Sandcrabs of Sulshar

These huge crabs have their roots in the Bnazzark desert, having lived in the reefs off the isles of Muskar. They began migrating out of the water more and more to eat dead fish and seabird eggs, and over time developed true lungs, eliminating their previous size limit as they were able to spread into gargantuan forms. Ever amphibian, though, they were able to migrate island to island and become an endemic species of the Muskareen isles, flourishing without natural competitors. The dark elves thus discovered them a few centuries after arriving in the Desert, and bound them on their red-sailed ships to be taken to the mainland and bred for the great deserts and slave pits. And thus, the Sandcrabs of Sulshar were born. They were first used in slave pits, where they were first mounted with wartowers, they were then used like so in war. They helped construction by transporting and lifting materials and providing brute strength, and were used by merchants to mount tents with their wares or pull caravans. Wild Sandcrabs are a menace to farms, but those risks are overshadowed by the benefits. The wild ones are, however, limited in terms of outward expansion from their desert. Firstly by the minerals in the sand and dust they depend on for their copper count (among other things, the crystals in the sand are like a drug to them). Secondly they are trapped in by the mountains - their "blue blood" so to speak is copper based, making it less efficient, so they are restricted to the desert lowlands due to their inability to breathe the thin air. Their bodies also have somewhat of a dependence on the aridity and heat of the desert to drive their natural cycles.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Average crab bodyplan however with the addition of true lungs and a hinged carapace. They also depend on the day/night cycle of the desert for its heating/cooling effects, driving their blood and digestion through affecting the temperature. Males have a specialized, dominant fighting claw. All crabs have fur at their carapace joints and grow extra during the winter.

Growth Rate & Stages

born in clutches in the sand, siblings fight and eat each other. In juvenile life they go off into the desert to fend for themselves, banding together, their previous enmity forgotten as communal instincts kick in. At this point they have lived about 5 years. They continue this until reaching sexual maturity at which point they once again become solitary.

Ecology and Habitats

Desert

Dietary Needs and Habits

Due to their exorbitant need for food and the desert's lack of life they often cannibalize, however they are descended from omnivores and so eat shrubs as well.

Biological Cycle

During the winter their fur grows out and they hibernate in the sand. During the sunmer they hunt addaxes and build up fat stores in their sides.

Origin/Ancestry

Semiaquatic lesser muskareen crabs (similar to coconut crabs but adapted to a temperate desert reef environment)