Greater Alak

The outrigger was a good fifty feet offshore, but Alistair had an anxious look in his eyes as he surveyed the island. It was utterly infested and covered in gigantic scorpions, formally termed the 'Greater Alak', and the sight of a number of them scooping up and drinking seawater was deeply unpleasant. 
"Right, we're at a good spot." Isolde pulled her oars in and stood. "Want to see something ridiculous? Hand me that coconut in the canoe."
Alistair hefted the fruit up slowly. "I hope you're not going to do what I think you're going to do."
"If you mean play with the local wildlife, yes." The captain of the Skyhawk wrapped the coconut in her sling, then began to swing it in a large arc. The motion had caught the attention of the Greater Alaks closest to the shore, and the beady eyes of the animals watched the canoe without blinking. Three or four sling loops and Isolde released, sending the coconut in a high arc towards the beach.
The coconut never made impact. As soon as it was close enough, three or four (the last one might have been two at the same time) cracks pierced the air, with the Greater Alaks exploding the coconut with tail strikes so fast Alistair could barely see them. It was as though the coconut had simply ceased to exist; Alistair saw no fragments of any significant size hitting the beach.
"Well, come on. Hand me another. I rowed out here to have some fun, unless you want to have a go at it, too." The captain had a wide grin across her face. "Every time I come out to the Alak Islands I always want to mess around here. Imagine what it would be like fighting one of these things, sword to tail stinger. It'd be fodder for a production at the Grand Amphitheatre."
Alistair gave an exaggerated cough. "My Florin would be on the Alak."

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Alak is a relative of the scorpion, a small, spider-like animal found in dry scrubland across Saibh. Most scorpions are hand-sized have eight legs, a pair of frontal pincers, and a relatively short, curved tail. Alaks instead have four forward pincer arms, and their tail is of an extended length, providing more velocity on strike. The Greater Alak is proportionally similar, but are the size of Power-Wagons. This is typically a disconcerting sight, when someone sees a Greater Alak smashing through the jungle for the first time. 
The tail strike of the Greater Alak is remarkably dangerous. The whip-like tail causes a loud crack when the Alak fires at a target, and the striking head of the tail can destroy trees and punch through heavy armor plate. The one attempt to capture a Greater Alak onboard a Power-sail for scientific analysis ended in disaster, with the animal killing half of the crew and wrecking the ship's power train before being forced overboard and drowned. The animal has a fearsome reputation among the local frontier societies.

Growth Rate & Stages

If the Greater Alak reproduces in a similar fashion as the ordinary Alak, there are likely clutches of eggs somewhere in the jungle where they nest and reproduce. This is unconfirmed; nobody has actually seen these nests, as nobody has landed on their islands.

Ecology and Habitats

Greater Alaks are found on a number of islands deep in the archipelagoes of East Saibh, unimaginatively known as the Alak Islands. On the islands where they are present, they are the apex predator, with their whip-like tails presumably allowing them to kill off any large animals that were on those islands. Most large apex predators are territorial, and infighting prevents them from coexisting in large numbers. The Greater Alak is an exception; they largely ignore each other, and are present on their islands in huge numbers.
While it's speculated that they must have washed ashore to their islands, it's unclear why the Greater Alak are not found anywhere else. The frontier societies closest to the Alak Islands studiously avoid approaching them, making human intervention or spread unlikely.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Presumably, the Greater Alaks feed off of small mammal and bird life that happen to be on the islands. Offshore observation has failed to see the Greater Alak eating any sort of plant life; they are likely obligate carnivores.

Biological Cycle

The only thing known about the Greater Alak's lifecycle is that they molt, similar to the ordinary Alak. Molted exoskeletons of Greater Alaks have caused alarm when they wash up on the shores of neighboring islands, but thankfully no actual live specimens have made the swim.

Additional Information

Social Structure

It is speculated that Greater Alaks may have some sort of ant-like social structure, with a queen and so forth. These are only theories; no person has done a deep study of the Greater Alaks on their islands.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Greater Alaks are found only on the isolated Alak Islands, deep in East Saibh.

Average Intelligence

The only note with regards to Greater Alak intelligence was taken from the ship's log of the Striker, one of the Siege-sails of the 4th Fleet Group of the Principality Navy. After anchoring offshore, the ship's gunnery chief decided to use the Greater Alaks on the beach as target practice for the Striker's launcher turrets; the Alaks failed to respond to this fire, and a number were directly struck and killed without provoking any fight or flight reaction from the others. It's hypothesized that the launched flywheels were simply moving too quickly for the animals to respond in time.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Based on offshore observation, the Greater Alak has both poor vision and hearing, typically navigating their environment by touch - feelers across their exoskeleton give them information about their immediate environment, but their eyesight is specifically oriented towards detecting motion.

Lifespan

Est. 60+ years

Conservation Status

Greater Alaks are not widespread, but the relatively few islands they are present on seem to have them in quantity. For fairly straightforward reasons, no survey of the Greater Alak population has yet been conducted.

Average Height

6-8'

Average Weight

Likely in the 3500-4000 lb range

Average Length

10-14'