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Thanatosdrakon: The Dragon of Death


Kaimen

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Introduction: The Ark’s dry terrain and oceans both have their apex predators, but the sky is up for grabs…..
 

Wild: A large pterosaur from the late cretacious, Thanatosdrakon is a terrifying and powerful creature to face alone, as its habitat in high altitudes presents a daunting challenge to bridle. The only survivors to ever have seen Thanatosdrakon have done so upon the back of aerial mounts, higher up than even the Ark’s Quetzal dares to venture. Even if one is brave enough to get close to a Thana, these majestic beasts of the air mate for life, and their partner will always be close by to send nosy survivors fleeing for their lives.

 

Domesticated: The Thanatosdrakon’s strong wings keep it suspended in the air for most of its life in the wild, and its decently-sized body can withstand moderate weight, enabling it to carry large-scale supplies across long distances. Unlike the Ark’s only other fearsome aerial predator, wyverns, Thanatosdrakon does not have a ranged attack, though its sharp beak can jab lethal wounds into its victims that one may bleed to death from before help can be sought. However, even a domesticated Thanatosdrakon will only deal maximum damage if it is protecting its mate, in which case it will violently seek to spill the blood of any potential threats without hesitation. A mate-boosted Thana can rival even the terrifying Giganotosaurus in ferocity. Thanas prove to be excellent offensive tames as well, as their ability to snatch riders from the backs of their tames in midair leaves both the survivor and tame vulnerable. While one attacks the survivor ensnared in its talons, its mate is able to finish off any pursuing tames.
 

Behavior: As an apex predator of the sky, Thanatosdrakon has few enemies, and will not hesitate to make any creature that dares to near it a meal for itself and its mate. Thanas have little reason to show themselves at lower altitudes unless they are hunting, and almost never land. Wild Thanas are extremely intolerant of humans straying into their territory, and become extremely aggressive on sight. Thanatosdrakon will only pursue survivors until they have sufficiently chased them out of their domain, however, and will give up the chase just below most mountain peaks. If a pair of Thanas encounter a particularly stubborn survivor that sticks around for them to eat, one will render the survivor defenseless and arch into an elegant dive to seize their prey straight from the back of any mount, while the other keeps the survivor’s tamed companions occupied. 
 

Appearance: Slightly smaller but more agile and vicious than the wyvern, Thanatosdrakon possesses massive, powerful wings that dwarf those of the Quetzal, making it a graceful yet formidable aerial opponent. It has a long neck which enables it to attack opponents at long range and on all sides. Its sharp beak backed by a powerful neck can deal fatal puncture wounds to its victims. It is feathered over most of its body, often pigmented paler colors to blend with the sky. 
 

Taming: Thanatosdrakon is extremely intolerant of humans, and even when survivors display their dominance by knocking it out of the sky and offering food, they will only comply if their mate is with them, even still only for a short period of time. Thanas tamed from the wild will only allow survivors to mount them while they are close to their mate, or until the female lays an egg. If the pair is separated too far from one another, both will turn on their captor(s) and attempt to kill them. If they are kept together, however, they will remain docile until an egg is laid. Then, both parents turn hostile, and the survivor’s only hope is to either kill the Thanas or lead them back up into the sky. They may not become tameable again until they de-aggro. Even though the parents return to their wild nature, the survivor is left with a Thanatosdrakon egg to hatch with no strings attached, as it will bond with its owner from birth. 
 

Attacks/Utility:
- Jab: The Thana’s primary attack, a brutish jab of its beak that deals decent damage and bleed if mate boosted. Both an aerial and terrestrial attack.
- Knockback: The Thana’s massive wings can produce small whirlwinds that knock back most small-medium opponents. Both an aerial and terrestrial attack.
- Swoop & Grab: Thanatosdrakon can hone in on close-by targets (both on the ground and in the air) and swoop down to grab survivors off of their mounts, ensnaring them in a brutal attack that deals bleed damage (if mate-boosted) for a few seconds before releasing them (similar to that of a thylacoleo). Parachutes are a must-have if there is to be any hope of surviving the fall if a flying tame is not close-by. Aerial attack only. 
- Screech: A deafening trill that alerts everything in close proximity to the Thana that it's coming for blood. The sound of the Thana’s screech will send any creature (or survivor) within range into a frantic state of panic. (Similar to that of a yutyrannus.)
- Cliff Cling: Able to attach to cliff faces or large, vertical flat surfaces. 
- Dive/Glide: Able to dive down and gain momentum before pulling up to glide at higher speeds. 

     Essentially, Thanatosdrakon would be the powerful flying creature Ark needs to make its skies actually dangerous and encourage players to use land mounts. It wouldn’t be confined to trenches like wyverns, just around high peaks just above Quetzal spawns. It would make it THERE but not at every turn to be annoying, just as a looming threat. It should hit hard (especially when mate-boosted when it can deal bleed damage) but have a poor health pool, as realistically its only predator would be big land carnivores which it’s meant to hit hard enough to combat, anyway. So no need for a ton of health. 
     Because it would be such a powerful creature (that can FLY) its taming method is meant to be a bit out there and difficult. You would need a strong flying mount beforehand (which you need to go wyvern trench-diving) or something with a platform saddle to chain bola it. I imagine it would have moderate torpidity, certainly not nearly as high as that of a Giga because you need a male and female at the same time for the tame to be successful. Pairs would likely spawn at the same level together to avoid getting one good level and one trash level, it’d either be two good levels or two bad. The wild ones would be tamed by the knockout method, and you’d keep them until you bred them and they laid a fertile egg. Then they’d turn aggressive and you’d either need to kill them or lead them back into the sky. 
     Thanas are meant to be super mate-reliant, because Ark doesn’t have anything like that besides normal mate boost for every creature. Yes, that makes them a pain, but if people want things like bomber saddles (I don’t, but I know the community is pushing for it), it needs to be at least more difficult than tropeognathus, because otherwise they’re useless. I think the difficulty of taming balances their potential for abilities, like dealing bleed, being able to pick up the same array of creatures a Quetzal can, snatching off mounts and tussling like thylacoleos but in the air, maybe an upgraded yutyrannus scare roar, diving, and hanging from cliffs. (I don’t expect they’ll all be abilities, but they’re cool suggestions.) definitely think they should have the snatch attack and be able to carry things if nothing else though. I just liked the idea of a large, dangerous predator in the sky to deter people from just, vibing up in the air to escape the dangers of land. 

 

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Thanatosdrakon was a large ahzdarchid pterosaur related to the Quetzalcoatlus.

Wild: Truly a dragon of death, Thanatosdrakon is a terrifying creature to see. In the night, they soar through the skies silently looking for prey. They will swoop down and grab large herbivores such as Triceratops and Parasaurolophus and carry them away into the night sky and stab them with their large beaks. They have also been known to pick up survivors. One survivor who survived an encounter with this monstrous pterosaur said that they shot it with a flame arrow and he was immediately dropped while it made a deafening scream. 

Tamed: Once somehow tamed, a Thanatos becomes a deadly part of a survivors arsenal. In the day, a Thanatos is strong but is easily seen and able to be picked off by enemies. Its true power is fully unlocked at night. Able to dive down to grab a creature off the ground and effortlessly take it up into the sky to kill it, it makes short work of most tribes tames in raids and if grounded its still able to defend itself quite well despite being out of its element. Thanatos can make a loud scream stunning anything near it and knocking enemy survivors off of any tamed creature they are riding! But it can easily be defeated if set on fire. It becomes easier to see at night and the fire hurts it a lot more than it would hurt any other creature. Once you have a Thanatos, you are the king of the night skies.

Pros:
does increased damage to Desmodus Draculae
able to knock players off any creature (including stegosaurus) using scream attack
extremely difficult to see at night because its body becomes pitch black
can pick up creatures as large as a trike
immune to the health steal effect from blood crystal wyverns
2 seats on the saddle
can dive like a griffin but slower
makes almost no wing flapping noise

Cons:
takes 35% more damage to fire
survivors are dropped if shot with flame arrows or flamethrowers(not torches)
in day time it takes 25% more damage, becomes slower, and is easier to see
gets absolutely obliterated by fire and ember crystal wyverns
if someone is sitting in the second saddle seat, grabbing creatures is disabled



         

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Some additional ideas…

It could do with a different name, perhaps of something larger, I just thought that its nickname, “dragon of death,” made it sound intimidating. Ambourgainia was actually closer in size to the Quetzal. I’m not too in love with the species it is, just the idea for abilities and taming. Suggestions as to what to actually tie the abilities to would be super appreciated since it seems it hasn’t gained too much traction :’)

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