Depending on which book you read, a typical insectoid warrior ranges from 15 to 18 feet tall, 180-216". I was going to do a Green Martian write-up but the whole SIZ thing puzzles me. The kaldane also fatten a certain number of rykors for their own meals. When a mount becomes too old, sick, or weak to be useful, it is left outside the walls to be eaten by predators. Despite their utility, rykors are considered utterly disposable. The kaldane use these “bodies” to construct and defend their nests, grow crops, and create artwork.
![creatures of barsoom creatures of barsoom](http://static2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120620194153/pdsh/images/1/1c/WhiteApes.jpg)
Able only to crawl on their own, rykors become powerful, well-coordinated and agile when ridden. The “stump” of a rykor’s neck contains its mouth and a neural knot that kaldane riders use to control the creatures. They resemble handsome but headless male and female human bodies. Rykors are mindless quadrupeds barely able to feed themselves without kaldane assistance. Skills: Climb 60%, Dodge 40%, Hide 30%, Jump 35%, Ride 40% other skills vary by profession. Powers: Dark Vision, Mind Control, Telepathy Instead, they’ll be fattened for the larder or used as breeding stock for the rykors.Īttacks: Bite 55%, 3D4-1D6 Sword 45%, (variable)
![creatures of barsoom creatures of barsoom](http://www.herebegeeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/MV5BMTk0NzUwMDc3MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNTk4ODQyNw@@._V1_1.jpg)
As such, adventurers will not be permitted to leave if captured. Kaldanes are not expansionist or aggressive but they view humanoid visitors as inferior rykors – neither pure mind nor pure physical perfection. When not so distracted, their highly developed brains are capable of reading or controlling the minds of other creatures – abilities that are greater among higher-caste nest members. They thus are able to experience pleasure, pain, fear, and lust. While kaldanes pride themselves on their lack of emotion, they experience the sensations of their rykor mounts while attached. The higher-ranking nest members live in the deeper tunnels, and the deepest chambers are for food storage against the day Barsoom’s surface becomes unable to support life. The dome’s many prisms funnel light into the kaldane’s gorgeously paved tunnels deep underground. The walls protect the livestock at night, when they are helpless without their riders. Their society never developed music, however.Ī typical nest consists of an opaque domed tower surrounded by walls, around which the kaldane plant the crops with which they feed their rykors. (Kings may order the execution of nest members “infected” by such disruptive ideas.) Despite their goal of creating a society of pure unsentimental mind, kaldanes appreciate beauty and are excellent engineers, architects and artists. While not a group mind, they do tend to think alike unless exposed to the individuality of other races. Kaldane society is strictly hierarchical, run by the ruthlessly logical dictates of the king. They cooperate with one another generally, but the members of different nests may compete violently for scarce resources. Several nests are typically clustered near one another, each ruled by a separate king. A typical nest will have several spare kings sealed away in case its current one perishes. They also don’t need to breathe.Įach kaldane nest is ruled by a hermaphrodite king who lays the eggs that produce warriors and workers. Aside from accident or violent death, they are incredibly long-lived. They regard this symbiotic relationship as the ideal union of pure mind and pure physical strength. Kaldanes are excellent climbers and diggers but are physically weak and vulnerable, relying on their rykor “bodies” for transportation, labor and food. A typical specimen is a basketball-sized bluish-gray sphere with six spidery legs, sharp chelae, huge, black, round unblinking eyes, and a tiny mouth orifice.
![creatures of barsoom creatures of barsoom](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/04/0d/29/040d2978eba8dab0fb0fc6d795f31b14--john-carter-of-mars-anatomy.jpg)
The kaldane are a Barsoomian race of burrowing social carnivorous arthropods who have achieved advanced intelligence at the expense of their physical capabilities. Since we've been discussing classic science fiction settings (and waiting with bated breath for Interplanetary), I thought I'd stat up a couple of my favorite sci-fi critters, re: Chessmen of Mars.