Base Information:
- Common Name: Chamax
- Species Name: unclassified
- Classification: omnivore/eater
- Terrain: unknown
- Locomotion: walker
- Size: medium
- Speed: fast
- Strength: strong
- Social Structure: hive
- Body Structure: standard
- Symmetry: bilateral
- Head/Torso: torso only
- Limbs & Manipulators: 10 legs + 2 grasping claws
- Tail: muscular tail
- Skeleton: exoskeleton
- Internal Fluids: molecular acid
- Weapons: teeth, molecular acid saliva
- Armor: chitin (equivalent to ballistic cloth)
- Stance: horizontal
- Length/Height: 1.5m long
- Body Profile: arachnoid
- Mass: 100kg
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Details:
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Homeworld: Chamax
Multi-world: yes
Extinct: extant |
Description:
The Chamax are a deadly predator.
Life Cycle & Reproduction:
Life stages:
First Brood (20kg)
Hunter (100kg)
Juvenile Maternal (25kg)
Mature Maternal (5000kg)
A hibernating hunter appears to be a furry ball 0.5 meters across; it shows no signs of life and does not respond in any way to any stimulus. A questing hunter is characterized by slow, seemingly automated movement and the weaving motions of its sensory palps. An aroused hunter is distinguishable from a questing hunter by its
quick and purposeful movement, and by the ferocity with which it attacks any living creatures in its vicinity.
The juvenile maternal resembles a small, winged hunter, although its interior anatomy is more complex. It has no strong jaws, instead using its acid to dissolve its food before eating. A maternal produces its first brood within a few days of its birth, and begins producing full-sized hunters within a week.
The mature maternal is a bloated sausage with shriveled legs and cannot move. It has the same mouthparts as a hunter but must be continuously fed by hunter attendants. Most of its body is devoted to reproduction.
A maternal's first several offspring (from 10 to 20 on the average) are much smaller and weaker than normal hunters, fit only to feed the juvenile for the few days she needs to grow to full maturity. Though less powerful, they behave in all
ways as aroused hunters.
Predators:
The Chamax are voracious creatures, but have one natural predator, the Edafosax, an enormous burrower capable of swallowing several Chamax in a single bite. Edafosax can overcome all but the largest nests of Chamax.
Because of their large size and high food requirements, Edafosax must cover a larger area than do most animals that live underground. Scientists estimate that an Edafosax can consume at least 500,000 kilograms a day.
Chamax maternals, hidden in their underground nests, were the chief food source of the carnivores; the efficiency of the predator's attack was the reason for the Chamax's high birth rate.
Full-grown Chamax maternals (not hunters) are the chief food source of the Edafosax. This makes sense, hunters and juvenile maternals are consumed by their own acid when killed, which suggests that they are a very poor food-source. However, non-juvenile maternals are not, because they have only a small internal supply of acid.
Maternals reproduce at the rate of about 3 per day. Assuming that Edafosax and bug maternals exist in equilibrium, this suggests that an Edafosax consumed between 1 and 3 bug maternals per day. Each maternal is about 5000kg, so this suggests the Edafosax consumed between 5,000kg and 15,000kg of food per day.
For the lower limit, a "small" Edafosax might eat one maternal a day, and assuming that is 3% of its body mass, a small specimen might mass around 166,667kg. Assuming roughly 1kg/liter, 167 cubic meters. This would work out to about 2.9m in diameter and 26 meters long. For visualization purposes, this is roughly the size of two city buses end-to-end.
For the upper limit, a "large" Edafosax might eat three maternals a day, and assuming that is 2% of its body mass, the large specimen might mass 750,000kg, be about 750 cubic meters. This specimen might be about 4.75 meters in diameter and 43 meters long - roughly the size of a short railroad train, and probably as powerful as a locomotive.
Travellers' Aid Society Advisory:
Chamax are quite dangerous and avoiding Chamax altogether is highly recommended. |
This page's code ©2026 Owen E. Oulton, based on the Traveller RPG Wiki and COTI Website.
The text has been adapted to fit into the Star Trek, a Space Odyssey campaign.
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