Lachesis- The World Undone
Lachesis was once a bountiful world dotted with forests and oceans. Now it is infested by the tarnished legacies of a fallen people. The surface is still dotted by urban ruins, scoured away piece by piece by the weather and the wildlife. Vast barrens stretch between patches of sanctuary, irradiated wastes scattered across the contents. Incompatible organisms compete for bizarre niches, those born of evolution struggling against the engineered behemoths that now terrorise landscape. The oceans are coated in vast stretches of plastic-eating biofilm. The forests are plagued by fungi belching toxic vapours into the atmosphere. The mountain ranges have been burrowed into by lithovorous worldcarvers once intended to serve as miners and excavators. Not even the underground vaults of the last surviving Architects are safe- for the Chilics continue a relentless crusade against all monuments of their creators, and continue to burrow into any facility they encounter before consuming it from within.
Chilic Biology- The Devourers
Chilics resemble enormous centipedes, bloated and ponderous, scuttling atop a menagerie of feet that allow them to scamper at a vertical angle if necessary. Their pedipalps are small and sharp protrusions, inflexible yet capable of grasping with enough effort. The frontal pair of legs are long and spindly, used to detect vibrations in the ground. They also possess a nasute mounted above the mouth, which can instantly spray a mist of caustic acid ahead of them. Their blubber is thick and resilient, but their sheer bulk makes them lumbering, and their reflexes are sluggish. A fully grown Chilic may stretch as tall as two metres and as long as five- permitted by both extremely efficient respiration and the lower gravity of their world of origin. In higher gravity environments, they will visibly sag as they crawl across the land. Behind their mass trails a pair of flegella used to pick up on atmospheric vibrations. Their semi-segmented bodies are lined with pores, each connecting to unnaturally efficient respiratory sacs. Though immense in mass and volume, Chilics are not optimised for raw strength, and their top speed is on par with what most would consider a brisk walk. In terms of biochemistry, they are carbon-based organisms, dependent upon water as a solvent and oxygen to breathe.
The senses of Chilics are relatively unimpressive. Four sets of compound eyes provide vision ahead of them, with three infrared irises present to permit a form of thermal detection. They also possess four centrally-positioned optical organs that allow for more focused vision in a narrow line of sight. They have a poor sense of hearing but a good sense of smell. They may also perform simple electrolocation due to a pair of armoured coils on their anterior segment. They can only detect strong discharges reliably, but are extremely agitated when this occurs.
What makes the Chilics truly stand out, however, is their incredibly complex digestive system. They secrete large quantities of enzymes designed to decompose complex inorganic molecules into their saliva, and a massive number of microbial gut symbionts that can metabolise a massive variety of materials. Chilics have a particular affinity for processing hydrocarbon polymers and their derivatives, but are also capable of digesting metals and sediments. They incubate a symbiotic microbiome in a specialised protein mucus, which can be released in large quantities through forceful ejections. This gelatinous material creates a corrosive biofilm that can erode away materials like reinforced concrete in a matter of hours. Once the film has completed its work, portions are often reingested. The end result of these adaptations is that Chilics are capable of gradually deconstructing even reinforced materials through biological means alone. While they are not well adapted to process complex biological compounds, Chilics can nonetheless serve as detritovores in a limited capacity, and are intelligent enough to develop some simple workarounds, such that entire specialisations have developed out of catching live prey to be communally decomposed. Above all else, they are known for an insatiable appetite.
Despite their ravenous hunger and ability to make use of many niche food sources that natural species cannot, Chilics also carry in their epidermis a layer of photosynthetic cells. This is not sufficient for them to subsist upon sunlight alone, but it does provide a useful supplementary energy source- and serves as further proof of their artificial nature. Indeed, such an adaptation is not unique to them, for many of their competitors are also engineered monstrosities making use of unnatural metabolisms and complex organ systems.
What truly separates the Chilics from their contemporary brethren is their intelligence. Whether by intention or by design, Chilics carry the hallmarks of sociality. They communicate with one another using grating, low-pitched but voluminous grumbles and groans. They band together to protect their young and their moulting comrades. They have even formed primitive societies, and begun to make use of tools- both equipment scattered amidst the ruins of the Architects and primitive implements of their own design. However, they do have several cognitive limitations. Their reflexes are slow, their senses of touch and warmth and pain dull, and they do not have a vivid imagination. Innovation comes slowly to the Chilics- but it does eventually come.
In terms of reproduction, Chilics are hermaphrodites, and mutual pregnancies are typical during mating. Their larvae are small, maggot-like organisms that clamber atop their mothers for the duration of their infancy, suckling from small pores that provide them with a nutritious liquid. Over the course of their lives, Chilics under several instars of moulting. Crucially, this is necessary for them to heal from their wounds in any way beyond the immediate and superficial.
Chilic Society- The Myriad
The Myriad
P2 Client of Chilics
Stats
Population: 21,000
Capital: Mirenest
Official Language: Myrial Chittertogue
Demonym: Myrial
Government
The Overseers
The Mystics
Home system:
Name: Moirai
Spectral Class: G
Planet: Atropos
Planetary Class: K
Planet: Lachesis
Planetary Class: M
Planet: Clothos
Planetary Class: M
Moons: 2 (Class D)
Planet: Morta
Planetary Class: J
Moons: 54
P2 Client of Chilics
Stats
Population: 21,000
Capital: Mirenest
Official Language: Myrial Chittertogue
Demonym: Myrial
Government
The Overseers
The Mystics
Home system:
Name: Moirai
Spectral Class: G
Planet: Atropos
Planetary Class: K
Planet: Lachesis
Planetary Class: M
Planet: Clothos
Planetary Class: M
Moons: 2 (Class D)
Planet: Morta
Planetary Class: J
Moons: 54
The Myriad is typical for a Chilic society, save for it’s impressive population. The most advanced technology within its reach would be quite advanced if not for a policy of abject Luddism. To the Myriad, all constructs of the Architects carry a tainted legacy, and they have made a divine purpose out of annihilating every remnant they encounter. As such, they are in reality most reminiscent of a P1-P2 technological range.
Chilics of the Myriad live a semi-nomadic lifestyle. They wander across the battered landscape until they encounter a suitable site to dig in. Then they will burrow deep within any complex they encounter, beginning the process of devouring it. Their settlements are an odd juxtaposition of archaic ruins and primitive construction- bricks of packed mud and excrement arrayed beside and twisting around the sleek architecture of a future forgotten.
One less usual aspect of Myriad life is an emphasis on eugenics. In the absence of technology, and surrounded by some powers less absolute in their Luddism, the Myriad has resorted to a complex mating hierarchy to compete. Certain families attempt to optimise themselves for particular traits in hopes that raw biological supremacy will overcome technological superiority.
The leadership of the Myriad is concentrated in a council of five individuals known as the Overseers- but much of the true power is held by the order of mystics that divine whether any advancement strays too far into the calamity of the Architects.
There is one other essential thing to note about the situation of the Myriad, and the Chilics as a whole- they are not alone. The deepest, most reclusive havens of the Architects still contain entombed and preserved members of that ancient people, and in recent times, more and more have grown close to properly awakening. The total eradication of every last bastion of their race has been made an essential goal of the Myriad, for any successful emergence threatens not only the clientship, but the very survival of their maladapted species.
