emanating bolts of electrical energy together, and drawing upon their hives and preserved stores of Habu sap for more energy, but for simply two animals in a foreign environment, they were at a clear disadvantage.

[WIP]

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(as previously stated, this was a commission for the Folly of Man incarnation of Red Moon & Erabus; as these two kaiju were for a film that did not end up being produced and have never officially depicted, they use the few physical attributes described in the script)