Design Phase 4 - Alpha
Cultivator
[Efficacy: 4]
-Base Incidence Rate: 20%
-Evolution Chance: 25%
-Available Evolutions:
-- Cultivator+ 100%
-Mutagenic Potential 3
-Description: The Cultivator appears, at first, to be a grub-like regression of the Driller. Its expanded flesh largely free of the the Driller’s streamlined armor and somewhat bloated in appearance, while the driller’s refined headshape has been lost in favor of a singular gaping maw - though that maw is filled with independently muscled grinding ‘teeth’ that do preserve the driller’s head shape, among other specialized forms. Primarily a scavenger and waste disposal system, the cultivator has additional scent/taste receptors embedded within its mouth to sample and classify the materials it grinds to dust, as well as a modified system of tongues and sphincters that allow it to semi-separate the material it pulverizes into various specialized stomachs for efficient digestion.
In terms of normal edible matter, the Cultivator is an efficient eater, capable of heightening the relative nutritional content of its meals while still breaking down many threatening toxins within the food - though far from all. When ingesting inorganic rocky matter and earth, the Cultivator uses a series of stomachs that act as chemical leaching bathes, extracting trace mineral content to supply a surprisingly wide variety of micro-nutrient necessities, but no gut bacteria has yet been isolated or woven that would enable the Cultivator to reach a positive energy balance by this process alone. These micro-nutrients, however, are put to good use enriching and supplying a wide variety of symbiotic life that lives sheltered beneath the Cultivator’s remaining chitin.
During its daylight cycle, the Cultivator either burrows to the surface of its own accord or signals nearby drillers to accomplish the same, and opens the plates of its back armor to reveal a small but significant hidden garden which rapidly unfurls and greets whatever light is available. Supported by a mineral enriched ‘soil’ specially craft by the cultivator, these plants are highly exotic and efficient photosynthetic life forms, serving as biological factories to turn the raw glop the Cultivator ingests and leaches into a rich and complete food product - which is then secreted back into vacuoles within the Cultivator for later dispensation to the swarm.
While it largely meets its design goals, the cultivator’s communication ability is somewhat lacking, and can only make the broadest of directions to the Drillers. This isn’t helped by the fact that it’s primitive scent receptors, though sufficient to help it tell when it’s eating something good, and when there’s something good already on the ground, have difficulty determining which direction good food is when it’s still embedded in the earth. The Cultivator’s stomach system, likewise, is highly functional, but still vulnerable to many hazards, and the tongue system used to filter food items often fails to be 100% accurate when sorting through the materials pulped by the Cultivator’s teeth. Its portable garden, while efficient, is also not yet a perfect eco-system, and doesn’t integrate properly with native bioforms in order to leverage them to full effect.
Cultivator+
-Evolution Chance: NaN
-Mutagenic Potential 3
-Description: Larger than an ordinary Cultivator, principally in length, the Elite form is similar in most respects. A bit hungrier, a bit better at sensing exactly where the tasty scents come from, and a bit faster at eating as a general rule, the primary difference in the Elite cultivator is an expanded set of honey-vacuoles with muscular linings, external valves, and small internal organ capable of rapidly secreting hundreds of small seeds into the vacuole. Once the cultivator reaches its honey capacity, it will inject seeds into one of these special vacuoles and vent it, spattering everything in a wide cone with a thick layer of fertilized biomatter which, on contact with the air, rapidly blooms into a thick lichen-like mat of quasi-vegetation. This vegetation is imminently edible and contains fibrous roots that are capable of infiltrating many soft materials and supporting the plant as a separate life form - given sufficient water. While this is useful in externalizing the honey in a stable state, it also enables the elite cultivator to rapidly blanket the dead in a layer of plantish matter that will slowly but steadily help eat them to continuously supply more food.
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Topic: Mutagenesis Team Thread | Alpha Hive (Read 10831 times)