rakoval500k-blog

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Diabolocervus, The Not-Deer, or my take on Not-Deer cryptid/creepypasta as a dangerous, foul-tempered and hog-eating Entelodontid, which i dubbed "Diabolocervus". NSFW for partially eaten feral hog.

In the forests of the Appalachian Mountains, an elusive creature is said to be seen. It is said to resemble a normal deer when one looks at it from afar, yet this resemblance wanes steadily as you are closing the distance to it. Size that rivals that of the very largest bull moose(plural), heavier bodily build, long legs that are thicker than that of any actual deer, strange, seemingly undersized antlers and the form of its head are the features that catch one’s eye.

But the entirety of its ferocious exterior reveals itself when this animal is just in the several dozens of yards from whomever is looking at it, and even more is revealed when it is found after a successful hunt. It looks with the pair of sharp, forward facing eyes highlighted by thick, bright-colored brow ridges and characteristic, highly pronounced cheekbones. Underneath the wide snout remotely resembling that of a hyena, one sees a maw with massive canine teeth. The size and bulk of these jaws suggests that this beast is indeed capable of breaking skulls and legs with its monstrous bite. The coarse, tough coat of the Not-Deer resembles that of a wild boar rather than that of a deer. The tail is short, with a large dark brush. The hooves are unlike that of deers either - these are sharp and more separated, evolved for doubling as an offensive weapon.

The overall impression of this animal might remind the viewer about something that could exist in the ancient times, long before humans started walking straight, yet long after the extinction of dinosaurs. And it is, in fact, an actual descendant of such an animal. It is a vestige of the long-gone era of Miocene - an Entelodont, to be precise. Its “antlers” have, in fact, gradually evolved from enormous cheekbone protrusions seen in the skull of Archaeotherium. The reason why the bone growths of that particular Entelodont lineage moved upwards and to the back of the skull is a subject of debates. These “antlers” mostly consist of keratin, with only a lower, basic part of it being an extension of a skull, which resembles the horns of a pronghorn, despite being so different externally. Much like the pronghorn, the keratinous part of these horns gets shed and regrows annually. Female horns are usually smaller than that of bulls.

The brain compartment is several times larger than that of any other known entelodont, and enables this animal to have problem-solving skills, as well as an astonishing memory. The not-deer is an omnivore, and employs plenty of different strategies and tactics for hunting and foraging alike. For example, the diabolocervus can instantly switch one tactic for another when hunting a feral hog, its newly-emerged favourite prey. When a family unit of not-deers comes to forage for pine cones, the father bull, being of greater height, stands up to use his front legs and horns to drop the cones for the cow and calves. The not-deer’s ability to stand and walk on its extremely powerful hind legs is often used for reaching high-hanging food as well as for intimidation and defence.

The aforementioned intelligence could evolve under the pressure of advanced predators such as big saber-toothed and normal-toothed cats and short-nosed bears that were capable of robbing these entelodonts of their food supply, as well as hunt the entelodonts themselves. The reproduction rate of a not-deer is relatively low: 1-2 calves can be born after 1 year of pregnancy, with a maturity threshold of 4-5 years for cows and 5-7 years for bulls. Because of this, the not-deers have to use their intelligence for prolonged and meticulous biparental care for their offspring. Depending on exact environmental circumstances, the family unit may consist of 1 bull, 1-2 cows, 1-3 calves and 1-3 subadults. The overall number of specimens per family rarely exceeds 4-6 individuals. The sub-adult not-deers participate in protecting and helping younger calves, as well as aid their parents at hunting. Not-deer leaves its family when it reaches 450-600 kilograms of weight. In their period between leaving a family and creating their own, not-deers of both sexes form small male-only and female-only groups of 2-3 individuals. When it comes to contesting for females, not-deer bulls are relatively unaggressive towards each other, and prefer displaying feats of strength and intimidation rather than fighting each other directly. Even if the rare instance of fighting occurs, it doesn’t go past minor wounds. The not-deers generally prefer to hold a non-violent attitude towards each other, and are capable of solving their disputes through communication, for which they utilise diverse vocalisations and tail movements. However, they’re highly elusive and foul-tempered when it comes to interacting with other species. 

As for its affection for the pork - feral hogs are abundant, and most of them are nearly defenseless even against a mature cow, let alone a mature bull. If a hog tries to attack a not-deer’s legs with its tusks, it gets a snout-breaking hoof strike - that is if it didn’t get the skull-crushing bite or bled from other wounds beforehand. The defending hog has very few chances of ever damaging the not-deer’s high-slung body, while not-deer can wreck this prey with both kicks and bites. While the hog can utilise its maneuverability in the forest, a family unit of not-deers is oftenly capable of driving the hog to an open terrain and catching it there.

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"SOMEBODY ONCE TOLD ME THIS WORLD IS GONNA ROLL ME", or Albedo emerging from his laboratory with a Festering Desire(which I redesigned) in 1.2 event.

This artwork is meant to depict Albedo coming out of his laboratory several minutes before he met us in "The Chalk Prince and the Dragon" Flagship Event in Version 1.2. One can notice that unlike in the actual event, I chose to draw Albedo without some of his clothes. This is meant to reflect Albedo being more unexpectedly open to us and of course to give the people some fanservice. I made this drawing because I do think that Albedo's 1.2 personality is much closer to that of Shrek rather than Elsa. I think that his "Why are you here!? Are you lost?" is not much different from Shrek's "What are you doing in my swamp!?". Albedo's relations with his parental figure are also closer to that of Shrek.

As for the sword telekinesis(Alucard approves this), we know that Albedo can manipulate his flowers with grown men on them, directing their flight to wherever it's needed (1.6 event), and that some of his ingame moves show him using his sword without actually holding it, so when combined with me generally thinking that Albedo's lore properties go way beyond his ingame implementation, i'm sure that a full-fledged sword telekinesis fits him well. Another change is that I'd prefer his mountain laboratory, or atleast a great part of it, to be an enclosed building rather than a "campsite" that we've seen in game. Albedo can create a treatment that makes the wooden parts of the building resistant to frost and fire alike.

If someone will ask me, I'll post a picture of why would I redesign the sword.

And the last Albedo pic for today:

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"All the marvels in the world must pale before "Cretaceus," the greatest work of them all."

Coatless Albedo with Redesigned Festering Desire and slight changes to clothes, also i gave him tattoos. Also reference images. Yep, there's Vergil from DMC3. Bedo screenshot is not mine.

My Reddit and Artstation post links: