Saurian - Zaterran

The Saurians, also known as Raptors and Zaterrans, are a species found in Mortal Kombat.

Overview[]

The Saurians are reptilian humanoids who originated in Earthrealm, having evolved from the dinosaurs. Standing on two legs and having bigger brains than their ancestors, they have the potential for more complex thought. They can also appear to alter their form to become invisible or look human.

The first Mortal Kombat movie depicts the Saurians, as demonstrated by Reptile, have the ability to shapeshift into statue form (or just look like one) and their true Raptor form. They also possess the ability to blend in with their environment through the use of a highly effective camouflage that renders them almost completely invisible. A trio of similar creatures appear in the sequel, where they fight Raiden.

ZatteranFeast — A Zaterran's diet, as depicted in *Mortal Kombat Conquest*, consists of live bugs and worms, served in a large bowl.

Mortal Kombat: Conquest also depicts their diet as consisting of live bugs and worms, served in a large bowl, as revealed in the episode In Kold Blood when Reptile ravenously consumes his squirming meal in a large clay bowl during his candlelight dinner with Kreeya. This is confirmed later in Mortal Kombat 1 when Reptile eats a bug during one scene in the Story Mode.

They have a matriarchal society, and any Saurian that has drifted away from the influence of the matriarch or a surrogate slowly begins to lose their ability to look human. Their saliva is comprised of powerful corrosive fluids that can easily burn right through steel or human flesh, much like acid. This saliva is so powerful that it even kills other Saurians, as demonstrated in Mortal Kombat: Conquest.

As of Mortal Kombat 1, Saurians have changed in appearence, and look much more animalistic than their counterparts in the first two timelines, with much more muscular bodies, osteoderms, and a tail. They also have more animalistic faces than the humanoid faces of their older iterations.

History[]

The Saurians were originally native to Earthrealm, where their civilization thrived countless years ago. However, 65 million years ago, in the late Cretaceous Period, their age came to an end when a war raged amongst the Elder Gods. At the time, it was the God of Darkness Shinnok who had turned against his brethren in order to become the master of the realms and sought to possess Earthrealm. He was opposed by the Thunder God Raiden and the conflict between the two was so devastating that it ravaged Earthrealm, resulting in the K-T event which marked the end of the Mesozoic Era and the dinosaurs. The Saurians and the dinosaurs that remained managed to flee the devastation and were divided between the ones who left to another realm known as Zaterra, where they attempted to rebuild their civilization, which and for a time, it began to thrive once more; and the ones who decided to take refuge in the Hollow Earth instead and endured underground in Earthrealm without interference.

Eventually, the Emperor of Outworld known as Shao Kahn invaded the realm of Zaterra and swiftly conquered it. As many other realms before it, the lands of the Zaterrans began to merge into Shao Kahn's own kingdom while the Raptors were driven to extinction, except for a few members of their kind. Among the survivors were Reptile and Khameleon; the first of the two decided to serve Shao Kahn whilst the latter intended to get revenge for the destruction of her kind.

In Deadly Alliance, Nitara presented Reptile with a Kirehashi blade, an artifact of Zaterra as a gift of her apparent kindness.

Reptile's Armageddon ending shows another female Saurian, possibly the race's long-dead matriarch, which Ed Boon has confirmed will play a big role in restoring the Saurian race in future games.

In an alternate timeline of events, a possible outcome led to Reptile turning against Shao Kahn and slaying him. Afterwards he forced Shang Tsung to use his Flesh Pits to restore the Raptor race. After many agonizing attempts, he succeeded in creating the broodlings that were loyal to Reptile and eventually they stormed Outworld; slaying every Tarkatan, Shokan and Centaur who objected to Reptile's rule.

In a New Era of Mortal Kombat 1, the Saurians, now just referred to as Zaterrans, were no longer extinct. However, Reptile became an outcast among his people for having the ability to shapeshift into a human-like appearance. Reptile's Tower Ladder Mode ending reveals that his mutation was not necessarily unique, but at some point, the Zaterran government brought forth a policy that had mutant Zaterrans executed to avoid the spread of the mutation.

Known Members[]

Non-Canon[]

Baraka (Depicted in MK Mobile)
Noob Saibot (Depicted in MK Mobile)
Jade (Depicted in MK Mobile)

Possible Members[]

Chameleon

Artifacts[]

Gem of Tetsurri

Trivia[]

A picture in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance's Krypt special feature shows that the Saurians are evolved from sea creatures.
A number of Saurians also feature in an episode of Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm [1] Although Reptile himself was not among the group, he was mentioned by name after their true nature had been revealed. This episode coined the term "Raptors" for Reptile's race which was largely considered the canonical name for the species until the term Saurian was introduced in the games, latter supplanted by Zatarran. Despite this, Raptor is still occasionally used, such as the case by Reptile in Mortal Kombat X.
A trio of Saurian warriors, referred to as "Raptors", appear in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation as servants of Shao Kahn. They possess the ability to turn invisible, and make lizard-like screeches while fighting.
They also featured in Mortal Kombat: Conquest including the episode "In Kold Blood" where they are referred to as "Reptiles". There, they are shown to have allied themselves with Kreeya and were shown to alternate between their saurian dinosaur forms and their human disguises. Here, it was shown that Reptile had allied himself with Kreeya against the wishes of his people in order to aid her in defeating Shao Kahn, and thus stationed several of his warriors at Kreeyan hives to protect them from intruders.