I love mantikar!  |
Mantikars are predatory symbiotic fauna that are also capable of flight. They are native to Bastion.
Etymology and Anatomy
Mantikars get their name from the corruption of the word Manticore (A mythical creature from Earth that has the body of a lion, sting of a scorpion, and head of a human).
Mantikars have a cat-like body. They are quadrupedal with long and low clawed feet, muscular bodies, and a sinewy tail. Their heads are like dogs, with horns; a wide mouth with arcing teeth. Their bodies are scaly and furry at the same time. The front of their faces has 5 glowing eyes arranged in a diamond pattern.
Swarming insects live inside their legs and come out of orifices when the creature is in danger or during combat. Mantikars have a low moaning growl.
Mantikars can fly. But it is unknown whether they have any wings at all. The likely explanation is that the insects that dwell inside the creature give it flying capability. It could also be possible that all Mantikars are chimeras like the one found in Bountiful Hunt, which means, their wings can spawn out of thin air because of ember blooms.
Narrative Involvement
Mantikars are prone to nesting behind waterfalls. Before the year 467 LV, Zhim wanted to find a Mantikar for reasons unknown. She had commanded some of her Regulators to find her one. These regulators included Paxia, Kale, and Aushkiir.
While Paxia and Kale went about acting as if they were in search of a mantikar, Aushkiir actually found one in by the village around the mountains of Heliost. However, this Mantikar had become a chimera from a strange kind of ember bloom. Eventually, with the help of a little girl—the sole survivor of the village, which was decimated by this chimera—Kiir was able to kill the Mantikar. But Aushkiir noticed the girl wanted the Mantikar for herself to claim her vengeance. So, Kiir only took the pheromone sac of this Mantikar and presented it to Zhim. Zhim fermented this pheromone sac in chimera venom for a whole year.
In the year 468 LV, Zhim wanted Haluk to eat this pickled pheromone sac and a Skorpedon stinger to complete the deal she had made with him and Faye—information about the Tomb of General Tarsis. While Haluk reluctantly ate the stinger, he could not eat the pheromone sac because of its putrid smell—that of roses and rotting flesh combined. The Freelancer, who was there with Owen to find Haluk and Faye, ironically claimed that they loved Mantikar and ate the pheromone sac. Zhim laughed and kept her end of the deal, telling Haluk to thank his Freelancer friend.
Encountered Expeditions
At least one Mantikar can show up in the below list.
Encounter Locations
The following places are all the locations where Mantikar can be found, either physically or in the lore. They may not be always found there, but have a high chance of being found in these locations.
Every Named Mantikar
There is only one case of a Mantikar encounter recorded. But the encounter was with a Regulator by the name of Aushkiir in Bountiful Hunt:
- Pink Ember Mantikar, a chimera formed by exposure to an unknown kind of ember.
Trivia (May Contain Spoilers)
- The Mantikar Pheromone Sac’s design looks very similar to Chimeric Compound.
- Mantikar are the only known creatures to inhabit another type of creature inside them, making the two symbiotic.
- The Mantikar chimera described in Bountiful Hunt is able to fly like a regular Mantikar. However, it is not because of wings, but a mutation formed through its interaction with the pink ember.
- There is a cortex entry on Mantikar that cannot be obtained as there is no encounter with any Mantikar as of update 1.7.0. It is obtained by datamining:
- Oh great. Yet another thing that spits. Only their spit will gum up your javelin and immobilize you. Mantikars can also fly, so there's that as well. Worst of all, like a dark Anzu dream, this large armored creature harbors stinging insects that swarm out at you when their host is attacked. If this nightmare isn't enough to keep you at home under a blanket listening to the radio and eating kebabs, then I don't know what is.
—From A Guide To Living Things That Will Kill You by Timon Batrok
- Oh great. Yet another thing that spits. Only their spit will gum up your javelin and immobilize you. Mantikars can also fly, so there's that as well. Worst of all, like a dark Anzu dream, this large armored creature harbors stinging insects that swarm out at you when their host is attacked. If this nightmare isn't enough to keep you at home under a blanket listening to the radio and eating kebabs, then I don't know what is.