Shielded Stiltwalker

> *"I remember my first visit to the City of Ingrastel. I barely made note of a large structure in the centre of the road I departed, only looking up to it when I was being funneled into its path. Mortified at the true image of the 'structure', I had never seen such a large insect, it's gigantic eyes making note of me. It appeared to also be startled by my presence, quickly shooting itself like an arrow into a pipe system, folding itself impossibly small to fit into the tight escape route."*
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> - Senior Merchant Ishetkus
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The **shielded stiltwalker** is a species of the insects commonly referred to as "grasshoppers", native only to Ingrastel.

## Shielded Stiltwalker

A shielded stiltwalker in the middle of Lower Akulae Street. As many people see them as an everyday occurrence, the crowd simply moves around the large insect.

## Real-World Information

### Created By

Douwe Santijstra

Their unusually tall frames, large reflective eyes, and sudden movements cause alarm to many visitors to Ingrastel, but are seen no more or less as a reality of living in Ingrastel to the permanent residents of the country, barely ever given more than a passing glance throughout the daily lives of its citizens.

Shielded stiltwalkers are markedly similar to their smaller cousins, the grasshopper, in terms of general behavior, but are much longer lived, more intelligent, and, of course, larger. These are one of just two stiltwalker species, the other being the rural stiltwalker.

## Characteristics

Shielded stiltwalkers are a type of grasshopper and, as a result, share all common characteristics with the other members of the family, such as large hopping hindlegs, wings, chewing mouthparts, and a simple lifecycle. Traits unique to the shielded stiltwalker include their gigantic size (25 Common Havener Measurement), hindlegs built for more guided jumping, significantly longer lifespan, protection and care of their offspring, and the development of an almost "half-way" stage between the normal and seasonal locust forms of some grasshoppers. The latter two traits are not shared by the rural stiltwalker. Shielded stiltwalkers have two large, shiny eyes which reflect their environments, as well as reduced antennae above the head, mostly obscured by the "shield" of their bodies.

## Biology

The biology of shielded stiltwalkers is well-documented and understood, in no short thanks due to their cohabitation of human cities in Ingrastel.

Shielded stiltwalkers, just as their relatives, the grasshoppers, are herbivorous, consuming large quantities of plant matter daily, which fortunately is common in Ingrastel, despite the large cityscape. If these foods become unavailable, whether due to seasonal changes, overconsumption, or races' intervention, shielded stiltwalkers can subsist themselves on the waste of the denizens of the larger cities until the plant resources return.

As the grasshoppers are a sexually-producing species, so are the shielded stiltwalkers. There are two distinct sexes, male and female, and one of each is required to produce offspring. The male will often call upon the female with their hindlegs rubbing against their upper body wings, but may also do a process, evolved exclusively by this species, simply called "stalking", which entails the male shielded stiltwalker silently following the female from a low position, tapping her hindlegs rapidly with his frontlegs, then returning to a low position, revealing his wings fully when the female notices, attempting to pique the female's interest. This strategy is thought to have evolved due to the increased likelihood of intervention from predators or races alerted to the noise produced by the first courting strategy. If he is unsuccessful, the male will usually attempt to find another mate. If the strategy persists, the female will aggressively defend herself from the male until he flees.

If the male succeeds in the courting ritual, the female will lay low to the ground, positioning her hindlegs into a position to allow rapid departure should a threat arise, and the male will begin fertilization of the female's eggs, which are stored internally in the reduced tail of the "shield". Once this is finished, the female will deposit her eggs in a safe location, most often referred to as her "home nest", and guard them intensely for several weeks. The male at this time will be "invited" by the female, often by guiding her mate to her home nest either through him following or her leaving a pheromone trail, rarely through the male independently finding it, and will begin gathering food for both the nymphs when they hatch and for the guarding mother.

After four to seven weeks, the nymphs will hatch from their eggs and consume the remaining debris left by their exit. The parental duo will often stick together, protecting and guiding their children until they reach their third molts, which then the children will depart on their own terms. For reasons not fully understood, the parental duo, should they have stayed together for the entire duration of the raising process, will continue to stay together until one or both of their deaths. The average lifespan for a shielded stiltwalker is twenty-five years, with the official record being a documented forty-six years.

It has also been observed that shielded stiltwalkers will often meet their "extended families" during Ingrastel's Harvest Months, as well as seemingly being able to remember their progenitors.

Shielded stiltwalkers have few, if any, modern-day predators. However, should one feel threatened, a shielded stiltwalker will rapidly move their hindlegs into a jumping position, shooting themselves almost like an arrow in order to escape from an area. Especially in cities, they can rapidly enter and exit pipes and storm drainages to escape with this method.

## Relationship to Races

Shielded stiltwalkers are seen by the residents of Ingrastel as overwhelmingly unimportant, often being completely ignored, even if one stands in the centre of a crowded street. Likewise, shielded stiltwalkers have never been recorded to harass, injure, or kill any creature, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Sometimes, shielded stiltwalkers are seen as pests by rooftop farmers, and, as a result, are prevented from returning or outright killed for their consumption of the farmers' crops. Rarely, they are also seen as positive signs for the quality of life and vitality of a district or town.

Due to their size, shielded stiltwalkers can also be "used" as impromptu scarecrows, deterring other species from entering farmland, and seem to also be responsive to taming, as some farmers report that feeding them a small quantity of their harvests for their service deters them from consuming other crops in their fields during the shielded stiltwalker's "shifts", as they seemingly remember the continued reward they get for their good work.

Shielded stiltwalkers are commonly seen as unintelligent by most, but the few who attempt to form relationships with these giant insects report highly intelligent behavior. Although not considered a race due to not fitting any of the requirements, they appear to comprehend and retain information given to them, so long as the information given to them is demonstrated physically. For example, a famous criminal case in Ingrastel involved Vevance Morei, a former street urchin-turned-thief, who confessed to have stolen thousands of Ingrastel Notes worth in jewelry by teaching several shielded stiltwalkers what to look for in the various Jewelry Houses, in exchange for him providing them food, which also included teaching them how to differentiate between real and fake jewelry. At first, this confession was seen as a false narrative in order to credit the man as being more intelligent than the detectives thought, but this was shattered by the shocking development by Havener natural philosophers, who proved that shielded stiltwalkers could not only learn how to take specific items to the researchers, but could also differentiate between different forms of the same item, count up to seven, and retain this memory for several years after the experiments concluded.

Shielded stiltwalkers can also be kept as pets, if not large ones. A special dwarf subspecies from the Camrid District in South Ingrastel is rarely kept as a pet in lower-classed families' homes.