Jack Sandrow
Writer, Character, Invasive Species
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create a species living in mutualism with the Thorny Startoucher
- Image Credit: thiennh2 on DeviantArt
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: Based on the symbiotic relationship between this ant species and this thorny acacia. See also: Thorny Startoucher (SWRPC)
- Name: Unpronounceable by normal palates. Referred to as "Keesers" by the galaxy at large, and have adopted that moniker as a society (in their admittedly rare public appearances)
- Designation: Sentient
- Origins: Enthenium [canon]
- Average Lifespan:
- Warrior caste: 10 - 50 years
- Crafter caste: 90 - 200 years
- Guardian caste: 5 - 50 years
- Queen: Unknown
- Estimated Population: Planetary
- Description: Keesers (individual: Keeser) are a species of insectoid sentients that live in secluded pockets on the planet Enthenium. Preferring to avoid contact with other species, their appearances with the galaxy at large are few and far between, taking place almost exclusively within the Enthenium system. Often confused for other species at a glance (such as the Killik or the S'krrr), they are content to remain exactly where they are.
- Breathes: Type I
- Average Height of Adults:
- Warrior caste: 2 - 2.5 meters
- Crafter caste: 1.5 - 1.7 meters
- Guardian caste: Minimum 2.5 meters at the shoulder, full height/length can exceed 8 - 10 meters for exceptionally long-lived members
- Queen: Unknown. Theorized to be 10 meters tall
- Average Length of Adults:
- Warrior caste: 1.5 - 2 m across the shoulders
- Crafter caste: 0.4 - 0.7 m across the shoulders
- Guardian caste: 2.5 - 10 m across the shoulders - almost identical to its body length
- Queen: Unknown. Theorized to be 30 - 60 meters long
- Skin color:
- Warrior caste: Oranges & browns, glittering & thick chitin
- Crafter caste: Black with varying colors beneath, varies by colony. Carapace is smooth and silky but thin in comparison.
- Guardian caste: Blues, greens, and purples. Chitin may start off smooth, but repeated injury quickly roughens and darkens it. Carapace is very thick.
- Queen: Unknown.
- Hair color: N/A
- Distinctions: It is hard to tell the species' ages at a glance. Each caste can be summarized at a glance:
- Warriors are large and bulky with long 'top' arms for grabbing and crushing, and smaller 'bottom' arms meant for more delicate work such as typing or skilled physical manipulation. Their legs are surprisingly thin for their size, but are quite armored and certainly not a physical weak point. When pressured, Warriors can crawl on their 'top' arms and legs at incredible speed, leaving the two 'bottom' arms free to use weapons or devices. They usually have one or two horns, but it is unknown how this varies exactly.
- Crafters are so named for their increased physical dexterity and focus. Possessing a larger 'brain' compared to their more combat-oriented castes, they are known famously (or infamously) for their bluntness and drive when it comes to negotiations and actions. Rarely seen on their own without a Warrior escort, Crafters are the mentors of their species, making decisions and engaging in social activity on behalf of their brethren.
- Guardians are the protector muscle. Only ever seen in long-term habitation, they are physical tanks, with extremely thick carapaces and a dogged determination to 'protect'. If angered for any reason, they crush the irritation with extreme prejudice, and are more than capable of doing so with their muscular tails, massive claws, and durable mandibles. Their 'bottom' arms and legs are less developed due to them using their tail and claws to move around, but are still sharp enough and strong enough to puncture and grapple.
- Queen: Only rumored to exist. Posited and theorized only due to the omission of certain details in Kesser speech, including vague references to a higher power or overarching authority, it is unknown whether this Queen is a true physical figure, one of many varying figures, or simply a deity.
- Races: N/A
- Force Sensitivity: Unknown, presumed to be Non-Sensitive or Rare
- Pheromone-based communication is near-instantaneous within their hives/homes. This alludes to a possible 'hive mind', or unified actions based on chemical signals.
- Their habitat of Thorny Startouchers is a symbiotic one - the tree is thorny, sharp, and inhospitable to most other species, sentient or otherwise, and the tree happily accepts these ants into its body to protect and maintain it.
- Physical characteristics for attack or defense are emphasized in select castes, and intelligence is passed on from generation downwards as often and as plentiful as necessary. These physical characteristics are surprisingly powerful for their size, and their exoskeleton and turgor-based circulatory systems bely extreme feats of strength and speed.
- Dependency on the Thorny Startoucher's sap for their diet requires both that the tree never leaves the planet, and that the Keesers are also unable to leave for any long period of time.
- Castes are strong with their own specific skillsets, but are very incapable of doing anything outside their skillsets.
- Diet: Exclusively herbivore: requires the sap of the Thorny Startoucher, and is incapable of digesting anything else
- Communication: Verbal, pheromone, and kinetic:
- Verbal
- Able to speak most standard languages, albeit a bit sharply and 'chitteringly'
- Speaks their native language - 'Kee', which is somatically close to Killik or S'krrr
- Unable to speak guttural languages (such as Huttese)
- Pheromone
- Ideal for long-range or indoor communication
- Also similar to Killik or S'krrr, though technically incompatible
- Kinetic
- Rapping messages through the bark of their trees allows them to communicate extremely quickly where their pheromones won't reach. These messages can be likened to Dadita.
- Verbal
- Technology level: Capable of spaceflight, possibly interstellar flight. Commonly uses kinetic and chemical weaponry, but is capable of using tools or weaponry common to the galaxy at large.
- Religion/Beliefs: Possible. See also: 'Queen'.
- General behavior: Blunt, brusque, and direct. While capable of duplicity, vagueness, or outright lies, they rarely beat around the bush. They ask for what they want, and trade for it (or just take it). They aren't necessarily xenophobic, but their somewhat acerbic nature and attitude lends themselves to being fairly isolated. They refuse to leave their planet for extended periods of time as a rule, due to their food dependency. While they are willing to trade textile, armor, and weaponry, they really only require access to new types of technology as their communities are capable of quickly reverse-engineering whatever they get their claws on.
Only within the last hundred years or so have Keesers become known to the galaxy at large. Rather reserved, they keep to themselves and generally act withdrawn or stuffy with other sentient species they encounter. Somewhat secretive of their culture, what is known is rather surprising - they get extremely territorial when in their hives on Enthenium, and this is due almost entirely to their diet. Requiring a strict source of the Thorny Startoucher's sap as their exclusive food intake, this prevents them from moving offworld, as the tree itself only exists on this specific planet. Their reluctance to 'move away' has invigorated them to keep their planet as their own, and in so doing they limit interaction to spaceflight only, with all visits to the ground (already extremely infrequent) requiring intensive interrogation and escort throughout.
Their reluctance to partake in the galaxy at large has been a mixed bag, to say the least - while they are curious about the galaxy as it exists, they are equally as reticent when it comes to revealing details about their society. All information known about this species and their history has been drip-fed over the past hundred years or so, and as such cannot necessarily be taken as explicit and unbiased fact.
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