The Brachydios are a species that appears in the fantasy videogame, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. It is a territorial and belligerent Brute Wyvern that mainly inhabits volcanic regions and is notorious for its symbiosis with an explosive slime mould, which it grows on its body and slathers around the arena to empower its attacks with powerful explosions and set up hazardous traps.
Why aren’t they heroic or villainous?[]
The Brachydios lacks the intelligence needed to possess any significant moral agency, meaning that any of its malicious acts were merely done out of survival instincts.
Appearance[]
The Brachydios is a medium-sized Brute Wyvern, measuring around 16 meters long on average. It is covered in dense, dark indigo plates that resemble obsidian in texture, with a pale white underbelly. Said plates tend to end in serrated or spiked edges, with the plates on its head in particular forming a sort of crest. While the Brachydios's legs are well-muscled like many other Brute Wyverns, its forelimbs are uniquely well developed, terminating in unique structures overgrowing their knuckles called "pounders", hiding the relatively tiny claws underneath. The Brachydios also has a large, pompadour-like crest emerging from its forehead. Said crest and pounders are often covered in the slime mould it employs in combat. Its tail ends in a six-pronged mace-like structure, while it possesses a prominent nasal horn.
When enraged, the Brachydios's slime will glow bright orange or even red, indicating their enhanced explosive power. No two Brachydios appear alike: factors such as growth rate, diet and habitat all influence the way in which an individual's shell develops.
Abilities[]
The apex predators of many ecosystems, Brachydios are naturally incredibly strong and powerful monsters, beating prey into submission with their huge, muscular arms. Their thick, dense shells are also naturally resistant to most impact-based attacks, allowing them to resist the blows of most other monsters when fighting them off. Despite its muscular build and dense composition, Brachydios are surprisingly agile, being able to bound about effortlessly with their well-developed legs and even scale walls with their powerful arms.
These features all complement a Brachydios's most fearsome weapon: the green slime mould that grows throughout its body, being at its densest on its crest and pounders. This slime mould possesses an extremely bizarre reproductive strategy, violently detonating under sufficient force to spread its spores. As such, Brachydios take advantage of this by leaving slime mould on their victims as they pummel them, causing grievous injuries as the mould explodes and setting up landmines where splatters of it have fallen. This mould is so potent that it can crack open the shells of armoured monsters such as Uragaan and Agnaktor, making Brachydios apex predators in their native regions.
Brachydios tend to their slime moulds by producing a nourishing substance in their saliva, which they can also use to prime the mould for quicker detonation when needed. When enraged, this substance evaporates and covers the Brachydios's whole body, priming all of the slime mould covering it and making it even more dangerous. They can even signal the mould to propagate underground and detonate by slamming their heads onto the floor, destroying huge tracts of earth. Brachydios share a very strong bond with their slime moulds, which can't be removed from their body and linger on even after the host dies.
Behavior[]
Brachydios are ferocious creatures that will attack whatever they see as a danger. Because of their fierce territoriality, they frequently eject other monsters from their domain to create more space for themselves. They are also known to be powerful carnivores that are capable of preying on other large, predatory monsters, though they often settle for small herbivores and have been seen eating ores.
Brachydios tend to be solitary but will gather together during the mating season, during which females select mates based on the robustness of their pounders and slime mould potency, forming harems around the strongest male. They are known for being rather poor parents: while they allow their young to roam their territories, fending off predators with their presence, they exhibit zero parental care. These young Brachydios often inherit their slime moulds from dollops dropped by their parents, though they can often get killed from the explosions resulting from handling thanks to their weaker hides.
Habitat[]
Brachydios, especially juveniles, are more common in volcanic regions, where they make full use of the abundance of minerals and ores to build up their shells. However, thanks to their insulating shells regulating their body temperatures, they can easily thrive in other extreme climates, with Brachydios sightings being reported in polar areas such as the Frozen Seaway and Tundra.
Trivia[]
- Brachydios was voted 17th place in the 20th Anniversary Hunters' Choice Poll for Top Monster, making it the most popular Brute Wyvern.
- In-universe, Brachydios is the favourite monster of the character Sophia, better known as the Guildmarm, so much so that she blurts out that most of her free time is spent reading up on them and is said to have dreamed of marrying one.
