Megamothoid

The Inverse Law of Mecha
No matter how primitive the setting, there will be giant robots.
From Scrasamax’s Game Cliches sub.

Full Description

A huge humanoid figure of leather and bone, 30’ tall. The head is a skull of some massive creature and contains a warrior also garbed in fur-edged leather. At the end of each arm is a massive ivory tusk appearing as a lethal weapon.

Additional Information

In the far south of the World Of Neyathis, a continent lies mainly in the antarctic circle and is stuck in a perpetual ice age. As such, it is populated by megafauna that have long since died out elsewhere.

One of the creatures is the Megamoth, a relative of the Mammoth and one of the largest of any natural land mammals. Fully 30’ at the shoulder, it makes normal mammoths appear as sheep beside it. The Nelsaar people usually subsist on the smaller, more common, and easier to kill Mammoth, but they do occasionally take the larger Megamoth, though always by trap or misadventure.

The bones of these great beasts are sometimes used to construct a powerful war construct unique to these peoples, the number of which possessed determining the ‘pecking order’ between the tribes. Each ‘Megamothoid’ consumes vast resources to make - the bones, leather and sinew all having utility in other endeavors. Materiel from normal mammoths are generally not used as the construction ritual seems to fail frequently.

Disagreements between the tribes are sometimes settled with Megamothoid battles, and during war they are almost always used.

The Megamothoid’s head is made from a single Megamoth skull and is the place where a warrior can control the beast from. When unoccupied the beast is dreadfully stupid, rarely even moving from where it stands to attack.

When occupied, the Megamothoid is capable of quick movement over the snowy plains, matching that of all but the best dogsleds. It provides little protection from the elements to any onboard - they must rely on their own clothing for warmth.

There are rumors that a massive centaur-like construct is being built by one of the tribes, but that has not been confirmed.