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Discussion Should Lustria have long necked dinosaurs?

Discussion in 'Fluff and Stories' started by Scalenex, Apr 8, 2019.

  1. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    [​IMG]via Imgflip Meme Generator

    Long necked dinosaurs like the brachisaurus are the most iconic dinosaurs conspicuously absent from the Lizardmen/Seraphon roster. I've been watching a lot of TierZoo on Youtube and animals tend to have unique traits because it helps survivability.

    If Lustria does have longnecks, I don't think the Lizardmen would want to bother trying to tame them as warbeasts or beasts of burden, but barring that, would long necks dinosaurs survive in the Lustrian and Southlands jungles? Not every dinosaur needs to be part of the Lizardmen's army.

    I'm not sure. A long neck is good for reaching food in high places and it's good for spotting threats from a long distance. In theory a long neck could let them bite or headbutt enemies at a distance but this exposes their necks to deadly attacks, or in the phraseology of TierZoo, they are vulnerable to being oneshoted by large predators.

    There are certainly plenty of tall trees that long necked dinosaurs could snack on the leaves from, but the jungles of Lustria is so thick, I'm not sure how much of a visibility bonus they would get. A brachiasaurus or a dinosaur like it would probably be schooled by a Carnosaur pretty easily. They would probably be big enough to handle other Lustrian predators...at least the beasts.

    A longneck dinosaur would be very easy for a pack of Lizardmen to bring down. Especially if you had Skinks and Kroxigor working together. They'd be easy to find and easy to kill and they'd have a lot of meat. It might be a case that large longneck dinsoaurs could be driven to extinction between the predation of Lizardmen and Carnosaurs unless they bred very fast which seems implausible for something that big.

    I kind of created Tallosaurs as a longneck dinosaur for my fluff pieces though I omitted describing them in detail. Now I'm wondering if they should not be longnecks.

    Herbivores need some kind of defense. Sure predators might have the edge, but prey species need some means of defending themselves so they live long enough to raise offspring. Speed, armor, stealth, climbing, flying, tunneling, natural weapons, something.

    Do you guys thing longneck dinosaurs are plausible in Lustrian jungles as a viable herbivore species? What about dwarf longneck dinsoaurs? If not longneck dinosaurs, what do Carnosaurs eat? If Carnosaurs' primary prey species is Stegadons than they would probably be slowly dying off. Even if a Carnsoaur wins 9 out of 10 fights with a Stegadons, eventually they will lose or they will "win" a fight only to die from their wounds later.

    I do think long neck pleisaurs would be more viable in the Amaxon River though they'd be a little bit smaller than the Loch Ness but plenty big enough to be the top tier predator of the rivers.

    Anyway, longnecks, let's hear your thoughts!
     
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  2. gb2098
    Saurus

    gb2098 Active Member

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    considering that we have concept art (and even a scrapth built figure based off said art) of such creatures, yes.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  3. NIGHTBRINGER
    Slann

    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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    I definitely think that long necks have a place in Lustria. I also feel that you are underplaying their ability to defend themselves. Their defense is their sheer bulk. If the Carnosaur was the same size as a long neck, the long necks would stand no chance. But they are not the same size. If we look at the T-Rex, it is was considerably smaller than the long necks. As such, they were not easy prey to bring down unless they were really young, old or sick. In the modern day, consider the Elephant, who even without tusks is an extremely formidable foe due to its immense size and weight. A long neck does not need to bite to defend itself, it can crash into predators, trample them and tail whip them (and that is an awfully big tail).
     
  4. gb2098
    Saurus

    gb2098 Active Member

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    to give you an idea, a clip from the Ballad of Big Al. Big Al, an Allosaurus, is about the same size as the plastic Carnosaur. a human (or saurus) would come up to about his knees.


    sauropods can easily use their necks and tails as bludgeons to knock over enemies, and their size makes them hard to bring down at all unless they are are already weak in some way or the predators get lucky. and Apatosaurs are the medium sized sauropods, most were far larger. and that is the real world ones.. in Lustria most dinosaur like critters are substantially more massive than real life. making it possible for a lustrian long-neck to easily be in the 'walking blue whale' category.

    plus they don't have to be defenseless aside from their necks and tails.. Titanosaurs (which produced some of the largest land animals ever) had thick armor, while Dicraeosaurs had extensive arrays of defensive spikes along their necks and back. one recently found species, the Bajadasaurus, had its neck spikes forward facing, in an arrangement that would make it a very effective predator deterrent.
     
  5. Nazqua
    Carnasaur

    Nazqua Well-Known Member

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    I dont think a carno would win this many fights, it would probably be more relevant to today's animals such as a tiger, probably winning 1 in every 3 or 4, If you think about it a whole herd of stegadons could easily deter a carno and impale it enough that it would die meaning it isn't worth the risk. I think carnosaurs would be hunting babies or other small animals the size of a kroxigor not as big as them.
     
  6. Nazqua
    Carnasaur

    Nazqua Well-Known Member

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    I totaly agree, the trait would be negated by the size of the jungles, I think they would live near the jungle but not in it in openings and plains such as the cuchan plains and swaps would also be viable since they can easily pass through them with their size and don't have to worry about predators as much. although who knows what lives in lustrias swamps I bet their is some kinda sarcasucus/croc type thing :D
     

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  7. ASSASSIN_NR_1
    Carnasaur

    ASSASSIN_NR_1 Well-Known Member

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    I have always pictured the Thunder Lizards as the longnecked dinosaurs if lustria and they are supposed to be enormous, probably way too big for a Carnosaur to feasibly kill.

    Anything small and longnecked would need some kind of defense that is not its size. They could have claws like a Therizinosaurus, armorplating or spikes like and ankylosaur maybe. Alternatively a spiked tail like a Stegosaurus or they could just be speedy, but would then be quite small probably.
     
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  8. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    A thunderlizard is basically an avatar of the gods. Like a powerful dragon, it doesn't have to obey natural laws or common sense.

    I can see a lot of big long necks congregating in the ecotones where the jungle meets other ecosystems but that only works in a closed system. I imagine they would be pretty easy for Lizardmen and warmblood invaders alike to hunt and I'm not sure they would survive very long.

    I'm thinking tallosaurus (or a cooler name if someone has an idea) should be relatively small. Not a whole lot bigger than a Carnosaur, but with ridges on the back and neck and spiked tails. They would be semi aquatic so they could run into water to avoid land predators and run onto land to avoid aquatic predators. They would probably need to travel in small herds and aggressively defend their young. Given how cut-throat Lustria is, they should probably be a bit smarter than their real world counterparts likely were, so they can outwit the many things that would try to eat them or their children. I imagine they would be intelligent enough to have their guard up around Skinks, Saurus, and Kroxigor.

    Elephants don't sleep a whole lot relative to other mammals, so the tallosaurus probably don't either, so they would need strong senses to let them operate at night. They probably sleep in huddles making a circle around their young or pregnant females. I figure a typical herd would be two to three adult males and five to nine adult females. The sex imbalance is because males are more aggressive and risk taking. If predators attack, the males take point to defend the herd which takes a toll on their numbers, especially during adolescence.

    Alternatively, if the males have tournament mating, solitary males would be the losers of said fights driven away from the herds. They probably would have a rough time surviving Lustria very long.
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2020
  9. Nazqua
    Carnasaur

    Nazqua Well-Known Member

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    One of my favorite sketches of a thunderlizard:

    Screenshot 2019-04-08 at 08.51.02.png
     
  10. ASSASSIN_NR_1
    Carnasaur

    ASSASSIN_NR_1 Well-Known Member

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    :eek: Really, didn't know that, I just thought he was a very big bugger and nothing special beyond that
     
  11. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    I guess I am extrapolating. Based on context I figured thunder lizards were not normal animals. For one, I never hear about TWO thunderlizards. I hear about THE thunderlizard. Second, it seems to lie dormant for long periods of time then rise and wreck a bunch of stuff with so much power nothing can hurt it, then it goes to sleep again. Kind of like a Kaiju monster.
     
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  12. Killer Angel
    Slann

    Killer Angel Prophet of the Stars Staff Member

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    or a Tarrasque.

    [​IMG]

    Anyway, regarding thunder lizard(s), there was also this one, but it's not long necked

    [​IMG]
     
  13. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    I do like the idea of long-necked dinosaurs, even it they were super huge/Thunder Lizard sized.


    I agree, this is the picture that I refer too when I think of thunder lizards/what I think they should look like. Fortunately for us, @Struan Murray has already painted one!



    If I had a chance to add any long-necked dinosaurs to my army, I would want to build some platforms on their backs so they could be used as siege weapons.



    I always liked this one, it was based off a star wars dewback toy.
     
  14. Nazqua
    Carnasaur

    Nazqua Well-Known Member

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    I have already seen it :D, it's amazing he did such a good job.
     
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  15. Killer Angel
    Slann

    Killer Angel Prophet of the Stars Staff Member

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    Yeah, that's really impressive! (and by impressive, i mean "stunningly wonderful")
     
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  16. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    My thoughts exactly based on that description.
     
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  17. Sudsinabucket
    Skar-Veteran

    Sudsinabucket Well-Known Member

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    This is a Species I use as a sub species of Thunder Lizard for the Dragon Isles actually and also for the Culuchan (sp) plains in southern Lustria (@Nazqua has done a fabulous job fleshing out this region in his blog)

    Going to read through this as Id love to give my thoughts as a avid lover ajd supporter of Sauropds for Lizardmen and Seraphon and have them in my own personal fluff.
     
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  18. pendrake
    Skink Priest

    pendrake Well-Known Member

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    I like that “Spikeydeathosaurus” drawing.

    I think there should several kinds; some of them should be harnessed as cargo haulers. Their typical environment would be swamps overhung by large trees.
     
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  19. Krai’kotak
    Skink

    Krai’kotak Member

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    Well I have knowledge about zoology and dinosaurs sos I my time has came. The main defense of large animals is exactly it’s bulk and in the case of the long neck dinosaurs it’s tails the main example would be the seismosaurus a long necked dinosaur with a long muscled tail as soon of one of this beasts feel endangered I suppose it will swing its tail to hit its atackers. and also (if we take a carnosaur as the size of a t-rex) they will be too big to being hunted down by a single one maybe a acient carnosas(like grymloq) or a family of 2 or three could try to hunt one but I think the the main predators of the long necked dinosaurs would be the almighty dreadsaurians.


    A bout being hunted down by our lizard brothers I think it would make sense: skinks staving the legs of the creature the kroxigor roaring and throwing rocks and ryperdactyls biting the necks of the creatures(¿maybe the regiment of renown of total war warhammer two received its name “colossadon hunters” because hunting down this long necked dinosaurs?) and i agree with the acuatic eviormemnt and spiky back



    Postdata:I love thunder lizard diorama
     
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  20. Krai’kotak
    Skink

    Krai’kotak Member

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    Absolutely glorious that model
     

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