Dracodile

The dracodile is an unfathomably large amphibious predator of western Immoren’s swamps and major waterways, particularly in the Lothpool River, on the Black River near the Bloodsmeath Marsh, and where the Dragon’s Tongue feeds the Thornmere. Fully grown, a dracodile extends over thirty feet in length. Dracodiles are unshakeably apex predators in their territory, though they are rare and rarely venture from their natural habitat.

Behaviour

The territory of a dracodile can extend throughout many miles of wetland and along the course of major rivers. Dracodiles often ignore incursions by beasts smaller than men, considering them too small to be either a meal or a threat, but they will hunt down and consume any larger trespassers. A dracodile’s broad diet often includes other large swamp predators.

Dracodiles are solitary and protective of their hunting ground. The size of a dracodile’s territory allows it to hunt without depleting its source of potential game. Strong dracodiles will drive weaker ones out of their territory. When a clutch of dracodile hatches, the mother must go beyond the borders of her territory for sufficient food and will drag kills back to the nest until her hatchlings are capable of hunting for themselves. The mother dracodile ferociously protects the young from harm until they are driven out of her territory to establish their own hunting grounds.

Dracodiles use rivers as a means of regulating their body temperature. They bask in slow watercourses for several hours a day and do not stand for intrusions into their domain. Dracodiles perceive riverboats as invaders threatening their territory and will not hesitate to attack them. Dracodile attacks have increased dramatically with the industrialisation of the Iron Kingdoms. The rumbling of a large steam engine is reminiscent of a dracodile’s growl and perceived as a threat, and will draw a dracodile’s attention. Boats with their engines left on are magnets for males seeking to drive away competitors, and such confrontations usually end in an enraged dracodile emerging from the water and capsizing the ship.

The ever-present danger of the dracodile to river traffic has led shipping companies to hire armed escorts to kill or drive off the beasts when they attack. The swampies of Cygnar sometimes hire themselves out as guides to companies that must navigate the swampy rivers of the north. They know how to spot the telltale signs of a dracodile’s territory: long drag marks on the shoreline, flattened mangrove trees, and the crushed bones of massive beasts washed up at the river’s edge. A dracodile can spew forth a highly corrosive acid capable of eating through tempered steel, causing severe acid burns to exposed skin, and searing the lungs if inhaled.