(Plural: Krothanti)

Short History

A sapient dragon-like race capable of living for hundreds of years. Every thousand years, they all set out on a journey throughout the cosmos, moving from galaxy to galaxy. During their time in the Milky Way galaxy, from 3000 BC to 2000 BC, they are believed to have inspired countless dragon legends on Earth.

Appearance

Often standing at an impressive 40ft (12 meters) tall, and over 60ft (18 meters) tall when standing on their hind legs, it’s hard to miss these majestic beasts. And weighing on average a staggering 20 000 lbs (90 metric tons).

Their skin is often covered in a mix of durable scales and soft feathers/fur. They are born with one or more sets of wings, more often being rather uncommon.

Biology

These beasts often soared through space, thus they’ve developed no need for oxygen, and are able to withstand extreme temperatures of −450°F(-270°C) up until 2500°F(1400°C

The bones of the Krothantus are near indestructible, only able to be crushed by the jaws of a larger Krothantus. 

Their scales rank at a 9 in the Mohs Hardness Scale. With their fur insulating their bodies from the extreme temperatures they can experience. Whether they develop scales depends on their diet before maturing, with a nutrient deficient diet resulting in not even feathers developing. 

Their claws and horns are often also as strong as their scales, able to tear through most minerals with ease, helping them with acquiring metals that are vital for their early stage of development.

A healthy Krothantus’s digestive tract will glow a similar colour as to what their eye colour is, though if they fall ill then the glow will stop. 

Their digestive system is remarkably effective, able to break down most inorganic materials into a usable format for their body. Anything they wish not to digest gets moved to the crop where they will vomit the undigested matter when they feel safe to do so. 

Fat buildup is stored in their tails. They are able to dispose of this extra fat by excreting it similar to normal biological lifeforms, or by converting it into a highly flammable slime-like substance that slowly evaporates with a methane byproduct. Essentially a biological petroleum.

All Krothanti have both sets of genitalia at their disposal, though they often choose to only use one set of genitalia, assigning themselves a gender when they reach maturity and being able to permanently remove the other set if they choose so.

Males are able to impregnate just about any other female, though an offspring like this tends to lose a lot of traits from the father, with the mother’s species always taking priority in development, with the Krothyeti genes no longer visible by the 3rd generation. 

Females  however can only be fertilised by their own kind, making any offspring obtained from them valuable, even if they have an unforeseen mutation. Both fertilized and unfertilized females lay between 5 and 10 eggs every week, with fertilized eggs being noticeably larger than unfertilized eggs. 

Once a female has had a nest of eggs she’s unable to produce more fertilized eggs. And the period increases from one week to one month. 

Abilities

Krothanti can go years without oxygen.

Krothanti can use Void in order to create propulsion when they flap their wings, generating a large amount of thrust in a vacuum, able to propel the Krothantus forward.

After reaching maturity, a Krothantus is able to develop one of the following abilities if they are fortunate enough to develop one.

• Void rift creation: this allows them to use their claws to rip open a void rift, allowing for them and others to fast travel across galaxies.
• Shape shifting: this allows the Krothantus to change what species they are. With proper training from elders it is possible for these users to perfectly mimic others, though its use has thus far been only for annoyance among themselves.

Lifecycle

Krothanti are born from eggs. Each member can only lay a maximum of 10 fertile eggs in their life. These eggs are often laid in dense asteroid fields or on the surface of rocky planets, where the parents are able to feed, and provide for their offspring. 

For the first 5 earth years, a Krothanti hatchling will be dependent on its mother, learning everything it needs in order to survive. In this time they often stay close to where they were laid, as resources are often plentiful. 

Afterwards they should be able to handle traveling greater distances on their own. For the next 25 earth years these hatchlings will grow, eating minerals and discover themselves and their role in their families. 

Roughly at the 30 year mark they reach maturity for their kind. But only after surviving in the void for a week, where their body will undergo more changes. 

After returning from the void, they’ll be considered to have reached full maturity for their kind. Only some develop new ability to assist the journey they have ahead of them. 

Afterwards they keep growing and as the years go on they get bigger and split away forming their own family, with some dying in the process. 

Reaching 1000 years, they become known as an elder, and their abilities weaken. Their goal is now to lead the future generations, and ensure that they stay safe. Passing down warnings and lessons from elders before them.

Most elders die before hitting 1300 years of age and the body of the Elder gets sent to the void. In a sign of respect for what It has done for their kind.