Boadra

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Boadra the Cowardly Imitator God is an enormous legendary serpent God-Beast and the tyrannical ruler of Bhari’Adavi. His goal is to simply remain supreme at the top of the food chain in Bhari’Adavi’s ecosystem of giants.

Boadra developed a reputation as a coward due to his tendency to flee from conflicts that he knows he has a chance of losing. He will also frequently resort to cunning, unfair tactics in battle. Boadra devours ravenously, but he never completely renders species extinct as he wishes to allow his prey to repopulate enough so that he can devour them again. Thus, he created a sustainable feeding ground for himself at the expense of Bhari’Adavi’s inhabitants living in constant fear.

Despite Boadra’s presence, it is actually remarkably rare to encounter him over such a large area of land. Thus, Boadra’s influence mostly comes from the fear that he may show up rather than his actual physical presence. However, whenever Boadra burrows to the surface, a sustained earthquake announces his arrival. Local legends say that these earthquakes are the very planet itself trembling in terror at his presence.

Physiology

Boadra is twenty meters tall when prone, but his body is five kilometers long. His tail is also a mouth of its own about the size of Boadra’s head. Both sets of jaws can unhinge to fit virtually anything in his mouth including the largest creatures in Bhari’Adavi. Boadra’s interior physiology is not well understood. Rumor has it that Boadra doesn’t digest prey like conventional beings but rather, they disappear into a void somewhere along the midpoint of his body. For obvious reasons, there is no reliable, safe way to prove how true this is.

As he has occasionally hunted with both his head and tail out at the same time, he was frequently mistaken for a hydra. However, Boadra is not too dissimilar. Giants have attempted to cut off one of the ends only for it to grow back. It is thought the only way to potentially kill Boadra is to completely and utterly destroy him by reducing him down to raw aether.

Boadra frequently traverses Bhari’Adavi by utilizing its extensive network of underground caverns. He will emerge from the surface often from the sand. Sometimes, Boadra will extend himself far enough into the air where he can reach altitudes that prey such as Adaviflies and Azhdars will fly at. The Akansanlo Floating Islands are thankfully out of his reach but he has frequently found ways to terrorize its inhabitants by denying them from reaching the surface in the event of food shortages.

Boadra can also vomit out small slug-like creatures called Boadralings. These slugs are roughly the size of Adavifly larvae. They are far more agile than Boadra himself but are not actually independent creatures of their own. They lack any sort of digestive system and will swallow prey merely to capture them to pass on as meals for Boadra.

In times of food shortages, Boadra will withdraw and hide underground. He may sometimes even wrap himself around the supervolcano Mt. Andistundi to hog the ekati energies for himself. Whenever this occurs, some Giants can take it upon themselves to chase him out. While they succeed most of the time, it is a dangerous task where not all always return home.

In an ancient time before the Shattering, Boadra used to be able to cast powerful elemental magic making him even more deadly than he is now. However, he lost this ability when he was ambushed by other gods that attempted to kill him.

History

When Boadra was still a divine being, he attempted to impersonate Ouros to mislead others and to turn them against the true ruler. During the era leading up to the Shattering, Boadra aided in rallying up armies for the Elemental Gods in order to take down the real Ouros. However, Boadra grew too greedy and betrayed even his own followers after giving into his instincts. His magical prowess was so great that it took many different gods to defeat him.

According to legend, Boadra is the serpent that killed the dragon Zomok by strangling him. However, Zomok was little more than a willing sacrificial bait to make Boadra vulnerable. Even for Boadra’s size, it would take a long time to devour Zomok’s body. Boadra could not resist the temptation of such a magically rich meal and began to eat.

As Boadra attempted to devour Zomok, the other gods ambushed him and struck him down. As a result, Boadra lost his divinity, including his ability to use magic and was forced to escape by burrowing underground by hiding out in the massive caves below. Since that day, Boadra harbors nothing but hatred as he turned his attention to terrorize and reign supreme over the inhabitants of Bhari’Adavi.

Relationship with Mortals

Even in his weakened state, Boadra is known for his capacity to kill and devour whatever stands in his way including the Giants. However, there seems to be a bit of lingering malevolence within Boadra. Boadra will even prey on the Emuka despite them providing little to no nutritional value for Boadra. This likely means he attacks them out of spite, especially considering they established civilization on the site where he fell from godhood.

One particular cult of Giants known as the Pamadhna have resorted to making regular sacrifices to Boadra in an attempt to appease him to limited effect. The Pamadhna believe that killing Boadra would disrupt the ecosystem as despite Boadra’s ruthlessness, he has carefully balanced it to ensure that it continues on. The Pamadhna go as far as to believe that Boadra is Bhari’Adavi’s savior as his presence has undeniably played a role in Bhari’Adavi’s longevity past the Shattering.

Others however believe Boadra is a false god that must be destroyed. The Giants and the Emuka have collaborated in an attempt to sail the great oceans to search for outside help. They are in search of the fabled Aether Aard’Vorn known as the Void Crown. It is thought the Void Crown is the only magical artifact capable of truly vanquishing Boadra.