Success or Death.
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To make a Sithspawn monster guardian for the Library Temple of Krayiss II.
- Image Credit: Sarlacc-like by TheDjib on deviantArt
- Canon: [N/A]
- Links:
Sarlacc [Wookiepedia article] - Taozin [Wookiepedia article]
- Taozin Amulet [Wookiepedia article]
- Rathtar [Wookiepedia article]
- Vixus [Wookiepedia article]
- Sith Obelisk on Krayiss II [Wookiepedia article] (what it protects)
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Name: The Sentinel.
- Designation: Semi-sentient.
- Homeworld: Krayiss II
- Language: The Sentinel communicates through taste, feeling or smell.
- Average Lifespan: Estimated 1000 Years
- Estimated Population: Unique.
- Description: The first thing you see is a bare, undisturbed pit of sand. Step into the sand, and a mass of barbs and black tentacles burst from the sand, grappling the intruders as a great, toothy maw gapes open and swallow them whole into a jagged hell. The screams are cut short and before you know it, the sands have returned to their seemingly undisturbed state.
- Breathes: Type I
- Average height of adults: 100 meters.
- Average width of adults: 40 meters (tentacle reach of approx. 100 m)
- Skin color: Black.
- Hair color: [N/A]
- Distinctions: The Sentinel is largely based on Sarlacc DNA and therefore emulates the shape of a full grown specimen thereof. The Sentinel is mostly submerged in a pit of sand, in which it hides its bulbous body and vital organs. A mass of sensory tails is nestled in the sand around the Sentinel, letting it sense every tremor in the sand and nearby rocks. Unlike the normal Sarlacc, the Sentinel can hide itself under a cover of sand rather than remain an open ditch. Long, powerful tentacles crest its enormous mouth, helping it perform some limited movement within the sandpit it resides and trap prey. Inside its maw are longer, thicker tentacles used to trap, entangle and crush enemies, as well as jagged teeth to pierce and pull prey into its similarly jagged gullet to be swallowed. Inside its gullet is a powerful corrosive matter that dissolves prey so that they may be slowly digested.
The Sentinel was given ageing agents and growth hormones to reach adulthood at an accelerated speed. However, that has also shortened its life expectancy to 5% of the original. This is still 1000 years from conception to death.
- Races: [N/A]
- Strengths:
Taozin Infusion: Infused with elements of the Taozin, the Sentinel has an innate ability to hide its presence in the Force, making it difficult to detect. - Tentacles: The Sentinel's tentacles can reach far past its body (150 meters at most) and possess a terrible strength, enough to crush and strangle unwary intruders.
- Sensitive: Thanks to its many nerve tails extending through the sand, it can sense even the slightest tremor and change in pressure in the sand pit and its immediately surrounding rocks.
- Longevity: Less than the proposed 20 000 years of a Sarlacc's life-span, the Sentinel is estimated to have a maximum life-expectancy of 1000 years, which is still... considerable.
[*]Weaknesses:
- Immobile: The Sentinel cannot move past its sandpit and is generally quite stuck. It is not dodging any attacks soon.
- Shuns the Light: Normal light is unpleasant to begin with, but Force Light will harm the Sentinel and bring it much pain. Enough Force Light will kill it.
- Simple Mind: The creature is rather dumb. It will not perform any great actions past protect, attack, eat, wait. It will also eat just about anything.
- Thin Skinned: The Sentinel has no considerable protection past the sand and its bulk. Cut it, it will bleed; burn it, it will hurt, blow it up and it will die.
- One of a Kind: Unable to reproduce on its own, the Sentinel would have to be re-created to be replaced.
CULTURE
- Diet: Omnivorous. It will try to eat anything it can get its hands on and most things will digest or at least pass through its system. Its favourite food is humanoid flesh.
- Communication: The Sentinel hears sounds around it and feels even the slightest pressure in the sound, but it is not able of truly communicating past the point of eat or not to eat.
- Technology level: None.
- Religion/Beliefs: None.
- General behavior: The Sentinel has three general modes: Eat, don't eat, waiting for something to eat or not eat. Its entire purpose revolves around protecting the Sith Obelisk on Krayiss II and the Library Temple within. As a rule, it will try to eat any creature that passes over the sand-pit by grappling it with its tentacles and pulling it down into its sandy maw to be digested.
However, the Sentinel is not indiscriminate and can be pacified. It has been engineered and trained to accept the blood sacrifice of a tainted force user (Sith or Dark Jedi) and let them pass. The more tainted the blood is, the less needs be sacrificed. The sacrifice is simple; just drip the blood on the sand and wait for it to sink into the sand, then walk across.
Few things are as precious to the Sith as the secrets they accumulate in their unnatural experiments. When a zatitsis (false sith) tried to destroy the library temple of Krayiss II for his own selfish reasons, then Lords of the Sith stepped in to ensure that such tragedies would never again occur. One measure of security enacted was the creation of the Sentinel.
It was the pet project of [member="Darth Ophidia"] and [member="Cerbera"].The base of the sithspawning process was a sarlacc, a creature of such power and longevity that it has stepped into legend on the planets it inhabit. For the future or protecting Sith secrets? Nothing less than legendary would do. It was infused with the DNA of a taozin, rathtar, vixus and some modified strands of Cerbera's own creative genius.
They started with 100 specimen painstakingly cloned from precious Sarlacc spores. Out of the 100, 30 died in the first trials, another 20 in the second round. The death-toll climbed as their demands became more and more complex. When all the original 100 were dead, they had nothing but frustration and one barely living specimen. They cloned it again and started over with twice the diligence, leaving the original clone to die in peace.
But it did not die, it became stronger, meaner, toothier.
When the two alchemists noticed, they quickly put it through more tender care and infused it with growth hormones and age-accelerators. They had hoped for more longevity, but a thousand years optimum would just have to do. It was later stabilised when nearing adult size, making sure it would not outgrow its pit.
The Sentinel was planted outside the Library Temple of Krayiss II while it was being rebuilt, and its surroundings were modelled so that the Obelisk could not be reached without crossing the sandpit.
