After seeing many (sooo many) questions about Traveller versions of the Alien Xenomorph, here's something different: one of the neater critters I've seen in literature, the Alzabo from the Book Of The New Sun.
Adapting the Alzabo
The Alzabo is a semi-intelligent carnivore/pouncer about the size of a bear (say 400-800kg) with a neat trick. If it eats a victim, it can absorb the victim's personality well enough to emulate its mannerisms for a while. It uses this ability to lure others of its prey by imitating members of the species. As the Alzabo can imitate whatever it's killed recently, they can be quite stealthy - maybe you could factor in some sort of natural IR camouflage as well.
Like the BOTNS, the Alzabo sits somewhere between fantasy and sci-fi in its nature, but might not be out of place in a softer space-opera setting - particularly one where psionics are a thing.
As an example, one of your NPCs could go off for a consitutional and then be heard calling to the party shortly later. The party might (or might not) find fragments of a torn red shirt hanging off the bush on their way to help.
The other interesting feature of the Alzabo is that it has a gland from which a psi drug can be extracted. The drug allows users to eat the brain of an individual and experience their memories and personality - essentially a part of the mechanism the Alzabo uses to imitate its prey. The BOTNS has a famous scene with a group doing this.
This might be used by local primitives, or perhaps there might be a black market in the drug. Using it is probably illegal in any jurisidctions that have laws against cannibalism, so the drug might be valuable enough for a poaching expedition. This could also be the subject of a safari.
The drug might also be used for interrogations - although, as the saying goes, this kills the crab. Perhaps it can turn out that the party's patron1 has someone stashed in a low berth that he needs to shake down for some vital piece of information.
Thoughts?
1 or even the party if you're that way inclined.
Adapting the Alzabo
The Alzabo is a semi-intelligent carnivore/pouncer about the size of a bear (say 400-800kg) with a neat trick. If it eats a victim, it can absorb the victim's personality well enough to emulate its mannerisms for a while. It uses this ability to lure others of its prey by imitating members of the species. As the Alzabo can imitate whatever it's killed recently, they can be quite stealthy - maybe you could factor in some sort of natural IR camouflage as well.
Like the BOTNS, the Alzabo sits somewhere between fantasy and sci-fi in its nature, but might not be out of place in a softer space-opera setting - particularly one where psionics are a thing.
As an example, one of your NPCs could go off for a consitutional and then be heard calling to the party shortly later. The party might (or might not) find fragments of a torn red shirt hanging off the bush on their way to help.
The other interesting feature of the Alzabo is that it has a gland from which a psi drug can be extracted. The drug allows users to eat the brain of an individual and experience their memories and personality - essentially a part of the mechanism the Alzabo uses to imitate its prey. The BOTNS has a famous scene with a group doing this.
This might be used by local primitives, or perhaps there might be a black market in the drug. Using it is probably illegal in any jurisidctions that have laws against cannibalism, so the drug might be valuable enough for a poaching expedition. This could also be the subject of a safari.
The drug might also be used for interrogations - although, as the saying goes, this kills the crab. Perhaps it can turn out that the party's patron1 has someone stashed in a low berth that he needs to shake down for some vital piece of information.
Thoughts?
1 or even the party if you're that way inclined.
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