Jin Dahaad Biology Speculation

Recently came to a few speculations about the biology of Jin Dahaad, so here’s just a list of what I think is the case when it comes to this magnificent bastard. Effectively it boils down to him being a bug-and-metal-eating heat sink Leviathan.

Split Jaw

Jin’s split jaw is, as in most cases, weird, but it’s actually surprisingly common here in the Forbidden Lands. It’s a trait shared by Balahara and Hirabami, two other Leviathans native to this area of the continent. Now— we don’t know why they all have this trait, but I think it’s at least possible to speculate. I’ll be leaving Balahara out of this speculation since it seems to be considerably different from even Jin and Hirabami (totally separate + clam eyes vs attached via membrane). That, and Hirabami & Jin have similar environmental pressures, due to being from the sane locale.

Looking at the shape of Jin’s lower jaw, it’s… not immediately recognizable for one specific purpose, but I have an idea: what if it’s used as a net? Something like a bug-catcher’s net. Wide surface area with ample room to catch onto and suck down on whatever gets caught. As for what it would use this to eat, I’d propose vigormantle bugs and vigorwasps. Thinking about it, since VBugs and VWasps have the ability to heal, they’d necessarily have to be packed with nutrients. Thus, they’d make for a pretty decent food source for something as utterly massive as Jin.

Thus, their jaw is split for the sake of catching and consuming VBugs and VWasps with minimal effort, so as not to expend too much energy. Its pale coloring is probably for the sake of display or intimidation, akin to something like the cottonmouth snake.

Metallic Coat

Jin’s coat is somewhat metallic, as evidenced from the clattering sounds we hear from its movements, as well as the Icium we get for breaking its parts in the Low Rank story quests. So Jin produces Icium somehow and seems to incorporate that into the ridges along its back. Now the question is: how?

I would say this is another byproduct of its diet. As Jin raids the walls of the cliffs for VBugs, it also ends up chowing down on a mass amount of Icium, too— the metallic substances that would be used to construct Wyveria’s towering walls. After all, its mouth is less like a pipette and more of an excavator claw, just dragging up large amount of sediment and consuming everything.

From there, we can look at something like the Scaly-Foot Gastropod, which has a symbiotic relationship with certain bacteria that process the hydrothermal vent emissions it consumes and produce a metallic coat for the gastropod. A similar process could be used for a monster like Kushala, but for Jin specifically I would imagine it has effectively a sac of bacteria somewhere in its gut that would process the Icium that it eats.

Temperature Control

Jin’s abilities as a monster are very unique when it comes to this series. It effectively works like a heat sink or an air conditioner, removing heat from the air to supercool the world around it. This is, I think, why it’s referred to as a leading cause for the cold air around the Cliffs (in High Rank, anyway), and is also how it exercises its abilities during its fight. The way that it performs this is through the ridges that are on its back, arms, tail, and head. They draw in the heat from its environment, which is what causes the ice to form on its surface.

Now, how does this… really even work? Well, drawing in heat and being so massive means that Jin would have an extremely high internal temperature, so that’s got part of our question answered. Then, looking at what I said about the mouth, Jin would likely be consuming large amounts of snow, too. This snow would melt within its body quite quickly, hydrating the beast, but then I think it would also be put to work in other ways, too.

Heat sinks and air conditioners work in tandem with liquid, which then takes in all the heat that the device takes out of the air. This is what I think the residual water from Jin’s snow consumption is used for. Said amounts of water probably flow just under Jin’s ridges, taking in the heat from the air, and then— once the water gets too hot— it spits the water out. This is how Jin does its various ice breath attacks, as well as the breath-based explosions. As for those of you who think boiling water wouldn’t freeze in time, there’s a really good video of someone throwing boiling water into a Siberian blizzard, and it turns to ice and mist pretty much within the instant. Take that effect but crank it up a couple dozen notches for Jin, for whom the outside temperature is even colder.

To explain Jin’s climbing ability, the ridges around the arms and legs acre probably porous, allowing some of the water under them to leak through and form slick surfaces on the metal. This is the water that then freezes when Jin pulls the heat out of the air, allowing it to freeze itself to other surfaces so easily. This is also why ice ends up forming on its chest, tail, and upper arms during some of its moves— namely the breath attacks ones. The fact that the gravity in the Cliffs is so low is also probably helping with Jin’s ability to climb.

Size

Simply put, Jin is probably as big as it is because… it can be. Very little other reason. The Cliffs have a low gravitational constant thanks to the Dragontorch being a thing, and bigger animals have fewer temperature issues than smaller ones. Being bigger just means you’re warmer by default, and Jin takes damn good advantage of this fact.

Speculative Beginnings

I’d say Jin Dahaad started much smaller than it is currently. A metallic coat was probably part of the ancestral species, as otherwise that seems rather difficult to develop and I don’t know how to handle it.

My guess is that the earlier Jin relatives were wall-climbing Leviathans that were related in some way to Hirabami. While Hirabami took the climbing lifestyle and transitioned into being the aerial hangglider Leviathans it is today, Jin instead took the route of supersizing itself and staying attached to the walls. Most likely this attachment to climbing was in an effort to find more VBugs and VWasps, by way of climbing around to grab them.

The temperature control abilities that Jin has might have started as a way controlling its own internal temperature. Being so much smaller, it would take in heat from the world around it in order to keep itself functioning. Most likely the bacteria in its gut also have a higher rate of function when warm, which would increase the ate at which it would generate its Icium coat and thus its ability to control its internal temperature, thus creating a sort of positive feedback loop. From there, using the ice it freezes to supplement its climbing abilities is provably what enabled the species to start growing bigger and bigger over time. In essence, the offensive capabilities of its ability set are secondary.

Summary - Jin’s jaws are likely net-shaped for the purposes of catching Vigormantle Bugs and Vigorwasps - Because of the surface area of those jaws, Jin ends up consuming mass amounts of Icium and snow. - The Icium is processed into Jin’s shell, forming its A/C ridges - The snow is used to fuel the temperature transfer of the ridges as water, which either takes in heat or freezes to he outside pf its shell - Jin is so damn big simply because it can be - The ancient relations to the Jin Dahaad species were probably gecko-like creatures with Kushala-esque shells that fed on Vigorbugs for nutrition

Thank you for reading!