History
The origins of the Beast of Kilimanjaro are unknown. It may be a forgotten experiment of the Preservers or a biological weapon of destruction left over from an ancient alien war. What is known is that the Beast has been here on earth for a long, long time. The creature first set foot on Earth over 65 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period. Dakana paleontologists have discovered fossilized footprints of the Beast dating back to this time. Once on the planet, the Beast unleashed it's fury across the world, leveling forests and destroying all life in it's path. Even the mighty Tyrannosaurus fell before the Beast's terrible might. A recent and controversial theory claims the creature contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs, but since most people are unaware of the Beast's existence, the idea is often ignored.

The Beast's rampage would have gone unchecked if it had not been for a meteor that struck the Earth in the land that would become known as Dakana. The impact drew the Beast's attention and it moved closer to investigate. The daka crystals carried in the meteor had a strange effect on the Beast, however, causing it to become sluggish and unsteady. Prolonged exposure caused the creature to lapse into a state of suspended animation.

The Beast lay dormant for millions of years, buried beneath Mount Kilimanjaro and hidden from the rest of the world. It could have remained there indefinitely had it not been for the time-traveling supervillain Zeitgeist. He removed the daka crystals surrounding the Beast during the eighteenth century in the attempt to destabilize the future of Dakana. It worked: the Beast awoke and cut a path of destruction across the country. To defeat the menace, Dr. Tomorrow enlisted the aid of Centurion in the mid-1970's. Together the two heroes traveled back in time and with the assistance of that era's White Lion, managed to defeat the creature and return it to it's unnatural slumber. Centurion held the Beast at bay, even managing to injure it, while Dr. Tomorrow and the White Lion discovered the secret of the daka crystals' power over the creature. The three heroes contained the damage to the country and Dakana quickly recovered.

Since that time, the Beast of Kilimanjaro has remained a Dakanan national secret. It lies in a prison deep underground, nicknamed the Pen, constructed especially for it. The Beast lies surrounded by daka crystals at all times. Security at the Pen is intense. Numerous failsafes exist to make sure the Beast remains immobile, and guards armed with state-of-the-art weaponry stand watch twenty-four hours a day to make sure the Pen is one of the most secure buildings in the world. Of course, no plan is foolproof, and the Beast has escaped from time to time. In the late 1950's, for example, earthquakes ruptured the Pen and disturbed the crystals. The creature regained mobility and escaped once again, rampaging across the country and causing untold damage. King M'Zale, new to his throne and to the mantle of the White Lion, defeated the creature almost single-handedly. Using the agility gifted to him by his family's totem to avoid the creature's attacks, Dakana's hereditary protector lured the Beast into a trap full of daka crystals. White Lion kept the Beast occupied until the crystals robbed the creature of it's mobility. Once it was defeated, improvements were made to the Pen, allowing the building to withstand future earthquakes. The Dakanan government returned the Beast to it's prison.

In more recent times, Queen Ayesha learned of the Beast's existence, and attempted to remove the daka crystals from the Beast's prison in order to punish the White Lion for opposing her in the past. The Beast would act as an extension of her will, crushing the White Lion and reducing his homeland to rubble. Her plans did not proceed far, however; the immortal queen and her followers managed to penetrate the Pen's security, but were driven back beyond the nation's borders before any lasting damage could be done. The Beast never even stirred.

The current White Lion dislikes playing the role of the Beast's jailer. Of all the Kings of Dakana, he has studied the Beast the most, and was the first to discover that the daka crystals do not induce sleep in the Beast; they merely rob the creature of it's movement. The creature remains conscious during it's imprisonment. M'Balla wished to remove the Beast from Dakana, and he enlisted the aid of the Freedom League to transfer the monster to Kaiju Island. Before they even left the island, however, Gigantosaur disturbed the daka crystals to keep the monster immobile. The Beast fought the larger monster to a standstill, and after the fight, the Beast escaped the island, walking on the ocean floor and forcing White Lion to lead it back to Dakana rather than let it roam free. Once again, the country has taken responsibility for housing the dangerous monster, and M'Balla is looking into means of removing the Beast from the planet, possibly blasting it into space or banishing it to the Zero Zone.

The Beast of Kilimanjaro often appears mindless in it's destruction, but it is a mistake to underestimate it: the creature possesses a cunning intellect. If it was a weapon in an alien war, it was an unstable one, as it appears to answer to no-one. It's motives are clouded, and it destroys for no apparent reason. Perhaps whatever means it's creators used to control it are long gone, and all attempts to communicate with it have met with dismal failure. It doesn't respond to diplomacy and it knows no fear. The Beast is rage personified, living only for mayhem. A few in Dakana share the belief that the Beast of Kilimanjaro could be used as the country's defender. They envisioned a tamed creature traiend to fend off the isolationist nation's enemies. However, the Kings of Dakana have ruled wisely and the idea has never gotten off of the ground.

Personality
The Beast doesn't have a personality, per se. It exists only to destroy, and whenever it's finished smashing something in it's path, it moves onto the nearest target in it's line of sight and tries to destroy that as well. It has an intellect, and it is capable of wielding objects as weapons, but it's thought processes are far too alien to be understood by any normal human being.

Appearance
Standing at about thirty feet in height, the Beast is truly a monstrosity, and the ground shakes underneath it's tread. The hide on the creature is slightly pebbled and scaly, but from a distance at least resembles that of an elephant's, as do the massive bony tusks that jut from either side of it's head where ears would be on a normal humanoid. Two tooth tusks protrude from it's bottom jaw, it's maw big enough to swallow a man whole. It's feet have two massive toes with bony nails covering the tips, and it has rough thumbs and two fingers on each hand. Tiny red eyes peer out over it's snout, seeming to regard everything it views with hostility.

Powers
With a hide almost a foot and a half thick, most weapons fire and attacks bounce right off of the Beast; only Centurion and Gigantosaur have been known to wound the Beast so far. The creature possesses terrifying strength, capable of lifting a fully-laden cargo freighter and throwing it a hundred feet. It does not need to eat, drink or sleep, nor does it appear to age or breathe. It's only known weakness, other than overwhelming physical force, is daka crystals.