Meruu (Lora Plauralunga Yanranquoraus)

Often called the Lorath dragon, the Meruu is a hot-blooded giant reptile of the Krua family, resembling a cross between an alligator and a giant python, depending on the extension of their body. They earn their nickname due to their intimidating appearance with large golden human-like eyes, swept back horns and a mixture of scales and fur depending on the environment they've chosen to settle in. Their wings are repurposed into a second pair of front legs: both with simple grasping hands similar to those of a rat though obviously much larger. They are known for living in a vast array of environments: Sweeping across sand like a snake, swimming through water, climbing trees and hiding beneath the ground.

Largely solitary, they were hunted close to extinction due to their venom (an ethanol/decoagulant mixture) often irradiating due to the Meruu's habit of digging up radioactive ores and magnetites which become deposits in their horns as advanced sensing organs

Meruu are described as “hot blooded” animals: This shouldn't be misunderstood as a descriptor of temperament: The body temperature of Meruu can vary massively from what is described as cold blooded to what is known as warm blooded: Either letting the environment heat them (surviving on a single meal for weeks), expediting their own metabolisms (forcing them to eat more frequently) or by combustion their poison as a vaporized form of ethanol, lit by their teeth which contain deposits of flint and iron: To this end, they are known as Lor's natural arsonists.

In terms of build, their spines are able to extend or compress enormously like an accordion: lending them the shortness and denseness of an alligator one moment, then the length of a large python: To this end, they use their compacted forms when moving on land and only extend when moving through tree branches, water or when constricting prey.

Possessing six limbs, all ending in clawed hands with opposable thumbs they are known to rear up onto their back four legs when angered.

Hunting, their sense of smell, taste (in water), hearing and their electrostatic sensing are dominant though at night they prefer to rely on their eyes.

Depending on climate, some develop furry exteriors, others scaley exteriors and other hard segmented bodies, usually a mixture of all three. Their under-bellies are like those of a snake: ribbed and able to undulate to move across the ground. Many develop a taste for depleted uranium and heavy metals, which are sewn into their scales in patterns of color thought to be for territorial reasons originally - greatly improving the defensive ability of a Meruu - often rendering them bulletproof. Mature subjects often hunt others to extract their vacuum sacks, repurposing the nanofibers to act as armor.

The tail of a Meruu is very large, ending in telson and uropods similar to those of a shrimp which are typically tucked away. Gills are also located beneath their front-legs, neck and the underside of their tails, near the genitals.

Large branching horns act as electrostatic sensing organs, similar to the sensing palettes of a shark. Unlike a shark, these horns are armored beneath segmented bone and chitirin, making them movable to a limited degree. They rely greatly on their horns as their sight during daylight is particularly poor; commonly preferring to strike at night.

Meruu posess behind their shoulder-blades, spine and tail a number of marble-sized chambers in large numbers lined with a natural source of nanofibres. These cavities, when expelled of air become vacuum chambers, expressing displacement lift. They are anchored carefully and held above bone, in order to ensure this lift is able to pull the entire animal. In full use, they can be expanded to great lengths, and the torso of the Meruu extruded into a long snake-like form ideal for swimming through air or water. Vacuum cavities also double as water storage, allowing a Meruu to live without a water-source for extended periods of time.

Meruu are unusual in that the anal cavity of the animal extends into the tail somewhat; this is used with the collection of smooth rocks and pebbles which act as ballast, either in flight or when swimming, to travel to great depths.

They are known to produce entirely sterile fecal matter which is sterilized inside the body with no smell, usually in a thick syrupy slippery clear form resembling egg whites and yellows or as solid white highly compact eggs. Smelling strongly of pheremones, it is often used to mark their territory. In the wild, this waste product is often radiologically active.

Quite exotic, they have what can be called a 'second mouth', a wrapping of armored scales and teeth able to fit over their face in six segments to conceal and protect themselves. It is often used for biting and grabbing and is usually retracted only for social purposes - the mask having a snout like assembly complete with working nostrils and the face beneath sometimes describes as primate or cat-like.

Located under a highly mobile tongue is a thick venom sack, containing 40% ethanol, a number of other environmentally sourced chemicals and in smaller subjects, a number of anticoagulants designed to prevent successful clotting in victims. Adult Meruu typically learn to source flint and steel into their teeth or tongue and by age 22 have learned to spray their venom, igniting it as flame. While the temperature is often very low, this can be dangerous due to the acidic nature of the venom and their tenancy to consume depleted uranium rendering the fire so sufficiently radioactive that it can interfere with communications and radar.

For reasons unknown, Meruu seem almost completely resistant to most forms of radiation and have an excellent recovery-rate against ionizing radiation. If the animal is able to escape a source of radiation, radiation sickness typically lasts only a few days and is not fatal.

Ordinarily, Meruu remain still for hours, even days at a time waiting until they are hungry. They are known for amassing large fish and animals and digging out burrows larger than some homes resembling open graves; almost always beneath a large tree.

Unusually, Meruu can live in almost any habitat about the warmer southern hemesphere of Lor: Lush jungles, scorched deserts, savannas, fresh-water lakes, swamps and even salt-water rivers and the shallows of the sea. They were particularly famous for ripping propellors from boats and breaching hulls: killing off the crew one by one before sinking the boat.

They are able to move in their condensed form with six limbs (ideal for flat grounds) and can climb by extending and contracting themselves very quickly; rolling over hot sands like a snake or moving through the water like an eel.

Meruu are particularly fond of forming either underground nests or when they believe themselves to be dominant, moving up into trees and draping themselves about branches: Feeling for vibrations.

Once the surge of fishing-towns, the tendency for Meruu to irradiate themselves lead many to once think they were ghosts due to their horns and eyes and teeth glowing in the dark. Often marking their territory with projected flame and arson, populations believed for centuries that their fire was in some way special due to the fact that any plants growing upon the scorched earth would be poisonous. The fire itself was in fact, radioactive; the Meruu having an unusual immunity and a very very rugged genome which resisted aspectation for centuries.

Today, they are found very rarely in their natural environments and are on the verge of extinction: More in captivity or under study than existing in the wild. It is thought within thirty to fifty years, none will remain.

Meruu are omnivores by the true definition of the word. Flesh, bone, foliage, tree-bark, insects, grubs, even one another. They are particularly known for seeking either large animals or fond of seeking pack animals: to get into a nest of Ey'tis and slaughter upward of fourty within a few minutes. They are known for eating wasps-nests and bee-hives whole, ripping the bark from trees and waste no part of whatever they consume: often carrying prey live in their guts before regurgitating it in a lair or hiding it: smothering the prey in their own scent to avoid pursuit while ensuring the meat is fresh.

Often, their long tongues are used to scout the interior of tree-barks: bubbling slimy saliva lubricating the interior of the tree, forcing insects, grubs and other animals to roll further down to be sucked out at the base.

Unusually, Meruu are also known for teething on rocks, needing large quantities of calcium to maintain their powerful threaded flexible skeletons. Even stranger, they have a natural resistance to radioactivity in ways unseen in most other organisms of their scale. Like many Lorath fish, they are extremely resistant to ionizing radiation, ultraviolet light, desiccation, and oxidizing and electrophilic agents and can withstand nearly 4000 RAD every 48 hours: achieved with multiple copies of its own genome, rapid DNA repair mechanisms and the capacity to “borrow” unbroken chains from other organisms when its own is damaged: It is thought to be a biological precursor to the L'manel property of genetic plasticity. This resistance is further enhanced with manganese complexes used as antioxidants to protect itself against radiation damage as well as nitric oxide

This is linked to a particularly strange property of devouring uranium ore and bizarrely processing it within the body using biological processes for use as part of the Meruu's sensing organs and for territorial control purposes: In much the same way plants can grow on scorched earth made fertile, many micillium, bacterium and even plants thrive in the hostile environment Meruu left behind. Domesticated Meruu, denied uranium lack this property.

Later in captivity, it was discovered their favorite food is whole bell peppers and chillis which they are known to eat until they are sick, including the leaves, branches and roots. They have a strong dislike of sour scents: bad milk and vinegar often used to ward them off.

Like most Lorath animals, they're capable of passive psionics, able to detect and exploit the sentiments and behavioral characteristics of other organisms to better hunt them: Testing with psionic blocking devices has proven this to be the case.

They often spend a lot of their time seeming very docile and can be gentle giants - though the smell of meat or blood is known to trigger hunting behavior - not unlike a shark. Cornered or outnumbered, this behavior vanishes, meaning anyone approaching a Meruu has to do so individually. This docile behavior does not exist in captive settings.

Meruu are largely solitary with dominant females, known for fighting for “ownership” of males and are known famously for reproducing with their own young: culling females and keeping males which very rarely leave the den. Their eggs can take months or even years to successfully gestate and take months to form inside the female's body meaning they are slow to reproduce even if a brood is formed. Common practice is to pin or constrict the male, with the female dominant at all times.

Illegal in most Lorath territories Meruu are known to be held in captivity. They require very large enclosures and become bored easily, almost constantly digging or trying to break out of their enclosures unless sedated. Handling of the animals is done exclusively using sedation and “handlers” risk their lives dealing with these animals – mood (particularly fear detected over psionics) triggering feeding frenzies. To this end, handlers are issued with powerful disassociates: The boarderline psychotic impulses psionically discouraging the Meruu from acting aggressively.