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Description
Hydras (Hydras multiceps)are one of the more alien creatures to be found in Viam Alternatus. They are a type of armoured amphibian, close relatives of the Fire Salamanders. The exact evolutionary history and place in the amphibian family tree is unknown as fossil remains found by ARK scientists are sketchy at best, but most think that they and Fire Salamanders split from a common ancestor sometime in the late Eocene. Hydras resemble a cross between a slug, a seal, a salamander and a crocodile, most grow up to 5m long about and are found in aquatic freshwater habitats across Eastern Europe and Asia. Their appearance is strange enough but its the animals behaviour is even weirder. Hydras are very long-lived, the exact age they can live up to is not known, estimates ranging from 150-300 years. About 95% of all Hydras alive at one time are female because Hydras are pathogenetic, each female carrying two small clones of itself in its stomach. They do require males for genetic diversity and to prevent inbreeding however and so once every roughly 200 years a male or King Hydra (the males being about three times the size of females [but some records suggest individuals up to 24m long] and with frills) will reach sexual maturity and release pheromones that travel for kilometres. The females smell this and leave their waterways and crawl over the land in a rush to get to the breeding pool in time. If there is a good population of Hydras hundreds can be seen filling up a small pool, making the water look like it is writhing with monstrous serpents. Thousands of eggs and sperm are released into the water, the process lasting a few weeks. This could prove catastrophic for local villages as the Hydras eat most of the prey items, livestock and fish, are very violent at this time, mobbing and eating people and on top of this after one female is killed, two fully functioning smaller creatures burst from the mothers chest (this happens because breeding windows are so short and rare that if an individual dies the population will still remain constant as one clone is likely to survive) and attack. Whole villages and towns would starve to death, be eaten or be abandoned or as often happened a bit of all of that. However an extremely effective solution was discovered. Hydras coat themselves in milky white mucus which helps keep themselves moist when moving between pools or to use as a cocoon when their pool dried up. It is the same type of mucus found in their relatives, Fire Salamanders cheek glands and is very flammable. Fire Salamanders would catapult another chemical out with the white mucus and when combined would combust and was an effective defence against predators. The fact that Hydras use this to coat themselves was never a problem before humans came about or even isn't a problem when its one Hydra against a human as it would attack from the water. However when so many Hydra would gather at the same area and produce so much mucus in the water and also on the land as many would be forced out because of lack of space, the villagers could easily kill them. The warriors would fire flaming arrows at the centre of the mass of Hydras and would cause the milky surface of the water to combust as well as the Hydras themselves and the surrounding riverbanks and forest. People tell stories of how whole rivers would explode with fire and even areas of the sea would burn and float out into open ocean. However this often meant the villages themselves would be burnt down as the fire became out of control. Meeting a Hydra on dry land is even easier to set alight, one small flame would cause the Hydra to explode with flames like it was coated with tar. Such mass killings of Hydras and the fact that they already had an unstable population means that the species has gone into huge decline

Description
Hydras (Hydras multiceps)are one of the more alien creatures to be found in Viam Alternatus. They are a type of armoured amphibian, close relatives of the Fire Salamanders. The exact evolutionary history and place in the amphibian family tree is unknown as fossil remains found by ARK scientists are sketchy at best, but most think that they and Fire Salamanders split from a common ancestor sometime in the late Eocene. Hydras resemble a cross between a slug, a seal, a salamander and a crocodile, most grow up to 5m long about and are found in aquatic freshwater habitats across Eastern Europe and Asia. Their appearance is strange enough but its the animals behaviour is even weirder. Hydras are very long-lived, the exact age they can live up to is not known, estimates ranging from 150-300 years. About 95% of all Hydras alive at one time are female because Hydras are pathogenetic, each female carrying two small clones of itself in its stomach. They do require males for genetic diversity and to prevent inbreeding however and so once every roughly 200 years a male or King Hydra (the males being about three times the size of females [but some records suggest individuals up to 24m long] and with frills) will reach sexual maturity and release pheromones that travel for kilometres. The females smell this and leave their waterways and crawl over the land in a rush to get to the breeding pool in time. If there is a good population of Hydras hundreds can be seen filling up a small pool, making the water look like it is writhing with monstrous serpents. Thousands of eggs and sperm are released into the water, the process lasting a few weeks. This could prove catastrophic for local villages as the Hydras eat most of the prey items, livestock and fish, are very violent at this time, mobbing and eating people and on top of this after one female is killed, two fully functioning smaller creatures burst from the mothers chest (this happens because breeding windows are so short and rare that if an individual dies the population will still remain constant as one clone is likely to survive) and attack. Whole villages and towns would starve to death, be eaten or be abandoned or as often happened a bit of all of that. However an extremely effective solution was discovered. Hydras coat themselves in milky white mucus which helps keep themselves moist when moving between pools or to use as a cocoon when their pool dried up. It is the same type of mucus found in their relatives, Fire Salamanders cheek glands and is very flammable. Fire Salamanders would catapult another chemical out with the white mucus and when combined would combust and was an effective defence against predators. The fact that Hydras use this to coat themselves was never a problem before humans came about or even isn't a problem when its one Hydra against a human as it would attack from the water. However when so many Hydra would gather at the same area and produce so much mucus in the water and also on the land as many would be forced out because of lack of space, the villagers could easily kill them. The warriors would fire flaming arrows at the centre of the mass of Hydras and would cause the milky surface of the water to combust as well as the Hydras themselves and the surrounding riverbanks and forest. People tell stories of how whole rivers would explode with fire and even areas of the sea would burn and float out into open ocean. However this often meant the villages themselves would be burnt down as the fire became out of control. Meeting a Hydra on dry land is even easier to set alight, one small flame would cause the Hydra to explode with flames like it was coated with tar. Such mass killings of Hydras and the fact that they already had an unstable population means that the species has gone into huge decline