Skorak
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“
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The pages within were filled with unknown heiroglyphics and strange diagrams of a 4-eyed deity. The images alone invoke a subconcious terror deep inside my heart.
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„
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— Unnamed scholar (GigaBash) |
Skorak (スコウラック Sukourakku) is a mollusk-like Titan who inhabits Tarabak Island in the 2022 video game GigaBash. First seen in 1960, Skorak was summoned by a ritual performed by cultists, who helped him in brutally overthrowing a powerful rival. Skorak now wears the old skull of the Dragon King on his back and uses it both as a shell and a tool in combat.
Name
Skorak is a combination of the English word skull and the Malay word for skull, tengkorak.[2][3][4]
Development
Some initial ideas for Skorak included a giant crab, hermit crab, insect, before eventually landing on a mollusk. The development team also wanted to deviate from a humanoid-shaped monster, as the game's roster already included four such creatures. They chose the mollusk-like creature due to its novelty among kaiju designs.[5] When designing Skorak, the director instructed concept artist Keen Fai to come up with a "Snailian" kaiju design, and that it needed to be an "unpredictable" character, with Fai also using Ultra Q's Namegon for reference.[6][7] They experimented with the monster's number of heads, number of eyes, and width, with a variety of color schemes. They also tried a few different designs for the skull, including some wider or narrower snouts, different styles of crests, spines, and horns, and even skeletal claws coming from the skull's mouth. After the design for the skull was finalized, they came up with some final touches, such as an active eyeball and tentacles that would appear when the skull was launched from Skorak's back and when it moved around, although these were both ultimately scrapped.
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Early Skorak concepts -
Early Skorak concepts -
Early Skorak concepts -
Early Skorak concepts -
Skorak development -
Skorak concept art -
Skorak S-Class concept art
Design
Skorak is a giant mollusk resembling a slug that carries a colossal skull on his back like a snail shell. He has four eye stalks that end in golden sclera, yellow irises, and black, horizontal pupils. Each eyeball has a large fang located behind the eyes that extend through the pupils and allows Skorak to slash at enemies.[8] His mouth, a set of flared-out horizontal jaws, is located at the base of where the stalks meet. The mouth is passively small and tucked near Skorak's face, but when in use, extends and stretches outwards, lined with rows of teeth. He has a slug-like body shape, but the front of his body is more upright, with a purple hue covering most of Skorak's body and yellow on his underbelly. The skull on Skorak's back is confirmed to be Rawa's, albeit with the large nasal horn snapped off (as it was salvaged by the Dragon King's loyalists to revive him) and possessing a more pronounced jaw bone. Skorak's S-Class form depicts him with all of his eye fangs fully extended, larger, and sticking through the back of the eyes, and he glows with pink and orange energy. His back is covered in orange-tipped spines and his body has glowing lines of orange energy all over it. The skull Skorak carries scales up along with him and has a darker hue, and also glows with a pinkish-orange energy.
Personality
Skorak is shown to be incredibly intelligent and cunning, using strategic moves on the battlefield to outmaneuver his opponents. It is described as being both cruel and tricky, lurking on Tarabak Island searching for the weak, as well as trapping his foes.
Origins
In Tarabak's ancient past, Rawa, the Dragon King, once reigned supreme. He protected the inhabitants, on the condition that they regularly offer him Violet Elixir, letting those who please him take his golden scales, while incinerating those who gave him inferior forms of the drink. Although some saw death as a gift from Rawa, not everyone is satisfied enough with living under his tyranny, especially due to the aristocrats marking people they dislike as traitors, leveraging Rawa to kill anyone who opposed them. Hence, in a forbidden ritual involving bloodshed, some called upon a new ruler to help overthrow the Dragon King, and another titan answered. On the 97th year of their offering of Violet Elixir, given in the generous form of 50 carts, Rawa was poisoned, for his drink was laced with the toxins of the slug known as Skorak, who then proceeded to devour him from the inside out, then take the Dragon King's skull as a trophy, using it as a snail-like shell and a weapon ever since.
In the wake of Rawa's death, Tarabak fell into civil war between those who remained loyal to Rawa (with these loyalists eventually resurrecting him from a piece of his severed nose horn), and those who flocked to their new overlord, Skorak, while others escaped to the western side of the island to swear loyalty to Queen Rohanna. The slug's followers established their civilization over part of Rawa's old territory, the river known as "Dragon's Crossing", and established the cult known as the "Eyes of Skorak". The worshipers of Rawa, Skorak, and Rohanna have been at war with each other ever since. Rawa in particular is insulted by the fact that Skorak is wearing his old head and wants the skull destroyed, for it is essentially a mark of his death due to Skorak.[9]
In 1960, professor Petyr Faust joined his student Doug Chapman (who was indoctrinated by the "Eyes of Skorak" cult) and treasure hunters led by Captain Garcia on an expedition to Tarabak, where they got to encounter the various tribes in the area and learn of their history and culture. When they were about to be executed by Rohanna due to the queen smelling Skorak's scent on Doug, Skorak's cultists rescued them, taking them to Dragon's Crossing and telling them of Skorak's rise and overthrow of the Dragon King. Days of repetitive preaching later, the tribe was raided by another, the followers of Rawa, who sent the cultists (Doug among them) to the mines in the lower caverns, while reeducating the rest about their ruler. Upon his return to the outside world (albeit without Doug, who stayed with the cultists in the mines, and Captain Garcia, who got executed by Rawa for thievery of gold), Petyr Faust wrote the book "The Lost World of Tarabak" to document his experience, serving as the first recorded sighting of Skorak.
Although Rawa and Rohanna occasionally leave the island to rampage elsewhere in the world for various reasons, Skorak cannot do the same, as he is still vulnerable to saltwater like any other slug, and is therefore unable to traverse the seas surrounding Tarabak Island. He instead resorts to spreading influence through the hive mind of his cult, which has also infiltrated the other tribes, their espionage possibly even extending to the outside world.[10] However, during the "Ascension" event in one timeline, Skorak can be found rampaging with Rohanna in the Chinese city of Yefan. How he managed to escape Tarabak Island is unknown, but it is possible that he traveled via a Hollow Earth passage, or somehow resisted the effects of seawater long enough to get to the city.
History
- GigaBash (2022) - Microsoft Windows, Sony PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X
GigaBash
Legend of Luana Island
As Gorogong and Rohanna battled, Skorak threw his skull shell at the two Titans, knocking them both backwards. As the cultists of Rohanna and Skorak yelled at each other, a three way fight commenced. Eventually, Gorogong proved victorious, defeating the other two monsters.
Woolley's Misadventures
As Woolley wandered onto Tarabak Island, he found Skorak while the mollusk was dormant. As Woolley reached out to him, Skorak suddenly whipped around with his skull shell on his face and roared at Woolley, issuing a threat and starting a battle. Midway through the fight, Woolley knocked Skorak to the ground, before the Overlord regained his footing and threw his shell, knocking Woolley backwards, and they preceded to resume their battle. Eventually, Woolley managed to defeat Skorak, carrying on in his return home.
The Knight in Lightning Armor
As they traveled through Tarabak Island, Gigaman told Thundatross' pilot, Yuuki, the story of how Skorak rose to power. However, Skorak captured Gigaman without a sound, creating an ambush as Thundatross looked for Gigaman. Skorak made an attempt to strike the mech with his hidden eye fangs, but missed, and rushed through several ruins before roaring a challenge to Thundatross. As Gigaman caught up to the two, the super powered human and mecha battled Skorak together, eventually overpowering it. However, Skorak absorbed surrounding Giga Energy into his body, allowing him to transform into an S-Class Titan. Thundatross and Gigaman battled Skorak in his powered-up form, but as Thundatross charged in to deal the finishing blow, Skorak used his Poison Deluge. Gigaman ran forward and leaped in front of Thundatross, taking the acid in place of the mecha. This distraction gave Skorak a window to flee as he traveled away from the fight.
A Legend Reborn
Roused by Rawa's cries, Skorak was among an onslaught of Titans that besieged Yefan City, China. Skorak and Rohanna destroyed several buildings before turning their attention to Gigaman and Thundatross, who had diverted to defend the city and defeated both Titans.
Abilities
Physical abilities
Skorak has four flexible, elastic eye stalks, each one hiding a large "fang" that can be extended out of each pupil. With these, Skorak is able to slash, stab, flog, and impale enemies. In his S-Class form, Skorak's eye fangs are permanently extended, covering the entirety of his eyes and thus likely hampering his physical sight, though it is confirmed that Skorak can still perceive his environment easily even in this state.[9]
Skorak also occasionally attacks with his horizontal jaws, which are large and stretchy enough to engulf other Titans and devour them whole, draining their life force before spitting them back out. This makes him the only titan in the game that can heal himself with attacks aside from Kongkrete (which can eat buildings to heal itself) and Destoroyah (which can use its block attack and ultimate attack to do so).
Poison
Skorak can momentarily retreat into his shell, glowing blue (the telegraph of counterattacks in GigaBash) as he emanates toxic green gases. If an enemy strikes him at close range during this, Skorak pops back out of the skull without damage as the enemy gets staggered and poisoned (slowing and damaging them overtime) in the process, making them vulnerable to a counterattack. Furthermore, Skorak vomits large quantities of his acid for his ultimate, "Poison Deluge".
Skorak's venom is also capable of taking control of lesser creatures. The Eyes of Skorak cultists show their devotion to their overlord by ingesting a small dosage of his venom. If they survive, they become linked to each other and Skorak, allowing the Great Devourer to use them as his proxies. The cultists, who discard their emotions and sense of self to devote themselves fully to their leader, claim that this connects all of them and their senses to each other and to Skorak, breaking every last boundary between their private minds.[11] It is implied that some of Skorak's cultists have managed to infiltrate the other opposing factions of Tarabak Island, and a few have even spread (or at least indoctrinated others) throughout the outside world, giving Skorak the ability to spy on his enemies across Earth, gather as much information as he can, and spread his overall influence and worship without even having to leave his territory.
Skull Shell
Skorak carries the skull of Rawa on his back and is able to control it. He can throw his skull and have it chase the nearest opponent before eventually coming to a stop. He can also lob his skull at a target rather than tossing it straight ahead. When the skull is thrown, it generates an explosive pulse upon hitting the ground or an enemy. As a tradeoff, while wearing the skull, Skorak is not very fast, being the slowest Titan in the game by the time of its initial release,[12] though other titans added since then, like Gamera, have proven as slow — if not slower — by default. However, slow monsters in the game, from Thundatross to Zargorah, have means of circumventing their low speed and moving significantly faster (or at least covering more distance). In Skorak's case, he can simply throw his shell away and move faster that way. Without the shell, he is able to perform attacks faster and thus deal more damage. This is demonstrated when he does his block special, "Raven Claw", flipping once to land four hits with the shell, and flipping four times to land 14 strikes without the shell. Consequently, without his shell to protect him or flex with, Skorak cannot block (and therefore also cannot do his do his "Venomous Trap" block attack) or perform three of his four taunts. When his shell is off, he can either call it back (thus knocking any foes struck by the returning shell to him), or force it to detonate on command.
The skull retains its explosive properties, even when picked up and thrown by other characters. With this, ally or enemy titans can use the skull against others, even the specific Skorak that the skull belongs to. This is the basis of the achievement "Taste Your Own Medicine", which requires defeating Skorak by throwing the skull back at him.
S-Class
After gathering a sufficient amount of Giga Energy, Skorak hides in his shell, growing himself and his skull shell to massive proportions, granting him great power and enhanced abilities. Giga Energy is gathered through dealing damage to other Titans or from the surrounding environment. During the transformation, red colors, liquid effects, and disgusting squelching sounds can be seen and heard, likely a callback to the fact that Skorak was originally summoned by the people of Tarabak through a ritual involving blood sacrifice.
Poison Deluge
When enough Giga Energy is gathered, Skorak can regurgitate massive amounts of acid that covers a very large area, significantly damaging and slowing any other Titans caught within, the effects last as long as the enemy is in the acid pool, which lasts for about six seconds before dissipating. This can take out more than 50% of an enemy's maximum health assuming that they remain in the acid pool for its entire duration.
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Skorak uses Poison Deluge and regurgitates massive amounts of poison. -
Skorak's acidic poison covers the area.
Gallery
Icons
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Killfeed Icon -
Character Selection Icon
Subspecies
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Great Devourer -
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Virulent -
Hosogami -
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Nudibranch -
Pestilence -
Sessho-seki -
Ōkubi no Honō
Roar
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Videos
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Trivia
- Skorak, along with Rohanna and the Research Lab stage hazard version of MechaJURAS, are the only titans that leave weapons that other fighters can grab normally and use without deflection or special moves of any sort like Woolley's "Inhale", though, unlike the other two, Skorak's shell cannot be used after its defeat, as it disappears with the slug even when it's not wearing the skull by the time it is vanquished. Built around this is the achievement "Taste Your Own Medicine", which requires defeating a Skorak with the individual's own specific shell (and not the shell of other Skoraks that may be present in the arena).
References
This is a list of references for Skorak. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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