Ekatonyx

An enormous hairy, armored beast with fifty pairs of legs.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The size of a commuter train, these impressive beasts look like a cross between a centipede and an armadillo. And like a centipede and an armadillo, they are proficient diggers and can roll themselves into an armored ball.

Growth Rate & Stages

When born, an Ekatonix is about as long as it will ever get. It resembles a tapeworm over 100meters long and is birthed coiled in a gooey sack the size of a trash can. Their legs are so short as to appear to consist of only claws.
They are typically born in pairs although triplets are not uncommon. Shortly after birth, the mother consumes their protective sack and the newborn climb along her underbelly where they remain nursing for over a year. Peculiar to Ekatonix, the very act of nursing eventually kills the mother.
Upon her death, the young consume the soft parts of their mother's body, roll into balls and go into a state of turpor. During this time, their bodies go through a transformational puberty. Their legs lengthen and strengthen, their claws change from gripping to digging, their eyes and ears fully develop and their armor turns supernaturally hard. When Ekatonix wake from this metamorphosis, they are nearly fully-grown adults and will soon begin their own wandering.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Ekatonix are omnivores. They are not quick enough to hunt, but they will happily crush anything that attacks them and eat it. So mostly they are herbivorous.

Additional Information

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Coming through the Calgary Rift in the early days following the Great Cataclysm, several of these massive beasts brought their simvan tribes with them and spread across the norther great plains of North America.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

Ekatonyx form the center of Simvan culture. The Simvan Monster Riders live upon the backs of these gentle giants, building shelters and defensive howdahs for their trek across the plains of their homeworld.
In return for this service, the Simvan tribes will offer the Ekatonyx a portion of all their hunts and even their own dead.
On Rift's Earth, their relationship is no different.

Average Height

a fully grown adult can reach 4 to 5 meters tall

Average Length

a fully grown adult will reach lengths exceeding 150 meters