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((Formatting borrowed from DareDelvil)) heart

1: The Threshold (Intro)
2: Treasure Map (ToC)
3: Valentine Crane
4: The Beast (CROCS!)
5: Ill-Gotten Gains (Current Posessions)
6: Friends and Foes (People)
7: Portrait of a Pirate (Art)
8: Tales of the High Seas (The Winning Entry)
9: Soundtrack (Related Music)
10: Condensed History
11: Is that Batman? (FAQs)
12: Marked for Future Use
13: Marked for Future Use
14: The Pirate Code (Rules)
15: Tip o' the Hat (Credits)

THE BEAST:

((thank you Wikipedia))
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A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae (sometimes classified instead as the subfamily Crocodylinae). The term can also be used more loosely to include all members of the order Crocodilia: i.e. the true crocodiles, the alligators and caimans (family Alligatoridae) and the gharials (family Gavialidae). The crocodiles, colloquially called crocs, are large aquatic reptiles that live throughout the Tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. Crocodiles tend to congregate in freshwater habitats like rivers and lakes and wetlands and sometimes in brackish water. Some species, notably the Saltwater Crocodile of Australia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands often lives along the coastal areas as its name implies. It is also known to venture far out to sea. They mostly feed on a wide variety of vertebrates like fish, reptiles, and mammals, sometimes with invertebrates like mollusks and crustaceans, depending on species. They are an ancient lineage, and are believed to have changed little since the time of the dinosaurs.
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Crocodiles are the most advanced of all reptiles despite their prehistoric look. Unlike other reptiles they have a four-chambered heart, diaphragm and cerebral cortex. Their external morphology on the other hand is a sign of their aquatic and predatory lifestyle. A crocodile’s physical traits allow it to be a successful predator. They have a streamlined body that enables them to swim faster. They also tuck their feet to their sides while swimming, which makes the animal even faster, by decreasing the amount of water resistance. They have webbed feet, although not used to propel the animal through the water, this allows it to make fast turns and sudden moves in the water or initiate swimming. Webbed feet are an advantage in shallower water where the animals sometimes move around by walking.
Crocodiles are very fast over short distances, even out of water. They have extremely powerful jaws and sharp teeth for tearing flesh, but cannot open their mouth if it is held closed, hence there are stories of people escaping from the long-snouted Nile Crocodile by holding its jaws shut. Indeed, zoologists will often subdue crocodiles for study or transport by taping their jaws or holding their jaws shut with large rubber bands cut from automobile inner tubes. All large crocodiles also have sharp welters and powerful claws. They have limited lateral movement in their neck, so on land one can find protection by getting even a small tree between the crocodile's jaws and oneself.
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Crocodiles are ambush hunters, waiting for fish or land animals to come close, then rushing out to attack. As cold-blooded predators, they can survive long periods without food, and rarely need to actively go hunting. The crocodile's bite strength is up to 3,000 pounds per square inch, comparing to just 100 psi for a labrador retriever or 350 psi for a large shark. [1] Despite their slow appearance, crocodiles are the top predators in their environment, and various species have been observed attacking and killing big cats like lions [2], large ungulates and even sharks. [3] A famous exception is the Egyptian Plover which is said to enjoy a symbiotic relationship with the crocodile. According to unauthenticated reports, the plover feeds on parasites that infest the crocodile's mouth and the reptile will open its jaws and allow the bird to enter to clean out the mouth.
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Crocodiles eat fish, birds, mammals and occasionally smaller crocodiles. Wild crocodiles are protected in many parts of the world, but they also are farmed commercially. Their hide is tanned and used to make leather goods such as shoes and handbags, whilst crocodile meat is also considered a delicacy in many parts of the world. The most commonly farmed species are the Saltwater and Nile crocodiles, while a hybrid of the Saltwater and the rare Siamese Crocodile is also bred in Asian farms. Farming has resulted in an increase in the Saltwater Crocodile population in Australia, as eggs are usually harvested from the wild, so landowners have an incentive to conserve crocodile habitat. Crocodiles are more closely related to birds and dinosaurs than to most animals classified as reptiles , the three being included in the group Archosauria ('ruling reptiles'). See Crocodilia for more information.

Danger to humans
The larger species of crocodiles can be very dangerous to humans. The Saltwater and Nile Crocodiles are the most dangerous, killing hundreds of people each year in parts of South-East Asia and Africa. Mugger crocodiles and possibly the endangered Black Caiman, are also very dangerous to humans. American alligators are less aggressive and rarely assault humans without provocation. Crocodiles are the leading cause of animal related deaths as of 2001.


Crocodile blood

Scientists in the United States have isolated a powerful agent in crocodile blood (crocodillin) which could help conquer human infections immune to standard antibiotics. The discovery was made thanks to the curiosity of Jill Fullerton-Smith, a BBC science producer filming a documentary on salt-water crocodiles in Australia.
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Trivia

The crocodile gets its name from the Greeks who observed them in the Nile river. The Greeks called them krokodilos, a compound word from kroke, which means "pebbles" and drilos, which means "worm". To the Greeks, this "worm of the stones" was so named because of the crocodiles habit of basking in the sun on gravel-covered river banks.
Petsuchos was the name given by the Greeks to the live crocodile at Crocodilopolis in Ancient Egypt, which was worshipped as a manifestation of the Egyptian god Sobek; the deification of crocodiles.
Crocodile embryos do not have sex chromosomes, and unlike humans sex is not determined genetically. Sex is determined by temperature, with males produced at around 31.6 degrees celsius, and females produced at slightly lower and higher temperatures. The average incubation period is around 80 days, and also is dependent upon temperature.
Many of the extinct crocodiles were herbivorous.
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POPULAR CULTURE

In the fictional Peter Pan series by J.M Barrie, a large crocodile serves as Captain Hook's worst fear, as it bit his hand off, leaving him with his hook. It also ate a clock, and thus ticking lets Hook know if the Crocodile is approaching.

In the Disney movie The Wild, two abandoned pet crocodiles that dwell in the sewer guide the protagonists to the harbor rather than eating them.
In the Disney movie The Emperor's New Groove and corresponding TV shows and sequels, the villain, Izma, has a pet crocodile that lives in a chamber that is accessed by a lever next to another lever that accesses her secret lab. Often she comically pulls the wrong lever, falling into the pit, and returns with the crocodile latched onto her, and she says 'Why do we even have that lever?'.
The Cheburashka series of books (by Eduard Uspensky) and animated films feature Crocodile Gena as one of the main characters. He works in a zoo as a crocodile.

Freinds and Foes:
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To be determined by RP

Tales of the High Sea:
-Winning Entry-
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You wake up stranded on a deserted island, you walk around for a while, staying close to where you had awoken. After walking around for a while, you remember what you were doing. The Captain had ordered you and some of the others to go to the island to try and find as much food as possible since the ship was running low. You strayed away from the group when you noticed something sparkling, but that was all you could remember.

There were four items only a few feet from where you had awoken, a cutlass which the captain had given you to fend off any wild animals, a red bandana, a stone that appeared to be a piece of gold, and a small gourd of water. You are almost certain that the Captain and the rest of the crew had forgotten about you, so what are you going to do next, alone on this deserted island?

Prompt Responce:
He felt curiously ill, lethargic even, when he woke, his limbs heavy and his head in a thick fog. No headache...he pondered, a process as slow moving as a child trying to turn a mill wheel....so therefore it wasn't rum that had laid him out on his belly in the shade. And no aching lump on the back of his head....he considered a moment later, raising a hand to gingerly examine his scalp for some trace of harm. For the life of him though, he couldn't lay hand to the memory of how he'd come to be lying there....
He sat up with an groan, only to feel his stomach, which given the way the rest of him felt had ever right to be as queasy as a land lubber at high seas....snarl ferociously with a wave of hunger.
He patted his belly thoughtfuly, finding something naggingly curious about the way even that felt, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it.....
It must be his imagination....
He shook his head again and stood up, wandering slowly around the area where he'd awakened, looking and listening for some trace of the crew, but he could hear nothing but bird song and the rustle of small things in the bushes, which made his belly rumble even more persistantly, teeth gnashing, though the most appetizing thing he uncovered was a nest of eggs from a startled bird, which, for lack of anything better to do, he cracked open and ate raw as he thought.
The bastards must have lost track of him and left him here, probably assuming that he'd been eaten by something. Ha. As if -that- would happen. He was the one doing the eating....
He licked his lips thoughtfuly, eyeing a hollowed out shell before tossing it over his shoulder. He still wanted more.....but not just here. He made his way back to where he'd woken, forcing himself to ignore the protestations of his stomach long enough to try and figure out how he'd gotten here, and what way would give him an idea of how to find his ship, if it was still moored.
There were little enough by way of clues, only his own footsteps....and a few items beside. Had the sons of dogs marooned him?? He'd gut them all if he found them! He grabbed the cutlass with a snarl, laying into the local greenery for a moment in his fury, making the humid air smell thick with sap and cut greens before his temper abated into soft growls, eyes flashing.
"Son's of DOGS...." He snarled again, shoving the cutlass into his belt. He'd track them down....somehow...and have the truth from them. He swore it, picking up the bandanna and tying it around his head to keep his thick dread's out of his face. He'd track them down and....and.....
And eat -them-. Roll them down into the dark green black of the water until they drowned and eat them, bite....by....bite. Some small part of his mind curled back in horror at this. He could almost hear it screaming, but it was rather difficult to say exactly why that would be, when nothing else seemed quite so -right- as what he was planning.
He hooked the gourd on his belt with a soft, angry chuckle, and then picked up the stone. Curious thing, it looked....vaguely like some mal-shaped animal if you looked at it right. This made him grin maddly, an thick and rough laugh working it's way up from his belly until it over flowed, and he waved at it mockingly, with his strange hand....
A flash of something that might have been a memory made him feel as though there were something wrong with his twisted claw, the near human hand and the crocodilian 'paw' jutting from it....but if he remembered more than that it belonged to the small screaming voice of sanity curled wide eyed somewhere beyond consious thought, staring out from the eyes of something monsterous.
Now....he thought, sliding the stone reverantly into his pocket...time to get someone to eat. Heh. Someone. That was funny......

Abreviated History:
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*TICK TOCK*

The Pirates Code:
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Please don't post here without my permission, he'll RP elsewhere. Posting in here is sorta like writing in someone elses diary.
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Please don't take Val's opinions or commentary as gospel versions of my own opinion. It's -roleplaying-. He's not me.