Teskon for IJ999

Hello there. (smile) This was done as a request for IceJudgement999. The request was a giant, cold-blooded alien that can live in a volcanic environment. Hope you enjoy it.

The planet Dretorll, the second world from its star in its system, is about three times the mass of Earth. Dretorll is what may be called a “super Io” world; that is, a large terrestrial with a very active tectonic system. Life, in all its ingenuity, has managed to develop here, and is well adapted to the world’s high volcanism. The basis of the food chain are autotrophs that derive energy from heat and volcanic chemicals like sulfur, similar to Earth’s deep-sea vent ecosystems. Most life clings to those areas of the surface where volcanic activity is minimum. However, there are those that seek out the more inhospitable regions to live, like the Dretorian Teskon.

The Great Teskon is the largest land animal on Dretorll. They grow steadily throughout their lives, and the oldest specimens can exceed 30 meters in length. The body is divided into 15 segments, including the head, and is supported by 28 pairs of legs. Each segment apart from the head has two pairs of legs, one situated beneath the body, and a second pair on top of the body.

Teskons live in the great lava plains which span most of the southern hemisphere, and are perfectly adapted to living in this unstable environment. Being cold-blooded, they derive most of their energy from the heat of the land, as well as occasionally munching on the heat-feeding magmamoss that dot the landscape. The soles of their feet, as well as their underbellies are protected from blistering heat by thick layers of dead, calcified skin. These layers are controlled by muscles underneath to part in some places to absorb heat. The top pair of legs are less insulated, and are used to sense vibrations and chemicals to alert the Teskon of a possible impending eruption. Whenever these normally slow-moving beasts need to travel faster, they deploy their most remarkable feature. The upper legs are connected with the dorsal breathing trunks. Normally coiled within the body cavities, these trunks and legs will extend and rise upward to reveal the large sails of skin webbed between them. These sails with catch the strong winds of Dretorll’s thick atmosphere and help push the Teskon across the land.

In their native environment, adult Teskons have virtually no predators, as few other life forms share their habitat. After mating, both hermaphroditic parents would release millions of spores into the atmosphere. The spores can be carried by the winds to almost anywhere on Dretorll, hatching into tiny larva when and if they land in a cooler region. Here they are weeded out by many predators, until metamorphosing into juvenile flying forms. The young flyers are instinctively drawn to their native habitat in the south where they will seek out adults from the sky. After finding an adult, the young Teskons will land atop their backs. Soon, they lose the ability to fly and remain on their adoptive parent’s backs for protection from the scorching surface, for which they are not fully adapted to yet. They live in symbiosis with the adult, feeding off dead layers of skin, parasites, and excess heat. They spend two Earth decades on the back of the adult, during which time competition can be fierce for the limited space, many losing out in the process. Finally, the few remaining subadults will have developed tough enough skins to leave their ride and start the cycle over again.