Cha’thrang

The cha’thrang will lie motionless for several hours until a low-flying creature passes overhead. While waiting, the cha’thrang forces an air pocket between its body and its shell. When an appropriate target flies within 50 yards, it expels that air up through the hollow, bone protrusions with a tremendous blast and “fires” tethered, lime-coated projectiles at the flying creature. A victim hit suffers the toxic effect of the lime on the tethers which takes a few minutes to take effect. Meanwhile, the victim is locked in a battle of strength against the cha’thrang to remain aloft. The cha’thrang immediately begins to dig into the ground to keep from being pulled or dragged by its flying prey. The sinewy tethers are very tough to break. Having tethered its prey, the cha’thrang now waits patiently for its victim to tire and land. Once the target lands, the cha’thrang turns and crawls along its own cord toward the prey. Thus, even if the victim attempts to fly way again, it has less cord to use. Eventually the cha’thrang captures and rends the victim to pieces with its powerful jaws. The cha’thrang can fire darts only a few times per day once per day. The tethered cord is broken and discarded after each firing. Because the hollow spines of the cha’thrang point upwards, they have only their foreclaws, bite, and the protection of their shells to defend themselves against attacks from ground-dwelling creatures. For this and other reasons, the cha’thrang almost never travel alone.

Cha’thrang travel in clusters of three called trines. Trines are usually composed of two females and one male. They live in loose-knit extended families, adopting other cha’thrang that they meet, and later breaking off into trines. Cha’thrang have difficulty mating and often die in the process. A single female will lay a single clutch of up to 6 eggs each year. Small predators devour most of the offspring before they are old enough to defend themselves. Cha’thrang can live hundreds of years, but they are usually killed by hungry enemies.

The sinewy cord the cha’thrang uses to tether its prey is highly sought after to make rope. A single, dry strand will easily hold 50 pounds of weight. By braiding several cords, a thin but very strong rope can be crafted. Discarded strands vary in length from 20-50 yards each. Some desert traders will move between two or more separate trines of cha’thrang, collecting the spent cord. Cha’thrang can be eaten if special care is taken in the preparation of the creature’s flesh. If lime from the shell undercoating is used to cover the meat, that meat can be preserved for weeks without fear of spoilage. However, great care must be exercised in washing and cleaning the meat before eating it to insure that all of the toxic lime has been removed.