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Just as the vast expanse of space makes tiny planets pale in comparison, so too are these organisms that continue the life cycle amidst the stars monstrous beasts in relation to their miniscule cousins. Despite their grotesque appearance however they are generally quite harmless, their purpose in this universe a truly humble one; to cleanse the world of the dead so that life may be born anew.
Feasting upon the decaying matter the universe discards and converting it into a nutrient rich, gelatinous slime that is then secreted through pores on their undersides, Biodegraders are more of a nuisance to space travelers than anything else. Their secretions often clouding visors and clogging exhausts, the upkeep they cause ships to require is perhaps the greatest annoyance a pilot faces today.
Their seemingly inexhaustible numbers, paired with their lack of a central nervous system with which to feel pain (and hopefully tastebuds so that they might not have to taste their meals) maggots, worms, and the like are popular game for sport hunters, young outlaws, or merely those in need of target practice. |
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Of the various types of plantlife found to exist in space, only a select few are of any threat to the average space-goer. Oddly enough, these species are also the only sentient plantlife known to exist in the whole of the universe. Able to exist like most plants solely by means of the complex process of photosynthesis, they nonetheless display internal organs most typically found in the Animalia Kingdom. Feeding upon other galactic lifeforms these carnivorous plants are also able to exist in regions without the sufficient warmth of a star's light. |
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Parasites, as they always have been, are classified by their intrinsic need to bond with a host entity in order to survive, growing stronger through this union while its victim slowly withers away to death. Though millions of different parasites surely exist in space, it is the massive, never before seen ectoparasites that strike the most blunt fear into the hearts of space travelers.
While several different types of ectoparasites have been discovered to exist in space, it is the Skyphos Genus that has reigned the most terror, and caused the most horrific destruction upon all other forms of life. Often referred to as the Three Sisters, the Skyphos Genus, from what we know, consists of three different species; the Medusa, the Stheno, and the Euryale.
So named because of their resemblance to the cursed creatures of the ancient Human myths, the three species of the Skyphos Genus pose a terrible threat to any creature that dares wander the cosmos. Snake-like flagella extending from their bodies, which are used primarily for locomotion, serve also as tentacles which can ensnare their host. Littered also with thousands of tiny barbs, these flagella inject their victim with paralytic toxins that serve also to preserve the host body after death. |
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Descending from the very same taxonomic Order as the serpents found on Class M and A planets such as Earth, Keldana, and Rashkan, the space dwelling variety differ little from their grounded cousins. Their limbless, elongated bodies, covered in a scaly plating as tough as the hulls of any warship, these vicious hunters are driven at all times by their bestial need to feed.
Despite the numerous different types of serpents that have been found to slither the solid terrains of planets, only a select few species have been found to exist in space, their bodies equipped, unlike their cousins, for the toils of this far different medium.
Like many land-snakes, Space Serpents are highly venomous, their saliva a mixture of neurotoxins and hemotoxins which attack both the nervous and circulatory systems of their prey. Special muscular glands exist within their mouths also that allow them to spit their corrosive venom as a defense mechanism against other creatures, their powerful jaws propelling these globules and the vacuum of space doing the rest.
Their unique anatomy has long since foregone the need of lungs, developing instead organs that resemble gills, breathing off the nebula gases that abound in the various sectors. Lateral undulation is also no longer the Space Serpent's primary mode of locomotion, saccular ventricles located at the end of the Serpent's tail releasing high pressured bursts of nebula gas instead to fuel the snake's momentum, much like rocket propulsion. They do however continue to utilize an undulating motion to steer themselves at the high speed they are capable of reaching, giving them their specie's trademark serpentine slither. |
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Long before the Keldons, the Ska'ari, the Rashkiri, and the Humans even took to the far reaches of space, had many of these newborn species already been connected by the tomes of their own unique histories. Revered as Gods by some cultures, feared as harbingers of death in others, the ancient Dragons nonetheless find themselves intertwined in the myths and legends of nearly all intelligent life, a creature barely understood until now.
The vastness of space their natural habitat, the mythological Dragons have roamed the cosmos for countless millennia before even the Keldonians first ventured beyond their own atmosphere. Colonial creatures by nature, broods have been reported to consist of up to 400 Dragons, each and every offspring wholly devout to their queen.
Though powerful in their mature state, these creatures no longer hold the divine status they had centuries ago, hunted by the growing number of corporations interested in the trade of their valuable scales and other commodities. Gifted with a cunning bestial intelligence, Dragons are keen hunters and artful warriors themselves; entire broods have been known to strike back at industrial poachers that dare dispatch one of their own.
Sensing the growing threat to their kind and their survival, forced to watch as members of their brood were stolen away from them, Dragons have grown ever more hostile throughout the whole of the universe, unwilling to share their homes with those who would threaten to claim it for themselves. |
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Classified not because of their genetic similarities, but because of the seemingly random outbreaks of their species that occur all throughout the universe, Swarms are arguably one of the greatest threats to face the Federation, the Empire, and the Union, as well as all other forms of sentient life in the cosmos.
Nonexistent one day, these creatures can overrun entire sectors the next, leaving naught but ecological and mortal devastation in their wake. Each of the three factions have felt the ravaging effects of such an outbreak, yet until the cause can be better understood many have no choice but to hire enough guns to combat these creatures until they are once again brought under control. |
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Unable to be categorized because of their uniqueness to the cosmos, these sentient beings wander the sectors, the clusters, and the whole of the universe all the same. As different from one another as they are from the other classes of sentient life, these creatures show the extremities nature is all too capable of creating. |
Last modification on this page: 2010-10-26
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