The Juggernaut (Dasypus praegrandis) is an awakened cousin of the mundane armadillo, it is physically a match for the common armadillo, however at a much grander scale. Measuring at more than 14 meters from head to tail with some individuals measuring at over 20 meters, the creature is far larger than metahumans. Unlike it's mundane cousin it has no true teeth, it does have serrated bony ridges in upper and lower jaws, allowing for the rending of anything it eats.
Being an omnivore in the truest sense of the word, it eats vegetable, animal and mineral material, making no distinctions or preferences. Due to their size and non-restrictive eating habits, they tend to simply cut swaths of destruction in areas, causing massive damage. That said, they are not known to act aggressive unprovoked or to hunt living things, metahuman or no. In most cases any property damage or deaths are caused by it either trying to get to what it considers as a good source of food at the time, or simple self defense.
The creatures, while not apparently intentionally hostile towards metahumans, show no clear regard for man-made structures whenever they find themselves in inhabited areas. In fact, a quirk of their biology often causes them to seek out urban areas, especially at night when the cities are warmer than the surrounding areas. The bacteria in their guts that allow them to break down and digest inorganic matter produces an exothermic reaction that causes them to prefer the high heat retention environment to warm up. Due to their size they are often unable to fit between buildings or even fully on a street without drafting over to the side. This isn't a problem for them, as they can more or less "wade" through them with little care or abandon. Add to that the fact that they will occasionally "burrow" into buildings to get something that they thought would be tasty, and you have a recipe for disaster.
To compound this, due to their exceptionally large bodies and thick hides, they are remarkably difficult to stop. They have a tendency to outright ignore small arms fire, perhaps rightly operating on the assumption that anything that can't actually cause damage or pain isn't a threat to them. However, if you do manage to draw blood, be on your guard. First the animal will try to run, which in itself is exceptionally dangerous just because of their sheer size. If for whatever reason running isn't an option, they will attempt to destroy everything, and everyone, in its path until the attacks on it stop. For obvious reasons, government bounties on the creatures have little effect on the destruction, not only because of how hard they are to kill, but also because the natural fight or flight reflexes of these creatures often causes more damage than their natural bumbling nature.
Index[]
- Critters, 33
- Paranormal Animals of North America, 92-93
- Source:Howling Shadows, 65