Taeli Raaf
Bookworm
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To enhance an older Sithspawn creation of the Lady of Secrets
- Image Credit: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/AywrX
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links:
- Name: Mantis
- Designation: Non-sentient
- Origins: Valrar
- Average Lifespan: 25 Galactic Standard Years
- Estimated Population: Planetary
- Description: Significantly larger than the original Cobra specimens, the Mantis is considered a second generation of the Cobra Sithspawn, although some alchemists within the Order of Arcane Syn would argue it is more of a subvariant of what the second generation of Cobra might be. Regardless of scientific quibbles, the Mantis is a far more menacing appearing creature with its increased bulk and armor plating, additional scything limbs and wings, and an enlarged thorax that contains the various gases it can release.
- Breathes: Type I
- Average Height of Adults: 4.5 meters
- Average Length of Adults: 7 meters.
- Skin color: The chitin armor plating that covers its body is typically a lighter brown while its exposed skin is an orange-ish hue.
- Hair color: No hair
- Distinctions: The most prominent physical traits of the creature are its large wings and clawed limbs, along with its large gas producing thorax.
- Races: No other races
- Force Sensitivity: Non-Sensitive
- In stark contrast to the Cobra, the Mantis has significant chitin plating, enhanced through Sith alchemy, to protect itself. Most small arms fire from weapons such as slugthrowers and blasters is resisted by the armor, and even some heavier ordinance might take some time to break through and harm or kill the creature.
- Much like the Cobra, the claws of the Mantis exude a powerful adhesive it can use to grapple prey and enemies. However, as an improvement over the Cobra, the adhesive of the Mantis is also laced with an alchemical-created and produced variant of Anxynth. Creatures grappled by the Mantis and covered in the adhesive can be infected with the drug and become consumed by nightmarish hallucinations as the tiny little spikes on the claws start to absorb their bioelectricity.
- In a significant upgrade to the Cobra, the Mantis has several different gases it can expel to support allies on the battlefield that produces within its body. Like the Cobra, it can release a black fog-like cloud similar to Nagnol Gas that obscures the eyesight and sensors of anyone caught in the cloud. Another gas it can expel in an aerosol-like cone is an organically created sleeping gas that can quickly knock out anyone within the cloud it created. A third gas the creature creates within itself is a synthetic version of Trilom that it can unleash to cause victims to go insane from extremely heightened aggression, delusions, and paranoia that results in the victims massacring themselves.
- Like many Sithspawn, direct applications of the light side of the Force such as Force Light can harm or outright kill the creature.
- What the Mantis gained in protective armor it sacrificed in speed and agility, especially compared to the exceptionally fast Cobra. While its wings can carry its bulk, and it can still serve as an aerial support creature, it cannot move very fast or maneuver in the air or on the ground.
- Creatures with a strong constitution can resist the effects of the Anxynth within its adhesive and filtered water can quickly cause it to break apart. If the creature gets soaked, its limbs can't excrete the adhesive until it dries off.
- Diet: Carnivore, Bioelectricity
- Communication: Screeches and roars between members of their own species, but they can understand commands given to it in the ancient language of the Sith or through the dark side.
- Technology level: No technology level
- Religion/Beliefs: No religion or belief system
- General behavior:
- Observing the Mantis when it was released into the jungles of Valrar, the Order of Arcane Syn noted several deviations from the Cobra's general behavior. The most notable was the Mantis was not a coward, but preferred ambushing prey. The most prolific tactic observed by the scientists was the creature either lurking in heavy tree cover or attempting to blend in with rocky terrain. Once prey entered into its kill range, it unleashed one of its gases and attempted to grapple the creature once it was disoriented. The prey would then be taken high up into the foliage to be devoured or dragged away into a nearby cave. However, it has been observed that the Mantis are migratory and do not stake out territory or lairs to live, making them opportunistic hunters and ambushers.
- When tested in a combat situation under the command of a Sith Beastmaster, the Mantis acts as a heavy aerial support beast. It tends to stay near the middle of formations, providing cover for infantry and other controlled creatures as it unleashes gas attacks on enemy formations to disrupt their cohesion while on the ground. In the air, it unleashes gas clouds to blind the enemy, acting in concert with others of its kind and Cobras to blanket a battlefield in darkness and other gases. Once the enemy is sufficiently engaged or disrupted, it will swoop down and grapple creatures with its adhesive claws and either feed at that moment or fly up away with their captured prey to a protected position and devour the quick meal before taking to the air again.
Continuing to improve upon her older Sithspawn creations, Darth Arcanix and her followers began experimenting on their Cobra strain to create a new generation of creatures. Desiring to see more variety in the monsters produced in this project, Arcanix split both her time and team between two separate projects on enhancing the Cobra. The first of these split projects would result in the Mantis strain of Sithspawn.
The project team, under their mistress, introduced genetic material of the splox arachnid from Bogano into the DNA structure of the Cobra. Through Sith alchemy and genetic engineering to ensure the DNA fused together, the result caused the Cobras to undergo a rapid mutation by entering into a cocoon. While in their gestation cocoons, Arcanix ordered her alchemists to extend the incubation and fusion time while she molded the thorax of the creatures into a new gas-producing organ. The organ within the thorax was altered into three separate parts that all connected to the creature's respiratory system, allowing it to cycle through the gases the alchemists were feeding into the cocoon. Alchemically synthetic or organically produced variants of Nagnol gas, Trilom, and sleeping gas were decided upon by the design team, improving upon the Cobra's original ability to unleash a blinding fog.
Modifications were also done within the cocoons on the creature's claws and the adhesive they excreted. Small glands were encouraged to grow in the claws to produce a synthetic copy of the drug Anxynth to infect anyone that became covered in the adhesive or grappled within the claws. Once she was pleased with the results, the creatures emerged with much thicker chitin, no doubt inherited from the splox DNA, and were released into the jungles of Valrar.
