Hydra

Hydra
One of a Hydra's Many Necks
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fābula
Division:	Assecula
Class:	Foemina
Order:	Bēluae
Family:	Inferiōra
Genus:	Recidīvae
Species:	R. Palūdēs
Binomial name
Recidīvae Palūdēs

The Hydra is one of the most feared of the Fābulae. In spite of their appearance Hydras are not a subset of drakons, but rather they are their own species. Most hydras live in the water, preferring to inhabit swamps and marshes, though they can be found in lakes, rivers, caves, and even sometimes in the ocean.

Hydras are native primarily to the swamps of Aquitinia, being found most commonly in the regions of Epars, Northern Lakkos, Southern Lakkos, and Bassin. Generally speaking, Hydras tend to avoid major places, such as cities, preferring to hide in the savage wilderness. Part of this is because of their size, while part is because they cannot process grains, setting their diet apart from most Aquitinians.

Hydras are most famous for their extreme regenerative abilities, capable of healing grave wounds quickly. While not the only Aquitinian species with notably effective regenerative abilities, Hydras are especially famous because their necks also multiply when severed. In some ways this can cause hydras to become more dangerous when hurt, though the heads don’t always entirely agree with one another.

Etymology

It is not conclusively known to researchers how the word Hydra came about. The most popular theory is that their name comes from “hydro”, meaning water. Some proponents of the theory believe that this simply comes from hydras often living in the water. More fringe theorists propose that, because the bodies of hydras are often entirely submerged, leaving only their necks visible, when people first encountered them they believed hydras to be water elementals. However, there is little archeological evidence to support the latter claim.

History

Little is known about the origins of hydras. However, they are recorded in the oldest of human records within Aquitinia, and thus it is almost certain that they resided within the waters of Aquitinia prior to the arrival of humans. Additionally, wild hydras are commonly believed to act roughly the same as hydras have for all of their history, and thus little mystery surrounds their lifestyles.

Interaction between human civilization and hydras has been historically quite rare, mostly being limited to chance swamp encounters and attacks on coastal villages. However, during the golden era, some great men began to popularize the usage of hydras as warbeasts, and from there they became relatively popular within ancient armies. Their size allowed them to pull large burdens and overpower most other warbeasts, while the toxic and acid breath weapons allowed them to, sometimes literally, melt through formation. In addition, while not the brightest species, being intelligent enough to communicate made hydras generally at least as reliable, if not more so, than most sub-sapient warbeasts.

However, the primary drawback of hydras came in three parts, these being the difficulty of acquiring one, their high food demand, and the danger associated with keeping a hydra around. In order to even utilize a hydra, much less multiple, a commander would have to find one in the first place. While not the rarest Aquitinian species, they are not the most prevalent either, and their preference for watery habitants could make them quite a challenge to catch. Their food demand also could be an issue. In times of battle letting them consume the enemy often worked, but keeping one around during travels when campaigning, or even worse in times of peace, was far more tedious to deal with. The danger associated with the size and abilities of the hydra also often made it hard to convince people to catch hydras, tend to hydras, or even fight alongside them, out of fear for their own lives.

Modern Living

In modern times hydras behave much like they always have, living in swamps and eating whoever happens to come near to them. For this reasons hydras, alongside species such as Harpies, are often labeled “savage”.

In ancient times humans often used hook weapons to try and kill a hydra’s neck without severing it. The barbs on the weapon would prevent the spear from coming out, thus rendering the hydra neutralized. However, hunters often had issues throwing them with both enough accuracy and speed to impale a hydra in a vital part of its neck. Modern improvements, most notable the creation of barb-launchers, have been a game changer for hunters, with the technology getting steadily better. Due to the power of the barb guns hunters are more accurate, and the fully metal barbs, only possible because of the great power of the barb-guns, can penetrate hydras more effectively.

Despite these improvements to hydra hunting technology, hydras are not hunted much more than they used to be in the past, simply because the purpose of finding them has mostly disappeared due to the presence of weapons such as rifles, tanks, and artillery, which mostly made the hydras unneeded on the battlefield. However, there is still some market for hydras, mostly coming from powerful people who want a display of their power. Modern technology has also made hydras easier to handle, and modern farming has made providing for them less expensive. Hyfras, for their part, are generally more than happy to sit around and be fed, and will readily consume evidence when needed.

Biology

Physiology

Hydras are large and bulky creatures. They have four legs, a tail, a pair of wings, and several necks. Each of a hydra’s necks are topped with a humanoid upper body, all of which lack stomachs or other organs, simply acting as long esophaguses. These neck-heads do, however, possess brains, hearts, and lungs in their heads. Hydras also possess these organs, at a much larger scale, within their main body.

At birth hydras only possess one head, which is commonly known as their control or dominant head. Whenever a hydra has their neck severed in such a way that their blood runs out, the neck begins to split, and a new head is made. Each new head has a new personality attached to it. At the same time, the old head regenerates, keeping its personality. While each neck can act individually, the control head is capable of overriding the rest if needed. The control head generally also pilots the hydra’s body, though if the control head is incapacitated the other heads can struggle for dominance over the hydra.

Hydras have extreme regenerative ability. Their wounds are known to heal quickly, so long as the hydra is not truly dead. In order to be truly dead, the vitals of the hydras true body, that being its immense reptilian lower body, must be destroyed. A hydra is perfectly capable of surviving for a time without any of its heads being alive, though it will be incapable of taking any conscious actions, such as moving. In order to regenerate the wounds also must be open, and thus some people have utilized cauterization to try and stymy the regenerative abilities of hydras. Hydra bodies will try to expel objects lodged within them when regenerating.

Hydras also possess a terrifying breath weapon, combined of noxious gasses and torrents of acids. The acid stream is spat forcefully at the victim, and billows of gas both rise from the stream and spew from the mouth and nostrils of hydras. Even when not attacking hydras often leak the gasses from their noses. Generally, these toxic attributes make hydras extremely dangerous to even live around. While hydras usually live in swamps, where nature is capable of dealing with their attacks, hydras are often considered most dangerous in caves, where their gasses can fill every crevice and choke out all life within them. Hydras are immune to their own weapons, however, even they do not like sitting in thick clouds of their own smog, which is part of why hydras prefer to avoid living in confined spaces, such as caves.

Reproduction and Maturation

Hydras, like many other Aquitinian species, follow a parasitical reproduction style, meaning that they require males from other species in order to reproduce, as they lack any males of their own. This is far more challenging for hydras to overcome than it is for species such as Mermaids or Lamias as their danger not only can deter potential mates, but their size rules out a number of the most reliable partners that smaller Aquitinian species can utilize, such as the everpresent humans. Most commonly hydras partner up with giants, such as Laestrygones and Cyclopes, in order to reproduce. Despite their few options, the sturdiness of hydras means that the difficulty they face in finding a mate is not as much of an issue to them as it would be to other species, such as Harpies.

Like many other Aquitinian species, hydras are ovoviviparous. This means that while hydras do produce eggs, they do not lay them, as hydra eggs hatch within the bodies of their mothers. This can give the illusion that hydras give birth viviparously. Hydras usually produce around twenty young at a time. This is possible due to the small size of the young and the immense size of the mothers. It is also commonly believed that the high number of young born per pregnancy is due to the difficulties hydras face in finding a mate.

Similar to other parasitical reproducers, such as Mermaids, Hydras create males of their partner’s species, which grow up in whatever span is appropriate for that species. All the female offspring of hydras are hydras, and these generally take around thirty years to sexually mature.

Consumption

Hydras are obligate carnivores, being only able to consume flesh and dairy. This sets them apart from most Aquitinians, which are able to consume grains on addiction to meat and dairy products. Hydras are also ravenous eaters, and are known to eat as much as possible whenever they get the chance. This can lead to the bodies of hydras becoming quite heavy, though all of the hydras fat energy storage is kept within its body proper, and thus doesn’t inhibit the movement of its heads. However, in practice hydras rarely get the chance to bloat themselves anyways. Usually this only occurs when hydras are brought into civilization, such as when Zepha, a feral hydra that was exploing the sewers of Ardeaux, was taken as a pet by crown princess Phoebe Ioannes in 1830.