Lizard man

The lizard man is a cryptid said to inhabit Scape Ore Swamp, a swamp located near the american town of Bishopville, South Carolina.

It's existence is based of sightings from 1988 and vehicule damages it is blamed for.

## Taxonomy

The lizard man's taxonomy is a matter of debate among cryptozoologists, with theories calling it a actual humanoid lizard, a surviving dinosaur, or a crocodillian (either a surviving Rauisuchid or a modern crocodilian having convergently evolved to resemble them).

The lizard man used in Crypto X Ing is the later as it was deemed the most realistic.

## Appearance

A lizard man stands at 7 feet (2.1 meters) tall, it present a humanoid appearance being a biped with no tail (which makes it unique among reptiles). It's skin is entirely covered with green, hard scales and its hands and feet only have three fingers/toes each, tipped with sharp claws. Its skull mixes traits from primates and reptiles, with a round cranium and forward facing eyes paired with jutting jaws and orbital crests. The lizard man has glowing red eyes, another unique trait for a reptile.

## Behaviour

Lizard men appear to be endemic to a small, swampy region of South Carolina, which suggest they are very territorial and don't venture far from their abode. They're carnivorous and noted to be extremely agressive and savage predators, rushing to attack anything they identify as prey.

However the most famous (and first) sighting of the lizard man by Christopher Davis involved mr Davis getting out of his car to fix a tire before noticing the lizard man and taking flight. As noted by several investigators given the lizard man's speed it would have been impossible for mr Davis to get back in his car fast enough to escape had it immediatelly attacked, meaning it stayed in the teenager's vicinity for an unknown amount of time without attacking.

This can be interpreted in two different ways :

1. Lizard men are actually ambush hunter who stalks their preys for significant periods of time before attacking, which they only do when close or when they've been spoted by their quarry anyway. In that case lizard men possess similar intelligence to fellow crocodilians (who behave in a similar fashion) and, like all ambush predator, are likely unable to run for long distances (as ambush predators ordinarily produce short, explosive bursts of speed with long recovery time.
2. Lizard men rely on a number of "triggers" (whether specific sounds, smells or even movements) to identify prey items and will ignore animals that don't trigger its predatory response even if they would otherwise be eligible preys, similarly to some species of lizard who will ignore insects that do not move in specific ways that "triggers" them.

Crypto X Ing version of the lizard man assumes the second interpretation to be true, depicting the lizard man as a very endurant (but stupid) pursuit hunter.

## Characteristics

* Strength : lizard men are at least as strong as a human of the same size, making it stronger than most humans.
* Claws and fangs : the lizard man possess efficient natural weapons in the form of sharp claws and fangs, its bite force is equal to that of an alligator at 5,000 psi, sufficient to puncture metal as illustrated by its infamous attacks on vehicules. Moreover, being a crocodillian, it can regrow lost teeth in under a weak.
* Resilience : lizard men possess armored skin, made of a combinason of hard keratin scales and subdermal bone plating, able to whistand slashing and stabing attacks, including small-arms gunfire.
* Healling factor : like all reptile a lizard man can recover from injuries that would be fatal to a mammal and even regrow lost limbs over a period of months.
* Speed : lizard men can run at up to 25 mph (40 kph), allowing it to keep up with a starting car for a little time.
* Intelligence : despite being a close relative of crocodiles, who are noted to rival dogs in intelligence, the lizard man is very unintelligent, seemingly opperating only on predatory trigger/responce and being mindlessly agressive to anything that it sees as prey.
* Senses : the lizard man has a sense of smell equal to that of other crocodillians, able to detect prey up to 1 mile (1.6 km), as well as equivalent eyesight that allows it to see prey up to 100 yards (91 m) away. It's worth noting that crocodiles are also able to see well in low light conditions, making them efficient hunters both during the day and at night, a trait likely present in the lizard man as well.

## Weaknesses

* The eyes constitutes vulnerable spots in the lizard man's armor.
* Said armor is flexible (being skin), making it uneffective against blunt force trauma.