Terlan

A species of Troznux Arkan bioship. Terlans are very small comparitively, being only about 2 m long. This makes them comparable in size to a human, and puts them quite low on the food chain. However, they still scare away predators using their large biological particle cannon that goes down most of their body, their mouth doubles as the particle cannon. This has proven to be quite the anomaly to the Hyperion Federation, as this form of plasma cannon fires quark-gluon plasma. They are also very fast. However, to get acess to this much energy, they need a fast metabolism. They digest food less efficiently and faster than most species.
Most of the Terlan body is taken up by a particle accelerator organ. This fires a large amount of high energy neutrons, which can easily pierce almost all shields of mechanical starships while heavily damaging biological tissue of any creature within the blast. This can easily kill starship crew or even large bioships. Creation of these neutrons can very easily exhaust the Terlan though. Due to this, the body must store large amounts of fat and have the ability to burn a lot of it within a moments notice. This is often replenished however, when the terlan begins eating whatever target it fired at. It also doesnt usually use the entire energy reserve of the body.
They digest food very fast with a fast metabolism rate. This can provide them with a lot of energy especially when eating large prey. As terlans are too small to safely withstand the powerful forces of a gas giant, they could not survive with hydrogen fusion propulsion organs. instead, they have some extremely powerful bioluminescence organs which can propel a terlan body due to photons having momentum. This can produce a lot of heat. Excess body heat must be radiated, or the body would cease functioning. They instead obtain some gases that are less useful to the body through digestion before heating them up with the excess body heat and removing it from the body into the vacuum. A lot of this gas is produced by gut bacteria.

Basic Information

Genetics and Reproduction

They reproduce rapidly and similar to mammals. 2 sexes.

Growth Rate & Stages

From age ~1 they are sentient.  They grow at a steady rate until they reach their full length at about 20 years

Additional Information

Geographic Origin and Distribution

They are seen in most regions around the galaxy, but are most present in the more active areas of the galaxy. Although more predators live around these areas, there is also more food for the terlan itself to eat

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Visual, thermal imaging and psionic superluminal location

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Troznux

Average Length

2.1 m

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Green bioluminescent areas that go down the length of their body, particularly where the particle cannon extends, and through the tail.