Here we go. Sorry about only being able to provide basic, line-and-color concept art. Visuals are far from my strong suit. I hope you'll agree that my ideas more than make up for my lack of artistic ability. Name: Kegatin (Came up with the name out of the blue, so if anyone can come up with a nice-sounding, original, name that actually relates to the monster, I would appreciate it.) Habitat: Icy caves deep underground -- does not depend on sunlight. Longevity: Average life span is roughly 40 years. Diet: Ice and metal (Explained below; I DO have a reason) Intelligence: Somewhere between canine and simian? Can't do more than basic problem solving, but smart enough to form simple strategies when fighting. Population density: Fairly sparse, and only found deep underground Patterns: After a short larval period which it spends buried in rock and being nurtured entirely by its mother, it emerges as an adult. It claims its territory, builds a nest (elaborated on below), and spends a large part of its life digging for metals to feed on, which it extracts using the pointed back of its head. Kegatin attract mates by building the most beautiful nest possible, so it is more than willing to defend -- and capable of defending -- its territory. It provides no warning before attacking and doesn't even appear to have any vocal capacity whatsoever. Attack Patterns: It typically goes out of its way to avoid bright lights when in combat and tries to attack its enemy from behind. It can climb on walls and ceilings to get a position advantage. It attacks with swiping claws as well as the pickaxe-like back of its head and defends against ranged attacks with a metal shell (explained below). The kegatin's diet consists entirely of ice and various metals. It creates energy by metabolizing the materials into two waste substances: Crystalline macroeconomics, which it then builds its nest out of; and various hydro-metallic liquids, most of which are toxic to most life forms, and which it collects at the bottom of its nest to sleep and rest in. Then, a mucus-like layer of bacteria on its skin metabolize the hydro-metallic liquids and oxygen back into water and the original metals they were made from. Because of this, the kegatin, from its emergence into adulthood, constantly has a layer of ice and metal building up on its skin, forming a shell. In order to keep the shell down it supplements its diet of fresh metal ores by nibbling on its shell in its spare time, especially around the joints, but despite this the shells of older kegatin are much thicker and bulkier than those of younger ones. A kegatin without a shell; just emerged into adulthood: Notice, if you will, the gangly, multi-jointed arms, and how its thumbs are on the opposite side of its palms when compared to humans. A young kegatin: Small, lightweight shell, which provides maximum flexibility and speed but minimum defense. Its crystal nest would be thin and shallow. A middle aged kegatin: Bulkier, medium-weight shell which provides a higher level of defense. its crystal nest would be roughly as tall as it is or maybe a few feet taller, with walls about two or three feet thick on average. An old kegatin: Very bulky, very heavy shell which is extremely difficult to penetrate but provides minimum freedom of movement. Its crystal nest would be very thick and probably reach the ceiling of the cave it lives in. No Two Shells Are Alike: The main reason I think kegatin are a perfect addition to Starbound is the flexibility of their shells. Since they aren't picky about the metals that they eat, each individual would, in theory, have a shell with different metal contents than any other individual. Clearly the possibilities are endless. but I've listed a few examples: Iron Shell: A shell with a very high iron content, probably with iron and copper making up the vast majority of metals in the shell. Relatively weak and common, and possibly containing high levels of rust. Copper Shell: A shell with a very high copper content, probably with iron and copper making up the vast majority of metals in the shell. Relatively weak and common, and very conductive (making the kegatin particularly susceptible to electric shock and heat). Silver Shell: A shell with an unusually high silver content. May be very shiny OR contain large amounts of tarnish. Titanium Shell: A shell with an unusually high titanium content. Very rare and extremely tough. Gold Shell: A shell with a very high gold content -- enough to make it yellow and shiny. Soft but rare, and very conductive. Toxic Shell: A shell containing dangerous levels of mercury and/or lead. Not particularly tough, but don't let it cut you. Hopefully there's nothing I've missed, but feel free to ask questions. **Note: Another idea I was toying with is that, if the player is carrying large amounts of water/metals, the kegatin could set up ambushes -- such as disguising itself as a snow drift or a metal vain, or even just popping out of the wall -- and attack the player looking to score an easy meal. **Also, I apologize that brevity is not my strong suit either. EDIT: I seem to have forgotten to mention this but the kegatin is passive unless you actually attempt to damage its nest (although you have a good reason to as I would imagine the crystals would have some sort of value to the player, or would at least be interesting to analyze) or you have large amounts of metals on your person. This allows the player to continue exploring a cave even if they encounter a kegatin nest blocking their path and they aren't at a level where they can easily defeat it.
I meant to add in more options for the question. Little did I know that if you accidentally hit enter it posts the thread and you have no hope of editing the question. So if you think I did awful and should stick with my day job, just message me profanity or something. xD
