Fury Beetle

Fury Beetle

The "Fury Beetle" receives its name from the monster's seemingly erratic and frantic movement and its beetle/insect-like appearance, although it is not an insect at all! It is some massive alien behemoth that has been transplanted to Earth from god only knows where, and has adopted southeastern and eastern Canada as well as the eastern United States as its new home. 
In the last decade, Simvan Monster Riders have transplanted the Fury Beetle to the New West and Saskatchewan as riding animals, but 97% of these beasts remain under Simvan control and do not run free. The few hundred that do are found mostly in forest areas (Fury Beetles dislike deserts and hot, arid lands).
When on the move, the Fury Beetle darts along in varying bursts of speed and in a zigzag pattern. When attacked, the monster scampers to and fro and back and forward, while emitting a terrible wailing. 
Once engaged in combat the creature fights to the death or until the attacker is slain or gives up the fight and flees. A cornered Beetle, or mother guarding her young, will also fight to the death. Fury Beetles are easily startled and instinctively lash out at the cause of their surprise.
For generations Fury Beetles were feared and shunned as nothing more than ferocious monsters, but later (105 P.A.), the beasts are sometimes hunted for food, and their armor plates are used to make M.D.C. armor (a full Fury Beetle suit of plate armor offers 70 M.D.C. but weighs 35 Ibs/16 kg; costs about 22,000 credits). 
In addition to Simvan Monster Riders, Fury Beetles are used as exotic riding animals by some Wild Psi-Stalkers, Noli Bushmen, Greot Hunters, Mastadonoids, Psi-Druids, Cowboys, Wilderness Scouts and even the occasional practitioner of magic. A few adventurous souls, like the Cartiers of the Fury Ranch (Ontario), are pioneering the domestication of Fury Beetles as riding animals and edible livestock (young ones are quite delicious and a single animal can feed a town of 2000 and still have leftovers; older animals are edible but the meat is tougher and less tasty). 
The Fury Ranch is the largest and most successful of these daring, frontier entrepreneurs.
Left alone in the wild, Fury Beetles are solitary creatures that travel alone or in mated pairs. They are not particularly aggressive or intentionally evil, but are extremely nervous and easily startled. When startled, frightened, or angered, the creature either runs, stampeding across the countryside knocking down trees, flattening crops, smashing through fences and crashing into buildings, or fights . Those who engage in combat will usually fight to the death, so "playing ' possum" can bring a quick end to such an incident. They are incredibly powerful and a single Fury Beetle has been known to level an entire wilderness town. Even tamed riding animals are known to throw their rider when startled or worse yet, bite him. 
However, a properly tamed and trained animal can make an excellent mount, especially for traveling merchants, mercenaries and anybody hauling a lot of equipment and supplies. The size of a semi-truck, and lined with spikes that are ideal for securing packages, one can tie up to 20 tons of equipment to its sturdy back without slowing the beast down, plus it can pull an additional 40 tons (although at one third its normal speed). Furthermore, the animal is something of an all-terrain vehicle, able to climb over rocky and uneven land (its many legs offering amazing stability and speed), and swim on the surface of rivers and lakes.
Fury Beetles are omnivores who hunt fish, deer, caribou, moose, and fellow Fury Beetles (they fight to the death remember, and usually eat their fallen opponent), but rarely attack humanoids unless they feel threatened. They also eat a variety of plants, including grass and farm crops, as well as food scraps and garbage.

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Fury Beetle - NPC Monster & Exotic Riding Animal

Alignment: Typically the equivalent of Anarchist or Miscreant if wild, Unprincipled if properly tamed.

Attributes: 
I.Q. 1D4+3 (medium animal intelligence), M.E. 1D6+6, M.A. 1D6, P.S. 2D6+32 , P.P. 1D6+14, P.E. 1D6+20, P.B. 1D6, Spd. 2D6x10+40 running. 
Can maintain full speed for 1D6x10 minutes, slows to about half speed for five or ten minutes then has another burst of speed at full for another 1D6x10 minutes. Can run for 24 hours without exhaustion. 
Swimming: 25 mph (40 km or 21.5 knots). 
Has supernatural strength and endurance.

Average Size: 8-10 feet (2.4 to 3 m) tall (spines might add a foot/0.3 m) and 17-20 feet (5 to 6 m) long. 
Weight: 10 to 16 tons! 
Average Life Span: Unknown, believed to live 60-90 years.
Horror Factor: 14 
I.S.P.: 1D6x10 
P.P.E.: 1D6x10 

M.D.C. by Location of the Armored Body: 
(On S.D.C. worlds, convert the M.D.C. number to S.D.C., so 350 M.D.C. would be 3 5 0 S.D.C. The creature has an astonishing Natural A.R. of 18, but a soft underbelly with an A.R. of 8. The trick is getting to that underbelly!)

• Large Front Legs (2) - 100 each
• Small Legs (2 8 to 32) - 50 each
• * Eyes (11 to 13) - 10 each
• Armor Plated Head - 1D4x 100 (220 on average).
• Main Body - 2D4x100 (550 on average for an adult).
• Vulnerable underbelly is 2D4x10+50 M.D.C. (100 on average)

* The eyes are small targets and difficult to strike, so an attacker must make a "called shot" and even then is -5 to strike. 

R.C.C. Skills/Instincts: The equivalent of land navigation 80%, track animals or sniff out garbage 60%, track humanoids 30%, swim 75%, climb 80%/20%, understands a spoken human language about as well as a horse.
Natural Abilities: 

• Excellent, hawk-like vision and can also see into the infrared and ultraviolet spectrum of color, 
• has polarized vision, 
• and thermo-imaging, 
• nightvision 1000 feet (305 m), 
• and can see the invisible. 
• It also has superhuman strength, can carry 20 tons and pull 40 more, seems to be impervious to disease and cold, resistant to heat, and regenerates damage at the rate of 4D6 M.D.C. per 24 hours. It can regrow damaged or lost small legs within 1D6+6 weeks and an eye in 1D6+12 weeks, but can not regrow the large forelegs.

Psionics: I.S.P. 1D6x10. Can sense and locate water within a four mile (6.4 km) area (an automatic ability that costs no I.S.P.), plus Sense Evil, Sense Magic and Mind Block. 
Magic: None.

R.C.C. Bonuses (in addition to attribute bonuses): 

• +3 on initiative,
• +3 to strike, 
• +1 to parry and dodge, 
• +4 to dodge when running at full speed, 
• and +4 to save vs poison.

Combat: Attacks per melee round: Four.
Damage: 

• Its main mode of attack is its bite which inflicts 4D6+6 M.D., 
• a claw swipe 2D6 M.D. +Supernatural P.S. damage, 
• butt or sideswipe 3D6 M.D., 
• full speed ram 1D6x10 M.D. (but counts as three attacks), 
• and trample 3D6 M.D. (2D6 from young).

Market Value: 2,000-4,000 credits for the meat and another 4,000-5 ,000 for its armored plates. A domesticated, trained riding Fury Beetle will cost 60,000 to 80,000 credits, sometimes 15-30% more for the fastest, strongest and/or highest M.D.C. 
Note: A Fury Beetle's training must be started while the animal is very young to make it a suitable riding animal, and only about 55% of them are successfully trained. Adults can not be broken/tamed and domesticated (only the Simvan can ride an adult).

Habitat: The gigantic creatures are common to the forests of Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, Eastern Canada and the eastern United States, but tend to stay away from cities and large towns. Over one million are thought to live in this range. Females give birth to 2D4 young once every five years after a gestation period of 16 months. Young stay with their parent for 4-5 years.
Enemies: Humans and large predators like the Rhino-Buffalo.
Allies: None, although they gather in small groups of 2-8 and small herds of 10-40.