Aver Brand
Mercicle
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Death world funtimes.
Image Credit: Chase Stonehttp://chasestoneart.com/; Bane of Bala Ged
Canon: /
Links: /
Name: Lethei
Designation: Semi-sentient
Homeworld: Thralhttp://starwarsrp.net/topic/114631-thral-a-death-worldresubmission/
Language: /
Average Lifespan: 300 GSY
Estimated Population: Rare
Description: OH GOD NO.
Breathes: Type I through II; also underwater
Average height of adults: 8–12 m
Average length of adults: 15–30 m
Skin color: Translucent blue and violet hues; the bones are sun-bleached
Hair color: /
Distinctions:
Single-gendered. They reproduce via a parasitic cycle – the eggs of the Lethei are deposited in another living creature, usually through ingestion. There the cells begin to feed off the animal’s resources, rapidly growing though mitosis. Eventually the parasite becomes so large they consume the host itself and form through and around their skeletal remains. This gives every member of the species a distinct outward appearance beyond the mass of fleshy, tentacle-like appendages, which form the bulk of their body.
The only limbs they differentiate fully are long, stalk-like arms they use for locomotion, to manipulate basic tools, grab prey, and perform other similar tasks. They feature four thin fingers and an opposable thumb, granting them access to fairly precise motor skills. Younger specimens will only have one pair, but older Lethei may develop upwards of four pairs – largely depending upon what shape their body takes as they evolve. The longer they are, the more likely they are to produce additional limbs. In contrast, bulkier creatures might only keep that one pair of arms throughout their whole life.
It is not uncommon for an old Lethei – usually upwards of fifty years – to abandon their original skeleton for a larger animal that allows them to grow in different ways, offering more support to their boneless body. Exceptionally old members of the species will usually become too large to move about in an efficient manner and simply find refuge in the eroded, tunnel-riddled holes of the Thral swamplands. There they will spread their body through the hollowed rocks, preying on passing animals and dragging them into the holes or underwater.
The Lethei grow their whole lives, conforming to the skeletons or cave systems they assume as their home. Thanks to their longevity, exceptionally old members of the species can reach truly monstrous proportions. Due to a lack of proper research into the species of Thral, data is mostly garnered through tall tales of visiting smugglers and their ilk – and even though they are far from a reputable source, one spacer by the name of Devan Zehk has been known to claim that he’d once stumbled into the lair of a creature “as big as a fethin’ corvette”.
Of course, any xenozoologist worth their salt would never trust such an obvious exaggeration. Alas, no xenozoologists worth their salt have yet returned from Thral to confirm or disprove these inebriated claims.
Races: /
Strengths:
Through a straw: The smaller tentacles surrounding a Lethei’s mouth secrete a toxin that causes rapid cell necrosis in carbon-based organisms. This allows the creature to literally drink their decomposing prey after their tissue has become liquid enough.
Empaths: Lethei will exude a subtle empathetic influence upon their local surroundings, a trait which greatly aids them in their hunt for prey. Lesser beings will be easily swayed into a false sense of security and lured close enough that the Lethei will be able to grab them. With sentient creatures, their natural skill in the Force manifests in a truly insidious way – the predators slowly seep into their memories, altering or erasing them the longer a sentient spends in their presence. This is all to aid a Lethei in stalking their target, consuming their ability to defend themselves properly. The older they get, the more powerful they grow in this ability.
Unerotic asphyxiation: Lacking claws or teeth, the Lethei will disable, wound, or kill their prey through application of pressure. Trapping the animal with their heavy, large appendages, they will constrict the tentacles. This chokehold either breaks enough bones to cause death, or simply strangles the creature for a swifter demise.
Weaknesses:
Slow and fat: The Lethei aren’t quick or agile to start with, and the older they get, the more ponderous they become. Their boneless bodies and the lack of sturdy appendages make quick movement all but impossible. This is somewhat mitigated in those members of the species that dwell underwater, as the buoyancy and their multiple appendages aid in their movement.
Squishy: All told, the Lethei aren’t particularly hardy creatures. Apart from the host skeletons they inhabit, their soft, cartilaginous bodies are easily injured. Even something as simple as a knife or blaster bolt will cause damage to their flesh, which will ooze a deep purple blood when wounded.
Wet: The species absolutely requires humidity in the air to survive. Wet jungles will do (though a Lethei’s growth will usually be somewhat inhibited), but most of them are found dwelling in the marshes, lakes, and rivers of Thral. They can survive in salt water, but never for long periods of time. A Lethei stranded in an arid area or left out in the scorching sun will eventually dry out, shrivel, and die.
Force blocker: Their empathy stems from innate mastery of the Force. As such, species resistant or immune to mind manipulation will find themselves experiencing a much lesser effect or, indeed, no effect at all. These creatures should not assume they can approach Lethei safe from danger, however, or they are just as likely to end up on the menu as anything else.
Diet: Carnivorous
Communication: Infrasound screeches, Empathy
Technology level: Troglodytic
Religion/Beliefs: /
General behavior:
Lethei live and hunt alone, exhibiting fierce territorial traits. They can cohabitate with predators of different species, but never with another Lethei; if two or more encounter each other, they will either fight to the death, or the oldest, biggest among them will claim superiority and run the others from its land. They generally keep to a single area their whole life, moving only when their need for a new host or home outweighs their self-preservation instinct.
A migrating Lethei is at its most exposed, and it is in these transitional periods that most members of the species are killed. If attacked in their lair, even young Lethei are incredibly dangerous opponents – they will lash out with their many tentacles, easily crushing a grown man with the weight of a single appendage. Older specimens are left alone even by the largest of Thral’s predators due to the threat of their toxin. Though they normally use it to liquefy and consume their prey, the oldest among them are known to harbor such reserves that they might also use them in battle. In living creatures, the toxin causes excruciating pain as it kills whole hosts of cells – there are few ways to avoid being dissolved alive apart from severing or excising the affected flesh.
They engage their reproductive cycle approximately once every two decades. In this four to six-month period, a Lethei will produce massive amounts of eggs and leave them hidden inside its decomposing prey. Thus scavengers and other predators most often serve as the carriers for their evolving offspring, which allows the Lethei to assume appropriately sturdy and functional skeletons once they usurp their host.
For a species of isolated, lurking predators haunting a literal death world, it isn’t surprising that little is known about the Lethei. Most of it stems from terrified stories told in dark corners of smoky cantinas on shadowports and spacestations, spoken by men with wide eyes and shaking hands. Encounters with the creatures are almost always lethal, so whatever accounts survive and leak into the wider galaxy are told by those who had the presence of mind or cowardice enough to flee while a Lethei consumed their friends.
The following is one such account, which xenozoologists have deemed least likely to be the product of a drug-addled mind:
“So wesa was dalee with our Captain, Neesik Verd. Hesa was the boss of us, the Red Bones Raiders, back then. Mesa don't think yousa remember them-sa, the Red Bones Raiders, nosa. See, wesa died then. All of us, except for mesa.
If only wesa hadn't gone to dat karking planet. Some Wardens were hunting us after wesa looted disa big convoy and hey, wesa called Kez 'the Corellian' for a reason. Hisen was drunk as a fish and yousa don't want a navver under pressure besa drunk as a karking fish but hesa was and... well.
It's called Thral, some say. Dat karking planet where wesa landed. Damn lucky wesa didn't crash completely. Plansa back to what happened after tho, mighta been a nicer death, dat.
Wesa was in some swamps or something, lakes and mud far as yousa could see. Verd wanted to gos out, see where wesa were – karker always was too confident for his own good. Mandos, mesa tell yousa.
So wesa went out – mesa and Verd and Stripper and Beretta and One-eyed Sam – and it wasn't dee minutes from the skeebeetle dat Beretta falls into disa massive hole. And well, Cap'n was tapping dat green twi'lek ass back then so hesa went neb after her faster than a zeltron whore on yer—
Point is, Stripper and One-eyed Sam knew desa wasn't getting paid if Verd kicked the bucket and like Nether was mesa staying out dalee alone.
So wesa all ended up in dat hole. It was wet and dark and it stank like the men's pisser in the Cruelest Cut only so mui worse... like yousa'd walked into a karkin' corpse, hisen. 'Course... dat's when Berry started screaming. Verd an' One-eyed and Strip lit it up with blasters and mesa was way back in the cave behind them-sa and mesa still couldna see what it was but can yousa blame mesa? It had— it had thesa huge karkin' tentacles, looked like some atrisian fantasy gone wrong— not like mesa spent a longo time looking. Mesa ran like mesa ain't never run before in mesa life through those tunnels, 'till all mesa could hear was mesa lungs waitin' to burst but their screams, hisen, their screams... Mesa'll never forget 'em.
Had to paddlewompy up though some lake later to even get out, thank kark mesa gungan, elsewise mesa'd 'ave been done for. Got to the ole skeebeetle, kicked Kez's ass outta the navchair and floored it off dat planet like mesa ain't never floored it if dalee was the kark-damned Emperor and a fleet of SDs on mesa ass.”
– Zud-Zud “Shiver” Grer
