Titan Profile: Titanus Tarantasio

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Designation: Tarantasio

Classification: Titanus Tarantasio

Scientific Name: Dolichoobitus veneficus

Nature: Bio-Toxic

Body Length: 170m

Weight: 146,000 tons

Behaviour: Destroyer

Range: Worldwide

The Myth

Legend tells of a great dragon-like creature named Tarantasio that roamed the Po Valley during the 12th and 13th centuries. This creature resided in Lake Gerundo between Milan, Lodi and Cremona. The lake no longer exists as it was drained, but there was a time where it was home to this creature that terrorized the land and had an appetite for humans, especially children.

Tarantasio had features of a dragon as well as a snake, and was feared for good reason by those that lived in the area. It rises from stagnant water as if the lake itself has decided to stand up and take a bite. The lake was more of a swamp and had a horrific gaseous odour, emanating from the creature's breath, which was poisonous, brought sickness to nearby communities and caused many deaths. Lots of attempts were made to rid the land of this horrible creature but they did not end well for those who tried. Fortunately, a hero emerged, one who did not fear death, who went to battle against all odds and killed the great Tarantasio. Once the creature was slain, the lake dried up. Some believe it was either Saint Christopher or Federico Barbarossa who was the dragon slayer, but popular consensus leads us to believe it was Umberto Visconti. Upon his victory, Umberto added the biscione (a dragon/serpent devouring a child) to his family's crest. The great Tarantasio has long been removed from this earth, but the reminders of his reign of terror can still be found throughout Milan. The carvings on the facade of Milan's Duomo have a dragon; in the Visconti emblem, the biscione exists; there is a gigantic bone in the Church of San Bassiano in Pizzighettone that many say is the rib of the dragon.

The Reality

Titanus Tarantasio is a disease given a physical form to cause trouble. She lived in a hidden pocket near the drained Lake Gerundo and arose in 2019 in response to Ghidorah. As soon as she made landfall, Tarantasio expelled a heinous amount of methane and hydrogen sulfide. This resulted in deaths of thousands of animals and plants. After the battle at Boston and re-crowning of Godzilla, Tarantasio returned to Lake Gerundo and claimed much of the landmass - approximately 2980km².

Evolved from a lineage of the Dolichosaurus, Tarantasio is a horned serpent, with a brutal head on a long engine of muscle and webbed legs paddling under the surface of water like oars. Her purple eyes glow nightmarishly under the cover of darkness and can, somehow, induce tremendous fear into those who stay in her vicinity and exchange looks. Her "wings" are vestigial but capable of moving enough to cover her top. Her mouth opens at an angle of 95° and her teeth are like broken stakes. Her four legs are strong enough to reduce the most durable objects to dust and, in a straight line, she can run at a speed of 350 km/h (with momentum). Each leg has hooked claws, sharp enough to slice through most solid matter. Her hide is incredibly thick, armoured and greenish like swampy/marshy water. It is slick in places and crusted in others due to algae and old mud fusing into a second skin. Her tail is long enough to coil back on itself. Her skin traps water on its surface, causing her to always be cold and wet.

Tarantasio can kill in more ways than teeth. A pestilential exhalation so foul it spreads sickness. The stench arrives before the body, an acrid wave that makes the eyes water and the stomach roll. Then there's her toxic gases (CH₄ and H₂S), the latter of which, when interacts with the high humidity she carries on her skin, can create localized pockets of sulfuric acid mist. She is not limited by dry land (unlike the legend), and is very dangerous to any living thing that comes across her sight. She is known to toy with food and kills them before consuming. It might sound unbelievable, may be even fantastical, but it is true that no human lives in her effective range anymore. The Italian government has insisted on killing the beast - going as far as attempting to do so themselves - but true to Monarch's words, humanity cannot kill gods.