Sandwurm

Sandwurms are a bizarre, colossal species of predator endemic to the continent of Khayyam, on the plane of Waking Materia. Despite the deserts, floodplains and ruins of Khayyam being haunted by ghosts, fae, chimerae, qlippoth and other Duskscape interlopers, the native sandwurms are perhaps the most dangerous of all the continent's monsters.

Though this has not been studied in depth, sandwurms bear a remakable resemblance to certain genera of oceanic kaiju. It is possible they were originally oceanic, and have adapted to the murky solidus of Khayyam's floodplains.

Biology

Reports by explorers and treasure hunters have described adult sandwurms over 50 metres in length, with multiple layers of circular jaws described to "fan outward like a rose's bloom" by the Sultan of Isperia's Master of Banes, Jas Taronai. Taronai's textbook, On Monsters, is one of the most advanced Material writings on the subject, save for the collected observations of the Knight-Sages of Tallarax.

Their name is something of a misnomer: sandwurms are not found in dry sand and need a certain saturation level of water and lighter silts to "swim" comfortably. Thus, they are found throughout the Coreward lowlands and cannot reach the Voidward uplands. The "grey area" where conditions may or may not be wet enough ebbs and flows over time, with the seasons and other behaviours of the Sunken Expanse affecting the continent's water table. Travelers must be well-versed on the locations of "islands" of fully dry sand or rocky substrate, but should still tread carefully as these sites shift and morph. Even during war, it is considered good manners between Sultanates to record and notify other population centres of changes to the Haunted Wastes.

Though they are most famous for their spectacular displays of breaching the surface like whales and skullfish, sandwurms are actually ambush predators: they will find a suitable site and approach it from below, placing their maws upward, just under the surface. They will then "work the area" with a combination of spinning and shifting, creating a well of loose quicksand around it that is extremely difficult for potential prey to escape. At this point, they can lie in wait, unmoving, for sometimes days at a time. If a nearby creature does notice the well and makes to leave, some sandwurms may pursue if they are young enough, but older wurms tend not to bother, likely because they're too bulky.