Acrycillus

From their horrifying reproductive cycle to their treatment of other species, the Acrycillus are known as one of the most cruel and disapproved sentient species in the galaxy. A parasite race that are widespread across the stars, the most frightening part about them is not knowing where they will appear next.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Acrycillus are a humanoid species with dark blue to grey skin. Their silhouette is typical to that of a human aside from the bony, exoskeletal limbs that jut out from their backs which act as extra legs for climbing and combat. They typically have six to eight of these limbs which are fully capable of supporting the individual's bodyweight.
They have six eyes, each of which handles a different aspect of vision, All of which are totally black with no visible iris. They have human-like noses and mouths and thick, strand-like hair that hangs from their heads and other parts of their bodies as well as large, pointed ears. Their general bodily anatomy is similar to that of humanoid species with two arms with five fingered hands for environmental manipulation and two legs with five toed feet. Due to their exoskeletal legs on their backs, Acrycili have very little use for this extra pair of legs and thus are hypothesized as an evolutionary biproduct.
Internally, Acycillus are built more like invertebrates. Beneath the loose layer of skin they have hard, chitinous exoskeletons. Both of these layers must be sheaded every couple of months, the outer layer of skin going first with the skeleton coming soon after. This gives a Acrycili a much more animalistic and horrifying look when they are in their period of shead, albeit temporary.
beneath their skin and skeletons, Acrycilli internal organs are highly unconventional. The only recognizable organ they possess is a brain, kept at the base of their neck rather than within their skull, which instead stores venom glands. Their brains are protected by a hard, skeletal shell the size of a grapefruit that is shown to be resistant to puncture wounds and some explosive damage. Acrycilli have no digestive tract. Their food is consumed whole and chewed up on the way down the oesophagus and into the stomach where digestive juices will break it down and the body will absorb the nutrients, what ever is left is ejected the same way it came in.
The Acrycillus muscular structure is the most unique part of their anatomy. Scientists who have studied them have called their muscles an 'open fibre construction'. Effectively, Acrycilli are capable of manipulating their muscular fibres at will which are segmented, allowing for free movement. Acrycilli have a number of plates in their skeletons that they can open up, allowing these muscle fibres to break through the skin and be used as extra limbs, a means of defence and even an alternative way to consume food. Each fibre can twist and combine with others to create incredibly strong, tentacle like limbs that can also excrete digestive juices and absorb nutrients. Some Acrycilli insist on eating this way, as it saves them the trouble of having to regurgitate their food, though it takes much longer to take in nutrients this way, it also means carrying around ones prey attached to them until digestion is complete, though a popular method among Acrycilli is to do this while their prey is still alive, due to their natural cruelty, they find this concept exhilarating and have been heavily documented using it as a scare tactic in combat. These open fibre muscles can also lash out if a part of the Acrycillus' skeleton is punctured, acting as a natural defence mechanism. While using these tentacle like limbs however, their main limbs are somewhat weakened.
Acrycillus are capable of injecting venom through either two fangs in their mouths or through specialised limbs that are hidden beneath the skin of their wrists. These limbs are like the open muscle fibres, but much stronger and more dexterous while also possessing a venom injecting barb at the end. Acrycilli venom is not dangerous except in very high dosages. Its main use is to pacify potential prey, however its effects on most sentient species is a somewhat euphoric state where they are highly suggestable. The venom is also very quick to exit the system thus is hard to detect unless very recently stung. Acrycilli venom is common on the black market as a daterape drug.

Genetics and Reproduction

Perhaps the thing the Acrycillus are most known for is their unconventional and somewhat horrifying reproductive cycle. It is one of the primary things that make them such an unpopular species.
Acrycillus have a complex reproductive cycle that begins with the male fertilizing the female's eggs. A female will carry roughly fifteen to twenty marble sized eggs that a male will fertilize sexually. Following this, the male's job is essentially done and he is of no more use. in some cases, the male is killed and eaten by the female. This is the most guaranteed way to achieve fertilized eggs. However, if mating is not an option for the female, another acrycillus, male or female, can fertilize her eggs by DNA transference. 
Acrycillus cells are polymorphic, allowing them to change to mimic other cells and even take over another cells role in the body but with the providers gene structure. With these new cells, the receiver's body can use the provider's genetic data to fertilize her eggs. 
After her eggs are fertilized, the female will have a period of one to three years before she must deposit them else run the risk of the eggs hatching inside her and as a result, killing her. With modern technology, female Acrycillus can have their eggs surgically removed to prevent such a grizzly end, however this process almost ensures the young will not survive. Some female Acrycillus choose to forgo mating entirely to mitigate this risk, instead choosing to mate specifically via the less reliable DNA transference. 

The Acrycillus are a parasitoid species, meaning other species are integral to their reproduction and the host is usually killed as a result. While technology does exist to some degree to allow Acrycillus to reproduce without the need of a host, the instinctual desire to implant their eggs in a living host is so deeply rooted within their dna that they often struggle to avoid such urges. Once a female has found and selected a fitting host, she will attack at night, using her venom to paralyse the target while they sleep. The host species requires some degree of sentience, with the young inheriting some cognitive abilities from their hosts and requiring a base level of intelligence to survive their early years alone.
When the host is subdued the female Acrycillus will surgically insert her eggs via a long, specialised tube comprised of open muscular fibre tissue that extends from her ovaries up to several metres away from her body. The tube is equipped with a set of sharp teeth to cut through flesh, as well as a cell re-knitting solution to repair the damage after the eggs have been implanted. It does not tend to matter much where the eggs are implanted, but certain areas help the eggs avoid detection better than others, while some Acrycillus choose to plant their eggs in the hosts stomach, ears, or nose to avoid the painless, yet tell-tale mark of the laying tube.
The same polymorphic cellular structure that allows the Acrycillus to reproduce without mating is the same trait that allows their eggs to fly under the radar of the host’s immune system. The cells that coat the egg begin to join with the host’s cell wall and effectively become part of the body, hiding the egg within. This allows the eggs to go completely undetected by the body’s defences. The same goes for any Acryillus cellular contamination that may occur, any Acrycillus cell being capable of this feat.
If an individual ingests Acrycillus cell matter and it binds to the stomach wall, no harm will come to them. However the cells will continue to divide containing the Acrycillus’ genetic code who’s cell matter they ingested. Once again this is completely harmless until another Acrycillus is added to the equation. If the same individual ingests cells from another Acrycillus, the cells already within them may activate and begin to form a fertilized egg within the body of the host. This can only occur the cells come into contact with one another, for example cells in the stomach and the mouth could not form an egg, but if those cells were to travel from the mouth to the stomach then an egg could potentially be conceived. Acrycillus have used this capability to reproduce on mass in the past, contaminating water supplies of a local colony with multiple cells.
The birth of an Acrycillus is bloody and deadly, the egg starting at the size of a marble and growing to the size of a tennis ball when it is ready to hatch after an incubation period of six weeks to sixteen months depending on the nutritional intake and species of the host. When the egg hatches the Acrycillus will bore its way out of its host. In most cases, the hatchlings emergence is enough to kill the host, but in some rare cases, the host does survive.

Growth Rate & Stages

Acrycilli begin life as an insect like creature whos first meal is usually it's host. In this time the young Acrycillus feeds through a proboscis. After having its first meal it will find somewhere dark and preferably cold to go through its first shed which will happen after two to six weeks of life. After the first shed they emerge in a similar state to their adult forms, complete with their humanoid skin features. They are not quite fully mature and able to reproduce themselves until they have reached six months of age. Acrycilli can reproduce constantly throughout their lives. They reach the age of 50 to 70 before dying of old age.
When an Acrycillus is born from their host, they possess an innate homing sense that will lead them back to their mothers. They will often be instinctively driven to find their mothers and will go to great lengths to do so, even if it involves putting themselves in danger. They have been known to travel across multiple worlds following the pheromone trail unique to their mothers, however they can understandably lose this trail and as a result never find their mothers. This sometimes causes depression in an individual but otherwise bares no consequence. 
In the rare cases the host survives the hatching of an Acrycillus egg inside them and manages to escape the larvae's feeding attempt there after, if the larvae manages to survive to its first shed it will instead imprint on the host. Why exactly this happens is unclear, but the Acrycillus hatchling will often display a sense of guilt should its host survive the ordeal, though in normal circumstances when the host is killed and eaten the individual displays no such feelings.  

Social Creatures

The Acrycillus are very much a social species. Once the young return to their mothers they form close knit family bonds, multiple families often form together to create colonies, sometimes numbering in the hundreds. Acrycilli seem to possess an in-built instinct not to harm one another, each Acrycilli treating all others, whether they have met them or not, as allies. Rarely Acrycilli break this habit and turn against their people, but such incidents are rare. 
The Acrycilli do not have a home world as such, but tend to exist as communities on other worlds. their exact home world being unknown even to them due to their society existing far and wide across the galaxy in pockets. However, this is not to say the Acrycilli do not have entire planets under their control. Due to the way they re-produce, they only have a handful of planets completely controlled by them, most other planets they live in a delicate balance with the planets inhabitants, reproducing by kidnapping unfortunate members of the planets residents but not too many they will eliminate their breeding source. 
The Acycilli stage takeovers of settlements by coordinating their breeding times so they can all inject their hosts with eggs at the same time and have them all hatch simultaneously, as a result, eliminating a large amount of the settlements population and by proxy creating more of their own, weakening the settlement for ready for their take over. Sometimes it only takes a group of two or three Acrycillus to take over an entire city as their species does not suffer from incestuous defects. 
The Acrycillus tend to spread from planet to planet when an infected host makes the journey unaware of their condition, as due to their known reputation they are often refused travel.

Dietary Needs and Habits

The Acrycillus are fully carnivores, actually being unable to consume plant matter. They are  capable of consuming synthesized meals to some extent, but nothing is better for them than meat. They can consume the meat of various species and are even able to consume some meat considered toxic by others.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

There have been several instances where the Cult of the Blackfeather used the Acrycillus as a weapon to take over worlds. Sometimes with great effect. They would abduct unwitting individuals from the streets, infect them with eggs and send them back into society where from there, the infection would spread. The Cult are part of the reason so many civilizations known about and hate the Acrycillus.

Average Intelligence

Acrycilli have been seen to inherit some intelligence characteristics from their hosts as well as some personality traits. This is about the only instance Acrycilli will clash with one another is when one individual or group was spawned from a host with radically different traits than another. 
Acrycilli are not the most intelligent sentient species in the galaxy, being driven primarily by instincts, such instincts being a big barrier for individual and group progress.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Acrycillus possess the five main senses, sight, sound, smell, touch and taste, though some are more developed than others. 
Their hearing is rudimental, as is their taste which is practically non-existent, though they make up for this with highly enhanced vision. Each of their five eyes sees in a different spectrum. Their two largest eyes take in the light while their two medium sized eyes visually sense heat, while their fifth eye sees in infrared, allowing them black and white night vision. Their smell is also highly developed, the average Acrycillus is capable of discerning the species, sex and sometimes the age of the individual before they can even see them.

Civilization and Culture

Common Dress Code

In Acrycilli society, cloths are an option. Often seen as a formality when dealing with other races. Most of their more sensitive areas are covered by their chitinous exoskeleton.

History

Where the Acrycillus came from is unknown, even to them. Due to the nature of their reproduction as well as relatively short life spans the Acrycillus have little in the way of species wide culture. They are driven primary by instinct and while certainly capable of individual thoughts and desires they are very much communally driven by the same instinctual desires to reproduce.
The Acrycillus first became known to the galaxy during the extinction war when the Cult of the Blackfeather used them as a terror weapon against unsuspecting worlds. However they proved difficult to control and as a result were abandoned by the cult. However, this did cement the Acrycillus with an infamous reputation for their biological capabilities. From here they began appearing across the galaxy in small numbers within other faction colonies. As their biological cycle became more understood they were driven out of many territorial worlds of the Sirasions, Alliance, Skaroniens and Necrophytes, however, the Rada were the only one of the major factions to act with some degree of tolerance towards the Acrycillus, due in part to the fact they were one of the few species tough enough to survive an Acrycilli birth should one be unlucky enough to be infected. 
The Rada offered the Acrycillus a world of their own where they could live peacefully. The concept worked at first, with the Rada Collective using the planet as a dumping ground for many of their worst prisoners, who would be infected and more Acrycilli could be born from them. While this idea sounds good on paper, it means there is competition for hosts, as well as very little choice, and Acrycilli can be very picky with their chosen hosts. As a result, more and more Acrycilli left the world until so many were spreading into Rada territory and causing trouble in Collective controlled planets that the Rada had to impose a ban on any Acrycillus leaving the world, effectively turning it into a prison colony.

"How the Rada handled the situation on Tarva was a very imperial method. I would have done the same" - Sak'az, Sirasion Warmaster

In current times, the Acrycillus population predominantly remains on Tarva, however they are scattered throughout the galaxy, their populations growing like a weed across all sectors. Many citizens across major factions are warned not to approach them and report any sightings to local authorities.

Lifespan

60

Average Height

1.7m - 2.4m

Average Weight

70kg - 100kg

Average Physique

Physically, an Acrycillus is very capable and on average is stronger than the average human for example. Their muscles are very dense when kept inside their arms and legs where they should be. Their exoskeletal limbs coming out of their backs are by far the strongest limb in their bodies, capable of lifting their entire body twice over. 
When Acrycilli withdraw their muscle fibres from their bodies to use as extra limbs, this effectively takes away strength from that part of the body. Should an individual use too much of these extra limbs, their muscular structure could break down. Their primary limbs are also severely weakened when they use this ability.

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Species Traits

Ability Score Increase Your Dexterity and Wisdom increase by 1
Speed Your movement speed is 30ft.
Grappling legs You have climbing speed of 30ft and advantage in grappling rolls. 
Dark Vision You have a keen eyesight, especially in the dark. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of grey.

Venomous Bite As an action you are able to make an unarmed attack of 1d4. If the attack causes damage the target creature must make a saving throw of 8 plus constitution and proficiency bonuses or become paralysed for 1 minute on an enemy aware of the users presence. On enemies unaware of the users presence the effect will last 5 minutes. Once paralysed the target may make the same saving throw again with the same difficulty to break the paralysis.   

Languages You know Galactic Common and Acrycillus Chitter.