Burrowing Brawmad

The only way we knew they weren't natural formations were the periodic spots where molten lava had solidified into a puddle of stone, like a stone cowpat.

— Student of Zoology circa 452 RB

The Burrowing Brawdad, Large Brawdad, or Magnetakin is a creature that spends most of its life underground. It appears to be a crustacean, looking very similar to a crab, but is found in mountainous habitats rather than close to water. It has been well recorded in history, but sightings aren't very common. It has often been relayed as a myth, with Titanist beliefs depicting Magneta in the form of the Brawdad.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Brawdad looks similar to a crab, with six slim legs supporting a large body mass, a shelled exterior, and a large claw on one arm.
The body consist of a shell over its back, made from the creatures bone matter. It's underside is protected by thick ribbed skin. It has a mouth orifice and a jaw which may only move up and down with respect to its body. It relies on its appendages to move matter to its mouth.
Its six legs are slim and form points at its ends. The strength and weight of the creature means it is able to pierce soil and soft rock using this legs, allowing it stability and the ability to stand at angles on cavern walls.
It had one large arm connect close to its mouth orifice, with a shoulder, elbow and wrist join. At the end is a claw that is hollow in the larger segment, so as to scoop soil and matter into.
The creature has two eyes set above its mouth, flush with the rest of its body. Its peripheral vision is therefore impaired.

Growth Rate & Stages

The brawmad has not been observed in an infant or adolescent stage of life. No one has witnessed the birth of a brawmad, nor the observance of more than one in any particular encounter. This has led some to believe the creature is near immortal, but this is ill-founded and unevidenced.
Discarded shells from the creature have been discovered buried in the earth or various sizes indicated the creature grows larger and larger.

Ecology and Habitats

The brawdad is mostly found underground, with rare occasions having it appear above ground. It forms tunnels to navigate by use if its claws to dig through soil and soft rock. Akin to a worm, it will ingest the material and process it within its body by use of heat, before regurgitating it. This has lead to some debate on whether it has a separate orifice for excretion.
The inner body of the brawmad is extremely hot, able to melt down lesser ores and rock, producing molten lava that it then regurgitates. This function is to simply deal with waste environmental material and not as a means of self-defence; there has been a misconception as often the brawmad will attempt to run from disturbers and doing so can lead to try create a new tunnel.

Dietary Needs and Habits

The brawmad is able to consist on minerals found in dirt and rock, but may also ingest living matter if found. It will tend to avoid ingesting moisture but can be found to enjoy bathing in water. Reports of such behaviour read that steam often envelops the creature.

As if it were a kettle pot, the water about it bubbled

This identified that the body of a brawmad is exceedingly hot, reaching higher than water's boiling temperature.

Biological Cycle

The brawmad will develop its shell over many years, turning the minerals ingested into a solidified bone-metal combination that makes it impenetrable. After a decade, however, the brawmad will shed its shell and begin growing a new one. It is unknown how many times it is possible for the creature to do this, with some theorising there is no such limit.

Behaviour

The creature acts much like a herbivore, but is better classed as a mineralvore. It is non-aggressive, only reacting to when it feels cornered or trapped. Otherwise it tends to ignore its environment, likely to its size, and the lack of creatures that persist in the darkness of underground caverns.
This is leads to a lack of intelligence - there is little to gain from intelligence in the brawmad. But it does possess some ability in constructing tunnels, maintaining a memory of where its tunnels exist. This has been observed once in a report where a brawmad was found confused when it found a tunnel that it had dug had fallen in due to the interference from studiers. A second report found it considered itself trapped after creating a dead-end, and attacked its pursuers. The pursuers found that tunnels circled the dead-end and the brawmad knew that further digging would have compromised their structure.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

The brawdad has excellent vision in the dark and therefore is very susceptible to bright light. It also has excellent hearing, used when no light is available. It is able to click its claw and use the sounds to locate itself in an environment. These two sense are very helpful in its habitat of caverns and deep underground.

Lifespan

Near immortal

Average Height

5 meters

Average Weight

500 kg

Average Length

7 meters (with arm extended) 5 meters (with arm contracted)