Valik
Professor of Alchemy
Name: Ablyomma Alabaster Scutum, or “The Vegetarian’s Tick” in the common tongue.
Designation: Non-Sentient/Sapient
Homeworld: Many theorize Dxun, Gallos or Balmorra, but no one has confirmed the home planet of the Ablyomma Alabaster Scutum.
Language: Various semi-sentient communication such as clicking or pheromone emission, mostly gibberish.
Average height of adults: 2-5mm(Male, unengorged), 5-8mm(Female, unengorged), Up to 40mm(Engorged)
Skin color: Brown
Hair color: Brown
Breathes: Type I
Strengths:
+Very Small
+Unable to be smashed by an average boot when not engorged
+Very tight grip
+Uncommon, thus not a wide bugspray(Though it’s really an arachnid) market
+Able to detect odors and chemicals emanating from a victim, as well as changes in temperature or air through a unique organ in one of it’s legs.
Weaknesses:
-Very Small
-Able to be smashed by average boot when engorged
-Easily smashed by things stronger than the average boot even when not engorged
-Carries tons of diseases that sentients can catch, and thus is a bit more unappreciated than most ticks.
Distinctions: Females have a white spot on their scutum that distinguishes them from other ticks.
Average Lifespan: 3 standard years
Races: None
Estimated Population: Rare, most commonly found on forest worlds. Confirmed sightings on Dxun, Onderon, Gallos, and Balmorra and unconfirmed sightings on other worlds.
Diet: Non-toxic blood of any creature.
Communication: Standard arachnid communication
Culture: Primarily consists of eating and mating.
Technology level: It’s a tick.
General behavior:
The “Vegetarian’s Tick” maintains a fairly normal life cycle in comparison to the rest of Ticks, having a three stage life cycle of larval, nymphal and adult phases. The larval and nymphal states take anywhere from 3 to 5 standard months to complete, during which time the tick can still feed as normally, but retains less size, durability, speed, appetite, etc. affecting the range of hosts it can effectively feed on. Naturally larger hosts/tougher hides are better fed on by more developed ticks. Overall the Ablyomma Alabaster Scutum has only one remarkable trait that puts it on the radar of xenobiologists, for some odd reason when the tick feeds on a victim, especially human/near-humans, the victim develops an allergy towards meat products. Depending on the victim and amount of exposure the allergy could be anything from a being breaking out in hives after eating meat to having anaphylactic shock and can last anywhere from months to even years. Permanent meat allergies as a result of the tick bites are possible, though extremely rare and usually a result of multiple exposures over years of time.
History: Discovered in 147 ABY and correlated with meat allergies in 151 ABY the “Vegetarian’s Tick” was researched by scientists to try and gain better understanding of allergies between differing species. Rumors also surfaced that the Tick was used in vegetarian protests as a method of bioterrorism but said rumors were never confirmed.
Notable Player-Characters: None
Intent: To create a possible means of bio-weaponry for Vegetarian protests, as well as create a SWRP analog to the real life Lone Star Tick.
