Why it evolved

With its primary food source collapsing, this lineage faces intense selection for energy conservation and broader dietary intake. Enhanced digestive enzymes and a broader jaw allow it to process less nutritious and varied food sources, including the Geothermal Pneume. This shift necessitates a lower metabolic rate and reduced armor density to conserve energy, a significant trade-off given the parent's robust defenses. The lower oxygen content of the Frosthearth's atmosphere also makes a sustained high metabolic rate increasingly costly, favoring this more energy-efficient, albeit less dominant, lifestyle.