Lorkim
| Lorkim | |
|---|---|
| Base Information | |
| Classification | Scavenger/Reducer |
| Terrain | Forest, Jungle, Plains, Hills |
| Locomotion | Terrestrial Walker |
| Size | 12.0 kg |
| Speed | 48.0 kph |
| Strength | can lift 25 times their mass for a short burst exertion |
| Social Structure | Solitary unless breeding events at end of life cycle |
| Weapons | +1 Teeth, Horns |
| Armor | None |
| Source | |
| Homeworld | Harkim/Foralin (Far Home 1531) |
| Multi-world | No |
| Canon | No |
| Extinct | Extant |
| Reference | Author: Ronald B. Kline, Jr. |
The Lorkim is a non-intelligent creature native to Harkim (world) (D7857CD-2) in the Harkim/Foralin (Far Home 1531) system. They are scavenging reducers native to a world just beyond the in the Rimward Federation.
Physiology & Ecology[edit]
They have a 4 year lifespan, with sexual maturity in 20 months. They breed once and this is an end of life cycle event. The males compete for breeding and work to mate with as many females as possible. They die as a result of their exertion and the violent battles for dominance. The combat is an impressive display, brightly colored head strikes, gnashing of needle sharp carbon fiber teeth, hissing, high pitched screams, humming wing beats and tails flaring in threat displays. They are very fast, and have a short burst of speed used to escape predators, they lack endurance due to their relatively high energy budget.
They are metabolically very active under normal conditions, males don't eat during this final courtship phase which contributes to their eventual exhaustion. Exothermic phosphate reduction driven chemical metabolism is used to maintain their homeothermic body temperature. They are scavengers and reducers. They are very efficient in their use of nutrients and energy and produce very little waste aside from indigestible inorganics they may encounter. The males are much more vividly colored than the better camouflaged females. The females gravid with fertilized young encyst in a gelatinous slime layer hidden in a nook or cranny secreted between large heavy rocks. Litters of 99 young erupt from this slimy cyst when seasonal temperatures rise the following year and after having consumed the dead parent. This litter size is fairly consistent across the species as a result of their unique genetic code molecules, when recombined after the act of fertilization triggers an idiomatic replication cycle which self terminates at this number. This large litter size contributes to their over population, which if left unchecked can be dangerous for ecological balance. They are a food source for numerous larger predators native to this world. They are designed to fend for themselves as soon as they emerge as 0.4kg fry.
Their leathery epidermis is a highly enervated and sensitive tactile array. They have four short antennae on their head, for thermal, acoustical and olfactory perception. They have a colorful crest with hundreds of moistened motile tendrils growing from their cranium. These are vibration sensing and additional thermal sensors to localize food sources over distances. The heat of microbial decay processes attracts them. The "head" is for sensory input and integration, the main instinctual and associative nerve clusters are in the thicker, heavily muscled chest cavity. They are invertebrates, the body uses hydraulic cylindrical tubes, sleeves of polysaccharide mesh with mineral salt deposits. Contractile carbon based muscle fibers work along side fluid actuated joints. There are no true boney structures. Males grow carbon fiber horns on either side of their heads, lateral and superior to the buccal cavity. Their are fixed in position and yet homologous to mandible like protrusions found on closely related species, native to this world. The two short arms have three segments with multiple articulations and are immensely powerful. Anthropomorphically it would look like, sloping shoulders, two elbows and a wrist. The organism can lift up to 25 times its mass, or roughly 300kg in a sudden surge which is shocking considering their 12kg mass. These are the remains of massive, repurposed flight muscles, since the diminished wing structures have been selected against. The incompressibility of fluids contributes to this forklift like performance. Lorkim use their great strength to move huge rocks in search of small prey items, amid decomposing wastes. They can also move very large rocks to construct fortress like nests to keep larger, but weaker predators at bay. They are descended from flyers. The body length is equal thirds, head and neck, body with six appendages and then tail. They retain a pair of dorsal vestigial membranous wings and the flared tail has membranes and support members and borosilicate spars for a steering tail/rudder. These membranes serve as thermal regulatory cooling radiators now, to keep their body temperature from climbing too high. The humming vibrations of rapid wing beats, insufficient to produce lift serve for communication and aid in cooling. They have three triangular clusters of three photoreceptor pigmented eye spots. There are three eyes on either side of the head and a set of three eyes looking backward as an early warning threat detection system. The eyes can discern blurry patterns, light intensity and direction and movement against backgrounds but lack fine focus, and details. Biologists suspect that the color sensitivity has evolved relatively recently within the last million years. Both genders have dark gray metallic dorsal coloration with patterns of white diamonds to break up their outlines. Ventral coloration is a lighter, less silvery grey. These regions are separated by a pale green lateral line which helps them detect bio-electric signatures. They take advantage of their sensors to look for carrion during periods of darkness, cloud cover, or by moving under "leaf" litter and detrital layers of the forest floor. Males as they mature develop vivid indigo faces with white sensors. The hinged jaw is filled with long sharp needle like teeth. They inflict nasty puncture wounds prone to virulent infections. The neck is long, a third of the length of the body, and muscled and articulated for a blinding fast strike and bite. However, the overall bite force is rather weak and their ability to chew, crush and tear is lacking. The teeth end up causing deep, bleeding wounds, which in their current ecological niche is not well adapted. As a result the tend to stand on the carrion, using their powerful arms and digitigrade legs to hold it down and pull upward with their heads to rip off pieces that they can swallow, more or less whole. Rotting corpses are also softer and easier for them to break down.
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References & Contributors (Sources)[edit]
- Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis), Captain, and Lead Naval Architect Ronald B. Kline, Jr. of the Imperial Navy
- Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science