- THE SANDWORM -
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"The desert is indomitable, barren, and inhospitable. It trembles at nothing, unbroken and unwavering in its refusal to accommodate life. But, one thing does dominate the landscape. It makes the earth shake every time it moves, entire sand dunes disappear beneath the earth in its wake. How it survives is unknown to man, and its origins are likewise mysterious."
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[ Limited to Event Staff ]
H A B I T A T
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Sandworms live exclusively in the softer parts of the desert. The soil must be soft enough to allow them to burrow through it in spite of their massive size.
P H Y S I O L O G Y
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It takes the appearance of a massive worm, with skin like rawhide and massive mouths with strange open cavities that have structures resembling the teeth of whales. They propel themselves forward beneath the sands, only surfacing to terrorize those who walk atop it. The largest of the sandworms are called Dunemakers, beings of such massive size that they disrupt the sand they leave in their wake, leaving behind large dunes.
They range in size, from their juvenile state of about 6-12 meters, ranging upward to tens of meters as they transition into adults. None have been observed dying of old age. Their skin tends toward desaturated colors: some are purple, some are red, some are beige, some are grey, but none are vibrant in their coloration.
The male and female worms are almost indistinguishable. They lay clutches of white eggs beneath the surface, which the male comes by and fertilizes. Hundreds of worms are given birth to at once, though only a handful live to see adulthood. They do not have any natural predators, they will cannibalize their own.
B E H A V I O U R
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They are nearly mindless, even lacking brains. They are driven entirely by instinct, like insects.
Hunting and Diet;
They filter feed mostly, their teeth filtering in the various small life of the desert just beneath its surface, and filtering out sand.
On occasion, they will sense the vibrations of something walking on the surface, and so they will emerge to feast on that instead. They will also cannibalize eachother, with this and starvation being all that keeps their population in check. They will eat anything smaller than themselves that they can fit in their mouths.
A B I L I T I E S
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[Size] Not only can they grow large enough to be crushing should they emerge upon the sands in pursuit of prey, but the disruption of the dunes in their wake can swallow bystanders.
W E A K N E S S E S
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The younger ones are at a constant threat of being eaten by other worms, and their size may be a weakness to any other predators as well.
Y I E L D S
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[Teeth] Adult sandworms sometimes leave behind teeth in their wake, or they can be pried from their mouths. Most of their teeth are small enough to be useless, but some are long and dagger-like, and can be fashioned into knives of a sort.
[Meat] They’re also edible, albeit with the taste and texture of worm.
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