Character
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
The Ponell Worms are a native species to Caerdar, noted in Vaydralen history as far back as written tomes existed. For most of that written history, Vaydralen hunters would go out and kill Ponell Worms for food, the large carcasses of the creatures able to feed entire families for weeks at a time. They were such a staple of early Vaydralen life that settlements were created along swarm migration paths, and even when the Vaydralen people became more urbanized, Ponell Worms continued to make a key part of their diet.
Following the ascension of the Vaydralen within the Bryn'adul Empire, more scientific minds turned their eyes to the worms as potential means of star travel. The worms took in sunlight as part of their natural bodily cycles, and used it as an energy source to propel themselves forward by releasing burst of pure energy. This method of travel, scientists theorized, could be harnessed to be used on starcraft. The first Ponell Worm experiments were carried out by Bryn'adul scientists within Tuk-Mun, the Super-Construct built on the planets surface. Through careful genetic engineering and selective breeding, the most powerful Ponell Worms were developed to have extremely powerful outbursts of energy, enough to serve as stardrive for Bryn'adul warships. Several genetically engineering Ponell Worms working in conjunction could create thrust similar to that of standard starship engines.
Once these tests showed promise, further development went into the project, with Vaydralen and Ungulloi scientists brought in to help the Bryn'adul teams. Eventually, the Ponell Worms were further refined to be able to survive in the vacuum of space without the need for oxygen, and fed by automatic feeders stored aboard every vessel they are deployed to, serve as the primary engines aboard a new generation of Bryn'adul warships. While the worms have proven to be revolutionary in terms of travel, they lacked the ability to propel a ship into hyperspace. This is where testing on the Ponell Wyrm began.
The much larger Ponell Wyrm proved to have the potential output needed to propel a ship into hyperspace, and after years of selective breeding and genetic engineering, the first test drive of a fully Ponell Worm propelled warship was conducted in orbit of Caerdar. Now, the Ponell Worms are being distributed to the new generations of Vaydralen warships that have begun to enter Bryn'adul service, and are ready to be deployed across the length of the Bryn'adul Empire as needed.
- Intent: To create an alternate means of space travel for the Bryn'adul
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- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: N/A
- Name: Ponell Worm
- Designation: Non-Sentient
- Origins: Caerdar
- Average Lifespan: 12 Years
- Estimated Population: Planetary-90 Million
- Description: The Ponell Worm is a brown and grey colored worm creature roughly fifteen meters in length. They have a hardened exoskeleton layered in plates down their entire body, with the only openings being for their mouth and rear. They are entirely blind, relying on vibrations to 'see' what is around them. They have rounded, thick teeth in their mouth, used to crush down rocks and other hard materials to find the smallest of nutrients. On their backs are large black disks, that one might not be too shocked to understand work much like solar panels.
- Breathes: Type One
- Average Height of Adults: 3.4 Meters
- Average Length of Adults: 15 Meters
- Skin color: Grey, Brown, Black
- Hair color: N/A
- Distinctions: The Ponell Worm are, as the name suggests, worms. Despite their size and aggressive form of movement, Ponell worms are not inherently aggressive. They are passive creatures, unlike many of the galaxies other large worms, and feed entirely on rocks and other low nutrient objects. They are not sentient, and act on a basic eat, sleep and breed cycle. They have no limbs of any kind, and are a single long being.
- Races:
- Ponell Worm: The most common of the species, they average around fifteen meters in length and are the most docile of the species. They are mostly found in the deserts of Caerdar, usually laying above ground to work their natural food processes.
- Ponell Wyrm: the Ponell Wyrm are a larger variant of the Ponell Worm, nearly triple the size of their cousins. They primarily make their homes inside mountains, where they spend their lives carving massive underground tunnels as they go about their lives.
- Force Sensitivity: Force Dead
- Juggernaut: Given their mode of travel and natural habitat, the Ponell Worm's exoskeleton is extremely durable. Once properly enhanced by Bryn'adul technology, they are capable of surviving direct hits from laser weaponry without any noticeable damage. Only the heaviest weaponry can pierce through the enhanced Ponell exoskeleton.
- Adaptable: Given their diet, the Ponell Worm is able to survive in almost any environment it is placed in, and can even survive in the void of space if given the proper life supporting systems.
- Electrical: While they are living beings and most would think Ion and EMP weaponry would have little effect on them, the opposite is actually true. The simplistic nature of the Ponell Worm's physiology, as well as its exposed sun gathering sections, lead to easy flowing of electrical energy across the entire worms body. Prolonged exposure to these threats will slow the worms bodily functions, and can even cause a catastrophic detonation.
- Age: As living creatures, Ponell Worms suffer the ravages of time. As they age, they begin to lose their efficiency as means of transport, and cannot be repaired like most other modes of star travel. At a certain point, the entire worm must be removed from the ship it is on, which requires days of careful work to not damage the craft, and further time to replace the worm.
- Diet: Ponell Worms draw nutrients from inorganic materials, most notably rocks. They do this through a complicated natural process, first consuming the rocks and then holding them in a secondary stomach. Then, the Ponell Worm takes in sunlight, which it uses to superheat and melt the rocks it has already consumed, melting them down into a thick sludge. This sludge is then move from one stomach to another, where internal body processes add nutrients to the sludge, making it into a food source. The Ponell Worm cannot inject these nutrients directly into itself, as doing so would be toxic, so they must rely on the lifeless sludge to counteract their own naturally produced poisons to survive.
- Communication: Ponell worms communicate with one another through vibrations they send through the energy they release, and are able to control it to send different signals.
- Technology level: No Technology
- Religion/Beliefs: No Religion/No Beliefs
- General behavior: Ponell Worms live in groupings of several hundred, travelling across the deserts of Caerdar in an unending, ravenous swarm. They travel between several specific feeding grounds, made by the swarms own movements. When using their natural form of movement, the Ponell Worm projects itself forward violently, sending up great gouts of stone and debris from the ground and creating deep furrows in the ground. These areas of travel become prime feeding locations for the Ponell Worms, as they are unable to properly digest unbroken rock segments.
The Ponell Worms are a native species to Caerdar, noted in Vaydralen history as far back as written tomes existed. For most of that written history, Vaydralen hunters would go out and kill Ponell Worms for food, the large carcasses of the creatures able to feed entire families for weeks at a time. They were such a staple of early Vaydralen life that settlements were created along swarm migration paths, and even when the Vaydralen people became more urbanized, Ponell Worms continued to make a key part of their diet.
Following the ascension of the Vaydralen within the Bryn'adul Empire, more scientific minds turned their eyes to the worms as potential means of star travel. The worms took in sunlight as part of their natural bodily cycles, and used it as an energy source to propel themselves forward by releasing burst of pure energy. This method of travel, scientists theorized, could be harnessed to be used on starcraft. The first Ponell Worm experiments were carried out by Bryn'adul scientists within Tuk-Mun, the Super-Construct built on the planets surface. Through careful genetic engineering and selective breeding, the most powerful Ponell Worms were developed to have extremely powerful outbursts of energy, enough to serve as stardrive for Bryn'adul warships. Several genetically engineering Ponell Worms working in conjunction could create thrust similar to that of standard starship engines.
Once these tests showed promise, further development went into the project, with Vaydralen and Ungulloi scientists brought in to help the Bryn'adul teams. Eventually, the Ponell Worms were further refined to be able to survive in the vacuum of space without the need for oxygen, and fed by automatic feeders stored aboard every vessel they are deployed to, serve as the primary engines aboard a new generation of Bryn'adul warships. While the worms have proven to be revolutionary in terms of travel, they lacked the ability to propel a ship into hyperspace. This is where testing on the Ponell Wyrm began.
The much larger Ponell Wyrm proved to have the potential output needed to propel a ship into hyperspace, and after years of selective breeding and genetic engineering, the first test drive of a fully Ponell Worm propelled warship was conducted in orbit of Caerdar. Now, the Ponell Worms are being distributed to the new generations of Vaydralen warships that have begun to enter Bryn'adul service, and are ready to be deployed across the length of the Bryn'adul Empire as needed.
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