Haqani's Flora and Fauna

> *"What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleep without dreams." - Werner Herzog*
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Haqani’s **flora and fauna** has adapted to the corrosive atmosphere, leading to a biosphere that is so alien to any human biology that Velan scientists are still debating the classification of certain species as flora or fauna. It also means that eating the local wildlife is not an option, even the **microalgae in the water can mess with the human digestive system**. While many Haqani citizens have adapted to this, it is strongly recommend, that visitors from offplanet only buy purified bottled water if they don’t want to risk a **"Haqani Tsunami."**

Please be advised that some of the **larger species** will **react hostile** to anyone entering their territory or interfering with their migration. Pay close attention to the **Haqani Watch radio station** to get the latest **updates on movements and sightings**.

## Alahyim

Alahyim are surface-skimming cave fish. This creature is known to inhabit the subterranean oceans and rivers of Haqani, drifting across the water surface with its bioluminescent fin attracting micro-fauna to its feeding filters.

## Arafiki

The Arafiki are curious social creatures commonly observed dwelling in the heights of the vast mushroom forests of Haqani. They are uniquely intelligent creatures by comparison to much of Haqani’s native fauna, with incredibly powerful tentacle limbs. Their diet largely consists of small animals and forageable vegetation.

## Balun

These orange insectoids drift along Haqani’s winds on gas bubbles, their stringy, spindly legs hanging like streamers strung to a balloon. They sustain themselves on airborne fungal spores and moisture.

## Barbadu Crawler

   The Barbadu Crawler, reportedly named-so after a famous pre-Scream Velan explorer, is a fairly harmless and oblivious animal whose **entire diet** consists of a particular mixture of water and sap-pollen from a **plant** known as the **Red Solo**. Their armored shell protects them from a number of hazards, but they have few natural predators. This is because of a peculiar internal metabolic process that seems to turn their blood into a powerful glue-like substance when exposed to a number of gases. Thus, when injured, their blood will rapidly clot and scab into an armored plate comparable to a number of TL4 materials. The **blood** will often **crack and break through Haqani environmental suits** as it hardens if a suit becomes exposed. **If your skin is directly exposed to the blood**, do not try to remove it yourself, it will need to be surgically removed after it hardens completely. They only pair-bond with a single other creature in their entire lifetime and have extremely low fertility rates, so their population is fairly small and they are incredibly difficult to farm, though a few farming ventures have been successful in the past. Some nobles keep these creatures as pets, but they must be kept in large enclosed terrariums with carefully regulated atmospheres and well-maintained food sources.

**Products:** When very carefully harvested, Crawler blood can be used to synthesize special bonding agents that are more resilient to Haqani’s atmosphere, though the process has never been perfected.

## Buffupleori

    Buffupleori are **buffalo-sized** creatures that roam the Haqani landscape in perpetuous migration, eating everything in their way and leaving behind a wasteland that takes time to recover. They hatch from eggs carried on the backs by all members of the herd and can be either very fluffy and with dots or have only short "fur" but more sophisticated circular markings. The two visually different types usually travel together and it is unclear if this marks different genders or differences in age in the same species or if they are two different species altogether.

**Products:** Buffupleori are very difficult to hunt as their skin and fur is very tough. Skin and fur are very sought after, as they are the most convenient way to design atmosphere resistant suits for maintenance workers.

## Cave Squatter

    The Cave Squatter, **also known as Old Sheikh**, is a translucent crab-like creature with a soft, transparent exterior. Most often found by subterranean bodies of water, its diet primarily consists of aquatic or amphibious life. It uses its forward-facing tentacles to grab onto prey and pull creatures toward its needle-like mandible, punching through hard carapace and sucking creatures dry. It can stand completely motionless for hours on end - whether it’s waiting to ambush prey or simply sleeping has yet to be determined. Being blind, it uses vibrations felt through its legs and tentacles in the water to hunt, though it can also sense vibrations in the ground from close distances. Do not approach and it will not know you are there.

**Products:** The exterior membrane of the Squatter is theorized to be a conducive culture environment for a certain bacterial species which may prove beneficial in synthesizing better MES pharmaceutical compounds, though researchers are still conducting experimental trials.

## Dawdat Eimlaqa

    The Dawdat Eimlaqa is a gigantic sea worm that haunts the great depths of Haqani’s oceans, both subterranean and surface waters alike. The largest of these creatures ever recorded was nearly 200 meters in length, though evidence suggests that these Dawdat could grow to 300 meters or more - this is due to the fact that this “animal” is in fact a colony of microorganisms, with no real upper limit to the colony’s size beyond environmental conditions. The Dawdat Eimlaqa, **or Giant Sea Worm** as it is known more colloquially, has an omnivorous diet, trapping, crushing, and digesting any flora and fauna that passes into its funnel. The Dawdat can destroy vehicles of tech level 4 quality with its strength and unique digestive properties.

## Grootslang

The Grootslang, **or Pale Worm** is a subterranean amphibious predator. Growing 3 to 5 meters in length, the Grootslang’s body is a rippling mass of musculature. In the darkness, it’s easy to mistake its writhing, muscular form as a nightmarish mass of conjoined worms tied together in the shape of a serpent. Its head is lined with thick, mandible-muscles like the petals of a flower, the mandible flaps themselves covered in venomous razor-barbs. The venom works rapidly in the human bloodstream, numbing the victim’s body and sapping the strength, ultimately causing cardiac arrest as their internal organs succumb to the foreign agent. If the victim is not treated within minutes, the venom proves almost universally fatal as the bloodstream becomes completely compromised.
At the center of the "flower" head is a bulbous membrane with the appearance of a large eye. This membrane is actually an acidic mass through which it consumes prey. The muscular mandible-petals open like a blooming white flower around the false eye when it’s either tasting the local air for prey or preparing to strike.

**Products:** Grootslang venom can be used to synthesize narcotic or paralytic agents.

## Gurba

Wandering the streets of Haqani’s cities or within select households, you may occasionally find yourself coming across an oddly familiar-yet-alien sight: **a cat with 6, 8, or even 16 legs**. Most scholars agree that these Gurba were the result of some sort of genetic splicing experiment from before the Scream. However, due to their genetic instability, the expected lifespan for the average Gurba is well below 1 Imperial year - many will die during birth and many more will suffer from some sort of catastrophic organ failure or another as a kitten, and they are at a high risk for cancer later in life if they survive that turbulent first year. Fortunately, they have an incredibly high fertility rate. Gurba come in many different colors, patterns, shapes, and sizes, though the most popular and numerous variants are typically rather small and used as household pets or natural pest control creatures.

One of the most genetically-stable and long-lived variants are actually quite dangerous - these black-striped, orange-furred **King Gurba** have been known to reach **5 meters in length**, with many pairs of powerful, clawed paws as well as a crushing, fanged jaw. These King Gurba are only ever found in the possession of nobles, exotic enclosures, or somehow surviving and hunting out in the darkness of the subterranean cave wilderness beyond the underground cities of Haqani.

## Hummingwasp

Hummingwasps are dangerous, insect-like creatures that live in bulbous, porous colonies. These colonies sometimes reach dozens of meters across in diameter and are millions of these creatures. Hummingwasps can fire their stinger at their targets from a distance of up to 1 meter. Their poison is not only very painful, but has a high chance of causing anaphylactic shock in humans.

## Leaper

    Leapers are predatory bugs, who use their powerful legs to jump upon prey from relatively great distances for their small size.

## Lirissi Aere

    Lirissi Aere, colloquially called Light Sails or Sails of Light are stationary creatures of about **human-size**. They are barely recognizable as lifeforms as they also seem to have crystalline characteristics. It is unclear what they eat or if they eat at all. Because of this, scientists have a hard time, categorizing them as flora or fauna.

Lirissi Aere sparkle in the sun and glow white in the dark. Visitors are advised to pay special attention to their **very hard shells**, as even a touch **can cause injuries or destroy a vac suit**. The scientific community of Pharos plans further studies, as Lirissi Aere are a possible candidate to produce building materials resistant to Haqani’s atmosphere.

## Navilizard

Flying small lizard-like creatures that emit electricity and attack electrical currents with strong, needle-like teeth that can cut through cabling and bone. Due to their affinity for electricity the creatures found their way into the shuttles and space ships of early settlers, which lead to their name Navilizard. Haqani in origin, they **have been found on ships all across Acheron Rho**.

## Neela Bhoot

Neela Bhoot, **or Blue Popper** are fat, flying bioluminescent cave bugs with glowing blue blood, native to the subterranean ecosystems of Haqani. They have a strange attraction to the scent and taste of Haqani environmental protection gel, but they’re effectively harmless. Their regular diet consists of various saps and fungal spores. These creatures are rather frail, popping like a balloon when slapped. Their blood will stain most materials, continuing to glow brightly for the better part of a day.

## Night Seraph

Standing at **4 to 6 meters in height** with a **full wingspan of 10 to 16 meters**, the Night Seraph is a truly incredible creature to behold. Its skin is smooth in texture, predominantly a dull, pale blue in color. Its head is is wide and round, with a flat face, large night vision eyes, and a strong, somewhat short and flat beak. It has large, powerful, armored talons used to pierce and carry away prey. But the most interesting aspect of this creature is its particular hunting strategy. **As the Seraph beats its wings, the membranous flesh of its full wingspan begins to light up with flashing, shifting multicolored patterns.** This display of light is **used to confuse, hypnotize, or otherwise stun its prey** as it flies toward them, a kaleidoscopic light show expanding in the darkness of the night or enormous caves in which it hunts. Many ignorant or otherwise unwary humans have fallen prey to this hunting tactic as they watched their death descend upon them in awe. The colors have **also been known to induce seizures.** Seraphs have thus been commonly referred to as the "Light at the end of the tunnel."

However, certain rare breeds of these creatures have been **carefully domesticated** with much time and careful patience, with a few such breeders and trainers making their home and business in Babili. It has thus become something of a sport for thrill-seekers to ride Night Seraphs through the massive Haqani cave systems, though there have been instances of riders becoming stunned by the flashing display of colors in-flight and plummeting to their death, as well as a few instances of the Night Seraphs simply bucking their riders and eating them.

## Puffagon

        Theorized to have been genetically engineered from some local fauna species before the Scream to be a companion creature, now naturally integrated into the local Haqani environment. Puffagons are about dodgeball-sized and very popular as pets. They come in a huge variety of colors, ranging from green, to blue, purple, and pink. Some even have small vestigial wings.

## Qazah Tahir

    These colorful bird-like animals are famous throughout Haqani for their strange beauty, often collected by affluent citizens in sealed aviaries. Their diet largely consists of bugs, sap, and pollen.

## Spined Wraith

The Spined Wraith is naturally dull and transparent in appearance while at rest and uses this to its advantage when hunting or lying in ambush. When prey creatures unwittingly approach the Spined Wraith, it uses its complex chemical processes to **superheat its own "blood"**, causing it to glow, before **rapidly extending and projecting its spines** toward its victims, impaling them and drawing them in to digest through the membrane of those spines. Despite its appearance, this creature can move quite rapidly in short bursts of energy as it heats up. The temperature and speed with which this megafauna attacks has been **known to cripple armored vehicles**.

    **Products:** Extensive study and analysis of this creature has yielded new engineering techniques for Haqani’s exterior-infrastructure maintenance technologies, most notably with the development of more durable welding equipment.

## Spotted Giraffaloo

    The Spotted Giraffaloo uses its **height of 5-7 meters** to reach tall flora and has highly sensitive sensory nodes on its head. This creature **sprays jets of acid from its rearward fin clusters** when threatened. This acid rapidly degrades Haqani environmental suit materials.

## Starlighter

    Starlighters are solitary predators found deep in the dark depths of **Haqani’s oceans**, the largest recorded sighting estimated to be **13 meters in length**. Its body is largely translucent, and it uses the glow within its mouth to attract prey.

## Weeping Traveler

    A strangely symbiotic amalgamation of creatures, the Weeping Traveler is in fact **two distinct organisms** joined together. The exterior "shell" of this creature is in fact a **hardened fungal colony**, housing a relative **sub-species of Zimsemi**, also known as "Red Herald." The fungus uses the **Red Herald** as a vehicle for transporting its spores across the surface of Haqani while the Red Herald uses the fungal shell to protect its rather fragile membrane from predation by more cannibalistic sub-species of larger Zimsemi variants as well as insulation from the extreme temperatures of Haqani’s polar climes.

## Zimsemi

    Colloquially called **Haqani Heralds**, the Zimsemi float in Haqani’s corrosive atmosphere. Their sizes range from a **hovercycle to a skyscraper** and they can get dangerous when a shuttle gets too close to them, as they grab things with their long tentacles and try to eat them. During mating season they are known to swarm shuttles which may indicate that grabbing shuttles could also be an attempt to mate.

**Products:** Alkaline substance harvested with the help of small shuttles. A coating from this substance on protective suits is used to be able to survive the planet’s atmosphere for a short time (3-5 hours).