Achelat
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Achelats are pseudo-crustacean creatures native to the planet of Magrith. They frequently seem to live in hive structures, with several different castes of creatures. The Workers reach three yards in size have four manipulator arms which end in two small fingers each. Among the Warriors (which generally reach a length of four yards), two of these arms end in gigantic claws. No live queens have been encountered so far, but shell fragments found at the size of former nests hint at truly prodigious sizes. All castes furthermore seem to have mouth tentacles with which they can paralyze their prey.

Single or small numbers of achelats have been encountered in the Great Southern Chaos for some time, but as reports of true hives have only sprung up recently, it is assumed that the worker and/or warriors can breed without the queens, and that queens only appears when a hive has grown to sufficient size. The appearance of gives is seen with some alarm, as a large number of hives are known to exist in the wetter regions of the Far Coast - and one currently popular theory blames them for the apparent extinction of humans on that continent.

Their intelligence was assumed to be on an animal level, but recent reports by the Astromantic Society coming from Magrith tells of mega-hives with evidence of advanced tool use. It is possible that their intelligence increases when they live in contact with more of their kin.

Adventure Ideas

  • Sufficiently renowned heroes might be hired by organizations to learn more about how much the achelat represent a threat - in the Great Southern Chaos, the Far Coast, or Magrith itself - and how to put a stop to their spread. If there are some guiding intelligences behind them, this could end up as a true war between worlds…

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