Codex: Ganrael (Non-Silly Mode)

	This entry is only avaible in the game when Silly Mode is Disabled.

Name (Singular & Plural): Ganrael

Sexes: Unisex, though individuals may adopt a gendered appearance.

Height: Varies depending on the assumed shape, which changes with environment. Specimens that far exceed dietary requirements may be much larger than average.

Senses: Capable of 360-degree sight using a diffuse array of photoreceptors, with acute smell and hearing. Most ganrael will affect humanoid facial features in order to appear more familiar and appealing, but these are cosmetic.

Hair: None natively, though individuals may counterfeit it to attract mates.

Skin Color: Green is the most common, followed by blue and yellow. Rarely, specimens of pink or red are seen. Color is determined by trace impurities, and an individual’s color may change in response to environmental factors.

Habitat

Ganrael are native to the deepest cavern level of the planet Myrellion. Most live their lives without visiting the surface, though thanks to the abundance of bioluminescent fungus the ganrael retain the ability to see in light. Ganrael prefer wet, humid areas, particularly those near underground water sources and thermal vents.

Biology & Behavior

Unlike many amorphous creatures, the ganrael are not social or symbiotic and prefer to rely on intimidation or physical force. This evolutionary strategy likely arose with their adaptation of armor. Unlike rahn and galotians, who both maintain a moist, penetrable dermis, ganrael are able to modify their outer layers, hardening them into plating and weapons as durable as tungsten or carbon steel.

According to available field reports and research records provided by Myrellion governments, the ganrael store liquid supersaturated with silicate minerals in specialized organelles inside their cells. When new plating is needed, an enzyme is secreted that ruptures the chamber, allowing the liquid to crystallize rapidly. Other compounds in the destroyed cell function as resins that bond the tiny crystals together into a composite.

Reproduction

Ganrael reproduce similar to Terran prokaryotes, collecting new genetic material and then producing offspring clonally. As a unisex species, any individual is potentially capable of reproduction. When ready to mate, the ganrael seeks out compatible genetic material and absorbs it through the skin, commonly in the form of penetrative sex, which the ganrael enjoy thanks to several erogenous zones that shift responsively to heighten the experience.

A ganrael retains and incorporates a donor’s genetic material into its own after mating, via a poorly-understood process. Eyewitness accounts report that individuals experience euphoria, addiction, and loss of cognitive function during this time, akin to intoxication or narcotic effects. For unknown reasons, no such reaction occurs with conspecifics. Approximately twenty-four hours after assimilation of enough material, the ganrael will enter the reproductive phase, shedding its armor and undergoing rapid cell proliferation. The phase culminates with the ganrael separating into two identical individuals, each carrying the new genetic signature. Ganrael are vulnerable after division, as their new cells contain low mineral levels and create weak plating.

Ganrael may reproduce before assimilating. This has only been observed when an individual with damaged plating receives too much genetic material to contain without its exoskeleton. The ganrael will immediately divide the material between two bodies which both later undergo the reproductive phase. Each clone will assimilate the foreign DNA slightly differently, resulting in two pairs of related but non-identical ganrael.

Ganrael who do not acquire enough DNA from one partner seek another, and when denied access to gametes will collect and use other, non-germ cells. These occurrences should theoretically result in a significant number of triploid and polyploid ganrael. It’s currently unknown how or even if individuals with odd chromosome numbers prevent aneuploidy during reproduction, but theories have been proposed whereby ganrael are unable to divide until their total number of chromosomes are evenly paired, are able to identify and splice compatible donor DNA directly into their own via a hitherto unidentified enzyme, or have some other redundancy that prevents aneuploid cells from resulting in a defective organism. The ‘even pairs’ theory would suggest a sharp increase in the number of chromosomes over time which has not been observed, and has not been widely accepted for this reason.

Culture & Society

Most ganrael are nomadic, moving through the caverns in pursuit of game and mates. There are relatively few ganrael settlements and little in the way of organized civilization. At best, a family unit of a mated pair and their children may stay together until the children are old enough to hunt on their own, at which point the family usually disintegrates. Ganrael are, as a rule, individualists who struggle to work together with other creatures (of their own race or others), which has prevented any sort of organized ganrael society from cropping up over the years.