Work In Progress Thahbalahn, Desert Wyrm

[Muphinz]

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To create a super apex-predator for Ahk-Ourobha
• Image Credit: [X]
• Canon: N/A
• Permissions: N/A
• Links: N/A

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Name: Thahbalahn. Sometimes called a Desert Wyrm by non-natives of Ahk-Ourobha
• Designation: Non-sentient
• Origins: Ahk-Ourobha
• Average Lifespan: Several hundred years. Some have been known to reach over a thousand years but these are extremely rare
• Estimated Population: Rare
• Description: Thahbalahn are titanic serpents which dominate the dune seas of Ahk-Ourobha. Their titanic bulk, great strength, and ability to swim and hide in the dunes has made them truely terrific predators unphased by much of modern technology. Outiside of capital grade weapons the Thahbalahn rule supreme and are able to challenge any creature that does not fear them enough to stay unnoticed.

PHYSICAL INFORMATION

• Breathes: Type 1
• Average Height of Adults: The average Thahbalahn adult is about 40 meters in diameter but due to the species never stopping to grow the older sand wyrms, known as 'Grandfather Wyrms' or Asalaniyn in the Bedlaric tongue, can grow significantly larger.
• Average Length of Adults: The average Thahbalahn adult is about 200 meters in length but due to the species never stopping to grow the older sand wyrms, known as 'Grandfather Wyrms' or Asalaniyn in the Bedlaric tongue, can grow significantly larger.
• Skin color: Beige, brown, gray
• Hair color: N/A
• Distinctions: Thahbalahn use the force to vibrate loose sand and sediment around their bodies thus turning it almost into a liquid in its consistency. This allows them to move as they coil their way through this 'sand-water'. Furthermore Thahbalahn have enhanced tremor sensing organs that allow them to sense movement (so long as its touching the ground) for dozens of kilometers around them. This is mostly used to hunt other smaller Thahbalahn but is just at effective in hunting other beasts and sentient creatures.
  
  Thahbalahn are categorized by their size into the following categories:
  • Infant: 1-9 meters.
  • Young: 10-30 meters
  • Juvenile: 31-50 meters
  • Young Adult: 51-199 meters
  • Adult: 200-300 meters
  • Elder: 300-399 meters
  • Grandfather or 'Great Wyrm': 400+ meters
• Races: N/A
• Force Sensitivity: All

Strengths:

• Great Wyrm: Due to the sheer size of the Thahbalahn and the thickness of their scale armor fully adult Thahbalahn can phase off most non-capital grade weapons and have little effort breaking through durasteel or similarly tough materials.
• Force Movement: Thahbalahn have an innate telekinetic ability in the force. Instinctually they use this to vibrate sand and particulates around them into a near-liquid that they swim through, giving them their great movement in the dune deserts. This vibration, also, has a tendency to confuse and disorient other force-sensitive creatures often causing them to become extremely dizzy.

Weaknesses:

• Their Own Size: Should something happen to disconnect an adult, near adult, or older Thahbalahn from the force they will become incredibly weak and lethargic as their own weight begins to crush them.
• Specifically Evolved for their Homeworld: Thahbalahn brought off of their homeworld struggle immensely to survive. At first it was believed that they simply needed to be in a similar environment where they could use their ability to liquify sand to travel effectively. But taking them away from their sands, infused with Dust over millennia, causes Thahbalahn to slowly lose their connection to the force and die. The only Thahbalahn who have survived off of their homeworld were those who lived in force nexuses or other places infused with the force, and even then they never grew past 100 meters, seemingly stunted in size.

CULTURE

• Diet: Carnivore & Lithovore: Thahbalahn are capable of digesting metals and minerals. While rock with trace minerals and unrefined ores give them little sustenance and are mostly only ever eaten by very small Thahbalahn, crystals and refined metals are capable of sustaining larger Thahbalahn. They do not stray away from eating machinery if they can catch it.
• Communication: Thahbalahn mostly communicate between eachother by alternating the vibrations they cause in the sand, often trying to make themselves look bigger or smaller to trick other Thahbalahn that could be prey or a threat. They also use this method to indicate gender and willingness to mate. Outside of this Thahbalahn are capable of making low hisses, snarls, and snaps which they use as a last form of intimidation.
• Technology level: N/A
• Religion/Beliefs: N/A
• General behavior: Adult Thahbalahn spend most of their time traversing the Great Desert looking for food as they require a near constant influx of energy to stay alive. Mostly they prey on eachother with the small or desperate leaving the Great Desert to find prey on the rocky islands or polar continents of their homeworld. Outside of the Great Desert and its sand ocean adult Thahbalahn are rather slow and cumberson due to their immense weight, but within it they can be incredibly fast as they swim using force vibrations through the sand which helps support their weight. Young and juvenile Thahbalahn are known to spend much more time away from the desert and on the rocky islands and continents, though their much smaller size has made them significantly easier to deal with. Typically as a Thahbalahn reaches 40-50 meters in length they migrate to the dunes.
  
  Thahbalahn have incredible sensory organs able to identify vibrations and impacts from dozens of kilometers away (so long as its touching the ground) and are known to go out of their way to chase down and consume what ever is making these vibrations; taking it as a sign of life. While most of the time things in the desert which aren't another Thahbalahn won't give a Thahbalahn much nutrition due to their sheer bulk, every little bit helps on the brutal world of Ahk-Ourobha.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

Thahbalahn have long been the apex predators of Ahk-Ourobha, and a sacred animal of the Bedlariim. For centuries before the planet was inhabited many species found it difficult to live on Ahk-Ourobha as Thahbalahn frequently preyed on any settlement or attempts at colonization. It was only when the ancestors of the Bedlariim crash landed on the world and were forced to adapt to the Thahbalahn, instead of trying to force the Thahbalahn to adapt to them, that sentient life came to flourish on Ahk-Ourobha. The Thahbalahn have thus continued to serve as a kind of guardian for the Bedlariim, preying on foolish off-worlders who refuse to learn the Bedlariim's ways of co-existence.

The most important aspect of the Thahbalahn however, is the Dust. The Thahbalahn's innate connection to the force empowers them, both giving them strength and giving them the ability to navigate the dune seas of Ahk-Ourobha with ease. Part of that force connection is left behind by the shedded skin of the Thahbalahn, something they do every couple of years, and is ground to dust and diffused into the sands. Those who are able to harvest this Dust and consume it are said to become more attuned with the force, even those who are not normally force sensitive. Though Dust is also a somewhat addictive hallucinogenic and some find it valuable for that reason alone.