Venom Cougar

Type:

Medium Carnivore

Number:

1-5

Move:

Fast – 90m/turn

IM/RS

+8/80

Stamina:

50

Attack:

55 (+4)

Damage:

3d10 (28) + Poison claws and fangs

Special Attack:

Poison S5/T6

Special Defense:

Camouflage 90%

Native World:

Twilight – jungle, swamp, dense forest

Description:

     In combat, venom cougars attempt to wound as many victims as possible, then dash back into hiding and wait for their poison to weaken or kill their prey.  If the victims survive beyond 6 turns, then the cougars will emerge again to finish them off.  Both the claws and the fangs of venom cougars deliver their potent hemotoxin.  When rehiding, venom cougars are 70% undetectable for one turn; after that, they are once again 90% undetectable.  A character that spots a venom cougar in hiding can keep track of it so long as both the cougar and the character remain still.  The spotter can attempt to point out the hiding cougar to comrades within 10m, but they still only have a 50% chance per turn of seeing it themselves.  If a hiding cougar is attacked, it will usually attempt to flee.

     Venom cougar poison breaks down within 10 turns in open air.  If stored in a vacuum or low-temperature container (between -10º C and -25º C), it will remain potent indefinitely.  Since Twilight is a recently-discovered planet, there is currently no market for venom cougar pelts or teeth.  Both are of high quality, however, and will likely become valuable as more cartographers and hunters continue to explore Twilights continents.

Thermite

Type:

Medium Omnivore

Number:

1

Move:

Very Slow – 10m/turn

IM/RS

+3/25

Stamina:

120

Attack:

50 (+3)

Damage:

4d10 (36) heat ray (2x per turn)

Special Attack:

Feeding 1d10/turn

Special Defense:

Multiple immunities (see Description)

Native World:

Twilight – any hot or warm climate or terrain

Description:

     Thermites are giant, thick-skinned amoebas, usually 1.5 meters wide and weighing 160 kg.  They subsist on small amounts of organic material that they pass over in their travels, but their primary source of nourishment is thermal radiation.  They absorb and utilize heat energy by a poorly understood method of energy/mass conversion.  Thermites must travel constantly to feed, as they rapidly cool their surrounding environment through their heat-siphoning membrane, which they cannot “turn off.”  In fact, without a constant supply of heat, thermites perish in a matter of minutes.  The only time they remain still is when they find a source of extreme heat, such as a large fire, a geyser, or molten lava.  They will not enter any body of water under any circumstances, even if it is boiling.  It is unknown if they require oxygen, or simply fear the rapid heat-dispersing effects of water.  Thermites appear to be unintelligent, and they ignore all beings they encounter unless attacked. 

     If threatened, a thermite can redirect the heat from its siphon into a cohesive, short burst heat ray twice per turn.  Albedo suits and screens will protect characters from the heat ray.  The ray reaches to an effective distance of 20m and is considered to be point blank range.  Thermites must always stay on the move, even during combat, in order to prevent starvation.  In fact, employing the heat siphon as a weapon causes them to starve even faster than usual.  A cornered thermite will reverse course and continue to move, even if this puts it in further danger.  Unless the surrounding environment is very hot, a thermite will only employ its heat ray for a maximum of 10 turns before it must begin feeding again.  It will not attack again until an additional 5 turns have passed.  Even when it is not actively defending itself, a thermite’s heat siphon will cause damage to any creature within 10 meters due to rapid heat loss.  Characters within 10m take an automatic 1d10 STA damage per turn (no attack roll needed).  A character in melee with a thermite takes 2d10 STA damage per turn.  Suits or shielding that protect from extreme cold (such as a space suit) will prevent damage from heat loss, but blankets or arctic clothing will not.

     When a thermite is injured, there is a chance that the wound will cause its membrane to rupture, spilling the creature’s cytoplasm and killing it instantly.  Each time a thermite takes damage, subtract its new, current STA from 100.  This number is the percent chance that the attack will cause the thermite to rupture.  A negative number signifies a 0% chance of rupture.

     Because of their unique physiology, thermites are immune to poisons, acid, sleep-inducing drugs, tangler grenades, and doze grenades.  They “see” by sensing thermal radiation, so darkness and flash grenades do not hinder them.  Cold-based attacks do normal damage to a thermite, but do not cause a chance to rupture the creature.  Furthermore, cold attacks will cause a thermite to immediately change course to distance itself from the source, making one easy to herd.  Fire and heat attacks, including lasers, will not harm them.  In fact, such attacks will attract them, as they sense them as being a food source.

     Thermites appear as a milky, translucent sack, and can be hard to spot from a distance.  However, they are very easy to track, as they leave dying plants and trails of frost in their wake.  Infrared goggles can help as well; under infrared imaging, a thermite appears to be a dark blue/black blob at the head of a gradually lightening blue tail.  Thermites reproduce by asexual division in areas of extreme heat, and produce no known useful products.  They are always encountered alone, except in environments of extreme heat.

Flak Crab

Type:

Small Omnivore

Number:

5-20

Move:

Medium – 25m/turn

IM/RS

+7/70

Stamina:

30

Attack:

60 (+5)

Damage:

1d10 (8)

Special Attack:

None

Special Defense:

Ultradense shell

Native World:

Twilight – any climate or terrain

Description:

     The flak crab is about the size of a basketball and resembles an oversized hermit crab.  It is a hard-shelled, multi-legged crustacean.  A flak crab does not have large claws, but it does have small, double-paired pinchers on the ends of each of its 12 legs.  It can fully retract its many legs and its four eyestalks into its ultradense shell for protection.  Its shell is covered in sharp barbs to discourage casual predators, but it also features dozens of 3cm wide holes.

     When a flak crab feels threatened, it retracts into its shell in less than a half-second, and each hole on its shell will immediately fire a sharp shard of stone, bone, or other hard material at high speed, causing 1d10 points of STA damage to every creature or character within 20m (roll a separate attack roll for each target to determine hits).  Skein suits or inertia screens reduce damage from this attack by half.  Flak crabs have a limited hive mind telepathy that causes all crabs in a group to hide and fire their volleys simultaneously, causing a potentially deadly crossfire of projectiles.  Their shells are immune to these volleys, and they reduce damage from bullets, gyrojets, unpowered melee weapons, and explosions by half.  Lasers, electricity, sonic weapons, and other energy attacks affect them normally.

     Flak crabs are scavengers, and the roam around collecting food and ammunition for their shells.  They sharpen and shape slivers of rock, bone, or metal in their mouths and then place them in their shell holes with one of their long legs.  A flak crab launches its shrapnel by forcing air through its shell holes with its powerful, single lung.  It can only fire one volley until it collects replacement ammunition, a process that typically takes 2 to 6 hours.  Flak crabs that continue to be assaulted after firing their volley will continue to hide in their shells until their assailants leave.  They have no other attacks or defenses.  Flak crab shells are harder than most natural substances, but they are inferior to most artificial Frontier materials, and have no value beyond ornamental uses.  Their meat is tasty to dralasites and vrusk, but most humans and yazarians find it overly bitter.

Kikvbiz

Type:

Medium Omnivore

Number:

3-12

Move:

Medium – 40m/turn

IM/RS

+6/55

Stamina:

60

Attack:

40 (+1)

Damage:

3d10 (20) Stone halberd

Special Attack:

Acidic spray

Special Defense:

None

Native World:

Twilight – Any non-arctic climate or terrain

Description:

     The Kikvbiz are a race of insectoid low-sentients that have risen to the top of the food chain on their homeworld of Twilight.  They have stone age technology, and their hunters use long, heavy, flint- or obsidian-bladed halberds to chop through the armor plating that most herbivores on Twilight posses.  They employ stone knives and axes as tools for butchering their kills and sustaining camp life, but never in battle.  Physically, Kikvbiz resemble 2m long spiders with only six legs, the front two pointing forward and possessing four isometrically-opposed digits.  Their four-toed legs straddle either side of the body.  Kikvbiz have 8, 10, or 12 eyes, and their mouths are sphincters ringed with two rows of teeth.  They have no vocal chords and can only communicate by sign language.  The entire Kikvbiz body is covered by thin, overlapping black scales, and the overall creatures are smooth and lustrous.  They are curious by nature, but will usually react to violence with frenzied attacks, although they will flee a seemingly hopeless battle.  They will normally fight to the death to defend their homes, shallow burrows in the sides of hills and other soft earth.

     Hunter Kikvbiz attempt to dismember their enemies using their deadly halberds.  Non-hunter Kikvbiz are typically noncombatants, but all Kikvbiz can expel a cloud of acidic digestive juices at a single target in melee range.  This attack gets a natural +10 chance to hit (+2 CS) and causes 1d5 points of STA damage each turn for 3 turns unless neutralized sooner by a basic substance.

     Kikvbiz are egg layers, and most female Kikvbiz mate as soon as they are sexually mature.  Matings are dictated by the elder Kikvbiz of each tribe, and females are paired with males whose attributes and skills are in short supply.  Egg laying results in 1-5 viable offspring, and is always fatal to the mother.  Therefore, virtually all adult Kikvbiz are male.  Roughly 50% of a Kikvbiz tribe will be composed of hunters, with the rest being equal numbers of camp caretakers, nursery workers, craftsmen, and foragers.