Setting Guide

[BRIEF]
Trypoptera, more commonly called tryps, are a common pest in many worlds across the Aurasian Galaxy settlements. They are much less common on unsettled worlds, located on only several unsettled solar systems.

Their origin is still unknown but it is speculated that they once thrived on an extremely large planet that was shattered in a cosmic collision. Because their durable eggs are capable of surviving in the vacuum of space, it is theorized that the asteroid debri from the collision later struck other planets and that the surviving eggs then hatched and populated.

The advent of galactic space travel only exacerbated this, and is believed to be the primary cause of tryp populations on so many settled worlds.



[LIFE CYCLE]
(The following details the most common species of tryp. Some tryp have evolved and adapted in different ways due to distinct differences on some particular worlds)

Tryp eggs are layed in batches. An individual egg is typically 30 cm long and 25 cm in circumference at its widest point. The quantity of any given batch varies greatly, as it corresponds to several factors such as the age, health, size, and overall virility of the adult. Batches may have as few as a dozen eggs, or may be as large as several hundred.

Tryps prefer to lay their eggs in rich, moist areas such as marshlands, though in the absence of such areas they will lay their eggs most anywhere. The eggs are laid in an embryonic lubricant that, when exposed to open air, rapidly hardens into a firm sealant. This allows eggs to be fastened to nearly any surface. It is not uncommon to find egg clusters on the walls or ceilings of caves, or even on the underside of space cruisers that have sat idle for too long.

The eggs can easily be mistaken for clusters of quartz crystal. The elements comprising the eggs' shells are a similar type of silicate oxide. The eggs have outstanding durability, withstanding pressure better than man-made metals while insulating the young occupants from changes in temperature ranging from -270 to 480 degrees Celsius.

Soon after the eggs are placed, vein-like tissues begin to sprout from their base. These veins root the eggs even more securely to their surface, as well as to each other. These veins have been noted to be able to pierce even rhytonite steel plated ship hulling. After roughly one Earth day's time, the veins harden over with a silicate oxide film identical to the eggs' shell, thereafter becoming extremely difficult to move.

From the safety of their eggs, tryp young draw nutrients from the veins. It seems the veins prioritize pulling nutrients from suitable, nutrient and water-rich surfaces such as fertile soils, but in the absence of suitable ground, the veins will draw nutrients from the other eggs in the cluster. When this happens, roughly 2 in 3 eggs will be stillborn for the sake of the remaining third being able to hatch.

The gestation period for tryp eggs primarily depends on the nutrients available and typically ranges from 7-14 Earth days. There have been documented cases however, of particularly healthy eggs in rich environments hatching in as little as 2 days, as well as a case where eggs attached to a space vessel delayed their hatching over 560 days until the vessel had re-entered a suitable environment.

Tryp larva emerge roughly 10 cm in length and their first course of action is to eat the shell of their egg and the veins that stem from it. They then begin to search for other food nearby. When newly born, tryp larva cannot see; their eyes are covered with several layers of skin. Instead, they rely on the small barbs to sense the world around them via a form of electeoreception. This sensory method allows them to locate nearby sources of their prefered meals (orgamic life and metals) in a range of roughly 2 meters.

The tryp larva molt as they develop. After about their third molting, their first two eyes come to the surface of their skin. By about this same time their legs have elongated, allowing them to scuttle rather than simply undulating.

Over the course of about seven Earth months and roughly 14 molts, they mature into their nymph stage, where they have been known to reach sizes upwards of 2 meters from mandibles to tail. By this stage, the tryps have exposed all 5 of their eyes. Their barbs have elongated and their electeoreception has a roughly 20 meter range. Their legs have developed, and allow the tryps to run at speeds up to 20 meters per second.

At around 1 earth year in age, a tryp nymph will undergo a much more extensive mutation. Their body will harden as their insides metamorphose, and in roughly a week they will crack open the shell of their former body and emerge as an adult.

Adult tryps will continue to molt roughly once every two months for the remainder of their lives, though they tend to stop growing around 6 meters in length. As an adult, a tryp bears three very pronounced barbs on its head, enabling its electeoreception to span about 60 meters. Adults retain the fully developed legs of the nymph, but also bear extendable wings.

These wings are collapsed under a bisected shell. An elbow-like joint rests at the tip of both halves of the shell, so when the shell opens fully, the wings can unhinge, granting a wingspan of almost twice the length one might initially expect.

The wings are split into two distinct sets, one part of the shell itself, and a second set that extends lower. A thin but durable membrane stretches between the pairs of wings (similar to the webbing between a bat's fingers).

When hunting, adults tryps have been recorded running at speeds in excess of 30 meters per second, and in open areas flying at speeds up to 45 meters per second.

Tryps are a single gender species and can reproduce independently as easily as cooperatively. As they become fertile, their barbs produce a pollen-like dust. Adult tryps typically become fertile early in their second earth year, remain fertile for about a month, and will not become fertile again for another Earth year.

Fertile adults instinctively clamor over one another. Receptors on their skin will collect the pollen, and in doing so the tryp will be ready to produce eggs. Even in the absence of other fertile adults, a tryp may impregnate itself with its own pollen during a fertile period.

Typically an adult tryp will lay its eggs in an area with ample food, then leave. If the adult is ill, or the environment is lacking in food sources, the adult may linger near its eggs and will eat the brood as they are born.

Rarely, an adult tryp will act on a maternal instinct and linger, guarding its offspring until the majority of them have developed into nymphs.