Kî'Rläk
A vaguely insectoid nomadic. Due to many millennia of living and breeding in space, they are adapted for 0G. Most Kî'Rläk have between eight and ten grasping appendages, and depending on the caste, the graspers can vary from wicked bladeclaws, to pinchers, to tentacles. Kî'Rläk could, in Terran terms, be described as the bastard offspring of wolves, spiders, and amoebas. They are mostly spherical, protected by a thick carapace, with many redundant eyes and sensory organs on various sections of their Main Carapace. They are extremely resistant to the cold and hot extremes often found in space and can go without breathing for up to thirty minutes. They would be classified as utterly terrifying and horrifically ugly to most humans. Kî'Rläk have difficulties moving on high gravity worlds without powered exosuits, and tend to need approximately a day to adjust to the gravity, when unadjusted, they tend to get extremely nauseous if they move quickly or suddenly. They do not need to adjust to microgravity. Kî'Rläk have an eyeless and sensoryless "Face", that is capable of emerging from any of the "mouths" on their carapace. This is what they eat with. They have three rows of teeth and consume their food whole and usually alive. The throat constricting and crushing it down, the multiple rows of teeth grinding it to pieces. Some Kî'Rläk Castes have two "Faces." The "Mouths" not in use by a Kî'Rläk's "Faces" will often be used as pockets for storing tools. Kî'Rläk physiology varies between caste. As examples. Castes specialized towards combat tend to have redundant organs. Castes specialized towards construction tend to have gas bladders, allowing longer periods of time traversing a vacuum or hostile environment without needing to breath. There are many subcastes and often mutant castes are created by natural breeding. The Kî'Rläk Genome is not exactly stable due to constant exposure to the unfiltered radiation of space. Cancer is the leading cause of death in Kî'Rläk, primarily due to how Kî'Rläk lack a uniform physiology, and although Cancer itself can be cured, cutting out the tumors post curing without damaging something important is much harder. Kî'Rläk occasionally use their unique internal physiologies as individual identification. Provided at all essential organs remain intact, excluding redundancies, a Kî'Rläk can and will eventually regenerate from any and all wounds. It can take months however for severe damage and carapace shattering.
Most Kî'Rläk craft have a small number of designated "Breathing Rooms." Usually where crew and passengers gather, rest, wait in safety during any ship accelerations, and where any important ship structures are. Such as the bridge. The rest of the ship is often partly or completely exposed to the vacuum of space. At the minimum it's depressurized. They don't need to breath very often so why would they? This has the side effect of making internal fires on ships nigh impossible to spread, as well as resulting in rather slim, angular designs. The Kî'Rläk dislike wasting resources on fancy ships. The internals of most ships are quite rough. and sharp. A spacesuit could easily tear from some of the sharp edges. The Kî'Rläk, having a carapace and a lack of needing a spacesuit tend to not bother to sand down the points. Only certain rooms need to be pressurized, It's a lot easier to build something that doesn't need to stop gas from escaping, slimness is just a result of not needing to attach. which has helped the Kî'Rläk win a number of interstellar wars.
Author
Topic: War of the Planets : Invader thread : Review Q3 2025 (Read 32076 times)