Rust Leech

The rust leech is a very undervalued working animal. Whilst most know of horses dragging carriages and pigeons delivering letters, this special type of leech is vital for the efficiency of all mechanical engines in Darta! Most mechanics has some sort of easy access to rust leeches, either they have a colleague who own a dozen or they know where to find some. In dryer areas where it is harder to get a hold of rust leeches, traders usually come regularly to these areas to sell an easy couple of them.

It's very simple to use rust leeches, simply splash a bucket of water on most of the cogs and gears on said construction, place the container of leeches next to the machine so that they easily can climb on to the machine, and then just wait for them to do their work! The speed that they are finished varies depending on the size of the machine, and obviously how many leeches you use. Small machine: an evening. Medium machine: at least a day and night Large machine: three days tops.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The formal name for the leech is Echirstac, but everyone calls them rust leeches. They are brown in color and vary in size from four to six centimetres long. in nature, the leech eats both plants and corpse meat, using smell as a way of navigation. When moving, their body leaves a trail of acidic mucus used both as a defense mechanism and as a way to feed off of whatever they are eating since they lack both teeth and a jaw. Why the leech happens to like and eat rust is actually a mystery! There is no known way for the leech to have found rust in nature and why it consumes it of sustenance. When a leech has eaten enough they grow slightly shorter and thicker and if it is rust they have eaten they turn notably more orange.

Genetics and Reproduction

The female rust leeches lays a few small and soft eggs, usually on top of certain leaves. The male then sits on top of the eggs, hiding them from any potential threat whilst pouring semen onto them as a way to fertilize them. After only a few days, the eggs hatch and the male can now leave the young leeches to grow up by themselves.

Growth Rate & Stages

Rust leeches tend to only live two years, three if they are lucky. They are fully grown after a single month from hatching.

Conservation Status

These slugs are very easy to find and capture. They live in damp forests or shoreline flora so you can find them in many places. The only effort to make sure there's always leeches in stock is that some gardeners have slugs in their gardens where they let them reproduce so that they can later sell some as a minor income.