Makor Fang Launcher

Makor Fang Launcher

by Cobol Yu

The first and most commonly seen of the Naga-created war beasts, the hulking amphibious Makor or Makara inhabit the long coastlines and river systems of Khuresh, often found around wetlands, estuaries and shallow continental shelves. As large as the Stegadon, the Makor is a chimeric hybrid of elephant, merwyrm and Magus Cone, the latter being an exceedingly toxic ocean-dwelling snail related to the so-called Pain-Pain Snail of Lustria.
Originally bred before the Great Cataclysm to contend with the mighty reptilian war beasts of the Lizardmen, the Makor has proven a dependable asset in the serpent-Naga forces over its millennia of service. It pulls the sea barges for amphibious assaults and carries war machines on its back. Its booming elephantine bellow, regularly heard throughout the Hinterlands, has struck fear into the hearts of many elves and men. During intervals in between conflicts, herds of Makor are compelled to labour on the Snake Men sanctums, hauling masonry with their bulk and prehensile trunks. The favoured mount of most Khureshi leaders, its likeness is commonly depicted on pillars, murals and statues through the peninsula.
The Makor has adapted to the largely Warpstone-irradiated environment of Khuresh, though at the cost of a slower birth rate. Its tough pebbled hide is covered with a layer of slime that protects the creature from heat, as well as a staggering amount of poisons and disease endemic to the Hinterlands. The Makor has a considerable appetite, as its body requires the extra mass and energy to quickly regenerate battle damage. Vividly-coloured spined fins run along its sides, serpentine tail and leonine clawed limbs. The Makor is omnivorous but prefers a diet of meat, indicated by its wide saw-toothed maw reminiscent of that of a merwyrm's.
While the Makor has inherited the venomous bite of the merwyrm, the creature has an even deadlier form of venom-delivery. Like the elephants of Ind, Araby and the Southlands, the Makor bears a muscular prehensile trunk with which it can manipulate objects. In this case however it is also a proboscis housing a large retractable tooth that can quickly form from the trunk's secreted enzymes. This tooth is hollow and barbed, attached to the tip of a radula that is loaded with venom from an attached organic bulb. Through powerful muscular contractions the Makor can inject its enemies with this envenomed tooth, filling them with a hundred different neurotoxins. In this way the Makor defends itself from the gargantuan predators of the sea. The harpoon swiftly regrows within hours as the Makor gets nourishment from its feast.
The Naga have learned to coax the trained Makor into impaling inanimate targets with their harpoons so they can be harvested as ammunition. Tokke craftsmen load the barbed javelin-sized spikes onto portable bolt throwers. With rope made of Naga hair tresses, the Fang Launcher bolt thrower is mounted on the howdahs of the Makor. The elevated height allows the Snake Men operators to fire the Makor’s toxic harpoons at enemy formations and monsters from a longer range, all while smashing through enemy formations and fortifications.
The marine Turbinid Abyss marga boasts one of the largest menagerie of these creatures. Since the creation of the Vortex their Blood Naga Queen have bred Makor with the mutated whales and sea beasts that inhabit the Far Sea. Warped by the power of Chaos, these ‘Beasts of Five Forms’ are host to an array of bizarre mutations, including large antlers, long tusks or in rarer cases wings for limited gliding flight.
A skilled monster acquisitions team of House van de Kuypers had once attempted to capture the exotic Makor of Khuresh, knowing that the Imperial Zoo paid exorbitant amounts of gold to those who can acquire the rarest specimens. On their ship’s return journey home from a trading mission at Cathay, the captain of the Richter had spotted a sluggish Makor covered in Warpstone-inflicted wounds around the western Hinterlands’ coasts and decided it was the best opportunity they had to catch it. The crew of the Richter managed to subdue the beast and confined it within the hold of their vessel, losing nearly half of their number in the process. As their ship approached the coasts of the Southlands however, a strange noise emanated from within the hold. When the crew went to check they were horrified by what had occurred. The Makor had mutated and slipped its bindings, becoming more serpentine but retaining its elephant-like head. When a rescue ship of elves from the Fortress of Dawn came upon the Richter, they found her terrified captain hiding within his cabin and barely clinging to life. He recounted how the creature attacked and devoured everyone else aboard, before it leapt off and swam towards the coast. This story has given rise to the Grootslang legend, leading to numerous sightings of the beast by Old World trade ships, particularly those from Marienburg, navigating along the southern coasts of the Southlands.

Type

Artillery