Biology

Sanians are quadrupedal creatures with four long spindly legs extending from a center mass that is vaguely in the shape of a humanoid’s torso. Massive and deadly predators, their center masses are larger than three adult Lanthians when fully grown. Their heads are humanoid-shaped, possessing six violet eyes set in a horizontal row across their faces. Their mouths are lined with six fangs as long as an adult Lanthian’s fingers.

Known for spinning webs, their mouths can open wide to present their spinnerets, a long dexterous appendage placed where a tongue would be in other creatures. Covered in slick black skin darker than the night sky, their surfaces are always wet with a liquid that prevents them from sticking to their webs. The mixture of chemicals that reside in the liquid are quickly rendered inert when they meet the air. This allows them to dissolve the adhesive of their webbing to move prey before securing them again without issue, though tiny pores in their skin are required to frequently renew the liquid upon their body’s surface to avoid getting tangled in their own webbing.

Unable to stick to their webs nor to other surfaces, Sanians climb by shooting their sticky webbing. Covering surfaces in thick mats of webbing, they use their appendages, vaguely humanoid hands with three fingers at the end of all four legs, to grab onto their webs and hoist themselves.

They reproduce by laying clutches of up to six eggs at a time. Their eggs are slightly smaller than an adult Lanthian’s fist, and they possess thin, flexible shells that are colored black. Requiring warmth, the eggs only survive when placed inside an incubator. Sanians have adapted to capturing living creatures with suitable body temperatures to use as living incubators. Sometimes capturing Lanthians in their webs, Sanians use their ovipositors, a tentacle-like organ with a tapered tip that emerges from their groins, to deposit their eggs into the vagina and/or anus of their prey. Their ovipositors are drenched in slime that lubricates the loins of their prey and allows them to easily slide inside.

Behavior

Sanians dwell within dark lairs, holes they either discover or dig into the ground or the trunks of large enough trees. They weave massive webs between large branches in the jungle as traps to capture their prey, feeling the vibrations in their webs to know of their success.

When hungry, they use the venom dripping from their long fangs to kill their prey before drinking their blood. When discovering a suitable incubator for their eggs, such as a captured Lanthian, they deposit their eggs into the vagina and/or anus of their prey before wrapping them tightly in webbing, mummifying them alive. The soft flesh and tightness of their prey’s loins keep their eggs safe and warm. They keep their incubators alive by forcing them to occasionally drink Sanian nectar from their ovipositors. Their eggs are filled with such nectar, providing rich nutrients to keep their unborn offspring alive. With ample energy supplied by their nectar, their unborn offspring further warm themselves by continuously shaking, causing their eggs to vibrate softly inside their incubators. Their eggs hatch after three full months, allowing their offspring to slide out of their incubator’s orifices. After, no longer requiring their incubator, Sanians tend to kill them and drink their blood.

Location

Sanians can be found throughout the entirety of The Lanthian Jungle. They are uncommon creatures.

Uses

Deeply feared by native Lanthians, they are avoided with great caution by individuals. The nectar within their eggs is highly valuable and coveted, and thus large groups of Lanthians occasionally hunt down and kill Sanians, though at great peril.

Back To Top