Captain Larraq
Capitalist
Name: Kang'win
Designation: Non-Sentient
Homeworld: Argyra IV
Language: NA
Average Length of adults: 3-9 meters
Skin color: Green
Hair color: NA
Breathes: Type 1 Atmosphere
Strengths:
Able to survive on land
Armored shell-like Back and Chest
Weaknesses:
Breathes air and must return to surface
Vulnerable to climate change and habitat loss
Distinctions:
Bony ridge and plates for protection against predators
Powerful, toothy jaw
Lays eggs on land
Average Lifespan: 20 years
Races: NA
Estimated Population: Millions
Diet: Small fish, crustaceans, and eels
Communication: Chirps, Growls, and Barking
Culture: None
Technology level: None
General behavior:
Kang'Win are a medium sized (for an ocean-going creature) reptile common to Argyra IV. They are live in small pods of 5 to 30 adult members and migrate yearly between food sources and breeding grounds. They are typically considered to be a playful and docile reptile. Kang'Win feed primarily on small fish, eel, and crustaceans. It proffers warm, shallow waters where it hunts for prey in and around coral reefs. The reptile is capable of limited mobility on land where it uses its flippers to drag itself through the sand. The creature uses its ability to survive on land to avoid predators and lays its eggs clutches of up to 50 eggs in the warm sands. These eggs are buried but not abandoned. Nesting Kang'Win will stay near their nests for several weeks until the eggs hatch. Hatchling Kang'Win burrow out of these nesting sites and drag themselves toward the ocean where they spend the next several years of their lives hunting very small fish and krill, as well as the occasional jellyfish.
Young Kang'Win explore the oceans independently for the first few years of life. Growing an average of 0.3 meters a year, Kang'Win begin podding at three years of age. During the intervening three years between hatching and podding, very little is known about the life-cycle of a Kang'Win. It is suspected that these hatchlings wander the ocean in a similar manner to young Bik'Sal, preying upon the larval creatures.
Kang'Win produce a highly complex carapace that forms one of the best naturally occurring armors in the animal kingdom. Along the creature's head, back, chest, and abdomen are a number of hardened, bony plates of differing structural densities and matrix's and organized into layers. These bony plates are formed by a complex matrix of unmineralized keratin and calcium-carbonate mineralized bone minerals which form around long, solid strands of Monocrystalline Iron Whiskers.
While the creature can safely be presumed to have a thick and durable hide simply by looking at it, scientific research into the anatomy of the creatures revealed a highly complex defensive system in place. Dermal bones are formed into protective spine and thin plates between the structural bones of the creature. Above these dermal and structural bones are a number of scutes that are formed within the living dermis of the creature's skin. The final layer in this creature's amazing defensive armor is a layer of scales.
Amazingly, these alternating defensive layers of scales, scutes, and dermal bones form a type of composite or chainmail armor that is highly resistant to compressive force. Not only is the individual organic structure of these plates, scutes, and scales superior to most other organic structures in both compressive strength, tensile strength, and shear stress, but the combined effect of the three layers of armor makes the creature nearly impervious to predation. Even adult Ma'Syra are unable to pierce Kang'Win hide with their bite. Unlike other aquatic species, the flippers of the Kag'Win are not particularly vulnerable. Where most marine life have specially modified limbs of flesh and bone to steer themselves with, Kang'Win instead have large, elongated scutes that are attached by a highly flexible, thumb-like joint. While the limb itself may not be vulnerable to crushing or biting, the entire limb is capable of being torn from the creature at the joint.
The obvious down side to this thick protective plating is the weight of it. By all rights, a Kang'Win should sink due to the immense weight of its own bones and hide. What prevents this is a specialized organ in the abdomen. Like many marine species, Kang'Win possess an air-bladder. Unlike most other species though, the Kang'Win does not fill this large, hollow organ with common air. Instead, a lighter than air gas fills these twin, hollow voids within the Kang'Win's abdomen and help the creature control its buoyancy. Unfortunately, the gas within this air-bladder is highly flammable and kept under pressure. While the hide of the Kang'Win is highly durable to physical harm, it does not provide any more resilience against energy based weaponry than a hide of similar thickness. As such, blaster shots or lightsaber strikes to the abdomen of this creature will result in a large, violent explosion as the compressed gas ignites.
The tail of the Kang'Win are the most vulnerable part of its body. Though the tail-end is formed of durable dermal bones, scutes, and scales, the thin, flexible portion of the tail is the most vulnerable part of the creature and one of the most important. Up to 90% of the propulsion this creature uses to swim through the ocean comes from its tail. Fortunately, these creatures are capable of limping their way to land should a predator remove their tail. And while their tail is their primary form of locomotion in water, they predominantly use their flipper for locomotion on land. In this way, a great number of Kang'Win that fall victim to predation survive the encounter and regrow their lost limbs while they spend a few weeks on land. This does come at the risk of starvation, however, as Kang'Win must enter the water to catch fish and survive.
Though their hide is nearly impervious to typical manner of natural predation, the skin and scales of the Kag'Win offer little to no protection from the deadly shock of the adult Bik'Sal who also frequents Argyra IV's beaches. Although, particularly large Bik'Sal have met a sudden and violent end by igniting the flammable airbladder of an adult Kang'Win. Similarly, very large Ma'Syra are capable of swallowing an adult Kang'Win hole. It is worth noting that the digestive system of Ma'Syra appears to be unable to digest the thick shells of Kang'Win. Though the shell eventually breaks apart into its individual component plates, the plates are excreted whole and intact by the Kang'Win at the end of its digestive process.
Podding Kang'Win will emit high-pitched barks and chirps to warn each other of a nearby Ma'Syra or Bik'Sal. If threatened by a Ma'Syra, the pod will attempt to reach land and escape the deadly fish. If threatened by a Bik'Sal, the pod will flee land and seek to escape the crustacean in the water where they are far faster and more agile than the creature. Occasionally, a pod will be trapped on land with a predatory Bik'Sal while a deadly Ma'Syra prowls the nearby waters. In such cases, the desperate members of the pod will bark and chirp at the Bik'Sal in an attempt to confuse the creature and drive it away.
Kang'Win are friendly towards most sentients and will often play with swimming tourist, though tourists are cautioned from doing so. The spikes on their back and tail secrete a mild, paralytic poison as an additional defense mechanics. While this poison causes little more than numbness to adult Ma'Syra, it can cause respiratory and cardiac arrest in humans and similar humanoids. Young Kag'Win venom is exponentially more potent than that of the adult, leading scientists to think that podding behavior was developed as a defense mechanisms for their weakening protective poison as Kang'Win age.
History:
Kang'Win are one of the more popular of Argyra IV's species. Their playful behavior and colorful barks and chirps are a delight to the tourists. Their hides and venom, however, are a delight to poachers who have hunted the creatures for several years. The venom of young Kang'Win is sometimes harnessed by those who wish to put it to nefarious purposes. Similarly, the hide of an adult Kang'Win can be made into impressively durable armor.
Though poaching has resulted in a notable decrease in Kang'Win population, the species as a whole is a strong and stable part of the Argyra IV ecosystem. Though conservation efforts are being made, the species is not expected to become threatened and Keng'Win soup is still legal on the planet. Legal hunting on the species is allowed for two months out of the year, with strict limitations on number that can be caught and minimum age of game.
Notable Player-Characters: None
Intent: To create aquatic life to help fill out the environment of a planet obviously focused on Aquatic sentient life.
