The Elephant Bird - Ark's AT-ST

[ZazaGaming]

Wild:

The Elephant Bird is a majestic sight to behold. Gentle and serene, these giants are solitary and ignore everything around them. However, they seem to become highly agitated and territorial around a member of the same species and gender. They also seem to show a particular aggression towards Terror Birds.

If an Elephant Bird does become aggressive you have only a few seconds, as it raises its tail feathers in a display of aggression, to run as far as you can. Though large, its powerful legs help it move great distances very quickly, closing most gaps before you know what hit you.

 

Domesticated:

Its descent health, weight, and damage allow for a good all-around tame. The real strength comes with being able to run for long periods of time before needing to rest. With a multipurpose saddle that acts as a smithy and preserving bin with two seats, tribe members can be away from base for long periods of time. The trump card is a guttural trumpet call that causes all surrounding herbivores to be aggressive towards its target. This allows a fight to be either tipped in its favor or enough of a distraction to get out of dodge.

 

Blurb:

This is the all-terrain scout transport of Ark. Everything I’ve drafted is built around making it the best one possible. You’re not going to be fighting gigas with it, but it will easily take on anything its size or smaller. The Elephant bird is designed for travel and survival on the road, that’s the general concept.

 

Spawn:

Either Sunken Forest or Desert

 

Taming:

Elephant birds are omnivorous and while they mostly eat plants because of availability they love a good buggy meal. Bring any dead bug creature (arthro, scorpion, ant, araneo, etc) and it will gobble it up and become your best friend. The bigger the drag weight, the better the effectiveness. Also, make sure there are no other Elephant birds of the same gender or terror birds near by.

 

Saddle:

For travel and helping to make this creature really shine I think it needs a highly specialized saddle. My initial thought was smithy plus preserving bin. Could also make an argument for either swapping preserving bin for mortar and pestle or having all three.

 

Abilities:

• High Stamina
  • This creature can run at high speeds for long periods of time. While this may seem op, remember this isn’t a flier so it is restrained to the terrain and all creatures in its way. It can’t fly and land above all dangers.
• Well-rounded stats
  • Again, you’re not meant to win any competitions with the stats that come out of this thing, but the idea is to be able to be adept at general survivability. Whether that’s having just enough speed and health to get away when confronted with a larger enemy or having just enough damage that anything smaller shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
• Tail Feather Flair
  • This one is the lowest on my list of things. I thought of it because of the images of ostriches puffing themselves up for mating and intimidation. Was thinking could be a buff giver for speed. Again, the idea being either that you can attack quicker and therefore gain damage for smaller foes or have that little edge to quickly boots away for a few seconds from something bigger that would normally either match or outpace you.
• Trumpet Call
  • The final trick up the survivability sleeve. You run around two rexes, or a rex and a spino, or two spinos, or a carcha or giga, or an enemy tribe. Now, you’ve got no choice but to give yourself enough space to run. So, you use the trumpet call and immediately all herbivores in the area begin attacking your target. Unless you get lucky and pull in a bunch of high-level trikes and stegos you’re not gonna get much firepower, but what you will get are meat shields. Now you puff your feathers, get that speed boost, and immediately turn and run the other way pouring one out for your new fallen brothers on your way.

 

Closing thoughts:

I wouldn’t take a fresh tame one on one with a wild 150 rex, but if you’ve got two, then your odds are good. And even if you can’t take your enemy, you’ve got all the tricks to make it so you never have to. Survivability and scouting are the names of the game.

Edited September 2, 2023 by ZazaGaming