Limmels

Limmels are large, armored centipedes that are used to carry people and goods across the Pangfen Desert. They have large, prehensile antennae which they can use to manipulate a variety of objects.
A full grown limmel is about eight feet tall and ten to twelve feet wide with empty pouches. Length varies by gender, with males averaging between 30 and 35 feet long and females growing up to 50 feet. The segments of males are around 8' tall and 3' wide whereas those of females are usually upwards of 10' and and regularly grow over 4' wide. Each segment has two pairs of legs supporting it, although a single pair is capable of bearing the weight if an injury occurs.
Each segment has a chitinous pouch attached that begins about halfway up the side of the creature and extends upward several feet. Biologically, these pouches serve to retain moisture and provide a safe place for their larva to grow until their exoskeletons harden. For merchants and travelers, these pouches are excellent for carrying cargo and passengers across the desert. With a sustainable speed of about 40 miles per hour, limmels are an excellent mode of transportation for those who are on a budget or leery of magical travel.
When limmels reproduce, the gestation period is four months before the larva are born. At birth, a limmel larve, or 'limmerling' as they are affectionately called by their keepers, is only about five pounds and more closely resembles an uncooked loaf of bread. They must be kept in a warm, dark and moist environment until their seventh or eight molting, when their shell begins to form and takes on the texture and hardness of soft leather. At this point, the limmerlings must be gradually exposed to lower humidity and sunlight, which the parent would usually do by opening their pouches for longer and longer periods of time. In a nursery environment, this is done by the keepers according to a very careful schedule until the larva reach adolescence, at which point they are turned loose outdoors where they learn to control their own tiny pouches and run errands for their keepers until they grow old enough to take on large-scale commercial responsibilities.

Conservation Status

Limmels are a protected species due to their economic importance. It is illegal in all desert and desert-adjacent regions to attack or injure one unless it is a life-threatening situation.
Since they are not aggressive by nature and have been bred for docility, instances of the legal killing of a limmel have been to provide food for a caravan that has become lost or stranded in the desert.