Leppach

The origins of the leppach is unknown, but it is a ambush hunter only found in alpine and temperate forests. Its outer carapace is typically brown to mottled green allowing it to camouflage itself among the foliage. It can change its color slowly, as a chameleon, but its best trick is its ability to slowly change its body. In its natural form it is an elongated mutli-limbed that moves along the ground and can slowly climb a tree.

• Temporal: Age of Empires - Present
• Environment: Temperate and Alpine forests
• Type: Arthropod (eight limbs)
• Abilities:

  • Color shifting
  • Shape Shifting
  • Paralytic bite

The leppach fangs can inject a neurological poison capable of paralyzing a creature far larger than itself. This poison also allows it to more easily consume it prey by partially digesting the body. The leppach is strictly carnivorous, incapable of digesting plants for food.

The shells of a leppach are highly prized as they can be polished to a high shimmer and a magician can enchant them to retain their color-shifting ability if they obtain then quickly after the animal is killed.

A leppach will live for thirty years assuming it is not killed by larger hunters or during mating. When a female is fertile the smell of her spoor will change which will attract males. The males will construct nests of their sperm and try to drive the female into their nest. A female will often attract several males who may fight to the death to get the female into their nest. Once the female is in the nest the male will bite her, which will cause her to drop her eggs after which the male will drive off the female. Although a female will only drop 30-50 eggs on a single nest it is possible for other males to continue to try and force her into their nests. This can exhaust and kill the female.

The male will guard the nest with its life for ninety (90) days until the eggs hatch. Once the eggs hatch the male will leave the area and have no further contact with his young. The female's only contact with the nest was to drop her eggs. If she tries to approach it later the male will attack and drive her off, possibly killing her.

The leppach will go through several seasons of molting as most other creatures with an outer skeleton. Before this happens a leppach will feed heavily as it is incapable of feeding for itself for a few weeks until its carapace hardens and it can again shift its color and form. During these weeks the leppach is very vulnerable and will often partially bury itself to avoid predators (including its own kind).

While the leppach is a arthropod, it has unique muscle fibers that connect the plates of of carapace. It can use these muscles to partially turn and pull the plates into slightly different shapes. In its natural form it has an elongated body similar to a centipede or walking stick, but by folding its carapace under itself or moving some of its plates it can distort its appearance. This, along with its ability to color-shift its carapace, makes the leppach nearly impossible to detect in a wooded environment.