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Description
Name: Vertigo
MONARCH Codename: MADWOMAN
Scientific name: Elenchokompra insanus (insane controlling cobra)
Height: 3 meters (when laid flat on the ground)
Length: 100 meters (when laid flat on the ground)
Diet: Carnivore
Affiliation: Major Kaiju (Scourge)

Overview: Though Axor may be long dead, he was not the only cobra-like monster equipped with mind control. Vertigo also wields it, though she is closer in relation to actual cobras and lurks in Skull Island's ruins.

History: Vertigo's kind slithered (despite her resemblance to snakes she is a dolichosaur more closely related to Tetrapodophis, rather like tatzelwurms and jaculus) through Skull Island for millions of years before the advent of other predators like Megaprimatus kongi and Gorosaurus ischyropodi, with Vertigo quickly being reduced to the last of her kind. Not that she was complaining, however: the Tagu and Atu tribes had just arrived on Skull Island, and the latter had taken to worshipping the island's gods. They viewed Vertigo as the queen of the gods as she was their main protector, with one individual, V'drell, quickly assassinating the Atu leader Aguul (who forbid the worship of any of Skull Island's Kaiju) and becoming their Shaman (their new leader on Skull Island) through association (and a little bit of corrupt help) with Vertigo's high priestess Malyssa. Vertigo herself, however, cared nought for her human worshippers, merely protecting them so they could continue to provide her with food and water. She enjoyed this lethargic lifestyle of being worshipped as a goddess, but even then Vertigo was somewhat unstable: according to the writings of even her own worshippers, she would tear her opponents apart and play with their guts afterwards, and even ate her most loyal thralls from time to time. Some MONARCH scientists believe that the Atu were partially inspired to worship Vertigo by the pheromones and chemicals she employs against her prey, but most of it seems to be genuine. However, all good things must come to an end, and eventually a new religious figure, one of many whom V'drell had squared off against with help from Malyssa, rose to prominence. Named Bar-Atu, this radical thinker proposed that only the Megaprimatus kongi (which he referred to as simply the Kongs, which is a possible origin for King Kong's own name) were gods, with Valla being the queen of the gods. This was a shocking accusation, and at first Bar-Atu was almost an outcast. However, as the Atu watched as more of their kinsmen were devoured by Vertigo, more monsters were brutally killed by their guardian and the more they realised that V'drell and Malyssa were just manipulating their religion as a larger power play, the more they accepted Bar-Atu's ideas, and they soon allied with him. V'drell was secretly murdered by Bar-Atu's loyal followers and Malyssa banished for her "blasphemy", and though the Atu never knew what became of her a pile of bones in one of Chaos' haunts is believed to belong to her. The Atu quickly stopped their sacrifices to Vertigo and began to travel further inland towards the home of the Kongs. However, the insanity serpent was not pleased by this, and this is believed to be the moment when this petty, pampered Kaiju snapped. She zoomed after the Atu and destroyed their camp, devouring Bar-Atu himself as she did so. The former worshippers of this vicious Kaiju were forced to flee into the island's jungles, where the Tagu, who were also in a shambles due to just losing their queen Ewata to the jaws of Sauron, were waiting for them. The massive battle that ensued left both tribes at low numbers, and they were picked off by Skull Island's other monsters, making Vertigo indirectly responsible for what was effectively genocide.
Vertigo continued to lurk in the ruins of the Atu (and eventually the Tagu) for thousands of years, going more and more insane from the isolation. When the Primal Rage rolled about, Vertigo saw an opportunity to win back a life of luxury through conquering the territories of other Kaiju, and came out of her palaces ready for action. Though she gained little ground thanks to the Deathrunners, she quickly gained traction once they were gone. However, the island's Guardians were quickly able to end that reign of terror, with Armadon emerging from the Earth within the isle's jungles to deal with Vertigo, dragging her back to the ruins and caving them in on her. However, even that did not help Vertigo, as Diablo dug her free so she could lend him a helping hand in the final battle of the Primal Rage.
Since that fateful battle, Vertigo has returned to the ruins, and though she is no longer an expansionist she is still a threat as she hunts way outside of what's necessary, in imitation of the amount of food she got when she was worshipped. She has also taken to using her chemicals and pheromones to take over the minds of Iwi hunters in the region, making them her thralls in an attempt to regain her worship. Still, the Iwi have learnt to avoid the area of the ruins that Vertigo lurks in, and her "worshippers" are few and far between.

Powers, abilities and weaknesses: Vertigo possesses a variety of different abilities, all of which are used in her quest to amass food and worship. First off, she has the traits that you’d expect from a giant snake: thick, scaly skin, muscular, constricting coils and even venom (albeit one only with the effects of excruciating pain and temporary paralysis, though she can also apply the chemicals and pheromones she uses in her mind control to deliver alongside the toxin at the cost of them being slightly dulled due to not being within their optimum pH). Vertigo also has an extra advantage for herself in the form of her hooked foot-claws, which she can use to climb around the ruin complexes and various other structures and thus outmanoeuvre her opponents. Vertigo's most well-known and dangerous ability is, of course, the various chemicals and pheromones that she can rapidly excrete into the environment around her. This excretion is accomplished through a system of pores which covers almost all of Vertigo's body, which squirts out the chemicals and pheromones as an aerosol. This is believed to be a similar method to Axor's. The usual effect of this chemicals is to attack the hypothalamus and hippocampus, forcing the individual on the receiving end of the chemicals to blindly worship Vertigo. Though this usually ends with them either dying of exhaustion or getting devoured by their "goddess", some have been rescued and successfully cured through extremely delicate surgery on the brain which removes the chemicals with water. It seems that even after the chemicals are removed there are recurring side effects for a few weeks or even a few months, with afflicted individuals reporting strange hallucinations, mostly involving transformations such as being turned into a cow or a statue. Why exactly the chemical has this hallucinogenic after-effect is unknown, though some theorise that it may be used more potently when the chemical is still affecting the brain to further coerce the afflicted into worshipping Vertigo. This trait allows the foul serpent to accomplish her goals, and so she should be treated with extreme caution.
Vertigo's main weaknesses are her low durability and (slightly more interestingly) her relatively light weight. She is easily one of Skull Island's lightest Kaiju, and so is easily tossed around by her foes. This has forced Vertigo deeper into the ruins, as the more enclosed space within them allows her to better utilise her constriction as well as preventing her from being tossed too far away from her opponent.

Personality: Vertigo has everything that you would need to achieve her goals personality-wise: she is ruthless, conniving, cold, efficient, manipulative and driven by one singular ambition. The problem is that she is completely and utterly insane. Due to her sudden abandonment by her worshippers and thousands of years of isolation with only Chaos and the odd bit of wildlife she would have inevitably eaten, Vertigo has become an erratic, unstable nutcase who could snap at any moment. Some even think that she may be under the thrall of her chemicals' hallucinogenic effects. Due to her crazy state of mind, she has taken to sadistically enjoying the pain of others (particularly plaguing their minds with her control), and prefers to draw out the deaths of her enemies and prey to satisfy her childish, irrational feelings. Twitching, trigger-happy and lacking in any sort of mental stability, Vertigo is truly a deranged monster.

Relationships: Vertigo has forged alliances in the past, but they never last long. Her most common on-and-off allies are Chaos and Diablo, the former due to his close proximity and the latter due to his rescuing her from the rubble. However, Chaos inevitably disgusts Vertigo to the point where he is thrown out of her abodes and Diablo and the insane serpent's egos often clash, inevitably resulting in their alliances breaking down.
Vertigo has never truly made a personal enemy, but she harbours a deep resentment for Kong and his kind due to his species taking her place as the Atu's gods. However, she is a relative blip on Kong's radar, and, apart from one incident which was one of the first times Kong encountered Vertigo where she temporarily managed to take control of his mind, their fights are hilariously one-sided, with the king of Skull Island often just tossing his deranged foe away like a rag doll. Blizzard has frequently clashed with Vertigo, either with him going to her to rescue Iwi huntsmen (as Blizzard's liquid nitrogen can be used in tiny doses to remove the chemicals that the insane serpent employs) or her coming to him through the ruins to claim more thralls from the Iwi, though the former is more common.
The Iwi fear Vertigo greatly, interpreting her as the goddess of insanity. Some elders use her as an example as to why young ones should obey the gods, but this practice has waned due to the increasingly multicultural nature of Iwi society. She is considered a dangerous nuisance by many MONARCH archaeologists who work to preserve the ruins and artefacts, as she obviously obstructs this. Fortunately, the Iwi have given MONARCH permission to take the artefacts to the Skull Island Museum in the Philippine city of Bislig (unless if they are of of great cultural significance to the Iwi, in which case they will take them), where many Skull Island fossils, animal parts and Tagu and Atu artefacts are stored for the general public to view (and which the Iwi have often been taken to act as consultants), in order to prevent any damage to them by the isle's monstrous inhabitants. Still, retrieval of the artefacts isn't exactly easy when you're under attack from a mind-controlling giant monster. The head of MONARCH's archaeology projects on Skull Island, Doctor Benjamin Thompson, has requested G-Force's aid in protecting the archaeologists and dealing with Vertigo, though due to G-Force's busy schedule this has yet to be properly agreed.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Main Character Inspirations: Vertigo
Appearance inspirations: The original Vertigo, lizards and Tetrapodophis

Primal Rage, Vertigo, Sauron, Diablo, Armadon and Chaos belong to Time Warner Interactive
Axor belongs to Hanna Barbara
Buffalone and Gorosaurus belong to Toho
Valla and the Deathrunners belong to Dark Horse
In hindsight, I really should have conflated Vertigo with Axor, but oh well. Plus it gives more depth to Buffalone. I figured it was high time that I started putting in some actual Tagu and Atu characters, so I added a connection with the Atu for Vertigo. I also thought it would be a good place to insert one of the only named humans from Primal Rage. I hope nobody's displeased with how I treated the Tagu and the Atu here, as I'm aware that it's a big departure from the source material and many will not like my treatment of V'drell, Bar-Atu and Ewata, but I don't think there's any way the story could have played out (I admit that I wanted to namedrop a Tagu character here as I wasn't sure if I'd get the opportunity later, hence why I killed off Ewata, but just to try and placate the fans she died sacrificing herself for her people and she was a hell of a lot better than the likes of V'drell and Bar-Atu). The lingering after-effects from Vertigo's chemicals are, of course,

Description
Name: Vertigo
MONARCH Codename: MADWOMAN
Scientific name: Elenchokompra insanus (insane controlling cobra)
Height: 3 meters (when laid flat on the ground)
Length: 100 meters (when laid flat on the ground)
Diet: Carnivore
Affiliation: Major Kaiju (Scourge)

Overview: Though Axor may be long dead, he was not the only cobra-like monster equipped with mind control. Vertigo also wields it, though she is closer in relation to actual cobras and lurks in Skull Island's ruins.

History: Vertigo's kind slithered (despite her resemblance to snakes she is a dolichosaur more closely related to Tetrapodophis, rather like tatzelwurms and jaculus) through Skull Island for millions of years before the advent of other predators like Megaprimatus kongi and Gorosaurus ischyropodi, with Vertigo quickly being reduced to the last of her kind. Not that she was complaining, however: the Tagu and Atu tribes had just arrived on Skull Island, and the latter had taken to worshipping the island's gods. They viewed Vertigo as the queen of the gods as she was their main protector, with one individual, V'drell, quickly assassinating the Atu leader Aguul (who forbid the worship of any of Skull Island's Kaiju) and becoming their Shaman (their new leader on Skull Island) through association (and a little bit of corrupt help) with Vertigo's high priestess Malyssa. Vertigo herself, however, cared nought for her human worshippers, merely protecting them so they could continue to provide her with food and water. She enjoyed this lethargic lifestyle of being worshipped as a goddess, but even then Vertigo was somewhat unstable: according to the writings of even her own worshippers, she would tear her opponents apart and play with their guts afterwards, and even ate her most loyal thralls from time to time. Some MONARCH scientists believe that the Atu were partially inspired to worship Vertigo by the pheromones and chemicals she employs against her prey, but most of it seems to be genuine. However, all good things must come to an end, and eventually a new religious figure, one of many whom V'drell had squared off against with help from Malyssa, rose to prominence. Named Bar-Atu, this radical thinker proposed that only the Megaprimatus kongi (which he referred to as simply the Kongs, which is a possible origin for King Kong's own name) were gods, with Valla being the queen of the gods. This was a shocking accusation, and at first Bar-Atu was almost an outcast. However, as the Atu watched as more of their kinsmen were devoured by Vertigo, more monsters were brutally killed by their guardian and the more they realised that V'drell and Malyssa were just manipulating their religion as a larger power play, the more they accepted Bar-Atu's ideas, and they soon allied with him. V'drell was secretly murdered by Bar-Atu's loyal followers and Malyssa banished for her "blasphemy", and though the Atu never knew what became of her a pile of bones in one of Chaos' haunts is believed to belong to her. The Atu quickly stopped their sacrifices to Vertigo and began to travel further inland towards the home of the Kongs. However, the insanity serpent was not pleased by this, and this is believed to be the moment when this petty, pampered Kaiju snapped. She zoomed after the Atu and destroyed their camp, devouring Bar-Atu himself as she did so. The former worshippers of this vicious Kaiju were forced to flee into the island's jungles, where the Tagu, who were also in a shambles due to just losing their queen Ewata to the jaws of Sauron, were waiting for them. The massive battle that ensued left both tribes at low numbers, and they were picked off by Skull Island's other monsters, making Vertigo indirectly responsible for what was effectively genocide.
Vertigo continued to lurk in the ruins of the Atu (and eventually the Tagu) for thousands of years, going more and more insane from the isolation. When the Primal Rage rolled about, Vertigo saw an opportunity to win back a life of luxury through conquering the territories of other Kaiju, and came out of her palaces ready for action. Though she gained little ground thanks to the Deathrunners, she quickly gained traction once they were gone. However, the island's Guardians were quickly able to end that reign of terror, with Armadon emerging from the Earth within the isle's jungles to deal with Vertigo, dragging her back to the ruins and caving them in on her. However, even that did not help Vertigo, as Diablo dug her free so she could lend him a helping hand in the final battle of the Primal Rage.
Since that fateful battle, Vertigo has returned to the ruins, and though she is no longer an expansionist she is still a threat as she hunts way outside of what's necessary, in imitation of the amount of food she got when she was worshipped. She has also taken to using her chemicals and pheromones to take over the minds of Iwi hunters in the region, making them her thralls in an attempt to regain her worship. Still, the Iwi have learnt to avoid the area of the ruins that Vertigo lurks in, and her "worshippers" are few and far between.

Powers, abilities and weaknesses: Vertigo possesses a variety of different abilities, all of which are used in her quest to amass food and worship. First off, she has the traits that you’d expect from a giant snake: thick, scaly skin, muscular, constricting coils and even venom (albeit one only with the effects of excruciating pain and temporary paralysis, though she can also apply the chemicals and pheromones she uses in her mind control to deliver alongside the toxin at the cost of them being slightly dulled due to not being within their optimum pH). Vertigo also has an extra advantage for herself in the form of her hooked foot-claws, which she can use to climb around the ruin complexes and various other structures and thus outmanoeuvre her opponents. Vertigo's most well-known and dangerous ability is, of course, the various chemicals and pheromones that she can rapidly excrete into the environment around her. This excretion is accomplished through a system of pores which covers almost all of Vertigo's body, which squirts out the chemicals and pheromones as an aerosol. This is believed to be a similar method to Axor's. The usual effect of this chemicals is to attack the hypothalamus and hippocampus, forcing the individual on the receiving end of the chemicals to blindly worship Vertigo. Though this usually ends with them either dying of exhaustion or getting devoured by their "goddess", some have been rescued and successfully cured through extremely delicate surgery on the brain which removes the chemicals with water. It seems that even after the chemicals are removed there are recurring side effects for a few weeks or even a few months, with afflicted individuals reporting strange hallucinations, mostly involving transformations such as being turned into a cow or a statue. Why exactly the chemical has this hallucinogenic after-effect is unknown, though some theorise that it may be used more potently when the chemical is still affecting the brain to further coerce the afflicted into worshipping Vertigo. This trait allows the foul serpent to accomplish her goals, and so she should be treated with extreme caution.
Vertigo's main weaknesses are her low durability and (slightly more interestingly) her relatively light weight. She is easily one of Skull Island's lightest Kaiju, and so is easily tossed around by her foes. This has forced Vertigo deeper into the ruins, as the more enclosed space within them allows her to better utilise her constriction as well as preventing her from being tossed too far away from her opponent.

Personality: Vertigo has everything that you would need to achieve her goals personality-wise: she is ruthless, conniving, cold, efficient, manipulative and driven by one singular ambition. The problem is that she is completely and utterly insane. Due to her sudden abandonment by her worshippers and thousands of years of isolation with only Chaos and the odd bit of wildlife she would have inevitably eaten, Vertigo has become an erratic, unstable nutcase who could snap at any moment. Some even think that she may be under the thrall of her chemicals' hallucinogenic effects. Due to her crazy state of mind, she has taken to sadistically enjoying the pain of others (particularly plaguing their minds with her control), and prefers to draw out the deaths of her enemies and prey to satisfy her childish, irrational feelings. Twitching, trigger-happy and lacking in any sort of mental stability, Vertigo is truly a deranged monster.

Relationships: Vertigo has forged alliances in the past, but they never last long. Her most common on-and-off allies are Chaos and Diablo, the former due to his close proximity and the latter due to his rescuing her from the rubble. However, Chaos inevitably disgusts Vertigo to the point where he is thrown out of her abodes and Diablo and the insane serpent's egos often clash, inevitably resulting in their alliances breaking down.
Vertigo has never truly made a personal enemy, but she harbours a deep resentment for Kong and his kind due to his species taking her place as the Atu's gods. However, she is a relative blip on Kong's radar, and, apart from one incident which was one of the first times Kong encountered Vertigo where she temporarily managed to take control of his mind, their fights are hilariously one-sided, with the king of Skull Island often just tossing his deranged foe away like a rag doll. Blizzard has frequently clashed with Vertigo, either with him going to her to rescue Iwi huntsmen (as Blizzard's liquid nitrogen can be used in tiny doses to remove the chemicals that the insane serpent employs) or her coming to him through the ruins to claim more thralls from the Iwi, though the former is more common.
The Iwi fear Vertigo greatly, interpreting her as the goddess of insanity. Some elders use her as an example as to why young ones should obey the gods, but this practice has waned due to the increasingly multicultural nature of Iwi society. She is considered a dangerous nuisance by many MONARCH archaeologists who work to preserve the ruins and artefacts, as she obviously obstructs this. Fortunately, the Iwi have given MONARCH permission to take the artefacts to the Skull Island Museum in the Philippine city of Bislig (unless if they are of of great cultural significance to the Iwi, in which case they will take them), where many Skull Island fossils, animal parts and Tagu and Atu artefacts are stored for the general public to view (and which the Iwi have often been taken to act as consultants), in order to prevent any damage to them by the isle's monstrous inhabitants. Still, retrieval of the artefacts isn't exactly easy when you're under attack from a mind-controlling giant monster. The head of MONARCH's archaeology projects on Skull Island, Doctor Benjamin Thompson, has requested G-Force's aid in protecting the archaeologists and dealing with Vertigo, though due to G-Force's busy schedule this has yet to be properly agreed.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Main Character Inspirations: Vertigo
Appearance inspirations: The original Vertigo, lizards and Tetrapodophis

Primal Rage, Vertigo, Sauron, Diablo, Armadon and Chaos belong to Time Warner Interactive
Axor belongs to Hanna Barbara
Buffalone and Gorosaurus belong to Toho
Valla and the Deathrunners belong to Dark Horse
In hindsight, I really should have conflated Vertigo with Axor, but oh well. Plus it gives more depth to Buffalone. I figured it was high time that I started putting in some actual Tagu and Atu characters, so I added a connection with the Atu for Vertigo. I also thought it would be a good place to insert one of the only named humans from Primal Rage. I hope nobody's displeased with how I treated the Tagu and the Atu here, as I'm aware that it's a big departure from the source material and many will not like my treatment of V'drell, Bar-Atu and Ewata, but I don't think there's any way the story could have played out (I admit that I wanted to namedrop a Tagu character here as I wasn't sure if I'd get the opportunity later, hence why I killed off Ewata, but just to try and placate the fans she died sacrificing herself for her people and she was a hell of a lot better than the likes of V'drell and Bar-Atu). The lingering after-effects from Vertigo's chemicals are, of course,