Seg'Kau (seyg-kow)
Also widely nicknamed as "Snatchers" and "Star-Takers". The Seg'Kau are a race of genderless insectoids with advanced technology, and cybernetics. They come from a distant history of odd and "corrected" genetic complexity, and eventually ended in their current form where they must survive through impregnating other races. In the process, they tend to take and consume them as well, going to far lengths to ensure their colonies are fed, and test ideals and nutrients with unusual sources of prey. While they are capable of individualism, strong senses of smell raise them from a blind age, and tend to cultivate them as working and owing to a 'colony' or hive, and they reflect it in their work of producing heavy machine assistance.
Basic Information
Anatomy
The young appear a little like spidery scorpian things. Often tan, or muted of most color, they have six legs and two under-developed, with a tail and wings that drag. As they grow older, they shed skin, and eventually cocoon. Feelers get melded into ears, eyes and jaws become more advanced, and their body segments off and splinters with a more given upper-body, and a reinforced tail. They emerge with two arms, two pincers under the arms, four legs, a long stinger, and a mouth with palps and mandibles. Contrary to bugs, they have more of a humanoid stomach, but their digestive system splits a lot of proteins into being used as a silky webbing, or eggs, and its believed they need more meat to maintain their form. They can only fly in short fluttering spans of time as an adult, but can be relentless pests as flying crawler infants.
Genetics and Reproduction
Once a more ordinary species, with male and female, they quickly wished to advance and tamper with potential division issues once their technology was up to standards. They went through a period of modification, sterile agender clones, but it never lasted long. Cloning had decaying issues, and they had to revert to a process of inspiring new genetics, but had outlived those with the codes to go back.
In the end, they remade themselves to have a stinger that made use of excess 'prey' so that one could host and then feed their young - in the process, gene code is stolen and reconfigured, with mixed data creating a superior being without transforming the race to more of the victim's. Impregnation takes a rough seven-to-thirty seconds based on egg load distributed by 'stinger'. Often eight or more eggs are laid, and rapidly made effective to leave most hosts within a 5-to-20 hour period, hardly ever surpassing a full day. The target tends to become hungry, fatigues, bloats, and eventually burst all within that timespan. The infants tend to consume most of their host, but will then try to look for a trail or pheromones on where they might find their superior. A single stinger can be ready to strike again after one week, but some may hold a clutch in reserve and be able to administer up to three hosts.
Growth Rate & Stages
Seg'Kau grow quick, and have shorter life spans of twenty years maximum. They can use their wings as soon as three days in time. Their infants grow in size quickly across a few weeks, undergo a transformation to their prime senses, and are considered an adult just shy of one year. At the adult stage, most are given cybernetics.
Ecology and Habitats
Its believed they once came from a warmer bog planet, but have long since become a nomadic colony race where every 'colony' is a large space vessel or station. In rare cases colonies have invaded and stayed on worlds for longer periods, but tend to damage the ecosystem and flee instead of staying.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Seg'Kau are carnivores. They eat primarily other beings. As a result of technology and turbulent evolution as a more nomadic people, they've changed to take from multiple different worlds, and specialize in snatching livestock, or mass people themselves for consumption purposes. However because they need a loud of nutrients and volume, they tend to detain and plump their food up either with their own serums, or by locating and stealing resources that can be used to quickly swell their food intake. They will eat their food raw (especially young), but tend to still experiment and get more creative, borrowing spices, techniques, and styles across their population.
In borrowing from other races, they sometimes play and experiment with unusual species, diets, and properties. Ryclins are a popular example calling for separate measures. To force more meat on them they either stuff them and fight their metabolism by pairing it with something that can carry a vast amount of pure fat in easily managed volumes, like Lardshakes. After further experiments, they've also tried picking and choosing meats they want stuffed in a ryclin, and treat the ryclin host like an oven that partially softens and bakes the meat, but the ryclin is later extracted of some acids and killed early in digestion to eat the ryclin like a pie-crust appetizer with more meaty innards of other critters.
Additional Information
Social Structure
When first born, a Seg'Kau has nearly no senses except to taste and smell. They use this to eat, especially warm blooded creatures, and then to find their own species, sometimes even finding who activated and passed the eggs. From there, they are lead to where they can eat, and typically spend their first weeks eating or being guided through obstacles with food in mind. By the time they're adults, they have developed few wishes or desires, mostly seeking leadership and food.
Due to a short lifespan, they have no Queen system in place to command, but rather have constructed an artificial substitution. Most colonies are ran by an AI directive that helps manage purpose and goals based on input from a few past and present elites. Often there are only five elites in a colony, chosen by the death of one, and replaced by the most high-accomplished and cognitively decent individual. However plans and jobs don't often run too deep in that regard.
Among their society, they nearly never experience genuine attempts at play, affections, or honor. Life tends to be short, and driven to keep things functional, and a cycle of income and absorbed prey and hosts. As a result they are deemed an unsalvageable and evil species by most that encounter them.
Civilization and Culture
Major Language Groups and Dialects
They tend to speak in harsh clicks, and noises, often making 'hissing' sounds and strange projections. Their only tongue is a different form of muscle that doesn't quite make the same sounds. However, they do have translator technology that allows them to speak when truly necessary.
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