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| The Sand Snake of Qaroo
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| Sand snakes: (subclass-spectral) The ancient tales of the Qurshan tell of great reptilian beasts that used to roam the island back in the ages before the Azheer Wars. Lore states that during the Wars, these creatures disappeared, and soon after the last magical devastation, a new beast showed up in the hot, desert sands. The Qurshan say that the mighty reptiles that once roamed their island were changed into the spectral sand snakes they have today, by virtue of the magical permutations the creatures endured during the wars. Sand snakes have been known to travel singly, but are often seen in small groups. It is believed that sand snakes are social creatures. Sand snakes are able to travel through the sandy, southern side of Qaroo, much as sea serpents swim through the oceans. The sand snakes need oxygen to breath, and therefore, must come up for air occasionally, blowing sand into the air like gritty spouts, before diving back under the dunes. The snakes can stay submerged for as long as three days if resting, and for a matter of hours if they are active or traveling. The skin of the sand snake has a spectral quality, bending the light of the sun, and acting as sort of a camouflage. This effect makes sand snakes almost impossible to see during the day when they are immobile. Even close up, a sand snake which is surfaced and lying still can easily be mistaken for terrain. Sand snakes have no eyes, using vibration receptors in their skin to sense movement on or in the sands. They also have feelers protruding from either side of their maw. These creatures can grow to up to one hundred feet in length, and maybe longer, though longer snakes are recorded only in legend. Sand snakes get most of their energy from the sun, by way of their specially adapted skin. Still, they require water like any other creature. They are highly adapted in this area, getting their water from their prey. They have the ability to absorb every drop of fluid from animals, peoples and plants, and to subsist on this liquid for long periods of time. They have enormous “jaws,” which are not jaws per se, but more like a sticky, membrane-lined cavity, with which they scoop up their prey. Once trapped inside, the prey cannot escape. The fluids of the victim are drained, and a dead, dry husk is spit back out onto the sand. Sand snakes tend to gather in the same breeding grounds to mate and lay their eggs season after season. Curiously, the snakes do not breed on an annual schedule, but rather, during specific lunar alignments. The timing of this is roughly every three to four years. The hatching of snake eggs is rarely witnessed, if ever, due to the hungry and savage nature of the young, which are between eight and ten feet long. There are several recorded accounts of such hatchings, though they are hundreds of years old, and their accuracy is questionable. The tales say that there are three or four such nurseries about the southern part of Qaroo, and that each contain twenty-five to one hundred eggs. They are laid in open, rocky, basins, and often watched over by a dozen adults or so. As the hatching starts, the adults collect juicy plants, animals and people, kill them but do not drain them, and toss them into the basin with the hatchlings. The hatchlings stay in the basin, drink the fluids from the carcasses, and even kill each other for sustenance. The sun nurtures the young until they are fifteen feet long (approximately six months), at which point, they leave the basin and begin their life in the sandy dunes of Qaroo. The exact lifespan of the sand snake has not been determined, though it is speculated that they can live for over one hundred years. |
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