Witchlight Marauder

A Witchlight Marauder is an orc bioweapon created during the First Unhuman War with the sole purpose of devastating elven planets.
Though officially all Witchlight Marauders were destroyed following the end of the war, rumors of surviving marauders have been a staple of spelljamming communities for centuries.

Basic Information

Growth Rate & Stages

There are three types of witchlight marauders, though all are connected to one another.
Primary marauders are the intial creation, formed en masse by orc shamans. Measuring 200-300 feet in length, they are designed to be ejected onto a planet, where their unending hunger will compell them to consume everything, living and otherwise, in its path.
As the maruader eats, the nutrients it consumes goes towards the production of secondary marauders, 20 foot tall, vaguely humanoid creatures of steel teeth, spiked tails, and teh ability to spew acidic bile. Secondary maruaders also have hyper-focused senses that can locate elves from miles away, seeking them out and devouring them for nutrients. Secondaries that don't hunt elves stay by the primary for protection.
After secondaries have consumed enough, they create tertiary marauders, 4 to 6 feet humanoid looking berserkers that attack anything that lives, devouring their victims to stay alive. The least intelligent of the three marauders, tertiaries sleep when they're tired, eat when they're hungry, and have no concept of battle or tactics, only prioritizing the death of elves over all else.
After a tenday of constant eating, a primary marauder will bury itself deep in the earth to rest. Guarded by secondaries, it will begin the painful process of splitting itself into two in a process that takes roughly 15 days. After this process has completed, both primaries depart their short-lived den and resume their unending feast.

Ecology and Habitats

Any habitat subjected to a marauder is likely to be entirely destroyed unless the marauders are stopped, as they will continue to devour all living matter until nothing remains, exhausting themselves in the process.

Civilization and Culture

History

During the First Unhuman War, orc warbands, recognizing the overwhelming suppremacy of the Imperial Elven Navy's (IEN), especially in its ability to unifying elven nations and planets from across wildspace, knew that they would not have a chance of victory unless the IEN's extensive support and supply network was disrupted. To that end, orc shamans pooled their collective knowledge to create the witchlight marauders to devastate elven worlds.
Before they could be unleashed, however, the IEN discovered the orcish plot and launched a bold strikeforce to destroy the marauders before they could be deployed. While official IEN accounts state that all witchlight marauders were destroyed during the First Unhuman War, some orcish scrolls suggested that multiple maruaders were able to escape their destruction. These accounts were dismissed by the IEN as orcish propaganda.
Near the end of the Second Unhuman War, the Scro claimed to be in possession of multiple maruaders and threatened to unleash them if the IEN did not negotiate a ceasefire. While these reports were never verified, the threat of the maruaders played a role in bringing the elves to the eventual peace talks.

A primary witchlight marauder

Lifespan

20 years (primary) ; 5 years (secondary) ; 1 year (tertiary)

Average Height

20 ft. (secondary)
4 - 6 ft. (tertiary)

Average Length

200 - 300 ft. (primary)

A secondary and tertiary witchlight marauder