[BeastMaker] Large Burrowing Carnivore, native to Chamax

[robject]

Page 20, Double Adventure 5 / Horde, mentions a large, burrowing carnivore that was killed off by the Chamaxi sophonts.

Here's the only reference to them:

Eventually, colonies were established there, and a life form native to that continent - a large, burrowing carnivore - proved to be an intolerable nuisance, tunneling through walls and collapsing whole levels of the sentients' underground cities. This problem was solved when the natives learned how to wipe out the carnivores with poisons that prevented their reproduction.

The realization came too late that the carnivores were the only check on another much more dangerous life form, known to Raschev as the bugs. Bug maternals, hidden in their underground nests, were the chief food source of the carnivores; the efficiency of the predators' attacks was the reason for the bugs' high birth rate.

1. The animal is large enough to destroy enough load-bearing elements of the Chamaxi underground cities to collapse entire levels.

2. These predators had an "efficient" attack.

3. They were only a "nuisance" to the sophonts.

4. The Chamax' reproduction rate was compensated for by the nutritional needs of this large burrower.

A Maternal at optimal production gives birth to 100 Hunters per day. Each Hunter is 50kg. Assuming there was one Large Carnivore Burrower for every 1 to 100 Maternals, this critter therefore could have eaten as many as 10,000 Hunters per day -- 500,000 kilograms of Chamax Hunter.

Upperbound, then, is probably 500,000 kilograms of food per day. Assuming that's only 2% of the Burrower's mass, the creature would be therefore 25 million kilograms. Assuming standard density (T5 p. 583, Table D), that's 25,000 cubic meters, or 1,850 displacement tons. Assuming standard body profile (T5 p. 583, Table B), W = D = L/9;
Volume = L/9 x L/9 x L = 25 million Liters;
L x L x L = 2 billion liters; L = 1200 meters; W = 133 meters; H = 133 meters.
This qualifies the creature as Colossal (T5 p. 581, Table 3).

Lowerbound, meanwhile, is perhaps a tenth of that -- 50,000 kilograms of food per day. Assuming that's 3% of the Burrower's mass, the creature would mass 1.6 million kg. Again, with standard density (T5 p. 583, Table D), that's 1,600 cubic meters, or 120 displacement tons. Assuming a standard body profile (T5 p. 583, Table B), W = D = L/9;
Volume = L/9 x L/9 x L = 1.6 million Liters;
L x L x L = 130 million Liters; L = 270 meters, W = 30 meters, H = 30 meters.
This qualifies the creature as Gigantic (T5 p. 581, Table 3).


I will take the middle ground, and assume it eats 250,000 kg of food per day, at 2.5% of its own mass. In this case, the creature masses a cool 10 million kg. Assuming a standard density (T5 p. 583, Table D), that's 10,000 cubic meters, or 740 displacement tons. Assuming a standard body profile (T5 p. 583, Table B), W = D = L/9;
Volume = L/9 x L/9 x L = 10 million Liters;
L x L x L = 810 million Liters; L = 900 meters, W = 100 meters, H = 100 meters.
This puts the creature about smack dab in the center of Colossal.

 

[Vladika]

This qualifies the creature as Gigantic (T5 p. 581, Table 3).

Maybe there were many smaller ones? That thing would have to be killed on general principle!

 

[robject]

As long as they're big enough to cause structural damage, yes, they'd have been a terrible nuisance.

Note that this creature was only on a minor continent, and it prevented the Chamax "Bug" species from migrating to other continents. The continent must be remote, and the "Bugs" must have been managed so well by this predator species, that the Chamaxi sophonts were not bothered by them.

What does this say about the Chamax "Bugs"? It may mean that the Bugs were not deep burrowers, plus didn't find the sophonts themselves as tasty as other things on the land, since at one time all three species lived on that continent. Bug attacks were not as serious as the Predator's depredations. Perhaps the Predator was more exuberant ("efficient") than the Bugs themselves, so when a nest approached a colony burrow, the Predator would rush in and destroy everything in its path to get at the nest.

The Predator (a "large carnivore") would have to be a very good burrower, and be strong enough to tunnel through walls and "collapse whole levels". What's big enough to break through supporting walls of an underground city? Something elephant-sized? Dinosaur-sized?

 

[the.barwickian]

The Predator (a "large carnivore") would have to be a very good burrower, and be strong enough to tunnel through walls and "collapse whole levels". What's big enough to break through supporting walls of an underground city? Something elephant-sized? Dinosaur-sized?

I'm picturing the worm from Gears of War 2.

Or Shai-Hulud.

 

[robject]

Have to admit, the sandworms from Dune crossed my mind. But they might just as well be some gigantic space badgeroid.

 

[maksimsmelchak]

Hi Robject,

I liked this discussion very much and further developed the idea here:

http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Edafosax

Please let me know what you think, whether you are ok with it, and whether I properly credited you.

Thanks!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

 

[djwildstar]

I've been getting ready to run Chamax Plague (and possible Horde follow-up) for my players, and stumbled upon the Edafosax entry and this discussion by way of the Imperial Encyclopedia entry.

However, I think there are some inaccuracies in both the previous size discussion and in the Encyclopedia entries.

Horde p.20 states "Bug maternals, hidden in their underground nests, were the chief food source of the carnivores; the efficiency of the predator's attack was the reason for the bug's high birth rate."

SO, full-grown bug maternals (not hunters) are the chief food source of the edafosax. This makes sense, since Chamax Plague p.16 states that bug hunters and juvenile maternals are consumed by their own acid when killed, which suggests that they are a very poor food-source. However, non-juvenile maternals are not, because they have only a small internal supply of acid.

Maternals reproduce at the rate of about 3 per day. Assuming that edafosax and bug maternals existed in equilibrium, this suggests that an edafosax consumed between 1 and 3 bug maternals per day. Each maternal is about 5000kg, so this suggests the edafosax consumed between 5,000kg and 15,000kg of food per day.

For the lower limit, a "small" edafosax might eat one maternal a day, and assuming that is 3% of its body mass, a small specimen might mass around 166,667kg. Assuming roughly 1kg/liter, 167 cubic meters or just under 12 displacement tons. This would work out to about 2.9m in diameter and 26 meters long. For visualization purposes, this is roughly the size of two city buses end-to-end.

For the upper limit, a "large" edafosax might eat three maternals a day, and assuming that is 2% of its body mass, the large specimen might mass 750,000kg, be about 750 cubic meters (about 54 displacement tons). This specimen might be about 4.75 meters in diameter and 43 meters long - roughly the size of a short railroad train, and probably as powerful as a locomotive.

Although not the size or scale surmised above, these are still very large carnivores and certainly large enough to wreck an underground structure should one burrow into it.

Regarding the entries in the Imperial Encyclopedia:

It is well-established that both the Chamax ("bugs") and the carnivore that preys on them are native to Chamax, an uninhabited secondary world in the Alenzar system (Reidan subsector). Alenzar Belt is the primary world in that system. The Imperial Encyclopedia entry incorrectly states that the edafosax are natives to Raschev, when in fact no edafosax has ever existed on Raschev.

Second, it is unlikely that the edafosax were acquatic. First, the "bugs" aren't acquatic, and will not hunt in water even if there is food present there - p. 10 of Chamax Plague states that there is a wide variety of marine life on the world, yet the "bugs" are hibernating for lack of food. Second, the edafosax were not known to the natives of Chamax before they colonized the continent containing the "bugs", which suggests that (like the "bugs") the edafosax were confined to their continent by the world's oceans.