Yaradanian Carpet Bagger
| Yaradanian Carpet Bagger | |
|---|---|
| Base Information | |
| Classification | Heterotrophic Filter & Intermittent |
| Terrain | Terrestrial/Forest |
| Locomotion | None & Crawling/Jumping/Hopping |
| Size | (1m length 0.8 diameter) / (1.0 kg) |
| Speed | Typical Speed 0 & 2 Crawling |
| Strength | Typical Hits to wound/kill 6/1 & 1/5 |
| Social Structure | Solitary |
| Weapons | -2D hooves |
| Armor | None, Attack 0 Flee 7 & Attack 7 Flee 7 |
| Source | |
| Homeworld | Yaradana/Ras Tennol (Far Home 2220) |
| Multi-world | No |
| Canon | No |
| Extinct | Extant |
| Reference | Ronald B. Kline, Jr. |
| Yaradana Animal Encounter Tables | |
The Yaradanian Carpet Bagger is a creature lifeform that is not a sophont.
- It can be found on the Yaradana Animal Encounter Tables and is part of the typical forest ecosystems.
Description (Specifications)
These are forest dwelling organisms. There are double entries on the table to represent the two distinct phases of their complex life cycle which are denoted as:
Yaradanian Carpet Bagger 1 Filter 1kg 6/1 none -2D hooves A0F7S0
Yaradanian Tree Crawler 1 Intermittent 1kg 1/5 none -2D hooves A7F7S2
We will address the Yaradanian Carpet Bagger phase first.
Within this context the Carpet Bagger species is a single phase of an organism which appears and acts as if it were two distinct species. The complex life cycle involves significant metamorphosis. They are poikilothermic and heterotrophic consumers. One phase involves a 1kg sessile organism which survives as an atmospheric filter. This species demonstrates alternating generations. There is a diploid 1kg asexual form that gives rise to a 1kg haploid sexual form. The sessile form is a sporophyte and the ambulatory form is a gametophyte. The sessile form demonstrates a radial symmetry and has twelve leg buds. Each leg is tipped with a mineralized striking surface. Thick layers of filamentous contractile muscles formed by interlocking protein polymers form most of the structural hyphae of this organism. Magnesium carbonate crystals and strontium salts are woven into this matrix and are insoluble in water. The dermis is composed of thin layers of soft membranes and is not well armored. They do possess excellent chromatophores which greatly aid in adaptive camouflage and hiding from predators. Relatively frail and weak this creature excels at camouflage and reproduction. The twelve muti-jointed legs of the filter are arrayed in a circle and look like segmented flower petals with a thickened chord of muscle down the center of each. Each leg has a line of ten to twelve photosensitive eyespots which collect data about the colors and shading of the area to allow the skin to slowly blend into its hiding spot. Organisms uprooted and moved do eventually shift their pigmentation pattern to match the new environment over the course of a day or two. Each has a hardened strontium and magnesium salt bludgeon at its tip acting as ineffective “hooves”. They lay on their “back” with their ventral surface facing upward. The flesh of the creature is powdery white and chalky. Circulatory fluids are highly acidic and most of its biochemistry is not aqueous based to prevent freezing. They are designed to operate at low temperatures and have a low metabolic energy regime. They grow slowly and don’t heal especially well. Relatively inactive and inert they require stimulus to react to environmental threats. If aggressive species trigger their discriminating and acute olfactory volatile chemical analysis or worse yet touch any of the enervated tactile sensors of the radiating “legs” the creature delivers rapid convulsive kicks with the mineralized weighted ends akin to a jagged knob of coral like material. Visual stimuli are seldom used to determine if defensive kicks are warranted for some as yet, unknown reasons. The eyespots seem exclusive to the camouflage functions in this phase of the life cycle. Any creatures who fall prey to this beating are slowly absorbed by the secreted digestive enzymes. The filaments on the legs act as digestive villi and absorb nutrients into the body through the dermal membranes. The creatures will close into a ball shape with the legs forming a fibrous cage of sorts meeting at the top to form a digestive orb around the victim. The organisms lie nearly flat in a radial disk which measures a diameter of 0.8m across when fully grown. The majority of the 0.2m pale, centrally located body is cylindrical taping to a cone. This is used to borrow into soft detrital soils on the ground to shield the soft and vulnerable body cavity and its simplistic organ systems. They excrete wastes through pores in their dorsal surface which is buried in the ground. This serves to enrich the soils for the producers in the area, which is why the producers tolerate the filters presence and its consumption of their airborne planktonic young. Genetic analysis and fragmentary fossil evidence points to a precursor species ancestor that was a more effective trapper. These abilities are somewhat diminished in the current species. These circular lily pads of twelve limbed death cover any available soil surfaces with local photosynthetic “grasses” growing up between their twelve appendages. They prefer to dwell in these complex communities of interdependent species near these producers which provide the seeds and spores which sustain them and hide them from predation.
Physiology & Ecology
Solitary examples of this reclusive species are found hiding amid other species on the surface of cold forest floors. The forests they prefer feature tall, columnar colonies of symbiotic photosynthetic producers. Structurally intensive and volumetrically massive saprotrophic reducers play host to colonies of blue-green photosynthetic algae analogues. The massive hosts bloom with the photosensitive symbiotes but are also capable of some supplemental chemosynthetic pathways of their own as well. The ambulatory intermittent Tree Crawlers take two local years to develop from spores to full size. Sessile Carpet Baggers live about two local years. Native decomposers quickly recycle their nutrients in this aggressive and complex ecosystem. They maintain low population density to avoid over taxing local resources as they are non-motile in their filter phase of life.
Life Cycle & Reproduction
Carpet Baggers release air-borne spores asexually. Hundreds of these spores each mass 2g and have broad feathery filaments to support themselves in the dense atmosphere. Seasonal warming patterns and large food supplies trigger haploid spore release events. Those sporophytes which survive typically die after two annual spore cycles. These windborne spores serve to distribute the young and reduce intraspecies competition. Small filamentous spores eventually land and crawl onto photosynthetic producers. Unlike the sporophyte phase, these gametophyte young orient with the twelve 0.4m filamented, and segmented legs ventral and the central membrane covered body stalk held in a 0.4m tall dorsal posture. They can climb and crawl. Their fibrously muscular and multijointed legs combined with their mineralized “hooves” can awkwardly grip the surfaces of the taller and larger “trees” in the local forests. They use their chromatophore equipped skin to hide and blend in and their 120+ eyespots to be alert for predators and can scuttle away quickly at twice the speed of the typical human. This is quite a feat considering the thick air and crushing gravity. They are weak and frail under these conditions and unaggressive. They fight poorly and only in self-defense. Once fully grown, they are seasonally triggered by rising temperatures and length of day to wander and travel as far as necessary to mate. They use chemical lures akin to crude pheromones to facilitate locating each other over distances of several km. Once the meet they use their legs to exchange genetic materials which results in them going from haploid to diploid. This triggers the metamorphism that turns the 1kg Tree Crawlers into the ground-based sessile, filtering Carpet Baggers. Each pair mates a single time and if the genetic exchange was successfully completed the metamorphosis is initiated. Each ambulatory adult gametophyte will seek out a suitable lair at the base of a large healthy “tree” analogue and nest, entering the filter life cycle phase and leaving the intermittent life behind.
Diet & Trophics
The sessile form obtains the vast majority of their calories from airborne "plant" matter shed from local photosynthetic producers. Opportunistic capturing of small flying invertebrates and the very occasional killing of larger prey can occur. Few species are weak enough to fall prey to its ineffectual pummeling attacks, aside from the very small, young or infirm members of low mass species in the ecosystem. The motile tree crawler is a herbivore. Each leg of the sessile Carpet Bagger is lined with feathery filaments to trap airborne spores of rival species, small flying invertebrates, any pollen or seed analogues floating in the thick tainted morass of Yaradana’s soup like atmosphere with its catastrophically high air pressure. Tree Crawler gametophytes use their digestive legs to eat any and all nutritious photoreceptive leafy “plant” matter that they can. They mature to a fully grown mass of 1kg after two local years. They are mostly arboreal to be near their food sources and to avoid larger predators. They are elusive and solitary.
History & Background (Dossier)
Colonists found out by accident that these organisms burn quite dramatically when the internal strontium components are exposed to elemental oxygen under the right conditions.
Derived Products (Goods)
These organisms have no economical nor commercial uses as yet.
Travellers' Aid Society Advisory
The Travellers' Aid Society (TAS) classifies the Yaradanian Carpet Bagger as mostly harmless to most sophonts and makes no special advisory aside from some simple conservation minded pamphlets and limited research data.
Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)
This creature can primarily be found in the following areas:
Homeworld: 1105
The homeworld of this creature is:
World Listing: 1105
Significant communities of this creature are known to be found within the following systems and worlds:
References & Contributors (Sources)
- Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
- Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis), Captain, and Lead Naval Architect Ronald B. Kline, Jr. of the Imperial Navy