FOM: Gaw

To reiterate, this was a commission for the Folly of Man incarnation of Gaw (the entry is canon, although the entity designation isn't).

ENTITY VENATOR (AKA GAW)
First Sighting: N/A
Size: 78 metres in height
Weight: 42 000 tonnes

History: The Skull Isle has hosted a strange menagerie of life since it originally split from the supercontinent of Pangaea hundreds of millions of years ago. Over the eons, countless savage beasts have lain claim to its valleys and mountain peaks, its impenetrable jungles and murky swamps, in a relentless and never-ending battle for their place amongst the complex trophic levels of the most hellish ecosystem to have ever occurred on the Earth's surface. A reoccurring phenomenon amongst the super-predators of the archipelago is the appearance of "apex" specimens of much greater size and strength compared to the norm for their species, which vie for the place as the ultimate ruler of the Skull Islands. Before Kong, this ultimate ruler was a creature far more savage and primal, a being whose existence almost defied nature. The Iwi only speak of her scarcely, for her rule was one wrought in terror in death, but in the darkest boughs of the jungle abyss, her name still echoes on the tongues of her followers, waiting for the day of salvation when she will return to lead their kind to dominate the Skull Lands once again. Gaw... Gaw... GAW.

How Gaw came to be is a mystery. When the first ancestors of the Iwi became stranded on Faro Island, she had already laid low the other megafauna of the lands; no human eyes ever witnessed her rise to power, and no living human eyes have seen her alive in the flesh, for she perished centuries ago. All documented knowledge of her existence comes only from Iwi archives passed down through the generations, whom swear upon its total truth, however unbelievable, because to forget such dark times would be to make meaningless their predecessors' struggles (nonetheless, Monarch has advised documentation to be taken with a grain of salt). There was no mistaking her amongst her kin, the cunning and intelligent Deathrunners, for she towered far greater in size than all others and, in all accounts, was said to have two heads. Despite this major deformity, Gaw did not seem encumbered by this feature; if anything, having two heads made her more cunning and intelligent than normal. Whatever the case, be it by guile, by luck, by battle, by scheming, or perhaps all of the above, by the time humans established themselves on the Skull Islands, Gaw had risen up the ranks of the Deathrunner clans to become the most feared beast on the archipelago dominated by the mightiest living things evolution had ever created, united all the clans under her command and become the undisputed Queen of Faro.

For most of her (or perhaps, their) rule, Gaw preferred to lurk in the caverns beneath the Man-Eater Jungle, letting her followers do all the hunting for her, only occasionally emerging to slaughter any potential threat to her dominance, butcher any unfortunate soul unlucky enough to wander too close to her lair, or simply rend some random poor animal limb from limb to sate her periodic bloodlust. One particular target of her fury were a type of gargantuan native hominid, the Kong species, which were more numerous at this time. Like many apes, the Kong are known for their great intelligence, altruism, empathy, and sociality, traits which still live on in the species' sole known living individual today. The species vehemently opposed the Deathrunners, which often killed far more than necessary for their survival, leaving carcasses to rot uneaten, and intentionally extended the suffering of their victims during a hunt as a show of dominance. Battles between mammal and avian were common and bloody, and frequently drew Gaw herself from the underworld. Although the apes were mighty, their numbers were scattered and their lives harsh, and none could topple the Twin Empresses of the Deathrunners. The skeletal remains of many of these apes gradually joined those littering the maw of Gaw's dominion, and the species dwindled until only a relative handful remained.

But this all changed with the birth of one such ape, Kong himself. As his mother had delivered him, a horde of Deathrunners had targeted her in her vulnerable labour. Kong's father held back the relentless tide of teeth and claws from both mate and child, and, in his first moments of life, Kong's mother hid Kong in the brush as the pair were eventually overrun. Only having known his mother's embrace for a single fleeting moment, Kong watched from his hiding place as Gaw herself arrived and finished off his parents. In that moment was born the sorrow, the fury, the drive to take vengeance that made Kong immortal. Orphaned at birth, his childhood was a continuous and desperate fight for survival with no one to watch over or protect him; a brush with death seemed to come almost daily. However, even in his early life, Kong showed the curiosity and kindness that would allow the future Iwi to become more than meek scavengers, as the young ape would protect the small bands of Iwi he encountered in what ways he could. Perhaps he saw a kindred spirit, the similarities between their struggles and his own. It was many years, decades perhaps, until Kong reached adolescence, until he could stand it no more, as he continued to watch the Iwi, his own species, and life on Faro Island be hunted by Gaw and her followers.

He made his move meticulously, after Gaw had been sated by a recent killing and lay dormant in her lair, and when one of the lashing tongues of the eternal maelstrom which encircled the islands was driven inland, a periodic event that battered the tropical landscape in howling winds and pounding rain. Under the cover of the thundering cyclone, Kong crept into the cave mouth and caught the sleeping Gaw by surprise; perhaps she had never expected any challenger would ever be bold enough to attack her in her own lair. Although Kong initially had the upper hand, Gaw regained her bearings and screamed into the jungle, a call to arms that drew in every Deathrunner from miles around. The fight spilled outside and Gaw's followers swarmed Kong, while Gaw herself waited at the sidelines for them to weaken Kong before she went in for the kill. A life hardened by strife and misery, constantly fighting against fearsome beasts alone, had prepared Kong, and he fought off the seemingly endless hordes for nearly an hour before he began to tire. Gaw sensed his growing weakness and closed in for the final strike, when something she had never expected happened.

The Iwi, their existences meagre and often short and had gradually watched Kong struggle and grow from infancy, so insignificant that Gaw herself had never directly bothered with them, had become aware of the mighty battle occurring with Faro's heart. In their minds and hearts appeared a feeling they had never known before: hope. The hope that there could be a better future than merely desperate rodent-like cowering beneath the reign of the Queen of Faro. The scattered tribes of Iwi seemed to come to this collective recognition, and spurred to action beyond logic, joined Kong in battle against the Deathrunners. With what weapons they could muster, they drew the attention of the smaller Deathrunners, freeing Kong from their numbers, allowing him to attack Gaw head-on once more.

The final battle was fierce, the winner uncertain for a long time. Kong managed to briefly get one of Gaw's heads in his grasp and snap its jaw. Howling in pain, Gaw climbed to the high cliffs above her lair, with Kong in close pursuit. Gaw pounced in an ambush attack, pinning Kong to the ground at the highest peak; as she reared back to start tearing into his flesh, a huge bolt of lightning was cast down by the storm, striking the two combatants. Gaw was momentarily stunned by the blast, but the electrical energy surged through Kong's body; he was suddenly invigorated with strength unknown. With a powerful strike, Kong flung Gaw into the jungle below and leapt after her, continuing his assault relentlessly. The sight of their apex being battered seemed to confuse and terrify the Deathrunners, and their united numbers began to disperse and abandon their queen. Broken and bloodied, Gaw screamed a final defiant cry as lunged at Kong head-on, all sense of strategy abandoned as she attempted to clamp her jaws around Kong's skull with her working head. Seizing the opportunity, Kong plunged his arm straight into her throat, and with the leverage provided, tore the two heads apart, mortally wounding the Twin Empresses. As Gaw writhed and squealed in her death throes, Kong spiked a large bone spike from her larder of skeletons into her skull, finally ceasing her movements for good.

Initially, Kong seemed almost confused once he had finally killed the thing that had taken his parents from him. He had prepared his whole life for this moment; what other purpose was there for him? But some sort of recognition seemed to cross over him as he again noticed the Iwi gathered at the site, and as well, a few others of his kind further off in the jungle, having noticed the ongoing battle and watching him cautiously. No longer would life of the Skull Islands have to live under the terror and cruelty of Gaw, for a new ruler was crowned then and there: Kong, the King of Faro. Under the new protection of Kong, the Iwi could, for the first time, establish permanent settlements on the archipelago. Kong had not been able to find safety amongst his own kind in his childhood, but now that he had proven himself a capable protector, the other Kongs slowly gathered around him, and so Kong gained a family of his own after so long alone. Inversely, the Deathrunner clans dwindled and became scattered once more, although some have come to see Kong as their new alpha (a view he doesn't return) and lurk in the foothills of Skull Mountain. The Iwi say that they still sing of their terrible golden age, calling out into the darkness for the return of their queen to lead them to a glorious bloody future. Gaw... Gaw... GAW.

Description: Few kaiju embody the truly extreme physiological capabilities of their evolution more than Gaw. All historical accounts of the massive maniraptoran have signified how she possessed two heads, and instead of being hampered by such a severe physical deformity, she actually seemed to be more cunning and dangerous than any single-headed Deathrunner and adapted perfectly well to it. The Iwi understood that her mutation had perfectly natural roots, it was not unheard of in anecdotal records for their livestock to be born with two heads on rare occasions, but what truly mystified them and Monarch researchers was how she had managed to survive to adulthood in the cruel green hell that was Faro Island; for any normal animal this condition would be an obvious death sentence from birth. Because no physical records of Gaw's existence have ever been recorded, Monarch can only speculate on how such the once Queen of Faro could have come to be from the extensive records of the Iwi and studies on the biology of the living Deathrunner populations that still dwell upon the archipelago.

Deathrunners are extremely diverse in terms of physical phenotypes and are highly susceptible to minor mutations. This is speculated to be due to their closely-knit clan structure; the cohesion of the group is crucial for their survival and every pack member counts, so each individual of the clan is supported. This allows individuals with normally minor detrimental genetic attributes to survive and pass on their genes, resulting in numerous different morphotypes which are common even within a single clan. Frequently documented mutations include hyperkeratosis, which manifests in thickened scaly feathers, rougher scute-like skin, and growth of knobs and spines on and around the face, piebaldism, melanism, and erythrism, resulting in blotchy, darkened, and redder feathers and/or skin colours, and gigantism, causing greatly increased body size, and is particularly common in females (which are already normally slightly larger than males, similar to the sexual dimorphism in birds-of-prey). Detailed firsthand descriptions of Gaw recorded in Iwi history suggests she had numerous such genetic disorders at the same time, as well as the most severe, much rarer, and more obvious condition of polycephaly.

The most plausible explanation for Gaw's survival after birth is due to YOG infection. This viroid agent is found in nearly all eukaryotic kaiju and is responsible for a large portion of large-scale horizontal gene transfers and physical mutations in host organisms that would certainly otherwise be fatal; in Gaw this may have manifested in anatomical modifications to her form granted by the retrovirus that made it so it was possible to survive with two heads. Notably, unlike in most polycephalic animals, Gaw's heads never squabbled and worked in perfect tandem, suggesting that she understood herself as one whole rather than two independent organisms. During a hunt, the two heads seemed to know one another's movements preemptively, acting in perfect unison without communication. Many kaiju possess a more decentralized nervous system than normal, which is a large part of why they are able to withstand and recover from catastrophic injuries; it is theorized Gaw may have possessed such a mutation, with the development of secondary ganglia in the lower body cavity which allowed the two heads to instantly and continuously synchronize their thought patterns and movements. With two minds thinking as one and able to process twice the sensory information of a normal Deathrunner, it was no wonder Gaw's reflexes and skills in battle were so ferocious.

Her other physical mutations made her surprisingly durable despite her lithely-built frame, and lightning speed and agility in combat; the thickened dermal keratin deposits resulted in armour-like plates of skin and scaly, chainmail-like feathers that could repel light attacks. Because of this, the steel-hard fan of feathers at the end of the end of Gaw's tail could be swung like a blade and with enough force to cleave through rock; as the feathers continuously fell out and were replaced, this would be kept perpetually sharp with new tail feathers. A large array of horns and spines erupting from the face allows Gaw to gore opponents with powerful thrashes of her head, while at the same time reinforcing the skull from head-on attacks. Powerfully muscled legs were strong enough to propel her hundreds of feet into the air to pounce on her victim from above, while her wings, although far too small to provide genuine lift, slowed her descent from such great leaps for a more well-targeted landing. The massive retractable killing claws, a gift from her maniraptoran ancestry, can driven into a target with catastrophic force, allowing it to pierce thick armour and crack through bone. Large arms are armed with huge, slashing claws, capable of gouging chunks out of bedrock and easily shearing through kaiju flesh; the Iwi say that the largest scars across Kong's chest were earned during his final battle with Gaw.

Gaw's origins as a social hunter had not left her even with her status as matriarch, for she maintained a very active leadership role for her species even when dormant in her lair. In battle against particularly tough foes, she would sometimes call upon the strength of her Deathrunner followers to assist her. This was the ability that truly made Gaw unbeatable, for rivals would face not only her, but the combined forces of savage killers that numbered thousands, a few of them being nearly as large as Gaw herself. Although Gaw herself could only be in one place, her eyes and ears were everywhere, allowing her to keep track of the island's denizens through her scouts, allowing her to keep track of any potential growing threats. How Kong managed to survive beneath her notice for so many years is unclear, although it may be that Gaw simply grew to not see his species as a real threat after having slain so many of them in battle. This would have been the fatal mistake that eventually proved to be Gaw's undoing, as it was ultimately not merely herself that managed to gain alliances to which to become ruler of the Skull Isle.