Prawn

Prawns (Poleepkwa in their own language) are a sentient space-faring bipedal arthropod species from a currently unknown planet beyond the area of space known to humans. As an example of a eusocial species where over 99% of the species are the more docile and obedient “drone” caste lead by the more proactive and driven “leader” caste each prawn is still an individual with their own thoughts and feelings. Drone prawns band together to support leader prawns, while leader prawns organize and direct drone prawns in new endeavours. While drones are capable of individual thought and action and can autonomously live without direct leader oversight, they generally lack the will or comprehension to change circumstances they are subjected to. For example a drone prawn that is attacked will either run or fight back but will lack the insight to coordinate with it’s fellows to remove ve the cause of the threat.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Prawns have six limbs, with two digitigrade legs, two large upper arms that end in three fingered hands, and an smaller set of arms ending with a smaller three digit hand that are held against the body when not in use. The prawn mouth is made up of a mass of tendrils covering a beaked orifice that contains no teeth. Unlike most non-sentient crustacean analogues found in the galaxy, prawns have eyes very similar to the ocular organs of most humanoid species in the known galaxy. This similarity makes it surprisingly easy to see a prawn's emotions on it's face. The prawn body is covered in a dark thick shell-like skin which provides moderate protection from sharp trauma and slight protection from blunt and piercing trauma.

Biological Traits

Prawns generally lack much of the physical diversity of other sentient species due to their eusocial society. They lack the concept of gender roles as they are hermaphroditic.

Genetics and Reproduction

Prawns reproduce asexually, meaning each individual possesses both male and female reproductive organs, and are capable of self fertilization. This makes their reproductive capabilities somewhat threatening as their population can increase quickly without careful supervision. Once an egg has been laid, it is placed inside of a food source of suitable size (a piece of carrion flesh approximately the size of an Old Earth swine), and in this way the developing Prawn will be nourished upon hatching. Parents can be extremely protective of their eggs and will violently attack any creature that shows hostile intent towards their incubation clusters in a berserk fury.

Growth Rate & Stages

Prawns are born as miniature versions of their adult forms and will grow to full size over the course of 20 human years through several molts of their carapace. The most significant of these molts is the first at age 5 which is treated similarly to the onset of human puberty.

Ecology and Habitats

From what has been gleaned during various interactions between prawns and other species, they come from a world quite similar to the primordial form of Old Earth. The prawns are capable of living in any environment that humans can but tend to favour temperate but arid climates such as coastal grasslands and savanna.

Dietary Needs and Habits

While omnivorous, prawns have a distinct favouritism for meat that would put them cleanly with the apex predator niche for any ecosystem. Oddly enough they have a fondness for chewing on rubber both synthetic and natural that resembles the addictive chewing tobacco habit formed by humans, though it is not clear if they derive any nutritional value from this or if it is just a quick of the species’ palate. Another interesting quirk is the drone prawns’ universal addiction to cat food, which causes a euphoric comatose state similar to the effect catnip has on cats. While leader prawns find cat food just as tasty as drones, they are exempted from the catatonic effects leading to a theory that perhaps whatever physiological difference occurs between leaders and drones provides an immunity to the addictive qualities of the cat food.

Behaviour

At a glance it would be impossible to discern the difference between a drone and a leader prawn even through their actions. If given a problem both would attempt to solve it using the knowledge that they have acquired over their life. The difference would be noted when a complication to the problem is introduced. If a drone encountered a broken pipe it would attempt to plug the hole using whatever materials where on hand and would continue on to fix the next problem, but if the pipe broke more or still leaked too much the drone would only keep attempting to find ways to plug that specific hole. A leader would do the exact same as the drone at the start but is the pipe broke more or still leaked too much, the leader prawns would attempt to find the source of the break and fix that to fix the leak. An analogy for the difference between a drone and a leader in terms of thought process would be to compare your average blue collar worker to a highly successful CEO.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Prawns have a eusocial society with two castes that work in tandem to progress the species. The more populous drone caste perform the menial labour and routine based jobs that keep the population stable and fed, while the rarer leader caste provides direction and organizes the drones to be more effective and productive. It is theorized that the drone caste can be further subdivided into two sub-castes known as the worker and soldier castes, though the distinction is less about physical differences and more to do with each prawn’s reaction to a threat or hostility. Workers will prioritize fleeing from danger while soldiers will attempt confrontation.

Average Intelligence

Comparable to a human, with drones having a similar level of comprehension as high school graduates, while leaders show cognitive capabilities on par with university graduates on average with some exceptions bordering savant level expertise.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Prawns have comparable sensory capabilities to humans with a slightly increased sensitivity to audible wavelengths due to their antennae.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Prawn names are unpronounceable with the human voice box and as such will adopt human names for ease of identification.

Major Organizations

Prawns organize their society into large autonomous groups called colonies. Each colony strives for self sufficiency and has limited contact with other enclaves.

Average Technological Level

TL4

Major Language Groups and Dialects

The prawn language is made of a combination of clicks, hisses and crackles made using their facial tentacles. They are able to understand Basic but cannot speak it due to the difference in vocal organs between humans and prawns. Prawns that are likely to interact with those outside of their species carry handheld translators to facilitate two-way communication.

Common Dress Code

Prawns typically don’t wear clothing outside of that which provides a useful function such as belts and harnesses for holding tools or insulated suits for environments that have extreme temperatures. Prawns that live in close proximity to other species will wear clothing to fit in better though usually with a lack of style or coordination.

History

Not much is known about prawn history as they have not shared much of it with any other sentient species and don’t seem to place much value on the past outside of using previous experience to further new discoveries.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Prawns are mildly xenophobic and generally try to keep their distance from other sentient races. While their first reaction may not be overt hostility, anxiety and suspicion are to be expected on contact with any new colony that doesn’t have regular communication with outsiders.

Scientific Name

Anthroscilla vagari (Wandering Humanoid Shrimp)

Origin/Ancestry

Crustacean

Lifespan

75 years for a drone, about 125 for a leader

Average Height

2.44 meters (8 feet)

Average Weight

131.54 kilograms (290 pounds)

Average Physique

Though they appear somewhat spindly, the average prawn is much stronger than the average human and can jump several meters from a standstill in standard gravity. An enraged prawn is capable of ripping the limbs off of a human using their powerful back legs to kick their victims away while gripping their limbs.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Most prawns are a light beige-ish tan colouring, but variable colouring is prevalent among small groups. Alternative colours vary from olive green, to yellow, to dark red.