Bestiary Interlude : Hydra
Race Type : Ascended
Defining ability : Multiple heads
When a Hydra’s head is destroyed while its body survives it is given an option to regrow two heads in its place. A hydra must have at least 200 points in Mind for each head, the only exception is the first head and a second cannot be added until 400.
The choice cannot be delayed for more than an hour, if the hydra chooses not to regrow two heads or if it does not have the required Mind points to support the extra head the destroyed head cannot be regrown later, furthermore the hydra’s Mind points drop permanently by 100.
Each head develops its own personality yet all heads share the same memories. Access to said memories doesn’t happen in real time meaning one can still surprise one head by attacking from a blind spot that is in plain view of another head.
Hydra bodies grow in size based on their physical stats, it is possible for a hydra with 20 heads to be much smaller than one with 5.
Hydras often have short one syllable name for each head, with the name of the hydra being the combination of said names in the order that they grew in. This leads to hydras with a lot of heads having long names.
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Behavior : Solitary and territorial.
Hydras are solitary creatures that do not live in communities, as an Ascended race however they do have sapience and sentience and will work together with neighboring hydras to handle overwhelming threats.
Hydra territories have been known to overlap when the difference in power between the two is large enough that the stronger one doesn’t consider the weaker one a threat in any way. This situation often leads to mating and reproduction.
Hydras do not have genders, though it still takes two of them to reproduce. Reproduction is done through eggs. Parents spend a short time of a decade or two actually raising the young before they are given territories inside one of the parents territories and space to grow with minimal oversight.
A hydra is considered an adult when it no longer has any territorial overlap with its parents
Power and build differences :
Hydras are predominantly spellcasters, their natural dependence on Mind leads to extremely large Mana pools. Hydras often pair this with Large investments into Intelligence to increase the speed of their thoughts leading to better coordination between the heads. Most hydras follow this build into a natural high power spellcaster form, focusing either on ritual or complimentary magic from each head.
Rare instances of physically focused hydras with Mana based boosting Skills do exist, number of heads is not a good benchmark for strength! Their scales durability varies depending on endurance and their teeth are sharp.
Hydras do not naturally possess poison but they do contain multiple salivary glands that are adaptable when exposed to poisons. This means that each hydra’s poison is unique and more than likely based on the poisons found in its environment that it chose to take. Different heads can carry different poisons!
Advised kill method :
Target the chest as destroying heads is unreliable. Despite their poison hydras are usually susceptible to outside poisons as their salivary glands make gaining Poison Resistance very difficult, they are particularly weak to necrotic infections as putrified heads still need to be chopped off before regrowing.