[Cosmosdex] The Universal Encyclopedia
[Cosmosdex]
Camnequoi
Spider Mantis
Camnequoi
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- Strength-9
- Intelligence-2
- Charisma-1
- Endurance-8
- Agility-6
- Luck-0
Danger Level: High
Likes: Eating, Killing, Sleeping
Dislikes: Harsh Light, Sharp Things, Loud Noises
Attack Method: Camnequoi will wait in the shadows, before springing out and impaling unsuspecting victims with their sharp forelimbs and delivering a powerful bite with their venomous mandibles.
Attributes
Environment: Mountains, CavesLifespan: 220 years
Size: 15 ft tall
Diet: Meat
Bodytype: Multiped
Type: Arthropod
Rarity: Uncommon
Original Creator: GuardianofAllator
Physical Description
Camnequoi are tall, eight-legged insectoid creatures. They come mostly in shades of grey, leaning towards blue or brown. Their body is mostly covered in thick chitinous plates and tough leathery skin that is difficult to pierce if you don't know where to strike. The skin will always be a paler color than the chitin, and those plates will typically have darker markings on them.
The camnequoi have a very long neck-like thorax with a small, triangular head set atop. The head will always be black, and large fanged mandibles protrude from either side, framing the eight green compound eyes capable of seeing in environments with almost no light. Their mouth is located not with the head, but on the 'neck', with additional grasping mandibles on either side to help push prey into their long digestive tract.
The legs of a camnequoi are located on the abdomen. They are made up of three segments and all end in a sharp point of especially hard chitin. They use this to literally stab into the rock of the mountain environments where they live, all eight legs working at once to provide sturdy anchors in the wet conditions. They also use these as weapons while hunting, piercing through their prey and then drawing them in to inject the deadly neurotoxic venom stored in their mandibles.
Camnequoi have two hearts, one in the neck just below the head, and one in the abdomen near where a typical chest would be. Having two hearts helps the camnequoi live in their high-elevation cave homes, as they regulate circulation so that ascending and descending through the altitude zones does not inhibit their functionality. They also lack a true stomach or any teeth. Instead, their entire digestive tract is lined with a highly corrosive mucous that breaks down anything passed through and converts the sludge into a nutrient paste that can be absorbed through the walls of the digestive tract and into the bloodstream. Since a camnequoi can digest nearly anything, they produce almost no waste, and anything not processed is regurgitated.
Behavior
Camnequoi are relatively social, and although they don't live in large communities, they do live in families, typically of a mother, father, and the current generation of children. Both parents take turns hunting to provide for the mate tending the nest and for the children, dragging large hunks of meat up the mountain faces to provide for their family. The parents also teach the young how to survive; where the best hunting grounds are, the nearest underground and above-ground water sources, and how to perform the familial mating rituals. When these children have grown, the camnequoi prepare for the next clutch by chasing the current brood from the cave and leaving them to fend for themselves.
As camnequoi are the top predators on the planet, the children will face little predation, and must only concern themselves with finding a new cave and an ample supply of prey, as well as avoiding the competition from both young and old camnequoi. After this stage, the camnequoi will be highly aggressive to all others of their species until it is time to mate, when they search for another of the opposite sex.
Camnequoi are highly aggressive fauna that hunt at night, using their superior strength and speed to ambush their prey and chase it down before striking the final blow. Their aggression is not limited solely to hunting, however, and they will attack almost everything within sight, they consider anything that moves as a threat to their territory, which can span almost 60 square miles. While the bright lights and loud noises of major cities and population centers tend to scare them off, the smaller n'nik settlements are fair pickings for many camnequoi. While it is far more likely for lone adventurers or small exploratory groups to fall prey to these predators, if they grow hungry enough or are caring for young, the camnequoi will not hesitate to attack settlements to find food. If one is starved enough, it may even brave the hostile city environments. There is a special group made to counter this, The Exterminators, and while they are almost always successful at taking down their target, it's not without substantial loss. A hungry, scared, enraged camnequoi is not to be trifled with.
Subspecies
Banded Camnequoi: The most common species on Collmoros, the banded camnequoi has dark bands of color striped across its chitin and skin. These bands help it blend in with the striated rock of it's mountain home.
Patched Camnequoi: The patched camnequoi is a rarer subspecies that many scientists believe to be a mutation from the banded camnequoi. These camnequoi will have splotches of darker and lighter coloring all over, much like a piebald type of marking. These patches can be bigger than the camnequoi's head, or as small as its eyes. Patched camnequoi also have a more potent venom to make up for the lower camouflage these markings provide, and their eyes tend to lean more towards a blue color.
Special
None.
Trivia
• The eggs of a camnequoi are slightly bioluminescent, designed to blend in with the glowing fungus of the caves they nest in.
• Although the camnequoi are most commonly found on Collmoros, they have also been spread elsewhere throughout the universe due to the testing and meddling of the vaeri, if there is an environment that resembles their home they can swiftly take over.
• Just before camnequoi breeding season, as the previous brood leaves the nest in search for new territory, it is possible that they will settle near cities or n'nik civilizations. To avoid catastrophe, many hire Exterminators to root out and kill any camnequoi attempting to set up territory in nearby areas, as they are most vulnerable when just settling into a space.
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