Edafosax/meta

Edafosax/meta (Creature) Synopsis

Page 20, Classic Traveller Double Adventure 5 / Horde, mentions a large, burrowing carnivore that was killed off by the Chamaxi sophonts.

Edafosax/meta (Creature) Quote

Here's the only reference to them:

Quote: Double Adventure 5/Horde, p.20

Eventually, colonies were established there, and a life form native to that continent - a large, burrowing carnivore - proved to be an intolerable nuisance, tunneling through walls and collapsing whole levels of the sentients' underground cities. This problem was solved when the natives learned how to wipe out the carnivores with poisons that prevented their reproduction.

Edafosax/meta (Creature) Discussion

The realization came too late that the carnivores were the only check on another much more dangerous life form, known to Raschev as the bugs. Bug maternals, hidden in their underground nests, were the chief food source of the carnivores; the efficiency of the predators' attacks was the reason for the bugs' high birth rate.

1. The animal is large enough to destroy enough load-bearing elements of the Chamaxi underground cities to collapse entire levels.

2. These predators had an "efficient" attack.

3. They were only a "nuisance" to the sophonts.

4. The Chamax' reproduction rate was compensated for by the nutritional needs of this large burrower.

A Maternal at optimal production gives birth to 100 Hunters per day. Each Hunter is 50kg. Assuming there was one Large Carnivore Burrower for every 1 to 100 Maternals, this critter therefore could have eaten as many as 10,000 Hunters per day -- 500,000 kilograms of Chamax Hunter.

Upperbound, then, is probably 500,000 kilograms of food per day. Assuming that's only 2% of the Burrower's mass, the creature would be therefore 25 million kilograms. Assuming standard density (T5 p. 583, Table D), that's 25,000 cubic meters, or 1,850 displacement tons. Assuming standard body profile (T5 p. 583, Table B), W = D = L/9; Volume = L/9 x L/9 x L = 25 million Liters; L x L x L = 2 billion liters; L = 1200 meters; W = 133 meters; H = 133 meters. This qualifies the creature as Colossal (T5 p. 581, Table 3).

Lowerbound, meanwhile, is perhaps a tenth of that -- 50,000 kilograms of food per day. Assuming that's 3% of the Burrower's mass, the creature would mass 1.6 million kg. Again, with standard density (T5 p. 583, Table D), that's 1,600 cubic meters, or 120 displacement tons.

Assuming a standard body profile (T5 p. 583, Table B), W = D = L/9;

Volume = L/9 x L/9 x L = 1.6 million Liters;

L x L x L = 130 million Liters; L = 270 meters, W = 30 meters, H = 30 meters.

This qualifies the creature as Gigantic (T5 p. 581, Table 3).

I will take the middle ground, and assume it eats 250,000 kg of food per day, at 2.5% of its own mass.

In this case, the creature masses a cool 10 million kg. Assuming a standard density (T5 p. 583, Table D), that's 10,000 cubic meters, or 740 displacement tons.

Assuming a standard body profile (T5 p. 583, Table B), W = D = L/9;

Volume = L/9 x L/9 x L = 10 million Liters;

L x L x L = 810 million Liters;

L = 900 meters, W = 100 meters, H = 100 meters.

This puts the creature about smack dab in the center of Colossal.

Edafosax/meta (Creature) References

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Classic Traveller The Chamax Plague/Horde (Double Adventure 5/Horde) (pg. 20)
• External Link: CotI
• Author & Contributor: Master of Sophontology Robject of the Ministry of Science