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Description
Scientific Name: Dioserpens Muu
Codename: Manda (蔓蛇[powerful snake]), Mammoth Serpent, Guardian God of Mu, Wani (和邇), Watatsumi (綿津見)

First sighting: 22 December, 1963

Size: Estimated around 120 to 400 meters long (based on report compilations)

Weight: Indeterminable, estimated between 12000 to 45000 tonnes

Category: Alpha Cryptid

Group: Vertebrate

Diet: Carnivore

History:

   Starting around mid 1963, a number of Okinawan and Daitojima fishermen have begun to report of sightings of what they believed to be the "Watatsumi" or "Ryujin". They would make a generic description of having witnessed a series of gigantic hump running across the ocean surface. A lot of S.C.O.R.D. personnel noticed the similarities of "numerous humps running across the surface" and initially made a connection with the Canadian Ogopogo, however the details on those reports suggested a more snake-like locomotion and a row of feather-like spikes running across the surface before disappearing into the ocean, which suggests the Cryptid to be something similar to a serpent. Further digging into the library archives yields stories and tales about what the Japanese called the "Watatsumi" or "Ryujin" and they soon found out that the description of the creature in the reports and the folklore matches with what they cannot deny: an eastern dragon, a Japanese dragon specifically.

     To further confirm the reports of the islanders of the Japanese archipelagos, the Pacific Branch of S.C.O.R.D. decided that they would use whatever aerial or marine vehicle is available to them by the US military in their effort to search for the Cryptid for a period of 3 months. Eventually the latest sighting was made on 22nd of December 1963, whose location is the Odo Sea which surrounds the island of Odo Jima, located between Okinawa and the two Daito Islands. The witness was a US Navy Grumman S-2 Tracker pilot, who describe the creature as "a giant snake-like dragon leaping out of the ocean". Realizing that there is another Cryptid currently unknown to the research organization, the event compelled S.C.O.R.D. to initiate an expedition to the area where the sighting was reported. It was decided that the Naval Base White Beach of Okinawa would be their launching point to the designated area. The area was shortly blockaded and only open to S.C.O.R.D. and the other organizations involved in S.C.O.R.D.'s research expeditions on the joint statement ordered by the United States Indo-Pacific Command [USINDOPACOM] on behalf of S.C.O.R.D.

As per request from Pacific S.C.O.R.D., a submersible modeled after the Trieste bathyscaphe was deployed from the SMOB Hartmann via the heavy duty crane accompanied by another two submarines of the US Navy, the USS Scamp (SSN-558)and the USS Sculpin (SSN-590) in case of a potential attack by a Cryptid. After a rundown by the crews in their metallic fish to ensure their equipment are running as intended, The submarines didn't take long and began to descent into the deep blue waters of the Daito Islands. Taking around 2 hours on the descent from the surface, the submersible and the two submarines have reached at the seabed of the projected area where sighting with the reported Cryptid was most frequent, in hopes of stumbling upon the Cryptid described by the eyewitness. Looking through the viewport, the crew in the bathyscaphe noticed an oddity on the seafloor: an angular rock structure in the midst of coral, sand and stone. Initially uninterested, the bathyscaphe crew continue on with their slow journey on the sea floor. Over the course of a few minutes, they have encountered a number of similar structures on the seabed. The further they go, the larger the structures became. While having no clue on what it could be initially, the crews within began to notice the angularity and uniformity of the structures and began to discuss amongst themselves on how they appeared to have been manmade. Now genuinely interested of their identity, they started following the progressively taller angular structures across the seafloor.

  As the submarine slowly approaches the unnatural-looking structures on the seabed, the sonar imaging crew of the nuclear submarines got a reading on the sonar display. While not noticeable initially, the signal steadily increase in size and seemed to be approaching on the 7 of the submarine. While the two nuclear submarines cannot make a proper image of what it could be, the submersible's upper viewport allowed the crew within to have a good visual on the entity. While visibility in the abyss limited their visual range, the searchlights on the sub allow them to slightly see through a good distance. As soon as they peered through the viewport, they saw something in front of the submersible: the snout of a reptilian creature, following up by a serpentine body seemingly enveloped by sharp scales and ending with a massive fluked tail, moving across the viewport of the submarines. As the unidentified creature swam past the bathyscaphe, the two submarines above the bathyscaphe detected several similar signals on their six moving at a high speed. Soon, several smaller serpentine creatures also passed through the submarines as well.

  Surprised by the presence of not just one Cryptid, but multiple of the same serpentine creatures passing through them, it got the crews both excited and anxious before they asked for permission to follow the dragons and see what they lead to. After approval from the commanding officer in the bridge, the submarines and submersible began to trail the dragons that swam past them. Keeping their distance away from the pilgrims to not spook the Cryptids, the crew in the submarines were on alert anticipating for an attack by the Cryptid. Soon, they noticed the creatures came to a stop and circled around a massive circular stone structure as if waiting for something to be presented for a few minutes before swimming away from the monument and slowing undulating their way to the abyss. Keeping up with the serpents, the submarine tails behind the serpents until they vanished from the sight of the submarine as they enter into a crevice on a man-made structure. While tempted by curiosity, the submarine crew decided it will be in their best interest to not enter the crevice as they discussed the likelihood of the crevice being their turf and getting crushed by the Cryptids and the deep sea pressure is not something they would want to face. Having no options, the crews in their submersibles made their decision to withdraw from the newly discovered location and returned to the ocean surface, temporarily concluding the marine expedition.

  While the encounter with a Cryptid was expected, the discovery of the ancient structure was not planned. Hence, the accidental discovery came as an unexpected gift for the team. The area was thoroughly mapped and studied over the next few decades by the geological archaeological and anthropological branch of S.C.O.R.D. to get an idea of the structure's origin and its function prior to the sinking of the massive man-made structure into the ocean. Subsequent oceanic mappings soon revealed the structure first discovered by S.C.O.R.D. was actually a small part of a much larger group of similarly designed man-made structure scattered across the eastern East China Sea, with one nearly perfectly intact structure being the Yonaguni Monument. As of 2013, there are a multitude of theories surrounding the origins of the structures and their purpose, ranging from naturally occurring rock formations either uninhabited or repurposed into settlements by early humans to an ancient coastal megapolitan protocity constructed by the natives prior to its demise into the deep blue waters during a massive tectonic event which occurred several millennia ago, what is certain however is that the structures on the seabed is visited by the serpentine Cryptids periodically, seemingly as if they were engaging in their own form of pilgrimage.



Powers and Abilities:

  Derived from a clade of reptiles designated as the Gigaserpens, these reptiles are named for their serpentine bodies and lack of external earholes (members of this clade includes the Indoserpens) despite their more lizard-like physiology, due to the presence of eyelids located between the skull and the neck which are absent in snakes. While looking as if they are merely gigantic monitors lizards from afar, they have evolved numerous adaptations and capabilities which enables them to live close to the extreme depths of the ocean. However, their sparse population and infrequent appearance of the surface makes them much more poorly understood in comparison with other Marine Cryptids, which made them a subject of interest for further and elaborate study by both S.C.O.R.D. and D.O.M.E. However, the beaching of a fresh carcass near the eastern shores of Odo Jima around December 2013 and further frequent sighting of similar individuals since 2014 has led to a more comprehensive understanding on the serpentine Cryptid.

  Despite the shape of their skull resembling like monitors which are not known for having powerful jaws, they are surprisingly powerful biters courtesy of their crocodile-like lower jaw and powerful mandible muscles providing them the ability to bite and tear the flesh of their prey. It was estimated that they are capable of exerting around 30000 Newtons, possibly as an adaptation they have made to restrain and immobilize their prey quickly upon seizure underwater based on the teeth marks sunken onto a submersible drone crushed by one of the Dioserpens when it was surveying across the Yonaguni region. Their smooth but diamond-hard teeth are observed to be capable of biting through the wrinkly but leathery hide of the Titanonatans and Monstroteuthis, based on the debris and remain embedded between the gum and teeth on the beached dragon carcass. While unable to expand their jaws like a snake they can open at a arc of nearly 90 degrees, more than enough to take a blue whale in one opening motion. They possess a pair of nictitating membrane which helps to shield their eyes from the cold sea water when moving underwater and to prevent any kind of damage that could be inflicted by their prey as well. Sexually dimorphic species, male Dioserpens possess two massive horn-like protrusions on their head whereas the females lack such protrusions. Those horns only grow when the Dioserpens began to undergo maturity.

While seemingly defenseless against other Alpha Cryptids, the Dioserpens possess an ability similar to all whales and dolphins albeit on a larger scale: the ability to discharge a high pressure jet ball from their nostril, expelling waste air trapped within their lungs through their snouts. The jet stream is estimated to be capable of travelling through the water at a speed up between 500 to 1200 kilometres/hour, sufficient to punch and leave a massive bruise that could cause severe hemorrhage to any living thing unlucky to get caught in the sneeze. This ability has been used against other Cryptids as well, however and is only used both on the surface and above the mesopelagic zone (200 to 1000 meters below sea level), as discharging the jet at depths lower than 500 meters can cause seawater to enter their nasal gland and enter their respiratory system and the ocean pressure crushing their body as soon as their discharge the air jet, potentially drowning them to their death within a few seconds. While their nasal chamber possess a valve which prevents water from entering their chamber, the air inside the chamber cannot be extracted from the water but from the surface. Hence, it is only reserved for use in life-and-death situations.

  Enveloping their serpentine body are sharp feather-like scales which primarily serve as a form of passive defense for these Eastern Dragon-like Cryptids. The scales also helps to redirect and minimize the drag of the water current against their body. The ridge scales on both flanks serve as a passive defense against other Cryptids that might ambush them from either side and prevents their prey from securing a grip on their flank while struggling to escape from the suffocating coil of the serpent. Sensillas are distributed throughout the flank scales and the snout of the Dioserpens, allowing them to detect vibration in the water without the need to constantly use their eyes to watch their surroundings. Their muscles combining with their flexible skeleton enables them to coil around and crush their prey using their muscle, similar to how anacondas and pythons use their massive and bulky body to restrain and neutralize their prey before consuming them whole.

Despite their nearly fully aquatic lifestyle, attached to their serpentine bodies are their four short but strong limbs. These limbs of theirs enables them to move onto land and assists them to switch from a swimming locomotion to a crawling locomotion as soon as they travel from the deep waters to shallow waters. Tipped on their fingers are sharp claws which the Dioserpens uses to latch onto whatever structures or objects they would come across. These claws also serves them as defense weapon to inflict slashing wounds against other Alpha Cryptids in close range confrontations and would occasionally be used to pin down their prey while coiling around to suffocate them. While sluggish when on land, very few Cryptids could match with their speed when it comes to movement underwater. Using their powerful muscles and undulating their body side-to-side similar to crocodiles and other marine reptiles, they are capable of travelling at speeds up to around 40 knots per hour, outpacing most ships and outmaneuvering even some of the most proficient of swimmers like the Titanonatans thanks to their serpentine bauplan which provides minimal drag as they travel in the water.

While they do spend most of their time in the warm Pacific waters, they are still lung-breathing organisms and still have to surface up for air every few hours to discharge the nitrogen buildup in their muscles and taking in oxygen for their next dive. Similar to the Titanonatans, the Dioserpens are capable of squeezing their lungs and transferring oxygen from their lungs into the muscles and bloodstream and shutting their ears completely to prevent it from being crushed by the increasingly immense pressure of the abyss as the deeper they get. However, they have another measure of ensuring sufficient oxygen supply within their body as they travel deeper: their high myoglobin concentration enables them to rely on the myoglobins packed between their muscles as they travel underwater even if the oxygen level in their muscles were depleted, ensuring the supply of oxygen remains long enough for them to remain underwater before resurfacing. This adaptation has been observed with numerous marine mammals and aquatic Cryptids that always venture deep into the abyss.

Behaviour/Personality:

   Dioserpens exhibits typical solitary animal behaviour, often in the form of traveling and foraging on their own. However, when needed to they will form a school consisting between 3 to 6 in search of a feeding ground. Young Dioserpens will often hunt in a group called pilgrims together, as a form of protection between each other and to increase their chances of a successful hunt. As they slowly grow over time to adulthood, Dioserpens would part ways from their pilgrim and begin to hunt on their own to avoid competing with similar-sized competitors. The massive serpents communicate to each other across the vast ocean through infrasound like whales and dolphins when underwater, but they would emit a series of low-pitched hisses and snarls when out of the water. They would at times tilt their body upright when idle to conserve energy and follow the flow of the ocean current, not unlike crocodiles and alligators. However when necessary, they can swim against the current using their powerful rudder-like tail and serpentine body for several days without stopping. Occasionally, the serpents would be seen leaping out of the ocean surface up several meters before diving back into the ocean. The exact nature of why they did so is not known, however it is believed that the leap was done as a means of getting any potential hitchhiking remoras or bugs off their body.

  Migratory animals, they would travel across the globe and usually settle in warm waters according to the season due to their reptilian physiology. Their breeding and mating behaviour is hardly known as they were never observed doing so even on the surface, however it doesn't stop the scientists to hypothesize that they may be oviparous animals, similar to the semiaquatic anacondas that spend most of their time in the riverine waters of the Amazon Basin. Once in a while, the massive serpents would approach the surface and discharge their nitrogen buildup. If there were anyone lucky enough to witness the Dioserpens near Japanese waters, it would be interpreted as the visiting by the dragon god, Watatsumi to determine the outcome of the Land of the Rising Sun.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally a PROJECT 54 entry for 2024!
It has been a while since I last posted something for PROJECT 54 since Dogora (January 2022), last year had been quite a busy year for me
And I guess it is an opportune time to post it which coincides with the Chinese New Year, since this year happened to be the Year Of The Dragon
This entry I can say with confidence is the one that I have spent the longest time working on, since I have worked on it since 2021. But now that I looked back, I felt that it might be just the right time for me to finally upload Manda's entry by this year
While the research aspect was mostly about searching for historical locations and Japanese folklore, the one thing that took me a while is to include the Yonaguni monument into the story. The story behind the monument was something that I am tempted to add into the story, which I have been thinking about how to incorporate them into a story I have envisioned for PROJECT 54 a long time ago
But for now, I will continue to work on that story until I am ready to unveil more

There will be more GUUD stuff coming soon! To those BOIz and GURLz following me for whatever stuff you are following me for, HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS AND STAY SAFE!

Description
Scientific Name: Dioserpens Muu
Codename: Manda (蔓蛇[powerful snake]), Mammoth Serpent, Guardian God of Mu, Wani (和邇), Watatsumi (綿津見)

First sighting: 22 December, 1963

Size: Estimated around 120 to 400 meters long (based on report compilations)

Weight: Indeterminable, estimated between 12000 to 45000 tonnes

Category: Alpha Cryptid

Group: Vertebrate

Diet: Carnivore

History:

   Starting around mid 1963, a number of Okinawan and Daitojima fishermen have begun to report of sightings of what they believed to be the "Watatsumi" or "Ryujin". They would make a generic description of having witnessed a series of gigantic hump running across the ocean surface. A lot of S.C.O.R.D. personnel noticed the similarities of "numerous humps running across the surface" and initially made a connection with the Canadian Ogopogo, however the details on those reports suggested a more snake-like locomotion and a row of feather-like spikes running across the surface before disappearing into the ocean, which suggests the Cryptid to be something similar to a serpent. Further digging into the library archives yields stories and tales about what the Japanese called the "Watatsumi" or "Ryujin" and they soon found out that the description of the creature in the reports and the folklore matches with what they cannot deny: an eastern dragon, a Japanese dragon specifically.

     To further confirm the reports of the islanders of the Japanese archipelagos, the Pacific Branch of S.C.O.R.D. decided that they would use whatever aerial or marine vehicle is available to them by the US military in their effort to search for the Cryptid for a period of 3 months. Eventually the latest sighting was made on 22nd of December 1963, whose location is the Odo Sea which surrounds the island of Odo Jima, located between Okinawa and the two Daito Islands. The witness was a US Navy Grumman S-2 Tracker pilot, who describe the creature as "a giant snake-like dragon leaping out of the ocean". Realizing that there is another Cryptid currently unknown to the research organization, the event compelled S.C.O.R.D. to initiate an expedition to the area where the sighting was reported. It was decided that the Naval Base White Beach of Okinawa would be their launching point to the designated area. The area was shortly blockaded and only open to S.C.O.R.D. and the other organizations involved in S.C.O.R.D.'s research expeditions on the joint statement ordered by the United States Indo-Pacific Command [USINDOPACOM] on behalf of S.C.O.R.D.

As per request from Pacific S.C.O.R.D., a submersible modeled after the Trieste bathyscaphe was deployed from the SMOB Hartmann via the heavy duty crane accompanied by another two submarines of the US Navy, the USS Scamp (SSN-558)and the USS Sculpin (SSN-590) in case of a potential attack by a Cryptid. After a rundown by the crews in their metallic fish to ensure their equipment are running as intended, The submarines didn't take long and began to descent into the deep blue waters of the Daito Islands. Taking around 2 hours on the descent from the surface, the submersible and the two submarines have reached at the seabed of the projected area where sighting with the reported Cryptid was most frequent, in hopes of stumbling upon the Cryptid described by the eyewitness. Looking through the viewport, the crew in the bathyscaphe noticed an oddity on the seafloor: an angular rock structure in the midst of coral, sand and stone. Initially uninterested, the bathyscaphe crew continue on with their slow journey on the sea floor. Over the course of a few minutes, they have encountered a number of similar structures on the seabed. The further they go, the larger the structures became. While having no clue on what it could be initially, the crews within began to notice the angularity and uniformity of the structures and began to discuss amongst themselves on how they appeared to have been manmade. Now genuinely interested of their identity, they started following the progressively taller angular structures across the seafloor.

  As the submarine slowly approaches the unnatural-looking structures on the seabed, the sonar imaging crew of the nuclear submarines got a reading on the sonar display. While not noticeable initially, the signal steadily increase in size and seemed to be approaching on the 7 of the submarine. While the two nuclear submarines cannot make a proper image of what it could be, the submersible's upper viewport allowed the crew within to have a good visual on the entity. While visibility in the abyss limited their visual range, the searchlights on the sub allow them to slightly see through a good distance. As soon as they peered through the viewport, they saw something in front of the submersible: the snout of a reptilian creature, following up by a serpentine body seemingly enveloped by sharp scales and ending with a massive fluked tail, moving across the viewport of the submarines. As the unidentified creature swam past the bathyscaphe, the two submarines above the bathyscaphe detected several similar signals on their six moving at a high speed. Soon, several smaller serpentine creatures also passed through the submarines as well.

  Surprised by the presence of not just one Cryptid, but multiple of the same serpentine creatures passing through them, it got the crews both excited and anxious before they asked for permission to follow the dragons and see what they lead to. After approval from the commanding officer in the bridge, the submarines and submersible began to trail the dragons that swam past them. Keeping their distance away from the pilgrims to not spook the Cryptids, the crew in the submarines were on alert anticipating for an attack by the Cryptid. Soon, they noticed the creatures came to a stop and circled around a massive circular stone structure as if waiting for something to be presented for a few minutes before swimming away from the monument and slowing undulating their way to the abyss. Keeping up with the serpents, the submarine tails behind the serpents until they vanished from the sight of the submarine as they enter into a crevice on a man-made structure. While tempted by curiosity, the submarine crew decided it will be in their best interest to not enter the crevice as they discussed the likelihood of the crevice being their turf and getting crushed by the Cryptids and the deep sea pressure is not something they would want to face. Having no options, the crews in their submersibles made their decision to withdraw from the newly discovered location and returned to the ocean surface, temporarily concluding the marine expedition.

  While the encounter with a Cryptid was expected, the discovery of the ancient structure was not planned. Hence, the accidental discovery came as an unexpected gift for the team. The area was thoroughly mapped and studied over the next few decades by the geological archaeological and anthropological branch of S.C.O.R.D. to get an idea of the structure's origin and its function prior to the sinking of the massive man-made structure into the ocean. Subsequent oceanic mappings soon revealed the structure first discovered by S.C.O.R.D. was actually a small part of a much larger group of similarly designed man-made structure scattered across the eastern East China Sea, with one nearly perfectly intact structure being the Yonaguni Monument. As of 2013, there are a multitude of theories surrounding the origins of the structures and their purpose, ranging from naturally occurring rock formations either uninhabited or repurposed into settlements by early humans to an ancient coastal megapolitan protocity constructed by the natives prior to its demise into the deep blue waters during a massive tectonic event which occurred several millennia ago, what is certain however is that the structures on the seabed is visited by the serpentine Cryptids periodically, seemingly as if they were engaging in their own form of pilgrimage.



Powers and Abilities:

  Derived from a clade of reptiles designated as the Gigaserpens, these reptiles are named for their serpentine bodies and lack of external earholes (members of this clade includes the Indoserpens) despite their more lizard-like physiology, due to the presence of eyelids located between the skull and the neck which are absent in snakes. While looking as if they are merely gigantic monitors lizards from afar, they have evolved numerous adaptations and capabilities which enables them to live close to the extreme depths of the ocean. However, their sparse population and infrequent appearance of the surface makes them much more poorly understood in comparison with other Marine Cryptids, which made them a subject of interest for further and elaborate study by both S.C.O.R.D. and D.O.M.E. However, the beaching of a fresh carcass near the eastern shores of Odo Jima around December 2013 and further frequent sighting of similar individuals since 2014 has led to a more comprehensive understanding on the serpentine Cryptid.

  Despite the shape of their skull resembling like monitors which are not known for having powerful jaws, they are surprisingly powerful biters courtesy of their crocodile-like lower jaw and powerful mandible muscles providing them the ability to bite and tear the flesh of their prey. It was estimated that they are capable of exerting around 30000 Newtons, possibly as an adaptation they have made to restrain and immobilize their prey quickly upon seizure underwater based on the teeth marks sunken onto a submersible drone crushed by one of the Dioserpens when it was surveying across the Yonaguni region. Their smooth but diamond-hard teeth are observed to be capable of biting through the wrinkly but leathery hide of the Titanonatans and Monstroteuthis, based on the debris and remain embedded between the gum and teeth on the beached dragon carcass. While unable to expand their jaws like a snake they can open at a arc of nearly 90 degrees, more than enough to take a blue whale in one opening motion. They possess a pair of nictitating membrane which helps to shield their eyes from the cold sea water when moving underwater and to prevent any kind of damage that could be inflicted by their prey as well. Sexually dimorphic species, male Dioserpens possess two massive horn-like protrusions on their head whereas the females lack such protrusions. Those horns only grow when the Dioserpens began to undergo maturity.

While seemingly defenseless against other Alpha Cryptids, the Dioserpens possess an ability similar to all whales and dolphins albeit on a larger scale: the ability to discharge a high pressure jet ball from their nostril, expelling waste air trapped within their lungs through their snouts. The jet stream is estimated to be capable of travelling through the water at a speed up between 500 to 1200 kilometres/hour, sufficient to punch and leave a massive bruise that could cause severe hemorrhage to any living thing unlucky to get caught in the sneeze. This ability has been used against other Cryptids as well, however and is only used both on the surface and above the mesopelagic zone (200 to 1000 meters below sea level), as discharging the jet at depths lower than 500 meters can cause seawater to enter their nasal gland and enter their respiratory system and the ocean pressure crushing their body as soon as their discharge the air jet, potentially drowning them to their death within a few seconds. While their nasal chamber possess a valve which prevents water from entering their chamber, the air inside the chamber cannot be extracted from the water but from the surface. Hence, it is only reserved for use in life-and-death situations.

  Enveloping their serpentine body are sharp feather-like scales which primarily serve as a form of passive defense for these Eastern Dragon-like Cryptids. The scales also helps to redirect and minimize the drag of the water current against their body. The ridge scales on both flanks serve as a passive defense against other Cryptids that might ambush them from either side and prevents their prey from securing a grip on their flank while struggling to escape from the suffocating coil of the serpent. Sensillas are distributed throughout the flank scales and the snout of the Dioserpens, allowing them to detect vibration in the water without the need to constantly use their eyes to watch their surroundings. Their muscles combining with their flexible skeleton enables them to coil around and crush their prey using their muscle, similar to how anacondas and pythons use their massive and bulky body to restrain and neutralize their prey before consuming them whole.

Despite their nearly fully aquatic lifestyle, attached to their serpentine bodies are their four short but strong limbs. These limbs of theirs enables them to move onto land and assists them to switch from a swimming locomotion to a crawling locomotion as soon as they travel from the deep waters to shallow waters. Tipped on their fingers are sharp claws which the Dioserpens uses to latch onto whatever structures or objects they would come across. These claws also serves them as defense weapon to inflict slashing wounds against other Alpha Cryptids in close range confrontations and would occasionally be used to pin down their prey while coiling around to suffocate them. While sluggish when on land, very few Cryptids could match with their speed when it comes to movement underwater. Using their powerful muscles and undulating their body side-to-side similar to crocodiles and other marine reptiles, they are capable of travelling at speeds up to around 40 knots per hour, outpacing most ships and outmaneuvering even some of the most proficient of swimmers like the Titanonatans thanks to their serpentine bauplan which provides minimal drag as they travel in the water.

While they do spend most of their time in the warm Pacific waters, they are still lung-breathing organisms and still have to surface up for air every few hours to discharge the nitrogen buildup in their muscles and taking in oxygen for their next dive. Similar to the Titanonatans, the Dioserpens are capable of squeezing their lungs and transferring oxygen from their lungs into the muscles and bloodstream and shutting their ears completely to prevent it from being crushed by the increasingly immense pressure of the abyss as the deeper they get. However, they have another measure of ensuring sufficient oxygen supply within their body as they travel deeper: their high myoglobin concentration enables them to rely on the myoglobins packed between their muscles as they travel underwater even if the oxygen level in their muscles were depleted, ensuring the supply of oxygen remains long enough for them to remain underwater before resurfacing. This adaptation has been observed with numerous marine mammals and aquatic Cryptids that always venture deep into the abyss.

Behaviour/Personality:

   Dioserpens exhibits typical solitary animal behaviour, often in the form of traveling and foraging on their own. However, when needed to they will form a school consisting between 3 to 6 in search of a feeding ground. Young Dioserpens will often hunt in a group called pilgrims together, as a form of protection between each other and to increase their chances of a successful hunt. As they slowly grow over time to adulthood, Dioserpens would part ways from their pilgrim and begin to hunt on their own to avoid competing with similar-sized competitors. The massive serpents communicate to each other across the vast ocean through infrasound like whales and dolphins when underwater, but they would emit a series of low-pitched hisses and snarls when out of the water. They would at times tilt their body upright when idle to conserve energy and follow the flow of the ocean current, not unlike crocodiles and alligators. However when necessary, they can swim against the current using their powerful rudder-like tail and serpentine body for several days without stopping. Occasionally, the serpents would be seen leaping out of the ocean surface up several meters before diving back into the ocean. The exact nature of why they did so is not known, however it is believed that the leap was done as a means of getting any potential hitchhiking remoras or bugs off their body.

  Migratory animals, they would travel across the globe and usually settle in warm waters according to the season due to their reptilian physiology. Their breeding and mating behaviour is hardly known as they were never observed doing so even on the surface, however it doesn't stop the scientists to hypothesize that they may be oviparous animals, similar to the semiaquatic anacondas that spend most of their time in the riverine waters of the Amazon Basin. Once in a while, the massive serpents would approach the surface and discharge their nitrogen buildup. If there were anyone lucky enough to witness the Dioserpens near Japanese waters, it would be interpreted as the visiting by the dragon god, Watatsumi to determine the outcome of the Land of the Rising Sun.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally a PROJECT 54 entry for 2024!
It has been a while since I last posted something for PROJECT 54 since Dogora (January 2022), last year had been quite a busy year for me
And I guess it is an opportune time to post it which coincides with the Chinese New Year, since this year happened to be the Year Of The Dragon
This entry I can say with confidence is the one that I have spent the longest time working on, since I have worked on it since 2021. But now that I looked back, I felt that it might be just the right time for me to finally upload Manda's entry by this year
While the research aspect was mostly about searching for historical locations and Japanese folklore, the one thing that took me a while is to include the Yonaguni monument into the story. The story behind the monument was something that I am tempted to add into the story, which I have been thinking about how to incorporate them into a story I have envisioned for PROJECT 54 a long time ago
But for now, I will continue to work on that story until I am ready to unveil more

There will be more GUUD stuff coming soon! To those BOIz and GURLz following me for whatever stuff you are following me for, HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS AND STAY SAFE!