Beithir

Beithir (Brontoviperus scotica; Ogham: ᚛ᚁᚓᚆᚔᚏ᚜; bheithir; SG IPA: [/veˈhiɾʲ/], English IPA: [/ˌveɪˈhɪ(-r)/]) is the Elder Dragon introduced in Worldcraft: Moon's Desire and Weather Dragons: Beyond the Despaired. Beithir is the third minor antagonist and turns into tritagonist for Merida of DunBroch and other her friends for defense against Clarissa and Yosef's enemies, the Comieos aliens.

Etymology

The Scottish Gaelic word beithir has been defined variously as "serpent", "lightning", and "thunderbolt". It is also referred to as beithir-nimh ("venomous serpent") and nathair ("serpent" and "adder"). The word may also mean "wild beast" and may be derived from the Norse for "bear" according to Celtic mythology scholar James MacKillop.

Physical Appearance

Beithir is a drake species with electric blue scales and gray to blackish gray spikes jagged and sported in shoulders, elbows, waist, torso, and even horns. This animal was svelte and serpentine-like, with metallic blue-gray belly scales and blue eyes.

To reproduce, they paralyze a creature and inject their young, known as draggies. The draggies grow inside their victim until it dies, or when they are strong enough to leave.

Abilities

Beithir manipulates electric and electromagnetic powers with special organs and can float, walk, or crawl, unlike most Elder Dragons. Beithir have paralysis fangs on their upper teeth, reminiscing about the venomous snakes. Beithir's electrical attacks are much faster and more powerful than those of standard electrical animals, and they reach farther as well. It can also crawl on the ceiling, unlike the rest of the drakes.

Weather Phenomenon

Thunderstorm

Ecology

Beithir are primarily cave- or wetland-dwelling predators that ambush their prey from the lochs and other nearby sources of water formations. However, the dragon will venture out of caves or wetland systems to search for prey. If their chosen victims are small, Beithir will overpower and swallow them whole before paralyzing them, but if their prey is larger, the Elder Dragon will utilize their electrical abilities and paralyze them.

Beithir seems like a very wolf-like dragon without wings if one looks at its face, and it has a very muscular set of forelimbs that are very comparable to those of big cats. It has surprising agility for such a large animal due to its long body.

Its snake-like structure, along with the aid of its limbs and tail, including long spikes and webbed feet, allow it to swim through the water quickly. It has sharp claws attached to strong muscular forelimbs, which are used to deliver a fatal blow to prey and survivors. It gains the ability to overcharge itself if it is allowed to cling to a wall surface or ceiling for an extended period of time. Its whole body will glow silvery in this state, and its electric element power becomes extremely potent, although its movement speed is considerably reduced as a result.

The large dorsal spines on its back are used to release its electric attacks, along with a possible electrosac below each spike to the mouth. This horn is used to summon lightning from the sky, even when there isn't a storm cloud in sight, to strike any foes that threaten it, causing the effects of thyroid glands with special electric sacs. However, even if this horn is destroyed, Beithir can still summon lightning bolts with little effort. When it does this, some of the electricity actually combines with some of the mucus in its mouth, allowing it to spit out lightning projectiles or beams from its mouth.

Like Qilin, Beithir is very unique among drakes, possessing the ability to run at speeds so unexpectedly fast they appear to teleport, leaving behind a trail of blue electricity. They prey on the local herbivores, small carnivores, fish, and occasionally other larger creatures such as deer, hares, goats, sheep, horses, wolves, dogs, kangaroos, colugos, salmon, carp, gobies, sharks, and others. Due to their size and strength, most predators would choose to stay out of their way. Creatures across the realms introduced by humans for colonization to Reinachos, Berbania, and Sawintir, such as Dreadplasma, Yarokitesha, Mizutsune, or Plesioth, would rather retreat than fight back against a beithir if it's attacking.

Prior to the commission's journey to the Sawintir, Beithir's diet was unknown. It was discovered to feed on flora in these 15 regions of each country in Sawintir.

Behavior

Beithir is an optimistic and overprotective animal, daring to describe what this creature is. Many people noticed that this dragon gave a person a need for justice, which is now forbidden. Beithir is considered very aggressive towards everything.

Distribution and Habitat

Beithir was located in Scotland as an endemic species. It dwells in mountainous caves and corries (valleys) and is equipped with a venomous sting on its elbows or fangs. If a person is stung by the beithir, then they must head for the nearest body of water, such as a river or loch.

Movement Pattern: Nomadic
Individual Type: Solo
Population Trend: Stable
Population: 40,000 - 45,000
Locomotion: Aquatic
Habitat: All
Earth:
- Native: United Kingdom (Scotland)
- Vagrant: Albania; Australia; Austria; Belarus; Belgium; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Colombia; Croatia; Czechia; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Italy; North Korea; South Korea; Latvia; Lithuania; Moldova; Mongolia; Montenegro; Netherlands; North Macedonia; Norway; Poland; Romania; Russian Federation; Serbia; Slovakia; Slovenia; Sweden; Switzerland

Tamed

Some of these eggs of their own can only be found in Beithir's Dens in the Grampian Mountains or Beinn a' Bheithir on Planet Earth, or elsewhere in Tiqojarha of Berbania, Nueva Prydain of Sawintir, and the Horatian Cordillera Range of Reinachos, with Beithir's eggs being native to different regions. These dens have a diamond-like opening appearance, making them stand out from the other types of monster dens.

Lightning can also strike a lightning rod hit by lightning to easily fasten hatching for Beithir, due to being different from drakes. Once hatched, Beithir babies need to be fed milk, which can be obtained by various animals, including wyverns.

Lore

This dragon was apparently a terror to the surrounding district. From the lip of the corrie, she overlooked the path around the foot of the mountain, and if the unsuspecting traveler attempted to pass by her, she would leap down and tear him to pieces. The mountain at which tourists to Glencoe are landed was first called Beinn Ghuilbin but is now known as Beinn Bheithir. By tradition, it got this name from a dragon that, long ago, took shelter in Corrie Liath, a great hollow in the face of the mountain and almost right above Ballachulish Pier.

John Francis Campbell recounted a traditional story in 1890 about a wicked stepmother who was the wife of an Irish king, and she gave the king's son a magic shirt that was a beithir in disguise. As long as the "great snake" remained coiled about his neck, the prince was under his stepmother's enchantment, but he was eventually freed from the beithir with the help of a wise woman.

In the 1930s, beithirs were reported on the ground near Loch a’ Mhuillidh in Glen Strathfarrar and Sgùrr na Lapaich. A group of fishermen saw a creature about 9–10 feet (2.7–3.0 m) long coiled in a gorge near Kilmorack in 1975. It became agitated upon sighting the fishermen and swam away towards Beaufort Castle.

It is said that if a normal snake is killed, then the head must be separated a proper distance from its body and destroyed. Otherwise, both parts will come together, and the snake will return to life as a beithir. Donald Alexander Mackenzie in Scottish Folklore and Folk Life (1935) drew a possible connection between the beithir and the mythological hag known as the Cailleach Bheur. In a story from Argyll, the Cailleach was slain by a hunter who hacked her to pieces, but she returned to life when all her body parts came together again. Mackenzie suggested that the serpent-dragon of the Loch may be one of her forms.