Olabrian trichoid

Olabrian trichoids were deadly parasitic creatures native to the Olabria system.
==Lifespan==
Trichoids generally laid pods containing three eggs into fruit, which would then be consumed by a higher life-form. After hatching in the host's stomach, the trichoid larvae would migrate to the host's respiratory system. After their mouths were sufficiently developed, generally between 20 and 51 hours from infestation, they would begin to chew their way toward the richest available hemoglobin source, generally a major artery or the heart.
At that point, the trichoid larvae would be roughly the size of a Human finger, and could still be removed with a good chance for the host's survival. Once the larvae breached the heart, however, death would occur swiftly. After gorging on blood, the larvae entered a pupal stage. Upon reaching maturity, the larvae exited the host's corpse ready to lay ten to twelve egg pods. Their entire life cycle required less than three weeks.
Trichoids could infest nearly any higher lifeform, and symptoms did not become apparent until the larvae began chewing through the host's tissue. The first sign of a larval infestation was a persistent cough. Death from severe hemorrhaging usually occurred within two hours of the onset of this cough.
Trichoids operated on pure instinct, with survival and reproduction being their only motivation. Trichoids had green and black striped bodies, with mouthparts at one end and an ovipositor at the other. Pure oxygen was toxic to Olabrian trichoids, and could be applied to treat a trichoid infestation with rapid results.
==Biological weapon==
Olabrian trichoids were a favorite assassination tool of Bakuran Governor Wilek Nereus. Though he was unsuccessful in causing a trichoid epidemic among the Ssi-ruuk via the captives they took for entechment, he was able to infest Luke Skywalker, and hoped that the Ssi-ruuk would keep Skywalker's body long enough for trichoids to escape into their shipboard population. If not for the Force, Skywalker would have been helpless to stop them. He directly contacted the parasites' primitive minds and tricked them into traveling up his trachea and out of his body. Nereus also infected Gaeriel Captison, but she was later cured.
==Behind the scenes==
The life cycle of the Olabrian trichoid bears some similarities to the real-world malady known as trichinosis.
==Appearances==
*The Truce at Bakura 
==Sources==
*The Truce at Bakura Sourcebook
*The Essential Chronology
*
*The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
==Notes and references==
Category:Creatures of the Outer Rim Territories
Category:Insects
Category:Living weapons
Category:Parasitic creatures