King Crocodile is a villainous giant crocodile in Ravenloft, the horror setting of Dungeons & Dragons.
He is the darklord of the jungle domain called the Wildlands.
Appearance[]
King Crocodile
King Crocodile is a giant crocodile measuring 40 feet from his long sharp snout to his great smashing tail. His hide is incredibly thick, grey and brown with age, with sharp scales.
He has a yellow underbelly, which is not as well protected as the rest of him, as there are several sores, further irritated by fly bites. His teeth are yellow and his eyes are glowing red.
Personality[]
King Crocodile fancies himself as a sophisticated and clever individual for his ability to speak the language of the hairless apes (as he calls humans) over those of his kindred, but he is a despicable, wrathful, capricious, petty and tyrannical monster through and through. The few animal denizens of the Wildlands willing to talk to non-animal interlopers would conspire with them to overthrow King Crocodile. King Crododile's all-consuming gluttony compels him to ultimately eat whatever creature crosses his path.
King Crocodile has one secret: He is sick. After being stung by thousands of flies over the years, he has contracted a withering disease that might one day kill him. The Crocodile is scared of the possibility of dying, but the Dark Powers of Ravenloft cursed him with a ravenous hunger that forces him to eat anyone who could help him.
History[]
Once there was a crocodile. He was the biggest, most wicked crocodile that ever was. When he hatched from his accursed egg he devoured his siblings and his mother.
So evil this crocodile was that the jungle could not endure him. Monkeys died at the sight of him. The water turned poisonous as he swam in it. The reeds broke and plants withered as he drew near them. And the bank on which he rested turned black and vile. He was hated and feared by the other crocodiles for his cruelty. He was bigger than the others and his hide was much thicker and his teeth much sharper.
Finally, the animals of the jungle had enough of the crocodile's evil and gathered to discuss on how to destroy him. The jungle screamed with the noises of the animals arguing. Lions roared, elephants trumpeted and gorillas bellowed. They decided that only the legendary hairless apes had the necessary cunning and might to defeat King Crocodile, and sent a parrot to their society to ask for their help in killing their nemesis.
The hairless apes came but did not fight King Crocodile, instead they fell trees and ravaged the jungle. They hunted the animals for their meat and their hides and for sport. The jungle became full of woe and the animals decided that the hairless apes were a worse threat than King Crocodile. So they went to King Crocodile and begged him to eat the hairless apes and save the jungle. King Crocodile demanded the animals to give their powers to him and he will devour the hairless apes.
And the creatures of the jungle gave their power to King Crocodile, and he grew in strenght and intellect. Only a wise python refused to give King Crocodile his power. Of all the animals, only the fly was refused as King Crocodile believed that it was undignified to accept gifts from a puny insect.
Then King Crocodile came out of his swamp, crowned in power and exalting in evil. He came down on the hairless apes with the speed of a cheetah, the ferocity of a rhino and the cunning of a monkey. He devoured every man, woman and child. As he felt their warm blood in his mouth, he laughed loudly, and that laugh was terrifying to hear. At last, the invading hairless apes were dead.
The assembled animals called out King Crocodile to give back their powers, but King Crocodile laughed and killed them. But even the great hunger of a creature like King Crocodile has its limits, and he sat in his swamp to digest his meal while the other animals hid. All except the wise python.
King Crocodile laughed at the python, said that he didn't need his power, and the python told King Crocodile that he will give him the gift of a prophecy, that one day he shall die by the hands of a party of hairless apes or he shall die by a creature he felt was beneath him. King Crocodile was too sated to eat the python but he laughed at him. The wise python then departed from the jungle. As he looked back at King Crocodile's domain, the python saw some kind of mist or fog rise everywhere, covering the great jungle. The earth trembled and the python could see a great rift form, like a huge maw with crocodile teeth. Then the jungle was swallowed whole and King Crocodile and all the animals who gave their power to him found themselves in a new world. But this new land was evil and preserved King Crocodile from old age and increased his strenght. King Crocodile continued to bully and prey on the animals and their lives were filled with dread even when he slept.
The Wildlands have been in this state for a long time. Humans and humanoids may ask how long the Wildlands have been in the Land of the Mists, but the animals do not concern themselves with time. There is fear and there is hunger, and woe to any human who don't understand this as they travel through the Wildlands.
Current Sketch[]
King Crocodile rules the Wildlands by might, fang, claw and scale, and survival which, in the jungle, is a more clear indication on who is king than any crown. He lives alone in a marsh at the northern edge of the jungle. Few other animals live in the marsh now, so King Crocodile is always hungry.
Most of the beast in the Wildlands pay tribute to King Crocodile, offering shares of food or even their young, to appease his hunger and prevent him from eating them. He enjoys being treated as the king of the jungle, but does not let this get in the way of satysfing his hunger and sadism.
Powers & Abilities[]
When King Crocodile wants to close the borders of his land, steam fills the jungles surrounding the Wildlands, obscuring every passage. Travellers trying to escape inevitably go back to the Wildands. The borders remain closed so long as King Crocodile maintains his concentration.
Trivia[]
- King Crocodile seems to have been based on the infamous real life crocodile called Gustave.
External links[]
- King Crocodile on the Fraternity of Shadows Wiki.