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Approved Species Skelmorn, The Hungerers

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ᴡᴇᴀᴘᴏɴɪᴢᴇᴅ ᴅɪᴘʟᴏᴍᴀᴛ
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  • Name: Skelmorn.
  • Designation: Non-sentient, older specimens may be semi-sentient (see distinctions).
  • Origins: Consors System. (Geminidae)
  • Average Lifespan: 300-600 GSY.
    • Hatchling: 0 to 5 years.
    • Pup: 6 to 14 years.
    • Adolescent: 15 to 19 years.
    • Young adult: 20 to 100 years.
    • Adult: 101 to 400 years.
    • Elder: 401 and onward.
  • Estimated Population: Planetary. Indigenous to the Consors System.
  • Description:
    One of the many predator species found within the Consors System, the Skelmorn are large, agile creatures with an anatomy that seems to be a cross between a reptile, an amphibian and a mammal. Their tall, incredibly muscled builds make them an intimidating sight, as do the bone armor that covers most of their vital organs and the many sharp and dangerous weapons that would seem to be evenly distributed from the tip of their fingers to the spikes on their back. Their tail is actually a back crest composed of four tentacles packed together, which they can separate and use individually at any given moment either to facilitate movement or as a means of offense.
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  • Breathes: Types I, II, and III, so long as there is oxygen. Can't survive in type IV atmospheres or the vacuum of space.
  • Average Height of Adults: 3m-4m when standing on hind legs. Specimens never stop growing, the older a Skelmorn is the bigger it will be.
  • Average Length of Adults: 6m-7m from point of the snout to tip of the tail.
  • Average Weight of Adults: 680kg-900kg.
  • Skin Color: Usually black, other dark and opaque shades have been seen but are uncommon. Albinism is a possible mutation, albeit an extraordinarily rare one.
  • Hair Color: Hairless.
  • Distinctions:
    A Skelmorn is quite unlike any other creature, and as such it is very easy to recognize one. However, their uniqueness is not only evident in their appearance but in their physiology. A Skelmorn has significantly less organs than most other creatures, and almost all of them are not vital excepting their brains and hearts. Built by nature to be relentless killers, their physiological systems are incredibly efficient.

    Without a proper lung set, the Skelmorns allow air in into a primitive ventilation system where the lining of said tubes takes care of absorbing only the oxygen present in the air. As all species native to Geminidae, they need a minimal amount of oxygen to function and their ability to ignore other gases or pollution ensures their survival in any and all atmospheres so long as there is oxygen present in them. Their heart is incredibly powerful, pumping blood faster and more efficiently and therefore providing their body with a better supply of oxygen and nutrients which promote endurance and health.

    This creatures never deteriorate. As a skelmorn grows older, it grows bigger and stronger. Their joints become reinforced, their muscles better adapted, their intelligence and instincts, refined. To the very last moment of their lives, a Skelmorn will continue to be a capable and dangerous killing machine, and old age will kill them only because of the sudden and unpredictable stopping of their heart.
  • Races: None.
  • Force Sensitivity: Low.
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  • Strong and agile: Skelmorns sport a massive and athletic figure which grants them strength and agility. They can sort through difficult terrain with ease, are wonderful climbers and can rip apart most other beings without much difficulty. Apex predators in the purest meaning of the term.
  • So many ways to die: Whether its sharp, pointy or capable of wrapping around something and potentially suffocating it to death; Skelmorns have been blessed with quite a diverse array of natural weapons. Their tail/tentacles end with razor sharp blades capable of penetrating or slashing most metals with ease, their claws share these same properties. The two bone protrusions in their snout (upper and lower) can cut through most materials with ease and the hundreds of small barbs in the inner side of their tentacles allow them to grip and harm anything that has the ill-fortune of being within their reach.
  • Armor: Skelmorns have bone formations which act like armor. This bone-plates are extremely resistant, being able to withstand hits from light-sabers, blaster fire and cutting/piercing weaponry. Furthermore, their skin is strong enough to withstand several hits from blaster fire, grazing lightsaber hits and is impervious to most vibroblades.
  • Primordial sense: Like most predatory creatures, Skelmorns have amazing senses. However, this is specially true for one of them: their sense of taste. A Skelmorn's taste is so extremely developed that it acts as their main hunting mechanism, surpassing and replacing their smell. Still evading a complete scientific explanation, it is believed that Skelmorns can very literally taste the presence of other beings by allowing air into their mouths or flicking their tongues in a similar way to how olfaction works, with remarkable accuracy and from great distances. A grown Skelmorn can identify and track a taste that is as far as 30km away, without the impediments that smelling can have such as wind direction.
  • Strong minds: Skelmorn are dangerously intelligent. Only a bit of observation is enough for them to discover how to how things work (opening doors, being wary of people carrying rifles, etc.) and they are forever aware of their surrounding meaning that traps rarely work on them. Outsmarting them is a feat to be achieved. Furthermore, their instincts are so deeply rooted that their minds seem to be protected against external influences. Mind tricking or force-bonding a Skelmorn is virtually impossible, and the prodding of an external influence in their heads is sure to aggravate them.
  • Force-sensitives: Extremely rare to the point of being almost mythical, force-sensitive Skelmorns are nightmarish creatures. Their ability to sense the Force is incredible and they will use it to find prey more easily. They also gain the ability to enthrall and lure others through telepathic manipulation, with the stronger ones even being able to control their prey. This is why the force-sensitive Skelmorn are commonly known as "Sirens".

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  • Heat: While hot climate won't kill them, Skelmorns are used to fresh temperatures. They are more active in fresh or cold environments, and if exposed to a heated surrounding they will become progressively more lethargic and sleepy until they finally enter a heat-induced hibernation.
  • Achilles' Heel: When a Skelmorn separates their tentacles, they expose a weak point located at the base of their back crest/top of their necks: a direct route to their otherwise armor-covered brains. A slug shot or stab wound to this area is very likely to reach their brain resulting in a quick death.
  • Light armor: Their skin is sturdy, but nowhere near as resilient as their bone armor. Unluckily for them, their bone plates do not cover the full extent of their bodies. There are many parts of a Skelmorn's body that are open to attack.
  • Attention span: Skelmorn are guided by their instinct to eat. A sure fire way of changing their focus when they are aggressive is presenting them with smells/taste they find delicious, this will get them to immediately stop their assault to go hunt whatever the source of the taste is.
  • Slow Breeders: Not only do they breed slowly, their tendency to eat each other means very few of them make it to adulthood. This severely wounds their numbers and their chances of not going extinct at some point in the future.
  • Domestication: A Skelmorn can never be domesticated, and only a fool would try to convince themselves that they are. Even if they can be as affectionate as a puppy, their drive to hunt and kill will always be there and the second something allows it to surface they won't think twice of ripping their handlers apart. These creatures are incapable of true loyalty. "Trained" Skelmorn are only achieved by implanting a chip that constantly secretes their satiety hormone, thus nullifying their ability to feel hunger. Still, they are considered far too unpredictable and heavy regulations forbid anyone who hasn't earned a special license from attempting to control one.
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  • Diet: Carnivorous.
  • Communication: Body language, screeching roars, clicking noises. Those who have developed semi-sentience may be able to emulate speech in a broken and guttural manner, only learning up to a few words.
  • Technology level: Older specimens who have developed semi-sentience may be able to use very basic and primitive tools, otherwise none.
  • Religion/Beliefs: None.
  • General behavior:
    The skelmorns are one of the most dangerous yet beloved species in Geminidae. Despite being apex predators and more than worthy of the title, Skelmorns are usually docile and gentle creatures, even if their daunting appearance suggests otherwise. Curious, difficult to intimidate due to having been the top predators for millennia and surprisingly tolerant, most of the time they don't mind the presence of other creatures in their proximity and sometimes even go as far as inspecting other beings themselves with what could be considered playful and curious gentleness, coming from a dangerous creature. Some of them are so trusting that they will even display affection towards other creatures. They are like feral dogs who are unafraid of strangers, if dogs were sharp, deadly and massive. They are only skeptical of other beings when they are caring for their young, in which case they will threaten the offending party to get them to leave before attacking.

    It comes as a surprise, then, that basically all other wild species avoid them and their territories like the plague. The reason behind this deeply ingrained fear within all other geminian animals is that skelmorns are absolutely unpredictable. Their affable and endearing nature will swiftly meet its end when faced against their most primal need: hunger. Skelmorns will become ruthless and nightmarish predators the second they feel a minor pang of hunger, and will hunt down and eat everything and anything in their path until their hunger is satisfied. Skelmorns may even turn on each other and cannibalize their brethren when consumed by their unstoppable hunting instinct. Intelligent and creative, these creatures have even been known to lure prey by faking their friendly natures when in truth they are deep within their true predator-mode; adding to their fame for being unreliable and impossible to predict.

    Skelmorns are solitary creatures, only pairing up during mating season and until their offspring is born. Then the male will leave and the female will continue to care for her hatchlings. Very rarely, they will form small groups of up to three Skelmorn, this behavior is more common in the younger specimens who have recently become independent and are searching for new territory to claim.
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Skelmorn approaching a Geminaie.

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Indigenous to Geminidae, the Skelmorn evolved as one of the apex predators in the planet's surface. Forever feared and loved, the rest of Geminidae's inhabitants aimed to leave them alone deep inside their secluded territories in the heart of nature. On ocassion, one of them would begin to hunt too near civilized settlements for the Geminaie to feel comfortable and be put down. This ensured that the predators always tried to avoid cities and towns.

However, their strange and friendly behavior when not hungry also led to them earning the affection of many Geminians. But no matter how beloved or well cared for they were, trying to keep a Skelmorn captive always led, eventually, to tragedy and so it was agreed that the Geminaie would watch these creatures thrive from safe distances. Skelmorns are carefully monitored, and as soon as one of them gets too near civilian territory, specialized forces are dispatched to neutralize them (hopefully non-violently) and move them back to territory where they don't present an immediate threat.
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:: HERO of KORRIBAN ::
Moderator
Palm-Imer Palm-Imer

My name is Judah Lesan and I am here to review your submission. I am still in training so this will need a secondary review.

Shall we begin?

First off let me say this is a gorgeous submission. Also the simplicity of the template code you are using to create the scroll was ingenious! Second... this is a very well thought out and detailed submission. There are not many issues I have here, mainly just some suggestions.

No. 1. PLANET LINK

I honestly tried clicking on the planet when you mentioned it in intent. You do have it lower and totally do not have to move it, but since I started my way at the top you may want to consider it.​
No. 2. BREATHES

You mention that the species can breathe in any atmosphere as long as there is oxygen. Looking at the atmosphere types link from the template, the only exception might be Type IV. Take a look and see what you think about adding that just to help someone else reading this later get an idea of what can be done.​
That is really all for me... like I said these are just suggestions. Your image credits and template seem to all be in order. Let me know what you want to do with the suggestions and we will get you moving!
 
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