Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To produce a bio-engineered guard/combat animal from Lucerne Biological Systems
- Image Credit: "Magericyon anceps" by Mauricio Anton modified by yours truly
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: Lucerne Biological Systems, Blackstalker, Garral, Vulptex
- Name: Fractal Garral
- Designation: non-sentient
- Origins: Lucerne Biological Systems labs
- Average Lifespan: 32 years
- Estimated Population: Scattered
- Description: Fractal Garrals are a genetically engineered guard animal bred by Lucerne Biological Systems derived from the common Garral and the more unusual Vulptex. While in peaceful and calm settings, the Fractal Garral appears to be a common, large canine - gregarious and easily handled by those it knows well. But it is almost seems to transform if pushed into combat. Near microscopic crystals within its hairs quickly change the creature's appearance into a partially translucent but bewildering array of shifting colors and patterns that make it more difficult to target and predict. Its powerful jaws, sharp claws, and easily trained nature can make it a deadly opponent to most organics or a powerful ally to those in need.
- Breathes: Type 1 atmosphere
- Average Height of Adults: 0.4 meters
- Average Length of Adults: 2 meters
- Skin color: pink-tan
- Hair color: Various shades of gray, brown, tan, and white
- Distinctions: At a glance, Fractal Garrals appear to just be another large, canine species within the galaxy, with a barrel chested by muscular body and unremarkable, subdued colorations of earthen shades. Females and males largely look the same to most observers, though like other canines, it's not usually hard to discern relative age. Most younger Fractal Garrals have to "grow into" their legs, whereas older Fractal Garrals do end up with an increasing number of gray hairs as they go. Those familiar with the common Garral can often see its heritage, especially in the skull's shape and the setback nose. However, when the Garral's flight or fight response response is triggered, the neurotransmitters start an electrochemical reaction that quickly starts a low-level electrical current across all of the Garral's fur, where the crystalline heritage of the Vulptex shows. The Garral's hairs contain near microscopic crystals which were engineered initially to act like photo-reactive coating found on some personal armors. But it failed. Instead, the Fractal Garral turns partially translucent, but parts of it amplify existing colors and patterns of its normal hair. These fractal patterns frequently change based on the environment's lighting and the creature's movement patterns. This is effectively a form of motion dazzle. Thus, while the Fractal Garral is still visible to even those with poor vision, it's often very difficult to determine just what part of the creature someone is looking at or where the Fractal Garral will go next. An unusual side effect of the engineering the crystals into the fur is that they sometimes also emit a faint glow around them in the dark when this defense is triggered.
- Races: N/A
- Force Sensitivity: Non-Sensitive
- Natural Camouflage: The Fractal Garral's unusual partially translucent hairs when triggered can make it difficult to fully discern at distance or act as dazzle motion camouflage in close range fights.
- Powerfully Built: The Fractal Garral has been engineered to have physically quite strong in combat, having not only powerful legs, but also a very powerful jaw which can frequently crush the bones of most organics with little difficulty.
- Perceptive: The Fractal Garral has very fine senses of hearing and smell, which often allows it to quickly detect and pinpoint potential prey and intruders within several kilometers.
- Easily Irritated: Like normal baseline Garrals, Fractal Garrals dislike the noise of repulsorlifts - something the design team attempted to account for creating this beast. While Fractal Garrals will not go into a complete frenzy when exposed to such sounds, they do become noticeably more aggressive and more difficult to control.
- Glow in the Dark: When a Fractal Garral in the dark's flight or fight response is triggered, the same electrical activity which causes the crystal-embedded hairs to change colors often also creates a dull glow around them, which can give away their position to an observant opponent.
- Diet: Omnivore
- Communication: Like many other canines, Fractal Garrals are fairly social and intelligent creatures, using a variety of barks, howls, and other sounds along with body language to communicate with each other and their handlers.
- Technology level: N/A
- Religion/Beliefs: N/A
- General behavior: Lucerne Biological Systems managed to keep the same general behaviors of the baseline Garral intact in the Fractal Garral. They are very loyal pack animals who prefer to congregate in small groups and have both the temperament and intelligence to be fairly easily trained by most handlers with traditional methods. Unlike the common Garrals, Fractal Garrals have a tendency to "slink" around obstacles more, which LBS geneticists speculate come from its Vulptex heritage. Like both of its parent creatures, the Fractal Garral is a fairly alert and observant creature which sometimes people view as almost having a "sixth sense". In combat, Fractal Garrals tend to be fairly aggressive and tend to use natural packhunter tactics to run down and overwhelm their prey. Most trainers add their own twists to individual tactics, so it's not uncommon to see some Garrals use remarkable restraint to simply immobilize prey, whereas other trainers will teach their Fractal Garrals to immediately try and crush the target's neck or leg.
Lucerne Biological Systems has engineered animals to guard both space and aquatic facilities, so it came as little surprise to the galactic market that they were also breeding a more traditional, terrestrial guard beast. While it is the third creature to be released by the company, its development actually started before the others. Baseline garrals - being products of genetic engineering themselves - were subject to many of the company's early efforts in gene-splicing, but the designers felt that their initial efforts did not bring about a creature worth breeding for commercial sale - especially with legends like the Blackstalker which suggested the Garral's potential could be quite high. That indifference changed once several of garrals were successfully spliced with some genetic material from the Vulptex, which produced some interesting hybrids which started a flurry of further research and gene manipulation. While unable to achieve their initial goal of creating a creature that could become fully invisible, it was felt that Fractal Garral was at least a very interesting and reasonably cost effective product to bring to the market. The Fractal Garral has subsequently been found serving in a similar role to the baseline Garrals before it, serving as guard and combat animals, especially in Outer Rim regions where either the culture or environment is not conductive to using droids or other security technologies.
