Rashae
Genetic Scientist
Intent: Lab created parasitic silicon based lifeform to assist in clean up of ash, junk and slag.
Image Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armadillidium_vulgare
Canon: N/A
Links: GenTech http://starwarsrp.net/topic/102894-gentech/#entry1485357
Name: Ash Orb
Designation: Non-sentient
Language: None
Average Lifespan: 7 – 10 days
Estimated Population: Rare (created in lab)
Description: In a solution to the problem of waste slag and Ash, Doctor Rashae Lovous created a parasite that could dispose of these waste products. A combination of Orbalisk, Nadir Spider and the Balmorran Metal Parasite, It is intended use is for clean up of waste riddled systems, systems beset by volcanic ash, take care of slag waste from mineral mining. It provides a byproduct of whole salts and base minerals. Metals and silica are consumed.
Breathes: Does breathe air but doesn't require primarily oxygen. Can exist in low oxygen/ moderately toxic situations.
Average height of adults: ½ – 1 milimeter
Average length of adults: 10 to 12 milimeters
Skin color: appear as shiny metalic black
Hair color: no hair
Distinctions: In dormancy, appears as this little black ball beebee. Upon closer inspection one may see the ridges of its top armor layer. When it is near metals or silica, it will unroll and start feeding.
Races: parasitic insect
Strengths:
small compact form can get in between cracks and crevices to get to what it wants to eat. Half of its life is to eat. The other half is to reproduce.
Completely harmless to humanoids. Any species having a high silica or metal percentage in their make up can be damaged. Droids can be damaged.
Can breath in partially toxic air.
Byproduct produces salts and minerals from its waste elimination of its diet.
short lived – max life is 10 days
specific diet – will only eat metals and silica.
Can drown in a very small amount of water
Additional Considerations:
--Minimal to no water needed.
--Metals: the more refined and dense the slower consumption is.
-- Droids issue: They would cause damage to droids. swarm sure, instant digest, no. (though that would be a cool thought ) They would go for the 'softer' metals first before chewing on the denser metals. If the droid or owner do not deal with it, the droid will sustain damage over time. One thought is as soon as they come across an electrical spike in their circuitry that can very well kill them. as long as one remains and is feeding. more will produce. depending on the droid they could take a couple of months consuming a droid before its down to nothing.
-- They do NOT retain the lightsaber immunity of the Orbalisk. The orbalisk provided the sturdy shell and basic body composition in the design as well as hardiness.
CULTURE
Diet: Metals and silica
Communication: none/basic insectoid chemical communication
Technology level: none
Religion/Beliefs: none
General behavior: Half of their life is driven to eat and consume metals and silica. The other half is to reproduce. At about the 7th day of life, the parasite will produce 1-4 little balls off of its exoskeleton that will fall off when the parasite expires at the 10th day.
Balmorran Metal parasite http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Balmorran_metal_parasite
Orbalisk http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Orbalisk
Nadir spider http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Nadir_spider
The challenge of getting Mandalore back on its feet posed a few environmental, geological and biological challenges to get it habitable again. One big obstacle was to deal with all the ash. Other systems with problems with slag, or over abundance of crashed ships or debris fields have come to notice. Seems a niche market was looming. Doctor Rashae Lovous designed a parasite that combined the Balmorran Metal parasite with the Orbalisk and obtained a one of a kind creation that eats metal and silica. Primary component of ash is silica. Primary component of slag is poor quality metals that would not be wanted as the cost to make it usable is too high for the amount produced. This parasite will eat and the waste product produced would be various common minerals and mineral salts. Depending on the composition of the metal, slag or ash will depend on what waste product is produced.
When Rashae was working with the orbalisk genome, at first it wouldn't splice with the Balmorran metal parasite and vice versa. Both genomes bonds were resistant to fusions or easy splicing. After several attempts, Rashae noticed smaller ones pushed to the side. The runts or the weaker ones. She then took the smaller stunted orbalisk and the weaker metal parasites and found them easier to splice.
They didn't live longer than 24 hours but she was getting somewhere. It was progress. There was something missing. They would eat the ash but would die from constipation it seemed. She started researching other insectoids and came across the Nadir spider that was silicon based. It took her some time to obtain at least some DNA samples from a hunted specimen, but she got it. People thought she was nuts. It spliced nicely with the metal parasite. It took four m ore generations to get a stable genome and version that would work. Small, easily grown, can take care of ash build up, slag, metal junkyards and other applications she could think of. The resulting growth looks like an armored silicon based life form that looks like a pill bug. The creature is engineered to be very small.
Ash orbs do not have any affinity to the force or darkside as the Orbalisk does, that fortunately did not splice over. Rashae made sure the Ash orbs had a short life duration of a maximum of 10 days. Do its job and die. Despite their armored shell, they are affected by blunt force trauma. Good heavy boot can make them go squish. Be careful, their systems are highly acidic in order to digest their food. This acid can come up through thin rubber souls and damage boots. They can go into very thin crevices and often eat a metal object from the inside out if they can get into the object.
They reproduce asexually. Upon the 7th day their reproductive cycle kicks in and can produce 1 to 4 balls on the side of their shell. On the 10th day, the parent dies and the balls fall off and start feeding. The young cannibalize the parent from the inside out . There are no male or female ash orbs. If there is no food, they will not go through their reproductive cycle. They will either die or go into dormancy. Depending on how well they fed. Once food runs out they usually go into dormancy. They can exist in dormancy for up to a year before they die and a new batch needs to be made. Strong EMP or electric shock will kill them.
Restrictions for handling must involve polymer/plastic containment. They will not harm human flesh but its recommended you use rubber gloves in handling. They appear to look like bee bees at first till they encounter their food source. If you want to recycle the metal. Do not use this parasite to take care of your metal waste. if you intend on using chemical preparations to leach trace metals out of the base component, do not use these parasites. These little buggers will eat all the metals. Minerals that contain inert crystal form of what makes gold, silver, etc could be byproducts in minute traces or none at all. This parasite is for cleanup purposes only. General minerals and mineral salts are useful but widely available.
Gentech holds the rights and original genome for manufacturing.
