In previous posts I've talked about "monster evolution," the concept of monsters evolving into other monsters and non-monsters evolving into monsters. This concept has roots in real life myth, particularly qi cultivation by animals in Eastern beliefs (and I'll have a post on that someday). Right now I wanted to apply the idea to the basilisk (and cockatrice, assuming they're not the same).
Traditionally, the basilisk is believed to hatch from a cock egg incubated by a snake or some such. Of course, how often does that actually happen? Are alchemists the only ones responsible for the basilisks running around? Setting aside the messiness of the folklore, one suggestion I saw was that ordinary lizards could become basilisks by growing large enough. This is not unlike stories in East Asia of koi and snakes becoming dragons by achieving sufficient feats (which I discussed in a previous post), and coincidentally by some accounts the basilisk is a dragon itself.
Why do I like this idea? Well, I don't always like the idea of inventing pseudo-naturalistic ecologies for fantasy genre monsters. It always has weird assumptions and cascade effects. What niche does the monster occupy? Is the monster an invasive species or a native species whose demise harms the ecology? How do magical powers interact with natural selection? And so forth. I prefer to sidestep all that.
Have a nice day!
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