Crimson Xarnivore

Crimson Xarnivore
General Information
Universe	SPoRE Kyklos Mythos
Species Type	Xarnivore
Homeworld	Xarn
Environment	Volcanic regions around shield volcanoes
Intelligence	Non-Sapient
Biochemistry	Carbon-based lifeform
Biological Information
Lifespan	30 years (100 years including dormant state)
Reproduction	Sexual; lays eggs
Locomotion	Quadrupedal scuttling
Feeding Behavior	Carnivore
Prey	Opportunistic
Predators	Numerous local species; Other Crimson Xarnivores
Eye Color	Black
Skin Color	Red with yellow highlights due to sulfur intake
Lineage Information
Related Species	Dusty Xarnivore, Lush Xarnivore, Sapphire Xarnivore
Cultural Information
Alignment	True Neutral
Personality	Mindless carnivore
Organization	Swarms
Language(s)	Pheromones
Sociocultral characteristics
Members	None
Scientific Taxonomy
Planet	Xarn
Other Information
Status	Least Concern
Creator	Somarinoa
Last Sighting	Current (3420s)
Possible Population	Hundreds of millions across the planet

“Crimson Xarnivores are a species of Xarnivore. As with other Xarnivoran species, they swarm like locusts to feed upon flesh. They are sometimes used as biological weapons by ne'er-do-wells.”

—Vacotor Database, Terran translation

Crimson Xarnivores are one of the four main species of non-sapient xarnivores endemic to the planet Xarn.

Physiology

As a species, Crimson Xarnivores are cold-blooded subterranean organisms found in the volcanic regions of their home planet's numerous shield volcanoes. They spend their long larval stages burrowing through volcanic rock. Because they are unable to manipulate objects with their limbs, they instead construct their burrows using their large mandibles.

All four major Xarnivore species are r-Strategists, and thus their primary means of defense is simply numbers. Crimson Xarnivores are also covered in a number of sharp spines to hinder predation upon them as well. Their exoskeleton also works as makeshift armor, consisting of armored scales covering the majority of the surface.

When they are on the attack, Xarnivore strategy is short and sweet: They simply use their strong mandibles to subdue and kill their opponent.

Social behavior

Dietary habits

Crimson Xarnivores are mindless predators known for their frenzied swarming during their short adult life. They hunt for their food 100% of the time with a 12% success rate; however the number of Xarnivores in a swarm greatly increases the chances for the entire swarm to catch a prey item and once it has been subdued they become near-impossible not to successfully feast upon. When feeding, they use their antennae to detect the intentions of the rest of the swarm and move with it, similar to large schools of fish on Earth. To consume food, they rip chunks off of an organism with their mandibles and swallow it whole to allow it to pass through the setae-lined esophagus into the glassgut, an organ that works similarly to a stomach. The glassgut is full of shards of volcanic glass that the Crimson Xarnivore previously consumed during their larval period and this glass cuts up and grinds their food into a more digestible state. It is then passed along into the intestine to absorb the nutrients before any excess waste is passed out through the other end.

Reproduction

Crimson Xarnivores reach sexual maturity after 30 years and will reproduce during a short period of time where they emerge once a century to ravage the landscape before them. Mating is extremely impromptu and occurs during swarming whenever two genders meet. No mating ritual takes place and the two generally will mate mindlessly. This consists of each gender sweating out gametes and then rubbing into one another to mix the genome and fertilize. These fertilized gametes then drift on the wind as the sweat dries. With the Crimson Xarnivore's natural habitat being volcanic calderas, the gametes are blown up the mountainsides by natural wind currents moving upwards and will eventually settle in the volcanic regions. Those gametes that do not reach such regions only very rarely survive as the larvae require volcanic glass for their glassgut to digest food properly.

Because they simply release gametes, there is no gestation; this is good since Xarnivores rarely make it back to their home environment and usually die along with the rest of the swarm. About 1,000 gametes are formed per mating attempt from each participant, resulting in 500 viable eggs forming. A single female may mate 100 times during a swarm, thus producing anywhere from 500-500,000 viable eggs on the wind. Oddly, despite how many eggs are formed there is usually roughly the same number of members of a swarm when it emerges again in a century's time. In reality, only about 0.000004% of gametes will ever survive the century to their own maturity, thus ensuring that the numbers in the swarm remain consistent. This is caused by environmental factors killing some, or predation during the 30 years in the larval stage; some eggs never even make it and get blown into the lava pools beyond the caldera. Eruptions will kill large swathes of Crimson Xarnivores as well; the eggs can survive great heat but not quite the heat of direct contact with lava. Larvae are also opportunistic carnivores and will cannibalize each other should they meet before maturation.

Life cycle

All of the four major Xarnivore species hibernate as eggs for about 70 years before finally hatching. This allows life to reclaim the land and facilitate a Xarnivore swarm awakening.

Crimson Xarnivores begin life as eggs drifting on the wind currents taking them back up the volcanoes they will call home. These eggs eventually make contact with the ground and settle into the porous pockets of rocks in the area. Here they will naturally remain dormant for 70 years; this natural time clock allows the environment to recover from the last swarm that ravaged the landscape before. During this period of dormancy the eggs are little more than hardened seeds, microscopic but under a microscope they simply appear to be hardened grains of sand or rounded black seed. The process that wakes the egg back up 70 years down the line is not understood but it has been postulated by certain xenobiologists to involve a radioactive element within the egg itself that reaches its half-life after 70 years and starts the chain reaction to hatching.

Once hatched, the Crimson Xarnivore will emerge as an elongated, worm-like entity that will immediately begin chewing on the volcanic rock surrounding them to form small burrows through which they will travel. They can digest this material to stay alive and will do so for most of their 30 years as a larva, but to gain the energy needed to metamorphose into an adult they must consume flesh. To do this they will seek out volcanic glass and chew that up, which instead of being passed through the glassgut normally will remain there to help further digestion. Many other small organisms live in the volcanic regions and the larvae will start out predating upon microbes whenever they come into contact with them, starting the week after hatching. As they grow they will eventually be of a size noticeable to the naked eye and will start feeding upon other very small organisms, as well as each other should they encounter one another. At this stage (about 5 years into life) they will shed their exoskeleton and emerge with their first set of legs which will help them pull themselves through the rock now that they are larger in size.

The next stage occurs after 17 years when they've reached the size of fingernail, in which they develop the dorsal spines of the adult; at this stage they use them by jamming their backs into rock to prevent their being pulled out of their tunnels by would-be predators. Here there diet does not change, though they are more likely to be seen and predated upon by outside forces. At this point they are large enough to find organic sustenance a lot more often however and they will begin to grow fairly rapidly going forward.

By the 23rd year they are about the length of a finger. This moult brings with it the second set of legs, allowing them to more properly clamber through the rock. At this stage they may occasionally leave their rock burrows and hunt on the surface if they happen to see prey just out of reach. They are much more aggressive than before in this stage and will attack large organisms passing by to tear chunks of meat off of them, even if they are unable to kill them in this state.

The 27th year brings about a further moult that gives them their antennae. At this stage they can be a foot in length—actually longer than the adult—though still smaller in overall mass. They will use these antennae to detect larger organisms and they will begin taking down prey larger than themselves to feed upon. They begin to spend less time in their burrows, and will occasionally move into the caldera rim to feed on sulfur, transferring it in patches as they do to their exoskeletal armor. Cannibalism among their kind is rampant as well as they desperately try to gain enough mass for final metamorphosis.

The final four months of larvalhood involve them entering a pupa state, resembling a large version of their egg state though it is physically attached to the rock to prevent it from rolling around. Their long tails will absorb into their bodies and the extra mass will attribute to their final adult size. The abdomen will lift upwards now that it has shortened and the rear tersi will form. This tersi is used to puncture the egg upon full maturation and they will then struggle their way out using their mandibles and legs. The newly emerged adults will be exhausted and spend a full day and a half resting and not feeding, though they will ineffectually snap at any organism passing by during this period. Once they have regained their strength they will begin to release pheromones that suppress their violent nature towards each other and strengthen them as one, giving them the desire to swarm. These swarms will move down the mountainside across the landscape, consuming absolutely everything organic in their path to produce more gametes for reproduction. These swarms survive for about a week before they start rapidly dying off. Some may disgorge themselves from eating too much and die from a burst gut; others who have failed to find enough food from being further back in the swarms will become desperate and will begin eating the swarm from the inside-out. The pheromones will begin to fade and the animosity towards their own kind will flare up again and the rest will fall into rampant cannibalism. In the end, the few remaining members will simply die of exhaustion. Their corpses strewn across the land will feed the numerous scavengers and will provide great fertilizer for the soil to aid in the recovery effort for the next hundred years to come.

Relation to sapients

Local sapients are terrorized by the various Xarnivores and must seek shelter before the swarms overtake the lands that they live on. Despite the danger, some colonists still choose to live on the planet. The planet Xarn is also occasionally visited by poachers who will smuggle a number of the final pupated eggs off-world, sometimes collecting samples of the other Xarnivore species as well. These are then put into stasis until needed either to punish their own foes or for selling on the black market to others who may do the same. Xarnivores are only occasionally seen in gladiatorial arenas across the galaxy due to the difficulty in rounding them back up after a show, and the chaos that tends to ensue as they find their way to consume the crowd watching the game. They are more often found in the clutches of Space Pirates such as the Crux to help punish worlds, or are bought by doomsday cultists as a hopeful means to spread their deadly message. Occasionally war-faring races will purchase them to use in makeshift 'bombs' against their own kind in ongoing planetary wars.

Appearances

1. SPoRE (First appearance)
2. Amalgam Online
3. Monster Space
4. Dangerous Wilds
5. Xrosroads
6. Long Story
7. Kid Spuid
8. Grown
9. Thrillseeker Killseeker